By David Futrelle
Hey everyone, I’m still lost in headache-land (see my last post for details) but this is REALLY REALLY important for all WHTM readers in the US.
Senate Republicans have scheduled a vote after lunch TODAY on a “motion to proceed” that will pave the way for a final vote on their bill that will take away healthcare from tens of millions of Americans (including me, and probably a lot of you).
Tell them NO.
You can get the numbers of your Senators (and more info) at 5Calls.org Moveon.org, or on the Senate website or by calling the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
Here’s what MoveOn suggests you tell them (roughly):
Tell Republicans: “Please oppose any bill that takes away health care from tens of millions of Americans.”
If you’re one of those Americans, definitely tell them that.
Tell Democrats: “Thank you for doing everything you can to fight Trumpcare. Please use every tactic at your disposal to slow and stop this bill, including the filibuster-by-amendment (which means: slowing down the bill with a high number of amendments when the bill does come to a vote). Please DO NOT vote for ANY amendments that will make it easier for Republicans pass Trumpcare.”
If any of the Republicans listed below are your Senators it’s ESPECIALLY important to call; Collins is a “no” vote; the others are (as I write this post) on the fence.
https://twitter.com/rsegbers/status/889595637469245440
Last I heard, the American military employs about 15K people who identify as trans. That’s probably not just folks in uniform, but any civilian employees.
That’s a whole lot of talent to be throwing away.
According to well known lefties the RAND Corporation, the Pentagon would need to spend between $3 million and $4 million each year on costs directly related to transitioning out of a total medical budget of $6 billion.
https://www.rand.org/news/press/2016/06/30.html
‘Decisive and overwhelming victory?’
But I thought we were always at war with Eastasia… and always would be…
But seriously, he is an awful waste of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, etc.
Always nice when someone who has never put themselves at any personal, physical risk whatsoever decides gets all authoritarian with the military – after all, just ‘cos you’ve put your life on the line for the country, doesn’t mean it should help or acknowledge you in any way.
Above sentences written with the caveat that while I can’t stand militaries generally, I have no problem with individual service people and have no right or wish to judge their motivations for joining any particular service.
I do find that declaration to be a slap in the face of the army in general, and of the brave transgender who actually go in the army in particular. Not that I would wish to my worse ennemy to be transgender and in the army.
Sometime, I wonder if Trump actively try to look as cartoonishly evil as possible. The difference between him and the republican senators is that I can see how the green eyed monster can lead to thoses wretched senators, but I can’t find even a selfish reason for the acts of Trump.
….just saw the news and no time to go through all the comments but, once again, Mammothteer regulars seem on target.
But my brief 2-cents worth:
Yes, waste of talent. Argument of “too costly” is flawed because evaluting the value of many strategic assets (and yes people are a strategic asset) often belies quantitive cost-benefit analysis.
(I work at a very prominent military educational institution, as well as still being a reservist, so this is close to home)
The comments on this story in my local news station’s Facebook page are cringe-ily and breathtakingly ignorant.
But then again, I live in a red red state.
But wow, you think manospherians are ignorant about how the human body works? You haven’t meant rural North Dakotans.
One older woman actually said:
‘Roid rage? She got 5 “likes” btw.
Another says:
You were right, you don’t know anything about being transgender. Are you aware that some choose not to transition? You realize that birth control pills are hormones, yes?
Just so much ignorance.
But! I have to admit that besides myself, there were almost an equal number of people calling out how ridiculously and dangerously ignorant a lot of these comments are.
So, there’s that. Small comfort but I’ll take what I can get.
And Drumpf can just go…step on legos. All of the legos. Like, live in a world where he cannot have shoes and the entire surface of his home is covered in Legos.
You know how, when you’re falling asleep at night, you usually try to think of something pleasant to help you relax and feel at peace enough to fall asleep? I used to enjoy thinking about fun relaxing things like being on a beach, or having magical powers or something. Nowadays, I fantasize about Drumpf walking barefoot on Legos.
*sigh* Okay, Trump’s just channeling Redmond Boyle from Tiberium Wars at this point with his “I listen to the Generals, onward to victory!” bullshit. The next step is going to be green-lighting Liquid Tiberium bombs from a Reykjavik bunker, mark my words.
It’s bad enough that he’s discriminating against trans individuals, but his excuse about “costs” is just so laughable in light of the bloated US defense budget. “No no, that sex reassignment surgery is a step too far, but the $165 billion overbudgeted F-35 that Lockheed promised seven years ago, yeah, that we’ll keep funding that piece of shit.” Get real.
Seriously, for people who claim to care so goddamn much about “da trooooops”, these people really have no care at all for their mental or social well-being, do they? Apparently, they just cease to be human beings when they put on a uniform, with their own personalities, needs, desires, hopes and just become tools and props for craven politicians. This is why I find the “Cult of the Soldier” so insidious, because it allows crap like this to happen and those enured to it will just lap it up.
I hope the people who are under the delusion that this guy is pro-LGBT keep in mind that if legal protections for the LGB-folk weren’t so firmly entrenched, he’d be pulling this bullshit with them too.
ETA: As an aside, it feels really weird to say “them” when I’m lesbian as well as trans..
From @dreemr’s post:
“I know nothing about the digestive system except there are foods that have to be taken for the rest of your life. That alone should disqualify them from serving.”
Part of the reason the meal programs during the New Deal were so vital was because more and more potential American servicemen were showing up to recruiting stations with diseases like Rickets. Turns out you actually have to feed soldiers. Like every day. And that costs monies and stuff!
Insulin is a hormone, too, and there are more compelling reasons to keep diabetics out of the military than for trans folks not to serve. (Speaking as a diabetic, it can be difficult for me to get through a normal desk job day sometimes. I’d be in serious trouble if I had to be as physically active as a serving member.)
Robert Walker – Kentucky was one of the states that implemented Medicaid expansion and a state insurance exchange (done by the governor, not McConnell) and has been one of the ACA success stories.
Kentuckians are cottoning on that their kynect healthcare is Obamacare, so McC’s re-election bid (amidst his declining popularity) is, I think, a less plausible excuse for his actions than it once was.
http://i.imgur.com/vndwijM.gif
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/263/109/692.gif
>sigh<
@Ohlmann,
Trump, and those senators, have spent a lifetime abstracting away the humanity of people outside of their very exclusive little circles. I think that’s all that’s really required for evil. A combination of considering other people as no more than their most convenient label, and a belief that one has the right to dictate what happens to them.
This is from the MOD (Army) website, because I was curious:
Transgender
The Army welcomes transgender personnel and ensures that all who apply to join are considered for service subject to meeting the same mental and physical entry standard as any other candidate.
If you have completed transition you will be treated as an individual of your acquired gender. Transgender soldiers serve throughout the Army playing their part in the country’s security. There is a formal network that operates in the Army to ensure that transgender soldiers can find advice and support with issues that affect their daily lives.
Trump has put me in the uniquely uncomfortable position of being slightly proud of my own nation’s armed forces as a whole, something I have not been – for good reason – since 2001.
No, obviously it wasn’t always like this.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/26/16033758/sanctuary-cities-trump-sessions-constitutional
Honestly a lot of this goes right over my head, but because there’s never any end to the awful shit Trump is trying to do…
I think, as a taxpaying citizen of the U.S., I have a right to know who these “Generals and military experts” are who (supposedly) advised Drumpf to throw trans people out of the military.
Because so far the Pentagon is denying this, and his SoD is on vacation.
How much do you want to bet it’s Jared Kushner & the Mooch?
Disgusting.
Recent debate tactic in the Senate: If Kentucky had to do this medicaid expansion on its own, then the State Congress would have to … wait for it… double the state income tax to pay for it. Therefore doing it at the National level is bad (??).
Fail to understand economics for $400, Mr. Trebek.
Only one good thing about Trump’s “no more trans” tweets… Until he signs an executive order about it, nothing happens. Of course he’s likely to sign one soon, but at least Trump’s tweets don’t automatically hold the “force of law” yet. As good news goes, it’s not much.
Please keep going after Senators to vote against “repeal with no replacement”, that’s next. Get in touch with Governor, encourage them to tell senators “no repeal”. They may ignore the request, but at least they’ll have gotten another message that people don’t like the idea.
This seems relevant again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aotlEpmAFVQ
@Hambeast
Don’t forget to mention that the dismantling of kynect and the Medicaid expansion were high priorities for Bevin. Kynect is already gone and Kentucky has transitioned to a federal exchange. The Medicaid expansion is living on borrowed time.
The people who voted for Bevin and other Leopards Eating People’s Faces party members never thought that the leopards would eat their faces, but here we are. They thought that only those scary black people in Louisville and Lexington would suffer, not the poor white people in Eastern Kentucky who rely on Medicaid and Obamacare.
@ dreemr
Well it certainly wasn’t Jim Mattis.
http://taskandpurpose.com/mattis-tried-to-kill-plan-to-bar-transgender-surgery-for-troops/
Aside, can I just say that “Kushner and the Mooch” would be a great name for a series? One’s a bumbling political hack that keeps getting caught in clownishly corrupt foibles, the other’s a greasy loudmouth of a communications director spewing the most outrageous and transparent lies to cover for him, getting them both entangled in zany hijinx. Every episode would have them narrowly escaping conviction because of wealth and corrupt friends. The season end cliffhanger would have Kushner actually thrown in jail, with the start of the next season being about their ridiculous attempts to break him out.
… so I guess we live in a terrible sitcom now. That’s great.
“And together, THEY FIGHT CRI…Oh, wait.”
Sanders and Democrats are now trying to keep the debate open as long as possible, they’ve successfully delayed the vote originally scheduled for 11:30 am until 3:30 pm. Hopefully this leads to more Republicans voting against it, or tabling the bill with no vote at all.
Oh, FFS and other swear words.
Right now we spend more money on erectile dysfunction treatment than we do on trans military folks:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/26/the-military-spends-five-times-as-much-on-viagra-as-it-would-on-transgender-troops-medical-care/?utm_term=.4cc7d7ae5005
This is tempting me towards my old rant about how boner pills are somehow more valuable than birth control pills.
ETA: Short version of rant: Men’s erections shall not be denied! But women’s healthcare is a luxury! Anyone who believes that is invited to jump off a cliff.
@Scildfreja – that made me laugh. “Kushner & the Mooch!”
Yeah, Secretary of Defense Mattis is on vacation. Or, “vacation”.