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EXCLUSIVE: Two high school cross-country runners and their families are suing a California school district, alleging their “Save Girls Sports” T-shirts were likened to a swastika.Plaintiffs Kaitlyn and Taylor, two athletes at Martin Luther King High School in ninth and eleventh grade, respectively, wore T-shirts bearing the messages “Save Girls’ Sports” and “It’s Common Sense. XX ≠ XY.” The girls wore the shirts after a transgender athlete, who didn’t consistently attend practices or meet key varsity eligibility requirements, was placed on the varsity team, displacing Taylor from her spot, the complaint alleged.”My initial reaction was like, I was really surprised, because it was like, why is this happening to me?” Taylor told Fox News Digital. “There’s a transgender student on the team. Why am I getting displaced when I worked so hard and gone to all of the practices, and this student has only attended a few of the practices.”CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMAthletic department school officials allegedly forced the students to remove or conceal the shirts, claiming they created a “hostile” environment and comparing wearing these shirts to wearing a swastika in front of Jewish students.”It was definitely hard to hear because we’re by no means trying to be hateful,” Kaitlyn told Fox News Digital. “We’re just wearing a shirt that expresses what we believe in trying to raise awareness to a situation.”The transgender athlete, however, has been allegedly allowed to wear “trans pride” bracelets, and the school allows other forms of social messaging around campus, including a LGBTQ pride flag, the complaint noted.”The biological male transgender athlete who displaced T.S. on the girls’ varsity team had recently transferred from another local high school after breaking that school’s all-time cross-country record for the girls’ cross-country team,” the complaint said.TRANSGENDER WOMEN TO BE BANNED FROM CAPITOL HILL FEMALE BATHROOMS UNDER NEW HOUSE GOP PROPOSAL”T.S., who had held a position on the girls’ Varsity Top 7 since August 2024 was removed from the girls’ Varsity Top 7 to make room on the girls’ Varsity Top 7 for an eleventh-grade transgender student and T.S. was relegated to the junior varsity team for one of the most important meets of the season for college recruitment,” the complaint said.According to the girls’ Advocates for Faith and Freedom attorney, Julianne Fleischer, the lawsuit claims there were violations of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights and their Title IX protections.In October, according to the complaint, the district’s Title IX coordinator, Bethany Scott, informed Taylor’s mother of a formal investigation into her complaint. Scott also conveyed that Taylor would not be disadvantaged by running on the junior varsity team at a key upcoming cross-country meet, but her mother argued it would harm her chances of being noticed by college scouts. By Nov. 1, after follow-ups, the district reclassified the Title IX complaint as a confidential personnel matter, claiming it did not meet the criteria for sex-based discrimination.JOHNSON DECLINES TO SAY IF TRANSGENDER REP-ELECT IS MAN OR WOMAN, SAYS HOUSE TO TREAT EVERYONE WITH ‘RESPECT’Typically, multiple factors, beyond race times, are considered for varsity selection on the cross-country team They complaint alleges that Taylor’s dedication and hard work were overlooked, and the school district failed to provide a clear explanation, forming the basis of the Title IX complaint, Fleisher said.”We’re seeing more and more women and young girls speak up and challenge these policies that are allowing biological boys to join and participate in these sports,” Fleischer told Fox News Digital. “And so there’s lawsuits that are popping up all around the country. We’re hopeful that even with the incoming administration and Congress that we’re going to see real positive change to Title IX that actually upholds and safeguards the rights of women to participate in their sports and to be safe and to be able to compete amongst one another.”Under the Biden-Harris administration, Title IX was amended to include discrimination against gender identity and sexual orientation. The Supreme Court ruled against one of Biden’s requests in August that would have permitted biological men in women’s bathrooms, locker rooms and dorms in 10 states where there are state-level and local-level rules in place to prevent it. On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump said he would roll back Biden-Harris policies on gender treatments for minors and protect women in sports.Fox News Digital has reached out to the Riverside Unified School District and Martin Luther King High School for comment.



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Publish date : 2024-11-20 21:08:46

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“The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart called out MSNBC co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough for their meeting with President-elect Donald Trump on Monday night, noting their past comparisons of him to dictators.Stewart specifically blasted the MSNBC co-hosts for defending the meeting with Trump as if it was a natural choice for them, reminding viewers that they’ve been calling the soon-to-be president a grave threat to the country for nearly a decade.In response to a clip of Brzezinski asking her critics, “why wouldn’t we” speak to Trump, the Comedy Central host replied, “Uh, because you said he was Hitler.”The married MSNBC personalities met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence last week to “restart communications” between both parties. During Monday’s episode of “Morning Joe,” they relayed that Trump was cheerful during the meeting and appeared interested in finding common ground with Democrats on major issues.CNN, MSNBC COULD RETURN TO RESISTANCE TV AFTER BEING RELIABLE ANTI-TRUMP NETWORKS DURING FIRST TERMScarborough told his viewers that they went over topics like abortion, mass deportation, and threats of retribution against political opponents and media outlets.Stewart then mocked Scarborough, saying, “Oh, I bet you really laid down the gauntlet, Joe. I bet you walked in there and let him have it, didn’t you, Joey?”Doing an impression of them speaking to Trump, he continued, “’Mr. President, your rhetoric is outrageous. I cannot in good conscience – Ooh, are those macaroons?””We’ve learned nothing!” Stewart shouted, returning to his own commentary. “Even those putting up resistance to Trump’s agenda don’t seem to understand who they’re dealing with.”Elsewhere in the segment, Stewart blasted the Democratic Party’s efforts in resisting the president-elect.JEN PSAKI SAYS DEMOCRATS ARE LOST IN THE ‘WILDERNESS’ WITHOUT A CLEAR LEADER AFTER TRUMP’S VICTORY”The Republicans are playing chess and the Democrats are in the nurse’s office because they glued their balls to their thigh. That is what is happening!” he said.Other liberals have torn into Brzezinski and Scarborough for their meeting with Trump. Rosie O’Donnell posted to TikTok on Monday, “It’s the last time I ever watch ‘Morning Joe.’ Period. End of statement.”The comedian added that their actions were “despicable” considering how much they’ve criticized him. “For months you were telling us he’s the worst thing that could happen to this country and democracy. And then you go kiss his ring? Despicable.””BREAKING NEWS: I TOLD YOU SO,” former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann wrote on X, calling the pair “Trump collaborators.””Normalizing Trump is a bad idea,” MSNBC host Katie Phang also wrote on X, in a clear reference to her network colleagues. “Period.”Fox News Digital’s David Rutz contributed to this report.



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Publish date : 2024-11-20 20:00:52

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Thirty years after South Carolina killer mom Susan Smith was put behind bars for drowning her two toddler sons, a board unanimously voted to deny her parole after she appeared on a jailhouse court feed on Wednesday morning.Smith appeared emotional and crying on the feed. “I know that what I did was horrible…I’m sorry that I put them through that…I wish I could take that back, I really do…I was just scared,” she said. “I didn’t know how to tell the people that loved them that they would never see them again…I’m sorry, I know that’s not enough…just words, but they come from my heart.”Her attorney, Tommy Thomas, told the parole board that the suicide of Smith’s father “set the stage for some serious mental health issues,” listing “postpartum depression” as an example. “I could see the pain on her face…I think that she is truly remorseful for what happened…and that she would do anything in the world to bring these children back.”He added that if Smith was to be granted parole, she would be living with her brother. The 53-year-old’s ex-husband, David Smith, arrived at the parole hearing to face the woman who killed his children, wearing a pin showing his two toddler sons.   “I’m here to advocate on Michael and Alex’s behalf and as their father,” he said as he spoke at the hearing. “God gives us free choice, and she made free choice that night to end their life. This wasn’t a tragic mistake…she purposely meant to end their life.””I’m asking that you please deny her parole today,” he said emotionally, holding back tears.””I believe the jury intended for her to serve a full life sentence,” Tommy Pope, the prosecutor who helped convict Smith in her case, told Fox News Digital. “They wanted her to spend her life and remorse for Michael and Alex and what she had done, and she has time focused on herself having sex with guards, etc.”  Pope also attended Wednesday’s parole hearing, and he asked the board to deny Smith’s parole. Pope, along with a former director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections and one of Smith’s former lovers spoke out in Fox Nation’s latest special on the case and Smith’s time in prison, “Susan Smith, The Killer Mom: 30 Years Later.” WATCH “SUSAN SMITH, THE KILLER MOM: 30 YEARS LATER” ON FOX NATION”The South Carolina State House has a better chance of getting hit with a meteor tonight than Susan Smith will have at getting parole tomorrow,” Attorney Eric Bland, who has represented victims of Alex Murdaugh, another notorious South Carolina murder case, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.”She never showed real contrition for murdering her children.”SIGN UP TO GET THE TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTERBland said Susan Smith contacted her ex-husband at one point over the last several months, asking him if he’d be willing not to oppose her parole and to speak to other family members and see if they too would be willing not to oppose. “He was livid, like, ‘Are you out of your mind?’,” Bland added, noting that up until she reached out to her former husband, she might have had a chance of getting parole. “She’s delusional… It’s his children, you know, and he lost them. I mean, the wound is still as raw as I’m sure it was on the first day that they were murdered.”SUSAN SMITH’S EX-HUSBAND ‘STILL BROKEN’ 30 YEARS AFTER SONS’ MURDERS AS KILLER MOM UP FOR PAROLE, AUTHOR SAYS”Under normal circumstances… it’s been 30 years… and oftentimes, victims’ families themselves say, ‘Look, has she served enough?’ You know, we’re a very Christian state, so people believe in forgiveness,” Bland said. “Nobody I’ve spoken to… has ever had any sympathy for her whatsoever.”Here is a timeline, detailing the events leading up to, during and after Smith’s horrific crime all the way through her decades in prison: Susan Smith strapped her sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander Smith, into the back seat of her car and let it roll down a ramp into John D. Long Lake in Union, South Carolina.Smith, 22 at the time, watched as it took six minutes for water to fill the car, drown her boys and sink the car to the bottom of the lake. She ran to a house near John D. Long Lake, falsely telling the homeowners that a “Black man” had stolen her car with her two sons inside. The homeowners called 911. EX-HUSBAND OF KILLER MOM SUSAN SMITH, UP FOR PAROLE, SAYS SHE CRAVES ATTENTION AND LIKELY HASN’T CHANGEDFor nine days, the young faces of Michael and Alexander Smith spread across national headlines, while authorities searched for the man Susan said kidnapped the boys. Susan and David Smith pleaded on national television for the return of their children. Pope watched the news unfold at the time and received updates from SLED on the case. “The whole story sounded highly unlikely,” Pope said in the Fox Nation special, “Never are you hearing a carjacker taking children normally.”After failing a polygraph test, Susan Smith retracted her lie about the kidnapping and confessed to killing her two sons. She was charged with two counts of murder.KILLER MOM SUSAN SMITH DISCIPLINED BEHIND BARS WEEKS BEFORE PAROLE HEARINGHundreds attended the funeral of Michael and Alexander Smith. Susan Smith’s trial began less than a year after she drowned her sons. While prosecutors argued her motive for killing the boys was that a man she was seeing at the time didn’t want children, Smith’s defense said she was suicidal and originally planned to drown with her sons before somehow pulling herself out of it.”I was very emotionally distraught. I didn’t want to live anymore! I felt like things could never get any worse,” Smith wrote in her confession letter, obtained by Fox News Digital. “I felt I couldn’t be a good mom anymore but I didn’t want my children to grow up without a mom. I felt I had to end our lives to protect us all from any grief or harm.” KILLER MOM SUSAN SMITH THINKS PAROLE IS NOW UNLIKELY AFTER SHE WAS CAUGHT TRYING TO PROFIT OFF CASE: REPORT”I wanted to end my life so bad and was in my car ready to go down that ramp into the water and I did go part way, but I stopped. I went again and stopped…I dropped to the lowest when I allowed my children to go down that ramp into the water without me. I took off running and screaming ‘Oh God! Oh God, NO!’ What have I done?”Susan Smith was convicted in the murder of her two sons, Michael and Alexander. FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON XThough prosecutors argued that Susan Smith should receive the death penalty, she was ultimately sentenced to life in prison. Smith received 10 disciplinary sanctions, including one for having sex with a prison guard and others for repeated drug use.Smith was charged on Aug. 26 and subsequently convicted on Oct. 3 for communicating with a victim/and or witness after speaking to a documentary filmmaker. South Carolina Department of Corrections inmates are not allowed to do interviews on the telephone or in person, according to SCDC policy, but they may write letters. Smith lost her telephone, tablet and canteen privileges for 90 days.In her talks with the filmmaker, Smith discussed her crime in depth and the events leading up to and after it, including details like “what was in the trunk of the car when it went into the water and her plans to jump from a bridge while holding the boys, but one woke up,” the incident report says.On Nov. 4, Susan Smith had spent 30 years behind bars, making her eligible for parole. Smith appeared on a jailhouse court feed for her first parole hearing on Nov. 20. Her parole was unanimously denied at the end of the hearing. She will be eligible for parole again in two years.Fox News’ Audrey Conklin contributed to this report. 



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Publish date : 2024-11-20 18:51:13

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ATHENS, Ga. — A Georgia judge on Wednesday reached a verdict for Jose Ibarra, the suspect accused of murdering Augusta University student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus in February.Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge Patrick Haggard found Ibarra guilty of all 10 counts total, including one count of malice murder, three counts of felony murder, one count of kidnapping, one count of aggravated assault with intent to rape, one count of aggravated battery, one count of hindering a 911 call, one count of tampering with evidence and one count of being a “peeping Tom.” Ibarra pleaded not guilty to all counts.”Your honor, on February 22nd of 2024, our family and friends were given a life sentence without a chance of parole. Jose Ibarra took no pity on my scared, panicked and struggling child,” Riley’s mom, Allyson Philips said in a victim impact statement on Wednesday. “There is no end to the pain, suffering and loss that we have experienced or will continue to endure on that horrific day. My precious daughter was attacked, beaten and show no mercy. She fought for our life and dignity and to save herself from being brutally raped. This sick, twisted and evil coward showed no regard for Laken or human life.”Philips described her daughter a “smart, hardworking, kind, thoughtful, and most importantly, a child of God.” She “had a personal relationship with Jesus, and she loved being the hands and feet of his hands and feet in this world,” Philips said.. “She shared her love for our Lord with others through her mission trips, working with elderly at the nursing homes and through her nursing career,” Philips said. “Laken was an amazing friend, sister, niece, daughter and granddaughter. Anyone who knew her knew about her loving heart. Laken’s life was not the only life taken on that day that Jose Ibarra attacked her. The life of her family and friends was taken to none of us will ever be the same.”John Philips, her stepfather, read Laken’s last journal entry from December 2023, which read, “To my future husband. I want you to know that I’m thinking about you and working every day to become the best wife I can be … and focusing on God and what he defines as a faithful Christian wife, so that I can best embody those characteristics.”Riley’s family and friends sobbed in court as the judge announced his verdict before noon on Wednesday.Prosecutors said Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela, attacked and killed Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, while she was jogging along trails near Lake Herrick on the University of Georgia campus in Athens the morning of Feb. 22.”Laken Riley herself has given you all the evidence you need alone to find this man guilty of every single count in this indictment,” prosecutor Sheila Ross said in her closing statement on Wednesday. “She did fight, and it is a direct result of that fight that gives you all the physical evidence you need to convict him.””He killed her because she would not let him rape her,” Ross added.LAKEN RILEY MURDER: FAMILY OF SLAIN UGA STUDENT SOBS IN COURT AS WITNESSES DESCRIBE CRIME SCENE EVIDENCEProsecutors argued the “peeping Tom” incident was related to the attack against Riley because it happened just over an hour before she was killed and showed Ibarra’s intent to prey on women the morning of Feb. 22.Prosecutors said Ibarra saw Riley running along popular trails on UGA’s campus just after 9 a.m. on Feb. 22, attacked her, dragged her 64 feet into a wooded area and beat her head with a rock repeatedly, killing her.Witnesses testified that DNA matching Ibarra’s was found in Riley’s fingernails and on a jacket with Riley’s hair recovered from a dumpster near his apartment complex.”In order to find this defendant not guilty of killing Laken Riley, you would have to disbelieve DNA,” Ross said. “You would have to disbelieve fingerprint evidence.”During rebuttal on Wednesday, the prosecution played video footage of authorities interrogating Diego Ibarra the day after Riley’s murder, showing Diego identifying his brother in security camera footage throwing the jacket with Riley’s hair on it in a dumpster behind their apartment complex on the edge of UGA’s campus. Diego identified Jose based on his clothing, hat and bag.LAKEN RILEY’S ALLEGED KILLER JOSE IBARRA FLEW FROM ‘GROUND ZERO’ OF MIGRANT CRISIS TO GEORGIA”Of course I know my own brother,” Diego allegedly told police, according to Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Special Agent Lucas Beyer, one of the officers who interviewed Diego.Ibarra’s defense attorneys argued that evidence against the Venezuelan national was circumstantial, and pointed to Jose’s brothers, Diego and Argenis Ibarra, who share similarities with Jose in their DNA makeup. Diego was also seen wearing the same black, Adidas-style hat prosecutors say Jose was wearing Feb. 22 when police questioned Diego on Feb. 23. DNA matching Riley’s was found on that same hat.”The facts and the evidence in this case should leave you with some reasonable doubt,” Kaitlyn Beck said in her closing argument on Wednesday, adding later that “while the evidence in this case is voluminous, it is circumstantial.”Much of the defense’s arguments suggested Diego may have something to do with Riley’s murder. Beck said in her closing statements that “it’s more than possible that one brother’s DNA would get on another brother’s clothes.”Watch: Laken Riley, Jose Ibarra seen on trail camera footage day of murder”I agree with the state, but Laken Riley was physically fit. She was fast. She could have outrun [Jose]. But there’s another suspect in this case who was taller, who was more physically fit, who was wearing sneakers on the day of the murder. And that is Diego Ibarra,” Beck said. Prosecutors, however, noted that security camera footage from a dining hall on UGA’s campus, where Diego worked, showed Diego arriving and leaving work on Feb. 22.Argenis and Diego were subpoenaed to testify as witnesses for the defense, but the court ultimately decided not to allow their testimony because they are currently involved in their own criminal cases. Jose’s defense attorney, John Donnelly, mentioned that Diego’s defense attorney advised that he should not testify during Jose’s trial while he is currently charged with green card fraud. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED IN LAKEN RILEY MURDER ‘FAST-TRACKING’ TO LIFE IN PRISON: ATTORNEYWatch: Police enter Jose Ibarra’s apartmentOn Monday, the second day of Ibarra’s trial, the court heard a recorded prison phone call between Ibarra and his wife, Layling Franco, that was played aloud and translated by an FBI analyst who spoke fluent Spanish. Judge Haggard on Tuesday ruled that the translated call could not be submitted as evidence.LAKEN RILEY MURDER TRIAL: PROSECUTORS PLACE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECT AT SCENE IN OPENING STATEMENTS”She said that she thinks it’s crazy that they don’t have anyone else’s DNA. They only have his. And she says she doesn’t understand how someone can see someone dying and not calling [sic] 911,” FBI analyst Abeisis Ramirez testified in court Monday while translating the call for the prosecution.Ibarra and his brothers were in the United States illegally from Venezuela at the time of their respective arrests after Riley’s murder. Diego is charged with green card fraud after showing police a fake ID on Feb. 23, and Argenis has been placed on an immigration hold. Ibarra illegally crossed into the United States through El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was released into the U.S. via parole, ICE and DHS sources previously told Fox News.The three brothers lived in an apartment building less than a half mile from the on-campus park where Riley was running the morning of Feb. 22. Their apartment complex backed up to a shortcut that leads to running trails along UGA’s campus where Riley was found dead in a wooded area, partially naked and covered in leaves, that afternoon. She died of blunt force trauma and asphyxiation, according to a Georgia Bureau of Investigation medical examiner.ICE previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that Jose Ibarra had been arrested by the New York Police Department a year after he entered the U.S. in August 2023 and was “charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation.”Diego Ibarra, who worked briefly at a UGA cafeteria before his arrest in February, had ties to a known Venezuelan gang in the U.S., Tren de Aragua, according to federal court documents.



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Publish date : 2024-11-20 17:47:46

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams pleaded with state leaders in Albany for help involuntarily relocating the mentally ill homeless from the city’s streets and into care, characterizing a Monday stabbing spree as the latest casualty of New York’s inaction.”Everybody said I was inhumane, that we just want to institutionalize people,” Adams said during a press briefing Tuesday. “Well, this is the result. This is the result of not taking actions and ignoring people who need help.”Adams said city officials will analyze how shortcomings in the criminal justice and mental health systems failed accused killer Ramon Rivera, who had been arrested eight times previously before allegedly killing three people on Monday.”We have three New Yorkers who were murdered in our city by a person who was betrayed by the health care system,” he said. SUSPECT IN CUSTODY AFTER ‘UNPROVOKED’ NEW YORK CITY STABBING SPREE LEAVES 3 PEOPLE DEAD: POLICERivera, 51, was caught when a good Samaritan cab driver alerted authorities, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said. He fatally stabbed a 36-year-old man standing outside a construction site on the city’s West Side, then killed a second man who was fishing by stabbing him multiple times through his body, police said. Rivera allegedly attacked a woman a block away from the United Nations before he was taken into custody. That woman later died.DANIEL PENNY TRIAL RESUMES AS FELLOW MARINE VET EXPLAINS CHOKEHOLD TRAINING ON WITNESS STANDSurveillance footage captured by a business on West 19th Street and obtained by the New York Post allegedly shows Rivera putting on gloves and preparing a knife before the string of attacks. Law enforcement sources told the New York Post that Rivera chose his victims because they were “alone” and “distracted.”Rivera spent most of this year behind bars and finished his most recent prison sentence for a spate of burglary and assault convictions on Oct. 17, the New York Post reported.Rivera has a documented history of mental health concerns, and public records indicate he has had arrests or has been known to law enforcement in three other states, NBC News reported.AOC’S ‘RED LIGHT’ DISTRICT OVERRUN WITH PROSTITUTES AS LOCALS CALL OUT MIA ‘SQUAD’ MEMBER Adams outlined steps the city has taken to take the mentally ill off the streets and subway systems, including efforts to shift toward small mental health “clubhouses” – day centers that connect them with community, art therapy and sometimes jobs.However, Adams said that he needs help from the state’s capitol. The Supportive Interventions Act, his bill to expand the city’s authority to force the unwell off the streets and into psychiatric care, has not made it into law. “We’ve been back and forth to Albany to say let’s codify in law and give real clarity around the authority we have of dealing with people with severe mental health illness,” he said in his Tuesday briefing. Rivera was arraigned on three counts of first-degree serial murder in a Manhattan courtroom hours after Adams’ briefing. 



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Publish date : 2024-11-20 16:35:44

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