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Trump Now Being Sued by Service Members Over His Transgender Military Ban

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Lawsuit Charges Trump Ban Unconstitutional, Violates Due Process and Equal Protection

Five members of the U.S. armed forces are suing President Donald Trump over the ban on transgender service members in the military, which he announced via a series of tweets two weeks ago. In a lawsuit naming Trump, Defense Secretary Mattis, and other heads of the U.S. military, the lawsuit cites the Fifth Amendment and states the ban is unconstitutional.

“The directive to reinstate a ban on open service by transgender people violates both the Equal Protection component of the Fifth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the lawsuit, filed by two LGBT civil rights legal organizations, GLAD and NCLR, reads.

Reports say the White House has already approved “guidance policy” to implement the ban, and the White House, wrongly citing “military readiness and cohesion,” has stated it is dedicated to ensure the ban goes into effect.

In an online statement the organizations accuse President Trump of “needlessly attacking courageous transgender service members who put their lives on the line for our country. Trump’s efforts to reinstate the ban are already harming service members, who have been blindsided and are scrambling to deal with what this means for their families and their futures—including the loss of job security, retirement benefits, healthcare, and other serious harms.”

“The military itself carefully studied this issue and concluded that there is no reason to bar transgender people from military service,” the organizations say. “Since the Department of Defense announced in June 2016 that transgender people can openly serve, thousands of transgender soldiers have come out and are serving openly. Our country is safer and more secure because of their service.”

NEW: Trump Tweeted Transgender Ban Just Hours After FBI Conducted Pre-Dawn Raid on Former Campaign Chief’s Home

The five plaintiffs, who are unnamed, “came out as transgender to their commanding officers in reliance on the Defense Department’s June 2016 announcement that transgender people can now openly serve in the military, and have “collectively have served this nation for decades in various branches of the United States military.”

There are an estimated 15,000 transgender service members actively serving. Contrary to the false claims of the president, at least one Republican member of Congress, and anti-LGBT organizations, the estimated cost of transition-related health care for transgender service members would be, at most, $8.4 million annually. Replacing 15,000 troops would be exponentially more expensive.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is Doe v. Trump. 

There’s still time – join the more than 1000 people who have signed our petition: Tell President Trump You Support Our Transgender Service Members and Oppose His New Ban

RELATED STORIES:

New Poll: Majority of Americans Support Transgender Military Service

Calls From Transgender Youth to LGBTQ Suicide Hotline Double After Attacks by Trump and Texas Lawmakers

Sarah Huckabee Sanders Uses Debunked DADT Claims of ‘Military Readiness and Cohesion’ to Justify Trump Trans Military Ban

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Image by Ted Eytan via Flickr and a CC license

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Trump Launches Bizarre Epstein Files ‘Scam’ Rant When Asked About Russiagate

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After weeks of relentless coverage of the Epstein files crisis, President Donald Trump has seemed eager to change the subject—but when the opportunity arose, he couldn’t resist seizing on the scandal once again.

During a press conference on Wednesday, a reporter asked the President about a Fox News report that the FBI had found “Russiagate” documents in “burn bags.” The President, who at first said he did not know what she was talking about, then told the reporter to “speak up,” before launching into a conspiracy theory rant about the Epstein files.

“I don’t know that. I don’t know what you mean by that statement,” Trump told the reporter.

“Bags full of Russiagate documents,” the reporter repeated.

READ MORE: ‘Five Alarm Fire for Democracy’: Trump’s Texas Map Slammed as ‘Illegal Voter Suppression’

“Oh, burn bags—I thought you said, ‘appointed a man named Burnbag.'”

“Well,” Trump went on after confirming the reporter had said “burn bags,” “I want it to be shown, you know, as long as it’s fair and reasonable, I think it will be shown, and it should be shown. And I think he feels that way, and I think Pam [Bondi] feels that way.”

“But it’s got to be, you know, it’s be stuff that really doesn’t hurt people unfairly, ’cause you have so many people involved, and if they can do that in a fair way, I think it’s great. I think it’s really great.

“It’s—the whole thing is a scam,” Trump continued. “It’s a scam set up by the Democrats, and they love talking about it, but, I would like to see people exposed that might be bad, and we’ll see how that all works out, but it’s getting to be very old news.”

“You know, if they had anything, they would have done it the week before the election, because they were losing by a lot, if they had anything, they would have done it. They controlled the file,” he claimed.

“The Democrats controlled it—Comey and all this, you know, sleazebags, every one of them that you read about all the time, and I guess they’ve got some problems now, having to do with yet a different scandal, very big one. But they controlled that file, so I would think that if they would have had something in the file, they would have released it about a week before the election, maybe two weeks.”

READ MORE: ‘Complicity With Authoritarian’: Booker Goes Ballistic on Democrats—‘Too Much on the Line’

It’s unclear why Trump would both say that the Epstein files are a “scam,” and that he wants it all to be shown.

This is not the first time in recent weeks that Trump has delivered an odd answer to a question.

Earlier this month, as The New Republic reported, “Trump took off on a winding rant about his summer vacation plans … when asked a crucial question about ‘Alligator Alcatraz.'”

TNR reported that the President was “clearly confused.”

The reporter had asked her question—how long will detainees spend in “Alligator Alcatraz”—and repeated it for Trump, but he replied, “I’m gonna spend a lot of—this is my home state. I love it. I love your government. I love all the people around—these are all friends of mine. They know me very well. I mean I’m not surprised that they do so well. They’re great people.”

Three weeks ago in Texas, asked about the early warning system failures and massive loss of life, Trump replied, “Only a bad person would ask a question like that, to be honest with you. I don’t know who you are but only an evil person would ask a question like that.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Our People’: Hawley Says Tariff Rebates for ‘Trump Blue-Collar Voters’—Not ‘Biden Voters’

 

Image via Reuters 

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‘Five Alarm Fire for Democracy’: Trump’s Texas Map Slammed as ‘Illegal Voter Suppression’

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Texas Republicans have just unveiled new Trump-ordered congressional maps that eliminate five Democratic-held seats—deliberately shifting them to the GOP in a bid to lock down control of the U.S. House of Representatives next year. Critics are calling it illegal voter suppression and vowing to retaliate by redrawing maps in blue states.

Texas has 38 congressional seats. Twenty-five are currently held by Republicans. The new maps, if they go into effect, are expected to hand Republicans 30 seats.

Democrats are preparing to fight back, and House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries reportedly is heading to Austin on Wednesday night.

U.S. Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) responded to the newly unveiled maps, declaring that merging two districts is “illegal voter suppression of Black and Latino Central Texans.”

READ MORE: London Mayor Smacks Down Trump After ‘Nasty’ Attack

“By merging our Central Texas districts, Trump wants to commit yet another crime— this time, against Texas voters and against The Voting Rights Act,” Casar charged. “If Trump is allowed to rip the Voting Rights Act to shreds here in Central Texas, his ploy will spread like wildfire across the country. Everyone who cares about our democracy must mobilize against this illegal map.”

U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) issued a threat: “Hope it’s worth it! Say goodbye to [House Republican] Kevin Kiley and 5 other CA Republicans.”

“This is an attempt to steal the US House,” warned former Democratic spokesperson and strategist Jeb Fain. “The GOP knows they’re likely to lose the House next year, so they’re going to try to steal the election,” he added.

Democratic Texas state Senator Roland Gutierrez declared, “Trump is ordering Texas Republicans to rig the maps in a desperate power grab so he doesn’t have to answer for his failed policies. This special session should be about flood relief for Texans. Not partisan b——-.”

Democratic Texas state Rep. Jolanda Jones calls the Republicans’ new map “a racial and political bloodbath.”

“Pitted Democrats of color against each other,” she wrote. “Gave Trump more than he asked for,” and concluded: “This isn’t redistricting. It’s retribution.”

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) slammed Texas Republicans who, she wrote, “just rolled out their proposed Congressional map that cut 5 Democratic seats out of thin air. Let’s be clear: these maps are not about representation, it’s a power grab to silence voters and suppress votes. They know their policies are unpopular, and they are afraid of losing. So what do they try to do? Cheat. If your big idea is ‘cheat harder,’ maybe it’s time to rethink your politics.”

READ MORE: ‘Complicity With Authoritarian’: Booker Goes Ballistic on Democrats—‘Too Much on the Line’

Veteran journalist Lydia Polgreen warned, “SCOTUS has basically said this is a-ok so Democrats are suicidal if they do not fight fire with fire.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Office wrote: “Texas just released a map so rigged it might as well have been drawn at Mar-a-Lago. California won’t be sitting on the sidelines.”

Congressman Casar is calling the move a “five alarm fire for democracy,” and charges that Trump has no plan to win the midterm elections, rather, he has “a plan for rigging the rules.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Our People’: Hawley Says Tariff Rebates for ‘Trump Blue-Collar Voters’—Not ‘Biden Voters’

 

Image via Reuters 

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Redistricting Strikeback: As Trump’s Texas Gambit Progresses Blue States Ready Retaliation

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Immediately after President Donald Trump ordered Texas to create five new GOP-majority congressional districts in a nearly unprecedented mid-decade redistricting effort, Lone Star State Republicans leapt into action, setting off blue state Democrats who vowed to respond in kind. Today, Texas is expected to unveil its new congressional maps, handing the President exactly what he demanded.

Currently, Texas has 25 Republican-held seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and thirteen seats that were won by Democrats.

According to Punchbowl News‘ Wednesday morning report, Governor Abbott’s new map would increase the number of (likely) Republican-held House seats from Texas to 30, and reduce the number of (likely) Democratic-held seats to just eight.

Five GOP seats alone, in theory, could hand Mike Johnson another term as Speaker of the House.

READ MORE: London Mayor Smacks Down Trump After ‘Nasty’ Attack

“It’s huge news in Austin and on Capitol Hill,” Punchbowl News reported. “It may help the GOP keep control of the House in 2026 — or trigger redistricting fights in other state capitals as Democrats retaliate.”

There might be drawbacks for Republicans.

“Democrats have declared that Republicans are at grave risk of spreading their voters too thin and creating districts that could flip blue in a bad year for Republicans. This kind of redraw is known as a ‘dummymander.'”

But the five new likely GOP districts Texas has drawn all show Donald Trump having won those voters by double-digits, making it more difficult for Democrats to flip them.

Texas moving forward with their redistricting plan means that several blue states may also attempt to redraw their congressional maps: California, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Minnesota, and Washington reportedly are all in various stages, from initial conversations to drafting legislation.

Last week, U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) warned, “if they’re gonna go nuclear in Texas, I’m gonna go nuclear in other places.”

Maryland House Democratic Majority Leader David Moon, who is drafting new redistricting legislation, told Politico, “it seems very clear that self defense is something we have to put as a priority.”

“If that’s where we are, and that’s where we’re forced to go, then I think that’s where Democratic states need to be prepared to go,” he added.

READ MORE: ‘Complicity With Authoritarian’: Booker Goes Ballistic on Democrats—‘Too Much on the Line’

House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has indicated he wants to reorganize the congressional maps in at least five states, to help Democrats pick up as many seats as possible.

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi is in support of redrawing California’s maps: “I don’t like redistricting in the middle of a decade, but if that’s the game that Republicans want to play, we have to make sure that they know we’re going to put everything on the table,” she told NewsNation, as The Sacramento Bee reported.

Texas is not the only red state expected to move forward with redrawing its maps.

Punchbowl News last week reported that while “Democrats are desperate to push back against President Donald Trump’s brazen attempt to shift the House map in the GOP’s favor…Republicans are trying to muscle through new maps in Texas, Ohio and Missouri, with more red states potentially on deck.”

Legal challenges aside, “some Democrats believe they could squeeze as many as six new seats out of California between a remapping and a good stiff anti–White House midterm breeze,” New York magazine’s Intelligencer reported.

Democrats have in their favor strong anti-Trump sentiment and the fact that the party in control of the White House usually loses seats during the midterms—a fact Trump is trying to negate by ordering the redistricting. But Democrats also have tied their own hands. In the name of good governance, many blue state have independent redistricting commissions, and they may need to go to court to reach their goals.

READ MORE: ‘Our People’: Hawley Says Tariff Rebates for ‘Trump Blue-Collar Voters’—Not ‘Biden Voters’

 

Image via Reuters

 

 

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