For the sake of cost and morale, can you identify which of
the above might identify as transgender?
With all the sword rattling and ratcheting up of tensions between Washington and North Korea I was thrown back to the morning of July 26th when Trump started a series of waves in the shitpool* with this set of tweets:
"After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow......Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming......victory and cannot be burdened by the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you"
Thank you? THANK YOU??
First of all you might ask what this now infamous announcement has anything to do with the current situation. Bear with me, I'll get around to it. Secondly, to break this statement down into it's bits of absurdities would require and extensive posting all it's own bu suffice it to say it was met almost immediately with expressions of incredulity, dismay and confusion. Starting at the beginning he never identifies which of 'his' general and military 'experts' were consulted and judging by the response, particularly from the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, they had no idea he was going to make such a statement. Ensuing statements from the head of the Coast Guard who said they 'would not break confidence' with any member now actively serving and spokesman in the Pentagon who actually seemed like they didn't know how to answer, especially regarding how those currently serving would be handled, saying only they would wait for further instructions from the White House and referred future questions back to them. But when asked, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders could only say that "implementation is something the Department of Defense and the White House would have to work together [on] to lawfully determine" but going on she said she imagined "the Department of Defense would take the lead on this." So it went, back and forth, round and round, this one's responsible but will defer to that one who has no answers but will take the lead while waiting for further instruction and Who's on first and What's on second and I-don't-Knows' on third. AAAAAAARGH!!!! Excuse me, I feel better now. And the bit about costs has been analyzed and determined to be, well, hogwash, since it would cost less to retain those currently serving than to let them go.
So, now that I've taken you on that trip down Memory Lane I think I'm ready to answer that burning question, 'what does that have to do with today?' and mind you this is only wild (possibly) speculation and conjecture that began for some reason while I was watching 'Robot Chicken', trying to fall asleep. I'm pretty sure one had nothing to do with the other and no, I hadn't been drinking. Anyway, since it's been two weeks or so and nothing has been released, no questions have been answered, I was wondering if all this might be part of some devious master plan. And, trust me, I don't watch either Alex Jones or Glenn Beck. So. Here goes.
Tensions are running high and Mouths on both sides are set on high, running hot but with no chance of burning out. Words are exchanged, none of which stand a chance of actually de-escalating the situation. The threat has been made to fire missiles at/toward/in the direction of the island of Guam and the American military personnel stationed there and conveniently included a kinda-ish time table narrowing it down to maybe/possibly sometime in the next two weeks or at least maybe before the end of the month. With all this in mind and the Trans Ban still hanging over their heads why not, and you'll pardon the tasteless pun, why not kill two birds (or thousands) with one stone. Transfer all personnel currently stationed there, except for the ones (the piddly few, the sick. Hey! I'm kidding here!!) who might identify as transgender. Replace the ones leaving with the ones who identify as the ones left behind. But what about the civilians, you ask? you forget you're dealing with Republicans here. 'It's sad but there's always collateral damage.' Cue tears, calls to prayer and flags, flags, flags, a suitable period of indignation before moving on. Should the unthinkable (or hoped for, depending on where you stand) actually happen you have not only solved your trans-in-the-military problem but you've played to the Ever-Holier-Than-Thou base who can celebrate that the sodomites and men-in-women's-clothing have been killed for their sins by the Hand of God, and the resulting battles that have the potential of ravaging the earth and ending mankind as we know it are simply the beginnings of the End Times and should be celebrated, hallelujah. Especially if you've stocked up on you buckets of Apocalypse Potato Slop ($249.99 plus shipping and handling for a 90-day supply. cash only, no refunds, no returns) and your End of Days Urine Purification Tablets ($49.99 for a jar of 100 tablets or 500 for $299.95 with free shipping, same purchase conditions).
Can I get an AMEN?
Returning to reality from the cartoon-induced realm, let's review:
There was once a man campaigning for High Office who said in a speech (Miami, 6/13/16) that he should be considered a "friend of the LGBT [no Q] community" based on "his actions" or as he tweeted the very next day, "Thank you to the LGBT [still no Q] community! I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people [the threat of the violent immigrant, a favorite tool] that [should be 'who'] will threaten your freedoms and beliefs". There we have it, the pledge to be our protector. With that many of 'us'** believed, campaigned and voted for him, installing the person 'we'** felt was better equipped to be our guardian. But once elected and less that 250 days in (on 6/23/17) he made the aforementioned announcement and as Ms Huckabee Sanders attempted to clarify when she was questioned later in conjunction with the status of those currently serving the decision was made after it was determined that allowing these particular individual to serve would "erodes (sic) military readiness and unit cohesion" and...well, the classic game of pass the buck I've already discussed ensued.
So, in less than 9 months this man has transformed from "friend", someone elected to represent and protect every American citizen and their rights, to someone who has come to the conclusion, and here I'll paraphrase, "Some of you who are willing to serve and potentially die for your country are no longer welcome because you cost too much and you make a few others feel all icky with your he-to-she or she-to-he whatevers. In other words, you're just ungodly freaks. And that's the most important part. I have a whole group that supported me, gives me their money, claims I've been sent by God and, most importantly, continues to buy my hats, and I just can't afford to piss them off. Therefore, you're fired...or technically not hired because we just haven't figured out exactly how this is all going to work. In fact we don't even know who's going to decide what to decide. Thank you."
There we have it. It was a political stunt designed to placate a sanctimonious Bible-thumping few and if he is willing to go back on his that he would "fight" for us should be a sign that we are not the last ones he will feel the need to betray. It should make all of us wonder, seriously, if we can trust anything he says as he continues to make promises he may have intention of keeping. He promised he'd Repeal and Replace 'disastrous Obamacare on Day One and we see how that's turned out (but of course he's not to blame, it's all on McConnell's shoulders). He promised we'd have a wall, paid for by Mexico but they've time and again said 'No way'. He said he had a 30-day plan to defeat ISIS but we've seen no such plan. He said he's put a ban (but it's not really a ban) on immigration from Muslim countries (but just those with which he has no financial ties) only to be thwarted on many levels by courts saying such an action is unconstitutional. He even said that if he was elected he'd show us his tax returns and all we got was an abbreviated version showing us he paid SOME taxes for a certain period of time but nothing that would indicate where his investment lay, who and how much he owed and to whom or how much a philanthropic contributor he really is. He promised to create a blind trust of his business enterprises but it's been proven it's far from 'blind'. No significant legislative gains to date have been made; we've only had a collection of executive orders signed that appear to have a singular purpose: undo anything the Obama administration accomplished. This renewal of the military transgender ban is just the most recent.
So the next time you see him on television or twitter claiming he's such a great president, the greatest and most presidential (not to mention the most picked on and persecuted by the The Fake News Beast and it's minions) in all of history, ask yourself, 'Can I believe him? Do I belong to the group he's willing to turn his back on? Will he be coming for me next?' Keeping in mind what we've recently witnessed, remember this, just change a few words.
*shitpool: that which is left on the ground after a shitstorm
**indicates I/me not included
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