by Staff Reporter | Feb 2, 2025 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
A Tucson high school is short one less physics teacher after he challenged Donald Trump’s denial of the existence of more than two genders.
Les Beard, a physics teacher at Marana High School, taught his students that a certain intersex disorder, androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS), actually caused some males to be females.
Independent journalist James O’Keefe posted a recording of Beard’s lecture on AIS captured by a student, and later reported Beard’s suspension.
Beard claimed in his lecture that those with AIS were women with both female and male sex organs. Beard included a brief remark challenging the premises of President Donald Trump’s public stance and recent executive orders on gender identity.
“But usually all of these women have female sex organs, they do have male sex organs as well. So if you take an x-ray of them, you’ll see what guys have. But if you look, if you were to look at them, they look quite ordinary. So what are they? Are these guys? Mr. Trump says so,” said Beard. “And [the doctors] tell you, ‘Well, you’re really a guy,’ but none of them really believe it because they’ve been women all their lives.”
One of Trump’s first executive orders upon taking office last week declared the existence of only two genders: male and female.
All individuals with AIS have XY chromosomes, which means the biological sex of all AIS individuals is male. Contrary to Beard’s assertion, those with AIS don’t have “female sex organs.” AIS individuals don’t possess a female reproductive system: no ovaries, fallopian tubes, or uterus. Menstruation, ovulation, and pregnancy are impossible.
AIS is one of 30-odd intersex genetic disorders. Intersex disorders are conditions characterized by atypical sexual or reproductive anatomy. AIS concerns a defective bodily response to androgens, the hormones responsible for male development.
AIS mens’ bodies are unable to properly respond to androgens, such as testosterone (the primary androgen). This inability to respond to testosterone causes the underdevelopment or lack of any development of a penis as well as fully or partially undescended testicles.
As a result of their androgen insensitivity, AIS men may have genitals that appear female, but they are not female genitals. Additionally, AIS individuals may develop breasts because their bodies aren’t able to respond to androgens: the male sex hormones. For these reasons, some AIS men are raised as females — this does not make them female, however. Biologically, they are men with a genetic disorder.
In a report corresponding to the leaked audio, O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) included the following statement from Marana High School District spokeswoman Allison Benjamin:
“We are proud to provide our students with challenging academics, full extracurricular offerings, and experiences that enhance their personal growth and development. To help provide optimal learning environments for all students, we have adopted policies that provide guidance and expectations for teachers and staff, including: 1. Teaching to the state standards that are focused on course content. 2. Providing a learning environment where teachers remain neutral and refrain from sharing their personal beliefs and opinions. Our district is committed to making sure these policies are clear and honored by all staff. The administration will follow appropriate guidelines detailed in district policy to ensure all staff fulfill these expectations.”
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by Staff Reporter | Feb 1, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
After Tuesday’s blunder from Arizona’s chief executive, those across the state are again questioning the competency of Governor Katie Hobbs and her staffers.
Hobbs submitted an error-ridden letter to the Arizona Congressional Delegation on Tuesday afternoon requesting their assistance in resisting the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze.
Hobbs’ letter failed to include two of Arizona’s congress members: Congressmen Abraham Hamadeh and Paul Gosar. Her letter also incorrectly claimed Trump’s federal funding freeze extended to federal assistance programs providing individuals with healthcare, public safety, veterans’ services, and financial assistance.
“Without these programs, Arizonans will be denied healthcare, families will struggle to stay housed, and communities will become less safe. The effects of this funding freeze will have impacts across the state, and weaken Arizona’s ability to care for its residents,” said Hobbs. “Congress must act. These actions directly violate the Constitution’s delegation of power of the purse to Congress and the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Courts, including the Supreme Court, have made it clear that presidents cannot unilaterally withhold the funding appropriated by Congress for these services.”
Hobbs also threatened to sue the Trump administration over its funding freeze.
As the White House and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) clarified in a memo and other public statements preceding Hobbs’ letter, the federal funding freeze doesn’t affect programs providing direct benefits to individuals. The OMB supplemented its memo with a Q&A on the guidance.
“This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs from the Trump Administration. Individual assistance that includes […] Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits […] will not be impacted by this pause,” said Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt during Tuesday morning’s White House press briefing.
The following executive orders pertain to the federal funding freeze: “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid,” “Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements,” “Unleashing American Energy,” “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” and “Enforcing the Hyde Amendment.”
An OMB memorandum meant to offer guidance on those executive orders, M-25-13, prompted an eleventh-hour federal court injunction on Tuesday. The federal funding freeze was scheduled to take place at 5 pm on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Leavitt confirmed that the OMB rescinded its memo to “end any confusion” created by the injunction. In effect, this provided the administration with a workaround to the court order. A follow-up OMB memo advising of its rescission directed agencies to contact their general counsel for implementation of Trump’s executive orders.
“The President’s [Executive Orders] on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented,” said Leavitt.
As first reported by the Arizona Daily Independent, other leaders took the effort to clarify the scope of the federal funding freeze — among them, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin.
“I’ve spoken to senior officials at the White House and confirmed the temporary pause by OMB does not impact individual assistance and will not interrupt disaster recovery efforts, school and childcare funding, healthcare for seniors or low-income families, funding for our roads, meals and lunches, or any of the other misinformation that has spread,” said Youngkin. “The partisan stunt to disseminate knowingly misleading information is dangerous fearmongering and completely wrong.”
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by Staff Reporter | Jan 30, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Over 7,300 illegal aliens have been deported in President Donald Trump’s first week in office, per the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
DHS published this latest dataset on Monday. Following Trump’s inauguration, DHS and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began posting daily updates with immigration enforcement totals.
DHS reported that among these 7,300 apprehensions were “hundreds of convicted criminals” for crimes such as sexual assault and rape, robbery, burglary, aggravated assault and battery, drugs and weapons offenses, domestic violence, suspected terrorism, firearms trafficking, kidnapping, vehicular manslaughter, driving while impaired, and possession of an illegal substance.
This latest update follows the Senate’s confirmation of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem last Saturday as Trump’s DHS secretary.
“Ensuring Americans’ safety and securing the border is President Trump’s and Secretary Noem’s top priority,” stated DHS.
DHS also reported that their novel implementation of deportation flights returned many of these detained illegal aliens to Mexico, Jordan, Brazil, and El Salvador.
In remarks made Monday during the House GOP’s annual Congressional Institute conference, Trump declared his administration’s use of military planes for deportations marked a historic approach to U.S. immigration enforcement.
“For the first time in history, we are locating and loading illegal aliens into military aircraft and flying them back to the places from which they came — and made clear to every country they will be taking back their people,” said Trump.
Per data provided by ICE in their daily enforcement updates, as of Monday there were over 3,500 arrests and 2,650 detainers lodged since Trump took office.
Under Trump, immigration and law enforcement officials have also begun “enhanced targeted operations” on major hotspots for illegal aliens. On Sunday, ICE announced a partnership on such an operation with the FBI, ATF, DEA, CBP, and Marshals Service to enforce immigration law in Chicago, Illinois.
“For the record: targeted enforcement operations are planned arrests of known criminal aliens who threaten national security or public safety,” stated ICE.
Chicago considers itself a “sanctuary city.” Chicago and other cities which adopted this status are now under investigation by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, per a letter sent to local leaders on Monday. Other sanctuary cities named in that letter were New York City, New York; Denver, Colorado; and Boston, Massachusetts.
Although Phoenix declined years ago to declare itself a sanctuary city officially, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego maintains a position similar to those maintained by sanctuary city leaders. Last November, in the weeks following Trump’s election, Gallego declared that no city resources would be used for mass deportation efforts.
“I can say without equivocation that as long as I’m mayor, Phoenix will not use its police department—or any city resources whatsoever—to assist in mass deportation efforts by the Trump Administration,” said Gallego in a statement to Arizona’s Family.
Phoenix Police Department policy set years ago requires sergeant approval prior to contacting ICE.
Reportedly, Phoenix city leaders plan to meet privately for legal advice on the Trump administration’s immigration policies. The Department of Justice issued a three-page memo last week directing U.S. attorneys to investigate any state and local officials who refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement.
“Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands or requests,” read the memo from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.
The Trump administration put in a workaround to these refusals by major cities on immigration enforcement. Several days after Trump’s inauguration, then-acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued an internal memo granting immigration enforcement authority to law enforcement agents throughout various agencies, as reported exclusively by The Wall Street Journal.
Days later, the Phoenix office of the DEA announced its partnership with the DOJ and DHS in carrying out illegal alien apprehensions. Like its federal peers, the Phoenix DEA has taken to posting about their work with greater frequency since their Sunday announcement of a federal partnership.
Like Phoenix city leadership, Tucson’s city leaders vowed in a press release to not participate in any federal immigration enforcement efforts.
In his first week in office, Trump’s administration also ended the CBP One app enabling illegal entry into the border, and repealed ex-Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ memo limiting ICE agents.
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by Staff Reporter | Jan 29, 2025 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
The Phoenix Union High School District (PXU) passed a resolution declaring its right to refuse entry to federal immigration officials on school grounds.
During a special meeting last Friday, the PXU Governing Board unanimously passed its “Safe Zone Resolution” which designated PXU as a “Safe Zone.”
Under this “Safe Zone” designation, the governing board claimed, PXU officials reserve the right to deny Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) entry to any campus.
The governing board required ICE — as well as any state or local law enforcement agencies acting for ICE — to submit a request to Superintendent Thea Andrade or her designee for review. PXU asserted that Andrade or her designee had the authority to review whether each requested instance of campus access by immigration enforcement would be permitted by law or would require a judicial warrant.
Similarly, PXU required immigration enforcement agents to go through Andrade’s office to request student information.
PXU further claimed in its resolution that their district doesn’t maintain any data relating to students’ immigration status, characterizing the distinction as “potentially discriminatory” and “irrelevant” to education. The district declared that all students “regardless of immigration status” had a right to free public K-12 classrooms, even claiming that illegal alien minors had “other legal grounds for presence” in the country. The district resolution didn’t clarify what those were.
“[F]ederal immigration law enforcement activities, on or around District property and transportation routes, whether by surveillance, interview, demand for information, arrest, detention, or any other means, harmfully disrupt the learning environment to which all students, regardless of immigration status, are entitled and significantly interfere with the ability of all students, including U.S. citizen students and students who hold other legal grounds for presence in the U.S., to access a free public K-12 education,” stated the resolution.
The resolution was submitted before the board for approval by PXU general counsel, Eileen D. Fernandez.
Fernandez formerly served as the associate general counsel for Orange County Public Schools from 2010 to 2021.
The Trump administration has already indicated its intent to bring accountability to those who hinder immigration enforcement efforts.
The day after Trump’s inauguration last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued an internal memo warning that all laws and actions “that threaten to impede” the Trump administration’s immigration initiatives were to be considered threats to public safety and national security.
The DOJ directed its Civil Division within the Office of the Associate Attorney General to identify and take legal action against state and local laws, policies, and activities serving as noncompliance to the Trump administration’s immigration initiative.
That memo also launched investigations into state or local law enforcement officials believed to be interfering with immigration enforcement.
“[I]n the absence of unusual facts, prosecutorial discretion at the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices is bounded by the core principle that prosecutors should charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offenses,” stated the memo from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.
Bove’s memo declared that all state and local actors were required by the Constitution and federal law to comply with Trump’s immigration enforcement initiatives. The DOJ said that noncompliance would trigger federal investigations and, likely, prosecutions.
“Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests pursuant to, for example, the President’s extensive Article II authority with respect to foreign affairs and national security, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the Alien Enemies Act,” stated the memo.
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by Staff Reporter | Jan 28, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Constituents of the seventh congressional district are calling on their congressman, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, to retire from office due to his failing to show up for key votes this session.
Per House Clerk records, Grijalva hasn’t cast a vote on legislation this session yet. His last vote was for Hakeem Jeffries for House Speaker at the start of this month.
Critics of Grijalva’s continued absence in the House pointed out how Grijalva urged former President Joe Biden to drop out of last year’s presidential race.
House Clerk records also show that Grijalva last cast votes in November 2024 during the second session of the last Congress. There were nearly 40 roll call votes taken that second session, during which Grijalva was registered as “not voting.”
Grijalva sat on the committees for Education and Workforce, and Natural Resources. The congressman stepped down from his leadership position in the latter last month. Grijalva entered Congress in 2003.
Grijalva’s lack of presence in Congress is attributable to his lung cancer diagnosis, which he announced last April. Despite undergoing cancer treatments, Grijalva committed to running another term — his final, he promised.
Last October, Cronkite News reported that Grijalva didn’t cast any votes since mid-February, several months before he announced his cancer diagnosis. Those missed votes amounted to over 300.
Altogether, Grijalva missed about 480 out of the 490 roll call votes from mid-February through last week. As Arizona Daily Star columnist and constituent Tim Steller pointed out, that amounts to 97 percent of voting opportunities missed.
Grijalva told KOLD at the time that his failing to vote made no difference in Congress.
“They’re inconsequential because the Republicans are in charge and it’s the worst performing Congress in decades, if not a hundred years,” said Grijalva.
This session, Grijalva has missed out on 25 key votes on 19 pieces of legislation:
- House Resolution 5: Adopting the Rules of the House of Representatives for the One Hundred Nineteenth Congress, and for other purposes
- House Resolution 29: The Laken Riley Act
- House Resolution 23: Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act
- House Resolution 192: Amtrak Executive Bonus Disclosure Act
- House Resolution 152: Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination Act
- House Resolution 153: Post-Disaster Assistance Online Accountability Act
- House Resolution 28: Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act
- House Resolution 164: POWER Act
- House Resolution 144: Tennessee Valley Authority Salary Transparency Act
- House Resolution 33: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide special rules for the taxation of certain residents of Taiwan with income from sources within the United States
- House Resolution 30: Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act
- House Resolution 186: Hershel “Woody” Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act
- House Resolution 187: MAPWaters Act
- House Resolution 53: Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 471) the Fix Our Forests Act; and providing for consideration of the bill (S. 5) the Laken Riley Act
- House Resolution 165: Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act
- Senate Bill 5: Laken Riley Act
- House Resolution 375: Continued Rapid Ohia Death Response Act
- House Resolution 471: Fix Our Forests Act
- House Resolution 21: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
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