How to Save Social Security Without Privatizing or Cutting Benefits

 How about a plan that strengthens Social Security trust funds while letting all Americans earn more generous retirement benefits? Not what you normally hear when people discuss Social Security, right? Conversations tend to be about shrinking benefits and increasing taxes as the system careens toward bankruptcy. It turns out, however, that we can vastly improve Social Security and retirement income over the long run without doing either. By adopting market-based solutions, Americans can enjoy more financial security in their golden years.

Against the backdrop of a $6.5 trillion federal budget this fiscal year and a projected $1.6 trillion deficit—on top of our $34 trillion in federal debt—the $1.4 trillion coming due this year alone for Social Security payments makes it seem as if increasing taxes and lowering benefits are the only plausible policy options to ensure the U.S. can continue funding Social Security. Add the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees’ projection that the Social Security trust funds will run out by 2034, and the need for reform is obvious. Yet no elected leader has offered a credible plan to save the system, let alone increase benefits.

Here are two solutions with proven track records—neither of which would privatize the system or change benefit levels for those at or near retirement.

First, we can shore up the funds available to pay retirement benefits by creating a low-risk diversified investment plan that takes advantage of long-run equity returns, which are superior to the return on bonds. This is how most wealthy individuals protect their assets and maximize their retirement security. The same strategy can work for every American. Canada has already invested its government retirement system assets in a diversified portfolio that is yielding impressive results.

Second, every American should have the same option that every federal employee has had since 1986: to participate voluntarily in the Thrift Savings Plan, a federal multiasset investment program. For decades, this plan has generated retirement wealth. Under both solutions, stock markets would benefit every retiree, not just the rich.

The Social Security system is headed for insolvency largely because it has restricted itself to investing exclusively in unmarketable U.S. federal-debt equivalents. Because bonds return only half of what stocks return over any multidecade time frame—about 5% a year vs. 10%—Social Security expenses are now running well ahead of receipts. By contrast, in Canada, federal retirement-fund assets are running comfortably ahead of liabilities and are projected to do so in perpetuity.

The Canada Pension Plan’s superiority stems from its asset allocation. The fund invests about 57% of its assets in equities and 12% in bonds; the rest is divided among real estate, infrastructure and credit. Over the past 10 years, the Canada Pension Plan has realized a 9.3% annualized net return. Similarly to how Social Security works, Canadian citizens pay into the program and are guaranteed lifetime benefits. Participation in the plan is mandatory for all Canadian citizens, as is the case with Social Security in the U.S.

Before 2008 the ratio of federal retirement trust fund assets to outlays was roughly equal in Canada and the U.S. Since then, the ratio of assets to outlays has diverged sharply with Canadian assets rising and U.S. assets falling because of U.S. reliance on bonds. Canadians can look forward to the possibility of rising federal retirement benefits for the next century. By contrast, if the U.S. doesn’t adopt our proposed solutions, Americans will suffer from reduced retirement benefits, higher taxes, or both.

In the U.S., the Thrift Savings Plan—with about 6.5 million participants—has for decades helped federal employees invest part of their pay in a range of target-date and multiasset funds.

Target-date funds, which automatically match investment strategies to an individual’s planned retirement date, ensure beneficiaries have higher equity exposures when they are young and higher bond exposures when older, making retirement income more predictable.

From 2013-23, the average annual return on the Thrift Savings Plan’s common-stock index fund matched the performance of the S&P 500 index at 12.61%. Since its inception 38 years ago, that common-stock index fund has returned 10.83% per year. Americans should be able to allocate some of their pretax salaries to such successful funds.

In 2005 President George W. Bush tried to reform Social Security by partially privatizing the system. The effort failed because both liberal and conservative interest groups, including the AARP, demonized privatization as too risky.

Our solution wouldn’t privatize the system. Rather, it would let Americans invest some of their pay in low-cost index funds, including a high-return fund consisting of 500 of the largest U.S. companies. That would especially help those who depend solely on Social Security.

Last year only 61% of U.S. households owned some stocks. That’s a shame. The U.S. should follow Canada’s lead so all Americans have access to superior equity returns.

Terrence Keeley is CEO of Impact Evaluation Lab and author of “Sustainable” and the forthcoming book “Ending ESG Investing.” Andy Puzder is former CEO of CKE Restaurants, a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a senior fellow at Pepperdine University.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-save-social-security-without-privatizing-or-cutting-benefits-canadian-example-f18f0600

9 Ways The Feds Are Using ‘Bidenbucks’ To Rig The 2024 Election

 Nearly three years have passed since President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14019, an overreaching directive aimed at inserting the federal government into state election administration.

While deceptively marketed as a heroic effort to enhance “American democracy,” Biden’s directive is far more partisan than the White House and regime-aligned media are willing to admit. The order instructed hundreds of federal agencies to interfere in the electoral process by using U.S. taxpayer money to boost voter registration and get-out-the-vote activities. More specifically, federal departments were told to collaborate with so-called “nonpartisan third-party organizations” that have been “approved” by the administration to supply “voter registration services on agency premises.”

Despite the administration’s attempt to stonewall requests for — and heavily redact — documents related to the order’s implementation, conservative media outlets and good government groups have obtained communications revealing that many of the supposedly “nonpartisan” groups colluding with federal agencies on voter registration efforts are extremely left-wing.

Among these organizations is Demos, a left-wing advocacy group seeking to advance the Democrat Party’s political agenda. According to InfluenceWatch, the group has “close ties” to the faction of the Democrat Party “associated with” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., signed a petition backing the Green New Deal, and is staffed with Democrat operatives. The left-wing American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, is also among those working with federal agencies to register new voters.

As The Federalist has previously reported, voter registration efforts are almost always a partisan venture and often involve left-wing groups that abuse their nonprofit status to target likely-Democrat voters. (Congressional Democrats have voted down Republican-backed legislation aimed at repealing Biden’s directive.)

Biden’s unprecedented use of taxpayer dollars to run highly partisan voter registration and get-out-the-vote operations to the benefit of Democrats is unlikely to instill confidence in American voters, whose trust in the electoral process was shaken following the chaotic and irregular 2020 election. Here are just a few of the many federal agencies engaged in the scheme and how each is using “Bidenbucks” to rig the 2024 election in Biden and Democrats’ favor.

1. Office of Personnel Management

In March 2022, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced it will allow federal employees to take up to four hours of “administrative leave” to vote in any U.S. election. The agency further granted these workers the same amount of time to serve as poll workers or observers, should they choose to do so.

The guidance is a departure from previous OPM policy, which granted leave to federal workers “on election day only” and permitted them “to access paid time off in limited circumstances based on [their] work schedule and the polling hours in their community.” When announcing the change in policy, OPM said it “recognizes that voting has evolved beyond a single election day” and claimed the new guidance would limit supposed “barriers to voting.”

During the 2020 election, the vast majority of political donations from federal employees went to Democrat candidates, according to data published by OpenSecrets. For example, of the $2.36 million in political contributions from Department of Justice employees in the 2020 election cycle, $2.02 million (87.6 percent) went to Democrats while only $286,083 (12.4 percent) went to Republicans.

2. Department of Education

The Education Department’s role in carrying out Biden’s executive order is unsurprising, given Democrats’ increased focus on courting young voters. During the 2022 midterms, for example, this 18-29 age demographic broke heavily for Democrat candidates over Republican ones by a nearly 2-to-1 margin.

In April 2022, the agency’s Office of Postsecondary Education told universities they are required under the Higher Education Act of 1965 to “make a good faith effort” to make mail voter registration forms “widely available” to their students and informed colleges that they may use work-study funds — which are used to provide part-time campus jobs to help students with tuition costs — to pay students to “support voter registration activities.” These institutions were additionally instructed to expand their roles in the electoral process, such as by becoming voting sites and supplying locations for ballot drop boxes.

As The Federalist noted the same year, “Having taxpayers fund get-out-the-vote activities that support Democrats in this way had previously not been allowed.”

Most recently, the Education Department released a “toolkit” that includes guidelines for universities on how to increase voter registration and turnout on their campuses. The document also contains guidance for K-12 institutions, such as recommendations that schools “[d]etermine if [their] state allows pre-registration for individuals under 18 years old and, if so, identify opportunities for high school students to do so.”

3. Department of Health and Human Services

In June 2023, The Daily Signal’s Fred Lucas reported that the Indian Health Service (IHS), which falls under the Department of Health and Human Services, is collaborating with the ACLU, Demos, and several other left-wing organizations to register new voters. In order to expand the reach of these efforts, the Biden administration designated an Arizona-based Indian Health Service (IHS) facility as an official voter registration hub in October.

According to Arizona Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, Native Health of Phoenix, which caters to “urban Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and all other individuals,” will “assist individuals in the voter registration process.” The administration confirmed that the IHS facility would be one of five designated as voter registration sites by the end of 2023.

Much like young voters, Native Americans heavily favor Democrats.

4. Department of Agriculture

The USDA is another federal agency directing its efforts at potential Democrat voters. Earlier this month, emails obtained by The Daily Signal show the agency was colluding with Demos as early as August 2021 to work on turning out voters.

As The Federalist’s M.D. Kittle reported, the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service “encourages all state agencies administering the child nutrition programs to provide local program operators with promotional materials, including voter registration and non-partisan, non-campaign election information, to disseminate among voting-age program participants and their families.”

One of the “ideas” recommended by the agency is for “[s]chool food authorities administering the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) in high schools, and adult day care centers and emergency shelters participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) to promote voter registration and election information among voting-age participants and use congregate feeding areas, such as cafeterias, or food distribution sites, as sites for the dissemination of information.”

5. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency within DHS, announced an update to its Policy Manual in August, which included provisions directing agency employees to “increase awareness and expand access to voter registration during naturalization ceremonies,” in which eligible immigrants officially become U.S. citizens. Studies have indicated a voting preference among legal immigrants for Democrat candidates over Republican ones.

The guidelines specifically instructed USCIS to provide newly ordained citizens “access to voter registration services” at these ceremonies and additional information “regarding points-of-contact for voting and voter registration.” Agency employees were also tasked with requesting local or state election officials “attend ceremonies to distribute, collect, and review voter registration applications, and to officially register new citizens to vote.” In the absence of said officials, USCIS must “coordinate” with “nongovernmental organizations” — that are presumably “approved” by the administration — to provide these same services.

6. Department of Labor

In fulfillment of Biden’s directive, the Labor Department issued guidance in March 2022 “to all 50 states and the nation’s territories encouraging them to designate more than 2,300 locally operated American Job Centers as voter registration agencies.” The agency specifically noted how “partners that operate programs and services” with these centers “can engage in voter registration efforts with their participants,” such as hosting so-called “nonpartisan organizations” to facilitate get-out-the-vote activities.

The list of “eligible partners” includes the WIOA Title I Youth Programs, YouthBuild Programs, and Indian and Native America Programs — all of which cater to demographics likely to vote for Democrats.

7. Department of Veterans Affairs

The Department of Veterans Affairs initially distributed a survey to more than 12 million veterans and their families “to better understand Veterans’ experience with the voter registration process, and to better assist Veterans in addressing and overcoming any challenges.” By September 2022, the agency expanded its voter registration efforts by partnering with Kentucky, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to “create a pilot voter registration program that provides voter registration information, materials and — if requested — assistance to Veterans, eligible dependents and caregivers at select VA facilities.”

The VA was flagged as one of several agencies “on the right track” in a “progress report” published by left-wing groups (including Demos and the ACLU) that measured how effectively departments are complying with Biden’s directive.

8. Department of the Interior

The Interior Department (DOI) is also adequately fulfilling Biden’s order, according to the metrics laid out in a report published by leftist groups.

The analysis specifically highlighted how DOI provided “high-quality voter registration services” to individuals who attended two agency-sponsored “tribal educational institutions” in Kansas and New Mexico. Those two institutions — the Haskell Indian Nations University and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute — have since been designated as voter registration sites.

“DOI has moved to ensure that eligible students who attend these institutions have regular access to high-quality voter registration services,” the report reads. “Notably, DOI is improving access to registration and voting among a population that has long been excluded—Native Americans.”

9. Department of the Treasury

The Treasury Department has incorporated voter registration efforts “into the services provided through the tax clinic assistance program, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA), which provides tax assistance to low income individuals across the county,” according to the same “progress report.” The agency further moved to require “all grantees who receive federal funding to administer these tax clinic assistance programs” to offer voter registration services.

https://thefederalist.com/2024/02/29/9-ways-the-feds-are-using-bidenbucks-to-rig-the-2024-election/

Oral Transmission of Chagas Disease Has Severe Effects

 Thanks to decades of successful vector control strategies, vector-borne transmission of Chagas disease has significantly decreased in many regions. Oral ingestion of Trypanosoma cruzi through contaminated food and beverages, however, is increasing. Unlike vector transmission, oral transmission of Chagas disease entails high lethality in pediatric and adult populations.

"The oral transmission of Chagas disease is becoming a much more recognized route, and it is crucial to understand that people can die from this type of transmission," Norman L. Beatty, MD, assistant professor of infectious diseases and global medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, Florida, told the Medscape Spanish edition. Beatty is the lead author of a recent article on the subject.

In regions where the parasite circulates in the environment, people are consuming foods, fruit juices, and possibly wild animal meat that may be contaminated. "As we experience changes in our environment and in the way we consume food, it is crucial to consider how food preparation is carried out in areas where T cruzi transmission occurs in the environment," said Beatty. "And as organic farming methods without insecticides become increasingly common, more research is needed in these areas, both in Latin America and in the United States, to understand if oral transmission of T cruzi is occurring."

In the Amazon basin, foodborne transmission is already the leading cause of acute Chagas disease. It has been described in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, and Venezuela.

Beatty's colleagues recently treated a Brazilian patient at the hospital in Florida. "He came to our hospital very ill, with acute myocarditis after consuming contaminated açaí." Clarifying that there is widespread awareness about oral transmission in Brazil, he stated, "We are concerned that it may not be recognized in other areas of Latin America."

Mexico and regions of Central America have little to no information on oral transmission, but it is likely occurring, and cases may be going undetected in the region, said Beatty.

He investigated the issue in Colombia as part of an international collaboration involving the University of Antioquia, aiming to find ways to mitigate oral transmission and create a model that can be used throughout Latin America and the United States. For the Colombia study, they reviewed all cases reported to the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, and oral transmission turned out to be more common than the research group expected. "Still, I imagine that in certain areas with limited resources…there are many more cases that are not being reported.

"A myth I would like to dispel is that Chagas disease is not being transmitted in the United States," Beatty added. He mentioned that at least 30 American states have vectors, and in Florida, it was documented that triatomines invaded homes and bit residents. In addition, 30% of these insects are infected with T cruzi. Research is underway to determine whether Floridians are becoming infected and if they are also at risk of contracting Chagas disease orally, said Beatty. "In the United States, we know very little about how many people are infected and what the infection routes are. Much more research is needed."

Roberto Chuit, MD, PhD, a doctor in public health and an external consultant for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), agreed that this route of food contamination, which occurs because of vector-borne parasites, was until recently masked or hidden by the predominance of vector presence. Just as it began to gain importance as other transmission routes were controlled, "it now has extremely high importance in the Americas, as does vertical transmission," he said.

In 2023, more than 50 years after the first description of oral transmission, the PAHO expert meeting proposed to alert health services and the broader community about the severity and potential lethality of oral Chagas disease outbreaks to elicit immediate responses and mitigation measures. The body also proposed conducting studies to provide detailed information on the contamination source and the wild vectors present in oral transmission foci.

Unique Clinical Manifestations

The exacerbated signs and symptoms of oral infection (see sidebar) are attributed to the high parasite loads in contaminated food and beverages. A single crushed triatomine along with a food or beverage harboring T cruzi can contain an estimated 600,000 metacyclic trypomastigotes, compared with 3000-4000 per µL when infection occurs by triatomine fecal matter. The robust systemic immune response observed in patients with acute oral Chagas disease is thought to result from more efficient transmission after penetration through the oral, pharyngeal, and gastric mucosae.

Seven Things to Know About Orally Transmitted Chagas Disease

1. It presents with exacerbated symptoms and rapid disease progression in immunocompetent individuals. This presentation is not common in vector-borne, congenital, or transfusion-related transmission. It can cause fulminant myocarditis and heart failure, meningoencephalitis, or potentially fatal shock due to parasitemia.
2. Most patients (71%-100%) with acute oral Chagas present with fever.
3. Electrocardiographic abnormalities, specifically ventricular depolarization alterations and pericardial involvement, are observed in most patients.
4. Facial edema, which typically affects the entire face and parts of the lips, is present in 57%-100% of patients with acute oral Chagas disease. In those with acute symptoms from vector transmission, unilateral periorbital swelling (Romaña's sign) is more common.
5. Other notable systemic symptoms include edema of the lower extremities, myalgia, generalized lymphadenopathy, abdominal discomfort, dyspnea, vomiting, diarrhea, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, headache, chest pain, cutaneous erythematous rash, jaundice, arthralgia, epistaxis, hematemesis, melena, and palpitations.
6. The incubation period after oral ingestion of products contaminated with Trypanosoma cruzi is approximately 3-22 days, in contrast to 4-15 days for vector-borne transmission and 8-160 days for transfusion and transplant-related transmission.
7. Patients need antiparasitic drugs immediately.

Thinking Epidemiologically

Chuit recalled that suspicion of food contamination should be based on epidemiology, especially in outbreaks affecting several people and in regions where Chagas vectors have been described. Sometimes, however, a single careless tourist consumes contaminated products.

"The difficulty is that many times it is not considered, and if it is not considered, the search for the parasite is not requested," said Chuit. He added that it is common for the professional to consider Chagas disease only if viral and bacterial isolation tests are negative. Clinicians sometimes consider Chagas disease because the patient has not responded to regular treatments for other causes, such as antibiotics and hydration.

Epidemiology is important, especially when Chagas disease is diagnosed in groups or a family, because they are usually not isolated cases but outbreaks of 3-40 cases, according to Chuit. "Under these conditions, it must be quickly considered…that this parasite may be involved."

One of the difficulties is that the source of these oral transmissions is not recognized most of the time. In general, the sources are usually foods that are more likely to be contaminated by insects or insect feces, such as orange juice or sugarcane. But in fact, any food or beverage left unattended could be contaminated by vectors or possible secretions from infected marsupial odoriferous glands.

An analysis of 32 outbreaks from 1965 to 2022 showed that the main foods involved in oral transmission were homemade fruit juices. But different vector species were identified, and the reservoirs were mainly dogs, rodents, and large American opossums (Didelphis).

The largest oral Chagas outbreak was linked to the consumption of contaminated guava juice in a primary school in Caracas, Venezuela. Nonindustrially produced açaí is a common source of orally acquired Chagas disease in Brazil. In Colombia, Chagas disease has been associated with the consumption of palm wine, sugar cane, and tangerine juice. Other oral transmission routes include consuming meat from wild animals and ingesting blood from infected armadillos, which is related to a traditional medicine practice.

Deadly Yet Easily Treatable

In the outbreak of 119 confirmed and suspected cases in Venezuela, 20.3% required hospitalization, and a 5-year-old child died of acute myocarditis. These percentages differ from those reported in vector transmission, which is asymptomatic in the acute phase for 95%-99% of cases or will only develop a mild febrile illness that resolves on its own.

"Not all cases will present as severe, because depending on the inoculum, there may be individuals with subclinical situations. But any food poisoning that occurs in endemic areas, where food is not properly controlled, and these street foods are associated with processes in jungle areas, raises the possibility that T cruzi is involved and should be considered as a differential diagnosis," noted Chuit. "The treatment is highly effective, and people recover quickly."

"The most important thing about oral transmission of Chagas is that someone infected in this way needs antiparasitic drugs nifurtimox and benznidazole immediately. We can cure them if we treat them immediately," said Beatty, adding that treatment is sometimes delayed due to lack of access to appropriate antiparasitic drugs. "Here in the United States and in Latin America, it is quite common for healthcare professionals not to understand the differences between vector, vertical, and oral transmission. By not treating these patients, they become ill quickly."

Beatty and Chuit declared no relevant financial conflicts of interest.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/oral-transmission-chagas-disease-has-severe-effects-2024a100042f

The real issues IVF legislation should address

 As one of the few lawyers in America to have actually litigated in vitro fertilization, I can say with certainty that Congress’s approach to the issue of IVF is all wrong.

Eight years ago, I filed a lawsuit under Louisiana’s IVF law to save the lives of five-day-old Emma and Isabella, the embryonic children of actor and businessman Nick Loeb and his former fiancée, Hollywood A-lister and star of the TV show “Modern Family” Sofia Vergara.

The lawsuit was an uphill battle that still rages on to this day, and it paints a very clear picture just how murky the cryogenically frozen waters of IVF can be.

It can be hard to see an embryo as a human being, especially as in the case of Emma and Isabella who started as two eggs and sperm in a petri dish, and now exist in cryogenic embryonic suspension…developmentally still only five days old.

This isn’t exactly the way we learned in junior high health class that babies are made.

It’s why the Feb. 16 Alabama Supreme Court decision on LePage v. Mobile Infirmary Clinic set off a firestorm for politicians and pundits who raced to type up half-baked statements reacting to a court decision that many still don’t understand.

They’ve said that IVF is under attack. (It’s not.)

They’ve said that abortion rights are under attack. (They’re not.)

In short, the state Supreme Court simply vindicated three couples who had gone through so much physically, emotionally, and financially to build their families. To hold the IVF clinic accountable for the destruction of the couples’ frozen embryos, the court declared those embryos to be human beings with rights extending outside the womb, whose parents can seek justice under Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor law. The verdict was clear: IVF clinics must do their jobs in protecting children’s lives.

This is actually a win for IVF, and for accountability!

Now, legislators in both the states and the U.S. Senate are introducing IVF bills to shield the industry from regulation and accountability. Unfortunately, none of them to date have addressed the real problems.

IVF policy should support parents and families by giving them verified data, informed consent, and legal recourse when things go terribly wrong. New policies should also regulate the fertility industry and protect the children whose lives are suspended — literally frozen in time.

First, we must make sure that prospective parents really know what they’re getting into.

With authentic reporting requirements within the fertility industry, clinics could offer parents true informed consent on a host of IVF variables: costs; embryo creation, transfer, and success rates; risks and complications; disposition of embryos in the event of parent separation or death; and parents’ legal rights if clinics intentionally or negligently destroy their embryos.

Second, we need to enact regulations that ensure the best chance of parenthood. This includes promoting less invasive, less expensive fertility treatments before turning to cost-prohibitive IVF.

We should follow the example of countries like Germany and of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine guidelines that call for limiting the number of embryos created to the number that will be transferred. This alone quells the exponential expansion of surplus embryos — currently somewhere between 400,000 and 1 million-plus in the U.S. alone — which will lower costs for the parents, reduce unnecessary risk of embryo destruction, and improve health outcomes for both mother and child.

This would bring an end to the Wild West of fertility medicine that is rife with stories from wrong embryos being implanted to doctored paperwork to cover up mistakes. One couple saw their embryos lost, had a stranger’s embryo transferred unbeknownst to them, and then aborted the stranger’s baby rather than face a custody battle at birth. In several cases, fertility doctors used the wrong sperm or even their own sperm to inseminate women. Then, there are multiple equipment failures, at different clinics, that have killed thousands of embryos.

These are violations in the fertility industry that legislation must address, but we must also do all we can to protect the children’s rights.

Preimplantation genetic testing is too often used for eugenic or “designer baby” purposes, such as picking the baby’s sex, mental traits, or even eye color. Many countries limit or ban the practice; we should, too.

Children also have a right to know their biological parents for their medical and emotional well-being. Colorado and some other countries prohibit anonymous egg and sperm donation for IVF; we should likewise act at the federal level to prohibit anonymity.

We must celebrate the beautiful, loving families created by the modern miracle of IVF by ending the failed regime of self-regulation by an industry plagued with mistakes.

Just like police departments nationwide welcomed bodycams for their own protection, it is now time for the fertility industry to welcome regulations that will ensure protections for all.

Catherine Glenn Foster, M.A., J.D., is a constitutional attorney and president and CEO of First Rights Global, a position she assumed after a six-year tenure leading Americans United for Life, the country’s oldest pro-life organization, and a legal career on the issues of life, liberty, and human rights.

https://thehill.com/opinion/4501246-the-real-issues-ivf-legislation-should-address/

'NY AG threatens ‘decisive legal action’ over county’s transgender athlete ban'

 New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) on Friday demanded that a Nassau County official immediately repeal an executive order restricting the ability of transgender women and girls to participate in athletic events at county-run facilities, arguing it is “in clear violation” of state law.

“The law is perfectly clear: you cannot discriminate against a person because of their gender identity or expression. We have no room for hate or bigotry in New York,” James said in a statement, referring to an executive order issued last week by Nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman.

Blakeman’s order, which prohibits athletic events that allow transgender girls to participate in accordance with their gender identity from being held at county-run facilities, is “transphobic and blatantly illegal,” James said.

“Nassau County must immediately rescind the order, or we will not hesitate to take decisive legal action,” she said.

Under Blakeman’s executive order, which was signed Feb. 22 and took effect immediately, an individual’s gender is defined as their “biological sex at birth.” Local athletic teams, leagues, organizations and programs must “expressly designate” participation based on members’ sex assigned at birth, and permits must be denied to those who allow transgender girls to compete with or against cisgender girls.

Blakeman at a news conference last week said transgender athletes, regardless of their gender identity, are still allowed to compete in all-boys or coed leagues in the county. The order applies to more than 100 public venues, including parks, baseball fields, basketball courts, swimming pools and ice rinks.

In a cease and desist letter sent Friday to Blakeman, James’s office demanded that the executive order be repealed within five business days.

“Failure to comply with this directive may result in further legal action,” Sandra Park, chief of the office’s Civil Rights Bureau, wrote in the letter.

Blakeman’s executive order, according to Park’s letter, violates the state’s human rights law, which makes it illegal for places of public accommodation, including those owned or operated by a local government entity, to discriminate based on sex or gender identity or expression.

“These prohibited types of discrimination are exactly what the Order imposes on transgender women and girls participating in women and girls’ teams in the County, as well as teams, leagues, and other sports entities and organizations that welcome the participation of transgender women and girls, but which will have to discriminate against them to comply with the Order’s terms,” Park wrote.

By only targeting transgender women and girls, the executive order will also impose increased scrutiny on female sports teams, Park wrote, and may result in subjecting female athletes to “intrusive and inappropriate inquiries or verification requirements that will harm cisgender and transgender women and girls alike.”

Officials in at least two dozen states with similar restrictions on transgender athletes have grappled with how to enforce them. Officials in Florida last year weighed tracking student-athletes’ menstrual cycles, though that proposal was eventually voted down by the state’s high school athletic association after widespread outrage.

In Utah, a state school board member was censured last month after she falsely suggested in a Facebook post that a female student in her district is transgender, provoking a tidal wave of online threats against the student and increased security at her school.

Blakeman on Friday signaled no plans to rescind his executive order, despite the state’s promise of legal action.

“In Nassau we will continue to fight for females’ right to be safe, secure, and have a level playing field to compete,” he said Friday on X, formerly Twitter.

Top New York Democrats including Gov. Kathy Hochul have denounced Blakeman’s executive order as dangerous and politically motivated. The ACLU of New York last week said it is considering “all options to stop it.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/lgbtq/4501690-new-york-ag-letitia-james-transgender-athlete-ban/