Connect with us

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

Published

on

‘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

To comment on this article and other NCRM content, visit our Facebook page.

 

Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

'GOOD LUCK WITH THAT'

‘Trying to Have It Both Ways’: Ivanka ‘Flailing’ as Trump Indictment Slams Family

Published

on

While Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have taken to their social media platforms to viciously lash out at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for indicting their father on a reported 30 charges, Ivanka Trump posted a rather muted statement on her Instagram account which simply said, “I love my father, and I love my country. Today, I am pained for both. I appreciate the voices across the political spectrum expressing support and concern.”

According to Daily Beast conservative columnist Matt Lewis, the so-called “First Daughter,” who served in the White House with her father, is trying to stay true to her former president dad, while distancing herself from his legal problems — and it is not going to work for her.

As Lewis put it, Ivanka is “flailing” in her attempts to shed the memory of her participation in the Trump administration that reached its lowest point on Jan. 6 when supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol and sent lawmakers fleeing for their lives.

“It’s hard to argue with anything Ivanka says here, but it is not a statement of moral clarity. Nor is it (conversely) a statement of strong support for her father. She’s flailing and trying to have it both ways,” Lewis wrote before adding, “Now, it’s understandable that a daughter might not want to utterly condemn her father. Further, children are not responsible for their parents’ sins. Except, of course, if you consider the fact that Ivanka served as the primary weapon in the ‘Trump’s not such a belligerent pig as his four decades as a public figure would make you think’ propaganda push.”

RELATED: Trump is so ‘unmoored from reality’ he can’t act as a defense witness: ‘Art of the Deal’ ghostwriter

Noting that Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner — who has baggage of his own — both stuck with Trump in the White House for all four years, Lewis added, “As far as the former first daughter goes, she and her husband might be done with politics, but once you’ve been a party to an administration like Trump’s, it’s going to be a long time before politics is done with them.”

“So, Ivanka, you want to have a seat at the cool apolitical kids’ table? You want to be once again accepted by the socially liberal billionaires’ children you used to go to the Hamptons with and now have Miami Beach playdates with? You want to enjoy the privileges of being a Trump with none of the shame? Good luck with that,” he concluded.

You can read more here.

 

Continue Reading

News

Dominion Wins ‘Blockbuster Victories’ Against Fox News – Last Legal Issue Will Be Decided by a Jury: Report

Published

on

Dominion Voting Systems won what are being called “blockbuster victories” Friday afternoon when a judge ruled the company suing Fox News for $1.6 billion in a major defamation lawsuit had met its burden of proof that Rupert Murdoch‘s far-right wing cable channel had repeatedly made false statements.

The final, and likely greatest legal issue Dominion will have to prove will be actual malice. That issue will be decided in a jury trial, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis ruled Friday, according to Law & Crime.

Unlike previous cases, Fox News will reportedly not be able to argue the on-air statements its personalities made were opinion.

CNN legal analyst and Brookings senior fellow Norm Eisen calls Friday’s decision a “huge win for Dominion on their summary judgment motion against Fox News.”

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

“Dominion won partial summary judgement that what Fox said about them was false! Now they just have to prove actual malice and damages,” Eisen says. “Meanwhile Fox’s motion was totally denied.”

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, an MSNBC contributor adds: “Dominion’s evidence Fox made false statements with reckless disregard  is as strong as any I’ve seen.”

The judge was very clear in his ruling.

“While the Court must view the record in the light most favorable to Fox, the record does not show a genuine issue of material fact as to falsity,” Judge Davis wrote. “Through its extensive proof, Dominion has met its burden of showing there is no genuine issue of material fact as to falsity. Fox therefore had the burden to show an issue of material fact existed in turn. Fox failed to meet its burden.”

READ MORE: ‘Propaganda Network’: Media Reporter Says Dominion Filing Exposes Fox News as ‘Void of the Most Basic Journalistic Ethics’

Attorney and MSNBC host and legal analyst Katie Phang points to this key passage in Judge Davis’ ruling.

Court watchers and news junkies are familiar at this point with the massive legal filings Dominion has made in which it exposed how Fox News knowingly made false statements regarding the 2020 presidential election. Those filings, each hundreds of pages, also detail internal Fox News communications and bombshell conversations between the company’s top personalities, executives, and even Chairman Rupert Murdoch.

 

Image of Rupert Murdoch via Shutterstock

Continue Reading

RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

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

Published

on

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

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.