Texas jury rules against divorced dad trying to stop 7-year-old son’s gender transition
A Texas jury has ruled against a dad seeking custody of his twin 7-year-old sons in an attempt to stop one of the boys from transitioning their gender, according to reports.
The Dallas panel denied Jeffrey Younger’s petition for sole custody of sons Jude and James — which came as the boys’ mom is pushing for James to begin hormone replacement therapy, according to the Washington Examiner.
The mom, pediatrician Anne Georgulas, contends that James is transgender, likes wearing dresses and prefers to be identified as “Luna,” according to The Texan.
Georgulas has secured a letter of recommendation for James to “receive a full psychological assessment for gender dysphoria and potentially take hormone blockers,” the Examiner reported, a move that Younger strongly opposes.
The battle came to the courts when Georgulas filed suit to restrict her ex-husband’s contact with the kids, require that he refer to James as “Luna” — and keep him away from those who refused to do the same, the Examiner reported.
Younger responded by petitioning the court for sole custody of the boys, with expert witnesses testifying that James’ identity is still very much in flux.
“There is still some fluidity in his thinking,” said Dr. Benjamin Albritton, according to the Examiner. “Neither child appears to be depressed, anxious or aggressive. … He gave no indications of other significant psychological difficulties.”
The jury on Monday sided with Georgulas, paving the way for her to pursue a possible transition for James.
At stake, potentially, is not just James’ identity in the here and now, but his health down the line.
Hormone therapy can cause infertility, as well as carrying potential health risks ranging from hair loss to blood clots, according to medical professionals.
A judge is expected to issue a formal ruling Wednesday.
Photo Credit: SaveJames.com
Girl, 4, accidentally shoots father and herself after finding gun
MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee police say a 4-year-old girl found her father’s handgun then accidentally shot him and herself, but both are expected to survive.
Police said Monday that they arrested the 33-year-old father because he lied about the circumstances of the shooting Sunday morning. Prosecutors are reviewing the case for possible charges.
Police say the father and his daughter were treated at hospitals and that their injuries are not life-threatening.
Police released no further details, including how the girl managed to get her father’s gun. His name has not been released.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/10/23/girl-4-accidentally-shoots-father-and-herself-after-finding-gun/
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Man found bound, stuffed in sleeping bag inside closet with vacuum running to conceal his screaming
FAYETTEVILLE, AR (KFSM) — Fayetteville police say a man and woman tied up their roommate, put him in a closet, and then turned on a vacuum to conceal his screaming.
Megan Osborne, 38, and Jordan Trujillo, 28, were arrested Saturday (Oct. 19) in connection with kidnapping, aggravated assault and theft by receiving.
Police were called about 8:08 p.m. to the West End Apartments for a mental person call, where they found Trujillo sitting outside, according to an arrest affidavit.
Trujillo told police he lived in the unit behind him, where police met Osborne. After she let the officer inside, he heard the vacuum running from inside the closet.
He opened the door to find a man stuffed inside two sleeping bags with his hands and feet bound by a sheet. The bindings were so tight he had to be cut loose, according to the affidavit.
The man said he’d been beaten while on the ground as well, and police noted bruising to his head, a cut on his arm and blood coming from his ear.
Trujillo said he and Osborne tied the man up, covered him with sleeping bags and put him in a trash can.
Trujillo also told police officers they restrained the man and were going to leave him like that while they went out to eat.
Trujillo said he would return later with food once the man calmed down, according to the affidavit.
During their investigation, police also found a stolen scooter and license plate in the apartment.
Osborne and Trujillo were being held Tuesday (Oct. 22) at the Washington County Detention Center on bonds of $250,000.
Both are due Nov. 20 in Washington County Circuit Court.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Bed, Bath and Beyond Pulls Blackface Pumpkins From Shelves After Outcry
Bed, Bath & Beyond has pulled black jack-o-lantern pumpkins from their shelves after a Nyack community complained publicly about the pumpkins. The jack-o-lanterns, which are black and feature white paint for the grin, nose, and eyes, were placed out in front of a Nyack law firm Feerick, Nugent, and MacCartney. Within 48 hours, the law firm had gotten enough complaints about the pumpkins that they took the display down — but the firm also raised the question as to how the pumpkins got to Bed Bath & Beyond shelves in the first place.
When a local news crew investigated the incident, the law firm said that their intention was to never offend or exclude anyone — so as soon as they got complaints, they took down the display. Local NAACP Director Wilbur Aldridge said the pumpkins being displayed depicted an “extreme lack of sensitivity.”
Meanwhile, Bed, Bath & Beyond apologized for the fact that the pumpkins were on sale in the first place — and immediately removed the pumpkins from all store locations. This is not the first time that a company has been criticized for selling products that have a likeness to the racist image recently. Last year, Gucci and Adidas dropped products that had a striking resemblance to the image, and just this year, Prada got in hot water for a fictional animal that depicts blackface, and Katy Perry Collections pulled a shoe that depicted the same image. Clearly, major companies have a long way to go when it comes to making sure their designs are, well, not racist.
via: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/lifestyle/bed-bath-beyond-pulls-blackface-183855546.html
Photo Credit: twitter
Always takes female symbol off its packaging to be inclusive of transgender, nonbinary customers
(CNN) — Always sanitary products will remove the Venus symbol, historically used to represent the female sex, from its products to be inclusive of transgender and nonbinary customers.
Transgender activists and allies had publicly urged Proctor & Gamble to redesign its pad wrapper without the gender symbol, a circle atop a cross. Among their arguments were that not all people who menstruate are women and that not all women menstruate.
The change is the latest in a series of actions companies and governments are taking to affirm the identities of transgender people as transgender equality activism surges. Companies including Lyft, Mastercard, and Tinder are making similar moves.
“For over 35 years Always has championed girls and women, and we will continue to do so,” Proctor & Gamble said Tuesday in a statement. “We’re also committed to diversity & inclusion and are on a continual journey to understand the needs of all of our consumers.”
Getting periods can be a dysphoric experience for transgender and nonbinary people, especially because of the way that periods are generally discussed and addressed as something that only happens to people who are assigned women at birth.
Proctor & Gamble has not said when the design change will happen.
“We routinely assess our products, packaging, & designs, taking into account consumer feedback, to ensure we are meeting the needs of everyone who uses our products,” the company’s statement said.
Photo Credit: Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
Florida Uber Driver Charged After Allegedly Shooting Passenger While Trying to Secure Gun
A Florida Uber driver has been charged after accidentally shooting a passenger while he tried to secure his gun.
Hollywood police say 27-year-old Adrian Harper had stopped to pick up an additional passenger Sunday and was trying to put his gun in a holster while the person loaded their belongings into the trunk. The gun was lying in the seat beside Harper as he attempted to put it in a holster. The bullet hit a juvenile passenger sitting in the backseat.
Ebony Collins told police she was loading her belongings into the truck when she heard the gunshot. She ran to the police station to report the shooting.
The unidentified child was taken to the hospital.
According to an arrest report, Harper was issued a misdemeanor notice to appear in court for culpable negligence inflicting harm. Police also confiscated the gun.
Photo Credit: ktla.com
Pizza Hut Testing Their New Plant-Based Incogmeato Pizza
Incogmeato, Kellogg’s new line of plant-based protein, is coming to Pizza Hut.
Starting on Wednesday, the pizza chain will serve a new vegetable pizza topped with Incogmeato’s meatless Italian sausage at one location in Phoenix, Arizona. The test will last for a limited time. Pizza Hut will sell the pie in a new, round pizza box, which it is also testing at the Phoenix location.
Taken together, the Garden Specialty Pizza and the new packaging may attract customers who are concerned about the environment. Plant-based proteins use far less water and are responsible for fewer emissions than their animal protein counterparts. And the round pizza boxes use less packaging than traditional square boxes.
It took two years to develop the box, said Nicolas Burquier, chief customer and operations officer for Pizza Hut. He called the container “the most innovative packaging we’ve rolled out to date.”
While Pizza Hut may be leading the pack when it comes to pizza boxes, it’s following a more established pattern by testing out a product that features plant-based protein.
Dunkin’ recently announced that it is rolling out its Beyond Meat breakfast sandwich nationally in November, two months ahead of schedule, because its New York City test of the product exceeded expectations. And Burger King announced that it would make its Impossible Whopper available nationally after just one month of testing.
Plant-based proteins also sell well in the grocery aisle. US retail sales of plant-based foods have grown 11% in the past year, according to a July report from trade group Plant Based Foods Association and the Good Food Institute, a nonprofit that supports plant-based businesses. Kellogg, which first announced Incogmeato in early September, isn’t the only big food company with a new line of meat substitutes. Nestlé, Tyson, Smithfield and Kroger are also launching their own plant-based products.
Kellogg is also not the first to partner with a restaurant to introduce a new product to consumers. Impossible Foods debuted its plant-based sausage with Little Caesars in May.
Kellogg and Pizza Hut recently partnered on another limited-time menu item, the Stuffed Cheez-It Pizza, which is designed to look like an oversized Cheez-It cracker. That collaboration led to a discussion about incorporating Incogmeato into the Pizza Hut menu, explained Marianne Radley, chief brand officer for Pizza Hut.
“Exploring plant-based options together was really just a natural conversation,” Radley wrote in an email to CNN Business. The Garden pizza and round box will be sold together for $10.
via: https://ktla.com/2019/10/22/pizza-hut-is-testing-out-their-new-plant-based-incogmeato-pizza/
Photo Credit: Pizza Hut
Black Apple employee says complaints about treatment by white customers got him fired
A black former Apple employee is suing the tech behemoth for $750,000, alleging he was discriminated against by customers and managers — and lost his job when he complained.
Joshua Holt, 32, claimed in a lawsuit filed last week that white customers “constantly asked” if he worked at an Apple store at the Washington Square mall in Tigard, Oregon, despite having just welcomed them into the location, The Oregonian reports.
Other white shoppers also referred to Holt as a “boy” and sometimes ignored or avoided him in favor of his white colleagues at Apple, his lawsuit claims.
“When Mr. Holt shared these experiences with his co-workers and management, he was often told to ‘assume positive intent’ or that he was overreacting,” the lawsuit reads. “Mr. Holt grew increasingly upset and demoralized by Apple not taking his concerns seriously enough to warrant a meaningful response.”
The alleged “barrage of racial discrimination” took such a toll on Holt that he needed medical leave and a doctor requested that he be transferred back to an Apple store in downtown Portland, where he previously worked and could enjoy a more diverse environment.
But Apple declined to transfer Holt, who was initially hired by the California-based company in 2011 and later helped open a store in Atlanta. Managers in Oregon suggested that he “work through the interactions” on his own, according to the lawsuit.
Then, in December 2018, a white customer who was looking at an Apple watch didn’t understand what Holt was trying to tell him and asked for a white Apple employee instead, the lawsuit claims.
“Mr. Holt politely asked, ‘Isn’t that what I just said?’” according to the lawsuit, which claims the white worker gave the same response. “Mr. Holt explained he was always trying to improve his communications. The customer threw his hand in Mr. Holt’s face.”
A co-worker then had to intervene when the customer “stepped into” Holt’s personal space, according to the lawsuit. Managers then sent Holt home before putting him on administrative leave. He was later fired in March for violating company policies, according to the lawsuit.
A message seeking comment from an Apple spokesperson was not immediately returned Tuesday, but company spokeswoman Rachel Wolf Tulley declined to comment when reached by The Oregonian, citing ongoing litigation.
Photo Credit: AFP
Mom who sold meth to put child through college gets 11 years
An Ohio mom of five sold several pounds of meth to buy her family a farm and to pay for the college education of one of her kids, her attorney claims.
Janet Gartner, 41, and her live-in boyfriend, Nicholas Tony Bair, 40, were not typical drug dealers because they allegedly didn’t use the 5 pounds of meth, along with cocaine and pot, found earlier this year in their rural farmhouse in Kimbolton, her attorney claimed to a judge on Monday, the Zanesville Times Recorder reports.
“She only wanted to sell enough to buy a farm and put one of her children through college,” attorney Nicole Churchill said, adding that the housekeeper for wealthy families in Licking County just wanted the best for her family.
“When the drugs were gone, it was going to be over,” Churchill said. “She would go back and be content on cleaning rich people’s toilets.”
But a prosecutor insisted Gartner and Bair wreaked havoc in central Ohio by selling 1-pound bags of meth for $6,500, including twice when authorities were watching them do so at a carwash in Dresden, officials said.
A subsequent search of the couple’s property revealed a trove of drugs and cash, including $160,000, hundreds of THC vape pens and hallucinogenic mushrooms, authorities said.
Judge Mark Fleegle was unmoved by Churchill’s emotional plea, sentencing Gartner to 11 years in prison on drug and corruption charges while ordering her to pay a $10,000 fine. Fleegle also told Gartner that her actions destroyed the lives of users and killed people, Y-City News reports.
“That can never be rationalized in my mind,” the judge said.
Bair, meanwhile, is expected to return to court to enter a plea on drug charges next month. Churchill’s attorney said he, too, just wanted what was best for Gartner’s family.
“I don’t believe anyone wakes up and goes, ‘You know, I want to sell meth,’” Churchill said in court, adding that a farm and college were the ultimate goals. “They would have had something they’d never had before.”
via: https://nypost.com/2019/10/22/mom-who-sold-meth-to-put-child-through-college-gets-11-years/
Photo Credit: Police Handout
There is now a ‘sexy’ Popeyes chicken sandwich Halloween costume
NEW YORK — Popeye’s chicken sandwich is so popular it has inspired a “sexy” Halloween costume.
It’s called the “Sold Out Chicken Sandwich Costume,” clearly referencing Popeye’s hit sandwich, which sold out this summer.
Some people even waited in line for hours to get one.
But you won’t have to wait in line for the costume, which features a brown bodysuit, a ruffled bodice, and a white “sold out” stamp.
Yandy.com is selling the outfit for almost $80.
Get one before they’re gone, just like the actual sandwich.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/10/22/sexy-popeyes-chicken-sandwich-costume-being-sold-online/
Photo Credit: pix11.com