Politics and views in the United States.

Trump sends Texas National Guard troops to Chicago. An OMB analysis says furloughed federal workers aren't entitled to back pay and the Supreme Court hears a case about Colorado's ban on conversion therapy for minors.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

You voted to shut down the government and you're sitting here.

Our law enforcement officers aren't being paid.

They're out there working to protect you.

I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump.

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to answer questions about plans to send troops to multiple cities.

President Donald Trump has moved to send National Guard troops to Washington, DC, Portland, Los Angeles, Memphis and now Chicago to address what the administration says is out-of-control crime and immigration enforcement.

However, these come when crime is down or at historic lows in these cities.

Trump says he's considering using the Insurrection Act to deploy troops if the courts block deployments to Chicago and Portland.

Some cities have been able to sue to stop these deployments but Chicago couldn't.

A federal judge has declined a legal bid by the city and the state of Illinois to immediately block the troop movement.

Chicago's Mayor Brandon Johnson says this is about Trump asserting more control over American cities.

It's illegal, unconstitutional, it's dangerous, it's wrong, this is not about deportation, this is not about safety for this president.

This is about authoritarianism, it's about stoking fear, it's about breaking the Constitution.

A week into the federal shutdown, a new White House Office of Management and Budget memo suggests furloughed federal employees aren't entitled to back pay, a view Trump is voicing support for to increase pressure on Democrats.

The memo changes the agency's previous interpretation of a law Trump signed during his first term, but Speaker of the House Mike Johnson says with the president's new position.

I hope the furloughed workers receive back pay, of course.

We have some extraordinary Americans who serve the federal government.

They serve valiantly and they work hard and they serve in these various agencies doing really important work.

Johnson says he'll consider the OMB memo, although most legal experts say the agency's new interpretation lacks a basis in history, court decisions, or the law's text.

Across the aisle, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says the administration is further victimizing federal workers.

Donald Trump and his administration have been torturing federal employees since the very beginning of his presidency. engaging in mass firings, harassing them, brutalizing them, laying people off without justification and violating the law.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Childs v. Salazar, whether Colorado's ban on conversion therapy for minors violates free speech.

Conversion therapy encourages gay and lesbian people to identify as heterosexual and transgender people to identify as their birth assigned gender.

Petitioner and Christian licensed counselor Kaylee Childs says the state's law harms kids and censors her speech.

Struggling kids benefit from access to voluntary counseling conversations that help them as they wholeness and gaining peace with their bodies.

They deserve better than Colorado's one-size-fits-all approach.

The state argues it has the right to regulate against a treatment every major medical organization opposes and increases the likelihood of suicide attempts by the children who get it.

Colorado Attorney General Philip Weiser calls the argument conversion therapy is protected by the First Amendment dangerous.

It's telling young people that who they are is not okay, leaving lasting harm.

This type of pressure, coercion, has been disavowed, discredited by all medical associations.

United States of America since the founding, we've had systems to protect patients.

I'm Edwin J.

Villera for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.