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Breastfeeding In Uniform: Latest Battle In America’s War On Women

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In January, a few women in the military got together and formed a support group designed to spread the word to women in the military and women spouses of military personnel that breastfeeding infants is a good thing. The Mom2Mom Breastfeeding Support Group even got a professional photographer to take pictures of women –some in uniform — breastfeeding. Tasteful, beautiful, life-affirming photographs.

And then on May 22, they took their message to Facebook. In just days, there was outrage, and some called the women a “disgrace to the uniform” and labeled their actions “conduct unbecoming.”

The Today Show” picked up the story and felt the strange need to offer a warning to viewers before airing it: “A few of you may find it too revealing.” Seriously? Is America so prude that the act of feeding a baby causes “controversy”?

The Today Show story includes a Washington State National Guard supervisor stating that it is a violation of regulations for the Mom2Mom Breastfeeding Support Group women to be in uniform and endorse a product or further a cause or ideology. Yes, according to Keith Kosik, State Public Affairs Officer, Washington National Guard, breastfeeding is a “cause” and an “ideology.” Would Kosik say that bottle feeding too is a “cause” and an “ideology”?

Via MSNBC:

“A lot of people are saying it’s a disgrace to the uniform. They’re comparing it to urinating and defecating [while in uniform],” says Crystal Scott, a military spouse who started Mom2Mom in January as a breast-feeding support group for military moms and “anyone related to the base” at Fairchild AFB outside Spokane, Wash. “It’s extremely upsetting. Defecating in public is illegal. Breast-feeding is not.”

It was Scott’s idea to ask photographer Brynja Sigurdardottir to take photos of real-life breast-feeding moms to create posters for National Breastfeeding Awareness Month in August. One of the moms photographed in uniform, Terran Echegoyen-McCabe, breast-feeds her 10-month-old twin girls on her lunch breaks during drill weekends as a member of the Air National Guard.

“I have breast-fed in our lobby, in my car, in the park … and I pump, usually in the locker room,” she says. “I’m proud to be wearing a uniform while breast-feeding. I’m proud of the photo and I hope it encourages other women to know they can breast-feed whether they’re active duty, guard or civilian.”

She said she’s surprised by the reaction to the photos, which also feature her friend Christina Luna, because it never occurred to her that breast-feeding in uniform would cause such a stir.

“There isn’t a policy saying we can or cannot breast-feed in uniform,” Echegoyen-McCabe says. “I think it’s something that every military mom who is breast-feeding has done. … I think we do need to be able to breast-feed in uniform and be protected.”
The Air Force has no policy specifically addressing breast-feeding in uniform, according to Air Force spokesperson Captain Rose Richeson, who added, “Airmen should be mindful of their dress and appearance and present a professional image at all times while in uniform.”

Except, they’re all wrong. Why?

Part One

In “We’re Seriously Debating Whether It’s Okay for Military Moms to Breastfeed While in Uniform?,” Erin Gloria Ryan at Jezebel writes:

Apparently, this was a grievous offense to the respectability and professionalism of the military, and, by extension, to America and freedom and Jesus. These colors don’t run! Or lactate!

A nice cross section of shitty reactions to military breastfeeding can be found on the blog of ex-military mom turned breastfeeding advocate Robyn Roche-Paull, who has spent much of her post-military career trying to convince the sausage fest that is the US military that they should really think about drafting a policy that allows women to breastfeed while in uniform. As it stands, there’s no such policy, and as a result, women like Echegoyen-McCabe and Luna face criticism and reprimand should they choose to breastfeed.

So, what’s the big deal? According to comments on Roche-Paull’s blog that frequently begin with “As a… ” (general rule of thumb — if a sentence starts with the words “As a…” then 75% of the time, the implied third word is “shithead know-it-all”), breastfeeding is akin to peeing in your uniform in front of everybody. One commenter said,

As a former Marine, Active Duty, I am appalled by the notion that any service woman would feel it is appropriate to breast feed a child while in uniform. I believe it is an utter disgrace to all women before us who made many sacrifices for the roles we have today. I believe it is an honor to be a woman, a mother, and a Marine. I believe those who chose to breast feed in uniform are only making a joke of the hard work and dedication of service women in the past. You wanted to participate in a career that is slightly more demanding than that of say a receptionist, housewife, lawyer, doctor, writer, etc. so you should adhere to a more professional standard and take your job more seriously.

Because the natural process of feeding your damn kid that you made with your body isn’t serious.

Another commenter added,

I feel very strongly that respect for both the uniform and for women would be compromised should women breast-feed in uniform in public. Women have fought the battle for equal rights and must be cognizant of the fact that they are still in the stage of proving themselves as equals in society and should always remain professional while in uniform. Professional women do not breast-feed in public, and female soldiers, who are professionals, should not either.

And now they drag feminism into this. Advocating for equal opportunity for men and women isn’t the same thing as demanding biological sameness — being granted the right to serve in the military alongside men doesn’t erase the fact that women are still the ones who bear children, still the ones who feed children.

Others echoed the concern that they’re worried that breast feeding in uniform could lead their male counterparts seeing them as less worthy of respect. To this I say: if the sight of a woman breastfeeding leads men en masse to think that women are inferior or not worthy of respect, then the problem isn’t with the women or with breastfeeding — it’s with a rigid culture that encourages acting like a dick. Why accomodate that?

Part Two

In “FACT: U.S. Air Force and DoD Officially Endorse Breastfeeding,” the website Look Dumbass picks up on the Washington National Guard’s State Public Affairs Officer’s comments in the Today Show video and notes:

Kosik went on to state:

“If you look at the press coverage that’s out there right now, it has been misconstrued as a battle against breastfeeding. It leads one to believe they are being persecuted for breastfeeding. The fact is they’re not being persecuted. The fact is breastfeeding was never an issue for us.”

So breastfeeding in uniform is NOT an issue at all. The issue seems to come from AFI 36-2903, Section 1.4.2, which states:

When NOT to wear the Air Force Uniform …
1.4.2. While participating in public speeches, interviews, picket lines, marches, or rallies or in an public demonstration when participation may imply Air Force sanction of the cause.

Or maybe DoDD 1334.1 Section 3.1.2 which states that wearing of the uniform is prohibited “when an inference of official sponsorship for the activity or interest may be drawn.” A claim which is being made by the bigwigs in a memo on Wednesday to all Fairchild AFB personnel to support this sort of smackdown on the women.

Were the women using their uniforms to further their cause or imply Air Force sanction of the cause?

No!

In fact, the women were essentially following a recommendation and direct order of the Secretary of the Air Force by breastfeeding their children.

Air Force Instruction 44-102, January 20th, 2012

BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE
COMPLIANCE WITH THIS PUBLICATION IS MANDATORY

4.16. Breastfeeding and Breast Pumping

4.16.1. Breastfeeding provides optimal health benefits for both mother and infant throughout their life spans. Exclusive breastfeeding is optimal nutrition for the first 6 months of life. Gradual introduction of solids begins in the second half of the first year and complements human milk, which remains essential to nutrition during this period. Extensive medical research has documented that breastfeeding has significant health, nutritional, immunologic, developmental, emotional, social, and economic benefits to mother and baby. The AFMS recommends that supervisors of AF members who are breastfeeding work with the member to arrange their work schedules to allow 15-30 minutes every 3-4 hours to pump breast milk in a room or an area that provides adequate privacy and cleanliness. Restrooms should not be considered an appropriate location for pumping. The AF member must supply the equipment needed to pump and store the breast milk.

You CAN’T accuse the women of exploiting their uniforms to further their cause and you CAN’T accuse the women of exploiting their uniforms to “imply Air Force sanction of the cause” and you CAN’T rightfully silence the women nor should they face disciplinary action for exploiting their uniforms to imply sanction of the cause.

Why?

There is nothing to imply when the Secretary of The Air Force issues an order for which compliance is mandatory, an order which specifically endorses and recommends breastfeeding and breast pumping. A picture of a woman in uniform breastfeeding her child is a direct reflection of the recommendations, values, and orders from the Department of Defense.

There is no cause. There is no implication that the Department of Defense and Air Force are in support of breastfeeding.

It’s a STATEMENT OF FACT.

Part Three — Earth To Tony Perkins… Where Are All The “Pro-Life” And “Pro-Family” Groups?

As for public reaction, it’s offensive to suggest women — in uniform  or not — go to a restroom to feed their children. Would you want to eat in a restroom?

Of course, we aren’t seeing any of the so-called “pro-family” and “pro-life” groups like the American Family Association, Family Research Council, or the National Organization For Marriage come out in support of these women who started the Mom2Mom Breastfeeding Support Group, military women who need to feed their children while they happen to be in uniform, or women in general breastfeeding in public.

Where are Tony Perkins and Bryan Fischer and Robert P. George when women need them? For that matter, where is Maggie Gallagher — who loves to tout that she was a needy single mother at one time?

Nowhere. Silent. Crickets…

Why? Because they’re all too busy attacking gay people for wanting to get married, or for being in the military, and they’re all too conservative to actually take their heads out of their asses and recognize that breastfeeding a baby is about as natural and as pro-life and pro-family as you can get.

Hypocrites.

For more, read about the Child’s Right to Nurse Act.

Then head over to the Mom2Mom Breastfeeding Support Group on Facebook, and show your support.

Image: Brynja SigurdardottirPhotography & Mom2Mom Breastfeeding Support Group 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

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‘Unconstitutional Threat’: Trump Border Czar Under Fire Over AOC DOJ Request

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Concerns are growing after President Donald Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, announced he has requested that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate whether U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) violated federal law by hosting a webinar informing undocumented immigrants of their civil rights under the U.S. Constitution.

Calling Homan’s remarks “extremely disturbing,” civil rights attorney and longtime public defender Scott Hechinger wrote: “There is nothing more unconstitutional than threatening to punish someone for sharing information about the Constitution.”

And in a video, he added that what Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is doing is “nothing more than sharing rights, knowledge of rights, knowledge of the Constitution with her immigrant constituents.”

“There is nothing more constitutional than sharing education about the Constitution,” he said. And he declared that the “bottom line is that this is a tactic of fear. This is a tactic of terror.”

READ MORE: Federal Judge ‘Skeptical’ of DOGE: Report

“They’re not only coming for our immigrant neighbors, they’re coming for all of us, and they’re coming for all of us for simply sharing what the Constitution says, because knowledge they know is power, and they want to maintain full and unadulterated power over all of us.”

“What they’re doing by even suggesting that AOC’s conduct or any of our conduct related to sharing rights is illegal in some way, is illegal. It’s unconstitutional. It’s suppression of speech, it’s suppression of truth, and it’s not okay.”

Homan told Fox News on Monday, “I’ve asked DOJ, where where’s that line of impedment?” he said repeatedly, appearing to mean “impediment.”

“Now if someone stands in your way, prevents you from arresting somebody, put your hands on him, that’s impedment.”

“So I’ve simply Department of Justice, give us that line,” he said, claiming he finds it “disturbing” that “any member of Congress wants to educate people how they evade law enforcement.”

“What she in fact is doing is telling people, ‘don’t open your door,’ ‘hide in your home’, ‘don’t talk to ICE,'” Homan said. “We’re talking about people who are in the country illegally, committed a crime, they’re a public safety threat, they’ve been convicted of serious crime, and they’ve been ordered removed by federal judge. So it’s like AOC and others don’t want ICE to enforce the laws that they enacted.”

But ICE is not only arresting undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of serious crime, they are also, according to reports, arresting Americans.

“American citizens, including citizens of Native tribal nations, have been pulled into the vast immigration operations ordered by President Donald Trump in accordance with his campaign vow to conduct mass deportations since Day 1,” NBC News reported late last month. “Those who are getting caught in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raids are being targeted because of their race or skin color, according to witnesses.”

Homan’s repeated presence on Fox News may also indicate that his public relations efforts are taking precedence, since ICE has not been able to find enough undocumented immigrants to arrest to meet their alleged quotas.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is struggling to arrest higher numbers of immigrants and falling far short of the administration’s goals,” The Washington Post reported over the weekend. “ICE arrests have sagged so far this month, according to data provided by the Department of Homeland Security, declining from about 800 per day in late January after Trump took office to fewer than 600 during the first 13 days of February. The administration has stopped publishing daily numbers, and Trump officials said they will release the data on a monthly basis to conserve resources.”

READ MORE: ‘Stupid Beyond Belief’: Musk and Trump Blasted as DOGE Fires ‘Hundreds’ of FAA Employees

Last week, Homan made essentially the same remarks, also on Fox News. He added, “I’m working with the Department of Justice and finding out. Where is that line that they cross? So maybe AOC is going to be in trouble now.”

Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez quickly mocked him.

In a statement to Fox News AOC also said, “I am glad Mr. Homan is checking with the Department of Justice to familiarize himself with the limits of his agency’s authority in entering the homes of everyday Americans without a warrant. And I am proud to offer civil education to everyday Americans to ensure ICE’s compliance with the law, given the numerous reports of agents providing incorrect paperwork in their attempts to enter and search private homes.”

“Since Mr. Homan seems to be vaguely familiar with U.S. immigration law, we also remind him that according to Congressional statute, becoming undocumented in the United States is a civil offense and not a criminal one. I look forward to continuing our work in ensuring the safety of everyday New Yorkers while keeping families together.”

Watch the videos above or at the link.

READ MORE: White House Mum After Classified Info Reportedly Appears on Musk’s DOGE Website

 

Image via Reuters

 

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Federal Judge ‘Skeptical’ of DOGE: Report

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A federal judge reportedly appeared skeptical toward Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” and its ability to act unilaterally, during a Monday hearing on a lawsuit brought to stop DOGE from accessing federal agency data. But the judge did not appear prepared to grant a restraining order, saying the states that brought the case had not provided enough evidence to warrant emergency intervention.

While U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan did not seem inclined to order DOGE to immediately stop accessing government computer systems, fire federal employees, or place any restraining order on its operations, she reportedly seemed skeptical of the group’s authority.

“Judge Chutkan still appears disinclined to legally bar Elon Musk and his allies [from] accessing federal agency data, saying the states didn’t [present] enough concrete facts for the extraordinary emergency relief,” Politico’s Kyle Cheney reports.

READ MORE: ‘Stupid Beyond Belief’: Musk and Trump Blasted as DOGE Fires ‘Hundreds’ of FAA Employees

Critically, Cheney adds that Judge Chutkan is “clearly skeptical of DOGE’s operations but said that can be hashed out in further litigation and many of the harms can be addressed later.”

Chutkan “agreed that Musk’s operations” via DOGE “were taking place in troubling secrecy. And she acknowledged that DOGE is operating so swiftly that it is difficult to reach quick conclusions about the legality of its moves,” Cheney reports at Politico.

“DOGE appears to be moving in no sort of predictable and orderly fashion and plaintiffs are obviously scrambling to find out what’s next,” Chutkan said Monday. “I don’t know if that’s deliberate or not.”

MSNBC legal analyst Adam Klasfeld reports on a critical exchange between Judge Chutkan and a government lawyer.

“When asked whether thousands of federal employees were fired last week, a government lawyer responds: ‘I have not been able to look into that independently, or confirm that.'”

“Judge Chutkan responds, incredulously: ‘The firing of thousands of federal employees is not a small or common thing. You haven’t been able to confirm that?'”

Politico also reports that attorneys for the largely blue states “argue that Musk’s influential role in the government violates the Constitution’s appointments clause, which generally requires that powerful officers in the executive branch are formally appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. A separate lawsuit federal employees filed in Maryland makes a similar argument.”

Judge Chutkan, Bloomberg News’ Zoe Tillman reports, “scoffed at DOJ’s claim that Musk has no ‘formal’ authority to make gov’t decisions.”

READ MORE: White House Mum After Classified Info Reportedly Appears on Musk’s DOGE Website

“Nowhere have my friends offered a shred of anything,” a U.S. Department of Justice lawyer said, “nor could they, to show that Elon Musk has any formal or actual authority to make any government decisions himself.”

“I think you stretch too far,” Judge Chutkan replied. “I disagree with you there.”

States are arguing that Elon Musk has effectively been granted “authority to make decisions for the U.S. government,” according to the DOJ’s written argument. MSNBC’s Adam Klasfeld posted a screenshot and highlighted the portion below:

“That premise is of course wrong,” DOJ asserts. “It rests entirely on conflating influence and authority. But an advisor does not become an officer simply because the officer listens to his advice. And stripped of their lengthy rhetoric, the States do not actually cite a single example of where Elon Musk (or anyone at USDS) has been given formal authority to exercise the sovereign power of the United States.”

Klasfeld calls this “a key government defense to the Appointments Clause challenge of DOGE and Elon Musk’s authority.”

“Judge Chutkan’s skepticism on that issue, ultimately, could have more lasting significance than the current battle over the” restraining order.

Cheney adds that “Chutkan said she’ll try to rule within 24 hours. Don’t expect a restraining order, but she has asked for facts from DOJ — details about mass firings that have occurred and may occur in next 14 days — that could lead to an injunction.”

The original lawsuit charged, “Although our constitutional system was designed to prevent the abuses of an 18th century monarch, the instruments of unchecked power are no less dangerous in the hands of a 21st century tech baron,” as ABC News reported.

READ MORE: ‘United States of Extortion’: New Trump Ukraine ‘Shakedown’ Called ‘Cheap Mafia’ Move

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‘Stupid Beyond Belief’: Musk and Trump Blasted as DOGE Fires ‘Hundreds’ of FAA Employees

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Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is reportedly firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration employees, according to multiple reports and the FAA workers’ union, even as fatal plane crashes continue to mount under President Donald Trump’s administration — including one as recently as Saturday.

“The impacted workers include personnel hired for FAA radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance, one air traffic controller told the Associated Press,” the AP reported. The firings also come as the FAA is without a Senate-confirmed administrator, after Musk called for him to resign. In 2023, Michael Whitaker had been confirmed unanimously, 98-0.

The terminations of what are called “probationary” employees can include not only employees hired within the past year, but also long-term employees who have been recently promoted. Air traffic controllers and other employees are a critical segment of the federal government. The FAA’s hiring practices are rigorous and require tremendous training, as a former Federal Aviation Administration official said recently after President Trump strongly suggested the deadly mid-air crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport might have been the result of “DEI” hiring.

READ MORE: White House Mum After Classified Info Reportedly Appears on Musk’s DOGE Website

CNN, which first reported DOGE’s mass firings had now hit the FAA, noted that the “exact number of firings is not yet known, but the head of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO, said that ‘several hundred’ workers started getting firing notices on Friday — and that they could even be barred from FAA facilities Tuesday after the federal holiday.”

“The FAA’s system that distributes critical flight safety alerts to pilots failed just days after the crash and forced the agency to rely on a backup system.”

There have been at least six fatal aviation incidents since Donald Trump became president, according to news reports and a search of the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) database:

January 25, 2025: Charlottesville, VA
January 29, 2025: Potomac River Mid-Air Collision
January 31, 2025: Med Jets Flight 056 Crash (Philadelphia)
February 6, 2025: Bering Air Flight 445 Crash (Alaska)
February 10, 2025: Private Jet Crash in Scottsdale, Arizona
February 15, 2025: Small Plane Crash Near Covington, Georgia

That last crash came “just hours after ‘hundreds’ of pink slips were reportedly handed out at the agency,” The Daily Beast reported.

“Staffing decisions should be based on an individual agency’s mission-critical needs,” said David Spero, national president of Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) told CNN. “To do otherwise is dangerous when it comes to public safety. And it is especially unconscionable in the aftermath of three deadly aircraft accidents in the past month.”

Critics are blasting President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

“No president has had more planes crash in their first month in office than Donald Trump,” charged U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) on Monday.

President Trump, meanwhile, amid the firings, on Sunday took a “taxpayer-funded Daytona 500 joyride” at a rained-out NASCAR race “as he guts [the] federal workforce,” The Independent, a UK-based news site, reported.

READ MORE: ‘United States of Extortion’: New Trump Ukraine ‘Shakedown’ Called ‘Cheap Mafia’ Move

Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on Monday morning asked: “The flying public needs answers. How many FAA personnel were just fired? What positions? And why?”

U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, blasted the FAA firings:

“Mass firings of FAA workers – at a time when they already have serious staffing problems – would be dangerous at any time. Musk and Trump doing this weeks after the deadliest crash in years is stupid beyond belief.”

Professor of Public Policy Don Moynihan charged, “even after a bunch of accidents that highlighted FAA staffing shortages they still went ahead and fired FAA staff. They don’t know what they are doing.”

“You might have noticed that since Trump became President a number of aviation fatalities have occurred,” Moynihan wrote at “Can We Still Govern?”

“This happened after Musk pushed the head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, and Trump fired its safety advisory board. This likely had little direct effect on the crash at Reagan airport, but the crash highlighted staffing shortages, causing the Trump administration to tell FAA employees they could no longer apply for deferred resignation offer they had received days earlier. Safety first, it seemed,” he explained. “FAA employees therefore had some reason to believe that they would be exempt from the purge of probationary employees, but this is not the case.”

Jason King, a now-former FAA employee and disabled veteran who was laid off on Friday, told WUSA, “my unit directly with the FAA is directly involved with safety.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Disgust’: Vance’s ‘Disturbing’ Speech Alarms Europe, Sparks Foreign Policy Fears

 

Image via Reuters

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