4865

This is a P&R thread!?

4866

I blame Bannon for this thread going to shit. Why don’t you all create a different thread for your gold farming arguments.

4867

I think they are finished.

4868

I’m not sure where Mensch’s insanity belongs, but the downfall of America seems right.

4869

California is poised to sue the Trump administration over the president’s latest attempt to punish jurisdictions tagged by the Justice Department as “sanctuary cities” that harbor undocumented immigrants, according to two sources close to the case.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra — in conjunction with other California city and county attorneys — is considering charging the Justice Department with violating the Constitution by threatening to take crime-fighting funds away from cities and states that do not fully cooperate with federal immigration agents, according to those sources.

“The cities and states affected by these provisions have strong arguments to make in court that these conditions are illegal,” said a former Justice Department official familiar with California officials’ thinking. “If Congress wanted these requirements to be part of the grant funding decision, they would have written it into the law.”

California’s concern stems from an announcement last month by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who warned that jurisdictions that do not assist federal immigration agents seeking to deport undocumented immigrants would no longer get funding from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant.

4870

President Donald Trump may be on a 17- day vacation but his White House has been scrambling to hand him a “win” by the time he returns. Trump’s tweets last week announcing a ban on transgender individuals serving openly in the U.S. military was turned into a “guidance” policy for implementation that passed muster with the White House Counsel’s office Friday night. Approved by Trump, the new policy is expected to be now delivered into the hands of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who has been quiet on the issue with approximately 15,000 trans servicemembers under his command.

After his review, Mattis is expected to order a deliberate implementation by the Pentagon, which could take a period of time.

Though the policy—called “A Guidance Policy for Open Transgender Service Phase Out”—has not yet been made public, sources familiar with the planning said it would encourage early retirement, usher out any enlisted personnel after their contract is up, and would fire trans officers up for promotion. Basically, said a source, “the administration want to get rid of transgender servicemembers as fast as they can.”

4871

15000? That doesn’t sound right.

4872

That’s been the number they’ve been floating around since the start.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-26/here-s-how-many-trans-people-serve-in-the-u-s-military

4873

From your source:

Researchers from RAND used much lower numbers to estimate transgender-related health-care costs, putting the total ranks of active transgender service members between 1,300 and 6,600 and concluding that only about 130 might seek gender-related surgeries.

That’s the number I had heard, as it is the study which pointed out the very small cost of any potential medical procedures for them.

4874

Wikipedia’s Transgender people and military service > United States appears to be pretty well sourced. (15 sources).

It was estimated that in 2008-2009 there were approximately 15,500 transgender individuals either serving on active duty or in the National Guard or Army Reserve forces within the U.S. Military.[38] A 2016 study, however, based on previous research estimated that only between 1,320 and 6,630 transgender individuals served on active duty and between 830 and 4,160 in reserve duty, with midrange figures of 2,450 in active duty and 1,510 in reserves. [39][40]

4875

Sure but I meant this paragraphs:

A 2014 study estimated that 15,500 trans people were currently serving in the U.S. military. The Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA School of Law that researches gender identity, came to that figure using a 2011 survey of 6,546 transgender Americans. Around 20 percent of that survey’s respondents said they had served in the armed forces. There are currently 1.3 million active-duty personnel in the U.S. military and an additional 800,000 in reserves.

I get the impression they’re not all self identified.

4876

Oh shit! Climbs under table cradling mug of ale.

4877
4878

Reminds me of a propaganda video from a game, like Command & Conquer.

4879

More than you might expect.

4880
4881

Clearly taken from the book of Job where Jesus said screw all poor people, who could not possibly be righteous, and rely on the rich to be devote and generous.

4882

It’s somewhat consistent with Calvinism though, is it not?

4883

Not really from what I know of Calvinism, which is heavy on predestination iirc.

Which would lean towards those people are poor because God wants them to be or the like.

Also Jesus is the Word Incarnate, so going against what he said is probably a sure-fire way into hell. Which you were going to anyway because God knew you were when He made you, because predestination.

Edit: There is a hint of the whole, “God made them poor, so fixing that is thwarting God’s will,” in some strains of Calvinism, but that runs into one massive roadblock: God is perfect and all-knowing so if you raise the poor out of poverty, it was His will in the first place.

Then again, a lot of theology is stupid as hell.

4884

Long read on Politico about how pulling out of TPP screws over US agriculture - and US agricultural regions of course heavily supported Trump.

What goes unmentioned in this is Trump’s failure to do anything on this front in the aftermath of pulling out. Remember how he was the best negotiator? How he would get the US the best deals? Hasn’t happened. He hasn’t even tried.

But the rest of the world hasn’t been so lazy:

The 11 other countries that participated in TPP are involved in 27 separate trade negotiations with each other and with other major trading powers in the region like China and massive blocs like the EU. The efforts range from exploratory conversations to deals already signed and awaiting ratification. Seven of the deals have been concluded or launched in the five months since the United States withdrew from TPP.