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South Carolina Sued For Forcing Teen To Remove His Makeup: ‘He Needs To Look Like A Male’

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The South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles is the target of a federal First Amendment lawsuit after employees forced a gender non-conforming teen to remove makeup he wears daily.

cc1.jpgChase Culpepper earlier this year did what many 16-year old teens do: he went to the DMV to get his drivers’ license, a rite of passage for countless millions every year. But after passing the test, Chase, a gender non-conforming teen, was told he needed to “go home” and “take off the makeup,” according to the federal lawsuit his mother filed today on his behalf.

The teenager was treated disrespectfully, the complaint shows, and was “humiliated” after an “employee removed them from the line and sent them back to the lobby to wait for a manager.” He was then again told, loudly, he need to remove “all of it.”

The complaint (PDF) says a DMV official “stated, ‘[i]f your name is David Jones and it says you are a male, then you should look like a male.'”

The lawsuit “asks the court to rule that denying Chase the freedom to wear his everyday makeup in his license photo constitutes sex discrimination and violates his right to free speech and expression under the United States Constitution,” a press release from the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund states. “It also seeks a ruling under the U.S. and South Carolina Constitutions that the DMV’s photo policy is unconstitutionally vague, too broad, and lets DMV employees arbitrarily decide how a driver’s license applicant should look, without regard for the rights of the people they are supposed to serve.”

“My clothing and makeup reflect who I am,” Chase said. “The Department of Motor Vehicles should not have forced me to remove my makeup simply because my appearance does not match what they think a boy should look like. I just want the freedom to be who I am without the DMV telling me that I’m somehow not good enough.”

Along with TLDEF, Chase’s mother is standing by him. “As a mother, it broke my heart to see Chase being forced to be someone that he isn’t. Every time he pulls out his license, he is reminded of that, and that makes it even worse,” said Teresa Culpepper. “I love my son just the way he is. The DMV should not have treated him this way.”

“I want to take my license photo again, with makeup, so I can be myself and express to the world who I truly am,” Chase added.

The lawsuit argues the DMV violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

 

Image of Chase Culpepper courtesy Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund. Used with permission.

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‘War Is Peace’: White House’s Navarro Mocked Over Claim Tariffs Are ‘Tax Cuts’

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Peter Navarro, Senior Counselor to the President for Trade and Manufacturing, says the White House likes “where we’re at” with tariffs—which he insists are “tax cuts,” despite broad disagreement from economists. Navarro also says President Trump’s tariffs have brought in $100 billion in six months, but he also insists that that money is paid by foreign countries. Ultimately, tariffs are generally paid—at least in part—by consumers, as higher prices for imported goods or for domestic products that rely on imported components.

Speaking to Fox News on Thursday (videos below), Navarro said, “when we put tariffs on the foreign countries, particularly the ones that depend on us the most, they have to eat the tariffs.”

“So tariffs, they’re not tax hikes, they’re tax cuts,” Navarro insisted.

“We’ve had $100 billion so far we raised in six months. We’re gonna have trillions over the ten years, and that’s going to pay for the big, beautiful bill. Tax cuts and debt reduction by the tune of about $2 trillion.”

READ MORE: ‘Trust in Trump’: White House Touts ‘Incredible’ Economy as Inflation Jumps

“We like where we’re at,” he claimed.

Navarro also insisted that “the reason why tariffs don’t cause negative impacts like inflation is because these countries, they depend so heavily on us. Europe, China, go around the world. They just live, they feast off us with unfair trade practices.”

“When we say, ‘No, you can’t come in unless you pay this tariff,’ they got to eat the tariff,” he again insisted, neglecting to state that the importer, and, ultimately, the consumer, pays most or all of the cost of the tariffs.

FactCheck.org, analyzing some of Navarro’s claims on tariffs back in April, reported that “tariffs, also known as customs duties, are a tax increase on the U.S. importers who pay the tariffs – not foreign countries. And because those importers often pass at least some of those costs on to U.S. consumers through price hikes, tariffs are considered to be regressive taxes that affect lower-income households more than others as a percentage of income.”

READ MORE: ‘Total Nonsense’: Stephen Miller Blasted Over ‘Wonders’ of Life ‘When Illegals Are Gone’

Responding to Navarro’s claim that tariffs are tax cuts, journalist Aaron Rupar, founder of Public Notice, wrote: “War is peace.”

Professor of Law Joseph Mastrosimone wrote: “Good lord this man is insanely stupid. And he is a senior White House Counselor. Right on brand.”

Joe Walsh, the former GOP congressman turned political commentator and a Democrat, called Navarro’s claim: “Utter b——-.”

Watch the videos below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Go Home’: Noem Tells Farmers to Help Their Undocumented Workers ‘Self Deport’

 

Image via Reuters 

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‘Trust in Trump’: White House Touts ‘Incredible’ Economy as Inflation Jumps

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is crediting President Donald Trump with what she described as an “incredible economic turnaround in just six months.” However, inflation continues to rise under his administration, and the data she cited highlighted only a selective set of favorable economic indicators.

Americans “saw prices for new and used vehicles and airfares dropped last month,” Leavitt enthusiastically declared on Thursday during a press briefing.

“In addition, prices for gas, fuel oil, energy commodities, hotels, airfare, public transportation, and fresh vegetables are all down over last year,” she claimed.

“As we said all along, trust in President Trump. The American dream is back and everyday families are already reaping the benefits of this incredible economic turnaround in just six months.”

READ MORE: ‘Total Nonsense’: Stephen Miller Blasted Over ‘Wonders’ of Life ‘When Illegals Are Gone’

Her statements highlighted positive data while leaving out ongoing inflation concerns.

Prices for new and used vehicles did drop last month, but both are up over the past 12 months: 0.2% for new vehicles and a hefty 2.8% for used cars and trucks, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks all these items and publishes the monthly inflation rate.

Overall, inflation last month rose to an annual rate of 2.7%, the highest level in months.

The cost of food is up 3% over last year. Electricity is up 5.8% over last year, and utility (piped) gas service is up a massive 14.2% over last year.

READ MORE: ‘Go Home’: Noem Tells Farmers to Help Their Undocumented Workers ‘Self Deport’

Shelter is up 3.8%, and medical and transportation services are both up 3.4% over last year.

Economists cite the President’s tariffs, now beginning to take effect, along with rising costs for food, energy, and rent as the reasons for the increase in inflation.

The White House appears to be attempting to head off public concern.

“Worsening inflation poses a political challenge for President Donald Trump, who promised during last year’s presidential campaign to immediately lower costs,” the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Republican Says Trump on Immigration Could Be Like Lincoln Was for Slavery

Image via Reuters

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‘Fear Is the Tool of the Tyrant’: Maurene Comey, Fired by Trump DOJ, Sounds Alarm

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Maurene Comey, the veteran federal prosecutor who led the cases against Jeffrey Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, was fired Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice amid a sweeping Trump administration scandal over its refusal to release the so-called Epstein files. Now, she has a few words of advice for her former colleagues at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan.

“If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain,” wrote Comey, in a letter obtained by Politico. “Do not let that happen.”

Maurene Comey served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and is the daughter of the also-fired former FBI Director James Comey, who reportedly is under investigation by the Trump DOJ.

READ MORE: ‘Total Nonsense’: Stephen Miller Blasted Over ‘Wonders’ of Life ‘When Illegals Are Gone’

“Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else.”

Also in her letter, which Politico’s Kyle Cheney posted (below), Comey wrote: “Yesterday was unexpectedly my last day in the Office. I was summarily fired via memo from Main Justice that did not give a reason for my termination. Every person lucky enough to work in this office constantly hears four words to describe our ethos: Without Fear or Favor. Do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons without fear of retribution and without favor to the powerful.”

“For the majority of my nearly ten years in SDNY, the hard part seemed to be acting ‘without favor.’ That is, making sure people with access, money, and power were not treated differently than anyone else; and making sure this office remained separate from politics and focused only on the facts and the law,” she explained. “Fear was never really conceivable. We don’t fear bad press; we have the luxury of exceptional security keeping us physically safe; and, so long as we did our work with integrity, we would get to keep serving the public in this office.”

She lamented, “we have entered a new phase where ‘without fear’ may be the challenge.”

Read Comey’s letter below or at this link.

READ MORE: Republican Says Trump on Immigration Could Be Like Lincoln Was for Slavery

 

Image via Reuters

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