Free Republic

The largest public school district in Washington State is referring students in the district to free "gender-affirming care." The Nova Wellness Center and the Meany Health Center offer "gender reaffirming care," including hormone-blocking medications and referrals for sex change surgeries, which are available to middle and high school students in Seattle Public Schools (SPS). According to documents obtained by Parents Defending Education (PDE), the health centers are operated by Country Doctor Community Health Centers (CDCHC) which offers “no cost comprehensive, trauma-informed, and gender-affirming care, conveniently at the school.” As stated on its website, CDCHC provides services to "transgender, non-binary, and...

More than 100 chanting 'Trans Lives Matter' protesters descended on Oklahoma's State Capitol building yesterday, occupying the interior rotunda, to protest against a new bill that would ban gender affirming surgery for anyone under 21. The protesters from Oklahomans For Equality and Freedom Oklahoma started their demonstration outside the building, then moved indoors. While it remains unclear whether their entry to the building was peaceful, videos show them inside.... Their protest was against a new bill championed by Republican Governor Kevin Stitt, that bans anyone under the age of 21 from undergoing gender reassignment surgery....

Judicial Watch Sues Justice Department for Records of Ashli Babbitt Killing President Trump Keynotes Judicial Watch Roundtable in Miami U.S. Gives “Immigrant-Serving Organizations” $10 Million Under Obama Program Judicial Watch Sues Justice Department for Records of Ashli Babbitt Killing January 6 has become a touchstone in the uneven application of justice aginst those who lean conservative. In particular, the obviously political secrecy and stonewalling in the police killing of Ashli Babbitt is undermining the rule of law. Undaunted by the obstacles thrown our way, we filed a FOIA lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for records related to...

The draft of the international agreement to deal with climate change, which is being considered today in Paris by representatives from 195 countries, calls for the developed nations of the world to transfer wealth to developing nations, including through "public funds." "Developed country Parties shall provide financial resources to assist developing country Parties with respect to both mitigation and adaptation in continuation of their existing obligations under the Convention," says Article 9 of the draft agreement. "As part of a global effort, developed country Parties should continue to take the lead in mobilizing climate finance from a wide variety of...

De-fund NPR! In the wake of the firing of Juan Williams by National Public Radio, we've once again heard conservative voices issue that call. NPR representatives respond, as they always do when their dependence on government purse strings is noted, by arguing that only two or three percent of the service's money comes from the federal government. NPR apologist Norah O'Donnell recently threw out a one- to three-percent figure on MSNBC. We don't see these people volunteering to give up that three percent, but we have to admit that this amount of funding is not the gigantic boondoggle we might...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Public investment funds based in Texas could invest directly in transportation projects through a new corporation under a plan unveiled on Thursday by the state's legislative leaders and the governor. Texas has the nation's biggest road privatization plan but the legislature, reacting to criticisms that developers were enriching themselves at the expense of taxpayers, enacted a two-year moratorium. That has crimped road-building projects and led to a series of clashes between the governor and the legislature, who now have agreed on a compromise plan. Developers, including overseas companies, investment banks and private equity funds all vie...

With the Republican presidential nomination within reach, John McCain is reshaping his campaign to press on without public financing that could limit his spring spending, senior advisers say. The Arizona senator’s rejection of the presidential public financing program he once defended is just the latest evidence of how ineffective the post-Watergate reform has become in an era of multimillion-dollar candidacies. Under the public financing program, McCain could spend only about $54 million on all the primaries and caucuses — a sum Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton had spent before the first voters caucused in Iowa on Jan. 3....

Six Million Dollar Man: Legislature considers a ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying By Benjamin Barr, Serious consideration is being given to a measure well worth its time, SCR 1009, bringing an end to public agency lobbyists. It accomplishes a simple goal: stopping government from using your money to lobby itself. Ridiculous as it may seem, government-lobbying-itself happens frequently in Arizona, and in astonishing amounts. From 2000-2005, various Arizona government bodies, from the Department of Transportation to the Governors Office, spent over $10 million dollars on lobbying efforts. Based on head counts alone, government lobbyists outnumber legislators 10 to 1. No wonder...

In a vote that was scarcely noticed at the time but today is drawing scrutiny from federal investigators, the City Council quietly approved extraordinary retirement benefits for three politically powerful individuals – the presidents of the police union, the firefighters union and the white-collar workers union. All three are current or former city employees and vested in the municipal pension system. Under this highly irregular arrangement, the union chiefs were allowed to add their union salaries to their city salaries in calculating their retirement benefits, thus substantially boosting their taxpayer-financed pensions. This unique perk, extended exclusively to the three incumbent...

A new online petition asks Congress to change a specific civil-rights statute in hopes of preventing the American Civil Liberties Union from collecting attorney fees from taxpayers of local governments the organization takes to court. The effort – spearheaded by Craig McCarthy of CourtZero.org, a site dedicated to stemming judicial activism – seeks to change 42 U.S.C., Section 1988, of the United States Code. The statute now allows judges to award attorney fees to plaintiffs in civil-rights cases brought against local governments, thereby putting the taxpayers on the hook and oftentimes funneling public money to the ACLU. McCarthy wants the...

Federally funded consultants hired by Secretary of State Kevin Shelley spent time registering voters for largely Democratic constituency groups and at partisan rallies, including one to "take back the White House," according to staff activity reports released Thursday. Other contractors, paid thousands of dollars through federal funds from the 2002 Help America Vote Act, described outreach efforts at, among other things, the NBA All-Star week festivities, a reggae festival, a Janet Jackson "salute" and a community event on behalf of Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles. In several cases, consultants delivered "letters of commendation" from the Democratic secretary of state...

Another campaign of stem cell disinformation and misdirection is in full swing in California. The sponsors of Proposition 71, the "California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act," are promoting a measure that would allow researchers a constitutional right to experiment on embryonic stem cells, and equip them with almost $3 billion in public funds. The drafters of this initiative have cunningly phrased their proposition to purposely avoid using the words "embryo" or "embryonic." Hoping to obfuscate the real biological issues at hand, supporters of Proposition 71 are deliberately trying to circumvent an honest debate on the issues and legalize research...

Sunday November 9, 2003 8:16 PM JENNIFER C. KERR Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Look for a decision this week from Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on whether he will reject public campaign financing now that rival Howard Dean has decided to turn aside taxpayer money and the spending limits that come with it. ``We're going to make our decision over the course of the next day or so,'' Kerry told CBS' ``Face the Nation.'' The Massachusetts senator railed against Dean's announcement on Saturday, saying that the former Vermont governor ``has taken a very different road than Democrats have...

I HEARD IT AGAIN the other day on TV. Someone in a position of authority was saying it was not time to panic. I believe this was in regards to the West Nile virus, which had been found in a dead crow in the Pine Grove Cemetery in Manchester. Just having "virus" and "dead crow" and "cemetery" in the same sentence was enough to put me on edge. Adding "panic" to the mix was nearly unbearable, even if the authority figure was saying this wasn't the time for it. When is it going to be time to panic? It...

AUGUSTA - Gubernatorial hopeful John Baldacci continues to lead all other candidates with a little more than $900,000 raised through July 16, but he finished third in the critical area of available cash on hand, according to campaign finance reports filed Tuesday. The undisputed leader among the four competing candidates in that category was Green Independent Party nominee Jonathan Carter of Lexington Township. The publicly funded candidate reported $227,372 in available funds, more than the combined total of his two major party rivals. David Flanagan, the Manchester independent who pulled out of the race last week, held the distinction of...

HERALD-LEADER FRANKFORT BUREAU FRANKFORT - Gov. Paul Patton told Senate President David Williams yesterday that he sees no reason to spend more time and money on a special legislative session to break the budget impasse unless Republicans change their position on public financing for campaigns for governor. But Patton also told Wil-liams that the Senate leader's comments on a radio show yesterday and in a letter last week indicated that such an agreement "does not appear likely." The Democratic governor, in a letter to Williams, a Republican, said he is willing to meet with legislative leaders to discuss the budget,...

<p>Mayor Willie Brown's office is asking the Bush administration to forgive the bulk of a $400,000 city debt that was incurred when federal funds were used to buy a mosque for the Black Muslims.</p> <p>Behind the city's plea is a politically embarrassing real estate transaction initiated with public funds by a nonprofit organization headed by convicted felon Charlie Walker, one of Brown's most avid political supporters.</p>