[Townhall] Post hoc ergo propter hoc is the Latin phrase meaning "after, therefore because of." It is a common assumption that is rarely true. The phrase is akin to the logical fallacy of correlation equals causation. But new events in the fields of law and medicine may be the exception that proves the rule.
As recently reported, detransitioner Fox Varian brought a medical malpractice lawsuit against psychologist Kenneth Einhorn, surgeon Dr. Simon Chin, and their respective employers for removing her breasts at the age of 16, and a jury in White Plains, New York, ruled on Jan. 30 that Einhorn and Chin committed medical malpractice by approving and performing a double mastectomy on the then-16-year-old Fox.
The verdict found both professionals legally responsible for the medically unsound decision to perform the surgery and awarded Varian $2 million in damages, including $1.6 million to compensate for past and future pain and suffering, along with an additional $400,000 for future medical costs.
And, as we also now know, within a week of the jury's decision, two of the most powerful medical associations in the nation, the American Medical Association and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, went on the record to say that insufficient evidence exists to justify recommending so-called gender transition surgeries on minors. Post hoc ergo propter hoc? Probably so.
While every child who struggles with the mental anguish of gender dysphoria has unique contributing factors, the tragedy of what happened to Varian is compounded by how common her misguided path to irreversible surgery was. Moreover, it was adults who should have known better who led her down the path.
Varian had a troubled childhood. She dealt with a divorce battle between her parents when she was just seven. She also suffered from several other mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, and social phobia. She also had been diagnosed with autism. These issues came to a head when, at 15, she began to question her gender. Just months into being 15, she cut her hair short and began binding her breasts. She also switched her name and began telling people she was transgender. And, at age 16, she had her breasts removed.
The trial revealed that neither Einhorn nor Chin was fully aware of the full scope of Varian's mental health challenges when they barreled ahead with the double mastectomy. Varian's mother was opposed but ultimately consented out of fear her child would commit suicide otherwise. Einhorn stoked the flame of that fear. The false choice between a living son or a dead daughter is the most pernicious lie in this era of politicized psychology and medicine.
The inestimable Ryan Anderson chronicled the astounding negligence of the minimal therapy-to-pharmaceutical-to-surgical pipeline in his 2018 book "When Harry Became Sally." The physical results are a lifetime of being a medical patient, sexual dysfunction, and potential sterility. The psychological toll is much more difficult to quantify. But more juries will likely have the opportunity to do so in the next year to 18 months as more malpractice cases across the country could set trial dates.
Thankfully, there are some in the health and policy sectors of America who are making well-reasoned and compassionate decisions on behalf of vulnerable minors.
The state of Tennessee passed a law banning these surgical procedures for minors and successfully defended the law at the U.S. Supreme Court. United States of America v. Skrmetti was a landmark decision last year that upheld Tennessee's law. Twenty-six other states have similar laws, and more states should follow their lead.
Counselors like Kaley Chiles want to help their clients regain comfort with their God-given sex. Unfortunately, policymakers in Colorado could take her license for doing so. The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Chiles v. Salazar in October and will announce its decision by June of this year.
Even before these Supreme Court cases were heard and before Fox Varian's case made it to trial, the medical malpractice insurance industry was raising rates for doctors involved in this neo-barbarism. It is a sad commentary on mental and physical health care in America when, despite the Cass Report, the WPATH Files, and HHS findings, it was not until the first multi-million dollar verdict that the medical establishment admitted what anyone who successfully passed a 9th-grade biology class already knew—chemically and surgically altering a female body doesn't make it male or vice versa. And permanently damaging a healthy body doesn't reduce the anguish of the mind; it adds to it.
The Hippocratic Oath should have been enough to prevent this tragedy. But if this is what it takes, then so be it. Bring on the lawsuits; bring on the expensive jury awards; bring on the investigations until every last quack who profited from this disastrous human experiment is held accountable. Sic semper lanii.
#1
An just where in the hell was the American Medical Association and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons? While this perversion was being openly done by parents on their minor children for the social media fame?
#2
Not that far in the future "transition surgeries" will be compared to Dr. Mengele's body of work.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/16/2026 9:50 Comments ||
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#3
Zeitgeist change nearly complete:
The Atlantic, a far left publication, has come out today with a piece about how indefensible it is to transition kids. Massive sea change. We’ve won the PR war to end this absurd abuse. pic.twitter.com/0GO56aqhRy
#4
Insurance rates for those doctors performing the surgeries are going to skyrocket.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/16/2026 12:02 Comments ||
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#5
CA AG Rob Bonta sued Rady Children's Hospital to try and force them to do the mutilation surgeries. Rady wanted to quit ahead of CMS cutting off their Medicare/Medicaid for the chop shops. It's still up in the air, but Bonta is a POS sacrificing kids' futures. The lawsuits may just push him down
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2026 12:35 Comments ||
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#6
Do Children's hospital in Minneapolis. There needs to be financial if not criminal consequences all around.
[Breitbart] The threat of cartel drone incursions along the U.S.-Mexico border, estimated at 40,000 to 60,000 incidents per year, was largely ignored under the Biden Administration. The February 10 airspace shutdown over El Paso underscores the serious challenges the Trump administration now faces as it finally gives the drone threats to the homeland the urgent attention they deserve.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, on February 10, the incursion of a drug cartel drone spawned the issuance of a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) that restricted aircraft operations for El Paso and parts of eastern New Mexico, effectively closing all air traffic into or out of the border city. The unprecedented move, which initially called for a complete ground stop for all aircraft entering and leaving the El Paso International Airport, raised the ire of local, state, and federal officials, who bemoaned the lack of communication beforehand.
The NOTAM was terminated less than eight hours later, punctuated by a social media post on X by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy attributing the closure to a cartel drone incursion offering followers a brief description of the conclusion to the air stoppage caused by the cartel drone incursion saying, “The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region.”
The brief explanation by Secretary Duffy did not address the enormous efforts underway by the Trump administration to finally counter the drone threat that the Mexican cartels have posed for several years.
The effort to focus on the largely ignored drone threat went into high gear after President Trump signed an executive order in June 2025 titled “Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty”. In the order, Trump cited the dangers posed by criminals, terrorists, and hostile foreign actors who have weaponized the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) against the United States.
The President highlighted the threat in the order, saying, “Drug cartels use UAS to smuggle fentanyl across our borders, deliver contraband into prisons, surveil law enforcement, and otherwise endanger the public. Mass gatherings are vulnerable to disruptions and threats from unauthorized UAS flights. Critical infrastructure, including military bases, is subject to frequent — and often unidentified — UAS incursions. Immediate action is needed to ensure American sovereignty over its skies and that its airspace remains safe and secure.”
The order compels administration officials, among other things, to increase counter-UAS capability and cements ongoing efforts at the southwest border as part of the President’s efforts to secure the border after his inauguration.
Part of the President’s initiatives to that end included sending military units to the southwest border to help U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detect UAS threats and any to identify any ground targets associated with UAS incursions.
The 10th Mountain Division radar unit was specifically deployed to the southwest border to provide a capability previously unheard of in a homeland defense environment. Specifically, the platoon deployed the AN/TPQ-53 Quick Reaction Capability Radar, which can identify the origin and impact location of weapons such as rockets and mortars, and the AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel radar system, which tracks low-flying aircraft and UAS threats across wide areas. The highly sophisticated equipment, historically used only on the battlefield under previous administrations, has now been adapted for homeland defense.
The efforts to detect drone incursions serve as the starting point for what has been exposed by the El Paso airspace shutdown as an extremely challenging quandary: how to take down a suspect drone without threatening legitimate air traffic near border airports and military installations.
In April, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Homeland Defense and Americas Security Affairs Mark Roosevelt Ditlevson testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, addressing the challenges of conducting counter-drone operations in civilian airspace.
In his testimony, Ditlevson remarked on the challenges telling committee members, “The systems that have proven effective at countering UAS in the Middle East are not appropriate for the homeland given the intelligence collection required to enable these mitigation operations and the potential for collateral damage.” Ditlevson told committee members that the Department of War’s understanding of the threat and unique mitigation dynamics related to the UAS threat against the homeland has improved greatly, and recommended continued shared government efforts to combat and resolve these threats.
The Cartel-specific UAS threats range from counter-surveillance activity against U.S. law enforcement, incursions to deliver illicit narcotics by air, and ominously include the ability to deploy weaponized drones that have recently been used in Mexico to attack the military and law enforcement, as reported by Breitbart Texas.
One way the Trump administration’s Department of War is hoping to solve the challenge of addressing the UAS threat at the border and beyond is through the Drone Dominance Program, an initiative to improve UAS and counter UAS capabilities.
In a July 2025 memorandum to senior leaders at the Pentagon, U.S. Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth referred to drones as the “biggest battlefield innovation in a generation, accounting for most of this year’s casualties in Ukraine.”
As part of the program, the U.S. Department of War announced an invitation to 25 vendors to compete in phase one of the Drone Dominance Program (DDP), an acquisition reform effort to rapidly procure low-cost, unmanned attack drones. The Department of War will also use the program to quickly acquire innovative counter-UAS solutions that may serve to reduce or eliminate the threat of UAS incursions at the southwest border, attacks abroad, and within the homeland.
Although miscommunication may have marred the short-lived closure of El Paso airspace to address a cartel drone incursion, the episode underscores how the Trump administration is finally building real momentum in confronting a cartel drone threat the previous administration largely ignored for years.
[Promethean Updates] A video.
They’re admitting what we've been telling you: the post-1945 British-run international order — they call it the "rules-based order" — is finished.
Donald Trump killed it. And they admit in the same publication that their populations hate them. That’s what their “Under Destruction” title means.
This conference is like a Davos of the Deep State. It’s where the intelligence and security mavens of the former globalist order convened every year to plot their plans against the Empire’s enemies.
[FoxNews] "We in America have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West’s managed decline," Rubio said during his Friday remarks before the Munich Security Conference.
#1
I believe that the pendulum is now swinging back and picking up speed. I don’t think this is just a pause in the destruction.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/16/2026 6:07 Comments ||
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#2
SH - I'd like to believe that. What do you see that would indicate that is the case? To my eyes things look a lot more tenuous than that. But I would love to be proven wrong.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/16/2026 9:12 Comments ||
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#4
I'm beginning to think that Rubio is the best we have. And I'm surprised not to see more handwringing about his reference to our shared Christian culture. It was a Gates of Vienna speech.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/16/2026 10:35 Comments ||
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#6
I believe that they’ve lost control in a way that I can’t see can be restored easily. The Somali corruption lead to the discovery of widespread general corruption in many states. That revelation can’t be undone. Now we will do another shutdown over the debt ceiling when we know that we would have no debt except for the stealing.
The ballots from Fulton have been seized. Half of the FBI/DOJ will work against charges and accountability, but Pandora’s box cannot be closed in regard to election cheating.
The Epstein box is opened. We know that they pulled kids teeth. We can’t unknow that.
Every possible Dem presidential candidate has been knocked out two years before the election season begins. The next president will be Republican. It may even be Trump. The pendulum will not arc back from this position. It will swing forward.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/16/2026 11:37 Comments ||
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#8
I agreee with Matt at #4. Rubio gave one heckuva speech at the Munich Security Conference. I know most people are thinking JD Vance but I'm beginning to think it could be Rubio in 2028. He said the kind of things that Trump says but in a manner that was far less abrasive and divisive. He doesn't stand at the podium quite as easily as Ronald Reagan but still he was quite impressive. The intellect was there.
Some of the people in that room, however, looked like they were troubled by Rubio's words. They have been very deeply entrenched for a very long time. In the end they gave him a standing ovation but I can't imagine them changing so easily.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/16/2026 12:35 Comments ||
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#9
Thanks for your response SH. It does lift my spirits some.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/16/2026 16:14 Comments ||
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#10
It is a battle that we must win. We will win unless we quit. It is confusing because we are fighting the entire establishment not just Democrats.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/16/2026 19:51 Comments ||
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[American Greatness] How deep is the deep state? That’s a question I have thought and written about a lot. I had something to say about it recently at The Spectator on the occasion of Abigail Spanberger’s recent election as governor of Virginia. It saddens me to report that every time I think I have taken the measure of the Leviathan that is the deep state, new precincts and vistas open up beyond the boundaries I had delineated.
Sometimes I think the deep state is like an onion. Peel back one layer, and another layer presents itself.
Sometimes I think it is like a basement with an endless procession of sub-basements. Excavate one, and you encounter another below it. It is like that bit of Hindu cosmology that envisions the world resting on the back of a turtle, which rests on the back of a larger turtle, which rests on the back of a still larger turtle. Asked what that larger turtle stands upon, the answer is that it is "turtles all the way down."
That said, I suspect that the difficulty in surveying the deep state is not its depth but its extent. That is, I suspect that its roots are shallow while its area is both indefinitely large and protean.
The deep state also seems to resemble the Lernaean Hydra of Greek mythology. Hercules was sent to dispatch this multi-headed monster in the second of his twelve labors. Not only did the beast have poisonous breath, but its blood was so toxic that even its scent was fatal. Furthermore, the hydra had this alarming characteristic: if you cut off one of its heads, two grew back in its place. Hercules overcame this problem by having the stump of each head cauterized as soon as he had cut it off.
Another curious feature of the deep state is that exposure often fails to elicit effective condemnation. This is due in part to the propaganda arm of the deep state, sometimes called "the media," which does not so much report the news as echo the narrative fabricated by the deep state.
Consider the revelations about the Somali fraud in Minneapolis. I thought, and I continue to think, that that massive fraud perpetrated by Democrats will (to continue with Hercules) cauterize one head of the deep state hydra. What is interesting, though, is the alacrity with which the deep state stepped up to replace or at least drown out that revelation with the cacophony about ICE murdering innocent protestors. At the end of the day, I do not think that gambit will work in the court of public opinion. If you drive your car into an ICE agent, you should first be sure that your life insurance premiums are current. The same can be said about carrying a military-grade handgun to a protest and then getting into a fight with ICE agents. It’s not a recipe for longevity.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
