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Watch: Steve King Offensively Compares Transgender US Service Members to Eunuchs

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‘If They Don’t Have Those and Want Sexual Reassignment Surgery, We’ll Cut Them Up and Remake Them Into Something Different’ King Says

U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) was so angered a bill banning the use of Defense Dept. funds for transgender transition medical services failed late Thursday he stood on the House floor Friday morning and told offensive and disgusting lie after lie after lie.

King is a white nationalist who is perhaps best known for claiming that for every undocumented immigrant in America who’s a “valedictorian,” there are 100 with “calves the size of cantaloupes“ running drugs across the Mexican border.

The eight-term congressman didn’t hold back his rage Friday, nor could he hold back his obvious hatred of transgender people, even those risking their lives to serve their country in the armed forces.

(It’s important to note that, as NCRM reported Friday, King is the chair of the House Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice and is co-sponsoring a bill that would ban transgender people from being protected under existing federal civil rights laws.)

Literally almost nothing King said in relation to transgender people is true. We’ll take his word on the historical details of his speech.

King argued that by allowing the military to pay for medically necessary transition care for transgender soldiers, the U.S. is proving it is willing to let the nation die. He also compared transgender soldiers to castrated slaves, eunuchs from the 16th and 17th century Ottoman Empire, who were, he said, not good at fighting because they no longer produced testosterone.

“What they did in order to keep them from reproducing was that they did reassignment surgery on those slaves that they captured that they had put into their Janissaries troops,” Rep. King said, as Breitbart reports. That’s false. It was not “reassignment surgery,” it was castration, period.

“And that reassignment surgery was they took them from being a virile reproductive male to being eunuchs. They were suitable to work in the harem, but they found out when to put them out in the field to do battle against the enemy, that they didn’t have the testosterone to take on the fight. And so over a period of time, a generation or two, they finally realized, I guess we are going to have to stop turning these men into eunuchs if we are going to have them as a fighting machine.”

RELATED NEWS: GOP Bill Banning Existing Federal Civil Rights Laws From Protecting Transgender People Advances to Subcommittee

It’s vile and offensive to compare a transgender soldier to a eunuch. These are U.S. military service members. Secretary of Defense James Mattis should send Rep. King a letter demanding an apology to every transgender service member.

King continues his offensive attack.

“That’s the Janissaries. And the old history through that is replete with narrative after narrative of them taking out the knife and actually cutting these atomically complete men flush. Some would die, and some would live, but none of them had the will to fight. So they decided they were going to keep anatomically complete men. Men that were producing testosterone in their crack Janissaries troops where they fought well.”

And then, more lies. King actually claims there will be transgender people “lining up at the recruitment center who have planned that they want to do sexual reassignment surgery” in the military, just so they can get “free” transition care.

It will surprise Rep. King to learn that thanks to ObamaCare and the Obama-era Dept. of Health and Human Services, nearly all insurance plans must cover transition care. So, there’s no need to enlist to obtain medical care.

The ACLU’s Joshua Block adds:

“That’s a lesson from the Ottoman military from two, three, four hundred years ago,” King continues on his long, wasteful trip into history, “and today we are thinking that we are going to make the military better while people lining up at the recruitment center who have planned that they want to do sexual reassignment surgery, know that it is expensive and just believe if I can get into the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marines, maybe become a Navy Seal and submit to sexual reassignment surgery and go from a man to a woman.”

Of course, King isn’t finished yet. He calls the DoD funding transition care “a neon sign for people who want to have sexual reassignment surgery.”

“It doesn’t look women will be going into men after they go through seal training. I don’t think that’s going to happen. But there is no way this enhances the capabilities of our military. There is no way this enhances the morale of our military. And you will never see a platoon that is made up of all the folks that are likely to line up to sign into our military. This policy clearly, if enacted and advertised, is a neon sign for people who want to have sexual reassignment surgery. They will line up at the recruitment office. They’ll be going into the military. And the military will say we had to turn away this one because he was too heavy or had flat feet or a bad eye or congenital defect of one kind or another.”

And then King lies about the cost. King says $3.9 billion over ten years. The Rand Corporation puts the figure at “$2.4 million and $8.4 million annually.” King is lying exponentially.

“But if they don’t have those and want sexual reassignment surgery, we’ll cut them up and remake them into something different, to the tune of 3.9 billion dollars over a ten-year period. And put them off in the recovery room for two years before we can put them to work and use them. And by the way, they are likely to be discharged to go back into society if their only purpose was to get the free surgery.”

As Mediaite also reports, King also offensively said:

“Can you imagine someone…taking up a bed in Walter Reed hospital, maybe a roommate with someone who was hit by an IED. Someone who lost a couple of legs, amputated, in the dangerous, dangerous service of the freedoms of our country. Can you imagine those two beds side by side? One of ’em missing a couple of legs, or an arm, or an arm and a leg, or two arms. And the other one saying, ‘Well, I just came in for sexual reassignment surgery.’ I won’t say the next things in my mind.”

Again, practically nothing Rep. King said was true. He owes the U.S. military and every transgender person who has ever served an apology. And he owes the American people an apology for lying on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Videos via Dominic Holden/Twitter

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Capitol Police Issue Warning Over Possible Trump Protests ‘Across the Country’

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The U.S. Capitol Police and the Senate Sergeant at Arms on Friday jointly issued a statement warning they “anticipate” Trump protests across the country. The statement is not time-specific, and it states it has no information on “credible threats,” but some Democratic offices are allowing staffers to work from home Friday and Tuesday.

“The Sergeant at Arms and United States Capitol Police (USCP) anticipate demonstration activity across the country related to the indictment of former President Trump. While law enforcement is not tracking any specific, credible threats against the Capitol or state offices, there is potential for demonstration activity. USCP is working with law enforcement partners, so you may observe a greater law enforcement presence on Capitol Hill,” the statement reads.

“The SAA and USCP are monitoring the potential nationwide impacts to Senate state offices,” it adds.

The House Sergeant at Arms was conspicuously absent from the statement. Speaker Kevin McCarthy has control over that office.

READ MORE: Trump Trial Could Go Well Into the 2024 Election – Or Possibly Even Past It: Former Prosecutor

Additionally, Axios is reporting, “several House Democrats are allowing staffers to work from home as a safety precaution,” noting that “the memory of Trump supporters ransacking the Capitol on Jan. 6 is still fresh on the mind.”

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) is allowing staff to work from home for safety reasons. She told Axios, “I don’t ever want to see a Jan. 6 again.”

“I’ve been in the Trump hate tunnel, Donald Trump has gone after me, and quite frankly I don’t have security. I don’t have entourages.”

She’s not the only Democrat to raise concerns.

“Much of the language from the former President and his devotees is similar to what inspired Jan. 6th,” U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips said. “I’m concerned about safety for my colleagues and my staff.”

READ MORE: ‘Lighting the Match’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Blasted for Off the Rails Rant Defending Trump

Meanwhile, House Republicans are issuing full-throated support for Trump and calling for protests.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who was called out by name in a six-page letter Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sent to Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan Friday morning, announced she will be in New York on Tuesday to support Trump when he is arraigned. She has posted several tweets since Trump was indicted.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy issued a statement Thursday seemingly designed to gin up rage and action in the MAGA base.

“Alvin Bragg has irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our Presidential election. As he routinely frees violent criminals to terrorize the public, he weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump. The American people will not tolerate this injustice, and the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account.”

 

Image by Elvert Barnes via Flickr and a CC license

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Trump Trial Could Go Well Into the 2024 Election – Or Possibly Even Past It: Former Prosecutor

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Donald Trump, and all of America, could spend the next 18 months – or longer – engrossed in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s trial of the ex-president, and that could bring the trial close to Election Day.

That’s according to a former prosecutor in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, Charles Coleman, who is now a civil rights attorney and MSNBC legal analyst.

Asked by MSNBC’s Chris Jansing, “How long typically might a case like this take?” Coleman offered a two-tiered answer.

“A case like this is usually going to take a year or a year and a half,” Coleman said.

That could be through September of 2024.

READ MORE: ‘Lighting the Match’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Blasted for Off the Rails Rant Defending Trump

“Wow,” a surprised Jansing replied. “So it’s going right up into the campaign.”

“Absolutely,” agreed Coleman. “But it’s important to understand I said a case ‘like this.’ This particular case, I expect may take longer because I am anticipating a number of different legal maneuvers by Donald Trump’s defense team.”

That theoretically means into October of 2024, or longer.

“I do see motions to dismiss at a number of different terms, more likely than not to the point that the judge probably will ultimately end up admonishing them and telling them stop filing motions to dismiss. I think that that’s going to happen,” Coleman explained.

“I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, I do believe that we are going to see an attempt to try to change the venue, in this case outside of somewhere in the five boroughs. All of that is going to extend the time deeper and deeper into election season.”

READ MORE: Manhattan DA Unleashes on Jim Jordan With Stern Warning: You May Not ‘Interfere’ With Trump Prosecution

Reuters agrees, reporting Friday morning, “any potential trial is still at minimum more than a year away, legal experts said, raising the possibility that the former U.S. president could face a jury in a Manhattan courtroom during or even after the 2024 presidential campaign, as he seeks a return to the White House.”

And because “Trump’s case is far from typical,” Reuters notes, his trial could extend “past Election Day in November 2024.”

 

 

 

 

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

‘Lighting the Match’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Blasted for Off the Rails Rant Defending Trump

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U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is being mocked and criticized after issuing an off-the-rails rant defending Donald Trump after the ex-president was indicted late Thursday afternoon.

Trump reportedly will face over 30 charges when he is arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court Tuesday, two weeks after he claimed would be the day he would be arrested. In that infamous social media post Trump also urged his supporters to “protest!”

Congresswoman Greene, an ultra-MAGA acolyte and far-right extremist, on Friday announced she will travel to New York City to show her support for the indicted ex-president.

“I’m going to New York on Tuesday. We MUST protest the unconstitutional WITCH HUNT!” she tweeted.

Her remarks came barely hours after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sent a six-page letter to House Republican Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan warning that Congress must not “interfere” with the prosecution of Donald Trump. It accused him and two other top Republicans of “an improper and dangerous usurpation,” “attempted interference with an ongoing state criminal investigation,” and warned them against “unlawful political interference.”

READ MORE: ‘You Can’t Stand on Fifth Avenue and Just Shoot Somebody’: Donald Trump Indicted – Legal Experts Respond

That letter specifically called out Congresswoman Greene for her rhetoric, noting “some committee members have explicitly stated an intent to interfere with the state proceeding.”

“For example, responding to Trump’s statement that he would be arrested, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene stated that ‘Republicans in Congress MUST subpoena these communists and END this! We have the power to do it and we also have the power to DEFUND their salaries and departments!’ … and that Republicans who ‘do nothing to stop’ the prosecution ‘will be exposed to the people and will be remembered, scorned, and punished by the base.’”

Clearly his warning had little impact on the far-right Georgia Member of Congress.

In response to Greene’s Friday morning tweet, former U.S. Congressman David Jolly, also a former Republican, appeared to suggest she was encouraging an untoward response.

“Lighting the match,” he tweeted.

NBC News senior Capitol Hill correspondent Garrett Haake appearing to suggest it was a bad idea, responded by saying, “The situation downtown Tuesday is going to be tense. Narrow streets. Tons of press. Lots of police from different jurisdictions already highly visible.”

READ MORE: Favoring Right Wing Christians, Texas Judge Voids ACA’s Mandate That Insurance Cover Full Cost of HIV Drugs Including PrEP

Top CBS News reporter Robert Costa responded to Greene’s remarks, noting: “By order, NYPD officers here in lower Manhattan, outside the court, are already in full uniform, bracing for protests next week…”

Condé Nast legal affairs editor Luke Zaleski, also responding to Greene, wrote: “They want to incite violence in NYC.”

“Marge is a confederate soldier not an American public servant,” Zaleski added. “She has taken over Congress and wants to destroy the nation from inside. She admits it. Her public agenda is reinstalling a criminal traitor she’s obstructing justice for and breaking up the United States of America.”

Meanwhile, journalist Helen Kennedy appeared to not take Greene’s remarks – or Greene – seriously.

“Clown hurries to circus,” she tweeted.

 

Image: L E Mormile/Shutterstock

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