A federal court in Pennsylvania has handed transgender students a victory after four anonymous families filed a lawsuit trying to have them removed from the school’s bathrooms and locker rooms. It’s the latest loss for the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), an anti-LGBTQ hate group that has fought against trans students’ rights in courts across the country. (ThinkProgress)
Transgender ban frozen as Mattis moves forward with new review of options
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced Tuesday that he is freezing the implementation of President Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military, saying that he will first establish a panel of experts to provide advice and recommendations on how to carry out Trump’s directive.
The Pentagon confirmed the move in a statement attributed to Mattis, saying that he will first develop a study and implementation plan “as directed” by the president in a memorandum released Friday. Soon-to-be arriving political appointees at the Defense Department “will play an important role in this effort,” Mattis added. The plan will address both the potential for transgender people looking to serve in the military for the first time, and transgender troops who already are serving.
“Our focus must always be on what is best for the military’s combat effectiveness leading to victory on the battlefield,” Mattis said. “To that end, I will establish a panel of experts serving within the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to provide advice and recommendations on the implementation of the president’s direction.”
Mattis added that panel members “will bring mature experience, most notably in combat and deployed operations, and seasoned judgment to this task.” The panel will “assemble and thoroughly analyze all pertinent data, quantifiable and non-quantifiable.”
also from above wapo link:
The Pentagon chief said that after the panel makes its recommendations and he consults with the secretary of homeland security, he will provide his advice to Trump. In the meantime, policy regarding transgender service members will remain in place, Mattis said, meaning that those serving can continue to do so.
horsey in latimes: Republicans are asking a horrific question: Is our president insane?
PatD – cruise ships have been used for housing. I think the last time was for the volunteers. Right now there are cruise ships out in the Gulf of Mexico waiting until they can get into port to discharge their customers. It will be a while before they can do that. Shoaling has happened and it is still not possible to bring dredges in to the channels. The Texas ports are still closed to vessel traffic.
good stories like this guy who had also welcomed folks during katrina
Houston businessman turns furniture stores into shelters for Hurricane Harvey victims
a tweet dig at mel maybe? “don”ning and flaunting her flotus cap:
? ?? @stvrsnbrgr 14h14 hours ago
Meanwhile, back in the real world… Houstonians are wearing hats that say
#FLOATUSAmid a raindrops a great big blast of sunshine
Fox News has been removed from Sky Britain, due to lack of viewers.
I always new the Brits were smart but they really upped the US on this one. lol
trevor made
a good point re importance of missile launch over japan should have gotten more coverage
BIGGER FISH TO FRY
‘The Daily Show’s’ Trevor Noah Defends Melania Trump’s Hurricane Harvey Stilettos
A surprising take from the left-leaning comic.
“I do think it’s an important story that deserves continuing coverage because the fate of the world may literally hang in the balance,” said The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah of the North Korean threat.
He added, “But people weren’t talking about the nuclear missile that Kim Jong Un tested because Melania Trump apparently did something much worse. Yeah, you see, she went to Houston wearing high heels.”
he also makes points for covering the recent news on Russia collusion:
#POTUS & #FLOATUS is trending. Green Acres is considering suing for violation of copyright thanks to the Pres and Hurricane Barbie.
and speaking of no korea
from cnn: Next target Guam, North Korea says
North Korea’s launch of a missile over Japan was a prelude to more military operations directed at the American territory of Guam, North Korean state media warned Wednesday.
possible to envision a behind the scenes pact with china, u.s. & japan allowing a “little war” between japan and north korea based on the shot cross the bow just to get lil kim’s attention. something on the order of some really scary low-flying retaliation missiles over Pyongyang from Tokyo with love.
have to be a lot of chinese palms being greased though.
Essentially Mattis is defying Trump in a way that appears subservient. Clever, but shouldn’t be necessary.
Glad to see that a federal judge in PA, an Obama appointee, didn’t buy the ADF argument about the presence of transgender students turning the great majority into a minority.
Sorry, but really?
Anyone question whether judicial appointments are a sufficient reason to keep Repugs out of the WH? I’ll guarantee that no appointee of SF would have made that ruling.
BB, I’m wondering whether those cruise ships in the Gulf aren’t going to have to find another port to allow their passengers to disembark. I cannot imagine that the port of Houston will be open to big ships in any kind of reasonable time frame given the limitations those ships have to have regarding provisions and capacity for waste. Dredging the port will only be one piece of the solution – with the issues related to the flooding and the inevitable infrastructure damage, it might be a while – or they could open the port to morrow I suppose. Just tossing it over in my mind this morning.
no reason Mattis freeze should stall ACLU lawsuit. Pogo?
…..will continue to lurk for a while……as as independent i have not seen anything that i can comment on (where have all the indies? of the trail gone?)……was going to mention that Clinton pardon before Craig mentioned it…both parties are to blame for all things imo…..monkey see………………but pardoning this fking hateful sheriff…is just plain wrong….he is responsible for a lot of deaths…… A cpl of indies that i know….keep blaming Gore for all things gone wrong……..”he should have had the ………to take what he won…potus……i know that i think that some-times ……….
Jack, im very proud of having you and mrs Jack in the Human Apes tribe that talks and walks the walk that unites your neighborhood…….a great example for the whole world to follow……Hurrrra
I am really concerned about Chloe…..she lives near Huston….I cant find her e mail…..anyone…….please post it…….later
Pogo, doesn’t help the ADF case that the plaintiffs remained anonymous. How do you prove standing?
Mattis is the front man. Trump is still an ass
Pretending all the politicians are the same is just an excuse to do nothing..and it’s not even true
Poobah, when it comes to very sensitive matters courts will often allow the parties to remain anonymous, at least in the court papers. (Rowe v. Wade). Allegations in the Complaint that place the unnamed plaintiffs in a class that would be entitled to protection under whatever law they’re suing under should be sufficient to establish standing. Those allegations are taken as true for the purposes of determining standing, at least that’s my understanding.
Solarman… people come and go from this blog as they please. How can you complain about lack of independents here and yet you left. Chloe lives in northern Houston in an area called The Woodlands. Don’t know her email addy.
There’s no good reason that minors should be changing at school. Eliminate that practice, and solve a bunch of problems at once.
Don’t they have to change for gym and other sports?
I understand the rescues are dramatic etc but people better start focusing on now wtf are you going to do
a city of over 6 million people is basically uninhabitable for some time in the foreseeable future and putting it back the way it was is not an option.
Poobah, based on a very cursory review of the EO, the Executive Order is a non-directive directive to return to a policy that is distinguished by the services’ noncompliance with it unless Mattis and DHS Secretary convince SF that letting TGs continue to serve makes sense. I don’t think that Mattis’ hold on the directive should preclude the suit going forward IF it could go forward anyway. His refusal to implement the EO doesn’t alter the effect of the EO on the burdened individuals. Besides SF could fire Mattis tomorrow over his refusal. If I read the Order correctly, the Obama accession change hasn’t taken effect. (Maybe Flatus or BB have more insight into the current status in the services).
I believe the “currently effective accession policy” is the “no transgender” policy, so that part of the Obama policy addressing accession isn’t in force yet as I read the EO.
If I had an hour to research the issue I could probably give a better answer, but work beckons.
KC, yes, of course kids change at school. This all reminds me of kids not wanting to get cooties.
Getting cooties? Sorry, but it’s sick for teens to be disrobing in front of each other, and teachers, and locker rooms are a documented haven for sexual abuse. GTFO here.
Well….made it through Harvey with a dry house…..48 inches at our house over 3 days.
I kayaked around my entire block. 3 ft deep in the street but no homes flooded.
God rewarded you for voting for Trump. Nice one!
Jax
Glad you are ok and thanks for letting us know
Happy to here you’re intact Jactrader, if a bit wet. Thanks for posting.
Appreciate the legal briefing Pogo.
Jax… great to read you and your house are ok. Hope Houston recovers as quickly as it can.
Tried to get around town today but still too much water. The scope of this storm is staggering.
I can’t even find the words…..
Jax
Do you have power? General Honore said everyone should have a generator
jax, glad to hear you’re ok. hope our other trail Texans are too.
solar, can’t believe you said “as an independent i have not seen anything that i can comment on” !!!
#1 what ever could keep someone as full of thoughty-ness as you from commenting? many a time you’ve pulled stuff out of a far flung universe for us to think about.
#2 true indies are truly independent and will comment independently with or without a suitable topic/party.
bbronc, you mentioned black mold in the Harvey aftermath. what has to be done considering the wide swath affected? and in the cleaning up, doesn’t it continue to wreak havoc blowing in the wind to the unaffected areas?
craig, according to this retort reported by reuters the “subservient” part in your comment “Essentially Mattis is defying Trump in a way that appears subservient” can be dropped.
“The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Talking is not the answer!”
When asked by reporters just hours later if the United States was out of diplomatic solutions with North Korea amid rising tensions after a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis replied: “No.” “We are never out of diplomatic solutions,” Mattis said before a meeting with his South Korean counterpart at the Pentagon. “We continue to work together, and the minister and I share a responsibility to provide for the protection of our nations, our populations and our interests.”
bink, so where do you stand on skinny dippin’ 🙂
didn’t mean to leave out trail friends in Louisiana.
anyone know whether carol is still in her river house and if that river happens to be in Harvey’s path?
We never lost power, cable or internet. A lot of the newer neighborhoods (last 20 years) in Houston have gone to underground service for everything.
Many of the homes that flooded still had power but you have to trip your breakers when the water gets up to electrical outlets.
I think that this storm is going to break the federal flood insurance program. It was already 20-30 bil in the red. If it fails and goes back to actual risk based pricing then the rate for a home in the non-flood zone area will go from $400/ year to $4000+/yr.
Anything in a flood zone would see astronomical increases. This might be the only thing that deters building in these areas.
jax, a lot like what happened with insurance and building on florida coasts and pretty much everywhere that sea rise is expected. many a folk can’t even get insurance without selling their 1st born.
I have cleaned up and rebuilt after a flood.
You cannot save anything – it’s hard but you can’t save half a piece of dry-wall. Once you are down to the studs be the first in line to get commercial dryers or be prepared to let your house stand empty until the wood structure is sufficiently dried.
“I think that this storm is going to break the federal flood insurance program. It was already 20-30 bil in the red.”
jax, and the hurricane season still has a couple more months to go… and what about the expected any minute cascade and madras fault earthquakes in the west and Midwest, to say nothing of tornados and other run of the mill natural and terrorist disasters…
Glad you’re okay, Mr Trader
PG should b reconsidering his infrastructure spending plan
Big time out of the box ideas are going to be needed.
patd, jax, and there will be another hurricane season next year, and the next, and so on…
Bink, other than peeing in urinals, outside locker rooms kids don’t undress in front of staff or other students, at least in the schools around here. The fears expressed by the cisgender kids is that they may be in the bathroom or locker room with transgender kids. The suit seeks to impose upon transgender kids the burden of using an alternative bathroom – a burden the cisgender plaintiffs won’t endure although they have been offered that alternative. IMHO the lawsuit was silly and the plaintiff “Jack Jones” reaction to knowing a trans student was in the locker room strikes me as overblown and likely false. This finding probably killed their case:
I give the judge kudos.
Diminished Donnie our sad tiny president
jax – So glad you are OK.
Some financial institutions are stepping up, not only with donations to Untited Way & Red Cross, but waiving ATM & cash advance fees…and late fees on mortgages on houses that are now uninhabitable.
There was a dark novel about petrochemical plants after the BP disaster (can’t recall the name),but listening to gas/oil talking about “releases” into the water because of Harvey…they try to make it sound harmless. “Releases.”
I really wish that fat, little toad in NorK would just have a heart attack & kick off already.
Pogo – I expect the cruise ships to make port occasionally to discharge those passengers with obligations on shore. But, there might be a lot of retirees onboard willing to ride out the calamity.
Wow, gas shortages in N TX & Quick Trip will start rationing gas.
Harvey leaves & the looters show up. Just when you start to all of the good-hearted folks saving their neighbors, the scumbags show up & spoil it.
Interesting. If the water from Harvey were spread out over TX, it would cover the entire state with 3 inches of water.
This one is courtesy of Fugelsang on Twitter. 97 years ago the 19th Amendment was ratified. These were some of the reasons against it. I particularly like that in states with more women than men, the government would come under petticoat rule.
Why is this bad?
Pogo,
I don’t know what the legalese related to the case above has to do with my recommendation that locker rooms be eliminated from public schools, but thanks!
Pretty cool that my President uses his office to market tchotchkes, such as embroidered ball-caps, for his own profit. USA- human history’s tackiest empire.
So the Transgender thing is going to committee, which is another way of saying it’s going to bureaucratic hell. We may see the committee report by 2019. Atta boy, Mattis.
And kudos to Jennifer Detlefesn, Interior Secretary’s daughter and Navy veteran, who pretty much nailed it when she described Trump as a “know nothing, never-served piece of sh*t.” Yup. That about says it all.
And one more thing. Was surfing the net to get news on Houston and came across a story on the CNN website about Kim Kardashian. AYFKM? Why is she in the news.
Sorry to vent. Back to my martini.
A good martini-fueled vent is always a welcome addition
Luis, if not for venting we wouldn’t be here.
Bink, two separate issues. I guess if you want to get rid of physical activity at school, getting rid of locker rooms makes sense. Course that means you have to get rid of sports, etc. I’m not a fan of that position.
Nice vent, Mr Prats
Physical education is gradually disappearing with budget cuts. More fat kids, good thing I guess they won’t have to see each other naked in locker rooms.
Sports are helping to destroy our society. Good riddance. Kick a ball at home, if you need to, jeez.
@KamalaHarris: I intend to co-sponsor the Medicare for All bill because it’s just the right thing to do.
Lurking from the desert. Solar, good to see you. I think I’m mostly a lurker, too, as it is difficult to try and comment on each commentary, especially as we have a daily news clipping service on just about every conceivable political topic. By the time I read the commentary above the “fold,” i.e., the first entries, I feel as though I don’t have anything to say. Sometimes, the randomness of the commentaries makes it difficult to stay on topic. In the early days of TM, when it first started under another name, posts were the main topic and commenters were encouraged to make their thoughts on the main topic, almost seminar like. I don’t know when we got away from that model but it seems like we have evolved into a different kind of opinion blog. That’s not to say, I don’t enjoy stopping by to see what else is on other people’s minds, I do. Thus, Solar, I think of myself as a lurker, too. I have a feeling a lot of the old gang checks in as well but don’t comment. Me alegro de verte otra vez!
eProf, must say I don’t share your view of our past. From day one, unlike other forums, I’ve never insisted on topic fealty, have always left it up to participants to make that choice. As I’ve said many times over, I view what we do as a self-directed organism like those we see in microscopes folding around the news, taking it’s own shape as it evolves through the day. Only by participating (commenting) can anyone help direct this natural chaos into apparent order.
Renee, Patd, El Professor…..ive thought it through….and you are both correct…..i will not let a moment of………..whatever the hell that was stop me from enjoying this blog a little when im around ………i get what your are saying E Proff….it has evolved a little….but im seeing it another way….and it is hard to comment …..but that has always been true for me believe it or not…..Yet Patd and Renee are correct also….ive always been able to take a subject and extrapolate something out of it……..going to do that on some of those a little bit later on……..and its all about a favorite subjectsaround here…..Education, and health…..when i talk about these two things around here….they get ignored or people are just so used to their own daily habit and thoughts…that they dont stretch themselves…….later going out to meet the sun at the planetarium by the lake Mich……..