The Daily Signal - Biden Gender Rule, Allred on Trans Sports, Walgreens Stores Close | Oct. 16

Starting point is 00:00:00 A Biden-Harris rule could cause families to lose their kids to gender ideology. I'm Elizabeth Mitchell, and this is the Daily Signal top news for Wednesday, October 16th. The Daily Caller reported that while crafting its foster care rule finalized in April, Biden-Harris, health and human services officials, took inspiration from social workers in Coyahoga County, Ohio, who spent years on a program that compels parents to affirm their child. gender identity. Parents who decline risk losing their children. The Daily Signals, Tyler O'Neill, is following this. Tyler, could you tell us about the Biden-Harris administration's rule? Yeah, so this rule is very important, and it changes a lot of how the foster care system works. Essentially,

Starting point is 00:00:59 it means that the foster care system is adopting gender ideology, transgender orthodoxy, in the way that the foster care is regulated on a federal level. And so, you know, when this rule originally came out in October 2023, naturally a lot of parents and conservatives and many others made a fuss because they said, look, we don't want it to be the case that all foster care agencies have to embrace gender ideology, have to train people to think along these lines with LGBT, you know, orthodoxy, and you can't foster children if you don't agree with LGBT orthodoxy. I mean, there are so many people, not just conservative Christians, but, you know, Jews, Muslims.

Starting point is 00:01:52 Many Americans have many different disagreements, and many Americans who agree with some of the LG and B don't agree with the T. And so the idea that you're going to be requiring people. Anyway, the October rule was changed by April in order to tighten those regulations, those requirements. So in order to qualify as a good placement for a kid who identifies as LGBTQ, you have to meet certain requirements. You have to be trained in certain ways. You have to support, you know, quote unquote, gender affirming care.

Starting point is 00:02:30 And you have to be trained to think along these. line. So essentially what's happening with these rules. And, you know, the agency was very much saying, look, we acknowledge that there's criticism here and we want to say that we're only changing the requirements for families that are going to have LGBTQ kids placed with them. The problem, of course, with that is that any child can identify as LGBTQ at any time. And if you're in the foster care system, and the foster care system has requirements for kids who identify this way. And then one of the kids that you're fostering suddenly has a change of heart, suddenly, you know, is dealing with maybe not being as, you know, as masculine a boy or as feminine a girl and suddenly says,

Starting point is 00:03:25 you know, maybe I'm queer. Suddenly you're regulated differently and you fall under these rules. And so what I wrote this story about and what Caitlin Richardson and Megan Brock writing for the Daily Caller found was that the very people who helped create this original rule also wanted the administration for children and families at HHS to apply it to everyone, to say that if you're going to be a foster parent, you have to embrace LGBTQ issues. and that, you know, they're not happy with the current rule. And if they're not happy with the current rule and the administration of children and families

Starting point is 00:04:08 relies on them as the ultimate source, then we can pretty much be guaranteed that if they continue down this road, you're going to find yourself in a system where foster care is determined by gender ideology. Thanks so much, Tyler. Hey, thanks for having me. Representative Colin Allred, a Democrat from Texas, brought up his faith in an attempt to deny his own voting record on men who identify as transgender competing in women's sports during a candidate's debate Tuesday night with incumbent Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican. Debate moderator Gromer Jeffers Jr., a reporter with the Dallas Morning News, asked Allred about Cruz's political. Claiming that Allred refuses to protect the integrity of women's and girls sports.

Starting point is 00:05:02 Here's the exchange between Jeffers and Allred. Congressman, your opponent is saying in political ads that you refuse to protect the integrity of women and girls sports. The most recent ad actually came out today. Congressman, where do you stand on transgender athletes in women's sports? Let's be very clear. Let's be very clear about what's happening in this campaign. This is, you don't have to be a former NFL linebacker to recognize a Hail Mary when you see one. This is a desperate last second attempt by Senator Cruz to distract you because he can't defend his own record.

Starting point is 00:05:40 Listen, I'm a dad. I'm a Christian. Of course, I don't support these ridiculous things that he's talking about. But what he wants you thinking about is kids in bathrooms, so you're not thinking about women in hospitals. Because it's indefensible. It's indefensible that we have Texas women being turned away from hospitals. Cruz, however, brought up Allred's own voting record during his three terms in the House. Four times he has come out for men playing in women's sports, for boys playing in girls' sports.

Starting point is 00:06:10 He is a co-sponsor and he voted for a law called the Equality Act. The Equality Act mandated that boys be able to go in girls' bathrooms in their locker rooms and their changing rooms. He voted for it. That is his record. Number two, there was a bill. It was a very simple bill. It was narrowly defined. It was protecting women and girls' sports.

Starting point is 00:06:26 He voted no. The only issue on that bill was whether biological boys should compete against our daughters. That's not fair. Congressman Allred was an NFL linebacker. It is not fair for a man to compete against women. The third time, he signed onto something called the Transgender Bill of Rights, transgender Bill of Rights, explicitly, and he co-sponsored it, mandated that boys compete against girls' sports. And just two weeks ago, Congressman Allred joined. 100 radical Democrats in demanding that our military allow drag shows on military bases, pay for soldiers to have sex changes using taxpayer money, and pay for children to be sterilized and have sex changes on military bases.

Starting point is 00:07:13 Again, that's extreme. That's not Texas, but that is his voting. Senator, that's your time. In closing, Cruz cited a letter that Allred signed last month, calling on Congress to approve of drag queen performances and, experimental transgender medical interventions in the military. Cruz leads all red by four points in the real clear politics polling average for the U.S. Senate race in Texas. In 2018, Cruz defeated then-representative Beto O'Rourke, a Democrat from Texas,

Starting point is 00:07:42 by a narrow 2.6 percentage points. Although Texas heavily favors Republicans, Democrats have targeted the state due to its large Hispanic population. Drugstore chain Walgreens is closing 1,200 stores. over the next three years. Walgreens Boots Alliance announced the closures in its latest quarterly earnings report released Tuesday. Walgreens will close 500 stores next year and reach a total of 1,200 closings in the next three years. The pharmacy giant said it plans to redeploy the majority of workers at closed stores. According to Tim Wentworth, who serves as chief executive of Walgreens Boots Alliance,

Starting point is 00:08:23 the closures will allow Walgreens to respond more dynamically to shifts in consumer behavior and buying preferences. Wentworth said Walgreens has more than 8,000 stores in the U.S., about 6,000 of which are profitable. Walgreens did not specify where the closures will occur. Now it's time for our two quick hits. First, the November 5th presidential election could be won or lost in Pennsylvania. And a recent signal poll in two Bellwether counties show that Donald Trump may be in the driver's seat. The poll found Trump, the Republican former president, narrowly leads Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat, in Erie and Northampton counties. When voters were asked, who they would vote for, 48.3% said Harris and 49.1% said Trump.

Starting point is 00:09:12 For quick hit number two, Americans' trust in the mass media has fallen to a record low, leading up to the November 5th election, according to a survey released Monday by Gallup. About 36% of those surveyed said that they have no trust at all in the mass media, while 31% expressed a great deal or fair amount of confidence. Another 33% expressed not very much confidence. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Daily Signal, top news. If you haven't gotten a chance, be sure to check out our morning show. Tomorrow morning, our executive editor and president, Rob Bluey,

Starting point is 00:09:48 is sitting down with Gabriel Nadalas, a former Antifa member turned conservative. Also, please subscribe to the Daily Signal wherever you listen to podcasts. and please leave us a review so we know how you feel about the show. Thanks so much for tuning in. Have a great night and we'll be back with you in the morning with another episode of The Daily Signal podcast. The Daily Signal podcast is made possible because of listeners like you. Executive producers are Rob Lewy and Katrina Trinko.

Starting point is 00:10:19 Hosts are Virginia Allen, Brian Gottstein, Tyler O'Neill, and Elizabeth Mitchell. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, John Pop, and Joseph Von Spakovsky. To learn more or support our work, please visit DailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - Biden Gender Rule, Allred on Trans Sports, Walgreens Stores Close | Oct. 16

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