The Daily Signal - Hurricane Milton Mayhem, Harris Media Blitz, Database Counts Child Transitions | Oct. 8

Starting point is 00:00:00 Millions have evacuated due to Hurricane Milton. I'm Elizabeth Mitchell, and this is the Daily Signal, top news for Wednesday, October 9th. Millions have evacuated in more than 20 Florida counties as Hurricane Milton comes across the Gulf of Mexico into the Sunshine State. Hurricane Milton is expected to hit landfall Wednesday evening with doubled a storm surge and even stronger winds than Hurricane Helene. As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, Milton had maximum sustained winds of 145 miles. per hour, classifying it as a category four storm. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said, because it is impossible to predict exactly where Milton will hit land, the time to prepare, including evacuate if told to do so, is quickly coming to an end. Florida governor, Ron DeSantis,

Starting point is 00:00:59 warned Floridians to prepare for the worst. He said, let's pray that we get a weakening and hope for the least amount of damage as possible, but we must be prepared for a major, major impact to the west coast of Florida. The hurricane is expected to bring 5 to 12 inches of rain with localized totals up to 18 inches. After 12 years of legal battles, Christian Baker, Jack Phillips, may finally be done defending himself in court. The Colorado Supreme Court dismissed the latest discrimination case against him on Tuesday. Phillips refused to craft a custom cake that would have been pink on the inside and blue on the outside to celebrate a so-called gender transition. Phillips had already won a case in 2018, challenging his religious freedom after he refused to create a custom

Starting point is 00:01:47 cake to celebrate a same-sex marriage. The Colorado Supreme Court previously ruled in 2019 that transgender-identifying lawyer, Autumn Scardina, could not sue Phillips under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act after having gone through a previous administrative process. However, the Colorado court did not rule on Phillips' religious freedom, which some say could open the door for further suits against him. Phillips believes that marriage is between one man and one woman in that God made all human beings male or female. Alliance Defending Freedom's senior counsel Jake Warner said it is time to leave Phillips alone. Warner said, free speech is for everyone. As the Supreme Court held in 303 creative, the government

Starting point is 00:02:28 cannot force artists to express messages they don't believe. In this case, an attorney demanded that Jack create a custom cake that would celebrate and symbolize a transition from male to female. Because the cake admittedly expresses a message and because Jack, cannot express that message for anyone, the government cannot punish Jack for declining to express it. The First Amendment protects that decision. Several Democrats running in tight races for the U.S. House and Senate joined a larger group of Democrats in signing a letter urging Congress not to defund a measure providing experimental transgender medical interventions that's included in a bill to fund the U.S. military. The vast majority of Democrats in the House signed the letter,

Starting point is 00:03:10 led by Representative Sarah Jacobs, Pramila Jayapal, and Mark Pocan. The letter urges the House of Representatives not to include provisions that actively target LGBTQ service members and LGBTQ dependents and threaten the recruitment, retention, and readiness of our armed forces in the National Defense Authorization Act, the bill to fund the military. The NDAA allocates money to the Department of Defense, and it is considered one of the must-pass bills in Congress each year. Two of the letter's signatories, representatives Colin Al-Rad and Ruben Gallagher, ago are running for the U.S. Senate in their respective states. The letter flags provisions House Republicans added to the NDAA that would restrict what Democrats call medically necessary

Starting point is 00:03:49 care for transgender service members or their family members. In addition to defunding transgender medical interventions, the provisions would prevent military leaders from approving ideological flags like the LGBTQ pride flag. They would also remove pornographic books and books pushing gender ideology from Department of Defense K-12 school libraries, which the Democrats call a transgender book ban. They would also ban any of the NDAA funds from going to a drag show, drag queen story hour, or similar events. The 162 Democrats who signed the letter claim that these provisions would exacerbate the U.S. military's recruitment and retention crisis, and that people who identify as transgender are more likely to serve in the military than those who do not so identify.

Starting point is 00:04:33 The Democrats' vice presidential nominee endorsed abolishing the Electoral College on Tuesday. Politico first reported that Minnesota Governor Tim Walls said at a fundraising event with California Governor Gavin Newsom Tuesday that the Electoral College needs to go. Some Democrats oppose the Electoral College because it can allow a candidate who loses the national popular vote to still win the presidency, which is what happened when Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016. The only other time this has happened since 1900 was with George W. Bush in 2000. Walls reportedly said, I think all of us know the Electoral College needs to go. We need a national popular vote that is something.

Starting point is 00:05:13 But that's not the world we live in. Vice President Kamala Harris said on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2019 that she too is open to the discussion of abolishing the Electoral College. But the Harris Walls campaign said abolishing the Electoral College is not an official campaign decision. Here's the statement. Governor Walls believes that every vote matters in the Electoral College and he is honored to be traveling the country and battleground states working to earn support for the Harris Wall's ticket. He was commenting to a crowd of strong supporters about how the campaign is built to win 270 electoral votes. Changing or eliminating the Electoral College can be accomplished only by an amendment to the Constitution. Without the Electoral College, political power would be concentrated

Starting point is 00:05:53 in our largest states and cities. If the Electoral College were eliminated, the power to elect the president would rest solely in the hands of a few of our largest states and cities, greatly diminishing the voice of smaller populated states. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Daily Signal Top News. If you haven't gotten the chance, be sure to check out our morning show. Tomorrow, Virginia Allen is sitting down with coach Joe Kennedy about his movie, Average Joe. Also, please subscribe to The Daily Signal and help us reach more listeners by leaving us a five-star rating and review. Thanks so much for listening.

Starting point is 00:06:26 Have a wonderful night and we'll be back with you in the morning. The Daily Signal podcast is made possible because of listeners like you. Executive producers are Rob Lewy and Katrina Trinko. 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 - Hurricane Milton Mayhem, Harris Media Blitz, Database Counts Child Transitions | Oct. 8

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