When I was just 16 years old, I began a journey I will regret for the rest of my life. I was traumatized and depressed, and believed my struggles could be boiled down to gender confusion. 

That is, after all, what online activists and even my own health care providers told me. And they assured me that a full gender transition was the solution – the only solution. 

Hurting and desperate for solace and community, I listened to them. By the time I was 18, I was on testosterone and had undergone a double mastectomy. The debilitating physical consequences of these procedures still afflict me nearly 10 years later. They likely always will. 

It’s stories like mine, which I first shared with Independent Women as part of its vital “Identity Crisis” series, that gender ideologues would rather ignore. Detransitioners such as myself expose the ugly truth of gender medicine. We are proof that so-called “gender-affirming” treatments are not reversible or temporary. 

And most importantly, we are proof that medical interventions do not fix the underlying mental trauma present in so many gender-confused youth. If anything, these interventions actually make things worse, as the scars on my wrists and my chest can attest.

But for the first time in years, I am hopeful things are about to change. 

This month, President-elect Trump is set to return to the White House, where he has promised to take swift action against institutionalized “gender-affirming care.” He can start by immediately repealing an executive order signed by President Biden that directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to promote “expanded access” to these harmful interventions. 

Gatekeeping is safekeeping. Expanded access to an “affirmation only” model of medical fraud just increases the number of detransitioners like me. Hurting children become regretful adults. Vulnerable populations such as those suffering with mental illness, and especially children, deserve our protection – even if they need protection from activist doctors or themselves. 

Trump can also direct his HHS to pressure medical organizations and providers to move away from “gender-affirming care” altogether – which is the exact opposite of what Biden’s HHS did when it bullied the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) into removing age limit guidelines from its treatment recommendations.

Unlike Biden’s administration, Trump’s will have science – and common sense – on its side. An in-depth report by the U.K.’s National Health Services (NHS) last year confirmed what many detransitioners like myself have been saying for years: that “gender-affirming care” for minors lacks sufficient evidence and has lifelong consequences. 

Many of the studies activists and doctors have relied on to justify these interventions have been “exaggerated or misrepresented,” the author of the report, Hilary Cass, wrote. Lies and misrepresentations have no place in health care. 

The truth is consistent. Reality cannot be raged against successfully; eventually it will catch up to your lie. Doctors lied to detransitioners and we, the patients, pay the price when reality comes knocking. 

But Trump shouldn’t stop at just the removal of an expansion of a harmful practice. The incoming president has also suggested he’ll work with the Republican-controlled Congress to pass legislation to “permanently stop federal taxpayer dollars from being used to promote or pay for” medical gender interventions, and to prohibit what he rightly calls “child sexual mutilation” in all 50 states. 

If such laws had been on the books when I was a kid, I would still have my healthy body intact. I would not have had to suffer vaginal atrophy and dryness from years of testosterone injections. I would not have ended up a lifelong medical patient.

There are plenty of other children and young adults who stand to suffer similar consequences. According to the medical nonprofit Do No Harm, at least 13,395 minors in the U.S. underwent some sort of “gender reassignment” procedure between 2019 and 2023. The youngest patients were 7 years old. And each will suffer the physically and mentally damaging consequences for life. 

The incoming administration has the opportunity to stop this catastrophe in its tracks. America’s youth can and must be protected – from activists who seek to use them for ideological goals, from health care providers who stand to profit from invasive and expensive medical interventions, even from themselves and their own confusion.

I am living proof of what happens when those in leadership positions fail to take this charge seriously. I can only hope my story, and the stories of tens of thousands of other detransitioners, will no longer be ignored.

President Biden announced that the federal government will be offering one-time payments of $770 to individuals who have been affected by the ongoing wildfires in California. These payments are intended to provide financial assistance to those who are struggling in the aftermath of this disaster, helping them cover the cost of essential items they may urgently need. The funds can be used for necessities such as baby formula, prescription medications, clothing, and food, ensuring that impacted residents can address their immediate needs during this challenging time. By providing this support, the government aims to help people recover and regain access to basic items required for their daily lives.

Biden made the announcement Thursday evening during a briefing from the Oval Office on the situation in Southern California. According to the president, nearly 6,000 people had been approved to receive the payments thus far, leading to a total of $5.1 million that has already gone out through this program.

“We’re not waiting until those fires are over to start helping the victims. We’re getting them help right now,” Biden said from the Oval Office.

The president approved California’s disaster declaration on Jan. 8, opening up federal funding to affected individuals in Los Angeles for the purposes of temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the wildfires. Additionally, the president pledged that the federal government would cover 100% of the cost of California’s disaster response for a period of six months.

Meanwhile, during the Monday evening briefing, Biden called on Congress to step up with more funding for the wildfire and its victims.

“It’s going to cost tens of billions of dollars to get Los Angeles to what it was,” Biden said during a briefing with Vice President Kamala Harris and emergency officials. “We are going to need Congress to step up with the funding.”

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell indicated during the Monday briefing that a total of 33,000 people impacted by the California fires had requested federal assistance. She said the number continues to rise, and they don’t expect it to slow down in the near term.

Criswell added during the Monday Oval Office briefing that about 700 to 800 people were currently staying in eight emergency shelters as a result of the wildfire, noting that meant a lot of folks had found shelter with family and friends, or in hotel rooms. Criswell said that through the federal government’s disaster declaration, people staying in hotels could be reimbursed for the costs.

In addition to FEMA, the Department of Defense and National Guard have also deployed federal resources to help fight the fires that have claimed at least 24 lives so far.

“President Trump is the right person at the right time to tackle this problem. He is a developer, thinks big, and understands the public/private tensions,” my old boss in the Reagan White House Counsel’s Office, Richard Hauser, suggested when I began to grapple with the enormity of the challenge facing Los Angeles.

I practiced land use law in California for almost 30 years on behalf of landowners large and small, public and private. California land use law is a tumbleweed of regulations and authorities. The worst is the California Coastal Commission (which will almost certainly play a villain’s role in rebuilding Pacific Palisades and Malibu) but which lacks jurisdiction over the land of the victims in Altadena, Sylmar, Pasadena and other areas at least a few miles from the coast. But there are more than a dozen federal, state and local agencies ordinarily involved in any large land development and a massive rebuild of this sort could quickly descend into an endless welter of initiatives.

“Rebuild LA” followed the riots of 1992. It was stood up in great hope of a renaissance in the areas destroyed in the paroxysm of violence that followed the first not guilty verdict in the trial of officers charged with the 1991 beating of Rodney King. More than 50 people died in the violence, thousands were injured, fires and looting ravaged the City of Angels. Rebuild LA was helmed by Peter Ueberroth and even that titan of California, revered because of his management of LA’s 1984 Olympics, could not bring order out of the chaos. The effort faded and failed. LA then as now is not easily governed. Or rebuilt. On Sunday’s Meet the Press, California Governor Gavin Newsom was using the language of Rebuild LA from 30 years ago: bringing everyone together to reimagine an LA 2.0 etc.

Last week’s catastrophe (which is ongoing and indeed may have returned before this posts) left devastation far, far worse than those 1992 riots. Most of the attention has focused on the extraordinary destruction of much of Malibu colony and the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of LA, but communities of all sorts have been devastated by the fires and the failures of government at every level to prevent and contain the blazes. At least dozens of lives have been lost and thousands and thousands of homes and businesses have been destroyed.

I turned to Hauser for some thoughts because he helmed for many years the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, and kept it from becoming mired in the typical bureaucratic malaise of the progressive era. The Corporation was established as a wholly owned Federal corporation by the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation Act of 1972, as amended (40 U.S.C. 871). The Corporation was governed by a 15-member Board of Directors. When Hauser and his colleagues took control, the plans became reality and the Corporation oversaw an extraordinary rebirth of the nation’s most celebrated avenue. It’s work done, it was dissolved in 1996. Rare that. (Hauser was quick to credit many people for the success of the corporation, including Skidmore Owings Merrill, its first Chairman, Arthur White, then Architect of the Capitol, and J. Carter Brown, then Director, National Gallery of Art. One organization does not mean one individual, just one authority.)

I asked Hauser to look up from the tee box and think on what could be done for LA using that model.

“President Trump should immediately task every agency of the federal government to come up with their best ideas for addressing the situation and, perhaps more importantly, convene the best and brightest from the private sector, domestically and internationally, to brainstorm and identify steps forward,” Hauser emailed in reply.  

“One of the first questions is whether the area should simply be rebuilt as it was or is there an opportunity to build smarter and more imaginatively knowing what we now know about the infrastructure, elevations, soil, hazards, and so on. Perhaps a combination of single, multi-family, and mixed use, parks, etc. A charrette convened for this purpose could be enlightening,” he continued.

“One thing seems clear to me,” Hauser emailed. “A new governance structure is needed with the singular focus of reclaiming and rebuilding.”

“An entity that can gather and rationalize the government interests and provide the confidence to the private sector needed to attract capital investment,” he continued. “We did this on a smaller scale with the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, and the Presidio is another example.”

To Hauser’s excellent thoughts I would add that President Trump and the Congress can use the Constitution’s “spending power” to make a perfectly legal offer to the state and city, the proverbial “offer too good to refuse”: lots of federal money in exchange for complete control of the areas to be rebuilt and the planning process for that effort. No Coastal Commission. No CalEPA or Department of Fish and Game or Regional Water Quality Control Board. Certainly no “management role” for Mayor Karen Bass and the legion of city and county bureaucrats that strangle the ordinary permitting and construction process in LA.  No “stakeholders” save for property owners. School districts, water districts, specialist districts—out. Unified control and authority superseding all other federal, state and local authorities—in.

If Congress and the new president make LA and CA an offer it cannot refuse, Trump the developer will know whom to consult to remedy the ruins of so many lives. The special purpose federal corporation could be empowered to compensate the victims who want out, expedite the rebuild of those who want to rebuild and fashion an infrastructure that thrives and survives the challenges of the state gifted by God with extraordinary beauty and unique challenges.

Set aside the irony that the man the West Side of LA loathes could be the one oversee its resurrection. In fact, set aside politics completely. I’ve never seen anything in America even close to the destruction of the last week. Having lived in and covered LA for radio and television from 1990 to 2015 and back again for this season of disaster, it’s long-suffering property owners and taxpayers deserve so much more than the “progressive project” has produced since Pete Wilson left the governorship in 1998. It most certainly does not need another committee of committees of the sort Rebuild LA quickly became on its way to first paralysis and then failure.

After a quarter-century of cumulative failures of government at every level resulting in this catastrophe, even the deep blue political class of California should be ready to give the GOP president and Congress a chance to bring a renaissance out of the ruins. It may be true that “the dry has become drier and the wet wetter?” as Governor Newsom has been saying as he begins the effort to shift blame away from government and towards “climate change,” but the Santa Ana winds are a feature, not a big of life in Southern California. They were wicked on Tuesday night a week ago, so high as to ground firefighting airplanes. But they have been that high before and will be again. It is government’s job to anticipate what needs to be done and to mitigate what it cannot prevent. California’s many agencies and hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats failed California a week ago.

It didn’t have to happen. It could have be prevented. The rebuilding can occur relatively quickly but only if authority is vested firmly in one entity empowered to make decisions and instruct other agencies to sit down and shut up and do what they are told to do. A key part of the Hauser proposal is that it creates a pathway for a private sector solution without which investor capital will not arrive. Investors are unlikely to flock to rebuilding areas without confidence in the regulatory and legal structure. There are too many other safe places to invest. And right now, only a fool would trust California’s “governance” system. Right now it is “post-governance”: dozens of agencies and no accountability or authority except to delay or deny. Reality: If you want to see a rebuilt City of Angels, do an end-around the pension-seeking bureaucrats.

Hugh Hewitt is host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990.  Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.

North Carolina authorities have arrested a Greenville-based real estate agent while investigating a triple homicide and four different crime scenes.

David Hansen Lever, 55, is charged with three counts of murder in connection to the homicides, according to the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office. Police arrested Lever after the son of two of the victims held him at gunpoint.

The investigation began on Jan. 10 when detectives located the three homicide victims with gunshot wounds. 

“As a result of interviews and evidence collected at each scene, the preliminary investigation reveals the incidents are related, however, this is an active investigation,” the sheriff’s office said in a Saturday press release.

The three victims included a married couple, Tony Gribble, 80, and Paula Gribble, 76, as well as 64-year-old Enrique Reyes. Authorities said Monday that Lever’s connection to Reyes is unclear, but the Gribbles used Lever as their relator when they purchased their home in 2014, according to WITN.

“Tonight was supposed to be Sunday dinner, but it’s not,” their son, TD Gribble, told WCTI.

Sheriff Paula Dance said during a Monday press conference that had the Gribbles’ son not held Lever at gunpoint, he may have killed more victims, according to WITN.

Dance also said authorities found more than 50 weapons inside Lever’s home. They also found firearms and ammunition in his van, WITN reported.

Lever appeared in court on Monday and called District Court Judge Daniel Entzminger a “mother——,” according to the outlet.

TD Gribble described his parents as faithful and loving in his interview with WCTI.

“My dad was a recon Marine: two and a half tours in Vietnam, five Purple Hearts, Bronze Star Combat V. My mom was a nurse educator at Coastal for 39 years with the state,” TD told the outlet.

Lever was apparently a partner at Lever & Russel Real Estate LLC in Greenville, according to the company’s website, which lists him as a broker and agent. County estate records show the company owned multiple properties. 

A man accused of arson and a group of looters targeting homes in evacuation zones amid the wildfires raging in Los Angeles County have been charged, officials said Monday. 

The charges were filed against a group of people accused of residential looting in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena areas, while arson charges were brought against a man in Azusa, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said during a news conference. 

“These are the people who are seeking to exploit this tragedy for their own benefit,” Hochman said. “These are people who have engaged in looting and arson. We’ve also investigated price gouging and will be investigating internet scams and the like.”

Three suspects identified as Martrell Peoples, Damari Bell and Travon Coleman committed residential burglaries in Mandeville Canyon to the tune of more than $200,000 worth of goods hours after the fires began, Hochman said. They were spotted on a Ring camera inside a home, he said. 

They were eventually linked to an apartment in Koreatown, where they were arrested. A number of stolen items were recovered from that home, officials said. 

Peoples, who has two previous strikes, faces a third, meaning he is looking at a potential life sentence under California’s Three Strikes Law, authorities said. Bell faces 22 years in prison. 

Others charged also include Rudy Salazar and Lucia Jilrara Perez, who face two counts each of first-degree residential burglary in connection with looting in Altadena on Jan. 8 as the Eaton Fire raged. The pair allegedly entered two homes and were caught while entering a third. 

A third set of alleged looters stole from a home in Altadena, including an Emmy Award, which was recovered, authorities said. They were identified as Roy Sims, Ryan Sims Quan, Naquan Dewey Reddix, and Pierie Obannon.

“In the Palisades area and the fires that we’ve experienced in Los Angeles, isn’t it bad enough we have 40,000 people potentially, that have been evacuated from an area, and then we get a handful of people that want to come up with activity to go victimize them,” said Los Angeles assistant police Chief Blake Chow. “It’s not enough that they have to worry about their properties and rebuilding and things like that.”

The arson suspect, Jose Carranza-Escobar, is accused of attempting to light a large tree on fire that had fallen to the ground at Pioneer Park. He was seen “standing next to the flames” and was promptly detained, police said at the time of his arrest.  

“During the investigation, Carranza admitted to starting the fire and was arrested for Arson,” a police statement said. 

Escobar faces nine years in prison and was expected to be arraigned Monday. 

Authorities have warned potential criminals from targeting homes that have been evacuated. In Santa Monicia, authorities have arrested at least 10 burglary suspects since the Palisades Fire began last week. 

Six had burglary tools with them, one pair had the Watch Duty app open on their phone to track evac zones, sources told Fox News. The Santa Monica Police Department said officers were able to stop the burglaries before they took place. 

Overall, Santa Monica police have made 39 arrests in evacuation zones. None of the suspects live in the city. 

Those not charged with attempted burglary were picked up for curfew violations, drug possession, warrants and probation violations. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has made 34 arrests since the start of the fires, Sheriff Robert Luna said Monday in a separate news conference. 

“This is a strong message from all of us, that we are here and when we catch people, we mean business,” he said. “If you do not have any legitimate business in these areas, stay out because our deputies are stopping people in a constitutional manner, I may add, and they are asking people questions.”

“We’re coming up with narcotics. We’re coming up with individuals who are carrying guns. And guess what? None of them live in these areas,” he added. 

Authorities confirmed that a suspect is in custody for the murder of a veteran American Airlines flight attendant who was one of the victims killed in a random stabbing spree during a layover in Denver.

According to the Denver Police Department, Elijah Caudill, 24, was arrested late Sunday evening in connection to four stabbings that occurred over the weekend. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, American Airlines confirmed that Phoenix-based flight attendant Celinda Levno, 71, was one of the victims.

“We are heartbroken and mourning the tragic loss of our colleague who was the victim of a senseless crime. Our thoughts and support are with her family, loved ones and colleagues, and we are doing all we can to assist law enforcement in its investigation,” a spokesperson for the airlines said in a statement.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, a union that represents American Airlines flight attendants, also confirmed Levno’s death in a statement sent to Fox News Digital. 

“With great sadness, we inform you of the passing of Phoenix-based Flight Attendant Celinda Levno while on layover in Denver. Celinda began her career with America West in 1989,” a spokesperson for the association said.

“Celinda’s love for her horses, friends, and family will always be remembered. We stand in support with Celinda’s family, friends, and our colleagues in Phoenix Inflight as they process this senseless tragedy.”

Levno began her career in 1989 with American West, which merged with US Airways and then American Airlines in 2013, according to the association. 

The association added that crews still on a layover in Denver will be relocated to a hotel near the Denver International Airport, even though the stabbing did not occur at the layover hotel.

Police said the incident happened around 5:17 p.m. on Saturday when officers responded to reports of a stabbing. When officers arrived, they found Levno with stab wounds to the neck, along with two other victims who sustained injuries.

Levno was transported to a local hospital and was later pronounced dead. Police said another male victim was stabbed late Sunday night and succumbed to his injuries. His identity has yet to be released. 

Investigators do not believe Caudill and the victims had any connection to each other, and a motive for the attacks is unknown.

Caudill is being held without bail and is facing first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder charges. 

Anyone with information or surveillance footage of the stabbings is encouraged to contact the Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7967.

A GoFundMe page has also been set up by family and friends of Levno to help with funeral costs.

“Celinda Anne Levno was an incredible woman. She was 71 years young and still working hard as a flight attendant,” a post on the page read.

“She spent her spare time with her loving husband, John, and sister, Melanie. She raised many horses throughout her lifetime and was heavily involved in the Arabian horse industry,” the post continued. 

“She was also an amazing musician and played her flute often in concert. Celinda was the most giving and kind person out there. She did so much for others. Such an amazing and kind woman who was taken way too soon.”