'Case about swinging d**ks': Fed-up Trump judge tears apart woke colleagues for forcing Christian female spa to admit men

A federal judge minced no words in his dissenting opinion regarding the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' refusal on Thursday to rehear the case of a Christian-owned women's spa forced by Washington state into admitting men.

Judge Lawrence VanDyke, an appointee of President Donald Trump, wrote, "This is a case about swinging d**ks."

''Sometimes, it feels like the supposed adults in the room have collectively lost their minds.'

"The Christian owners of Olympus Spa — a traditional Korean, women-only, nude spa — understandably don't want them in their spa," VanDyke continued. "Their female employees and female clients don't want them in their spa either. But Washington State insists on them. And now so does the Ninth Circuit."

The family-owned spa was accused of discrimination in 2020 for refusing access to a trans-identifying male whose penis was intact, and has been fighting an uphill legal battle ever since. In May, a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel ruled against the spa, holding that the First Amendment rights of its owners had not been violated by the state.

The spa subsequently petitioned the Ninth Circuit for a panel rehearing and/or a full-court rehearing of the case. Those were denied, prompting VanDyke to go nuclear:

Sometimes, it feels like the supposed adults in the room have collectively lost their minds. Woke regulators and complicit judges seem entirely willing, even eager, to ignore the consequences that their Frankenstein social experiments impose on real women and young girls. Yet if harmful and unfortunate consequences were all this case was about, we’d have to shrug and say: "That’s what comes with living in a democracy." Unless the Constitution is implicated, we get what we voted for “good and hard."

But some fundamental rights, like the right to the free exercise of religion, are constitutionally protected precisely to avoid majoritarian infringement. Unfortunately, in this case the panel majority has allowed Washington State bureaucrats to trample on such rights long secured by the Constitution.

VanDyke tore apart his colleagues' reasoning, stating that:

"[Washington Law Against Discrimination] is not generally applicable because it treats comparable secular activity more favorably than Olympus Spa's religiously motivated activity";
"WLAD's application is not neutral because it facially differentiates among religions based on theological choices by granting an exemption to only a small set of favored religious activities"; and
"WLAD's woke redefinition of 'sex' undermines the hard-fought legal protections granted to women as a class and undercuts established criminal laws against voyeurism and indecent exposure."

Some of the Trump judge's colleagues couldn't handle his criticism and frank language.

Annie Wells/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Mary Margaret McKeown, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton who previously ruled against the spa, said in a statement that was joined by over 25 other Ninth Circuit judges that the American legal system is "not a place for vulgar barroom talk" or a "place to suggest that fellow judges have 'collectively lost their minds,' or that they are 'woke judges' 'complicit' in a scheme to harm ordinary Americans."

McKeown claimed that VanDyke's language — not her decisions — "undermines public trust in the courts."

VanDyke said in response to his colleagues' pearl-clutching:

My distressed colleagues appear to have the fastidious sensibilities of a Victorian nun when it comes to mere unpleasant words in my opinion, yet exhibit the scruples of our dearly departed colleague Judge Reinhardt when it comes to the government trampling on religious liberties and exposing women and girls to male genitalia. That kind of selective outrage speaks for itself. The public deserves a court that is actually trustworthy. We should be earning that trust, not demanding it like petty tyrants.

"Sometimes 'dignified and civil' words are employed to mask a legal abomination. ... Sometimes coarse and ugly words bear the truth," VanDyke added.

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The spa, owned by a theologically conservative Christian family, is modeled on jjimjilbang, sex-segregated bathhouses in Korea, and requires that guests be nude inside the pool area.

Court documents state the spa required that entrants "physically present in the nude as ... female," further noting, "Biological women are welcome." Under the rules, female-identifying males were welcome just so long as they had "gone through post-operative sex confirmation surgery." In other words, penises weren't permitted.

In 2020, Caleb Richmond — a trans-identifying male who was once married to a woman and now goes by Haven Wilvich — attempted to use the Washington Law Against Discrimination to gain access to the spa. The spa reportedly denied the man access, prompting him to file a complaint with the Washington State Human Rights Commission.

When the WSHRC notified the spa that it had received a discrimination complaint, the spa asserted that its "biological women"-only policy was in keeping with state law and "essential for the safety, legal protection, and well-being of our customers and employees," court documents said.

'Washington has perversely distorted a law that was enacted to safeguard women's rights to strip women of protections.'

Although initially defiant, the spa signed a pre-finding settlement agreement requiring compliance with WLAD while reserving the right to mount a constitutional challenge.

Richmond reportedly boasted online that he had successfully found a way to legally invade the women's sanctuary. He wrote, "I did it," adding he got "the main naked lady spa in the area to change their policies and allow all self-identified women access regardless of surgery and genitals."

Richmond further suggested that he was "more woman" than any of his female critics because he is "an intentional woman whereas they are only incidental."

Myoon Woon Lee, the owner of the spa, sued the WSHRC, claiming that the WLAD, as enforced, impinged upon his "traditional, theologically conservative" Christian values and put his female clientele at risk.

A Washington District Court judge dismissed the case with prejudice in 2023, but Lee appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

A three-judge panel ruled in May 2025 that the spa cannot sue the WSHRC on First Amendment grounds. The majority held that the enforcement of WLAD "did not impermissibly burden the Spa's free speech," that the spa is "not an expressive association," and that "eliminating discrimination on the basis of sex and transgender status is a legitimate government purpose."

Judge McKeown stated in her May opinion for the majority, "The HRC's enforcement action against Olympus Spa was a straightforward application of Washington's statutory scheme."

Judge Kenneth Lee, a Trump appointee, said in his dissenting opinion, "Washington has perversely distorted a law that was enacted to safeguard women's rights to strip women of protections. The women and girls of Washington state deserve better."

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Knifed for 'being a Christian'? Suspect allegedly stabs man and his dog after asking about victim's religion

A suspect allegedly stabbed a man and his dog Sunday in Washington state after the suspect asked the victim what religion he is, the Pierce County Sheriff's Office said.

The 54-year-old male victim called 911 reporting that an unknown male stabbed him near the S S Quickstop Grocery in Parkland just before 6:30 a.m. and that the male fled southbound on Park Avenue S., officials said. Parkland is about 45 minutes south of Seattle.

'This would actually be a hate crime based on religion.'

When deputies arrived, the victim was in serious condition and told deputies the unknown man had come up to him and asked what religion he was, officials said.

"The victim answered the man and said something about being a Christian, and the man then attacked and stabbed the victim and his dog," officials added.

The victim provided a description of the suspect prior to being transported to a local hospital; the victim's dog was also in serious condition and was transported to a local animal hospital and was taken into surgery immediately, officials said.

Deputies used a K-9 to search the area for more than two hours but were unable to locate the suspect, officials said.

At 8:40 a.m. while conducting an area check, a deputy saw the suspect in the 800 block of 112th St. S, and the suspect fled behind a nearby home, officials said.

Deputies followed the suspect and reported that shots had been fired at 8:47 a.m., officials said.

KOMO-TV reported that the sheriff's office confirmed the suspect was dead and that multiple deputies shot the suspect.

The sheriff's office added to KOMO that the suspect was armed with multiple knives, was resisting arrest, and approached deputies before shots were fired.

Detectives do not know the suspect's identity or his connection, if any, to the area or the house he fled behind, KOMO added.

KING-TV said the stabbing victim, Eddie Nitschke, lives in the convenience store's parking lot in a car with his girlfriend and two dogs.

Nitschke told KING he initially responded to the suspect that he wasn't religious, but the suspect kept pushing the issue about what religion he was, after which Nitschke told the suspect, "I guess Christian."

The suspect then accused Nitschke of pursuing him, KING added: "He said, 'You've been looking for me for some time,' and I said, 'I don't even know you.'"

KING said the suspect soon struck Nitschke multiple times with two knives and punctured his lung.

During the attack, Nitschke told his girlfriend to release their dog from the car, KING reported, adding that the dog attacked the suspect and was also stabbed.

"My shirt was drenched with blood," Nitschke recounted to KING.

'Admitted to voting all four ballots': Woman allegedly cops to voter fraud in 2024 election

A former apartment manager in Washington state has reportedly confessed to forging multiple ballots and casting them in the 2024 general election.

The case relates to 52-year-old Esperanza Contreras. Contreras used to live in Pasco, Washington, where she worked as an apartment manager, before moving to Hermiston, Oregon, and registering to vote there.

'Voter fraud undermines the integrity of the electoral process and erodes public confidence in the fairness of elections.'

However, according to the Franklin County Sheriff's Office in Washington, a ballot for the 2024 general election was also sent to Contreras' old address in Pasco. That ballot "was also filled out, sent to the Auditor's Office, and counted in the election," the sheriff's office said.

What's more, three other ballots sent to former tenants of the same apartment building where Contreras was manager were also discovered to have what the sheriff's office called "suspicious characteristics." While three of those ballots were eventually counted in the election, one was rejected on account of a "mismatched signature."

"Contreras was interviewed by detectives at which time she admitted to voting all four ballots and forging the signatures," the sheriff's office statement continued.

Contreras was arrested and charged with 12 felonies related to voter fraud and identity theft.

adamkaz/Getty Images

"Voter fraud undermines the integrity of the electoral process and erodes public confidence in the fairness of elections. The Franklin County Sheriff's Office takes violations of election law seriously and remains committed to thoroughly investigating and pursuing election-related violations," the statement added.

According to the Tri-City Herald, Contreras told police she believed she was helping the former tenants.

No 2024 race in Franklin County was decided by four votes, the outlet noted.

Donald Trump won Franklin County, defeating Kamala Harris by more than 7,000 votes. The state of Washington in general, however, voted overwhelmingly for Harris over Trump, 57.6% to 39.3%.

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Meta retreats in Washington as socialist Democrat brandishes new corporate tax hikes

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has narrowly avoided a costly disaster.

When Meta bought the rights to more land in Bellevue, Washington, in 2020, it brought the company's potential footprint in the area up to more than 3 million square feet. After five years of expansions, subleases, and plan changes, Zuckerberg's company had to decide if it wanted to dive fully into the expansion it was offered or stay with what it had.

'The way for Washingtonians to fight back is to build a bolder Washington.'

Newly released details about Meta's plans in Bellevue’s Spring District now confirm that the tech company has avoided disaster by about a month. As reported by Downtown Bellevue, Meta is returning the rights for several blocks in the district to developer Wright Runstad & Co., which is considered turning the land into apartment buildings, instead of offices.

With Meta using only around 700,000 square feet of its current land leases, the relinquishment comes on the cusp of massive new corporate taxes that seem to be on the horizon from a state Democrat, who is openly socialist.

State Rep. Shaun Scott (D) hopes to counteract tax cuts by the Trump administration by issuing a new corporate payroll tax that will affect the largest companies in the state, including Amazon, Microsoft, and, of course, Meta.

Scott is a Democratic Socialist, according to a report by Axios, and is certainly living up to the "socialist" part of his title with the new 5% tax.

His proposal would tax private companies where employees earn more than $125,000 per year, with the new tax applying to salaries above that threshold. Any company with more than 50 employees, a payroll in excess of $7 million, and gross receipts over $5 million will also be taxed.

The tax would raise $5.5 billion over two years, according to Komo News.

Photographer: Allison Robbert/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The tax reportedly comes in direct response to money lost from the Republicans' H.R.1, aka the Big Beautiful Bill Act, which claimed from the outset that it would "reduces taxes."

Scott is, in effect, proving the bill to be true with his proposal.

"The way for Washingtonians to fight back is to build a bolder Washington: a Washington that defends the programs that people depend on, while the other Washington defunds them," he said, according to the Olympian.

The bill would take effect on July 1, 2026.

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For once, Medicare is trying something that actually saves money

Medicare is the second-largest program in the federal budget, topping $1 trillion last year. In 2023, it accounted for 14% of federal spending — a share projected to reach 18% by 2032. After years of ballooning costs, something is finally being done to slow the growth. A new Medicare pilot program, the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction model, borrows a successful private-sector tool: prior authorization. And that’s good news.

Medicare Part B premiums now sit at $185 per month — up 28% from five years ago and a staggering 76% since 2015. Last year, 12% of the 61 million Americans enrolled in Part B spent more than a tenth of their annual income on premiums. That burden is unsustainable.

In a system as expensive and fragmented as ours, no one can afford to keep writing blank checks for low-value care.

WISeR, set to launch in Ohio, Texas, Washington, New Jersey, Arizona, and Oklahoma, will require prior approval for a short list of “low-value” services — procedures that research shows are frequently overused, costly, and sometimes harmful.

To some, the idea of Medicare reviewing certain treatments before covering them may sound like red tape. But when done correctly, prior authorization is not a barrier. It is a guardrail — one that protects patients, improves quality, and helps ensure that both tax dollars and premiums are spent appropriately.

The goal of WISeR is simple: Cut unnecessary treatments and shift resources toward more effective, evidence-based care. Critics warn about the possibility of delays or extra paperwork, and those concerns are worth monitoring. But they don’t negate prior authorization’s potential to make U.S. health care safer, more efficient, and more financially stable.

Prior authorization directly targets some of the most persistent problems in health care. Medicare spends billions each year on low-value services. A 2023 study identified just 47 such services that together cost Medicare more than $4 billion annually. Those are taxpayer dollars that could be put to better use.

The private insurance market shows the same pattern: unnecessary imaging, avoidable specialist referrals, and brand-name drugs chosen over generics all contribute to rising premiums. Prior authorization, when used properly, reins in this waste by ensuring coverage lines up with medical necessity and evidence-based best practices. Research from the University of Chicago shows that Medicare’s prior authorization rules for prescription drugs generate net savings even after administrative costs.

Consider one striking example. Medicare Part B covers wound-care products known as skin substitutes. But an Office of Inspector General report found that expenditures on these products skyrocketed over the past two years to more than $10 billion annually. Meanwhile, Medicare Advantage plans — which rely heavily on prior authorization — spent only a fraction of that amount for the same treatments.

DNY59 via iStock/Getty Images

More importantly, prior authorization helps promote evidence-based medicine. It curbs outdated clinical habits and reduces financial incentives to overtreat. Health plans consistently say that prior authorization aligns care with gold-standard clinical guidelines, particularly in areas prone to misuse.

Of course, the system must be designed responsibly. A well-functioning PA process should be transparent, fast, and grounded in strong clinical evidence. Decisions should be made in close coordination with the patient’s treating provider. The appeals process must be straightforward. And both public and private payers should be held accountable for improper denials or harmful delays.

When structured this way, prior authorization is far more efficient than the current “pay-and-chase” model, where Medicare pays first and tries to recover improper payments later.

Prior authorization already works in the private sector. It can work in Medicare.

Public and private payers have an obligation to steward the dollars they spend — whether those dollars come from taxpayers or premium-payers. In a system as expensive and fragmented as ours, no one can afford to keep writing blank checks for low-value care. When implemented wisely, prior authorization keeps coverage aligned with medical necessity, elevates the value of care, and helps deliver better outcomes at a sustainable cost.

How police nailed driver accused of doing donuts in stolen car amid street takeover — even after giving cops the slip

A northwest Washington state sheriff's deputy spotted a black sports car taking over the intersection of 112th Street South and Pacific Avenue South doing donuts around 12:30 a.m. Saturday, the Pierce County Sheriff's Office said. The intersection appears to be in Parkland, which is about 20 minutes south of Tacoma.

However, as the deputy approached the intersection, the vehicle took off, officials said.

Deputies knocked on the door of a residence, and a male answered and claimed his friend had dropped off the Corvette earlier and did not know anything about it, officials said.

The deputy attempted a traffic stop, but the vehicle failed to stop, and the deputy was unable to catch up to it, officials said.

The deputy used his radio to share the vehicle's direction of travel, and a sergeant picked up the pursuit — but lost sight of the car, officials said.

However, the sergeant later learned a black Corvette was listed as stolen and numerous other jurisdictions had similar encounters with the vehicle but were unable to catch it, officials said.

About an hour later, another deputy spotted a black Corvette in the area where police lost sight of it, officials said, adding that the Corvette matched the description of the vehicle that eluded deputies earlier.

Deputies soon learned the Corvette was stolen — and was the same vehicle they had been chasing, officials said.

Deputies knocked on the door of a residence, and a male answered and claimed his friend had dropped off the Corvette earlier and did not know anything about it, officials said.

But a bit more investigation revealed that the male being questioned had a social media account containing videos of him driving the stolen Corvette and doing donuts and other reckless driving crimes, officials said.

Image source: Pierce County (Wa.) Sheriff's Office bodycam video screenshot

Deputies arrested the 21-year-old suspect for eluding, possession of a stolen vehicle, and obstruction of a law enforcement officer, officials said, adding that the male also had warrants in another jurisdiction for reckless driving and unlawful exhibition of speed.

"It's probably not a good idea to record yourself in a stolen vehicle doing donuts — and then post it to your social media," Dep. Carly Cappetto wisely warned on the sheriff's office clip.

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'Case about swinging d**ks': Fed-up Trump judge tears apart woke colleagues for forcing Christian female spa to admit men

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