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Low Oxygen Levels, Not Anti-LGBT Mormon Church, Blamed for Utah’s Soaring Youth Suicide Rate

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State’s Youth Suicide Rate Has Nearly Tripled Since 2007, But Health Officials Refuse to Acknowledge Impact of Anti-Gay Religious Teachings

Earlier this year, we told you how 32 young LGBT Mormons reportedly had taken their own lives in the three months after the church announced its horrific new policy declaring same-sex couples apostates and barring their children from being baptized. 

At the time, the Utah Department of Health disputed the figure from Mama Dragons, a support group for the parents of LGBT Mormons, saying it wasn’t backed up by state data. But now, the Department of Health has released another statistic that is equally troubling.

From 2007 through 2014, Utah’s youth suicide rate nearly tripled, from 3.0 per 100,000 to 8.5 per 100,000. Suicide is now the leading cause of death for people ages 10 through 17 in Utah, where the rate is more than double the national average.

The Associated Press reports that state health officials don’t know the reasons for the increase but plan to launch an in-depth study.

Andrea Hood, a suicide prevention coordinator at the Department of Health, told AP that possible factors include lower oxygen levels due to high altitudes, loose gun restrictions and “a western, rugged mentality of self-reliance.” Shockingly, nowhere does the article mention any possible LGBT component. 

According to the Trevor Project, studies show LGBT youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide, while those who are rejected by their families are eight times more likely to do so.

Coincidentally, in the same year Utah’s youth suicide rate began its upward climb, 2008, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and its members contributed more than $20 million in support of Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage. 

Sadly, though, Mormon leaders have not only declined to take responsibility for LGBT youth suicides, they’ve callously dismissed them. 

Back in February, Mormon Elder Dallin Oaks — a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — suggested that people were wrongly blaming the church for the deaths of their loved ones. 

“I know that those tragic events happen,” Oaks said. “And it’s not unique simply to the question of sexual preference. There are other cases where people have taken their own lives and blamed a church – my church – or a government, or somebody else for their taking their own lives, and I think those things have to be judged by a higher authority than exists on this earth,” Oaks said. 

 

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‘Fight Back!’: Trump Demands GOP Keep the House ‘at All Costs’

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November 17, 2025

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As President Donald Trump faces potential pushback from House Republicans over his stance on the Epstein files, he has reversed course and urged members to vote for their release. But now the president is pushing back — hard — against further defections from his agenda and is demanding that Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives “at all costs.”

In a sharply-worded post on his Truth Social website, President Trump demanded that states support his call for a rare mid-decade redistricting plan, his tool to try to pick up more GOP-held seats in the House.

Recently, Indiana Republicans acknowledged that they did not have the votes to support redistricting, leading Trump to unleash a threat on Monday.

READ MORE: Trump Aims Treason Allegation at His Former FBI Director in New Online Attack

“I will be strongly endorsing against any State Senator or House member from the Great State of Indiana that votes against the Republican Party, and our Nation, by not allowing for Redistricting for Congressional seats in the United States House of Representatives as every other State in our Nation is doing,” Trump alleged. “Republican or Democrat.”

Not all states have decided to redistrict.

“Democrats are trying to steal our seats everywhere,” the president charged, “and we’re not going to let this happen! This all began with the Rigged Census. We must keep the Majority at all costs. Republicans must fight back!”

READ MORE: Trump to Rub Elbows With McDonald’s Owners in Push to Promote ‘Affordability’

The president did not detail specifically what some of those costs might entail. Trump was president in 2020 when the census was conducted.

Trump did speak with Indiana Republican Governor Mike Braun on Monday morning, the governor noted.

“I remain committed to standing with him on the critical issue of passing fair maps in Indiana to ensure the MAGA agenda is successful in Congress,” Braun wrote.

The redistricting push started when Trump urged Texas to redistrict, which he suggested would add five GOP seats for Republicans. California soon undertook plans to do the same, possibly diminishing or neutralizing any potential GOP pickups. But some election and polling experts have said that Hispanic voters are rapidly moving away from the GOP, which could backfire on Republicans in states like Texas.

READ MORE: Democrat Warns How Trump Could Engineer a Path to Stay in Power After 2028

 

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Trump Aims Treason Allegation at His Former FBI Director in New Online Attack

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November 17, 2025

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President Donald Trump is targeting his former FBI Director in a series of social media posts, including a repost that accused Christopher Wray of treason.

Trump reposted a post on Monday that placed Wray among sixteen people — including several former FBI officials — and labeled them as “Obama’s Russia HOAX Treason Club.”

Those depicted as members of the alleged “Treason Club” include Wray’s predecessor, former FBI Director Jim Comey; former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe; former CIA Directors John Brennan and Gina Haspel; former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper; and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

READ MORE: Trump to Rub Elbows With McDonald’s Owners in Push to Promote ‘Affordability’

Another post that Trump reposted accused former Director Wray of lying when he testified before Congress that he did not put FBI agents in the crowd on January 6.

Trump wrote: “Wray lied!!!”

The president also reposted a post he wrote in September, that reads in part, “It was just revealed that the FBI had secretly placed, against all Rules, Regulations, Protocols, and Standards, 274 FBI Agents into the Crowd just prior to, and during, the January 6th Hoax.”

Trump did not appear to provide evidence that supported his allegations.

READ MORE: Democrat Warns How Trump Could Engineer a Path to Stay in Power After 2028

Wray has denied there were FBI agents in the crowd as some form of operation.

A September Associated Press headline reported: “Alleged FBI documents do not prove federal agents incited Jan. 6 Capitol attack.”

Trump has also been calling for the prosecutions of his political adversaries, including U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA), New York Attorney General Letitia James, former FBI Director Comey, and former National Security Advisor John Bolton.

READ MORE: ‘Mask Comes Off’: Trump Branded an ‘Elitist’ as Base Scrutinizes ‘America First’ Focus

 

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Trump to Rub Elbows With McDonald’s Owners in Push to Promote ‘Affordability’

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November 17, 2025

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As Americans watch grocery prices rise, inflation tick upward, and millions face soaring medical insurance premiums next year, President Donald Trump is trying to center his message on affordability — even as he denies what many Americans are experiencing.

On Monday, the president will spend time with McDonald’s owners, operators and suppliers to promote his new “affordability” message, which Axios calls “part of an escalating White House push to take on Americans’ economic worries.”

But the message Trump is expected to send will be aimed at McDonald’s owners and franchisees, rather than at low- and middle-income customers.

READ MORE: Democrat Warns How Trump Could Engineer a Path to Stay in Power After 2028

“During remarks at an Impact Summit hosted in Washington by McDonald’s, Trump is expected to tout steps he has taken to support small businesses and job creators,” Axios reported.

Earlier this month Trump told reporters, “Affordability, they call it, was a con job by the Democrats.”

He is also expected to push his “No Tax on Tips … No Tax on Overtime … No Tax on Social Security” claims. Some experts say Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” did not include “No Tax on Social Security.”

Axios’ Mike Allen reported, “A key message at the McDonald’s summit will be that value and affordability are ‘so important to consumers and elected officials [that] our franchisees and company are co-investing to bring extra value and affordability to our customers,’ an official told me.”

The White House also took a swing at the Biden administration.

“The Biden administration started the affordability crisis, but President Trump will end it so all Americans can achieve economic prosperity,” a White House official told Allen.

President Trump on the 2024 campaign trail vowed to lower prices “on day one,” as CNN reported.

READ MORE: ‘Mask Comes Off’: Trump Branded an ‘Elitist’ as Base Scrutinizes ‘America First’ Focus

 

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