2paragraphs: U.S. Senator Accuses Pete Hegseth of Lying About Hiring MAGA Civilians, “This Is Outrageous”

When Murray said “the Navy needs welders, not people who can recite a president’s executive orders,” Hegseth sought to reassure the Senator, saying “there’s never been a litmus test for hiring welders.”

This week, Murray obtained a copy of Hegseth’s “hiring merit plan” and questionnaire which includes the query, “How would you help advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you, and explain how you would help implement them if hired.”

Murray responded to Hegseth’s Pentagon litmus test questionnaire, saying: “This is outrageous.”

Kansas City Star: Border Czar: Migrants Detained Without Criminal Records

Federal agents in Los Angeles have reportedly apprehended over 2,300 individuals in early June at their workplaces, resulting in rapid deportations. The operation has sparked significant unrest and protests, as critics have expressed outrage regarding immigrant rights. One detained individual’s parents claimed their son had no legal representation and that their son had no criminal record.

Advocates have argued the raids contradict federal claims of targeting offenders. They claimed that over 200 detainees have no documented offenses.

Protests have intensified over ICE raids and tactics. Critics claimed the administration has shifted from targeting criminals to broad deportation.

To claim that they are deporting criminals is a farce. At this point it’s all about number — they’ll deport anyone they can get their hands on.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/border-czar-migrants-detained-without-criminal-records/ss-AA1GP6ex

Knewz: Kristi Noem’s Pentagon Request Sparks Firestorm

Knewz.com is reporting that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reportedly urged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to authorize U.S. military personnel in Los Angeles to detain civilians amid ongoing immigration-related protests. This request came shortly before President Trump ordered the deployment of U.S. Marines to support operations in the area. The move has sparked legal debate, as it potentially challenges long-standing restrictions on the military’s role in domestic law enforcement.

Noem urged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to direct Department of Defense forces to either “detain, just as they would at any federal facility guarded by military, lawbreakers under Title 18 until they can be arrested and processed by federal law enforcement, or arrest them.”

Experts warn Noem’s request could escalate tensions and erode civil liberties by blurring military and civilian law enforcement roles.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/kristi-noem-s-pentagon-request-sparks-firestorm/ss-AA1GLJiF

Law & Crime: ‘Different in kind’: 4-star generals, admirals serving from JFK to Obama say Los Angeles ICE protests don’t warrant deployment of National Guard to California

4-star admirals, generals serving from JFK to Obama warn Trump’s deployment of National Guard poses ‘potentially grave risk’

Ahead of a Zoom hearing scheduled for Tuesday at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a group of retired four-star generals and admirals who served under presidents ranging from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama filed court documents warning that President Donald Trump’s federalization of the California National Guard and deployment of U.S. Marines poses “potentially grave risk of irreparable harm.”

Seeking the appellate court’s leave to file a brief and enter the case as amici curiae — Latin for “friends of the court” — the retired generals, admirals, and former U.S. Army and Navy secretaries did not explicitly take Gov. Gavin Newsom’s side in the case. They did suggest Sunday, however, that the Trump administration’s bid for an emergency stay of a lower-court ruling and continued push to quell “violent riots” in Los Angeles amid nationwide “No Kings” protests over ICE raids may not pass legal muster when compared to historical precedents.

Again, although the retired admirals and generals did not support either party to the case, they implicitly warmed to Breyer’s ruling that the definition of “rebellion” has not been met and that, in the proposed amici’s words, the “recent and ongoing situation” in Los Angeles “appears to be different in kind” from the “extreme circumstances” of the 1992 Rodney King riots and the times when state governors “openly” and defiantly stood against the end of racial segregation during the Civil Rights era.

The brief concluded that Trump’s injection of the military into “domestic political controversies” — “undermining its ability to achieve its core mission of protecting the nation” — is a case in point as to why troops “should be kept out of domestic law enforcement whenever possible.”

Independent: ‘Political pawns’: Morale among California National Guard and Marines deployed in LA is underwater, report claims

State leaders in California have sharply criticized Trump administration decision to ignore their wishes and send military troops to respond to Los Angeles protests

The 4,000 California National Guard troops and 700 US Marines sent to Los Angeles in response to the ongoing anti-immigration raid protests are reportedly suffering from low morale, according to members of the veterans community, amid allegations of a chaotic initial deployment and widespread concerns of the military being drafted into domestic law enforcement.

“Among all that I spoke with, the feeling was that the Marines are being used as political pawns, and it strains the perception that Marines are apolitical,” Marine Corps veteran Janessa Goldbeck, who runs the Vet Voice Foundation, told The Guardian. “Some were concerned that the Marines were being set up for failure. The overall perception was that the situation was nowhere at the level where Marines were necessary.”

“The sentiment across the board right now is that deploying military force against our own communities isn’t the kind of national security we signed up for,” added Sarah Streyder of the Secure Families Initiative in an interview with the outlet.

Governor Gavin Newsom has also accused the White House of sending in thousands of troops without adequate provisions or training, sharing photos obtained by The San Francisco Chronicle of guardsmen sleeping head-to-foot on bare floors.

“You sent your troops here without fuel, food, water or a place to sleep,” he wrote on X. “Here they are — being forced to sleep on the floor, piled on top of one another.”

“This is what happens when the president and (Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth) demand the National Guard state assets deploy immediately with no plan in place … (and) no federal funding available for food, water, fuel and lodging,” a source involved in the deployment told the Chronicle of conditions during the early stages. “This is really the failure of the federal government. If you’re going to federalize these troops, then take care of them.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/national-guard-marines-los-angeles-morale-pawns-b2769145.html

Washington Post: Trump plans broader use of National Guard in immigration enforcement

The White House wants the national guard to play a bigger role in immigration enforcement, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said in an interview Thursday.

The Trump administration wants to use the National Guard more broadly to enact the president’s immigration agenda, according to border czar Tom Homan, documents and people familiar with plans.

“They can’t make immigration arrests, but they can certainly augment for security, transportation, infrastructure, intelligence,” Homan said in an interview with The Washington Post.

A month before President Donald Trump federalized the California National Guard and sent them to Los Angeles as part of the government’s response to protests over immigration enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security requested more than 20,000 National Guard to aid U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The National Guard would be tasked with helping ICE catch fugitives as well as guard detention centers, process and transport migrants and other tasks, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post. Pentagon officials say they are looking into the request but have not yet decided on the number of troops it will send.

Homan said he is also open to using the National Guard to respond to protests in other places, if the situation on the ground resembles Los Angeles. The protests there have been limited to a few locations, with local leaders saying they did not think a federal response was necessary, but the Trump administration has painted a different picture.

It sounds as though Trump & Homan are intent on using the National Guard against Americans. This will not turn out well.

There’s a lot more in the article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/12/trump-miller-national-guard-ice

Also here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-plans-broader-use-of-national-guard-in-immigration-enforcement/ar-AA1GBVYk

Newsweek: Gavin Newsom accuses Trump administration of spreading fake protest images

On X, formerly Twitter, the Department of Defense’s Rapid Response account posted a video that appeared to show burning, graffitied police cars during protests in Los Angeles this week.

However, the fact-checking website Snopes said the image showed protests in Los Angeles following the death of George Floyd in May 2020.

The governor’s office wrote on X on Friday: “HUGE DEVELOPMENT: An official Department of Defense account is spreading fake images—from old protests—to justify Trump’s illegal militarization of Los Angeles. This isn’t just disinformation. It’s a propaganda campaign from the Pentagon.”

https://www.newsweek.com/gavin-newsom-trump-fake-protest-images-2085492

Atlantic: The Shame of Trump’s Parade

Today’s events are another step in an ongoing effort to turn the U.S. military into a partisan—and personal—instrument of the president.

Today—250 years since the Continental Army officially formed to fight for the independence of the American colonies against the British monarchy—marks a milestone in President Donald Trump’s effort to politicize the U.S. military. Though they are rare, military parades have happened before in Washington, D.C. For the most part, these have been celebrations of military achievements, such as the end of a war. But today is also Trump’s birthday, and what he and his supporters have planned is a celebration of Trump himself.

A mark of a free society is that its public institutions, especially its military, represent the body politic and the freedom-enabling equal rights that structure civic life. If service members and the public begin to believe that the military is not neutral but is in fact the servant of MAGA, this will threaten the military’s legitimacy and increase the likelihood of violent conflict between the military and the public. Today’s events bring us one step closer to this disaster.

And a few lies, none of which are true:

The organizers have made it abundantly clear that today’s purpose is to directly laud Trump and his politics. In promotional materials, they tell us, “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Army has been restored to strength and readiness.” They credit his “America First agenda” for military pay increases, enlarged weapons stockpiles, new technologies, and improvements in recruitment, declaring that he has “ensured our soldiers have the tools and support they need to win on any battlefield.”

As the Trump-aggrandizing bullshit piles up:

Monica Crowley, the State Department’s chief of protocol and a former Fox News host, went on Steve Bannon’s podcast WarRoom to say that the concurrence of the U.S. Army’s anniversary and Trump’s birthday is “providential.” She called it “meant to be. Hand of God, for sure.” She added, “It is really a gift, and we want to be sure that we celebrate in a manner that is fitting, not just of this extraordinary president but of our extraordinary country.” She also expressed hope that the crowd would serenade the president with “Happy Birthday.” Clearly, Trump isn’t merely the guest of honor; he is the reason for the party.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/06/250th-anniversary-army-parade/683162

Esquire: Somehow Republicans Are Defending Kristi Noem After the Forceful Removal of Senator Alex Padilla

I thought assaulting someone holding federal office was a crime. Not anymore, apparently.

So, apparently we’re bum-rushing US senators now. From The Guardian:

In video taken of the incident that has since gone viral on social media, Padilla is seen being restrained and removed from the room by Secret Service agents.“I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” Padilla shouts, as he struggles to move past the men removing him from the premises. “Hands off!” he says at one point.Emerging afterward, Padilla, who is the ranking member of the judiciary subcommittee on immigration, citizenship and border safety, said he and his colleagues had repeatedly asked DHS for more information on its “increasingly extreme immigration enforcement actions” but had not received a response to his inquiries.

This tinhorn governor of a state where nobody lives, this puppy-murdering hack whose political career outside of MAGA World was as dead as Custer, now gets to sic her black-shirted thugs on the senior senator of a state that she and her criminal boss and all their attendant lords have been lying about, and about which she had flown to Los Angeles to lie about some more.

Dumbass in a ballcap says what? She just admitted they’re blowing up the town to get rid of the mayor and governor. If the courts ever get their teeth back, this gaffe will figure prominently in many filings.

Meanwhile, Padilla is hauled into a backroom and driven to the floor and handcuffed.

And not for nothing, but threatening and/or assaulting the holder of any federal office is a felony and could draw you five to ten in the pokey. And these goons are pretty identifiable.

And, of course, the administration’s prevarication mill went into full operation almost instantly. From The New Republic via Yahoo:

In posts on X, the official DHS account and Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin released a statement attempting to justify wrestling Padilla to the ground and handcuffing him. “Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” the statement read.

Tricia learned to lie like this at the AEI’s Leadership Institute.

But in a video of the altercation from Padilla’s office, the senator could be heard clearly identifying himself. “Hands off! I’m Senator Alex Padilla, and I have questions for the secretary,” said the California Democrat as a security guard pushed him out of the room.

It’s clear that the goons looked at him and just saw another angry brown face. And by their reactions, Tricia and her boss are similarly afflicted.

This is also all my bollocks. Noem knows who Padilla is and, if she doesn’t, she should, and he did identify himself. Third-rate hack with a fourth-rate alibi.

And what about Speaker Moses? What did you expect?

That sanctimonious sumbitch wants Padilla censured. And he spent the afternoon hiding. If he’s a Christian, I’m an Ostrogoth.

The day was not without its burlesque, however. In a House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Maxwell Frost asked Chairman James (Jughead) Comer to issue a subpoena for Noem regarding the events of the day. Comer, of course, refused, probably because Padilla was not carrying Hunter Biden’s laptop at the time. And then we were off.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a65058840/senator-padilla-kristi-noem-james-comer-marjorie-taylor-greene

New York Magazine: Playing Secretary — Could These Be Pete Hegseth’s Last Days in the Pentagon?

As war looms, Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon is beset by infighting over leaks, drugs, and socks. How long will Trump stand by his man?

In the drama of Hegseth’s January confirmation hearings, it was easy to get distracted by the financial settlement for an assault allegation, by the multitudinous accounts of heavy drinking on the job, by claims of misogyny from both his mother and his sister-in-law, by the fact that Hegseth, while married with three small children, had fathered a child with a Fox News producer who was also married with small children, during which pregnancy he had slept with the woman who later accused him of assault, and thereby miss some straightforward information about his managerial experience.

Pete Hegseth had run a nonprofit called Veterans for Freedom for several years, an organization that employed fewer than 20 people, and resigned after alleged financial mismanagement nearly bankrupted the organization. He had run a group called Concerned Veterans for America, which employed around 160 people, and resigned amid allegations of misconduct and, once again, financial mismanagement.

In choosing Hegseth, Donald Trump did not choose from the large set of people who had never managed an organization, or the considerably smaller set of people who had managed an organization without incident, but from a smaller still set of people who had managed multiple bureaucracies and resigned multiple times under complex circumstances.

It’s a good read but a bit long. Click the link below to read the entire article:

https://archive.is/xG4FF#selection-1205.0-1209.128