Out of the blue and without notice, US President Donald Trump has announced a ban on transgender people serving in the US military.
Quixotic, impulsive, impetuous? Well, possibly but there is another game afoot and it is mired in dark politics, tales from the swamp of Washington no less.
I suspect Trump is agnostic on this issue and his announcement is based on an attempt to breathe some life into his legislative agenda and kick off what must be seen as his totemic political promise, the construction of a wall across the US-Mexican border.
The ban, which will affect current transgender troops estimated anywhere between 2,000 and 15,000, depending on where you get your figures from, may be subject to constitutional challenge but again, this is not Trump’s main game.
The White House and senior House Republicans feared the US Homeland Appropriations Bill would die on the floor unless it included a specific provision refusing government funding for gender reassignment surgery for transsexual members in US military forces.
Full column here.
As I had just had need of medical care here’s a few numbers to flesh out the health care charges in the US. I got these from my travel insurer and these numbers are for the average hospital inpatient bed charges only, and do not include treatment costs.
California
State/local government hospitals — $2,790
Non-profit hospitals — $2,876
For-profit hospitals — $2,175
Nevada
State/local government hospitals — $2,581
Non-profit hospitals — $2,498
For-profit hospitals — $1,848
Wisconsin
State/local government hospitals — $660
Non-profit hospitals — $2,463
For-profit hospitals — $2,789
My insurer would have been happier if I fell ill in Wisconsin.
Tips are in but I’m holding off on Cats and Carlton until the team lists come out Cats have a few out. Swans to do Hawks by a cricket score. Bombers over the ‘dogs.
ABC (US) had an item yesterday about the Minnesota shooting. The Minnesota Police applied for and were granted a search warrant for the Damond home within hours of the fatal shooting, to search for ‘illegal firearms, drugs, utensils or bodily fluids’. I couldn’t find a link to the TV report but here’s a later link offering the same information. ABC had an interview with a Constitutional lawyer from Minnesota who said there was no legitimate reason for this and suggested a whitewash is being engineered. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-minnesota-police-idUSKBN1AA2QZ
Stumbled onto this item yesterday. Some social engineering in Wisconsin. I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.
http://wnep.com/2017/07/24/wisconsin-company-to-become-first-us-company-to-microchip-employees/
Hope your procedure went well Jack.
Welcome to the US where a sprained ankle can bankrupt you.
Hee hee as Jack end over the wall says “If you want loyalty get a dog”. Trumper has made his decision on camp soldiers based on ‘medical costs’ which is about $8.4million out of a $6.2 BILLION budget!
Now I find it ironic and even humorous that Trumper ‘s spending on erectile dysfunction for his testosterone charged military adds up to $84million annually! 10 times the cost of annual transition-related medical care for active duty transgender service members.
The military spends $41.6 million annually on Viagra alone — roughly five times the estimated spending on transition-related medical care for transgender troops. Looked at another way, the upper estimate for annual transgender medical costs in the military amounts to less than a tenth of the price of a new F-35 fighter jet. Or a thousandth of 1 percent of the Defence Department’s annual budget.
The cost of providing medical care to transgender service members, in other words, is negligible, and hardly “tremendous,” as Trumper puts it.
The Oz’s Alan Kohler was interesting on the news tonight. He presented one of his popular graphs showing the surging of electricity prices since the carbon tax was abolished. A slight aside at Abbott winning an election on high power prices supposedly cause by the carbon tax NO!Then we had an energy spokesman from NSW listing a heap of reasons why power prices have skyrocketed…privatisation mainly by Looter governments at the top, unnecessary spending on infrastructure a close second followed by other factors. In his list not even mentioned….the carbon tax?
Oh how we were conned. Well not me. I never believed the lies. Fact is, the economy grew, unemployment was lower investment and consumer confidence were all better figures than they are now. And lamb is not $100 a leg. How do they keep getting away with it.
During the campaign, Trump made a promise to get behind LGBT rights and be a “better friend” to them than Clinton.
What a sad joke he is as the leader of the ‘free’ world.
Apologies but this is just wrong. Bella you will not like this.
https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/nsw-government-forestry-clearing-causing-extinction-of-north-coast-koalas,10524
horse trading. It is just the cons way. Same as in this country.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/corruption-rife-in-turnbulls-australia–aided-by-corrupt-mass-media,10540
Oops, just read Henry Blofeld’s contribution.
I find it strange that the US military would pay for gender reassignment surgery. Does any other place do this, except maybe Sweden?
and in matters completely unrelated, this is an early reminder to lodge your footy tips for this weekend.
Goodness, Mr Insider, we learn something every day and your blog quite enlightening. I did not know that there was government funding for gender reassignment surgery for transsexual members in US military forces. I am neither for or against having just learned of this and not having spent a single day in the Services despite being called up for Conscription in ’72 which was then cancelled by Gough Whitlam. I wonder does this Gender Reassignment Operation for free happen in our Armed Forces?
Apparently the Defence Department does pay for some, but not all gender reassignment surgery, Henry
Thanks, Jack. Our dog is Otto.
I guess you saw Thomas Frank’s ‘The media’s war on Trump is destined to fail. Why can’t it see that?”. Brilliant.
I didn’. I hear enough of that on the other side of the wall.