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The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky – Northern Division blocked President Joe Biden’s Title IX rewrite, known as the Final Rule. The ruling applies nationwide.
“Because the Final Rule and its corresponding regulations exceed the Department’s authority under Title IX, violate the Constitution, and are the result of arbitrary and capricious agency action, the plaintiffs’ motions for summary judgment will be granted and the Department’s motion for summary judgment will be denied,” wrote the Court. //
The Final Rule had gender identity, sexual orientation, and sex characteristics.
The Department refused to provide a narrow definition of “sex” “to avoid overbroad application of a prohibition on discrimination based on sex stereotypes.” //
The Court stressed that Title IX’s phrase “on the basis of sex” means exactly what it says when Title IX became law: Sex is female or male. Title IX protects human beings born female. Basic biology! //
The Department of Education also threatened to punish those who refuse to use a person’s preferred name or pronouns.
Well, the Court ruled that violated the First Amendment //
The Final Rule violated the Constitution’s Spending Clause since it threatened to withhold funds from schools that did not abide by the rewrite.
Legislation must satisfy a four-prong test to limit federal funds.
The Court found the Final Rule did not satisfy the fourth prong: “the conditions must not induce unconstitutional action.”. //
Bruce Hayden | January 9, 2025 at 3:34 pm
I find interesting the use of vacatur, which, by necessity, is nationwide. If a regulation violates the APA, and is thus void, it makes no sense for it to be void in just the ED of KY. Void is void, and that is what the APA calls for.
This is in contrast to nationwide injunctions issued by a single district court. How does a single district court, in a single district in a single state have the power to issue a nationwide injunction? It doesn’t typically have jurisdiction over most of the parties involved. The use of nationwide injunctions had grown enormously over the last decade or two, and became increasingly controversial by its overreach, esp in suits pushed by the left. Vacatur of regulations subject to the APA is more defensive in nature, merely preventing the government from imposing non-compliant regulations.
Joe Biden's attempt to mainstream transgenderism in education by claiming that "gender identity" was the same as sex was effectively killed by a federal judge. Judge Danny C. Reeves (G. W. Bush appointee) ruled the Department of Education's gambit was unconstitutional, arbitrary and capricious, exceeded the agency's authority, and was an “attempt to bypass the legislative process and completely transform Title IX.”
The Biden administration issued the new interpretation of Title IX in April, removing the clear and easy-to-follow interpretation put in place by the Trump administration; //
Even though the new interpretation did not specifically address the issue of men claiming to be women so they could play women's sports, it implies that any educational institution doing so will face a federal investigation. //
The mission for Trump's Secretary of Education, before he locks the doors and turns out the lights at that department, is to eradicate all traces of this nonsense and fire everyone who worked on this travesty.
The State of Alaska filed a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging a violation of a congressional directive mandating the development of oil and gas resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s (ANWR) Coastal Plain.
Known as the Section 1002 Area, the 1.5 million-acre stretch of Alaska’s northern coast was designated by Congress in 1980 for potential energy development.
In 2017, Congress explicitly directed federal agencies to open the area for oil and gas leasing.
But a December, 2024 decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management significantly curtailed this directive.
the soon-to-be-former President Biden claimed that had he stayed in the race, he would have won the 2024 presidential election. That, folks, is denial that's measurable on the Richter scale. //
Steprock
21 minutes ago
I agree, Ward. But do you know how we know for a FACT that he would have lost?
Because he did lose! He was weighed and measured by his own party and thrown out. That was the race to the starting line and he didn't make it.
He lost before it started just like Harris lost to Tulsi. It's not wishful thinking; it's denying what actually happened.
He dropped out. He lost. That's the contest. That's the conclusion. No need to deal in hypotheticals.
So then we have Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi. These two have actively campaigned, promoted, and paved the way for legislation that makes/keeps abortion a legal procedure. But if you're a faithful and practicing Catholic, you don't believe this is morally correct. In fact, you believe it is morally wrong. There are groups like Catholics for Choice who think abortions are ok, but they're really just support groups for people who feel guilty and need others in the pen with them to make them feel less guilty. These people are nominal Catholics who reject one of the core teachings of the Church, and so they should just go join another outfit more aligned with their views. //
What disturbs me, though, is that we have two people who wave their Catholicism in our faces, and yet they still support the act of abortion. This makes them nominal Catholics who use their faith to further their own political careers...in my opinion. And this is bad. //
Biden and Pelosi, though, are a lot worse than these people because they use their positions as legislators to further what their Church calls a moral evil, all the while claiming and touting their Catholicism. How do they square that circle? Well, they simply tell us that while they don't personally believe in abortion, as lawmakers, they cannot force their religious views on their constituents who want abortion to be legal. How virtuous of them. And they promote abortions to make the voters happy so that they won't get kicked out of power by them. This is also known as "Selling Your Soul." You surrender your values on morality to serve another diametrically opposed to your own. //
There's no room to thread the needle here for a practicing Catholic. And what we have in Biden and Pelosi are two individuals who have been, unfortunately, temporally successful in doing just that. And now, each with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel, I wonder what goes through their minds. Pelosi is probably thinking that she'll change God's mind by hook, crook, or bribery. And Biden? Well, he's going to visit the pope shortly. Maybe he'll be looking for absolution from Francis.
On the eve of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Mark Levin warned, “We’re standing at the precipice and we’re looking into the abyss.”. //
Weeks after Biden took office, Sky News host Cory Bernardi told viewers the only thing worse than Biden’s mental condition is the extent to which the mainstream media covers it up. He said, “Never before has the leader of the Free World been so cognitively compromised. … It’s clear to me at the least that U.S. President Joe Biden is struggling with dementia and is clearly not up to the task he’s been sworn in to do.”. //
America’s return to normalcy arguably began the moment Trump secured victory. From a global perspective, adversaries quickly recognized that a strong, unpredictable, and bold leader—occasionally ruthless—would soon replace the feeble and ineffectual figure currently occupying the White House.
Things will be very different the second time around. Trump’s unfamiliarity with Washington’s inner workings left him unprepared for the injustices he faced during his first campaign and presidency. It’s fair to say he was naive, taking advice from those who sought his failure and placing trust in the wrong people.
Yet, despite relentless attempts by Democrats to destroy him—through impeachments, indictments, and slander—Trump remains standing, stronger and wiser. //
Trump emphasized, “The bottom line is to get the right people. If you put the right individuals and teams at the heads of these massive agencies, you’ll achieve tremendous success. And now, I know these people better than anyone.”. //
We have already begun our climb out of the abyss.
Roxanne Beckford Hoge
29 minutes ago
"Nixon’s legacy was tarnished by Watergate. Biden’s legacy was tarnished by… Biden."
Spot on.
Salieri Roxanne Beckford Hoge
20 minutes ago edited
I will never forget the apoplexy from the media when Nixon died as the outpouring of love and admiration for the man was nationwide. Despite their best efforts to denigrate him over the years. People lined up everywhere along roads to say goodbye as the hearse drove by.
The Crooked Cadaver can forget ANY of that. //
anon-x8p1
20 minutes ago
LBJ was one of the worst; Nixon over all was probably up there with the best. The media jackets have skewed this reality for far less valid criteria.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is moving forward with a regulatory rule in the final days of the Biden administration that would effectively ban cigarettes currently on the market in favor of products with lower nicotine levels, which could end up boosting business for cartels operating on the black market, an expert tells Fox News Digital. //
It's not a done deal yet; the rule has yet to be finalized. Fortunately, there is a process for these things, and this one is still in the works — and, presumably, open for a new presidential administration to point out that this doesn't pass the stupid test. //
The Biden administration appears to have learned nothing from Prohibition, or any other time the federal government has tried this kind of heavy-handed approach. The Mexican cartels, when they learn of this, will be rubbing their hands together in glee; another billion-dollar black market will soon be opening up, courtesy of the Biden administration, complete with turf wars and all that goes with it. //
anon-hllt
4 hours ago
This a plot. A plot for us smokers to smoke more to cope with lowered nicotine, and thus to pay even more taxes. It’s a hike of the sin tax clothed in another “see how the government cares about you?” lie. It will backfire spectacularly, just like everything else this administration has done under the guise of “caring.”. //
Watt stickdude90
5 hours ago
The process appears to have started during the first Trump administration.
https://natlawreview.com/article/ctp-advances-proposal-set-maximum-nicotine-level-cigarettes
Unfortunately, Trump cannot undo Biden’s executive order.
Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), a law established in 1953, states, “the President of the United States may, from time to time, withdraw from disposition any of the unleased lands of the Outer Continental Shelf.”
Trump needs Congress to change the law. That could happen since the GOP controls the House and Senate.
No one can receive a lease to drill for oil, gas, or other minerals in those areas.
OCSLA lacks language that allows a future president to undo an executive order under Section 12(a).
Former President Barack Obama issued a similar executive order on December 20, 2016.
In April 2017, Trump signed an executive order to undo Obama’s order.
Activist groups challenged Trump’s order.
In 2019, US District Court Judge Sharon Gleason, based in Alaska, overturned Trump’s executive order, leaving in place Obama’s protection of the Arctic’s Chukchi Sea and the East Coast of America.
Joe burning down the house as he heads for the exit.
True to form, he pulled another fast one on Monday and engineered the transfer of 11 Yemeni detainees—some of them former Bin Laden bodyguards and committed terrorists—to Oman to “re-settle” them.
Are you kidding? There are some people who simply cannot be "re-settled." If you worked for Osama bin Laden, you are one of them. //
Michele Tafoya @Michele_Tafoya
·
Biden is setting fire to the house on his way out the door.
nypost.com
Biden admin releases 11 Yemeni detainees with suspected al Qaeda ties...
9:44 PM · Jan 6, 2025
In 2019, during Trump's first term, a federal judge ruled that OCSLA does not permit presidents to overturn bans established by previous administrations. This means Trump would need congressional approval to reverse Biden's decision. //
Here's the part that really makes Joe Biden look petty and vindictive, not that he didn't look that way already. The outgoing president cited concerns about climate change as a reason for signing the order. If that really was his concern — if he really wanted to shut down energy production on essentially the entire United States continental shelf because of climate change — why did he wait until two weeks before leaving office?
The answer is obvious: This order has nothing to do with the climate. It's all political backbiting and attempted sabotage, pure and simple.
The Biden administration announced Monday that it is banning future offshore oil and gas activity across 625 million acres of the Outer Continental Shelf—an area larger than the amount of land included in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803—in its waning days.
The action will shut down future drilling along the East Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, 250 million acres along the West Coast, and 44 million acres of the Bering Sea along the Alaskan Coast. The law that President Joe Biden invoked to issue the policy does not give presidents explicit authority to revoke withdrawals approved by a former president, so the incoming Trump administration may have difficulty unwinding the ban as it pursues plans to unleash the U.S. energy sector. //
The White House announcement laying out the new drilling ban suggests that Monday’s actions secure Biden’s legacy on climate and energy policy, and the administration previously moved to cut offshore oil and gas drilling by issuing the most restrictive five-year leasing schedule in modern history in 2023. The 625 million acres affected by Monday’s announcement is a larger total area of land than the 530 million acres bought in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.
Biden declared a ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling in most U.S. coastal waters on Monday.
With only two weeks remaining in his term, the current president invoked the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to place restrictions on areas along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and parts of Alaska's Northern Bering Sea from future oil and natural gas leasing.
In a statement prepared by his handlers, Biden declared any future offshore drilling was "not worth the risks."
"As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we are transitioning to a clean energy economy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren," he announced. //
USA_Proud Big Hairy American Winner 7 hours ago
Actually, it is binding astaire to executive Orders, as it is based on an old law that allowed the President to remove these "lands" from the drilling list, but no authorization to return them. Of course, it can be removed by law, but with a nearly evenly divided legislature, some GOP members of scenic coastal areas, like FL, may not be willing to let any President restore offshore drilling to their coast. It might need to get complicated to target these Biden areas, which takes time.
Jprs Big Hairy American Winner 7 hours ago
Unfortunately, by invoking the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act it does bind future presidents. It will have to be over turned by Congress.
What does it tell us that the outgoing president believes simply meeting "more world leaders than any one of you" gives him credibility? It tells us that Washington is riddled with meaningless credentialism, whereby politicians are granted "expertise" simply by virtue of existing.
Biden has been around for a long time. Thus, in his mind, and the minds of many Democrats and the national press, he must know what he's talking about. Is that true, though? That's rhetorical because we all know it's not true. Biden is perhaps the worst foreign policy mind in American history when you consider the length of his tenure within the federal government. //
Credentialism has destroyed the federal government. It has turned it into a jobs program for mediocrities who leech off of taxpayers for decades at a time, never having to deliver anything positive for the American people. Joe Biden is the epitome of that culture, and it is somewhat poetic that he'll be leaving Washington as a disgrace.
Elon Musk @elonmusk
·
A travesty that Biden is giving Soros the Medal of Freedom
Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal
🚨🇺🇸ELON: GEORGE SOROS FUNDAMENTALLY HATES HUMANITY
“He's doing things that erode the fabric of civilization. You know, getting DAs elected who refuse to prosecute crime.”
Embedded video
7:32 AM · Jan 4, 2025 //
Searcher
6 hours ago
The unforgivable rewarding the insufferable.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan presented President Biden with options for a potential U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear facilities if the Iranians move towards a nuclear weapon before Jan. 20, in a meeting several weeks ago that remained secret until now, three sources with knowledge of the issue tell Axios. //
Biden and his national security team discussed various options and scenarios during the meeting, which took place roughly one month ago, but the president did not make any final decision, according to the sources. ///
This is supposed to be a message to Iran but I don't think it will have the impact it might have if this discussion were to take place in 3 weeks.
The Biden administration finalized climate regulations to ban most natural gas-powered instantaneous water heaters—a move that critics say will drive up costs for consumers.
The Department of Energy—which formally published the rules the day after Christmas—didn’t issue a press release announcing the action, a departure from past appliance regulations. The published rules say the regulations are expected to help the climate by curbing carbon dioxide emissions.
Overall, under the regulations, roughly 40 percent of the new tankless water heaters available in the United States today will be taken off the market by 2029. Experts and industry officials say that will force consumers to purchase either more expensive or less efficient water heater models. //
One industry analysis estimates that consumers will pay $450 more on average when purchasing new water heaters thanks to the regulations. And that will impact low-income and senior households, which are most reliant on the models targeted by the Department of Energy.
"I have no concerns about Elon Musk. I have been looking at pictures of Joe Biden and Hunter Biden meeting with Chinese political leaders lately that we were told didn’t exist," Jennings responded to Phillip.
Not only did Joe Biden get nailed — again — lying about not meeting with his son's [Chinese] business associates by the new pictures, but they didn't release them until after the election so they wouldn't hurt the Democrats. The media, like Phillip, want to ask about Musk, who has done nothing wrong, but they don't want to press on why Joe Biden lied and Biden's conflicts. Where is the investigation from the media into all the money the Bidens got from foreign nationals? And there hasn't been any real oversight/accountability for Joe Biden's actions on this for all his time occupying office.
"So for all the people who are really concerned about Elon Musk having a very successful international business that actually produces things, that actually produces vehicles or rockets or whatever they're doing," Jennings said.
"The Bidens produced nothing, yet were also 'doing business in China.' So I don't accept this.". //
St.Elder
32 minutes ago
Why don't they talk about/bring up John Kerry talking with Iran secretly when Trump was POTUS.
anon-x8p1 St.Elder
25 minutes ago
How about St Jimmy Carter writing all the heads of state in secret to ignoreBush and the US, when it was ready to go into its Iraq debacle?
Joe Biden spent the first half of his presidency enacting plans to steer at least $1.6 trillion to transform the economy and spur a clean-energy revolution — only to watch those programs become afterthoughts in the 2024 election.
Now the core of his domestic legacy stands unfinished, with hundreds of billions of dollars left to deploy, and imperiled as Donald Trump prepares to take office.
Keep in mind, essentially all the money mentioned above was appropriated back in 2021, with the rest coming via the Inflation Reduction Act of mid-2022. This wasn't a case of Biden simply running out of time because he passed an infrastructure bill six months before the election. The administration had years to expand broadband and build the electric vehicle charging stations it promised, but the actual results were disastrous. //
A $42 billion expansion made in November of 2021 to expand broadband has connected zero homes to the internet. Meanwhile, and this garnered several mentions during the 2024 campaign, $7.5 billion appropriated for EV chargers has produced just 47 stations nationwide. For context, the program promised 500,000 chargers.
What's so comical about this, though, is that the primary reason Biden's agenda fell flat is because of the very bureaucratic state he and his party created and protected. Much of the money was allocated to various government agencies that are staffed by far-left, career bureaucrats who wouldn't know efficiency if it punched them in the face. On the contrary, being as inefficient as possible represents job security for the bureaucracy. If they don't solve problems, then the money just keeps flowing.
Hilariously, in the case of the EV chargers, government DEI requirements played a role in stifling the program. //
There is an obvious lesson here, which is that the bureaucratic state is terrible for America and needs deep reforms to stop the waste and inefficiency that infests it. Will Democrats who are crying about Biden's agenda being hampered support that? Of course, they won't. Instead, they'll keep making excuses and protecting the bureaucracy as if it were one of their own children because it is currently their sole source of power. Still, it is deeply ironic that their sacred cow played a role in Democrats face-planting in 2024. It was well-deserved.
Analyst Chuck DeVore, chief national initiatives officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, penned an essay for The Federalist Friday and also appeared on "Fox & Friends Weekend" to warn that China is conducting a massive military buildup the likes of which we haven’t seen since the days of the Third Reich.
His conclusions are concerning:
"Now the big difference there, is that he really focused on land power, which frankly is pretty easy to build up pretty quickly," he added. "Navies are much more difficult to build up. And we are way behind. And not only do we need to catch up, but we also need to modernize our nuclear weapons, and we need to put a lot of effort into missile defense." //
DeVore also argues that Donald Trump is right to be concerned about the Panama Canal because while we’re busy woke-ifying our military, China is staying occupied with different concerns: //
DeVore continues, arguing that we need budget reform and we need to wake up to the fact that “China’s military buildup and cognitive warfare strategy are clear indications of its intent to defeat the U.S. and its allies by any means necessary.” //
Dr. Dealgood
2 minutes ago
tinfoil hat time: China bought Biden, who then weakened us monetarily and militarily thru useless sh*t like Ukraine.
This strategy also depleted and exposed Russia's weakness.
Two enemies, one big bribe. China gains Russian oil and possibly Siberia. The US gains squat from Ukraine, except hacking and making its corrupt gov't wealthy. //