https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... -of-gender
The Trump administration is weighing a change that would require individuals to identify as male or female based on their genitalia at birth, tightening gender definitions that had offered more leeway to transgender and gender nonconforming individuals, The New York Times reported Sunday.
The Department of Health and Human Services proposed in a memo obtained by the news outlet that government agencies adopt a definition of gender that is determined "on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable."... "The sex listed on a person’s birth certificate, as originally issued, shall constitute definitive proof of a person’s sex unless rebutted by reliable genetic evidence," the memo states, according to the Times.
So if something shifted your brain toward the opposite gender during development in the uterus, but it wasn't a big, obvious change in the number of X or Y chromosomes, the Trump administration says "tough luck." As far as I know, the science of gender determination hasn't yet advanced to the point where it could pick up anything more subtle.
Edit: In response to the Trump administration, The Atlantic has a good article on why the simplistic middle-school version of sexual determination is... well...simplistic.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/arch ... hs/573544/
The agency proposes to define gender “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable.” Which would indeed be ideal at a bureaucratic level. Even looking no further than the maternity ward or doula’s chambers, though, human biology does not abide by the rules laid out for us in sixth grade.
Though they have long been anathema to talk about, there are many thousands of variables that affect gestation and fetal development—some influenced by epigenetic factors generations before conception—that lead to a spectrum of outcomes for any given infant. This can include sex-chromosomal anomalies (XXY or XYY, for example), as well as irregular functioning of enzymes that activate or metabolize hormones, or the blocking of binding sites where hormones typically act, which effectively could lead an XY person to develop female genitalia (known as Swyer syndrome), or an XX person to develop male genitalia, and for thousands of infants each year who are born with “ambiguous genitalia” that can look something like a penis and a clitoris (which are fundamentally structurally analogous, spongy tissue consisting of a crus and glans that become engorged and hyper-sensitive during sex).
There are two statistical peaks in the distribution of infant outcomes that roughly accord with the states described in middle school, but there is also everything in between and on other sides. Entire textbooks are written on the wide variety of ways sex hormones can manifest during fetal development and throughout life. The exact number of infants born in the domain known as “intersex”—who, for any number of reasons, do not clearly fit into one of the two sexes based on genitalia or chromosomes or both—is difficult to know because for many years, such people were “normalized” at birth by default.
This surgical normalization has become an ethical question for many reasons. For instance, let's say that an ambiguous infant's brain was actually primed to be male (and, of course, there's no way to know this at such a young age) but the sex chosen for the infant is female...
Trump is apparently still supporting the Saudi crown prince in his denials.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... onsible-in
President Trump acknowledged late Saturday that Saudi Arabia has not been forthcoming in its explanation of what happened to journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but indicated that he does not believe Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman played a direct role in the dissident's killing.
"There is a possibility he found out about it afterward. It could be something in the building went badly awry. It could be that's when he found about it," Trump told The Washington Post in an interview.
It seems that part of the Saudi plot was to impersonate Khashoggi and pretend he left the embassy. Since this was supposedly not a premeditated killing, I suppose they just happened to have a spare beard lying around in case they needed it.
https://thehill.com/policy/internationa ... thes-after
An individual suspected of being part of the group of Saudis involved in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was reportedly seen around Istanbul wearing Khashoggi's clothes, a fake beard and glasses on the day of the killing.
CNN, citing a senior Turkish official, reported that the man in the video, identified as Mustafa al-Madani, was captured by surveillance cameras leaving the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on the day Khashoggi died there. He appears to be wearing the same clothes Khashoggi was seen wearing when he entered the consulate.
Unlike the Trump administration, other countries are already taking action:
https://thehill.com/policy/internationa ... udi-arabia
The German government has halted further arms exports to Saudi Arabia in the midst of an investigation into the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Reuters reported that German economy minister Peter Altmaier said the government is "in agreement" that it will not approve additional arms exports and would make a decision "very soon" on whether to roll back previously agreed to deals with the Saudis.
Meanwhile in the US, it's business as usual for the Trump administration:
https://thehill.com/policy/internationa ... udi-arabia
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday defended his decision to visit Saudi Arabia amid turmoil over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“We have an important relationship with Saudi, focused on combating terrorist financing and focused on our common interests of stopping Iran’s spread of both terrorism and other issues,” Mnuchin said Sunday in Jerusalem, according to The New York Times. “I am going to go there and meet with my counterparts and continue to focus on what’s in the Treasury’s domain, as it relates to this issue.”
Edit to add:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... ggi-crisis
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Monday met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia amid an ongoing international crisis over the death of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry tweeted a photo of the two men with a caption touting "the importance of Saudi-US strategic partnership."
#CrownPrince meets with the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and stresses the importance of Saudi-US strategic partnership, where it holds an important role in the future in line with the Kingdom’s #Vision2030 pic.twitter.com/5LyloSOMTK
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... rol-treaty
President Trump confirmed the U.S. will pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), a nuclear deal signed between Washington and Moscow during the Cold War.
“We’re going to terminate the agreement and we’re going to pull out,” Trump told reporters before a campaign rally in Nevada Saturday. “We’ll have to develop those weapons,” he added.
https://thehill.com/policy/internationa ... om-missile
The Kremlin said Monday that Russia would move to develop new missiles if the U.S. does the same after withdrawing from a landmark nuclear weapons pact. Reuters reported that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia would take action to restore the balance of military power if the U.S. started to develop intermediate nuclear weapons after President Trump announced the country will pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).
Edit to add:
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4125 ... withdrawal
The Pentagon on Monday said Defense Secretary James Mattis and President Trump are “completely aligned” on the commander-in-chief’s abrupt decision to announce that the country will pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia.
“Sec. Mattis and the president talk a broad range of issues continuously and their position on this particular issue is aligned,” Col. Rob Manning told reporters at the Pentagon.
Mattis – who was traveling in Asia last week and returned Saturday – was reportedly blindsided by Trump’s announcement.
Of course he's "completely aligned." No one dares disagree with Dear Leader in this administration. There are days when I am reminded of how everyone dealt with official "news" in Eastern Europe under the Soviets - whenever I hear a Trump spokesperson assuring us that something didn't happen, I strongly suspect that it did.
This is by one of the ambassadors who originally just resigned without saying it was because of Trump.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... reme-chaos
The former U.S. ambassador to Mexico has penned an op-ed for The New York Times detailing what she describes as “extreme” chaos in the Trump administration.
...In the New York Times piece, Jacobson details a number of examples where she says she observed disconnect within the administration and with other nations, and says the “disarray” she witnessed “wasn’t pretty.” “The disconnect between the State Department and the White House seems intentional, leaving ambassadors in impossible positions and our allies across the globe infuriated, alienated and bewildered,” she writes.
She criticizes Trump for declining to warn her about his early plans to exit the North American Free Trade Agreement, and for not filling more than two dozen ambassador posts, including some in “vitally important countries.”
The Republicans think people have forgotten that the economy recovered from the deep recession while Obama was president and it has simply continued its upward trend under Trump (with little change in the trajectory, in the graphs I've seen). Now they're warning that we're all doomed if Democrats are elected. Apparently they're also hoping we'll forget it was the GOP that passed the business tax cut, which will likely blow the deficit sky high in the future.
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/4122 ... f-dems-win
Republicans are turning positive economic news into attacks on Democratic candidates, warning of dire consequences if the minority party wins control of Congress in the midterm elections. ...GOP rhetoric now includes doomsday predictions about what would happen if Democrats win the House or Senate on Election Day.
When asked about the stock market on Fox News last week, Trump said, "The Democrats, you look at what they would do to it. They would knock it down, you'd -- instead of being up 50 percent, you'd be down 50 percent."
..."It's no time to turn back to the failed Obama era and economy," said Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) at a debate this week with his Democratic challenger, Abigail Spanberger. "If you vote for my opponent tonight, you will get the liberal Nancy Pelosi agenda across the board. You will get large companies running our economy instead of small people and small firms competing.”
So now the story is that GOP doesn't bow down to big corporations and only the Democrats do. These people are really counting on Americans being stupid.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/us/p ... -cuts.html
The federal budget deficit swelled to $779 billion in fiscal year 2018, the Treasury Department said on Monday, driven in large part by a sharp decline in corporate tax revenues after the Trump tax cuts took effect.
The deficit rose nearly 17 percent year over year, from $666 billion in 2017. It is now on pace to top $1 trillion a year before the next presidential election, according to forecasts from the Trump administration and outside analysts. The deficit for the 2018 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, was the largest since 2012, when the economy and federal revenues were still recovering from the depths of the recession.
Oh, brilliant. People are fleeing countries to seek asylum in the US and what does Trump want to do? Reduce US aid to those countries so things may get even worse. Does this man even
think? Not to mention that some of the aid is to help fight drug trafficking- so on the one hand, he rants about drugs and criminals entering the US, and on the other, he wants to cut funding intended to reduce that.
He's also added his usual Middle Eastern bogeyman to the migrants in hopes of frightening everyone enough that they will only vote for Republicans. There's no way the timing of his comments is unrelated to the upcoming midterm elections. Especially considering that he's been spending much of his time at rallies to support Republican candidates.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... -countries
In a trio of tweets, the president escalated his rhetoric surrounding the group of migrants, declaring a national emergency as they approach the border and claiming that "unknown Middle Easterners" had joined the group. Trump, in the tweets, did not offer any evidence for the charge that people from the Middle East were among those crossing the border.'
"Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S. We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them," Trump wrote in a tweet.
"Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in. I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy. Must change laws!"
Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S. We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2018
...Trump had previously threatened to cut off aid to those countries if they did not act to stop their citizens from fleeing. It's unclear if Trump will take unilateral action to reduce foreign aid, as Congress is not scheduled to return to Washington until after the midterm elections.
Don't ask me what he expects Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to do. Station the military on the borders and shoot people? That's what the Russians used to do in the Soviet Union (and still, some people managed to escape, at risk of their lives).
I suppose this is what comes of having a complex, difficult problem and a president who thinks everything has an easy, uncomplicated solution that only he has realized.
Edit to add:
This story is from a site that is moderately to strongly biased toward the left but has a high score for factual reporting (
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/media-matters/), and I haven't seen it anywhere else. It traces how the "fear the Middle Eastern terrorists in the caravan" rhetoric has jumped from fringe right wing sites to Fox news and the US president, most likely in an effort to get people to vote for the Republicans.
https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/ ... van/221765
And another Trump decision that could have major repercussions for the US:
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wi ... s-58617048
No international letters, no international packages: A top official with a 192-country postal union says that's what Americans can expect if the Trump administration goes through with plans to pull out of an international postal treaty over concerns about China.
Pascal Clivaz, deputy director-general of the Switzerland-based Universal Postal Union, says the agency reached out quickly to U.S. officials after receiving a letter from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week announcing Washington's plan to pull out of the union in a year if the treaty isn't renegotiated.
...."It will have dramatic consequences for American consumers. It will cost them enormously. They will be all alone against all the countries of the world," Clivaz told The Associated Press on Friday. "They won't even be able to send (a package) to a neighboring country. It's an accord that links everybody."
Just once, I wish Mr Stable Genius would think "hey, maybe there's a good reason previous administrations didn't want to do this" when he has one of his brilliant ideas.
Some members of the GOP are also trying to find ways to fund Trump's physical wall at the expense of other government needs:
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4126 ... order-wall
Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) on Monday announced legislation aimed at allowing Republicans to circumvent Senate Democrats and provide funding for President Trump's wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The 50 Votes for the Wall Act, introduced on Friday, [would] ... get around the 60-vote threshold needed to pass legislation in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 51-49 majority [and]... establish a Border Wall and Security Trust Fund, allowing the secretary of Homeland Security to request up to $25 billion from the U.S. Treasury to construct the barrier and pay for other wall-related expenses.
...House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) recently introduced legislation — the Build the Wall, Enforce the Law Act of 2018 — that would provide an additional $23.4 billion in funding for the border wall, while cutting federal resources for so-called sanctuary cities.
I moved 2 other updates to group them with other stories about a topic.