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America First Legal Files Brief Defending Donald J. Trump’s First Amendment Rights in D.C. Circuit Case Involving Unconstitutional Gag Order
November 15, 2023
Today, America First Legal (AFL) filed a brief defending Donald J. Trump’s First Amendment rights at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. This case arises from an unprecedented gag order issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s politically-motivated prosecution of Former President Trump in Washington, D.C.
The gag order prevents the President from making public statements that target the Special Counsel or his staff, public statements that target any reasonably foreseeable witnesses or the substance of their testimony, and directing others to make any public statements about either of those two categories.
This absurd gag order is just another example of the Biden administration unjustly using its power to silence its political opponents and to attempt to prevent President Trump from speaking. AFL’s brief highlights two critical issues for the court:
The gag order empowers a single district court judge to supervise the speech of a leading candidate for the Presidency.
The gag order violates the separation of powers because it deprives the former President of the ability to engage in political speech and political association, which interferes with Executive Branch accountability in its discretionary functions.
As AFL’s brief highlights, the Biden Administration has authorized the appointment of, and an indictment by, a Special Counsel. That indictment charges President Biden’s principal political rival and likely general-election opponent, Donald J. Trump, with multiple federal crimes. The gag order sharply curtails President Trump’s ability to engage in core political speech and political association, thereby limiting his ability to keep both the Special Counsel and the President “accountable . . . to his country in his political character.”
That political accountability—like the First Amendment’s protections—“has its fullest and most urgent application . . . during a campaign for political office.” Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310, 339 (2010). And the gag order prevents President Trump from engaging in that core political speech despite his campaign for political office.
America First Legal is proud to support President Trump’s right to free speech and will continue to be vocal against the Biden Administration’s weaponization of the Department of Justice and the federal government at large.
Statement from Gene Hamilton, America First Legal Vice President and General Counsel:
“America First Legal is proud to support President Trump’s right to free speech. As the Supreme Court has recognized, the First Amendment’s protections have the fullest and most urgent application during political campaigns–yet Jack Smith sought and obtained an unprecedented gag order that prevents President Biden’s chief political rival–Donald Trump–from criticizing the unprecedented process to which he is being subjected. The gag order is unprecedented, unjust, and the Court of Appeals should overturn it,” said Gene Hamilton.
Read the brief here
https://media.aflegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/15141925/AFL_Amicus_Brief.pdf?_ga=2.186231465.1261513361.1700097336-293254497.1696972966
https://aflegal.org/america-first-legal-files-brief-defending-donald-j-trumps-first-amendment-rights-in-d-c-circuit-case-involving-unconstitutional-gag-order/
Global Decline In Male Fertility Linked To Pesticides, Study Says
10:54 AM – Wednesday, November 15, 2023
A new study shows that male fertility is declining due to the use of pesticides.
According to 25 studies done by researchers over several years, the results revealed that men who have been exposed to certain pesticides had a massive decline in sperm concentrations.
The study published by Environmental Health Perspectives, included over 1,700 men that dated back several decades.
“No matter how we looked at the analysis and results, we saw a persistent association between increasing levels of insecticide and decreases in sperm concentration,” said study author Melissa Perry, who is an environmental epidemiologist and the dean of the College of Public Health at George Mason University. “I would hope this study would get the attention of regulators seeking to make decisions to keep the public safe from inadvertent, unplanned impacts of insecticides.”
A report published last year by the Human Reproduction Update showed sperm counts were falling at a staggering rate across the world.
“There’s been some pretty, I’d say, convincing and sort of scary data on measures of male fertility over the previous 50-70 years, whatever it might be, from different places around the world suggesting sperm concentration is on decline and not just a little bit,” said John Meeker, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health who was not involved in either of the recent studies. “It’s concerning.”
Researchers in the latest study focused on two groups of chemicals, organophosphates and some carbamates, which are used in insecticides. They also used separate groups of people with exposures to pesticides and others who were not in the study.
Additionally, the researchers controlled for outside factors such as smoking and age. However, Perry says more research and study is required to determine how pesticides are affecting sperm concentrations ultimately.
“The more you study something, the more complicated it seems to get, especially when it comes to biology and the human body,” Meeker said. “We’re slowly pointing out various chemicals or classes of chemicals we think could be harmful to something like reproductive health, but as far as a single smoking gun, I haven’t seen anything to that extent.”
Additionally, Perry says there are other data points to consider such as how sperm are shaped and how they swim.
She also hopes the Environmental Protection Agency can get involved with the impact of chemicals and pesticides on reproductive health in their assessments.
“Given the body of evidence and these consistent findings, it’s time to proactively reduce these insecticide exposures for men wanting to have families,” Perry said
https://www.oann.com/newsroom/global-decline-in-male-fertility-linked-to-pesticides-study-says/
Cannabinoids Show Promise as Pesticides, Study Reveals
16 NOV 2023 4:20 AM AEDT
Cannabinoids, naturally occurring compounds found in hemp plants, may have evolved to deter pests from chewing on them, according to Cornell University research that showed higher cannabinoid concentrations in hemp leaves led to proportionately less damage from insect larvae.
The study opens the door for potentially developing pesticides from cannabinoid extracts, though such uses would be limited to non-edible plants, given the pharmacological properties of the compounds, which include CBD, THC and their precursor CBG.
In the decades since scientists first identified cannabinoids, research has focused on their medicinal and intoxicating effects, but it's never been clear why these plants evolved cannabinoids in the first place. Researchers have hypothesized that cannabinoids may protect plants from ultraviolet light, pathogens and herbivores.
"It has been speculated that they are defensive compounds, because they primarily accumulate in female flowers to protect seeds, which is a fairly common concept in plants," said Larry Smart, a plant breeder and professor in the School of Integrative Plant Sciences.
"But no one has put together a comprehensive set of experimental results to show a direct relationship between the accumulation of these cannabinoids and their harmful effects on insects," said Smart, senior author of the study.
"The study gives us insight into how cannabinoids function in natural systems and can help us develop new THC-compliant hemp cultivars that maintain these natural built-in defenses against herbivores," said George Stack, postdoctoral researcher in Smart's lab and the paper's first author.
In tests using hemp plants with varying concentrations of cannabinoids, the researchers discovered that damage from leaf-chewing insects (cabbage looper larvae) was higher in leaves with lower levels of cannabinoids.
"In the absence of cannabinoids, we saw heavy insect damage, and in the presence of cannabinoids, we saw much less damage," Smart said.
The Cornell program cannot work with high THC (the intoxicating compound found in marijuana) plants due to federal mandate, so THC as a pesticide was not tested in this research, Smart said.
More work is needed to understand how effective a cannabinoid derived pesticide might be in house plants.
"The potential use of cannabinoids as a pesticide is an exciting area for future research, but there will certainly be regulatory barriers due to pharmacological activity of the compounds, and more studies are needed to understand what pests cannabinoids will be effective against," Stack said.
The project was funded by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets through Empire State Development.
https://www.miragenews.com/cannabinoids-show-promise-as-pesticides-study-1124465/