Tag: Secretary of War

Looking For A Scapegoat

Donny’s war has helped drop his poll numbers to record levels….

President Donald Trump’s approval rating fell in recent days to its lowest point since he returned to the White House, hit by a surge ​in fuel prices and widespread disapproval of the war he launched on Iran, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
The four-day poll, completed on Monday, showed 36% of Americans approve of Trump’s ‌job performance, down from 40% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last week.
(reuters.com)
With crappy polls and a defiant Iran Donny is scrambling to find someone to blame for his failure….he has already whacked Noem so he could he possibly blame for Iran?
And what better person to blame than Pistol Pete Hogsbreath?

President Trump is already trying to throw Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth under the bus for the fruitless war on Iran.

“I called Pete, I called General Caine, I called a lot of our great people … and I said, ‘Let’s talk. We got a problem in the Middle East. We have a country … that for 47 years has been a purveyor of terror. And they’re very close to having a nuclear weapon. We can keep going and get that 50,000 up to 55 and 60, there’s no end. Or we could take a stop and make a little journey into the Middle East, and eliminate a big problem,’” Trump said Monday at an event in Memphis.

“Pete, I think you were the first one to speak up,” Trump continued. “And you said, ‘Let’s do it.’ Because you can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.”

“Hegseth about to give his next briefing from under the bus,” liberal podcaster Jon Favreau wrote on X.

This quick comment is magnified by the chaos of Monday morning, which saw Trump announcing a five-day pause on bombing Iranian energy sites while claiming that he was close to a deal with the Iranian government. The Iranian government then denied speaking to him in any capacity at all, sparking rumors that Trump was engaging in market manipulation. And if the war is going as badly as it appears to be, Hegseth may be in trouble.

(newrepublic.com)

I cannot think of a better person for Donny to blame.

And the sooner we see the back of him the better the military will be.

Whatcha think?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

It’s Called CYA.

This whole thing is making the rounds in the media about the ‘second attack’ on a suspected narc boat is getting interesting….it is about the moral consequences (I know that is not a thing for these fools have no morals).

This is how it has played out so far….

Pete Hegseth and the White House deny allegations that anything improper unfolded when special ops troops unleashed two separate missile strikes on a suspected drug boat—the second of which killed two survivors clinging to the wrecked vessel. But the issue only seems to be gaining steam. Background and opinions:

  • Background: On Friday, the Washington Post reported that Hegseth gave a verbal order to “kill everybody” on the boat in the Caribbean. Two men survived the first strike and were clinging to the damaged boat, and the mission commander then ordered the second strike to fulfill the “kill everybody” order, according to the newspaper.
  • Justification: “Because this administration has designated these narco-terrorists as foreign terrorist organizations, the president has a right to take them out if they are threatening the United States of America, and if they are bringing illegal narcotics that are killing our citizens at a record rate—which is what they are doing,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Monday, per Mediaite.

Not so fast, say critics:

  • In a post at Executive Functions, Jack Goldsmith spells out stipulations in the Department of Defense Law of War Manual and other regulations that expressly prohibit killing, or ordering the killing, of captured or wounded enemy combatants. “In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water,’ as the Post put it,” writes Goldsmith.
  • Jennifer Rubin has a similar take at the Contrarian on Substack. “Putting aside for the moment the legitimacy of the underlying order to shoot these boats out of the water … it is impossible to imagine any Pentagon lawyer blessing this action,” she writes. “The concept of hors de combat—literally, out of combat—is a fundamental aspect of the law of war that prevents harming those disabled from combat.”
  • A detailed analysis at Just Security, also citing specific military rules, concludes that Hegseth’s “kill everybody” order and Adm. Frank Bradley’s subsequent order of the second strike were both “clearly unlawful,” and it puts the word “clearly” in boldface. “The Sept. 2 strikes on the purported drug boat neither violated the law of armed conflict nor amounted to war crimes, because they did not occur during an armed conflict,” reads the post. “However, if the facts are as reported, there is little question that the order by Secretary Hegseth and the ensuing order by Admiral Bradley to conduct the second strike were unlawful, because the killing of the two survivors was a serious violation of international human rights law.”

They want us to believe that a seasoned commanding officer called for a second strike to avoid retaliation from the survivors…..thinking…..just how were two people clinging to wrecking going to retaliate?

At a press conference…..

The White House on Monday defended as lawful two separate missile strikes on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean, the second coming as two survivors clung to the vessel after the first strike. But White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt also clarified that the second strike order came from the special ops commander of the mission—Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley—and not from Hegseth directly, reports Mediaite.

  • President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narco-terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war,” Leavitt told reporters, per the Hill. “With respect to the strikes in question on September 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Adm. Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes.”
  • On Friday, the Washington Post reported that Hegseth gave a verbal “kill everybody” order before the first strike. Bradley then ordered the second strike to fulfill that order, according to the story. The incident has raised questions about the legality of both, but Leavitt rejected those concerns, per Time. “Because this administration has designated these narco-terrorists as foreign terrorist organizations, the president has a right to take them out if they are threatening the United States of America,” she said.

The morons are scrambling to protect dipshit Hogsbreath from any blowback..,…the admiral will take the hit for any consequences.

Then Hogsbreath showed just how much a piece of shit he really is….

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, apparently making light of war crimes allegations, shared a meme Sunday showing the children’s book character Franklin the Turtle firing a rocket-propelled grenade at a boat. The meme depicted a fake book cover with the title “Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists,” the Hill reports. Hegseth tagged US Southern Command in his post on X, saying, “For your Christmas wish list.” The post followed reports that special ops troops acting on Hegseth’s orders fired two missiles on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean, the second of which killed two survivors. (The White House defended the strikes and said the second order came from the mission commander, not Hegseth.)

Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat and Senate candidate, responded bluntly to Hegseth’s post, calling him “a disgrace,” Fox News reports. Former GOP Rep. Justin Amash also criticized the meme, writing, “There’s nothing Christian about war crimes.” Commenters online suggested a sequel: “Franklin Goes to the Hague.”

Every day we are treated to the reality that these fools have NO moral compass.

It is about time to throw then ALL in prison or at least tar and feather them.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Gone And Soon Forgotten

Appears that Hogsbreath’s days are numbered as Donny’s Lord of War…..that’s right he will soon be departing for whatever reason.

First we said bye bye to Elmo and now another exit will happen….

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is reportedly going to be the first casualty of the second Donald Trump administration, according to The Daily Beast’s Washington bureau chief David Gardner.

While Hegseth still enjoys a steady paycheck from the government, the Pentagon chief’s days at the agency are reportedly numbered. The dire forecast for Hegseth’s time in Trump’s administration comes after various leaks and, more recently, the shake-up regarding reporters at the Pentagon.

“We were told early on that Trump did not want a repeat of his first administration, where it was kind of chaos,” Gardner to Joanne Coles. “He was firing people, hiring people, it was a lot of unrest within the administration.”

“We were told he was going to give his Cabinet—most of his leading Cabinet members—a year, so there wasn’t this kind of constant departure thing,” he added. “So my guess is, watch out for January and Pete Hegseth, because I don’t think he’s going to last much longer than that first year.”

The Irish Star contacted both the Pentagon and the White House for comment. Daily Beast political reporter Sarah Ewall-Wice said that the one-year strategy might be part of a broader plan.

https://www.irishstar.com/news/politics/pete-hegseth-first-fired-trumps-36080351

If this report is true I say bye bye and good riddance.

Then I ask who will be the next incompetent toad to get the call to be Lord of War for our Little Donny?

Maybe the next guy will not be so fixated on the bodies of our soldiers (wink wink)

Any thoughts to share?

I Read, I Write, You Knopw

“lego ergo scribo”

No Fatties Allowed!

Time for another of the old professor’s look into our history.

Recently the Sec of War had a pep rally with every commend general and admiral to point a new way for the military….just a few of the highlights from his presentation….

Ethos: “The era of politically correct, overly sensitive don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings leadership ends right now at every level,” he said. Specifically, “no more climate change worship, no more division, distraction, or gender delusions.”

Non-toxic: He also promised to push back harder against complaints of “toxic” leadership within the military. “We’re undertaking a full review of the department’s definitions of so-called toxic leadership, bullying and hazing, to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second-guessing.”

Fitness: “Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops,” he said. “Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon. … Whether you’re an Airborne Ranger or a chairborne ranger, a brand new private or a four star general, you need to meet the height and weight standards.” He said all members of the military, at every rank, will now have to pass a fitness test twice a year.

Facial hair: “No more beards, long hair, superficial individual expression,” Hegseth said. “We don’t have a military full of Nordic pagans.”

Basically he was saying no fatties, hairless soldiers and mindless drones.

But being a historian I checked back to the early days of the Continental Army and their fearless leader, George Washington…..

Ten new directives, he said, would strip away what he called “woke garbage” and restore what he termed a “warrior ethos.”

The phrase “warrior ethos” – a mix of combativeness, toughness and dominance – has become central to Hegseth’s political identity. In his 2024 book “The War on Warriors,” he insisted that the inclusion of women in combat roles had drained that ethos, leaving the U.S. military less lethal.

In his address, Hegseth outlined what he sees as the qualities and virtues the American soldier – and especially senior officers – should embody.

On physical fitness and appearance, he was blunt: “It’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country and the world.”

He then turned from body shape to grooming: “No more beardos,” Hegseth declared. “The era of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done.”

As a historian of George Washington, I can say that the commander in chief of the Continental Army, the nation’s first military leader, would have agreed with some of Secretary Hegseth’s directives – but only some.

Washington’s overall vision of a military leader could not be further from Hegseth’s vision of the tough warrior.

For starters, Washington would have found the concern with “fat generals” irrelevant. Some of the most capable officers in the Continental Army were famously overweight.

His trusted chief of artillery, Gen. Henry Knox, weighed around 280 pounds. The French officer Marquis de Chastellux described Knox as “a man of thirty-five, very fat, but very active, and of a gay and amiable character.”

https://theconversation.com/where-george-washington-would-disagree-with-pete-hegseth-about-fitness-for-command-and-what-makes-a-warrior-266530

This whole exercise was useless and a waste of time…..but like everything in the Donny admin there must be controls within all systems especially the military for he may need them in the near future.

This exercise would have been just effective in an email but the two clowns had to have their day on the stage.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Finally An EO That Makes Sense

Today Little Donny will make it official by using his Magic Sharpie yet again to sign an EO renaming the DoD as the Department of War….something I have been writing for several years….

President Trump plans to sign an executive order Friday to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War, his latest effort to project an image of toughness for America’s military. The Republican president can’t formally change the name without legislation, which his administration would request from Congress. In the meantime, the AP reports that Trump will authorize the Pentagon to use “secondary titles” so the department can go by its original name. The plans were disclosed by a White House official, who requested anonymity ahead of the public announcement, and detailed in a White House fact sheet.

The Department of War was created in 1789, the same year that the US Constitution took effect. It was renamed by law in 1947, two years after the end of World War II. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth posted “DEPARTMENT OF WAR” on social media after the executive order was initially reported by Fox News. Trump and Hegseth have long talked about changing the name, and Hegseth even created a social media poll on the topic in March. Since then, he has hinted that his title as defense secretary may not be permanent at multiple public events, including a speech at Fort Benning, Georgia, on Thursday. He told an auditorium full of soldiers that it “may be a slightly different title tomorrow.”

In August, Trump told reporters that “everybody likes that we had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War. Then we changed it to Department of Defense.” When confronted with the possibility that making the name change would require an act of Congress, Trump told reporters that “we’re just going to do it.” “I’m sure Congress will go along if we need that,” he added.

he move is just the latest in a long line of cultural changes Hegseth has made to the Pentagon since taking office at the beginning of the year. Early in his tenure, Hegseth pushed hard to eliminate what he saw as the impacts of “woke culture” on the military by not only ridding the department of diversity programs but scrubbing libraries and websites of material deemed to be divisive.

This will take Congressional vote to become a permanent thing…..any bets on the outcome?

Yet more policies to return the US society to the years before WW2 when everything was good….women had few rights, segregation was the rule of the day, history was taught by mental midgets…..all just where Donny wants the country to be.

I agree with the decision to rename the DoD….I agree in principle but not in reasoning.

In case anyone is interested on why the War Department became the Defense Department in 1949 here is a bit of history and the thinking that was behind the original change.

“There was never a unified cabinet level defense secretary of war. There was a secretary of war, but that was the secretary of the Army,” Lee said. “The War Department did not run the nation’s wars. It ran the nation’s Army at war.”

https://taskandpurpose.com/history/what-is-the-department-of-war/

While I like the idea of naming the positioon because it is more in war than defense I do not see this as a positive step coming from this administration.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

DoD: A Rebranding?

For awhile now I have been calling the DoD for what it is…..the War Department….and now even a clueless boob like Donny sees the department for what it is….

President Trump wants the Department of Defense to revert to using the name it had until he was 15 months old. On Monday, the president again raised the prospect of renaming the department the Department of War, NBC News reports. “Why are we ‘Defense?’ So it used to be called the Department of War, and it had a stronger sound.”

  • Trump, speaking in the Oval Office with officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth standing behind him, said, “If you people want to, standing behind me, if you take a little vote, if you want to change it back to what it was when we used to win wars all the time, that’s okay with me. Alright?”
  • “It just sounded bad to me,” Trump said, per Newsweek. “Defense? I don’t want to be defense only. We want defense but we want offense, too.”
  • The Department of War, created in 1789, was merged with the Navy and the Air Force in 1947 to create the National Military Establishment, per Axios. It was renamed the Department of Defense in 1949.
  • Trump has discussed the possible name change before, but no official announcement has been made. He has also referred to Hegseth as the “Secretary of War” in posts on social media.

Despite the floated name change, Trump has emphasized his efforts to broker ceasefires and truces in global conflicts, pointing to successes in fights between India and Pakistan and Armenia and Azerbaijan, among others.

Excuse me but brokering ceasefires and such should that not be on the back of the State Department, after all it is suppose to be the top diplomatic arm of the government?

Personally, I think it should be renamed since it has started more wars and done less on defense…..if it quacks like a duck sort of thing….

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Finally A Cut In War Spending?

I have been bitching about the money thrown at the War5 Dept for decades….there should be less of it and more spent helping the Average family….

Finally that amateur SecDef has stated that there will be some cuts to his budget…

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered Pentagon leaders to develop plans to make sweeping cuts to the Defense Department’s budget, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

According to a memo obtained by the Post, Hegseth’s order calls for an 8% cut to the Pentagon budget each year for five years. The Pentagon budget for 2025 is about $850 billion, and an 8% cut for five years would bring it down to roughly $560 billion, a reduction of $290 billion.

Hegseth wants the proposed cuts to be drawn up by February 24, and the memo included a list of 17 categories that would be exempt from the spending cuts.

The Post report said the exemptions include operations at the southern border, modernization of nuclear weapons and missile defense, and acquisition of submarines, one-way attack drones, and other munitions

(antiwar.com)

When I read the news I was impressed but that did not last very long….

Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert G. Salesses said in a statement on Wednesday night that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered a review of Pentagon spending to realign spending to fund priorities of the Trump administration.

The statement from Salesses came after a report from The Washington Post said that Hegseth ordered a plan to cut Pentagon spending by 8% each year over the next five years. But according to the statement from Salesses, the idea is to redirect spending and not actually make cuts to the budget.

“Secretary Hegseth has directed a review to identify offsets from the Biden Administration’s FY26 budget that could be realigned from low-impact and low-priority Biden-legacy programs to align with President Trump’s America First priorities for our national defense,” Salesses said.

“The Department will develop a list of potential offsets that could be used to fund these priorities, as well as to refocus the Department on its core mission of deterring and winning wars. The offsets are targeted at 8% of the Biden Administration’s FY26 budget, totaling around $50 billion, which will then be spent on programs aligned with President Trump’s priorities,” he added.

On Thursday, Hegseth said that the Trump administration would be taking $50 billion away from “woke Biden-era non-lethal programs and instead spend that money on President Trump’s America First, peace through strength priorities.”

…

Salesses said spending priorities from the Trump administration include the “Iron Dome for America,” referring to an order from the president to establish a major new missile defense system, a project that would be a boon for the weapons makers and likely start a new arms race. Trump has also backed a budget plan drawn up by House Republicans that would increase military spending by $100 billion.

(antiwar.com)

This is becoming all too familiar Donny makes a statement or one of his lackeys and then someone has to ‘clarify’ what was meant.

This is a perfect example of why you should not take news reports at face value there is always something hiding in the meat of the discussion.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ukraine, What Say You?

Back when this whole Ukraine/Russia debacle started many of us, including myself, called for there to be some sort of ceasefire to avoid all the death and destruction of a beautiful country…but right on cue the US put the whammy on any such occurrence.

Most of the war hawks did not like the idea that the East of Ukraine would remain in Russian hands….and then Trump came to town and proposed his brand of diplomacy which is now the War Department’s stand as well.

And now we know where the Trump Admin is coming from…..Howdy Doody tries to make it clear….

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Wednesday dismissed the idea of NATO membership for Ukraine as part of a peace deal with Russia and said the goal to restore Ukraine to its pre-2014 borders was “unrealistic.”

Hegseth made the comments while addressing a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels. “The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome for a negotiated settlement,” he said.

Hegseth said the Trump administration’s goal is to end the war through diplomacy, which he said must start “by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”

Restoring Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders has been a war goal of Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, although there have been signs in recent months that he’s accepted that’s unrealistic. But he is still calling for strong security guarantees from the US that involve the deployment of troops, which Hegseth also dismissed.

“Any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops. If these troops are deployed as peacekeepers to Ukraine at any point, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission, and they should not be covered under Article 5,” he said.

“There also must be robust international oversight of the line of contact. To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be US troops deployed to Ukraine,” Hegseth added.

…

Hegseth said that the US wanted to reduce involvement in Ukraine to focus on the border and a military buildup in the Asia Pacific aimed at China and claimed Beijing was a threat to the US homeland.

“The United States faces consequential threats to our homeland. We must, and we are focusing on the security of our own borders. We also face a peer competitor in the Communist Chinese with the capability and intent to threaten our homeland,” he said.

(antiwar.com)

An ambitious plan but we will see just how serious these people are when the arms industry kicks in to high gear.

For all those that we against the earlier ceasefire conditions…..I ask….whay say you now?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

The Hegseth Express

I have made my thoughts known about the person that Trump wants as the Secretary of War…this Hegseth dude…..there are some in Congress that think like me that this slug is not qualified to oversee the nation’s largest budget and for that reason must not be confirmed.

It appears that Trump has stepped in and flexed his muscle to get his lackey through the confirmation process….

The most vocal opponent to his confirmation was Sen. Ernst but now that has changed….

A week ago, it seemed that Pete Hegseth’s chances of becoming the next defense secretary were doomed, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis floated as a possible replacement. Things look much different now, however, after what Punchbowl News describes as a “vibe shift” on Capitol Hill in favor of the nominee.

  • Key senator: Hegseth met with GOP Sen. Joni Ernst on Monday, who had been voicing serious doubts. Afterward, however, Ernst signaled her support, describing the meeting as “encouraging” and praising his “responsiveness and respect” for the process, per Axios. Ernst has been seen as a “tough sell,” notes Punchbowl News, because Hegseth opposes women in combat roles (she served in Kuwait and Iraq) and has faced allegations of sexual assault (she is a survivor of sexual assault).
  • Strategy: Ernst had faced a fierce public backlash from Trump allies who suggested she may not last in the Republican party if she opposes the president-elect’s pick. “The swarm of MAGA attacks” was “a warning of what’s in store for others who express skepticism of his personnel choices,” per a Politico analysis. Hegseth “became a cause” for Trump allies, one of them tells the outlet, and his success would bode well for other controversial nominees such as Kash Patel for the FBI and Tulsi Gabbard for national intelligence.
  • Still close: Hegseth is still not a slam dunk to win approval. He meets this week with two other female GOP senators, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins. But the New York Times notes that even if they and Ernst end up voting against Hegseth, he would be confirmed if the rest of the GOP coalition holds. A wild card would be if the woman who accused Hegseth of a 2017 sexual assault came forward. Police investigated the allegations but did not bring charges.
  • Hegseth’s campaign: The nominee appeared on Fox News Monday night and told Sean Hannity that the “left is trying to turn this into a trial in the media, a show trial” and that “we’re not going to let that happen.” He added: “I’m going to walk in the door of every one of these senators as an open book, willing to answer their questions because they deserve answers.” Trump himself and JD Vance also have voiced support for Hegseth in recent days, and Politico reports that Vance has been strategic in shifting sentiment in the Senate.

He will make it as the ‘king’ of budgets….and he will be one of the worse secretarys in recent history….

Show just how weak the GOP has become when one person can dictate their principles and at the same time screw the cfountry for the future.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”