Guitarist Joe Don Rooney of Rascal Flatts fame announced in a post on X that he is not pursuing a transgender transition and has never considered doing so."There have been so many rumors and opinions thrown around about me - but I'm finally healthy and ready for the world. And NO‚ I'm not transitioning to be a woman. That thought has never entered my mind. Nothing against the trans community whatsoever but I needed to set the record straight‚" Rooney noted in the social media post.The musician — who is divorced‚ according to People — discussed his past as an alcoholic‚ noting that he had been a poor husband‚ father‚ and band member‚ but that he has now been sober for nearly 28 months. "My life and career took a major detour at 4a in the early morning hours of Sep 9‚ 2021 when I ran square into a tree and about killed myself. I was drunk and I was so far gone with my life - I was completely out of control and finished with trying to fight the fears‚ depression and anxieties that had spun me out in a way I've never experienced before‚" he wrote."The pressures of my career and the many mistakes I made in regards to my home life‚ coupled with a lot of pain and trauma from my childhood and early on in my adult life‚ had become too much to bear. I was not a good father - I was not a good husband - and I was not a good band mate to my business partners. I probably would've never taken responsibility for any of this if it hadn't been for my car wreck on Sep 9‚ 2021‚" he wrote. "Fortunately‚ (and I truly believe this‚) God lead me into that tree safely enough to not kill me - and luckily nobody else was involved and I didn’t injure or kill anyone‚" he said. "That event lead me to treatment for my alcoholism for 4 months in the beautiful mountains of Utah.""God intervened and helped me to get my life back. With the help of my family and so many other professional clinical advisors and now numerous new sober forever friends‚ I’ve been able to get the train back on the tracks and live without the burden of alcohol‚" he wrote.Rascal Flatts had planned to do a farewell tour in 2020‚ but it was ultimately canceled. — (@) Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Socialists and anti-police activists spoke out against the use of armed police officers at the Central Library in San Antonio‚ Texas‚ in order to counteract a dramatic increase in attacks by homeless people. San Antonio Public Library Director Ramiro Salazar told the San Antonio Report in December that the library had been able to get by without a police presence but that increased attacks led to a new pilot program to provide extra security. Salazar said there were 18 incidents of assault at the library‚ including one in which a patron kicked a staff member in the face at the downtown library. “There is a trend up of assaults at the Central Library‚” said assistant library director Kathy Donellan to the San Antonio Public Library Board of Trustees. "By allowing police in these spaces‚ we’re adding ... quite literal violence to these spaces." Officials instituted a pilot program where an armed police officer would walk around the San Antonio Central Library for about ten hours a day. Socialists and other community members were outraged and expressed their fury at a board meeting in December.“The library is one of the last truly public and free spaces where people have access to a plethora of resources‚” Ruby Jimenez‚ a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation‚ told the board. “By allowing police in these spaces‚ we’re adding a level of needless intimidation and quite literal violence to these spaces." Anti-police activists also said that the presence of an armed and uniformed police officer could cause people from marginalized communities to be intimated. “You are going to continue to lose community partners and community members and library patrons if you continue to have armed officers here‚ which will affect the longevity and funding of the San Antonio Public Library system‚" said police reform activist Ananda Tomas‚ the founder of ACT 4 SA. Jimenez went on to tell the board that her group preferred a social worker trained in de-escalation tactics instead of a police officer. "I could not live with my conscience if something more serious happened." Salazar told the San Antonio Report that he didn't feel right leaving the library employees defenseless. “We hesitated‚ but I felt I needed to do something more to protect our employees. I could not live with my conscience if something more serious happened.” He also explained how library officials were to measure whether the program worked. “You don’t make decisions by assumptions‚" said Salazar. "You make decisions by looking at best practices and testing some ideas. And that’s what we’re doing right now.” Here's more about library violence: Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Police released security video of a thug trying to light a convenience store clerk on fire before riding a scooter away in California. Santa Ana police released the video footage from an incident at a meat market on the 1800 block of S. Standard Street on Oct. 25 at about 11:51 a.m. The video shows a number of customers at the store before a man approaches the clerk and forcefully pushes away a female customer. He douses the clerk and the cash register with lighter fluid‚ but the clerk tries to swat his hands away as the thug attempts to light them on fire and grab the money at the same time. The customers rush away from the struggle. Police said the suspect demanded money in Spanish before giving up and running away. He fled the scene on a Razor-type of scooter‚ according to investigators.It is unclear if anyone was harmed‚ but the suspect was unable to steal any of the money in the register. Police have been unable to identify the man and are seeking help from the public to apprehend him. They described him as a Hispanic male wearing a black‚ hooded sweatshirt with "Dirty Bird" printed on the front in white lettering. He also wore gray pants‚ gray Vans shoes‚ and a black‚ disposable face mask. An unrelated attempted arson attack in California was similarly captured on security video in Jan. 2023. The video shows two men tossing gasoline onto a tax preparation business in Bakersfield before one of them falls and accidentally catches himself on fire. Firefighters were able to respond quickly to limit the damage from the arson attack‚ but the owner said that the business was also robbed the next day after his cameras were deactivated by the fire. Here's the video of the attack: Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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