Tag Archives: Obama

Senate Reaffirms Gen Dunford — Who Qualifies Transgender Support

Last week, US Marine Gen Joseph Dunford was confirmed for his second term as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

By voice vote on Wednesday, the Senate backed the highly respected, combat-hardened commander who’s received high marks from Republicans and Democrats.

Notably, in testimony for his re-confirmation, Gen Dunford appeared to come out against his Commander-in-Chief’s plan for banning transgenders from serving in the US military: Read more

SecDef Mattis: Stop Pretending I’m Resisting Trump

Secretary of Defense and former US Marine Corps General James Mattis has been characterized recently as taking efforts to resist or otherwise slow-roll President Trump and his agenda. In one case, he was caught on camera telling US troops they were a model of unity for the country:

“You’re a great example for our country right now that’s got some problems – you know it and I know it…It’s got problems that we don’t have in the military, and you just hold the line my fine young soldiers, sailors, airmen [and] Marines. Just hold the line until our country gets back to understanding and respecting each other and showing it.”

The media portrayed that as a rebuke of President Trump. More recently, multiple media outlets and organizations have said Secretary Mattis “froze” President Trump’s planned ban on transgenders, an apparent rebuke of his boss. But that isn’t what happened at all.

President Trump ordered Read more

President Gives US Military Transgender Directive

Last Friday President Trump issued a formal directive for the Department of Defense to reverse the decision by former President Obama to allow transgenders to serve in the US military. Noting that transgenders had been banned from serving up until just last summer, the reasoning was fairly benign:

The previous Administration failed to identify a sufficient basis to conclude that terminating the Departments’ longstanding policy and practice would not hinder military effectiveness and lethality, disrupt unit cohesion, or tax military resources, and there remain meaningful concerns that further study is needed to ensure that continued implementation of last year’s policy change would not have those negative effects.

The outcry from sexual activists was swift, with Ashley Broadway-Mack — the activist “devout Christian” homosexual milspouse — calling on “Congress or the courts” or just about anybody to “take action to reverse Trump’s policy.”

Of course, it isn’t “Trump’s policy”, as the President’s memorandum notes, and gender-based activists are flailing for a course of action because they likely realize there isn’t really anything they can do. President Obama Read more

US Troops Sue President over Transgender Ban

Various reports indicate anonymous US troops have filed a lawsuit against their Commander-in-Chief over President Trump’s yet-to-be-implemented ban on transgenders in the US military:

“The directive to reinstate a ban on open service by transgender people violates both the Equal Protection component of the Fifth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” states the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington by five anonymous “Jane Does.”

That’s awkward wording, to say the directive to reinstate the ban is illegal, rather than saying the ban itself is illegal. But it is informative: Why didn’t these troops sue President Obama last year? It was precisely the same policy — just a different President.  Why is it suddenly now an issue?

The logic in the brief, and those supporting it, is astoundingly asinine: Read more

President Trump Issues Ban on Transgender Military Service

In what has become his trademark fashion, President Donald Trump issued a major policy statement 140 characters at a time yesterday, effectively re-enacting the DoD’s prohibition on transgenders serving in the US military.

The critics immediately pounced.

As accurately noted, the tweet does not explain how this new policy will be implemented — specifically, what it means to transgenders who have been allowed to served openly since President Obama made a similar unilateral decision last year. That said, it seems reasonably obvious that the ban on enlistment will continue.

This is, of course, exactly what the policy was just one year ago under President Obama — as well as Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, etc, etc. President Trump has done nothing more than restore a longstanding policy.

The rebuttals were predictable, and weak:  Read more

Military LGBT Activists See Ray of Hope in Anthony Kurta

President Trump recently nominated retired Rear Admiral Anthony Kurta to become the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. RAdm Kurta’s name is familiar because he’s been filling in as the Under Secretary for some time, as President Trump’s administration has been slow to fill appointee positions.

And in that nomination, LGBT activists see a ray of hope.

The office of Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness is responsible for recruiting, retention, health affairs, “quality of life”, among other colloquialisms for “people”. By virtue of a memorandum issued by then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter under President Obama, the USDPR is the office tasked with creating, managing, and overseeing the policies with regard to transgender issues.  That’s the office currently run by Kurta, and for which he is nominated to be Deputy.

Far from being behind the scenes, Anthony Kurta has been front and center on sexual issues as Read more

Religious, Political, Military Opposition to Transgender Service Quietly Grows

As the Trump Department of Defense reconsiders the decision by the Obama Administration to allow “transgender” individuals to serve in the US military, indications of growing opposition even within the Armed Services are undercutting claims that transgenders in the military would be a “non-event.”

US Rep Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) proposed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2018 that would have prohibited the military from accepting those who describe themselves as transgender. Representative Hunter agreed with her:

“This (policy) doesn’t make (troops) more effective or efficient or deadly. What it does is distract everybody,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who served with the Marine Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I couldn’t imagine having to share showers with somebody that was a girl and didn’t have a surgery to become a man but kept the girl stuff and now she’s with a bunch of guys.”

Hunter’s comments were criticized by his political opponents:  Read more

Group: Choose Military Readiness or Transgender Politics

The Conservative Action Project recently called on President Trump to fulfill his mandate to “restore the strength of our military” by eliminating Obama-era policies that “hinder” the mission [emphasis added]:

Conservative leaders urgently suggest that the Trump Administration review and rescind the Obama-era policies that hinder military readiness and overall effectiveness. Politically correct policies have been imposed largely through administrative fiat. They can be removed in like manner while further study and congressional guidance is obtained. The most problematic policies in this category are those addressing the presence of transgender individuals in the military.

The letter goes on to make a strong case that social engineering isn’t good for the military, an argument supported by Rebecca Hagelin at the Washington Times.  Hagelin made the point the military has been used over the past few years to foist a social agenda on America: Read more

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