Tag Archives: Pete Hegseth
L.A. Times: Arellano: As Trump blows up supposed narco boats, he uses an old, corrupt playbook on Latin America
Consumer confidence is dropping. The national debt is $38 trillion and climbing like the yodeling mountain climber in that “The Price is Right” game. Donald Trump’s approval ratings are falling and the U.S. is getting more and more restless as 2025 comes to a close.
What’s a wannabe strongman to do to prop up his regime?
Attack Latin America, of course!
…
You might ask: Who cares? Cartels are bad, drugs are bad, aren’t they? Of course. But every American should oppose every time a suspected drug boat launching from Latin America is destroyed with no questions asked and no proof offered. Because every time Trump violates yet another law or norm in the name of defending the U.S. and no one stops him, democracy erodes just a little bit more.
This is a president, after all, who seems to dream of treating his enemies, including American cities, like drug boats.
Few will care, alas. It’s Latin America, after all.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-10-25/trump-drug-boats-latin-america
Daily Mail: Setback for Hegseth as Pentagon rebrand halted by judge
Pentagon boss Pete Hegseth faced yet another setback in his mission to rebrand the US military as a photogenic ‘warrior’ class following a lawsuit from school children.
The Defense Department was hit with the legal action after Hegseth ordered military schools to remove hundreds of books about race and sex due to their allegedly ‘woke‘ content.
Some of the banned books include Maya Angelou’s classic novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and State of Emergency with a foreword by Cardi B.
In a shock move, a federal judge said Hegseth’s order violated First Amendment rights following a lawsuit brought on behalf of pre-K to 11th grade students.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15218743/amp/pete-hegseth-pentagon-war-woke-lawsuit.html
MSNBC: Maddow Blog | Trump expands military strikes against civilian boats, this time in the Pacific Ocean
As the White House launches its eighth operation against alleged drug smugglers in international waters, there’s still no evidence to support its claims.
The first step was taken seven weeks ago. Donald Trump ordered a deadly military strike against a civilian boat in international waters, and according to the White House, the operation killed 11 people. The president justified the strikes by claiming the targets were boats smuggling drugs that would eventually reach the United States, but neither he nor his team presented any evidence — to the public or to Congress — in support of the claim.
It was the first, but not the last. The second came two weeks later, followed soon after by several more. Late last week, the Republican administration pointed to a seventh such strike, followed by an eighth, this time in the Pacific Ocean. The New York Times reported:
The Times’ report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC, noted the White House has officially claimed that the first seven strikes have collectively killed 32 people. If the latest reporting is correct, it suggests that the new total is nearly three dozen.
USA Today: Hegseth clamps down on military communications with Congress
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has largely banned military officials – including the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force – from speaking with Congress unless they coordinate with a centralized office that reports to him.
Slingshot News: ‘We Can See Why You Misunderstood’: Mikie Sherrill Puts Pete Hegseth In His Place, Takes Jab At His Intelligence In House Hearing [Video]
During a House Armed Services Committee hearing in June, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) grilled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over him misunderstanding a recent directive by the president regarding aid to Ukraine. Sherrill is currently running for governor in New Jersey.
Independent: Only 15 reporters remain in Pentagon after press pledge prompted walkouts. This is who they are
A handful of reporters from pro-Trump outlets signed the policy, as well as freelancers from foreign-based publications and obscure independent websites.
After dozens of veteran reporters rejected the Defense Department’s prohibitive new press policy, and handed in their media badges this week, the only journalists left with credentials to enter the Pentagon were a mix of freelancers, foreign media members and staffers from MAGA-boosting outlets.
Dozens of print and broadcast journalists walked out of the Pentagon Wednesday in the wake of nearly every American news organization – including Trump-friendly networks Fox News and Newsmax – refusing to follow Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s media restrictions.
These are the suck-ups who signed on to Hegseth’s restrictions. Any so-called “news” from these suck-ups should be treated as Pentagon-approved propaganda:
… only 15 people out of hundreds of credentialed reporters had signed the new press pledge.
Of those signatories, two are from the pro-Trump cable channel, One America News; one is from right-wing website The Federalist; and another is from ultra-conservative newspaper The Epoch Times.
The remaining 11 reporters include freelancers for foreign-based organizations and a couple of little-known independent sites that appear to publish their work solely on social media.
“A reporter for the Turkish newspaper Akşam signed the agreement, as did three individuals from the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency and two Turkish freelancers,” the Post reported. “Other signers included a reporter for The Australian, a News Corp-owned Australian paper; an Afghan freelancer; and three lesser-known operations, AWPS News, the India Globe and a blog called USA Journal Korea.”
Additionally, two members of the Jordanian TV network Al Taghier signed an older version of the policy, which had been scrapped and revised amid negotiations and pushback from the Pentagon Press Association and other press advocacy groups.
Prior to a swarm of defense reporters symbolically exiting the Pentagon together Wednesday afternoon, after handing in their badges and cleaning out their desks, only one media outlet had publicly agreed to the restrictive pledge – One America News.


