Transgender troops tell Congress they excel in military
SAN DIEGO — Transgender troops testifying for the first time to Congress on Wednesday said transitioning to another sex made them stronger, while Pentagon officials defended the Trump administration’s desire to bar people like them from enlisting in the future.
Army Capt. Alivia Stehlik, an infantry officer and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. and Ranger School, told lawmakers she became a more “effective soldier” after she transitioned from male to female in 2017.
“What is the value of having transgender people in the military? Based on my experience first as a combat arms officer and medical provider, the answer is unequivocally that my transition — and so many others — has dramatically increased the readiness and lethality of every branch of the armed forces,” said Stehlik, who returned from a deployment to Afghanistan a month ago where she treated soldiers as a physical therapist.
With the ban now blocked by lawsuits, active-duty transgender service members were invited to testify about their service at the hearing called by Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier, chairwoman of the subcommittee.
Speier said the ban is “discriminatory, unconstitutional and self-defeating” and said lifting the barrier for transgender people to serve by the Obama administration in 2016 has been an “unequivocal success.”
Pakistan says 2 Indian warplanes downed, pilot captured
MUZAFARABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s military said Wednesday it shot down two Indian warplanes in the disputed region of Kashmir and captured a pilot, answering an airstrike a day earlier by Indian fighter jets inside Pakistan and raising tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals to a level unseen in two decades.
Within hours Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan went on television urging peace talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying both countries needed to step back from the brink and warning that “miscalculations” could drag their two countries into a war that neither side would benefit from. “Let’s sit together to talk to find a solution,” Khan said.
There was no reply from Modi, but India acknowledged one of its air force planes was “lost” in skirmishes with Pakistan and that its pilot was “missing in action.” Pakistan’s military later circulated a video of a man with a mustache who identified himself as the Indian pilot, sipping tea and responding to questions, mostly by saying, “You know I can’t answer that.” He appeared in good health as he was questioned about his hometown, his aircraft and his mission.
The downing of the Indian aircraft came on a chaotic day that also saw mortar shells fired by Indian troops from across the frontier dividing the two sectors of Kashmir kill six civilians and wound several others. A helicopter crash in the region also killed six Indian air force officials and a civilian on the ground.
Pakistan responded by shutting down its civilian airspace.
Political operative arrested in North Carolina scandal
RALEIGH, N.C. — The political operative at the center of an election fraud scandal that has engulfed a North Carolina congressional race was arrested Wednesday on charges of illegal ballot handling and conspiracy. Four people working for him were also charged.
Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., 63, was accused of directing workers to collect and mail in other people’s absentee ballots during the 2018 Republican congressional primary and the 2016 general election. It is against the law in North Carolina for anyone other than the voter or a close relative to handle a mail-in ballot, a measure aimed at guarding against manipulation.
Prosecutors are still investigating evidence of ballot tampering by Dowless and others working on behalf of GOP candidate Mark Harris during last fall’s congressional election in the mostly rural 9th District, which includes part of Charlotte and extends eastward across several counties.
The indictment represents the first charges in a scandal that has cast doubt on election integrity and will leave a congressional seat unfilled for months.
“These indictments should serve as a stern warning to anyone trying to defraud elections in North Carolina,” state elections director Kim Westbrook Strach said.
