Mattis orders Pentagon to allow transgender troops to continue serving, pending study

[Deletedaccount1]

I don't understand why this is even an issue. 90% of the military are fucking office workers or do work typical of blue collar workers if they are newly enlisted. I have no love for the Left's protected classes but going after them unnecessarily accomplishes nothing.

The competency of every lowly person in the armed forces doesn't make or break the military. Israel forces every single person in the country who isn't paraplegic or retarded to serve in the military and they still have one of the most efficient militaries in the world.

[Venant]

We need our military to be more like Justin Trudeau's military.


I think that policy by Trump was terrible, I actually think that the military would be far more effective if it was almost 100% LGBT. The Sacred Band of Thebes was one of the most famous military groups in the ancient world, it was made up exclusively of gay lovers who were all intensely loyal to each other. Why could we not re-create something like this in the modern day?

I also think they need to do away with the whole group mentality in the military, we need to allow people to individually express themselves. Imagine a military full of artists and dreamers, we could take the title of the worlds number 1 humanitarian superpower.

[satimy]

Everyone should be conscripted to begin with. Im not sure how disallowing transgenders is any different than disallowing schizophrenics at least in principle. I think this was clearly done for political reasons, which is awful. Glad that Mattis and Kelly basically have control of the nukes though.

[Deletedaccount1]

I also think they need to do away with the whole group mentality in the military, we need to allow people to individually express themselves. Imagine a military full of artists and dreamers, we could take the title of the worlds number 1 humanitarian superpower.

[Deianeira]

In what way? He's carrying out the order - he's issuing guidance to ban all further transgender recruits per Trump's orders. Trump gave him the leeway on how to handle active duty transgender members, if Trump cared enough about the issue he'd have issued a blanket order directing Mattis to remove them from the military as well.

I'm not seeing how Mattis is doing anything but carrying out the directions handed to him by Trump.

While it is correct that Mattis is following orders as 45 gave them, question is do Trump remeber what he ordered?

[Mormolyce]

Well this might be interesting.

I don't understand why this is even an issue. 90% of the military are fucking office workers or do work typical of blue collar workers if they are newly enlisted. I have no love for the Left's protected classes but going after them unnecessarily accomplishes nothing.

It's dog whistling to transphobes. Pretty straightforward.

We need our military to be more like Justin Trudeau's military.

Did they get arrested by Joe Arpaio?

[Deletedaccount1]

It's dog whistling to transphobes. Pretty straightforward.

That's just a misuse of an overused word. It's not a coded message to a targeted subgroup if not much of the general public actually believes the statistically irrelevant number of transgender people in the military don't have a negative effect on unit cohesion.

It's just going after a group plain and simple, call it blatantly transphobic if you like.

[Resurgo]

I'm kinda with Skroe on this one...

Shouldn't matter if they're gay, transgender, black, white, whatever.

If they want to do it, and they can do the job, let them serve.

I'm pretty liberal minded, but you don't lower standards to let them serve. You make them achieve the standards that are set, or else they're gone. I'm confident that someone like Mattis knows this well enough that whatever they happen to be, so long as they can do the job, they serve.

[Mormolyce]

That's just a misuse of an overused word. It's not a coded message to a targeted subgroup if not much of the general public actually believes the statistically irrelevant number of transgender people in the military don't have a negative effect on unit cohesion.

It's just going after a group plain and simple, call it blatantly transphobic if you like.

I will because that's precisely what it is.

[Orbitus]

the thing that was most interesting about the announcement that trans people would not be allowed to serve was how obviously it was written by someone other than trump. It had two or three complex sentences, which lord knows he's never used before in his life.

as awful as trump is, I doubt he actually cares about this either way.

That is because it was most likely Bannon's idea. https://www.axios.com/bannon-pushed-...465917198.html

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Clearly he does. Or he wouldn't have given the order. Twice.

Now, maybe you can say it's about rallying his deplorable base, or shaking things up for the pure benefit of shaking things up. Those count as caring.

As I said, it was most likely Bannon's idea.

From the looks of it, it came right off of Bannon's Whiteboard.

[DarkTZeratul]

That is because it was most likely Bannon's idea. https://www.axios.com/bannon-pushed-...465917198.html

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As I said, it was most likely Bannon's idea.

From the looks of it, it came right off of Bannon's Whiteboard.

Funny, I would've pinned that one on Pence.

[Stacyrect]

Can't have 45% of your military force getting their genitals snipped then killing themselves.

[Paranoid Android]

Trump is a bigot.

I still believe the Orange Turd did this only to erase an Obama policy. So actually it's a double whammy of bigotry.

[Thepersona]

Now if they can actually work and exercise on those heels, massive respect on these gentlemen. Heels are torture devices.

Hmm, heels as a training device would be pretty neat, like a marching training in very bad terrain

[Allybeboba]

Don't see the issue with this policy. The overwhelming majority of soldiers won't care either. They just want someone that will be ther to watch their six when the time comes.

[Noxx79]

Can't have 45% of your military force getting their genitals snipped then killing themselves.

We also can't have the military getting overrun with 16 year old girls from the black lizard planet. Good thing neither is going to happen. Ever. In any capacity.

[Dug]

I get why Trump wants this done (for his rabid base who hate everything "left") but in regular society transgender people are already such a ridiculously % and even less so in the military I imagine. All this trouble over something that isn't even a problem.

[Breccia]

All this trouble over something that isn't even a problem.

And yet, here we are.

Transgenders in the military are about as common as coal jobs in the USA. And, based on how Pittsburgh voters feel, it's not a good idea to politically hang your hat on such a small portion.

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Looks like he's not done, either.

Mattis responds to Trump: US 'never out of diplomatic solutions' on North Korea

Direct response to Trump's tweet.

Defense Secretary James Mattis on Wednesday sought to downplay President Trump’s earlier assertion that seemed to rule out a diplomatic solution to North Korea's ongoing missile tests.

"The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!" Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.

Mattis broke from that view, telling reporters asking about the tweet at the Pentagon, “We’re never out of diplomatic solutions.”

“We continue to work together, and the minister and I share responsibility to provide for the protection of our nation our populations and our interests, which is what we are here to discuss today,” Mattis said alongside South Korea Defense Minister Song Young-moo.

“And look for all the areas we can collaborate — there is already very strong collaboration, we always look for more, we are never complacent.”

The defense chiefs also declined to discuss the additional U.S. military support South Korea might need to increase pressure on North Korea.

Mattis's comments on how to respond to North Korea echo those of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who said Sunday that the U.S. would continue its “peaceful pressure” campaign on Pyongyang.

“We continue to want the Kim [Jong Un] regime to understand there is a different path he can choose," Tillerson told Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday."

"There is a unified international voice echoing our message that no one wants to see a nuclearized Korean peninsula, so we’re all unified in our message to see a denuclearized Korean peninsula. We hope for the opportunity to engage with them as to how we might achieve that."

Damn. Mattis is having none of this shit today.

[Breccia]

Trump is forcing him to be the President, something he clearly didn't ask for but cannot in good conscience not do.

There's lots he could do. You're probably right about his conscience.

Part of me wants to see a variant of a coup, in which Mattis, McMaster and Kelly -- the biggest block Trump has left -- to unite and say "We've had enough. This man is a danger to himself and others, and we're not following a single order of his." I'm pretty sure that would be a poor idea, especially since it would further embolden our enemies abroad, but it'd destroy the Trump admin and almost certainly end with him quitting in disgrace.

[Shadowferal]

Mattis responds to Trump: US 'never out of diplomatic solutions' on North Korea

Direct response to Trump's tweet
Damn. Mattis is having none of this shit today.

I suspect either this Friday or the next Mattis is done.