Latest news with #Talbott
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Man shoots another in the head during argument over money: police
The Brief Man shot another in the head during an argument about money Man was arrested on aggravated assault with a deadly weapon The victim later died at the hospital, and suspect is now charged with murder AUSTIN, Texas - A man is now facing a murder charge after a shooting last week at a Northwest Austin apartment complex. What we know 27-year-old Waleed Beriji is facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of 26-year-old Noah Talbott. On Thursday May 29, just after midnight, Austin police officers responded to a shoot/stab hotshot call at the Westdale Point Apartments at 7117 Wood Hollow Drive, just off Far W Boulevard and North Mopac. Someone called 911 and reported someone had been shot. When officers arrived, they found Talbott with a gunshot wound to the head. Talbott was taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, where he died over 24 hours later. The suspect, later identified as Beriji, had left the scene before officers arrived. The investigation that followed showed that the two men had been involved in a fight regarding money. Talbott escorted Beriji to the door, and Beriji allegedly pulled out a handgun from his bag and shot Talbott in the head before fleeing the scene. APD arrested Beriji in the 3000 block of South Congress, over 12 miles away from the scene, and booked him into the Travis County Jail on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. After Talbott was pronounced dead, Beriji was charged with murder. What's next Beriji is still in the Travis County Jail on $300,000 bond with the conditions that he have a GPS monitor, no contact with the complaining witness and a drug evaluation. Beriji also had an existing warrant from the Travis County Sheriff's Office for assaulting a family member by impeding their breath or circulation from last year, according to court records. What you can do Anyone with information should contact the Austin Police Department at 512-974-TIPS. Anyone can also submit a tip anonymously through the Capital Area Crime Stoppers Program by visiting or calling 512-472-8477. The Source Information in this report comes from the Austin Police Department and court and jail records.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Transgender Man At The Center Of Donald Trump's Military Ban Is Speaking Out
During the early days of his basic training for the U.S. Army, there came a time when Nicolas Talbott stood with 64 other men preparing to answer questions from a superior who had arrived to inspect their quarters. As inspections ended, everyone was asked why they joined the military. Until that moment, Talbott had only told a few fellow trainees that he was transgender. 'My strategy was to blend in and be judged solely on my performance,' he said. But that day, after inspections, the words came tumbling out for all to hear when it came time for him to answer why he was there. 'I said, 'I wanted to prove that transgender people like me can do this and we have something to contribute,'' Talbott recalled saying in an interview with HuffPost on Wednesday. After that moment, Talbott said fellow trainees came up to him in a 'big huddle.' 'They said, 'Nic, we had no idea. We never would have known. We don't think any less of you,'' he said. One person approached and said they thought even more of him, knowing that Talbott had this 'extra layer of substance' on his plate, he recalled. In January, shortly after President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning people with gender dysphoria from military service, Talbott, along with six other trans service members, sued the administration under the Fifth Amendment's equal protection provision. After a series of hearings, a federal judge overseeing his case in Washington, D.C., grilled government attorneys over whether Trump's order was discriminatory on its face. She found it was, and a tug-of-war in the courts between Talbott and the now 32 trans service members who have joined his lawsuit has continued up to the appellate level. So when the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated a ban on transgender military service on Wednesday, as other litigation played out in a separate but similar case, it took only a few hours before the phone calls started rolling in. 'People I went to basic with reached out and said, 'Sir, I know I'm just a private, but is there anything I can do? What can I do? How are you doing?'' Talbott said. Today, Talbott is a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve, and being open about who he is as he has pursued a career in the U.S. military has 'created a gateway' to new conversations. It has helped answer questions among fellow service members. And this, Talbott said, is something he believes has only improved his and fellow soldiers' capacity to serve the United States military — and each other — to the best of their ability. 'I received tremendous amounts of support all across the board. It's been a very positive and enlightening experience,' Talbott said. That acceptance and a shared belief among service members that they should be judged for their actions — and not who or what they identify as — stands in profound contrast to the position the Trump administration has taken toward trans service members of late and historically. In January, via executive order, Trump claimed that 'radical gender ideology' had permeated the military and harmed its readiness. During his first administration, Trump tried to ban transgender troops — they had only been allowed to serve openly since 2016 — and he had some degree of success doing it. The Supreme Court in 2019 agreed to uphold the ban while litigation against it ensued. It wasn't until 2021 that then-President Joe Biden rescinded Trump's ban. Trump's executive order this January conspicuously did not use the word 'transgender.' Instead, it focused on 'gender dysphoria' and banned from service anyone expressing a 'false gender identity' different from their sex assigned at birth. Within a month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a policy echoing Trump's order banning troops with gender dysphoria. (Gender dysphoria is the distress one feels when a person's gender identity and the sex assigned to them at birth don't align.) Hegseth's memo did not explain how or why the Defense Department had concluded that people diagnosed with gender dysphoria were unfit or a liability. He only stated that they did not meet the military's 'high standards for service member readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity.' The ban sparked a series of lawsuits in multiple venues, including Washington state and the District of Columbia. The Supreme Court's decision Wednesday was a direct response to the Washington state challenge brought by Emily Shilling, a Naval commander with 20 years of experience who is also a transgender woman. Shilling's case, while similar, is still distinct from Talbott's lawsuit, and the result for Shilling does not mean Talbott's case is decided or over. Talbott's case went before the Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., last month after the Trump administration pushed to have U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes's injunction on the ban lifted. Reyes had found the ban was 'soaked in animus' towards Talbott and other trans service members. To that end, Reyes blasted the government for being unable to point to data that supported its claims that trans members were less honest or capable, or posed a danger to military readiness, or were prohibitively expensive to take care of. While scrutinizing the administration's claims that care for trans troops was uniquely harmful, Reyes pointed out that the U.S. military spent $42 million on Viagra in 2024 versus just $5.2 million that same year on gender affirming care for trans soldiers. The military considers Viagra a treatment for depression and post-traumatic stress, and as Reyes noted, gender affirming care has been found to ease depression, too. The stats gave the judge pause as she pondered aloud in court this spring: If the ban was about improving military readiness, how was the military more ready by denying troops the care they need to perform at their highest level? The judge over Shilling's case in Washington state, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle, did not rule on whether the policy was based on animus. Shannon Minter, Talbott's attorney, told HuffPost on Wednesday that this distinction between the cases is crucial. While the Supreme Court's decision 'puts an enormous amount of pressure' on the appellate court, it is not bound by the Supreme Court's ruling in Shilling. 'They can issue their own decision and are supposed to make their own independent assessment,' Minter said. The D.C. Appeals Court seemed dubious about arguments from Justice Department lawyers who claimed the ban wasn't discriminatory. The government's position that transgender people can still serve so long as they haven't been diagnosed with dysphoria or are living in a sex or gender different from their own prompted one appellate judge to remark in seeming disbelief. 'Your argument that this is not a ban on transgender service is that you can serve as a transgender person so long as you don't serve as a transgender person? Is that right?' Judge Cornelia Pilard said. The Justice Department insisted then and now that the ban isn't discriminatory because gender dysphoria amounts to a medical condition that requires medical treatments, which they say is disruptive to military service. But being transgender or being diagnosed with gender dysphoria never stopped Talbott from being the best the military would demand of him, he said. He was diagnosed with gender dysphoria a full nine years before he joined the Army. 'I received my diagnosis back in 2011, when I was still in high school. Being able to go through the process of transitioning, I've become a better version of myself every single day since I began that process,' Talbott said. 'I have so much more confidence and clarity than I did when I first began. Some of that can be attributed to being 31 years old versus 18 at the time, and that comes with life experience and growing older. But it has been proven by my performance that my being transgender has had no impact on military service.' Talbott was an honor graduate at basic combat training, a distinction that typically occurs when a person is recognized for stepping up into leadership roles even when not called to do so. He also completed officer candidate school, which required intense interviews with officer boards before finally being accepted into a 12-week-long rigorous training program. Talbott recalled traveling 14 hours to officer training school after basic training was done. While there, he said he was taught how to run military operations and 'how to make quick split-second decisions in super high-pressure situations and do so with little to no sleep or resources.' He said he also learned how to 'lead young people into what might be the worst day of their lives,' and how to do it effectively. His hard work paid off: Talbott was eventually made a platoon leader for a military police unit. 'The U.S. military is something I've always had an interest in. Starting from playing Army on the playground, going into high school marching band and learning Veterans Day is the most important performance I'll ever give… or going to college for an undergraduate degree and having my criminology and counterterrorism professor tell me I would be an incredible asset to the U.S. military,' he said. 'This is something I have spent most of my adult life working toward.' Today, as a member of the Army Reserve, Talbott says he still has a civilian job that provides an income, but the ban has left him 'in limbo otherwise.' He'll 'feel the heat,' he said, of losing his military income as well as the stress of simply being in this situation. But it wasn't just himself he was worried about, he said. 'I also have concerns for my unit and what this is going to look like for them. There's a human side to this. This impacts more than just we trans service members, it impacts our families and the people we serve with. So many of us have so many years of experience in our units. This has been our livelihood for so long, it's going to have a huge impact operationally and emotionally,' he said. 'I went in as someone who had fully transitioned, and it is so mind-blowing to me that we're even questioning whether or not I should be allowed to continue to serve. I was serving without an issue. Why are they trying to make an issue where none existed previously?' Talbott said. People who have transitioned or are transitioning while in service are still subject to medical evaluations and are assessed on an individualized basis, he emphasized. 'If any of us could not perform our duty, we would be separated as individuals. There's no reason to do this mass exodus,' Talbott said. And in addition to the financial catastrophe that can come for people who will lose their jobs, Minter emphasized other financial penalties that ousted trans service members face, too, including the repayment of sign-on bonuses. 'This is designed to be punitive,' Minter said. 'It is designed not just to kick people out but to harm them. It is utterly baffling.' Minter represented Talbott when he sued the Trump administration over the first ban. And though many years have passed since then, Minter's shock and horror at the administration is no less potent. The Trump administration's likening of trans people as individuals inherently incapable of honesty or integrity is deeply discriminatory and offensive, Minter said. 'If this policy were applied verbatim to any other group, it would be immediately struck down, and the Supreme Court wouldn't have issued that stay,' she said. 'It's an egregious double standard and just an indication that, unfortunately, we still live in a time when it is considered OK to demean and discriminate against transgender people. Shame on us for that, and shame on the Supreme Court.' Supreme Court Allows Trump Ban On Transgender Members Of The Military To Be Enforced Supreme Court Allows Trump Ban On Transgender Members Of The Military To Take Effect, For Now Trump Administration Urges Supreme Court To Allow Ban On Transgender Members Of The Military
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trans airmen, Space Force personnel have until March 26 to resign under Trump order: Memo
The Pentagon is urging transgender military personnel in the Air Force and Space Force to "separate voluntarily" by the end of the month, saying that individuals with gender dysphoria are "incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service." Troops have until March 26 to resign, according to a memorandum filed Sunday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia as part of Talbott v. Trump – one of the first lawsuits filed against President Donald Trump's executive order barring transgender troops from the military – by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law) and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. "Service members eligible for voluntary separation pay will be paid at a rate that is twice the amount for which the service member would have been eligible under involuntary separation pay," the memo, signed by Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Gwendolyn R. DeFilippi on March 1, states. Pentagon Says Transgender Troops Are Disqualified From Service Without An Exemption Cross-sex hormone treatments will continue for service members who have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria that began prior to a separate memo issued last week until the "separation is complete" by direction of a Department of Defense medical provider "in order to prevent further complications." However, transgender service members are required to adhere to conduct matching their biological sex, "effective immediately," including in showers, bathrooms and living quarters, until their withdrawal is completed. Physical dress and fitness standards must also match service members' biological sex, the memorandum states. Read On The Fox News App Last week's internal Pentagon memo states that service members who are transgender or otherwise exhibit gender dysphoria are prohibited from military service unless they obtain an exemption. Iowa Governor Signs Bill Removing Transgender Protections From Civil Rights Code "The Air Force memo is consistent with this purge of highly accomplished, dedicated transgender service members," attorney Jennifer Levi of Glad Law told Fox News Digital in a statement Monday. "It is shameful. The memo also demonstrates the chaos and havoc being wreaked by this administration in ways that undermine our national security." The Trump administration's transgender military ban is currently facing legal challenges, and the Justice Department filed a complaint against the presiding judge, Ana Reyes, accusing her of potential bias and misconduct. There are currently a handful of lawsuits specifically challenging Trump's gender-related executive orders. Hiding Kids' 'Gender Identity' From Parents Is Common In Blue State Fighting Trump On Trans Issues: Watchdog Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Defense and White House for article source: Trans airmen, Space Force personnel have until March 26 to resign under Trump order: Memo
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
BREAKING: Trump administration says trans service members have until March 26 to quit Air Force
The Trump administration has escalated its efforts to purge transgender service members from the military, urging them to voluntarily separate by March 26—or face an uncertain future. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. The directive, outlined in a March 1 memorandum from the Department of the Air Force, was filed Sunday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia as part of Talbott v. Trump, a legal challenge brought by GLAD Law and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. The memo, signed by Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Gwendolyn R. DeFilippi, states that individuals with gender dysphoria are 'incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service.' Related: BREAKING: Trump administration admits to judge it doesn't know how many troops are trans—or why it's banning them Transgender service members 'are encouraged to elect to separate voluntarily no later than 26 March 2025,' the memo states. 'Service members eligible for voluntary separation pay will be paid at a rate that is twice the amount for which the service member would have been eligible under involuntary separation pay.' The memo applies explicitly to Air Force and Space Force members, though other branches are expected to follow suit. The document also confirms that previous waivers allowing them to use facilities and grooming standards consistent with their gender identity have been revoked effective immediately. Transgender personnel must now adhere to so-called 'biological sex' standards for uniforms, grooming, fitness requirements, and access to showers, bathrooms, and lodging, it notes. This ultimatum comes just one day after the administration admitted in court that the Department of Defense does not track service members by gender identity and has no clear idea how many transgender people actually serve. Despite this, it has moved aggressively to implement President Donald Trump's January 27 executive order, 'Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,' which charged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with coming up with policies to eliminate transgender people from military service under the guise of 'readiness.' Among other restrictions, the March 1 memo also halts access to gender-affirming medical care, though it permits ongoing hormone therapy 'to prevent further complications' while service members await separation. Those who do not leave voluntarily face an uncertain administrative process with no guarantee of retention or protection from involuntary discharge. The administration's own data undermines the rationale for this ban. According to the government's previous court filing, a Congressional Research Service report indicates that between January 2016 and May 2021, only 1,892 active-duty troops received gender-affirming care—a fraction of the 1.3 million service members. Additionally, the Pentagon has admitted in court that it does not have reliable estimates on how many transgender people are serving. The filings come as part of a mandatory disclosure order from U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, who, on February 5, ordered the administration to provide all policies and guidance related to Trump's anti-trans executive orders. The March 1 memo is the latest in a series of documents that outline the administration's rapid and aggressive implementation of its ban on transgender service members. SPARTA Pride—which represents transgender troops—emphasized that transgender people serve in critical roles across the military and that banning them will only weaken the U.S. Armed Forces. On March 12, Reyes will hear arguments from GLAD Law and NCLR seeking an emergency injunction to block the policy, which, NCLR legal director Shanon Minter told The Advocate in a statement, would 'ensure that transgender troops who meet every qualification to serve can continue their commitment to serving our country.'
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How transgender troops prepared to fight Trump's new policy
By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - By the time Nicolas Talbott, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army reserve, checked on the incoming texts buzzing on his smart watch, he found dozens of messages waiting for him. Talbott, a transgender man who took his oath of enlistment in March, instantly knew what the messages were about: President Donald Trump was about to sign his much-anticipated executive order placing restrictions on transgender members of the U.S. armed forces. "Well, it happened," Talbott, 31, said in an interview with Reuters. "Here we go." See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. And transgender service members in the military were ready. Within 15 hours of that executive order, Talbott joined five other transgender service members in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday by GLAD Law, a LGBTQ rights advocacy group, and the National Center For Lesbian Rights (NCLR). The lawsuit alleges that the new restrictions are violating constitutional guarantees of equal protection. The long-term aim is not just to block Trump's executive order, but to enshrine permanent protections for transgender troops, Talbott said. "I'm living proof that trans people can be cohesive members of the United States military and I'm still in a position where I can use my voice and I can use all of the tools in my belt to stand up for other trans people," said Talbott who transitioned medically in 2012 and is due to report for duty as a military policeman this weekend. "Ultimately what we want to do is make it so that transgender folks' eligibility to serve in the United States military is not contingent upon who holds political office at the time." During his first term, Trump announced that he would ban transgender people from serving in the military. He didn't fully follow through with that ban. His administration froze their recruitment while allowing serving personnel to remain. The Pentagon said that as a matter of policy it did not comment on pending litigation. The White House referred back to Monday's executive order. While the executive order at the start of Trump's second term in the White House stopped short of an explicit ban on transgender troops in the military, advocates and Democratic lawmakers said the language suggests transgender service members are medically and morally unfit. "Adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual's sex conflicts with a soldier's commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle," the order reads. "A man's assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member." It also points to hormonal or surgical requirements as a reason for disqualification, comparable to a mental illness diagnosis. The order gives Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth 60 days to implement changes including a ban on "invented" pronouns. It does not spell out how, or if, the U.S. military would remove transgender forces since there is no requirement to identify as transgender. New Jersey Senator Andy Kim said the order was "an insult to the bravery and service" of transgender service members. "How can we have a military that protects all Americans if it doesn't recognize and respect all Americans?" he said in a statement. About 1.3 million active-duty personnel serve in the U.S. military, Department of Defense data shows. While transgender rights advocates say as many as 15,000 service members are transgender, U.S. officials say the number is in the low thousands. There is no data that tracks transgender service members by job, but they include special operators, pilots and doctors. 'IMAGINE EVERY SCENARIO AND BE READY' Transgender advocates say the lawsuit is the first shot in what they predict will be a long fight. "The strategy at the moment is (to) imagine every scenario and be ready for that," said Jennifer Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLAD Law. Navy Commander Emily Shilling, a pilot who leads SPARTA, an advocacy group for transgender troops, said transgender service members began preparing for possible restrictions in May - long before the November elections returned Trump to the White House. In a weekend workshop, conducted just blocks from the White House, nearly two dozen transgender service members practiced high-pressure scenarios, including combative mock interviews, to teach them how to advocate for transgender rights if there was a change in policy after the Nov. 5 election. "(We) did not sit on our hands, and we were preparing for the worst," said Shilling, who has flown 60 missions in Iraq and Afghanistan during two decades in the military. Shilling said SPARTA membership had grown 10% since the election to 2,200 members, many of them senior enlisted members. Paulo Batista, a navy intelligence analyst in San Diego who joined the military in 2022, said he has started to train troops to take his place in case he is forced out. "These guys need to be prepared to be able to go from being a new sailor to speaking to commanding leadership," Batista told Reuters. MONTHS OF LEGAL PREPARATION Legal experts and troops said they were determined not to be caught off-guard in Trump's second term in the White House. In an early morning July 2017 series of posts on Twitter, now known as X, Trump sent lawyers scrambling after he said that the United States "will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military." After the 2024 election, nearly 100 transgender service members and those looking to join the military reached out to Levi, with GLAD Law, looking to be a plaintiffs in a potential lawsuit. Shannon Minter, with the NCLR, said litigators at his organization started speaking with potential plaintiffs in the summer. While some of the plaintiffs in Tuesday's law suit have been in the military for decades, others are still in the process of enlistment. Koda Nature, 23, from Texas, said he had been hoping to continue a family tradition of military service, and had been working with recruiters to join the Marine Corps. "Were the prohibition on military service by transgender individuals to be implemented, Mr. Nature would be unable to enlist in the Marines and continue his family's tradition of dedicated military service," the lawsuit said.
