Tag Archive for: florida

DeSantis Announces Plan To End ‘Woke Banking’ In Florida

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Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced proposed legislation Monday designed to end “ESG woke banking” in the state, slamming ESG as an “elite-driven phenomenon” that seeks to impose policies which would otherwise “never win favor” with the public.

ESG, or environmental, social, and governance standards, are a “mechanism to inject political ideology into investment decisions, corporate governance, and really just the everyday economy,” DeSantis said during the press conference. His plan aims to eliminate its influence in the state by withdrawing government support from banks that use it and creating protections for citizens.

DeSantis highlighted ways he believes the standards negatively impact the United States and its citizens, from increasing the country’s dependence on China to violating company’s duties to their shareholders and undermining the democratic process.

“This is a distortion of a government by and for the people,” DeSantis said. “They are not accountable to you.”

Part of DeSantis’ proposal would put into statute a resolution he issued last August banning state pensions from considering ESG.

The resolution directed Florida’s fund managers to “to invest state funds in a manner that prioritizes the highest return on investment for Florida’s taxpayers and retirees” without regard to ESG.

The proposal would also create protections for Florida citizens against discrimination by big financial institutions for their “religious, political, or social beliefs.”

DeSantis argued the standards often target “disfavored” groups, such as Second Amendment advocates and companies like The GEO Group, a Florida-based private corrections company that holds a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Brandon Wexler, owner of Wex Gunworks, spoke during the press conference on his experience having his accounts shut down by Wells Fargo after banking with the company for 25 years.

Wexler said he received a letter stating the company does not lend to “certain types of industries.”

DeSantis’ proposed legislation will also prohibit financial institutions from using “Social Credit Scores” in banking and lending decisions, ban the housing of state or local funds in institutions that promote ESG and ensure ESG is not used in investment decisions or issuing bonds at the state and local level. Additionally, it will direct the Attorney General and Commissioner of Financial Regulation “to enforce these provisions to the fullest extent of the law.”

“Florida, as usual, is leading the charge against this,” DeSantis said.

Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and House Speaker Paul Renner also joined the press conference.

“The goal of corporate activism seen in environmental, social, and governance investing (ESG) is to bypass democracy and transform capitalism to serve an ideological agenda,” said Renner in a statement. “We will not allow these martini millionaires to push unsafe and unsound investment practices that silence debate in the political process, weaken investment strategies for Florida retirees, and discriminate against any individual’s beliefs. I am proud to stand with Governor DeSantis and Senate President Passidomo to put taxpayers, investors, and Florida retirees first.”

AUTHOR

KATELYNN RICHARDSON

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: Republicans Plot Legislative Avalanche Targeting Progressive Big Biz

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All right reserved. All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

‘Florida Is Where Woke Goes To Die’: Ron DeSantis Sworn In As Governor For Second Term

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TALLAHASSEE, FL — Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was sworn into his second term as governor of the state during a ceremony at the Florida State Capitol building Tuesday.

After being sworn in, DeSantis gave a speech touting his accomplishments during his first term as governor, saying Florida is now number one in a number of different categories, including educational freedom. He also mentioned the number of people who decided to move to the Sunshine State during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the “liberty” and “sanity” the state offers.

“We reject this woke ideology. We seek normalcy, not philosophical lunacy. We will not allow reality, facts, and truth to become optional. We will never surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die!” DeSantis said.

“Freedom lives here, in our great Sunshine State of Florida,” DeSantis continued. “It lives in the dreams of the historic number of families who have moved from states across this country because they saw Florida as the land of liberty and the land of sanity.”

WATCH: 

The ceremony took place after Florida’s Cabinet members were sworn in outside the state Capitol building.

(This post will be updated as more information becomes available.)

AUTHOR

HENRY RODGERS

Chief national correspondent. Follow Henry Rodgers On Twitter.

RELATED VIDEO: Governor Ron DeSantis’ second inaugural address at Florida capitol on January 3rd, 2023.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

EXCLUSIVE: Florida Subpoenas Organizations Pushing Transgender Care On Children In Lawsuit

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The State of Florida is subpoenaing nearly two dozen medical and academic organizations that have pushed transgender sex change treatments onto children as part of an ongoing lawsuit against a new Medicaid rule.

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) subpoenaed 20 organizations in November to obtain information about their internal decision-making and leadership structure for pushing hormone treatments and transgender surgeries on minors, the Daily Caller has learned. The organizations signed onto a lawsuit against the state, which implemented a new rule in August to no longer cover “gender-affirming” care with Medicaid.

“Gender-affirming” care is a euphemism for treatments and procedures that facilitate sex changes, like hormone treatments or sex change surgeries.

Activists filed a preliminary injunction request against the rule, but a federal judge denied the request in October. Judge Robert Hinkle ruled that the question at hand was one for the Medicaid statute, not the Constitution.

The organizations being subpoenaed by the AHCA include the American Pediatric Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, Pediatric Endocrine Society, Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine and Yale University.

Yale is included in the list, despite being an educational institution and not a medical organization, due to the involvement of Yale professors in pushing against the new rule. All 20 of the organizations being subpoenaed have either promoted or employ individuals who promote “gender-affirming” care for minors.

Court documents show that the AHCA wants information on those organizations’ stance on “gender-affirming” care, policies adopted to treat gender dysphoria, side effects associated with those policies and treatments, how the organizations are organized and how many of their members voted to support those policies and why the organizations wanted to file an amicus brief in the Florida case.

The formal request includes documents related to membership deliberations, gender dysphoria and “gender-affirming” care and the Florida lawsuit, Dekker v. Marstiller.

The plaintiffs in the suit have argued that the new Medicaid rule violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Two of the four plaintiffs that the suit was filed on behalf of are 12-year-old children. For now, Florida is now one of ten states that does not cover sex-change treatments under Medicaid.

AUTHOR

DYLAN HOUSMAN

Chief foreign affairs correspondent. Follow Dylan on Twitter.

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DeSantis Denies ‘U-Turn’ On Revoking Disney’s Special Privileges

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A spokesman for Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis denied reports that Florida is walking back his plans to revoke Disney’s special tax district in Friday comments to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

DeSantis signed legislation eliminating Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District in April, ending special administrative and tax privileges the company had enjoyed since 1967, following a public spat between Disney and DeSantis over a bill banning classroom instruction on gender and sexuality for young children. Florida lawmakers were reportedly planning to walk back the elimination of Reedy Creek, due in part to concerns about the additional costs it could impose on the state, according to a Friday Financial Times report.

The Reedy Creek Improvement District allows Disney to operate its own government within Disney World in Florida, meaning it collects taxes to fund its own water, roads and other infrastructure.

“Florida lawmakers are working on plans to reverse a move that would strip Disney of its right to operate a private government around its theme parks,” the Financial Times report read. “State lawmakers are working on a compromise that would allow Disney to keep the arrangement largely in place with a few modifications.”

DeSantis’ team denied any plans to reverse course on its rebuke of Disney.

“Governor DeSantis does not make ‘U-turns,’” DeSantis press secretary Bryan Griffin told the DCNF. “The governor was right to champion removing the extraordinary benefit given to one company through the Reedy Creek Improvement District.”

“We will have an even playing field for businesses in Florida, and the state certainly owes no special favors to one company. Disney’s debts will not fall on the taxpayers of Florida. A plan is in the works and will be released soon,” he said.

The dispute between DeSantis and Disney began when then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek came out against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill following widespread pressure to oppose the legislation, which activists had characterized as anti-gay. The legislation bans classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade.

Soon after DeSantis signed the bill eliminating the Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney stepped away from politics and quietly removed itself from the fight with DeSantis in an apparent effort to preserve its special tax district.

Disney did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

AUTHOR

LAUREL DUGGAN

Social issues and culture reporter.

RELATED ARTICLE: Disney CEO Pledges To Double Down On LGBT ‘Storytelling’ In Animated Kids’ Movies

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Gov. DeSantis: ‘The Only Worn-Out Old Donkey I’m Looking To Put Out To Pasture Is Charlie Crist’

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WATCH: DeSantis debates Crist in Florida governor’s race showdown.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took a shot at, what he called, his “worn-out old donkey” opponent at Monday’s debate against Democratic Florida gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist.

During the fiery debate that took place in the wake of the upcoming Nov. 8 election, the two clashed on issues including inflation, taxes, COVID-19 lockdowns and gender transitions for minors. The moderator also asked the candidates about their plans to reduce inflation and its effects on the people of Florida.

Crist argued that DeSantis repeatedly mentioned Biden in his answer because he intends to run against him in 2024, though the governor has never publicly announced his interests in running for president.

“Well listen, I know that Charlie is interested in talking about 2024 and [President] Joe Biden but I just want to make things very, very clear. The only worn-out old donkey I’m looking to put out to pasture is Charlie Crist,” DeSantis said. “And you want to talk about standing up for taxpayers, when Charlie Crist was governor, he ran saying he would not raise taxes and he signed off on the largest increase in taxes and fees in the history of the state of Florida. We just enacted the largest decrease of taxes in the history of Florida.”

“Well Ron, we know you love to bully people and the name-calling you just exchanged, I can take it. But you shouldn’t do it when children stand behind you at a press conference when they’re wearing a mask,” Crist said. “But apparently that’s your nature and that’s too bad.”

The Democratic candidate was referencing a moment in March when DeSantis told a group of college students standing behind his podium at the University of South Florida that they did not have to wear masks during his speech.

During the debate, Crist accused DeSantis of making “political war zones” out of the state’s public school system by signing the Parental Rights in Education bill earlier in the year to bar educators from teaching sexual orientation and gender identity to students in kindergarten through third grade.

“When you oppose the parents rights in education bill, which prevents six, seven [and] eight-year-olds from having sexuality, gender ideology injected into their curriculum, you are the one that’s waging culture war,” DeSantis said. “I’m simply defending parents and students because it’s inappropriate to have that in elementary school, it’s inappropriate to tell a six-year-old that they were born in the wrong body, it’s inappropriate to tell an eight-year-old that they may have been born a girl but maybe they’re really a boy. That’s wrong. We need to do the basics, we need to teach them to read, write, add and subtract.”

The governor also said that he will protect women’s sports by banning biological males from competing against females. In response, Crist accused him of “dividing” the people of Florida.

On the topic of abortion, DeSantis touted legislation that he signed in April, which banned abortion after 15 weeks gestation with the exception of saving the mother’s life.

The moderator asked the two candidates about their stances on performing transitioning procedures for minors, to which DeSantis stood firmly against puberty blockers and sex reassignment surgeries due to some cases where minors recover from gender dysphoria.

“You should not mutilate minors,” he said. “And they went through this when they were minors and now they regret it and other countries in Europe that went down this road have now backtracked and so we’re doing the right thing, it’s inappropriate to be doing what’s basically genital mutilation.”

Crist accused DeSantis of believing to know better than a medical professional and an individual on their “health” and “right to choose.” The governor said they are young kids who lack the temperament to undergo a “radical procedure” that changes their physical being for life.

AUTHOR

NICOLE SILVERIO

Media reporter. Follow Nicole Silverio on Twitter @NicoleMSilverio

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

Marco Rubio Canvasser Brutally Assaulted And Hospitalized, Senator Says

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Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida claimed that multiple assailants attacked and seriously injured a canvasser backing the senator Sunday night.

“Last night one of our canvassers wearing my T-shirt and a Desantis hat was brutally attacked by 4 animals who told him Republicans weren’t allowed in their neighborhood in #Hialeah #Florida,” Rubio posted on Twitter Monday. “He suffered internal bleeding, a broken jaw & will need facial reconstructive surgery.”

Hialeah police arrested one suspect Monday, according to the Miami Herald. Rubio posted photos of the canvasser wearing a T-shirt from the Rubio campaign on a gurney that loaded him onto an ambulance.

“Sadly, we get the news and we’re still waiting for details. It’s always important to have details,” Rubio said during a Monday rally, the Miami Herald reported. “We’re not like these other people that always jump to conclusions, but we know this: Someone wearing a Rubio T-Shirt and a DeSantis hat was walking in a neighborhood not far from here yesterday when four individuals assaulted him, broke his nose, broke his jaw.”

President Joe Biden, Democrats and the media have escalated attacks against Republicans since the Aug. 8 raid on Mar-a-Lago, the Florida estate owned by former President Donald Trump. Biden labeled Trump’s supporters “a threat to democracy” during a Sept. 1 speech in Philadelphia while Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan urged America to “kill and confront” a movement he described as “extremist” during a Sept. 13 MSNBC appearance.

An 83-year-old woman campaigning against Proposal 3 in Michigan was allegedly shot in the back Sept. 20 while passing out campaign literature. In North Dakota, a man who allegedly ran down 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson on Sept. 18, reportedly claimed the teen was a “Republican extremist.”

“On Sunday, October 23, 2022, at approximately 6:30 p.m., Officers responded to 140 E 60 Street in reference to a fight. At arrival, officers located the 27 year old victim with multiple bruises and a laceration,” a Hialeah Police Department spokesman told the Daily Caller News Foundation via email. “The Initial investigation revealed the victim, was walking on the sidewalk passing out fliers when he was confronted by Javier Lopez (Arrested). Mr. Lopez told the victim he was not allowed to walk on the sidewalk and pass out fliers in his neighborhood. The victim, in order to avoid the confrontation walked across the street where he was again confronted by Mr. Lopez. During the verbal dispute, Mr. Lopez then struck the victim multiple times in the face and head causing the injuries.”

“Officers on scene located Javier Lopez and took him into custody,” the spokesman concluded.

This story has been updated with comment from the Hialeah Police Department.

AUTHOR

HAROLD HUTCHISON

Reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Massive Florida Medical Center Boasted Of Helping Child Get ‘Gender-Affirming’ Surgery, Hormones

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  • UF Health’s Youth Gender Program offers medical treatments to minors to help them present as the opposite sex; the program boasted about helping a minor undergo hormones and feminizing facial surgery and obtain a referral for “gender affirmation surgery,” according to the institution’s website.
  • UF Health did not respond to dozens of requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation and ignored many requests for their age guidelines.
  • “Your parents may not understand and may fight your transition, but this is the way you were born,” one patient said in a UF Health testimonial prominently featured on their website. “Your authentic life is worth fighting for.”

UF Health, a medical network affiliated with the University of Florida located in Gainesville and Jacksonville, boasted about helping a child with gender dysphoria undergo hormone blockers and surgeries in a testimonial on their website.

UF Health’s Youth Gender Program boasts of nationally recognized endocrinologists who specialize in administering pubertal suppression and cross-sex hormone medications to minors and connects children and their families with a host of resources that unquestioningly encourage medical transition for children. One testimonial on their website highlights a minor who, with the help of UF Health, received facial surgery, hormone blockers and a referral for an unspecified cross-sex surgery before turning 18.

The patient, referred to as “Hunter,” underwent hormone blocker injections and sperm cryopreservation as a minor upon adopting a transgender identity at age 15 after watching “I Am Jazz,” a show about a transgender child, according to a testimonial featured prominently on the Youth Gender Program’s website. Hunter received facial feminization surgery, which can include altering the hairline, shaving down the chin and jawbone or augmenting the lips and nose, upon turning 16 with the help of then-UF Health clinical psychologist Anyaliese Hancock-Smith, and was slated to undergo “gender affirmation surgery” in the summer of 2017.

“At the age of 15, Hunter was watching TLC’s transgender reality series, I am Jazz, when she realized she could no longer continue living uncomfortably in the wrong body. Hunter immediately ran into her mother’s room and told her she needed to be on puberty blocking medication,” the testimonial reads.

Hunter was 17 in April 2017, and it is unclear whether the adolescent turned 18 before the surgery; it’s also unclear precisely which surgery Hunter had and whether UF Health performed it or wrote a referral, though Hunter vaguely gives credit to UF Health.

“After meeting with Dr. Silverstein and being diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria, Hunter was prescribed hormone blocker injections and later underwent sperm cryopreservation, a procedure which would eventually allow her to produce biologic children if she wishes,” the post read. “Hunter now believes she looks on the outside like the gender she has always been on the inside, and she credits much of it to her team at UF Health.”

“Hunter now meets with clinical psychologist Anyaliese Hancock-Smith, Ph.D., who assisted Hunter in healthy development of gender identity and expression congruency. This included Hunter getting some facial feminization surgery for her 16th birthday,” the post continued. “Now seventeen years old, Hunter is preparing to have gender affirmation surgery in the summer of 2017, which will allow her to finally feel comfortable in her own skin. She hopes her story will inspire others to embrace their true selves.”

UF Health also included a quote from the patient encouraging others to go against their parents’ wishes when pursuing medical transitions.

“Your parents may not understand and may fight your transition, but this is the way you were born,” Hunter said in the testimonial. “Your authentic life is worth fighting for.”

UF’s Youth Gender Program was following about 50 children receiving puberty blockers and had about 200 patients total on hormones, according to data supplied to the Tampa Bay Times. Fewer than 50 patients in the practice had mastectomies, which are not performed on children under 16, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

The program collaborated with transgender activist group Equality Florida, a group that supports childhood gender transitions and has staunchly opposed efforts to limit those procedures for minors in Florida.

UF Health did not respond to dozens of requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation, including numerous requests over phone, voicemail and email for the institution’s age guidelines for gender-related procedures. UF Health also has yet to share records requested through Florida’s freedom of information law regarding its Youth Gender Program.

Many medical professionals criticize administering puberty blockers and performing sex change surgeries on minors, arguing that children can’t consent to the irreversible procedures and questioning their purported benefits. However, prominent medical organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics support affirming transgender identities through medical procedures, even for minors, and view the procedures as a way to improve adolescents’ mental health.

“All the up-to-date evidence shows that puberty blockers are neither safe nor reversible. The evidence shows that 98% of children who take puberty blockers go on to cross-sex hormones,” Stella O’Malley, an Irish psychotherapist and founder of the gender-critical organization Genspect, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We are roughly 10 years into this large-scale experiment and already we have reports on issues with cognitive development, bone mineral density and fertility. It is only with class action suits, like that taken in the UK, will we see a full exploration of this issue.”

Detransitioners, people who regret undergoing medical gender transitions, are also speaking out against the procedures. Helena Kirshner, a young woman who took cross-sex hormones and socially transitioned to a male identity as a teenager, attributed her temporary trans identity to emotional struggles, peer influence and social media.

“The adolescent brain is in a developmental stage primed to incorporate experiences into the process of identity formation,” she wrote in a February Substack post. “At my first appointment, I was prescribed testosterone, and I would remain on this regimen for a year and a half. It had an extremely negative effect on my mental health, and I finally admitted what a disaster it had been when I was 19 … It has not been easy, and the whole experience seriously derailed my life in ways I could never have foreseen when I was that fifteen-year-old kid playing with pronouns on Tumblr.”

The Youth Gender Program offers consultation, psychotherapy and assessment of medical readiness for cross-sex hormone therapy, according to its website; though it does not list surgical procedures it provides for minors, the first item on its resource page is financing advice for “gender confirmation surgery.” Resources for transgender youth also include a guide to “tucking,” or using tape to hide one’s penis, along with various activist groups including GLAAD which are vocal proponents of childhood medical transitions.

The Youth Gender Program claims its services are consistent with World Professional Association For Transgender Health (WPATH) guidelines; WPATH’s most recent standards of care do not list any age restrictions for minors to be eligible for cross-sex procedures including surgeries, and the organization is generally supportive of adolescent medical transition.

Dr. Michael Haller, chief of pediatric endocrinology at the University of Florida, publicly criticized detransitioner Chloe Cole on Twitter in August after she voiced regret about undergoing a medical transition as a minor and criticized the interventionist approach to gender dysphoria that Haller endorses. Cole, who underwent a “gender-affirming” double-mastectomy at age 15 along with cross-sex hormones that permanently altered her voice, no longer identifies as transgender and advocates against sex change procedures for minors.

“She states she was ‘rushed’ through care but notes her first endocrinologist actually said ‘no’ to rapid transition,” Haller wrote. “She sought alternative avenues for treatment. She then speaks as if her case should justify full scale elimination access for all trans patients.”

“You chose internet notoriety over anything that will ever help patients,” he wrote in another tweet.

“At this point, Dr. Haller has a creepy obsession with me. He’s a corrupt Dr. and Prof. who recommends children for double mastectomies and cross sex hormones. Dr. Haller exhibits abusive habits towards outspoken victims of gender care,” Cole wrote. 

Haller initially agreed to an interview with the DCNF before cancelling and instructing the DCNF to direct questions to an outside organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, which also did not respond to a request for comment.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

AUTHOR

LAUREL DUGGAN

Social issues and culture reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Court Upholds Florida Ban On Taxpayer Funding For Sex Changes

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A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Florida can move forward with a new rule barring Medicaid funds from being spent on sex-changes and other transgender-related care.

A group of transgender rights organizations filed a preliminary injunction request against the rule after it was implemented by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration in August, but Judge Robert Hinkle ruled against the request Wednesday. Hinkle stated that the challenge to the rule wasn’t a constitutional one, rather a question about the Medicaid statute.

Transgender advocates had alleged that the rule, which prevents the state from covering most “gender-affirming” care via Medicaid, violated the equal protections clause of the constitution. “There’s nothing wrong with the state saying they will approve treatment for this and not that,” Hinkle determined. “The question here is about the Medicaid statute.”

Gender-affirming care is a euphemism for treatments that facilitate sex changes. The Florida rule covers procedures including sex-change surgeries, behavioral therapy and hormone therapy.

The groups that filed the suit did so on behalf of four plaintiffs, two of whom are 12-year-old children. Florida has taken steps to push back on the promotion of transgenderism to children in recent months, including via the highly contentious Parental Rights in Education law.

One witness who testified for the state was New Jersey resident Yaakov Sheinfeld, whose 18-year-old daughter began the process of gender transition on the advice of a therapist who diagnosed her with gender dysphoria. Sheinfeld said his daughter’s anxiety and depression never went away, even after the “gender-affirming” care began, and she ultimately died of a drug overdose.

Florida is now one of ten states that doesn’t cover sex changes and related care under Medicaid.

AUTHOR

DYLAN HOUSMAN

Healthcare reporter. Follow Dylan on Twitter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

U.S. State GDPs Compared to Entire Countries

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It’s pretty difficult to even comprehend how ridiculously large the US economy is.

Click here to view the U.S. State GDPs Compared to Entire Countries map.

The map above (click to view and enlarge) matches the economic output (Gross Domestic Product) for each US state (and the District of Columbia) in 2018 to a foreign country with a comparable nominal GDP last year, using data from the BEA for GDP by US state (average of Q2 and Q3 state GDP, since Q4 data aren’t yet available) and data for GDP by country from the International Monetary Fund. Like in past years, for each US state (and the District of Columbia), I’ve identified the country closest in economic size in 2018 (measured by nominal GDP) and those matching countries are displayed in the map above and in the table below. Obviously, in some cases, the closest match was a country that produced slightly more, or slightly less, economic output in 2018 than a given US state.

It’s pretty difficult to even comprehend how ridiculously large the US economy is, and the map above helps put America’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $20.5 trillion ($20,500,000,000,000) in 2018 into perspective by comparing the economic size (GDP) of individual US states to other country’s entire national output. For example:

  1. America’s largest state economy is California, which produced nearly $3 trillion of economic output in 2018, more than the United Kingdom’s GDP last year of $2.8 trillion. Consider this: California has a labor force of 19.6 million compared to the labor force in the UK of 34 million (World Bank data here). Amazingly, it required a labor force 75% larger (and 14.5 million more people) in the UK to produce the same economic output last year as California! That’s a testament to the superior, world-class productivity of the American worker. Further, California as a separate country would have been the 5th largest economy in the world last year, ahead of the UK ($2.81 trillion), France ($2.79 trillion) and India ($2.61 trillion).
  2. America’s second largest state economy—Texas—produced nearly $1.8 trillion of economic output in 2018, which would have ranked the Lone Star State as the world’s 10th largest economy last year. GDP in Texas was slightly higher than Canada’s GDP last year of $1.73 trillion. However, to produce about the same amount of economic output as Texas required a labor force in Canada (20.1 million) that was nearly 50% larger than the labor force in the state of Texas (13.9 million). That is, it required a labor force of 6.2 million more workers in Canada to produce roughly the same output as Texas last year. Another example of the world-class productivity of the American workforce.
  3. America’s third largest state economy—New York with a GDP in 2018 of $1.68 trillion—produced slightly more economic output last year than South Korea ($1.65 trillion). As a separate country, New York would have ranked as the world’s 11th largest economy last year, ahead of No. 12 South Korea, No. 13 Russia ($1.57 trillion) and No. 14 Spain ($1.43 trillion). Amazingly, it required a labor force in South Korea of 28 million that was nearly three times larger than New York’s (9.7 million) to produce roughly the same amount of economic output last year! More evidence of the world-class productivity of American workers.
  4. Other comparisons: Florida (about $1 trillion) produced almost the same amount of GDP in 2018 as Mexico ($1.19  trillion), even though Florida’s labor force of 10.2 million less than 20% of the size of Mexico’s workforce of 59 million.
  5. Even with all of its oil wealth, Saudi Arabia’s GDP in 2018 at $683 billion was below the GDP of US states like Pennsylvania ($793 billion) and Illinois ($863 billion).

Overall, the US produced 24.3% of world GDP in 2017, with only about 4.3% of the world’s population. Four of America’s states (California, Texas, New York and Florida) produced more than $1 trillion in output and as separate countries would have ranked in the world’s top 16 largest economies last year. Together, those four US states produced nearly $7.5 trillion in economic output last year, and as a separate country would have ranked as the world’s third-largest economy.

Adjusted for the size of the workforce, there might not be any country in the world that produces as much output per worker as the US, thanks to the world-class productivity of the American workforce. The map above and the statistics summarized here help remind us of the enormity of the economic powerhouse we live and work in.

So let’s not lose sight of how ridiculously large and powerful the US economy is, and how much wealth, output, and prosperity is being created every day in the largest economic engine there has ever been in human history. This comparison is also a reminder that it was largely free markets, free trade, and capitalism that propelled the US from a minor British colony in the 1700s into a global economic superpower and the world’s largest economy, with individual US states producing the equivalent economic output of entire countries.

This article is reprinted with permission from The American Enterprise Institute.

AUTHOR

Mark J. Perry

Mark J. Perry is a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan’s Flint campus.

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Pelosi: Florida Farmers Need Illegal Immigrants ‘To Pick The Crops’

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Floridian farmers need illegal immigrants in their state to “pick the crops” during a press conference Friday.

“Right now the best thing we can do for our economy is to have comprehensive immigration reform. We have a shortage of workers in our country and you see even in Florida, some of the farmers and the growers saying why are you shipping these immigrants up north, we need them to pick the crops down here,” Pelosi said.

“But that doesn’t mean that we don’t recognize our moral responsibility to as well,” she added.

Pelosi’s comments come weeks after Florida governor Ron DeSantis sent two flights of illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. DeSantis’s office claimed the immigrants went to the area willingly. DeSantis joined Governors Greg Abbott and Doug Ducey of Texas and Arizona in sending illegal immigrants to liberal sanctuary cities.

Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public health emergency in early September over the toll on the city’s resources caused by the influx of thousands of migrants.

AUTHOR

SARAH WEAVER

Staff writer.

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‘We’re A Second Amendment State’: DeSantis Warns Off Prospective Ian Looters

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Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a stern warning during a Friday press conference in Fort Myers to would-be looters in the wake of Hurricane Ian.

“I can tell you in the state of Florida, you never know what may be lurking behind somebody’s home,” the governor cautioned, according to Fox News.

“And I would not want to chance that if I were you — given that we’re a Second Amendment state.”

DeSantis warned against taking advantage of vulnerable people in areas hit hardest by Ian’s destruction. “We want to make sure we’re maintaining law and order,” he said. Local law enforcement remains involved in monitoring any and all looting and state assistance could be called on for help, DeSantis noted further. One sign reading, “You loot, we shoot” was spotted by the governor in Punta Gorda, Fox News reported.

The Category 4 storm left more than 2 million without power after making landfall Wednesday. Flooding hit Fort Myers, Florida particularly hard, where looters were arrested Friday on Fort Myers Beach, according to ABC 3. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office expressed a zero tolerance stance on looting, promising to arrest any involved in criminal activity, the outlet said.

“We are not going to look like Chicago or New York where we’re letting people out in 24 hours so they can go back and loot another home,” tweeted Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody in response to reports of looting. “That will not be tolerated here.”

AUTHOR

ALYSSA BLAKEMORE

Contributor.

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Biden’s Handlers set to Deny School Lunch Funding to Christian School that Refuses to Obey LGBT Mandates

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The pontifex maximus enforces his new state religion.

Dems Poised To Pull Free Lunches From Christian School That Refuses to Obey LGBT Mandates

by Elizabeth Troutman, Washington Free Beacon, August 4, 2022:

The Biden administration is poised to deny free school lunch funding from a Florida Christian school that refuses to comply with the administration’s LGBT mandates, despite the school’s qualification for a religious exemption.

Grant Park Christian Academy in Tampa, Fla., represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, is suing President Joe Biden and Florida agriculture commissioner Nikki Fried for enforcing the Biden administration requirement that schools comply with its LGBT mandates or lose federal school lunch funding.

In May, the Biden administration redefined the meaning of “sex” in Title IX to include sexual orientation and gender identity, forcing schools to permit transgender students to use male or female bathrooms and play sports with either sex in order to receive National School Lunch Program funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. More than half of state attorneys general rejected the memorandum, with Florida attorney general Ashley Moody saying the Biden administration was “using hungry children to advance a political agenda,” the Washington Free Beacon reported….

AUTHOR

ROBERT SPENCER

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EXCLUSIVE: Ethics Group Alleges Dem Rep Exploited COVID Rules To Campaign For Governor

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A watchdog group will file a complaint against Florida Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist on Friday accusing him of taking advantage of pandemic-instituted proxy voting to campaign for governor of Florida, according to a document obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) will send a letter to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) accusing Crist, who reportedly voted by proxy 107 times between Jan. 7 and April 7 according to the Tampa Bay Times, of abusing the House’s COVID-19 policy to avoid spending time in Washington while he campaigns in Florida for governor. The letter asks OCE to open an investigation into Crist.

“It is evident that the true reason he is voting by proxy and virtually attending committee hearings is unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the complaint alleges. “Rather, the reason is so he can campaign for governor.”

The complaint cites Crist allegedly attending campaign events while voting by proxy and include screenshots of social media posts allegedly showing him on the trail on the dates he was absent from Congress.

“We want them to do an investigation, which even in the most straightforward cases, it requires them to compile evidence, get a response and make a decision,” Kendra Arnold, executive director for FACT, told TheDCNF. “Ultimately, we hope that this is referred on to the Ethics Committee and that they impose the appropriate punishment.”

Many members of Congress have taken advantage of the pandemic policy, with about 80% of all House members using it to vote remotely by mid-December, according to the Brookings Institution. Arnold said that while FACT, a conservative organization, is considering taking action against other politicians, Crist’s actions were “especially egregious” because his spokesperson acknowledged he was campaigning.

“The Congressman has two important missions: representing Florida’s 13th District in Congress and giving Floridians, exhausted by Ron DeSantis’ never ending culture wars, a clear choice in November,” Crist’s spokesperson, Chloe Kessock, told The Tampa Bay Times in April.

Crist’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

AUTHOR

SEBASTIAN HUGHES

Politics reporter.

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‘They Want To Stifle Dissent’: DeSantis Declares War Against Biden’s ‘Ministry Of Truth’ At DHS

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Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed to fight the Biden administration’s proposed Disinformation Governance Board Friday, which he said was an attempt to censor ordinary people and impose narrative control.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the formation of the board Wednesday, which will be run by Nina Jankowicz, a self-described “disinformation expert” who previously attempted to discredit the Hunter Biden laptop story. DeSantis promised to fight the board in a Friday press conference.

“You cannot have a Ministry of Truth in this country. And so let’s get real here,” DeSantis said. “We’re not gonna let Biden get away with this one, so we will be fighting back.”

Critics including DeSantis have compared the board to the “Ministry of Truth” in the novel “1984,” an agency that produces government propaganda and decides what citizens are allowed to say and believe.

“They now have an idea – and I honestly thought this was a belated April Fool’s joke – but they are actually going to create in the Department of Homeland Security a Bureau of Disinformation. It’s basically a Ministry of Truth,” DeSantis said. “And what they want to do is, they want to be able to put out false narratives without people being able to speak out and fight back.”

“They want to be able to say things like ‘Russia collusion’ and perpetuate hoaxes and then have people like us be silenced. They want to be able to advocate for COVID lockdowns, they want to be able to advocate for school closures, things that are not supported by the evidence. But then when you speak out, they want to stifle dissent,” he added. “And so we reject this bureau in the state of Florida.”

The board announced Wednesday that it would begin by focusing on Russian disinformation in the lead-up to midterm elections and misinformation aimed at migrants at the southern border, according to the Associated Press. 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said it sounded “like the objective of the board is to prevent disinformation and misinformation from traveling around the country” during a Thursday press conference, but declined to comment on Kankowicz’ appointment, claiming she had no information about her.

Kankowicz said “We should view it [Hunter Biden’s laptop] as a Trump campaign product” on ABC News in October 2020 and claimed Republicans had funded the claimed the now-discredited Steele dossier in a 2017 tweet.

Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson demanded answers from the DHS about the board in a Thursday letter which focused on potential biases Jankowics could bring into the position and called her a “beacon of misinformation online.”

DeSantis’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

AUTHOR

LAUREL DUGGAN

Social issues and culture reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.