Feb
3
This week I’ve got brief pieces of news regarding three controversial topics. Not much commentary from me, just summaries of what’s going on and being said….
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
“Green New Deal, Same as the Old Green Spiel”
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is warning that the world will end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change — a misreading or misrepresentation on her part of the IPCC report. In response, she (with other young activists) is pushing the “Green New Deal” (GND). But, Cal Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship Of Creation isn’t buying it.
“We’ve been getting told ’10 years’ or ’12 years’ or ’20 years’ for almost the last 30 years….Frankly, [the GND is] not even green, because if we were to take the prescription of a drastic reduction of the use of fossil fuels and replacing them with wind and solar, we would have to put vastly many times more land under use for wind and solar factories than the land that we affect now with drilling and fossil-fuel powered electricity plants.[Ocasio-Cortez’s deal is] not green – [and] it’s certainly not a new deal. It’s the same sort of socialistic, big government solution that the environmental movement has been pushing since the 1960s.”
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“Hispanic-Americans in Favor of Trump”
While President Trump’s overall approval rating has dipped a bit over the past several weeks, it has gone up among a surprising segment of the population. A Marist poll released last month showed his popularity jumping from 31% to 51% among Latinos. It seems that the majority approve of his tough stance on border security.
A little over a week ago, Trump invited Hispanic pastors from around the country to the White House for a roundtable discussion on immigration. Pastor Ramiro Pena of Waco, TX, delivered a letter endorsed by 150 Hispanic evangelical leaders. He told POTUS,
“One thing you have not done, Mr. President, is manufacture a humanitarian crisis. It’s real. And although many people began to declare repeatedly this is a ‘manufactured crisis’ — being a pastor from Texas, I can tell you the human suffering that’s been going on for many decades has hit a fever pitch.”
Pastor Guillermo Maldonado of King Jesus Ministry in Miami, also noting the 4% Hispanic unemployment rate under Trump, quashed the idea that the Hispanic community favors illegal immigration:
“There’s a misconception also that we want open borders. We don’t want open borders. We’re here to support you, and what you’re doing is great.”
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Transgendered military officers
“SCOTUS OKs Military Transgender Restrictions”
Under the Obama administration, the U.S. military announced that transgendered individuals already serving were no longer in danger of being discharged and could serve openly. Furthermore, as of July 1, 2017, transgenders would be able to enlist in the military. Once Trump was in office, though, he delayed the enlistment date, citing the need for further study. In late July 2017, Trump said that transgender individuals would not be allowed to serve “in any capacity in the U.S. Military.” Then he ordered a return to pre-Obama policy on the matter.
“Groups representing transgender individuals sued, and the Trump administration lost early rounds in those cases, with courts issuing nationwide injunctions barring the administration from altering course.”
According to Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness,
“The lower courts – the district courts – encroached on presidential authority by issuing national injunctions to overturn Trump’s policy and replace it with the Obama policy.”
This resulted in a constitutional conflict, which essentially forced the U.S. Supreme Court to act. In a 5-4 split on Jan. 22, 2019, the high court ruled that the Trump administration can move forward with its plan to restrict military service by transgender people, thereby lifting the preliminary injunctions. Meanwhile, specific cases against the plan may proceed through the lower courts.
“Eventually the Supreme Court will take it up on its merits. But in the meantime, [SCOTUS is] saying that it’s time for the Trump administration to implement their policy and not have a holdover from the Obama administration, which is something that the American people did not vote for.”
It should be noted that the Trump administration altered its policy somewhat in March 2018, allowing transgenders to serve in the military “in their biological sex” and as long as they don’t undergo a gender transition. This seems like a fair compromise to me, but I doubt it is acceptable to many in the LGBTQ+ community.
