Tag Archives: mike pence

Transgender Controversy Gnaws at Military Morale, Readiness

While the issue of transgenders in the US military has been at a low simmer for more than a year, it continues to be a source of consternation and angst within the military itself, just as any unresolved policy matter would be. While it seems transgenders would ultimately contribute little in the form of military readiness (some public reports indicate actual transgenders in the military number in the high-two digits), the manner in which to address this demographic continues to substantially draw on senior leader time and every troops’ moral conscience.

In an apparent effort to establish their argument as one beyond Donald Trump, the LGBT community Read more

In Clever Move, President Trump Rescinds Military Transgender Ban

Though it isn’t being reported this way, last Friday President Trump actually rescinded the ban he previously implemented on transgenders in the military last August.  The new memorandum (PDF) explicitly withdrew his prior policy:

I hereby revoke my memorandum of August 25, 2017, “Military Service by Transgender Individuals,” and any other directive I may have made with respect to military service by transgender individuals.

The new memo did not institute a new presidential directive.  Rather, the President deferred to the Department of Defense — that is, the “independent judgment” of the DoD — with regard to its policies.  He said [emphasis added]:

These [DoD-produced] documents set forth the policies on this issue that the Secretary of Defense, in the exercise of his independent judgment, has concluded should be adopted by the Department of Defense.

It’s a clever move.  Lawsuits and Read more

The Fall of Modern Morality: Virtue Becomes Vice

Vice President Mike Pence made waves a few months ago when word got around that, as a rule, he would not spend time alone with a woman who was not his wife. It was almost immediately coined “The Mike Pence Rule,” though it was actually “the Billy Graham rule” for the preceding few decades, and it has been a fairly common “rule” in the Christian community just as long.

As was pointed out several months ago, many in media and society strained to portray the “Pence rule” as a bad thing. Katelyn Beatynov wrote an OpEd at the NYTimes on “A Christian Case Against the Pence Rule,” essentially saying the rule was an admission that men were uncontrollable “beasts”:

The Pence rule arises from a broken view of the sexes: Men are lustful beasts that must be contained, while women are objects of desire that must be hidden away. Offering the Pence rule as a solution to male predation is like saying, “I can’t meet with you one on one, otherwise I might eventually assault you.”

Awkwardly, Beatynov is unable to square her takedown with her own comments in that same article saying “there’s wisdom” in the rule. David French did a more than adequate rebuttal of Beatynov’s Read more

Gov Sam Brownback Confirmed as US Religious Freedom Ambassador

The newest American Religious Freedom Ambassador is Kansas Governor Sam Brownback:

The chamber voted 50–49—calling on Vice President Mike Pence to break a tie vote for the second time that day—to install Brownback in the vacant State Department position, which monitors persecution and discrimination on a global scale through the Office of International Religious Freedom (IRF).

The at-large ambassadorship was created in 1998, though Read more

US Army Officer Defends Prayer after Texas Church Shooting

Vice President Mike Pence was one of many recently defending the virtue of prayer in the face of unusually acerbic criticism following the church massacre in Sutherland Springs, Texas:

“I’m a believer. I believe in prayer and I know that at this moment of such heartbreak and loss in that community that what most Americans are most able to do is pray for those families,” he said.

He said that praying for the victims and their families is “making a difference in their lives.”

In that same vein, US Army Lt Jeremy Hunt wrote a column at FoxNews yesterday that took to task those critics who have mocked or attacked such prayers. In an Read more

President Trump Praises James Dobson, Recipient of Award

Dr. James Dobson, who founded Focus on the Family and now heads FamilyTalk, was recently awarded the Winston Churchill Lifetime Achievement Award at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Patriot’s Gala. The event was attended by Vice President Pence:

Pence referred to Dobson as “his mentor.”

“You’ve done more for faith and freedom in your lifetime … than any one person could do in ten lifetimes,” he told the conservative leader.

“Not only is your country grateful, but I say with confidence, great is your reward. You’ve made an eternal difference in the lives of millions.”

Dr. Dobson also received praise from President Trump, who congratulated Read more

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