The Daily Signal - 'It's Child Abuse': Texas AG Ken Paxton Fights to Protect Children From Transgenderism

Episode Date: February 25, 2022

Hormone treatment and puberty blockers for children are a form of “child abuse,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says. Paxton is in the middle of a battle to protect children from a radical left that wants to corrupt them. “If you're going to sterilize a child, whether it's through some type of chemical process or whether it's through some physical process," he says, "that's child abuse in Texas. It's not legal." Paxton joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss his efforts to protect Texas’ children, as well as investigations of popular social media site TikTok and a lawsuit against Meta/Facebook over privacy concerns. Also on this episode, Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., sits down with us to discuss the confining dangers of Obamacare and the perils of government-enforced mandates. We also cover these stories: Russia launches a full-scale invasion of Ukraine from several directions. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calls on the U.S. to “ratchet the sanctions all the way up” on Russia. Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, urges America and NATO to form an "anti-Putin coalition” in response to the invasion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, February 25th. I'm Virginia Allen. And I'm Doug Blair. The Daily Signal is here at the Conservative Political Action Conference. We're talking to some of the best and brightest of the conservative movement. Today, Mary Margaret spoke with Senator Mike Braun about American health care. And I spoke with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton about how to protect kids from transgender ideology. But before we get to both of those conversations, let's hit our top news stories of the day.

Russia has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. After 30 years of Ukrainian independence, Russia is trying to take back Ukraine through war. Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed airstrikes on Ukrainian cities on Thursday and on military bases. Russian troops and tanks have entered Ukraine. President Joe Biden addressed the nation and the world on Thursday afternoon after Russia launched its war against Ukraine. Take a listen per CBS News. Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war, and now he and his country will bear the consequences.

Biden said America is levying heavy sanctions against Russia in response to its violent invasion of Ukraine. And America is not alone in this effort. Nations across Europe and the world are all joining together to sanction Russia. Biden said he spoke with the leaders of the G7 nations. which are the nations that have the world's most advanced economies across the world. The president said the G7 nations are in full agreement about the sanctions that they are taking against Russia. We will limit Russia's ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds, and yen to be part of the global economy. We'll limit their ability to do that.

We're going to stunt the ability to finance and grow the Russian military. We're going to impose major and we're going to impair their ability to compete in high-tech 21st century economy. We've already seen the impact of our actions on Russian's currency and the ruble, which early today hit its weakest level ever. Biden reiterated Thursday that America will continue to stand with Ukraine, but U.S. troops will not be sent to fight on the ground in Ukraine. The Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican from Kentucky, also called on America to ratchet the sanctions all the way up. After a roundtable briefing on the opioid epidemic, McConnell urged every single available, tough sanction,

should be employed and should be employed now. McConnell also addressed comments made by former President Trump that were construed as praising Putin. McConnell responded to a reporter saying, look, I just told you how I feel about the Russians. Vladimir Putin is a bad guy. He's an authoritarian. He yearns for an empire.

and we need to do everything we can to stop it. The Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, is calling on America and NATO leaders to form an anti-P Putin coalition in response to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Marikarova told reporters Thursday that she and Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky, value the support of America and other nations, but said it's time for action. Kyiv has broken its political ties with Moscow, and now Ukraine is calling on global leaders to do the same.

The ambassador said that Ukraine does not expect anyone to fight for us, but we expect all the help and all the response the West can send us. Make sure you follow the Daily Thistle on Twitter this weekend to keep up with the latest news as this Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to unfold in the coming days and weeks. Now stay tuned for Mary Margaret's conversation with this. Senator Mike Braun in my conversation with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Conservative women. Conservative feminist. It's true. We do exist. I'm Virginia Allen and every Thursday morning on problematic women, Lauren Evans and I sort through the news to bring you stories and interviews that are particular interests to conservative leaning or problematic women. That is women whose views and opinions are often excluded or mocked by those on the so-called

feminist left. We talk about everything from pop culture to policy and politics. Search for problematic women wherever you get your podcasts. My guest today is Senator Mike Braun, a Republican lawmaker from Indiana. Senator Braun, thank you so much for joining us today. Hey, my pleasure to be here. So tell us a little bit about what you're doing here at CPAC today. Well, what topic will you be covering? So I'm talking about a lot of topics, but I'll be on a panel that was probably the biggest issue when I first became a senator, our broken health care system. It's been derailed by a couple of impeachments and COVID. Still for most businesses, that's the biggest issue they contend with because it's an uncontrollable cost.

I'm fortunate that I took it on 15 years ago in my own business, made it employ wellness driven and really changed the structure of my insurance plan, covered preexisting conditions, There's no caps on coverage. Cut costs significantly. It had managed to keep them in check 2% a year. Of course, I resigned as CEO of my company when I became a senator. Right. But it is an example of what we can do to fix a broken health care system

without turning it over to Bernie Sanders. So something that I think is important to establish is a lot of young people don't know what Obamacare is. Could you lay that out for us and explain for our viewers who might not know? So we've evolved over time to where health care consumers either want the government to pay for it or their employer. So there's not skin in the game and they're not health care shoppers or consumers. I restructured my plan to be like that, whereas Obama's plan was simply to give us more government in cahoots with big health insurance and a broken hospital system that's now more and more dominated. by fewer and fewer large companies. And pharma, I think we do a pretty good job

of coming up with remedies, making the pill, but we drop the ball completely with how they distribute it. So it's turned into a nightmare to where it costs us almost twice as much as it does in most other developed countries. And Democrats always don't worry about how you pay for it, whether you borrow money to solve it,

and want more and more government, We haven't knocked things out of the park through government on hardly any issue. So I remember during the Amy Coney-Barritt hearings, Democrats made a huge fuss about the Affordable Care Act, and they kept saying that if Amy Coney-Barritt became a Supreme Court justice, she would just take an axe to the Affordable Care Act. Why do you think that this is such a major Democratic talking point? Because back when Obamacare hit the streets, I think 2010, we had no plan as conservatives. We were defending a broken health care industry, and there's a fear because I think your health and maybe your education are the two most important things that most families worry about. Ironically, there are two of the most expensive things in our lives, and they go up more than all other sectors of our economy because government's so heavily involved in both of them.

And they can use that because when as you get older, your health care becomes probably increasingly, more important than your education. When you're younger, it's maybe education. But we as Republicans, look what happened in Virginia when we seized on an issue where the other side was out of bounds. I think that got us a governor's race in a very blue state. It's an example of what we need to do if we're going to convince independence and win the presidential elections without so much effort and Hail Mary approach, is we've got to

have small government approaches that address health care and weigh in on education as well. Now, you worked with President Donald Trump on health care price transparency, right? I did. Trump was more enterprising trying to do things that would say, hey, be competitive. If you're in the business of health care, publish your prices in print or on the web. Healthcare industry wants nothing of it because when you aren't transparent, You know, that's how you raise prices. When your consumer isn't engaged, when you shop around for health care, there's enough transparency out there now to where you can save 30 to 70% on most prescriptions are most major procedures like MRIs, colonoscopies, the things that you spend generally within your deductible.

But insurance companies, the health care industry, they don't make it easy. the plan I put in place restructured it and that's why we not only cut costs we've kept them in check now for 15 years well I also love to talk about this other plan that you had been talking about your challenge to the Biden administration's vaccine mandate

can you tell us a little more about that so when you get government in overdrive and based upon like romimmanuel says never let a crisis go to waste that's been on full display look how the other side of the aisle they're political enterprisers. I hate to use the word entrepreneurs,

but for business owners, they believe in the government as their growth business, as their cathedral. That will help you understand what's just happened. So then you get things like mask mandates, vaccine mandates. And now even when the information comes out that they weren't really that effective,

look at all the money they cost, I led the effort when the abomination of trying to force businesses down to 100,000, employees either get a vaccine or lose your job, that's government gone wild. And the Supreme Court cited that Congressional Review Act effort that I spearheaded as the congressional cue as to why they said they were going to rule against that mandate. Hopefully that's going to fall apart even for federal employees, contractors, health care workers as well.

Right. And do you have any advice for business owners, like a D.C. bar owner or anyone across the country that's been affected by the and lost their job because of it? You know, once that is done, sadly, a lot of those entrepreneurs, especially in blue states, in the big cities, they had no respect for the private sector, the productive economy, that's a cost that we won't get back, and that a few and oftentimes many in certain places had to bear.

And that's the example of what runaway government can do, even through a crisis, especially when there was so much uncertainty about what the real ways that we get through it would be. That's all coming to light now. Well, Senator Braun, we so appreciate your insight. Thank you for joining us today. My pleasure. As conservatives, sometimes it feels like we're constantly on defense against bad ideas, bad philosophy, revisionist history, junk science, and divisive politics. But here's something I've come to understand. When faced with bad ideas, it's not enough to just defend. If we want to save this country, then it's time to go on offense.

Conservative principles are ideas that work, individual responsibility, strong local communities, and belief in the American dream. As a former college professor and current president of the Heritage Foundation, my life's mission is to learn, educate, and take action. My podcast, The Kevin Roberts Show, is my opportunity to share that journey with you. I'll be diving into the critical issues that plague our nation, having deep conversations with high-profile guests, some of whom may surprise you. And I want to ensure freedom for the next generation. Find the Kevin Roberts Show, wherever you get your podcast. My guest today is Ken Paxton, Attorney General for the State of Texas. Ken, welcome to the show.

Hey, thanks for having me. Great day, huh? Absolutely. Yeah, no, it's a wonderful day. So much energy here. It's great. But I want to start with a legal opinion that you just released surrounding transgenderism and children. In your opinion, you discuss puberty blockers and hormone therapies, and you call this a form of child abuse.

Could you go into a little bit more about why you believe it's child abuse? Yeah, this is Texas law. I mean, my job is not to make a Texas law. It is to, if I get asked a question, which I did by a legislator, then we did our research to make sure we came back with the right answer. And the answer is clear, if you're going to sterilize a child, whether it's through some type of chemical process or whether it's through some physical process, that's child abuse in Texas. It's not legal. These children have the right to make their own decision when they become the age of the majority. Most of the time that's 21 in Texas.

These are serious consequences that last forever. And so clearly under Texas law, at least right now, that's the law. So what are some of the steps that Texas is taking to protect children from what you've called child abuse? Yeah, so I think the governor ordered our family organizations to basically go out and make sure that they are protecting children, making sure they're aware of this ruling. And I'm hopeful that what we put out there will be good guidance for our state government so that parents can't do this to our children. Sometimes it's one parent, sometimes it's two parents.

But in the end, this should be the child's choice when they can make this decision at an older age. Have you received any feedback from parents saying this is a good step? This is where we should be going. Yeah, most parents have been pleased with this. I'm very much a fan of parental rights. and parents being able to make decisions for their kids about their education, about their health. But when you're talking about a decision that is life-altering, that could be made later, and I think the studies indicate that this is a problem when children make this decision,

when the decisions made too young, they end up having a lot of them have regret later. And so one way to combat that is to make sure that people follow Texas law. These kids make these decisions at an older age. So five county district attorneys in Texas issued a statement today that was calling what you and Governor Abbott are doing a continued onslaught on personal freedoms. What is your response to that? And then can district attorneys refuse to prosecute these cases if they agree? Yeah, so these are districtingies.

I clearly don't understand Tex law. This isn't something I made up. This is something like I woke up in the morning and felt, oh, this is something we should do. I mean, I think it's the right decision. I think Texas law is right on this. But this is Texas law as it is. They meant out like it. They should say that.

They say, we don't like this text law. We're not going to follow law. But as a DA, they swear to up whole. Constitution, they should be as supportive of this as if they wrote it. I mean, their job is to follow the law and not make it. So the ACLU in a similar vein tweeted that your general opinion, the Attorney General Paxton's opinion and Governor Abbott's letter have no legal effect, can't change Texas law, and can't override the constitutional gender affirming care that can be considered child

abuse. This isn't just now public people. This is a private institution that is saying this. Yeah, look, the ACLU, I don't think we. agree on much, right? I mean, their interpretation of the Constitution is very different than mine. And I also feel like we are a little better prepared to deal with Texas law than they are. It's my job. We deal with Texas law every day. And our job is to implement it and to explain it, not to pass it, not to change it. That's up to the Texas legislature. But this is not like,

this is controversial only the sense that it's a controversial topic, but it's not really controversial as to what Texas law requires. Absolutely. Do you see that there might be lawsuits and challenges to this memo of this decision? One thing in an attorney general's opinion is it is designed to give guidance. It is not binding. It is designed to help people avoid litigation. So if you don't want to litigate, you want to find out what the answers, what we think a court will do based on what text law is.

This is well-researched, you know, literally hundreds of hours of research trying to make sure we understand this issue. And that's what we did here. On the similar vein of protecting children, you are now investigating popular our social media site, TikTok, over allegations of both not respecting children's privacy and human trafficking. Could you go into maybe what you found in your investigation? Yeah, so this is a new investigation. It's literally started last Friday. So it's really new. So we have not, we've given them deadlines to respond to our questions. So we send out questions are called

CID, civil investigated demand like interrogatories, questions about their practices. What have they done in the past? As this occurred before, what are your practices? It's designed to understand what they're doing on the border. The governor reported this to us and has obviously gotten his information through law enforcement in Texas. And so we have an obligation to find out whether our consumers are being harmed,

and that's all we're doing here. What is the aim of your goal? What are you hoping to find here? The truth. We're trying to find out if they're violating Texas law and whether they're using this TikTok is being used by the company to help cartels,

drug smugglers, human trafficking in the state of Texas, which is clearly illegal. So look, if they're doing that, they're part of the crime. And what would the next step be if you were to find something? Would you bring charges? So we have civil authority. The only thing we have criminal authority is related to voter fraud.

At least we used to, but that's a whole other topic. So, yeah, so we would start, we'd potentially follow lawsuit. And if we found criminal issues, we'd turn over to a district attorney and hope that they would want to enforce. Texas law. And that's one of the challenges we have with some of our DAs. They, many of the more large urban areas have been put in by Soros, and they don't like to prosecute crimes anymore. Moving from one tech platform to another tech platform, you were also involved in a lawsuit against Meadow, which was Facebook's kind of parent company over privacy protection concerns

with biometric data. Could you discuss what you're doing on that front? Yeah, that case was, I started hearing about issues related to this about three years ago. So we started working on this case three years ago. My more recent attorneys on this have aggressively pursued it better than some of the ones when I first gave it to them. So it's picked up and we were able to put together enough information where we believe that Facebook is basically for every user in the state of Texas, which there's about a little over 20 million, and that does not count Instagram.

If you have a picture on there, they've taken your facial geometry. That's a biometric identifier. In Texas, there was a 2009 statute that said that companies cannot use your biometric identifiers, like fingerprints and retinal scans or facial geometry, without disclosing and without your consent. It's a $25,000 violation. It's also a violation of our deceptive trade practices, which is another $10,000 violation. It's a violation if they transmit that information to a third party without your consent. It's another $25,000 violation.

And if they don't destroy the information within a reasonable period of time, that's also another 25. So we're talking about millions and millions of people having their personal information stolen and used. And look, once the genie's out of the bottle, it's out. You don't get it back. It's not your driver's license. We go change it. Or even a Social Security number you could actually change.

This information is now out in the public, and people have not agreed to have it out there. Attorney General, that was some very interesting information. and I appreciate your time. That was Ken Paxson, Attorney General for the state of Texas. Thank you again. Thank you. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for listening to The Daily Signal podcast.

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