Latest news with #minors
CTV News
11 hours ago
- Health
- CTV News
Alberta court grants injunction blocking Bill 26
Calgary Watch An Alberta court has granted an injunction preventing the provincial government from banning gender-affirming care for minors.
Fox News
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Supreme Court upholds Texas law requiring age verification on porn websites
Print Close By Alexandra Koch Published June 27, 2025 The Supreme Court of the United States on Friday upheld a Texas law requiring pornography websites to verify visitors' ages to protect minors from sexually explicit content online. Justices ruled 6-3 that requiring adults in Texas to verify their age does not violate the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment, noting at least 21 other states imposed similar regulations on sexual material that could be harmful to minors online. Texas and other states prohibit the distribution of sexually explicit content to children in brick and mortar stores, but online content remains largely unregulated. 'WE WON': SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS OVER SCOTUS RULING DEALING 'FATAL BLOW' TO TRANSGENDER SURGERIES ON MINORS Lawmakers from the Lone Star State enacted a bill requiring certain commercial websites that publish sexually explicit content to verify the ages of those entering the site, which the justices upheld as constitutional, noting at least 21 other states imposed similar regulations on sexual material that could be harmful to minors. Those who visit sexually explicit websites will need to use government-issued identification or a "commercially reasonable method that relies on public or private transactional data." Sites can perform verification themselves or through a third-party service. SCOTUS RULES ON STATE BAN ON GENDER TRANSITION 'TREATMENTS' FOR MINORS IN LANDMARK CASE If website owners knowingly violate the law, the Supreme Court ruled the Texas attorney general can sue and collect a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per day that the site is non-compliant. They can also collect an additional penalty of up to $250,000 if any minors accessed the covered sexual material as a result of the violation. TEXAS BILL PUSHES STRICTEST SOCIAL MEDIA BAN FOR MINORS IN THE NATION Justices wrote in their opinion that internet access has drastically changed since 1999, when only two out of five American households had a computer. In 2024, 95 percent of American teens had access to a smartphone, with 93 percent reporting frequent internet use. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Elena Kagan argued speech that is obscene for minors is often not obscene for adults. "So adults have a constitutional right to view the very same speech that a State may prohibit for children," Kagan wrote. "And it is a fact of life—and also of law—that adults and children do not live in hermetically sealed boxes. In preventing children from gaining access to 'obscene for children' speech, States sometimes take measures impeding adults from viewing it too—even though, for adults, it is constitutionally protected expression. "But what if Texas could do better—what if Texas could achieve its interest without so interfering with adults' constitutionally protected rights in viewing the speech H. B. 1181 covers? That is the ultimate question on which the Court and I disagree." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Pornhub and other pornography giants have stopped service in Texas and other states where regulations are in place. Print Close URL
CBS News
7 days ago
- CBS News
Northern Colorado man arrested, accused of selling marijuana to minors
A man in northern Colorado is facing drug charges after he allegedly sold marijuana to minors through social media. According to the Fort Collins Police Department, officers and Loveland Police SWAT arrested Garett Van Mullins on Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation into underage marijuana sales. Larimer County Sheriff's Office Police said they believe Van Mullins has been using social media sites under the monikers "420 Minister" and "I Am Foundation Church" to sell marijuana. Van Mullins is facing charges of unlawful distribution of marijuana to a minor, a class 3 felony. Authorities asked anyone with information on the case or who believes their teenager purchased from him to contact FCPS Marijuana Enforcement Officer Jim Lenderts at (970) 416-2949 or jlenderts@
Fox News
20-06-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Doctor who blew whistle on transgender medicine mocks liberal justices' 'insane' dissent in landmark case
Print Close By Kristine Parks Published June 20, 2025 A Texas doctor who was prosecuted after exposing transgender medical treatments being given to children brutally mocked the liberal justices' dissenting opinion in Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling in U.S. v. Skrmetti, calling their arguments "insane" and illogical in a scathing thread on X. In a 6-3 ruling Wednesday, the court upheld a Tennessee law banning transgender treatments for minors, with liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor issuing the dissent. Dr. Eithan Haim, a general surgeon who formerly worked at Texas Children's Hospital, blasted the three liberal justices for arguing that the state law discriminated based on sex because "male adolescents can receive medicines that help them look like boys," but females can't access medicines that help them look like boys. "But that's insane," Haim wrote. "These treatments are meant for diagnosable pathologies in order to restore normal physiology." TRUMP DOJ DROPS CASE AGAINST TEXAS DOCTOR WHO BLEW WHISTLE ON TRANSGENDER MEDICINE FOR MINORS "It would be like saying a patient without cancer but 'identifies as having cancer' is being discriminated against because a doctor is refusing to give them chemotherapy," he mocked. He also criticized the liberal justices for claiming the majority opinion "contorts logic" while offering the aforementioned argument. "They have the audacity to claim the majority opinion 'contorts logic' while they rely on anti-logic," Haim wrote. Haim rebuked the justices for behaving as if they were "certified, practicing doctors" while defending puberty blockers, one of the transgender treatments at the center of the high-profile case. After the justices argued that children who identify as a different gender than their "sex identified at birth" should be allowed to take puberty blockers, Haim trashed the declaration as "sheer medical lunacy." "It is not real. It has no basis in objective, observable reality," he chastised. "It has as much legitimacy as your local Voodoo witch doctor - like using a rabbit's foot to treat a hemorrhaging carotid artery." YOUNG WOMAN WHO REGRETS GENDER TRANSITION CELEBRATES SUPREME COURT DECISION ON YOUTH TRANS TREATMENTS Haim accused the justices of not paying attention during oral arguments by citing "debunked" talking points about the safety of puberty blockers from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), an organization that sets standards of care for transgender medicine. "This is the same organization whose legitimacy was completely decimated during the oral arguments," he mocked. Haim also hit the justices for calling "gender-affirming care" a "matter of life and death" for some patients, which, he pointed out, even ACLU attorney Chase Strangio had to admit during oral arguments had no impact on rates of completed suicides. "This is like a judge endorsing a guilty verdict in a murder case after finding out the victim is still alive," he wrote. The doctor said there was even more "anti-logic and WPATH propaganda" from the justices he didn't mention before sounding the alarm about what that means for the justices sitting on the highest court in the nation. "Although we won this case, we should not fail to appreciate the severity of the situation," he warned. "These judges sit on the highest court in our country yet live in a reality informed by fantasy. This is not a good state of affairs," he concluded. Haim was prosecuted by the Biden Justice Department after he leaked documents to the media that revealed Texas Children's Hospital in Houston was performing transgender medical procedures on minors through May 2023. Hospital leadership had announced it had stopped providing sex-change surgeries and puberty blockers the year before, after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ruled it constituted child abuse under state law. He was indicted on federal charges for obtaining protected individual health information for patients that were not under his care and without authorization. The charges were dropped by the DOJ just days after President Donald Trump took office. "The United States has finally agreed to drop the case against Dr. Haim, and the Court just granted dismissal," Marcella Burke, attorney for Eithan Haim, told Fox News Digital in January. "The case has been dismissed with prejudice so that the federal government can never again come after him for blowing the whistle on the secret pediatric transgender program at Texas Children's Hospital." The Supreme Court's press office did not immediately return a request for comment. CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News' Kendall Tietz contributed to this report. Print Close URL
South China Morning Post
20-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China warns of blind box ‘addiction' among country's youth
The official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party has cautioned against an 'addiction' to blind card packs and blind boxes among the country's youths as the summer holiday approaches. People's Daily called for strict identity verification to curb the 'out-of-control consumption' of blind boxes – opaque packages containing randomly chosen toys, models or cards – by minors in a report published on Friday The items, with their allure of 'unknown surprises,' have become highly sought-after by young consumers, but hide 'commercial traps' that induce impulsive spending, the article said. As the 'guzi economy' or 'goods economy' – merchandise related to anime, games, idols and other copyrighted works – takes hold among China's younger generation, the newspaper's warning echoes regulations enacted four years ago to prevent online gaming addiction among teenagers. Because the exact product within a given blind box or card pack is not known until it is bought and opened, their purchase carries an element of gambling. This is augmented by the varied designs and rarity levels used by merchants to attract consumers, fuelling their desire to collect entire sets. In recent years, blind card packs have gained popularity among children and teenagers for their similarly unpredictable rewards, People's Daily said. 'Irrational consumption is common among children and teenagers, with some spending hundreds or even thousands of yuan in a single transaction to chase rare cards,' the authors concluded after interviewing multiple teenagers.
