This is your sign to take a minute for yourself this festive season.

It ain't easy being green.

The press conference is scheduled for 1 pm EST.

This content is for members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read. The post The Chilling True Story Behind Netflix’s Horror Movie “Veronica” appeared first on Anomalien.com.

Reasonable individuals may presume that the pro-abortion Regime Media may also be in support of hormonal and surgical mutilations of children, euphemistically known as “gender affirming care”. Network evening news coverage of yesterday’s Supreme Court hearing on this issue removes all doubt for anyone harboring these reasonable presumptions. Of the network newscasts, ABC’s is the most nakedly pro-transing of the kids. Here it is, in its entirety: ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT 12/4/24 6:45 PM DAVID MUIR: From the Supreme Court tonight, oral arguments in a landmark case that could determine access to health care for transgender youth across this country. In question, a Tennessee law banning gender affirming care such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers for minors. Several Tennessee families with transgender children say the law is unconstitutional. The conservative majority on the court seemed to side with Tennessee's move. 26 states have passed laws restricting gender affirming care. The Supreme Court's decision expected this spring. David Muir’s brief doesn’t bother with such quaint concepts as balance. There is no mention of the arguments against these treatments except that Tennessee makes them and the Court appears to agree with them.  The euphemistic language of the trans lobby is presented here as normal and mainstream. In framing the issue as one of “access to care”, one hears echoes of the pro-abortion arguments also championed by the Regime Media. The fundamental difference being, perhaps, that the abortions now being advocated for (whether surgical or “medicinal”) are no longer (immediately) lethal, and are administered sometime after the 40th trimester. Other than that, the coverage sounds identical. The most balanced coverage comes via CBS, which did a full story on the SCOTUS hearing. To be clear, the story is still very strongly biased in favor of the transing of children. However, correspondent Jan Crawford did air a viewpoint usually silenced on Regime Media: that of the detrans movement right before closing out her report: ERIN FRIDAY: And anybody can go back into their youth and think about decisions that they made at 13, 14, or things that they thought “I'll never have kids, I’ll never get married,” (VIDEO SWIPE) but it changes. It changes over life, and once you medicalize a child, they don't get to change their mind. CRAWFORD: Now you know, as you can see, both these families want the same thing. They want their kids to be happy, they want to protect them, and they both believe that the other side’s approach would cause terrible harm. And as significant as this case is, the question of transition treatments, the decision could go well beyond this issue. For example, questions today: if the Court strikes down these state laws as unconstitutional, how could that bolster transgender arguments for participation in girls and women’s sports? Norah. O’DONNELL: Jan Crawford. Thank you very much. The detrans argument is bracketed by Crawford’s bothsidesing of the issue, AND by the hope that a striking down of the Tennessee law might legitimize boys who want to play in girls’ sports. NBC didn’t bother with nuance, either. Interestingly, Hallie Jackson frames the Biden administration’s challenge of the Tennessee law as patriotic- a pushback against European bans on “gender affirming care”: HALLIE JACKSON: At issue, a Tennessee law that bans puberty blockers and hormone therapy for trans youth. But it allows those treatments for other reasons. That's why opponents argue the law discriminates on the basis of sex. Liberal Justice Elena Kagan: ELENA KAGAN: One of the articulated purposes of this law is essentially to engend- encourage gender conformity, and to discourage anything other than gender conformity. (VIDEO SWIPE) Sounds to me like we want boys to be boys and we want girls to be girls. JACKSON: But others, pointing to places in Europe putting restrictions on gender affirming care.  BRETT KAVANAUGH: The countries that have been at the forefront of this are, you know, pumping the brakes on this kind of treatment because of concerns about the risks. JACKSON: The Biden administration pushing back, pointing to how the treatments have saved lives. Compare that to policy comparisons covered to favor European policy, such as on speech or guns. Whereas they are usually cheered for their censorship and gun control stances, here the Euros are now the baddies for not allowing genitalia to be chopped off of children. Coverage of the Supreme Court hearing on the Tennessee ban on child sexual mutilation was equal parts disturbing and enlightening and serves as a preview for what coverage might look like of the Court upholds the Tennessee law. Expect Dobbs lite. The Regime Media want to trans your kids. Click “expand” to view full transcripts of the aforementioned CBS and NBC reports as aired on Wednesday, December 4th, 2024: CBS EVENING NEWS 12/4/24 6:44 PM NORAH O’DONNELL: In one of the most anticipated cases at the Supreme Court this session, the justices heard arguments today over Tennessee's ban on gender affirming care for minors. Similar bans have been enacted in nearly half the country. CBS's Jan Crawford has more on a case that could have sweeping consequences. JAN CRAWFORD: Competing rallies made clear the conflict. But in arguments, a majority of justices appear to agree, laws passed by Tennessee and 23 other states banning hormone treatments and puberty blockers for children who identify as transgender do not violate the Equal Protection Clause. BRETT KAVANAUGH: If the Constitution doesn't take sides, if there's strong, forceful, scientific policy arguments on both sides in a situation like this, why isn't it best to leave it to the democratic process? CRAWFORD: Conservative justices pointed to growing international concerns that transition medications are unsafe for children. JOHN ROBERTS: I think that would be very troubling, to say that in such a evolving situation, we are going to decide what the right approaches are. CRAWFORD: Liberal justices pushed back. One compared the bans to racist Jim Crow-era laws. KETANJI BROWN JACKSON: I'm worried that we're undermining the foundations of some of our bedrock equal protection cases. CRAWFORD: And said the medication could be life-saving. SONIA SOTOMAYOR: The evidence is very clear that there are some children who actually need this treatment. CRAWFORD: L.W. is one of the children at the center of the case. She started medication to stop male puberty at 13, and female estrogen a year later. SAMANTHA WILLIAMS: I can't imagine her without her medicines. She's a different kid. She's a healthier, happier kid… (VIDEO SWIPE) …all we're trying to do is make the best decisions for our kid. CRAWFORD: But a California mom who refused to allow the medication when her teenage daughter identified as trans, and has since detransitioned, said the risks are too high. ERIN FRIDAY: And anybody can go back into their youth and think about decisions that they made at 13, 14, or things that they thought “I'll never have kids, I’ll never get married,” (VIDEO SWIPE) but it changes. It changes over life, and once you medicalize a child, they don't get to change their mind. CRAWFORD: Now you know, as you can see, both these families want the same thing. They want their kids to be happy, they want to protect them, and they both believe that the other side’s approach would cause terrible harm. And as significant as this case is, the question of transition treatments, the decision could go well beyond this issue. For example, questions today: if the Court strikes down these state laws as unconstitutional, how could that bolster transgender arguments for participation in girls and women’s sports? Norah. O’DONNELL: Jan Crawford. Thank you very much. NBC NIGHTLY NEWS 12/4/24 6:43 PM  LESTER HOLT: Now to the potential landmark case before the Supreme Court concerning transgender rights, and one state's law banning transition-related care for minors. Hallie Jackson now on today's arguments and how the justices signalled they may rule. HALLIE JACKSON: The so-called culture wars colliding with the Supreme Court tonight… PROTESTER: I'm not against trans rights. I'm against it on minors. JACKSON: …as the justices consider whether states can restrict gender affirming care for kids and teens. And the signal so far, support for letting those bans continue. Some conservative justices concerned the Court would be second-guessing states if it stepped in. JOHN ROBERTS: The Constitution leaves that question to the people's representatives, rather than to nine people, none of whom is a doctor. JACKSON: At issue, a Tennessee law that bans puberty blockers and hormone therapy for trans youth. But it allows those treatments for other reasons. That's why opponents argue the law discriminates on the basis of sex. Liberal Justice Elena Kagan: ELENA KAGAN: One of the articulated purposes of this law is essentially to engend- encourage gender conformity, and to discourage anything other than gender conformity. (VIDEO SWIPE) Sounds to me like we want boys to be boys and we want girls to be girls. JACKSON: But others, pointing to places in Europe putting restrictions on gender affirming care.  BRETT KAVANAUGH: The countries that have been at the forefront of this are, you know, pumping the brakes on this kind of treatment because of concerns about the risks. JACKSON: The Biden administration pushing back, pointing to how the treatments have saved lives. Atlas McGuinness and his mom Courtney traveling from Delaware just to be at court today. COURTNEY MCGUINNESS: As a parent, you just automatically go through “how am I going to make sure that my child gets the care that they need?” JACKSON: What would you want the justices to know about you, if you could give them a message? ATLAS MCGUINNESS: I'm human. I'm just the same as any other kid other than the fact that I identify differently. JACKSON: Any impact would stretch far beyond Tennessee. More than 20 other states have similar laws in place. Part of an intense debate nationally over trans rights. Any decision probably won’t come until closer to the end of the Court’s term in June. Lester? HOLT: Hallie Jackson, thanks.

New York Times columnist David Brooks, who is about as close to a conservative as that liberal newspaper publishes, wrote something last week that gets to the heart of why Democrats, especially, but also some Republicans, fear a second Trump administration. After extolling what he believes to be the personal virtues of some Republicans (he mentions Mitt Romney, whose personal virtues are undeniable, but who lost to Barack Obama in 2012), Brooks worries about what he regards as Donald Trump’s lack of virtues and the president-elect’s “department of government efficiency” and its declared goal of reforming, even eliminating, many programs and agencies. Here’s the problem. Government agencies and programs are not called institutions and synonyms such as “the deep state” and “the establishment” for nothing. They continue to exist, regardless of the failure of many to perform well, because they enjoy a political and financial inertia that is difficult to slow down, much less stop or reverse. These entities may not enjoy widespread public support, but they do benefit from lobbyists, interest groups and labor unions who make substantial contributions to the political campaigns of members of Congress. Those in the House of Representatives control the money flow and are reluctant, to the point of resistance, to end or reform the status quo. Anyone who remembers the outcry over the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process more than two decades ago, will recall what I mean. Members of Congress, whose districts were affected by base closings, squealed like stuck pigs. The key to success was the way BRAC was presented to the public: “The commission’s purpose is to downsize the military infrastructure in a way that is efficient and effective, and to increase operational readiness. The commission’s work is intended to be free from partisan politics.” Memo to the incoming Trump administration: This is the way you can eliminate or greatly reduce the size of an under-performing agency or program. You make it sound like it is in the self-interest of a majority of Americans. In the case of government downsizing, it is. Brooks suggests in his column that our institutions should be preserved and possibly reformed from within. That’s been tried over and over again and has failed. It is why Trump’s message about blowing up the status quo and rebuilding those which remain useful on a new foundation resonated with so many voters in last month’s election. They see their tax dollars wasted by irresponsible politicians. Eternal life should be the subject of sermons by preachers and classroom topics in seminary classrooms, not government agencies and programs. If something is “promoting the general welfare” and “providing for the common defense” at reasonable cost and efficiency, it should be kept. If it has exceeded its “sell-by” it should be discarded like spoiled milk. The Founders established a nation based on the philosophy that citizens are the ones who hold ultimate power and they only lend that power to government. Today it is more like a power grab by politicians and bureaucrats telling us how much authority over our lives they will allow us to have while forcing us to pay ever more in taxes to support their careers and favorite programs. That is why so many are fed-up with Washington and want to see real change. We are about to learn who is more powerful – the establishment and its institutions – or “we the people of the United States.”

Wednesday’s PBS News Hour featured a propagandistic, nine-and-a-half minute segment on the important case argued before the Supreme Court involving a Tennessee law banning transgender surgery for minors: “Supreme Court hears arguments in most significant trans rights case to reach bench.” The taxpayer-funded network actually opened its broadcast with emotional blackmail, in the guise of a clip from a sympathetic “transgender” child hypothetically endangered by Tennessee’s responsible move to restrict so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors. Co-anchor Amna Nawaz: On the News Hour tonight, a U.S. Supreme court case pushes transgender rights for minors back into the spotlight. Eli Givens, Transgender Youth: Being transgender is hard enough, and you hear all these things that lawmakers are saying about you. It makes you feel like there is no purpose. From the start, PBS played on fears of suicidal ideation (a false narrative exposed yesterday by Justice Samuel Alito) if impressionable children don’t get to sign on for permanent body modification. The actual segment was no better. Evasive PBS didn’t delve into Eli’s “top surgery” – the act of removing a girl’s breasts ostensibly to make her chest look more “masculine.” Reporter Laura Barron-Lopez, the outlet’s most fervent cheerleader on trans-kid issues, skipped those nauseating details regarding such unnecessary mutilation being performed on minors, leaning on that “top surgery” euphemism. A misnomer term favored by trans-activists, “gender-affirming care,” cropped up nine times, better translated as “cross-sex hormones, castration, and breast removal.” Co-Anchor Geoff Bennett: The Supreme Court heard arguments today in a landmark case on transgender rights. The justices are weighing whether a Tennessee law barring gender-affirming care for minors violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Nawaz: Roughly 300,000 young people identify as transgender in this country, and a decision in this case would have major implications for them, their families, and medical providers. Laura Barron-Lopez reports. Laura Barron-Lopez: Eli Givens has been camping outside the Supreme Court since late last night. Eli Givens, Transgender Youth: Hi, you all. It's Eli reporting in from the Supreme Court. Barron-Lopez: Joined by other activists and advocates, Givens is urging the conservative-dominated court to protect the rights of transgender youth like themselves. Givens performed a shocking amount of the “reporting,” an untouchable stand-in performing the emotional blackmail in front of the Supreme Court: Strike down the Tennessee law or prepare for the deaths of children. Givens: Many kids just like me have had such a difficult time making it to 18. Many of us will not make it to 18. Barron-Lopez: ….The question at the heart of today's arguments, whether a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for transgender people younger than 18, like puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and surgery, violates the Equal Protection Clause under the 14th Amendment….. After a relevant clip from President-elect Donald Trump, she continued in the same hostile vein. Barron-Lopez: Now, after an election in which Donald Trump and Republicans promised to roll back protections for transgender Americans, the Supreme Court is wading into the issue. The outcome could dramatically alter the lives of youth like Givens, who in 2022, at the age of 17, underwent gender-affirming chest reconstruction, also known as top surgery. PBS avoided the nuttier protests outside the Supreme Court, while awkwardly shoehorning in woke phrasing like “non-transgender males” in reference to actual males. Barron-Lopez: Surgeries among transgender youth are very rare, and breast reduction among minors is actually more frequent among non-transgender males. But if Givens had waited just one more year, they would have been blocked by Tennessee's ban. PBS also skipped how Justice Samuel Alito coaxed major concessions out of those challenging the ban before the Court (one prime example, via X). Instead of facts, the reporter piled on the blackmail from teenaged Givens. Givens: Surgery has saved my life and social transition has saved my life. Being a trans youth member is, like, hard enough, but when you have so much pressure from legislative politics and you're hearing all of these things that lawmakers are saying about you without ever even speaking to you, also refusing to speak to you, it really -- it makes you feel like there is no purpose and that you can't grow older or you're just going to deal with hardship for the rest of your life. "Gender-affirming” euphemisms abounded, both from talking heads and the "balanced" PBS reporter. Barron-Lopez: But Dr. Joshua Safer, who leads the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery in New York, says gender-affirming care is as medically necessary as other forms of health care….Though it's unclear how the justices will ultimately rule in this case, the stakes are higher than ever for transgender youth. This trans-kid propaganda segment was brought to you in part by Consumer Cellular. A transcript is available, click “Expand.” PBS News Hour 12/4/24 7:08:52 p.m. (ET) Geoff Bennett: Good evening. I'm Geoff Bennett. Amna Nawaz: I'm Amna Nawaz. On the News Hour tonight, a U.S. Supreme court case pushes transgender rights for minors back into the spotlight. UNID: Being transgender is hard enough, and you hear all these things that lawmakers are saying about you. It makes you feel like there is no purpose. …. Geoff Bennett: The Supreme Court heard arguments today in a landmark case on transgender rights. The justices are weighing whether a Tennessee law barring gender-affirming care for minors violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Amna Nawaz: Roughly 300,000 young people identify as transgender in this country. And a decision in this case would have major implications for them, their families, and medical providers. Laura Barron-Lopez reports. Laura Barron-Lopez: Eli Givens has been camping outside the Supreme Court since late last night. Eli Givens, Transgender Youth: Hi, you all. It's Eli reporting in from the Supreme Court. Laura Barron-Lopez: Joined by other activists and advocates, Givens is urging the conservative-dominated court to protect the rights of transgender youth like themselves. Eli Givens: Many kids just like me have had such a difficult time making it to 18. Many of us will not make it to 18. Laura Barron-Lopez: Inside the court, justices heard arguments in the most significant trans rights case to ever reach the bench. The question at the heart of today's arguments, whether a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for transgender people younger than 18, like puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and surgery, violates the Equal Protection Clause under the 14th Amendment. The law also allows people to take legal action against medical providers. Since 2021, 26 states, including Tennessee, have banned or restricted access to gender-affirming health care for minors, a wave of laws enacted by Republicans that affect roughly 40 percent of the nation's trans youth. Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. President-Elect: The only genders recognized by the United States government are male and female, and they are assigned at birth. Laura Barron-Lopez: Now, after an election in which Donald Trump and Republicans promised to roll back protections for transgender Americans, the Supreme Court is wading into the issue. The outcome could dramatically alter the lives of youth like Givens, who in 2022, at the age of 17, underwent gender-affirming chest reconstruction, also known as top surgery. Eli Givens: For me, it was a very, like, slow process of making sure that this is what I want to do and this is who I am. Laura Barron-Lopez: Surgeries among transgender youth are very rare, and breast reduction among minors is actually more frequent among non-transgender males. But if Givens had waited just one more year, they would have been blocked by Tennessee's ban. Eli Givens: Surgery has saved my life and social transition has saved my life. Being a trans youth member is, like, hard enough, but when you have so much pressure from legislative politics and you're hearing all of these things that lawmakers are saying about you without ever even speaking to you, also refusing to speak to you, it really — it makes you feel like there is no purpose and that you can't grow older or you're just going to deal with hardship for the rest of your life. Laura Barron-Lopez: Today at the court, challengers to Tennessee's ban urge the justices to look at the law with heightened scrutiny, arguing that it discriminates on the basis of sex and transgender status. Elizabeth Prelogar, U.S. Solicitor General: The problem with Tennessee's law here is not that it's just a little bit overinclusive or a little bit underinclusive, but that it's a sweeping categorical ban, where the legislature didn't even take into account the significant health benefits that can come from providing gender-affirming care, including reduced suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Laura Barron-Lopez: Conservative justices pointed out medical and scientific disputes around gender-affirming care in other countries and asked if the issue is better sent back to the states. John Roberts, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court: Doesn't that make a stronger case for us to leave those determinations to the legislative bodies, rather than try to determine them for ourselves? Laura Barron-Lopez: Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, representing the Biden administration, acknowledged that there is some debate, but argued there is a consensus that such care is medically necessary for some minors. Brett Kavanaugh, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice: You say there are benefits from allowing these treatments, but there are also harms, right, from allowing these treatments. At least the state says so, including lost fertility, the physical and psychological effects on those who later change their mind and want to detransition, which I don't think we can ignore. Elizabeth Prelogar: If you're thinking about this from the standpoint of there's no harm in just making them wait until they're adults, what this law is doing is saying, we're going to make all adolescents in the state develop the physical secondary sex characteristics consistent with their gender or with their sex assigned at birth, even though that might significantly worsen gender dysphoria, increase the risk of suicide, and, I think critically, make it much harder to live and be accepted in their gender identity as an adult. Laura Barron-Lopez: Gender-affirming care is endorsed by every major U.S. medical association, including the American Academy of Pediatrics. Prelogar was joined for arguments by ACLU attorney Chase Strangio, the first openly transgender lawyer to present a case before the High Court. For the Republican-controlled state of Tennessee, Solicitor General Matt Rice argued that the ban is based on medical purpose, not a patient's sex. Matthew Rice, Tennessee Solicitor General: Just as using morphine to manage pain differs from using it to assist suicide, using hormones and puberty blockers to address a physical condition is far different from using it to address psychological distress associated with one's body. Laura Barron-Lopez: But liberal justice's questioned Tennessee's premise. Elena Kagan, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice: The whole thing is imbued with sex. It's a dodge to say that this is not based on sex, it's based on medical purpose, when the medical purpose is utterly and entirely about sex. Matthew Rice: We don't think it's actually drawing a line based on sex, and, again, the only way that my friends can point to a sex-based line is to conflate the use of puberty blockers to address precocious puberty with the use of puberty blockers to transition, and those are fundamentally different treatments. Marcia Coyle: Coming out of more than two hours of argument, my sense is that the Tennessee law will be upheld primarily by at least five conservative justices on the Supreme Court. Laura Barron-Lopez: Supreme Court analyst Marcia Coyle says the justices appeared to take partisan lines during questioning. Marcia Coyle: There was sympathy among the liberal justices that this is discrimination on the basis of sex and transgender status, but there are only three on the liberal side of the court. Laura Barron-Lopez: Conservative groups who wrote amicus briefs in support of Tennessee's law claim gender-affirming care bans for minors are about protecting children. Marc Wheat, who is legal counsel for one of those organizations, Advancing American Freedom, says being transgender is a -- quote -- "ideology." J. Marc Wheat, General Counsel, Advancing American Freedom: In the case of puberty blockers, hormone therapy, surgery that mutilates their bodies, what you have is something where the children are not sick with a physical ailment. This is a mental and psychological issue. But on the other side of the balance, what they lose is their ability to procreate. Girls will not be able to breast-feed their babies. They may not be able to conceive. A boy may not be able to found his own family. Laura Barron-Lopez: But Dr. Joshua Safer, who leads the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery in New York, says gender-affirming care is as medically necessary as other forms of health care. Dr. Joshua Safer, the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery: Our approach for youth is already very conservative, with a lower-case C. And the guidelines that we follow are quite conservative already, so, just as you would expect they would be across all of medicine. Part of our conservatism in the health care community is that we don't give medicines to anybody under the age of 18 without their parents' consent. Laura Barron-Lopez: Though it's unclear how the justices will ultimately rule in this case, the stakes are higher than ever for transgender youth.  

These Peanut Butter Krispy Treats are made a little different and we love them. I promise if you have one you will have another. They are addictive! If you are a fan of tradition Rice Krispy Treats you will want to try these Best Rice Krispy Treats! These are made with marshmallow cream and marshmallows!...

As Woody Faircloth found out, sometimes the smallest things have the biggest impact in storm-ravaged Western North Carolina. Faircloth’s charity, EmergencyRV.org, has delivered nearly 60 campers and larger recreational vehicles to shelter families made homeless by the unprecedented flooding and mudslides caused by Hurricane Helene. A curly-fur puppy small enough to curl up in one of Faircloth’s knit winter caps might well have had the biggest emotional impact on the storm victims he helped over the Thanksgiving weekend. The pup, which rode along with Faircloth and his daughter Luna from Colorado, was just the prescription for the Phillips family in Burnsville, N.C. The family lost multiple homes during the floods and mudslides that rocketed down the mountains in late September. 'We’re going to give this to a family who needs some kind of a little light.' Faircloth earlier arranged for an RV to be delivered to Makisha Phillips and her children. In addition to stress from the storm damage, Phillips is mourning the death of her sister, Madison County Sheriff’s Deputy Michelle Quintero, who was swept away in the floods on Sept. 27. “We met her father and cried and prayed with him in the parking lot,” Faircloth said. “Her oldest daughter was in the truck, and I took [the puppy] over and handed it to her and then went and talked to the father. “When I came back, the puppy was sitting on her shoulder like a parrot,” Faircloth said. “She had the biggest smile on her face. And I said, ‘That's your puppy now.’ And she said, ‘My mom told me. I can't believe y’all are doing this.’” Faircloth had not planned to buy a puppy or bring it along on the Thanksgiving mission of mercy. But when he drove by a flea market north of Denver, something made him stop and look at a car full of puppies for sale. “I walked over there, and there was this little puppy, the one we ended up getting, sitting in the back of the crate and had dog poop all over it,” he said. “They were all scrambling. I just picked it up, and I held it up to the lady and I said, ‘Tell me about this puppy.’” Luna Faircloth, 12, cares for a puppy on an EmergencyRV.org trip to deliver donated RVs to Western North Carolina storm victims.Photos courtesy of Woody Faircloth The owner said the dog was born on Sept. 25, the day the pre-hurricane rains began soaking Western North Carolina. “I just looked up at the sky, and I went, ‘Okay, I guess we’ll take it.’ So we fell in love with the puppy on the way there, and we’re really struggling with that,” Faircloth said before gifting the dog. “But we had talked about it that we’re going to give this to a family who needs some kind of a little light.” Tragedy strikes home Deputy Quintero was in the process of leaving her Burnsville home along Brown Creek to head to the Madison County jail to help in any way she could during the storm. “She had had her vest on, and she had her backpack and her gun and everything, and her house had started flooding,” Phillips said in a phone call with Faircloth that was posted on YouTube. “So she grabbed the keys. She wasn’t scared, but she grabbed everybody’s keys so that if anybody needed the keys, she would have them.” When Quintero stepped out the back door, she was struck by a wall of water. It swept her into the raging river. A neighbor threw a rope to her, but then a tree fell, causing them both to submerge. “By the time she had come up — she was about five [foot] four — he said she was already waist-deep in mud,” Phillips said. “So he grabbed her and was pulling and pulling and he said all of a sudden she stopped.” Just as Quintero told the neighbor, “It’s all right,” another tree fell and submerged them both. She never re-emerged. “They found her a little bit ways down the river, and it was too late,” Phillips said. “They couldn’t … there was nothing that they could do. We had to bury her within, I guess, 24 hours of it because we couldn’t embalm her.” Phillips also told Faircloth about her 3-year-old, who is suffering from retinoblastoma that caused the child to lose an eye. Phillips wanted to get an implant that will match her daughter’s other eye, but she said Medicaid would not cover it. Because so many people in Western North Carolina are hurting from the storm, Phillips didn’t want to do an online fundraiser. Faircloth stepped in again to help. “I shared your story with one of our donors,” he told Phillips. “And I said, ‘Hey, I know this is not kind of our normal thing, but we want to help this family.’ We got you covered for that surgery.” Phillips burst into tears. “Oh my God,” Phillips said between sobs. “You have no idea the worry, the worry that you have for your children. Oh, Lord." “You have no idea what you’ve done. You’ll never know the gratitude and the prayers that will go up for y’all,” she said. “You'll never know.” Nan Collins (second from right) and family of Burnsville, N.C., next to the donated RV from Woody Faircloth and daughter Luna (first and third from left) from EmergencyRV.org.Photo courtesy of Woody Faircloth Faircloth and daughter Luna congratulated each other for looking past the love they have for the puppy in order to gift it to a hurting family. Phillips reported back the next day, saying the family decided to name the dog Luna. “I was crying, and I walked back to the truck. I said, ‘Luna, they just named the puppy Luna,’” Faircloth said. “And she started laughing so hard. And I said, ‘Why are you laughing? I’m over here crying.’ She said, ‘Because it’s a boy.’” When Faircloth spoke to Makisha’s father, Cash Phillips, he discovered the family patriarch also lost his home in the floods. “He said, ‘All I want is y’all to pray for us,’” Faircloth said. “‘That's all we need up here.’” The next day, EmergencyRV.org delivered an RV to Cash Phillips. Makisha texted Faircloth the next day. “She said, ‘I can’t believe y’all did that for my dad. He’s my hero. He’s the best man I’ve ever met. And you just blessed him in a way that I can’t even … I can’t ever say thanks.’” Home-state boy helps out Although Faircloth and his charity have been providing free RVs to disaster victims since the huge California wildfires of November 2018, the storm damage in Western North Carolina was especially personal for him. Faircloth grew up in Winston-Salem, N.C. His father coached football at Wake Forest University. “That’s where I went to college and went to high school, in Winston-Salem, which is just a couple hours away from where all this was going on,” he said. “So when this [storm] happened, I just said, ‘Hey, we’re all in on Western North Carolina.’ I know those people. I know their language. I know their customs. These are my people.” 'He said he couldn’t get his tires wet.' Faircloth has learned many lessons over the years of doing disaster relief work. He makes sure the RVs they provide are in good shape so that the recipient families don’t have to contend with repairs, leaks, or non-functioning appliances. Volunteers stock each RV with food and supplies. He also learned that the government is not the answer. Local people end up doing the rebuilding, the supporting, and the grieving along with all of their neighbors, he said. “Amazing that just regular people can do more than the government in this work,” he said. — (@) EmergencyRV.org brought an RV to a veteran in Bat Cave, N.C., whose property was devastated by the floods even though it sits high above the creek that turned into a violent river. The man told Faircloth that FEMA refused to inspect his property because it required agents to drive a truck through the creek that is barely two feet deep. “No, they wouldn’t drive through the creek,” the man told Faircloth in a video posted on social media. “I’ll try not to cuss, but I told the dude, I said, ‘What would he do if it was raining? How would you get here?’ He said he couldn’t get his tires wet.” Faircloth made a video of himself driving a pickup truck across the shallow creek. “Well, FEMA, here’s how we do it. Watch, watch,” Faircloth said as the truck rolled through the water. “You just crossed the river. It’s a veteran, for God’s sake. Look, actually, it’s two rivers, but it’s actually a creek. Come on, people. It’s not that hard.” The veteran said he cares for his daughter who has Down syndrome, so the RV shelter would be especially appreciated. 'It was so unbelievably sad seeing people in tents.' Not far away on the veteran’s property, a farmer from Minnesota and a New York City firefighter worked together to clear debris. Both men said they felt called by God to come to North Carolina and help the storm victims. Faircloth said he gets frustrated because of the huge demand for shelter at a time when FEMA is scaling back its presence in the devastated region. And he knows of large lots in Florida where hundreds of brand-new FEMA campers have been sitting so long that grass grew up around them. Before Hurricane Helene, Faircloth said he offered to buy some of the FEMA campers sitting in a Florida Division of Emergency Management lot. He said he would have staged them around the country. The Florida officials refused, he said. “They had 1,600 up there, and I think they deployed 300 of them during Helene relief, and they denied us,” he said. Denied even when Faircloth asked for a single camper to house a 103-year-old World War II veteran who was living in his truck. “You deny a guy like that? We were trying to help, and we helped him,” Faircloth said. “We were able to get an RV to that guy the next day from another citizen. It’s just, it’s crazy.” Woody Faircloth about to drive across a shallow creek that a storm victim said FEMA officials refused to cross in order to inspect his property. “It’s actually a creek,” he said. “Come on, people.”Photo courtesy of Woody Faircloth Blaze News asked FEMA about the lots full of campers in Florida and why they are not being used to help in North Carolina. A FEMA official said some of the RVs would be going to North Carolina. “FEMA currently has units staging in Florida that are being readied to deploy to survivors in the state,” the official said in a statement. EmergencyRV.org has delivered 57 RVs to survivors in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. The charity averages about one new placement per day. Anyone wishing to donate an RV in good condition, support the work financially, or volunteer to drive donated RVs to North Carolina can do so on the EmergencyRV fundraising page. Faircloth said the work is hard and takes its toll. When he asked Luna if she wanted to take a break from the traveling, there was no hesitation. “She snapped right up. She said, ‘Dad, don’t you ever say that again. That’s not what this is about. We’re going to keep helping people.’” So the dynamic duo will again head for Western North Carolina at Christmas. Because the need is only growing. “We’re going to be there the week of Christmas to New Year’s delivering RVs again,” he said. “I told the people who stepped up and said they would help us that are boots on the ground there early on. I said, ‘Look, guys, I hope you know that this is going to get worse before it gets better, and this is going to be a long, long haul of work that needs to be done. These people are going to need help for a long time.’” Hurricane Helene flooding devastated the property of Nan Collins in Burnsville, N.C. She lost five living spaces, a bus, RVs, a barn, and a garden.Photo courtesy of Woody Faircloth Among the victims assisted by EmergencyRV was a homeless U.S. Navy veteran who was displaced when the Asheville shelter where he lived was destroyed. He and some 200 other vets suddenly needed a place to live. Faircloth delivered as many RVs as he could to the Statesville RV Park in Statesville, N.C. “I’ve never had nothing like this,” the veteran told Faircloth in a video posted online. “I lived in motels most of my life.” The man knows all about storms. He worked many of them over the years doing “tree work.” The rescue shelter of an RV was deeply appreciated, he said. “This is really nice,” he said. “I mean, it’s more than I expect.” Faircloth and Luna are fueled by the good work they do, but it sometimes exacts an emotional toll. “We had a big cry together in Swannanoa the other day,” he said. “It was so unbelievably sad seeing people in tents. Seeing some people weren’t in tents but were in substandard shelter and standing around fires, eating the hot dogs off sticks. “She just started weeping,” Faircloth said. “I was like, ‘Honey, it’s okay. We’re going to help a lot of these people down here.’ She said, ‘Dad, we can’t help them all.’” Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

UFC veteran Jim Miller said he doesn't believe fighters should be taking time off to use testosterone before returning to the Octagon.Speaking specifically about former opponent Donald Cerrone, Miller said that while Cerrone has been "very, very open" about his use of testosterone replacement, it will not heal his brain from previous knockouts."He got knocked out quite a few times, and that's not healing from going on a little [testosterone replacement therapy] or whatever. I'm not super into it, to be 100% honest."Cerrone initially ended his career in July 2022 when he lost his sixth straight fight with a guillotine choke from Miller. Miller was avenging a 2014 loss to Cerrone that ended in a head-kick KO.Cerrone announced in October, however, that he wanted to return to the UFC and complete the two remaining fights on his contract."When I retired, I told you I was getting my hair done and getting on steroids," Cerrone said at the time. "The last two years, taking TRT and a bunch of peptides. Now we've got a protocol. For all you people that [said], 'Oh, what if you get on it and you can't ever come off?'" he said rhetorically. "Well, now I have to come off and piss clean. Fight in a few months. So watch this."According to MMA Fighting, Cerrone is planning his comeback around his 42nd birthday in March 2025.'I'm not a very big fan of the whole steroid vacation thing. What are we doing?'Miller told the outlet that while he has a tough time "telling other grown men what to do," it's up to Cerrone and his team to decide "if they want him to get punched in the head again."The 41-year-old then explained that he doesn't approve of the steroid usage before a comeback."I'm not a very big fan of the whole steroid vacation thing. What are we doing? But he's going to do what he wants to do."Miller said that for himself, he would never want to retire and then feel compelled to return. "When I make that choice that it's done for me, it's done."Miller's disapproval seemed rooted in a concern for fighters not properly taking care of themselves. He directly referred to his brother Dan, a former UFC fighter who last fought in 2015 but retired due to what Miller described as an attempted return from injury that ultimately ended his career."It's a tough spot [for Cerrone]. I don't like making decisions for other grown men. They get to do their own thing. Whatever he decides to do, do it and do it to the fullest."Cerrone seemingly already has plans beyond his two remaining fights with the UFC. He recently appeared on the comedy podcast "Kill Tony" and declared that he wanted to fight boxer Jake Paul in mixed martial arts.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!