The Morning Briefing: Military Transgender Ban Moves Forward and Much, Much More

Good Thursday Morning.

Here is what’s on the President’s agenda today:

In the morning, President Donald J. Trump will receive his daily intelligence briefing.
The President will then meet with the National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.
The President will then meet with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney and the Office of Legislative Affairs.

White House prepares guidelines for transgender military ban

The White House is moving forward with a ban on transgendered people in the military. The Wall Street Journal reports: “The White House is expected to send guidance to the Pentagon in coming days on how to implement a new administration ban on transgender people in the military, issuing a policy that will allow Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to consider a service member’s ability to deploy in deciding whether to kick them out of the military.”

In addition, the WH memo directs the Pentagon “to deny admittance to transgender individuals and to stop spending on medical treatment regimens for those currently serving, according to U.S. officials familiar with the document.”

SecDef Mattis has six months to prepare and implement the new ban. One central feature of the new policy will be using “deployability” as a legal means to remove someone from service. The “deployability” factor includes whether one is able “serve in a war zone, participate in exercises or live for months on a ship.”

“The United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military,” Mr. Trump said in the July tweets.

“Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you,” he added.

ESPN responds to “Robert Lee” fiasco

ESPN President John Skipper sent a memo to the sports network’s employees, as the decision to pull “Robert Lee” from sportscasting a UVA football game faces wide spread derision and mockery. My contribution:

https://twitter.com/StarChamberMaid/status/900304588993159168

Here’s the memo sent by Skipper:

“Given the amount of media attention being generated by one of the countless, routine decisions our local production teams make every day, I wanted to make sure you have the facts. There was never any concern — by anyone, at any level — that Robert Lee’s name would offend anyone watching the Charlottesville game.

“Among our Charlotte production staff there was a question as to whether — in these divisive times — Robert’s assignment might create a distraction, or even worse, expose him to social hectoring and trolling. Since Robert was their primary concern, they consulted with him directly. He expressed some personal trepidation about the assignment and, when offered the chance to do the Youngstown State/Pitt game instead, opted for that game — in part because he lives in Albany and would be able to get home to his family on Saturday evening.

“I’m disappointed that the good intentions of our Charlotte colleagues have been intentionally hijacked by someone with a personal agenda, and sincerely appreciate Robert’s personal input and professionalism throughout this episode.”

Was this a case of good intentions gone bad? I don’t think so. The media live in a vacuum; they are surrounded by liberal like-minded associates and friends and as such, are out of touch with the folks beyond their social circles. There’s no one around them that can speak up and say, “Hey, I think that might be a bit much.”

So: “Hey, I think that might be a bit much.”

Charlottesville covers Confederate statues with cloth

On Wednesday, officials in Charlottesville, Virginia, draped black cloth over two Confederate statues to honor the woman who was killed by a nutter neo-Nazi at a protest on August 12.

To applause from spectators, workers in Charlottesville, Virginia, covered two statues of Confederate generals with black tarpaulins on Wednesday in honor of the woman who was killed during a rally by white nationalists in the liberal-leaning college town.

City councilors voted unanimously to cover the monuments during a raucous council meeting earlier this week where activists and residents demanded to know how the Aug. 12 rally had got so badly out of hand.

The city council cannot remove the statues because there is a pending lawsuit over the city’s removal plan.

Shortly after the shrouds were placed over the statue, a man tried to cut away the tarp saying it was a “desecration.”

Video shows man trying to cut off tarp covering up Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville that was covered out of respect for Heather Heyer pic.twitter.com/rFoATESfU7

— ABC News (@ABC) August 23, 2017

What media bias?

Reuters published a story yesterday with a headline that described the protestors outside Monday’s Trump rally in Phoenix as “peace activists.” After facing Twitter ridicule, Reuters memory-holed their biased headline. PJ Media’s Pat Poole preserved the original headline.

I saved it for you… pic.twitter.com/8WWSKAdtoF

— Patrick Poole (@pspoole) August 24, 2017

The media bemoans President Trump’s constant complaints about them but it’s examples like this that move news consumers to the side of the president.

Here’s a video showing what “peace activists” did to a truck full of Trump supporters, including delivering some sucker punches to an African-American Trump supporter. Peace through violence, perhaps?

https://youtu.be/G2UI7gjZJrg

Historical picture of the day:

Conductor Leonard Bernstein, rehearses the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Thursday, August 24, 1978. His 60th birthday, he will lead the orchestra in a performance of the first, movement of the Beethoven Triple Concert at Wolf Trap Farm Park. Cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, left, who organized the birthday concert, will be one of the starring performances. (AP Photo/Taylor)

Other morsels:

Driver hits three protesters in St. Louis: police

WATCH: Colin Kaepernick supporters protest in front of NFL headquarters

‘Fake news’ report about Trump and the Secret Service implodes

U.S. judge throws out Texas voter ID law

White supremacist Christopher Cantwell surrenders to police

Rabbis ditch High Holy Days call with Trump

Search expands for missing sailors from USS John McCain

Some ‘Homeland’ fans are so unhappy, they took out a full-page ad to tell its creators

Russian ambassador found dead in swimming pool

New York City lags behind in numbers of women holding office

Court: Facebook Friends Aren’t Legally Real Friends