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A Federal Judge Just Blocked Donald Trump's Transgender Military Ban


In an order-by-tweet that caught many people—including some preeminent members of the Department of Defense—by surprise, President Donald Trump announced in July that transgender men and women would no longer be allowed to serve in the military, reversing an Obama-era policy that allowed transgender recruits to openly serve.

Now, a federal judge has blocked parts of Trump’s proposed ban saying that transgender service members who have brought litigation forward against Trump “have established that they will be injured by these directives, due both to the inherent inequality they impose, and the risk of discharge and denial of accession that they engender.”

After introducing the ban on Twitter, Trump handed down an official directive outlining the policy in late August. Under his proposal, transgender recruits would be banned from the military, medical treatment funding for current transgender troops would be completely cut off, and Defense Secretary James Mattis would have power to expel transgender service members. In late August, Mattis put a temporary freeze on the ban when he announced that he would wait to put the policy into effect until a team of experts completed a study determining the effects it would have on current service members.

In a ruling handed down on Monday, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly blocked parts of Trump’s ban related to “accession and retention.” In short, the aspects of Trump’s proposal that affected the recruitment and retention of transgender troops were struck down by Kollar-Kotelly’s decision. She did not, however, offer a ruling on the directive prohibiting funding for “sex reassignment surgical procedures,” saying that her court does not have jurisdiction over that aspect of the ban.

With Kollar-Kotelly’s decision, the military will now “revert to the status quo” in regard to transgender service members—meaning former President Obama’s serve-openly policy will live on.

Related: Senator Tammy Duckworth on Trump’s Trans Military Ban: ‘This Man Is Not Fit to Be Commander-in-Chief’



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Amber Tamblyn Thinks Trump's Victory Catalyzed the Harvey Weinstein Allegations


As thousands and thousands of sexual harassment and #MeToo accounts from women come to the surface, sparked by the recent allegations against Harvey Weinstein, actress Amber Tamblyn said she believes that the outpouring of these stories is thanks to President Donald Trump. And before you go, “What?“—after all, the president has been accused numerous times of sexual harassment and assault—it actually kind of makes sense.

In an interview with Cosmopolitan published Saturday, Tamblyn discussed why Trump’s election victory might have prompted women to finally come forward with stories formerly kept silent.

She has her own story, too: in September Tamblyn spoke out against actor James Woods with her own account of how he tried to pick her up when she was just 16. Recently, the social media platform has exploded with similar accounts about men in Hollywood. “We have never in the history of this country had an opportunity in the way that we have right now to share our stories so publicly and be believed,” she told Cosmo. And women’s bravery to step up and tell their stories, she says, stems from Trump winning the election.

“I think that without him being elected, if it had been Hillary
Clinton, this would’ve never happened to Harvey Weinstein. I feel like
the election of Donald Trump was a singular pointed message at women
telling us that our lives don’t matter, and that our safety doesn’t
matter, and that our physical health doesn’t matter, our reproductive
rights don’t matter, that our gender just doesn’t matter, and that we
are somehow owned by the country. I think within that one move, it was
a giant gesture, and Donald Trump symbolizes, for most women—not all
of them—he symbolizes and epitomizes everything that is deeply wrong
with masculinity and with the objectification of women. And so within
that single vote, it sort of was like a switch was flipped on and
every woman just went, ‘I’m done.’ It’s as simple as that: ‘I’m done.'”

She adds that before all of this, a woman who accused Weinstein of raping her wouldn’t have been taken seriously. One such woman, actress Rose McGowan, who has been a driving force on Twitter against Weinstein, delivered the opening remarks Friday at this weekend’s Women’s Convention in Detroit.

“I have been silenced for 20 years,” McGowan said. “I have been slut-shamed. I have been harassed… Because what happened to me behind the scenes happens to all of us in society, and it cannot stand and it will not stand.”

Tamblyn agrees—and thinks that Hollywood’s culture is finally changing and will continue to change for the better. “We’re at the beginning of a real change. I believe that,” she told Cosmo. “A lot of the interviews that I’ve given and people I’ve talked to have said, ‘Do you think it’s really going to change? Do you think it’s really going to stick?’ And I do; I do, actually. I just think it’s going to take time and patience, and a lot of love and compassion and understanding between us—meaning women, all women.”

Related Stories:
–The Frame That Holds the Big Picture: How Mothers and Daughters Can Change the Way We Talk About Being Women
–Amber Tamblyn Just Posted a Harrowing Personal Account of Sexual Assault to Her Instagram Page



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An Activist Group Is Playing Trump's 'Access Hollywood' Tape on Loop Near the White House


PHOTO: Ultraviolet via Facebook

It’s been exactly a year since the Washington Post delivered one of the most shocking October surprises to date: the Access Hollywood tape revealing then-presidential candidate Donald Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women. Trump’s exact words—”Grab them by the pussy … You can do anything”—will likely be forever etched into the American consciousness.

But as a timely reminder to the country that this same man now occupies the White House, women’s rights group UltraViolet will be playing the video on loop from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Constitution Avenue.

“It was not so-called ‘locker room talk,’ it was a man bragging about sexually assaulting women,” UltraViolet cofounder Shaunna Thomas told the Hill. “That man may now sit in the Oval Office, but we will not let him—or anyone else—forget the tape or those comments.”

Trump had dismissed the remarks as “locker room talk” or “banter” multiple times, first in an official statement from his campaign (which has since been removed from the site), and later during his debate with Hillary Clinton. Though, for many reasons, it was been a poor excuse at the time, Trump’s apology became all the more meaningless when nearly a dozen women came forward with sexual assault allegations against him.

Trump’s so-called “locker room talk” hadn’t just been talk—according to these women’s traumatic accounts, it’d been action too.

Thomas said there’s a clear connection between Trump’s history as an alleged sexual abuser and his administration’s treatment of women. During his nine months in office, the Trump administration has diligently chipped away at women’s rights, championing health care legislation that would doom women’s reproductive health, giving state’s the go-ahead to withhold funds from abortion clinics and nixing protections for women in the workplace.

And just Friday morning, on the anniversary of his pussy-grabbing comments, the Trump administration announced it would weaken the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that employers provide birth control coverage for its employees.

Thomas isn’t surprised.

“The Donald Trump on that tape is the same Donald Trump that sits in the Oval Office every day, aggressively pursuing an anti-woman agenda,” Thomas said, “including the active dismantling of legal protections for survivors of sexual assault.”



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Kim Kardashian's Response to Trump's Puerto Rico Tweets Is the Message He Needs to Hear


You know things are bad when Kim Kardashian tweets at the president with a poignant message we’d all like him to hear. To nobody’s surprise, President Trump took to Twitter this weekend to praise his handling of relief efforts in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico after the federal government’s response was severely criticized for essentially being too little, too late.

Amid a stream of tweets bolstering his own image and going after the media, Trump had a message for the people of Puerto Rico: “Do not believe the Fake News!” A rather thoughtless comment to make to 3.4 million people who don’t have electricity or water, not to mention cell service or internet access. As the rest of us face-palmed and shook our heads in frustration, fellow frequent tweeter (and fellow reality star) Kardashian shot off a response that actually has a chance of crossing the president’s radar.

“They don’t have power to watch the news!!! Please stop tweeting & golfing while people are dying! Please step up & help!” she wrote.

Nailed it. While the accuracy of the media coverage of the situation in Puerto Rico is important to those of us feeling helpless watching from afar, it’s likely not on the top of residents’ minds. Basic necessities like running water and electricity are still far from being restored for most of the island’s citizens.

And while it might be easy to turn the tables on Kim and say that her tweets aren’t really helping either, she and the rest of the Kardashians have donated their fair share in response to Hurricane Harvey, the earthquake in Mexico, and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

Plus, Kim has encouraged her nearly 56 million followers to donate—and they have.

Given that Twitter has been Kim’s outlet of choice to comment on rumors surrounding the surge of baby news in her family, we’ve been paying close attention to her feed. And this clapback isn’t all that different from her others—it just happens to be pointed directly at the president of the United States. And when Kim Kardashian is pleading with Trump to quit tweeting about nonsense and do something helpful, you know things are bad. But we hope he listens.

Related Stories:
Kim Kardashian Just Shut Down a Bunch of Rumors About Kylie Jenner’s Pregnancy
Kim Kardashian Just Clapped Back (Again) at Those Khloé and Kylie Pregnancy Rumors
All of Puerto Rico Lost Power in Hurricane Maria—Here’s How You Can Help



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Twitter Is Dragging Melania Trump's $1,380 Gardening Shirt


PHOTO: Win McNamee/Getty Images

First Lady Melania Trump harvested the White House vegetable garden on Friday with some help from the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington. To do so, she wore a $1,380 Balmain shirt—and Twitter realllllly had a problem with it.

Needless to say, a $1,380 shirt isn’t the most practical thing to be digging around in the dirt in—and Trump was, in fact, doing some work in the garden Michelle Obama started. Most of us might opt for an old T-shirt or something that has a few coffee stains down the front. But she’s a First Lady, and so her fashion choices will always be up for endless analyzation and critique.

Of course, the Internet hasn’t been too happy with a few of her looks lately: there was the $2,950 Delpozo dress she wore to give a speech about childhood hunger to the United Nations General Assembly, which Twitter was quick to point out came off as a little tone-deaf. And just a few weeks ago, Trump was criticized for wearing heels en route to Houston after Hurricane Harvey it (Manolo Blahniks, no less).

Anyway, here is the shirt and a ripe-looking green pepper:

First Lady Melania Trump - White House Kitchen Garden

PHOTO: Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images

It’s worth pointing out that, while, yes, a $1,380 shirt errs on the side of being ridiculous, especially for gardening, the spouses of world leaders aren’t exactly known for shopping at Old Navy or Target, or, heck, even J. Crew—until Obama came along. To some degree, designer fashion is de rigueur if you’re married to someone who contributes, for better or worse, to running the world—and it’s not fair to drag Trump just for sticking to the dress code, however crazy it might seem to some of us mortals (for many of us, her shirt is a month or two of rent). At the same time, Obama wasn’t immune herself to designer duds in the dirt: she wore some Jimmy Choos as she broke ground on the garden.

That brings us to Twitter’s take on it. Kate Bennett, a CNN reporter opened the can of worms:

And then others chimed in with a whole range of opinions:

Bennett had a final response to the kerfluffle:

So, yes: First Ladies traditionally wear expensive things, and taxpayers don’t contribute to their wardrobe—so maybe it’s best to let them wear what they want? Overdressing for the garden isn’t and shouldn’t be a partisan issue, though she’s unlikely to score relatability points.

Related Stories:
–Melania Trump Pissed Off a Lot of People With Her United Nations Dress
–Manolo Blahnik Defends Melania Trump for Those Hurricane Harvey Stilettos



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Floyd Mayweather, Convicted Abuser, Steps Up to Defend Trump's 'Locker Room' Talk


This week in bad people with bad opinions, boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.—a convicted domestic abuser — thinks there was absolutely nothing wrong with Donald Trump’s “grab ‘em by the pussy” comments.

In case you somehow forgot, in the lead up to the November presidential election, a 2005 interview surfaced of then-reality star Trump speaking to Billy Bush for an episode of Access Hollywood. While awaiting taping, Trump regaled Bush with tales of sexually assaulting women, saying “you can do anything” to women — including “grab them by the pussy” — so long as you’re famous enough.

Trump repeatedly defended the comments, insisting it’d just been “locker room” talk.

Now, nearly a year after the tape’s release, Mayweather thought it would be a good idea to defend our commander-in-chief’s words, telling “Hollywood Unlocked” that’s just how “real men” speak.

“He speaks like real men spoke,” Mayweather said in the video interview, which has since been deleted from YouTube. “Real men speak like, ‘Man, she had a fat ass. You see her ass? I had to squeeze her ass. I had to grab that fat ass.'”

Mayweather didn’t stop there. “So he’s talking locker-room talk,” he said. “Locker-room talk. ‘I’m the man, you know what I’m saying? You know who I am. Yeah, I grabbed her by the pussy. And?'”

Mayweather’s comments are making people furious, especially given the fact that in 2011, a Las Vegas judge sentenced the boxer to 90 days in jail after he pleaded guilty to a domestic violence charge and pleaded no contest to two harassment charges.

His light sentence was thanks, in large part, to a plea deal he made in order to avoid felony and misdemeanor charges that could have sent him to state prison for 34 years, ESPN reported. Prior to his sentencing, Mayweather had also been arrested for three separate domestic violence incidences, convicted of misdemeanor battery in 2002 and again in 2005. So, perhaps the athlete isn’t best suited to explain how “real men” speak.

Many people were quick to pick up on the hypocrisy of a man with a history of violence against women insisting that Trump’s comments were OK. Immediately after Mayweather’s interview surfaced, Twitter took the boxer — and the president — to task.

“If y’all didn’t want the man in the White House, y’all should have voted the other way,” Mayweather added in the interview. “He did what he had to do, and he got there.” Reminder: Most of America did, in fact, vote the other way.



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