Tuesday, February 11, 2025
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Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Milwaukee Press Club 'Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism' 2020 & 2021 Award Winners

Thomas Binger: Rittenhouse Prosecutor Makes Case for Self Defense [Wed Update]

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Kenosha prosecutor Thomas Binger continued his bizarre approach on Wednesday in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, playing video after video that showed Rittenhouse being chased and attacked before opening fire. Binger only served to prove anew how lawless and dangerous the riots were in Kenosha the night that Rittenhouse shot three people.

Indeed, Assistant District Attorney Binger helped make the case for self defense, which continues a pattern that’s been present throughout the trial. The Kenosha County DA’s office decision to charge Rittenhouse, 18, with homicide does not align with the facts. That the charges don’t fit Rittenhouse’s actions (especially the first-degree intentional homicide count) was clear from the start to anyone who had watched the videos that were already public. The trial is only reinforcing it. It’s almost painful listening to Binger present testimony that builds the case for acquittal. But it is revealing.

In fact, a key prosecution witness, a Kenosha police detective, turned into a net gain for the defense. Indeed, Rittenhouse yelled, “friendly, friendly, friendly,” at approximately the start of Rosenbaum chasing him, the detective revealed for the first time under cross examination.

“That didn’t dissuade Mr. Rosenbaum from continuing to attempt to attack my client right?” defense attorney Mark Richards asked Detective Martin Howard. “Correct,” said Howard, admitting that Rosenbaum was “gradually gaining ground on Mr. Rittenhouse” when shot. Again, this came from a witness the prosecutor called.

Inundating the jury with riot videos Wednesday was also an interesting choice. The scenes were not in any way shape or form a “peaceful protest.” They don’t paint the shot men in a good light. Binger has to deal with the facts. He’s lacking strong facts to contest self defense. That much has become clear, although, of course, you never know for sure what a jury will do, especially in a high-profile case.

The video is the star of this trial, more important than the testimony. Roving independent videographers told the tale, outside the filter of mainstream media, and there’s enough video to make the Rittenhouse trial feel like an immersion experience or a movie. It’s like having 10 different versions of the Zapruder film, hours long each.

But it doesn’t help the prosecution. Meanwhile, the defense raised a series of questions about how thoroughly police and the DA’s office investigated the matter.

“Get his as*,” a woman shouted at Rittenhouse in one video.

“Ain’t nobody coming to help,” a woman says in another moment, a telling comment about the failure of officials, from Gov. Tony Evers and AG Josh Kaul on down to local liberal politicians, to protect the city from rioters, creating an environment where armed men felt they were the only line of defense for small businesses and residents. “They don’t give a f*** about nobody out here,” says a woman, of officials at another point.

Missing Evidence & a Phone That Wasn’t Seized

Kyle rittenhouse shooting

The Kenosha detective, Martin Howard, testified that Wisconsin Right Now’s Jim Piwowarczyk found two shell casings in the case and alerted police so they could confiscate them. “Because of the chaos,” all of the evidence was not collected the night of shootings, defense attorney Mark Richards said. “It wasn’t the standard thorough investigation.”

The detective admitted it wasn’t routine to not find all of the shell casings immediately. Richards also revealed that the FBI wasn’t able to get into Rittenhouse’s phone, but his lawyers offered them the code to get into it anyway. He also revealed that authorities had a search warrant to look into Gaige Grosskreutz’s phone, but his phone was never taken, and the search warrant wasn’t executed. The detective revealed that concerns over Marsy’s Law, a victim’s rights amendment, stopped police from searching Grosskreutz’s phone. Authorities also didn’t tape an interview with Grosskreutz. Grosskreutz is the man shot in the arm by Rittenhouse; Grosskreutz, a member of the People’s Revolution, was moving toward him with a gun in hand at the time, and he’s well-known to other police agencies due to a past prowling accusation.

Howard admitted that no one in authority went to the initial Car Source arson fire to put it out because police were not responding to property damage at that time. Rittenhouse was guarding another Car Source outlet after the first one was torched, so this helped explain to the jury why armed men felt they needed to go to Kenosha to do what authorities would not: Protect businesses.

Richards said one live streamer was arrested and had marijuana on his person, but police decided not to go forward on that matter. “We wanted the video more than to cite him for curfew or marijuana,” Howard explained. (Kenosha Eye is reporting that Howard’s co-detective on the case, Benjamin Antaramian, is the nephew of Kenosha’s Mayor John Antaramian, who has been criticized by some for officials’ weak response to the rioting. However, we’ve since established through a source who knows the family that this is not true; the detective is related to the mayor, but more distantly and is not his nephew.)

Richards also asked Howard a series of questions about whether it’s dangerous for a person to be disarmed of a weapon (which is the defense theory on behalf of Rittenhouse). “Correct,” he said.

Making the case for self defense

Thomas binger
Det. Martin howard

Prosecutors continued to demonstrate, through videos and live streamer testimony that Joseph Rosenbaum was an agitated and unsavory character and Rittenhouse was trying to protect a business. Howard acknowledged that Rosenbaum was armed with a chain at one point during cross examination and was starting a fire. (We broke that story here.)

Rittenhouse said in one video played by Binger that he didn’t have “non-lethal” rounds, and was prepared to protect businesses. He then called for medical and said someone had been pepper sprayed. That may be enough to help get him convicted of the misdemeanor illegal weapons charge perhaps, since he’s 17, but it doesn’t get you to homicide.

The evidence largely came from videos with witnesses, a live streamer, a cop, simply being asked to narrate or point out things in the videos.

“People are getting injured and our job is to protect this business,” Rittenhouse said in another video played by the prosecutor. He said he had a rifle to protect himself, and that he was there to help people as a medic. “We’re running medical, and we’re going in and getting people,” Rittenhouse said. He said he wanted to “provide medical attention” to injured people. “That’s about it.” He said rioters started a fire and deescalated a situation at a church, saying that he thought that EMS was unwilling to come in, and things would be more dangerous if the police tried to engage the rioters. He said that, as a result, citizens needed to help each other.

That shows Rittenhouse wasn’t there to cause trouble. He wasn’t with the people lighting fires and who painted F the police on government buildings and who were destroying small businesses – all scenes shown Wednesday to the jury by the prosecutor as well.

New videos were played that just buttressed what we already knew: Rosenbaum was chasing down Rittenhouse when he was shot. They included the FBI infrared video that was briefly discussed on Tuesday. But it just shows Rosenbaum chasing Rittenhouse at the critical moment too. The prosecutor claimed in opening statements that the video showed Rittenhouse running after Rosenbaum first, but it’s hard to tell from the video he played on Wednesday; it’s possible Rittenhouse was just moving down the street in the direction of Rosenbaum, who was near several cars, but wasn’t targeting or chasing Rosenbaum.

Howard told Richards that it appeared Rosenbaum was hiding at first, and then right after was the time when Rittenhouse said the “friendly, friendly, friendly” phrase, but it didn’t stop Rosenbaum from chasing him.

Thomas binger

The video of Rosenbaum lying dying on the ground is horrific; it’s emerged publicly before. It also does nothing to disprove self defense, although it may be designed to shock and disgust the jury.

Videos from the shooting scene of Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz just proved that a group of people were chasing after Rittenhouse after he shot Rosenbaum. “Why’d you shoot him,” Rittenhouse is asked as Gaige Grosskreutz runs along side him. “Stop him,” someone shouts as a crowd runs after Rittenhouse. Another video, which has been widely seen before, showed Rittenhouse fall down and then shoot Huber (who was hitting him with a skateboard, rushing him and grabbing his gun) and then shoot Grosskreutz (who was moving toward him with a gun). He then tried to surrender.

It’s almost like the prosecutor was trying to overwhelm the jury – there’s so much violence, blood, and chaos – maybe they should convict Rittenhouse of something. But that’s not the law. At one point, Binger, narrating the video, said an unidentified man was about to try to “kick” Rittenhouse.

“Does anybody need medical?” Rittenhouse shouts out as he walks down the street in another scene, this one videotaped by Richie McGinniss of the Daily Caller.

“So the white dude I was talking to, had his phone slapped and blindsided,” one live streamer, Regg Inkagnedo, narrated as people vandalized cars in the Car Source parking lot. Then the shooting of Rosenbaum occurs.

Sneaking in a reference to “militia”

The prosecutor, Thomas Binger, who is trying the case instead of the county’s elected DA Mike Graveley, came across like a snake at some points in the trial, repeatedly playing snippets of video in which a live streamer not in court  referred to Rittenhouse and the men he was hanging around with that night as a “militia.”

That’s despite the fact that the defense has asserted Rittenhouse was not part of an organized militia, that a review of his cell phone showed no evidence of militia activity, and that he and a Kenosha friend had gone to clean up graffiti, act as medics, and protect a local business. They then met up with assorted other strangers who arrived in Kenosha to do the same after nights of arsons. No evidence has been presented to dispute this.

Playing endless live streams of the chaos leading up to the shootings, with snippets of Rittenhouse periodically appearing in them, only served to give the jury the context for why he was there. The videos played by prosecutors showed Rittenhouse running with a fire extinguisher (there were arson fires erupting) and just standing around guarding a gas station.

The judge trashes CNN

The most entertaining part of the day, perhaps, came when the no nonsense judge Bruce Schroeder went off on CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin. He asserted that people in the media were “saying things that were totally bizarre,” saying Toobin and another lawyer said one of the judge’s rulings was “incomprehensible,” even though Schroeder says “it’s our law.”

He also lit into Binger’s argument that he needed to play the live streamer’s narrating, including the unsupported “militia” commentary to establish the state of mind of Rittenhouse. The judge retorted, “This doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.” The defense objected on the grounds of hearsay for starters; as the live streamer wasn’t a witness, they weren’t able to cross examine him. Defense attorney Mark Richards said, “It’s a ridiculous argument” unless the live streamer “can read minds.”

Binger agreed to play most of the video without audio but kept conveniently turning it back on just in time to capture the word “militia” being said repeatedly (this arguably taints the jurors by painting a negative picture of Rittenhouse that isn’t supported by evidence.)

The judge also went on a tangent about another high-profile case he handled, saying, “One of the things I’ve read over and over and over again was how I messed up” the other case. “I had it 100% correct.” At another point, he used a Biblical reference to explain the right of a person to confront their accuser.

The defense got one live streamer witness to admit that there were fewer fires in downtown Kenosha after the armed men showed up to guard businesses and put fires out.

Wednesday’s tale of the tape: Net gain for the Rittenhouse defense.

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Trump to Stop U.S. Production of Pennies

President Donald Trump said late Sunday that he has ordered the U.S. Treasury Department to stop producing pennies.

Pennies famously cost more than a penny to produce, putting them in the crosshairs of Trump and DOGE’s government efficiency push.

"For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents," Trump wrote on TruthSocial, his social media site. "This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.

Let's rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it's a penny at a time," Trump added.

DOGE posted on X last month critical of the penny’s cost, hinting at its fate.

"The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023," DOGE wrote on X. "The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, around 40% of the 11.4 billion coins for circulation produced. Penny (or 3 cents!) for your thoughts."

According to the U.S. Mint’s latest report, the cost of all coins is on the rise. From the Mint’s 2024 report:

"FY 2024 unit costs increased for all circulating denominations compared to last year. The penny’s unit cost increased 20.2 percent, the nickel’s unit cost increased by 19.4 percent, the dime’s unit cost increased by 8.7 percent, and the quarter-dollar’s unit cost increased by 26.2 percent. The unit cost for pennies (3.69 cents) and nickels (13.78 cents) remained above face value for the 19th consecutive fiscal year."

Lake Sturgeon Protection

Wisconsin Lawmakers Want State Exempt From Any Lake Sturgeon Protection

(The Center Square) – A group of Wisconsin lawmakers have filed legislation to protect sturgeon spearing in the state.

The bill would exempt Wisconsin from any listing of lake sturgeon under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The group, including Republican Congressmen Glenn Grothman and Mike Gallagher filed what they called the Sturgeon Protected and Exempt from Absurd Regulations Act.

Reps. Tony Wied, Grothman and Tom Tiffany introduced the legislation on Friday.

The bill is in response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducting a status assessment of lake sturgeon after the group was sued by an animal rights group in 2018 attempting to have lake sturgeon listed as threatened.

“Sturgeon-spearing is crucial to maintaining Wisconsin’s lake sturgeon population which is why we must take proactive steps to ensure that we are exempt from any action to list the lake sturgeon under the Endangered Species Act,” Tiffany said about the bill. “Wisconsin is a global leader in sturgeon management, and the SPEAR Act will protect this unique and long-standing tradition for years to come.”

https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/BILLS-118hr7037ih

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it will not add the lake sturgeon to the endangered species list last year.

A bipartisan group of Wisconsin lawmakers sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in December 2023 pointing out the impact a listing could have on Wisconsin and how the state has worked to manage the lake sturgeon population.

The letter was signed by Gallagher and Grothman along with Sens. Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin and U.S. Reps. Bryan Steil, Tiffany, Scott Fitzgerald and Derrick Van Orden.

“Wisconsin does not list lake sturgeon endangered nor threatened in state waters, and has in place a sturgeon program considered a world model for effective management and recovery, and as such should be exempt from any Federal ESA listing of the species”, said Dr. Ron Bruch, former Chief of Fisheries and Leader of the statewide Sturgeon Management Team for the WI Department of Natural Resources.

dpi wisconsin

Wisconsin Republicans Call for Transparency, Fairness in School Referendums

(The Center Square) – A pair of Wisconsin legislators are pushing for more transparency in the school referendum process in the state.

The proposal comes after 169 out of 241 school ballot referenda in 2024 elections were approved by voters at a cost of $4.4 billion to taxpayers.

Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton, and Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha, proposed bills that would require local governments and school boards to include information on the ballot about how much the difference in taxes would for a median-valued home in the community resulting from the referendum.

“Referendums are opportunities for voters to make important decisions about how their tax dollars should be spent,” Allen said. “Good decision making requires transparency in the information provided to voters.”

A second bill would protect school districts from losing state funding when other districts go to referendum.

“It was a shock to many to learn that the massive school referendum passed in Milwaukee would take away vital state funding from over 300 other school districts,” Allen said. “It’s only fair that large referendums in one district should not negatively affect other school districts.”

A Legislative Fiscal Bureau report last year analyzed by Badger Institute showed that a $252 million Milwaukee referendum would cost Madison, Waukesha and Racine $2 million a year in state funding while Appleton and West Bend would lose more than $1 million each year.

The impact is due to tax base equalization, which means that “a school district's property tax rate does not depend on the property tax base of the district, but rather on the level of expenditures.”

The bill states that any school referendum of over $50 million dollars should be paid for by the district that votes for the referendum instead of taking away money from shared school funding.

Tammy Baldwin Supports Transgender Children Surgeries

Trump Order Forces Many Medical Providers to End Transgender Procedures on Children

Late last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order restricting “transgender” procedures on youth, including puberty blockers and surgeries such as mastectomies and penile reconstruction. In response, many medical providers including some of the top in the nation for performing them have announced they will comply with the EO.

The EO states that “it is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called 'transition' of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.”

Last year, nonprofit Do No Harm unveiled a database reporting that between 2019-2023, there were 13,000 gender reassignment procedures performed throughout the nation on minors; those procedures included both surgeries and prescriptions. Among the top states in the nation for those procedures was Ohio, which has since enacted legislation banning such procedures.

The Center Square reached out to more than two dozen medical providers throughout the country based on data provided by Do No Harm regarding their total billing, prescriptions, and surgeries performed, asking them how they planned to respond to Trump’s EO.

Among those to announce they were suspending all procedures was Seattle-based UW Medicine, which stated in an email that it was “committed to supporting the clinical care needs and well-being of all our patients, as well as complying with state and federal law. We are currently in compliance and are also continuing to provide our full spectrum of services.”

Seattle Children’s Hospital ranked among the top in the nation for puberty blocker prescriptions; though it did not respond to request for comment, there have been reports that it has suspended those services, and its webpage for gender affirmation surgery has since been removed.

MultiCare Mary Bridge Children's Hospital located in Tacoma wrote in an email that while it does not perform gender-affirming surgeries, “we are aware of the executive order that calls for an end to gender-affirming medical treatments for children and adolescents under 19 and are continuing to monitor the situation. Executive orders are directives to federal agencies on how they will operate. Much of what’s been issued has not yet become rules for us to evaluate.”

D.C.-based Children’s National Hospital released a statement that it will no longer prescribe puberty blockers or hormone therapy, noting that prior to the EO it did not perform gender affirming surgeries.

Coolie Dickinson Hospital based out of Massachusetts wrote in an email that it “is reviewing to see what, if any, actual impact the executive orders might have and would follow up, if there is any impact. In the meantime, the care we provide to our community continues as normal at this time.”

University of Michigan Health stated that its “teams are assessing the potential impact of this executive order on our healthcare services and the communities we serve. Our priority remains delivering high-quality, accessible care to our patients while ensuring compliance with the law."

Another medical provider to cease gender transition services for anyone under 19 is VCU Health and Children’s Hospital of Richmond, Virginia, which wrote in a statement that it was “in response to an Executive Order issued by the White House on January 28, 2025, and related state guidance received by VCU on January 30, 2025. Our doors remain open to all patients and their families for screening, counseling, mental health care and all other health care needs.”

UCSF’s Gender Affirming Care in San Francisco has also ended services for patients under 19, a policy also adopted by Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York simply wrote in an email that “we will keep you posted once we have an update on this matter.”

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia both said they were reviewing their services.

Several hospitals and hospital systems who performed these procedures on minors did not respond to The Center Square's requests for comment on the executive order. The Center Square will continue to seek clarification on whether they plan to comply with the order.

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Bill Would Limit Which Flags Can Fly at Wisconsin Government Buildings

(The Center Square) – A new Wisconsin bill would limit government-sponsored divisions from flying certain flags.

The bill prevents flags other than the U.S. flag, Wisconsin flag, local flags and U.S. armed forces and POW/MIA flags from being flown or hung outside any state or local institution.

The bill was introduced by a group of Republicans including Rep. Jerry L. O’Connor, R-Fond du Lac, Dave Murphy, R- Greenville, Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, Joy Goeben, R-Hobart and State Sens. Dan Feyen, R-Fond du Lac, and Cory Tomczyk, R-Mosinee.

The bill points to particular flags that have led to divisiveness including those of political movements or social causes, such as MAGA, pride, heterosexual, CSA, Second Amendment rights, BLM, ALL Lives Matter, Antifa, Pro-Life, Pro-Choice and others.

The bill doesn’t prohibit any private citizens or Native American tribes from flying any flags.

“Government should not be in the business of choosing sides, or even giving the appearance of choosing sides,” said Feyen. “This bill simply ensures that the first impression of all government buildings and institutions is neutral, offering equal treatment to all Wisconsinites.”

The lawmakers said that they were asked to act on the divisiveness by Wisconsin residents.

“Flags on government buildings are not supposed to be divisive and should not support one ideology over another,” said Sen. Tomczyk, “When the governor uses flags flown over the State Capitol and other taxpayer-funded buildings to divide the people of Wisconsin, it is shameful and frankly, embarrassing. It is time to end this nonsense.”

Illegal Border Crossings Buses Carrying Migrants Northern Border Illegal Border Crossers Immigration Parole Illegal Immigrant Convicts Biden’s Immigration Policies

Republican Bill Would Block Illegal Immigrants From Receiving Tax Breaks

Immigrants residing illegally within the U.S. could no longer receive child tax credits or tax breaks for low income earners if the Safeguarding American Workers’ Benefits Act becomes law.

Reintroduced by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., the legislation would require both parents and children to have Social Security numbers that are valid for employment in order to claim the Child Tax Credit or the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., has introduced a companion bill in the House.

The U.S. Joint Committee on Taxation estimates Hyde-Smith's legislation could save nearly $28 billion over ten years.

“I welcome President [Donald] Trump’s intent to target wasteful spending and enforce immigration laws,” Hyde-Smith said Tuesday. “The environment is certainly friendlier now to adopt legislation that saves billions of dollars and ensures that only U.S citizens and persons authorized to work can benefit from the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit.”

While the CTC and EITC should only go to those with SSNs valid for employment, certain loopholes allow some people who do not meet the requirements to receive the federal benefits. The bill would close those loopholes.

Only weeks into Trump’s second presidency, Republicans and the Commander in Chief have already implemented or introduced other anti-illegal immigration measures, including reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy and authorizing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to round up and deport migrants residing in the U.S.

The Safeguarding American Workers’ Benefits Act is also part of Republicans’ federal cost-cutting efforts to finance the extension of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will cost $4.6 trillion over the next ten years.

“I will work to ensure that [the] Safeguarding American Workers’ Benefits Act is considered as part of the debate to extend and improve on the Trump tax cuts that expire this year,” Hyde-Smith said.

Riley Gaines

Nearly 80% of Americans Don’t Want Men Playing in Women’s Sports

Surveying nearly an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, a poll taken by the New York Times and polling company Ipsos showed that the majority of Americans do not want transgender-identifying men in women’s sports.

Of those surveyed, 79% answered that men “should not” compete in women’s sports when posed with the following question: “thinking about transgender female athletes – meaning athletes who were male at birth but who currently identify as female – do you think they should or should not be allowed to compete in women's sports?”

This number has increased from a 2023 The Center Square Voters' Voice Poll that reported 67% of American voters were collectively against men playing in women’s sports.

When the 2025 New York Times-Ipsos poll is broken up along political divides, 94% of Republicans, 67% of Democrats, and 64% of Independents or “something else” answered that men should not be in women’s sports.

The highest bracket that believes men should be allowed to play in women’s sports are Democrats, equaling 31%.

The results of this poll came just before President Trump declared there are only two sexes in America, male and female. The survey was taken from Jan. 2 to 11.

When reached for comment, Ipsos vice president for public affairs Mallory Newall repeated the question posed to respondents and said “we cannot speculate on what people meant or interpreted beyond the wording of the question.”

Ipsos is a global market research and polling company, according to its description in the poll document.

Men in women’s sports has become an issue in recent years, with high school girls such as Payton McNabb getting injured by a male competitor on a volleyball team and former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines becoming an activist defending women's-only sports after placing second to a transgender female swimming competitor.

The Independent Women’s Forum senior legal advisor Beth Parlato told The Center Square that “without female-only athletics, the safety of girls and women is endangered, and men will dominate the playing field, which unfairly takes away awards, opportunities, scholarships and roster spots.”

The Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) is a nonprofit women’s organization “dedicated to developing and advancing policies” that “enhance people’s freedom, opportunities, and well-being,” according to its website. IWF has taken a staunch stance against men competing in women’s sports.

“Males and females possess unique and immutable biological differences,” Parlato said. “With respect to sports, males have biological athletic advantages over females, as the average male is stronger, bigger and faster.

“Furthermore, allowing males in female-only spaces is an invasion of a women’s right to privacy and threatens women’s safety and well-being,” Parlato said.

“Defining sex-based terms in law and policy is essential to protect women’s sports and spaces,” Parlato said.

Trump’s executive order on two sexes provides “needed clarity to preserve the legal existence of women as distinct from men,” Parlato said. “Protect women’s sports bills at both the federal and state levels must be codified into law to ensure equal athletic opportunities for women and girls."

The NYT-Ipsos survey was “of the American general population” aged 18 and up, interviewing a total of 2,128 people; 1,022 of those polled were Republican/Lean Republican, 1,025 were Democrat/Lean Democrat, and 81 were Independent or “something else.”

In a vein similar to transgender-identifying men playing in women’s sports, the poll showed that the majority of Americans are not for sex changes in minors, either.

Respondents were asked “thinking about medications used for transgender care, do you think doctors should be able to prescribe puberty-blocking drugs or hormone therapy to minors between the ages of 10 and 18?”

A total of 71% of Americans do not think anyone under 18 should have access to such drugs or therapy.

Shortly after this poll, Trump signed an executive order “restricting transgender drugs and surgeries for minors,” The Center Square previously reported.

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