Hegseth's words seem especially chilling in light of his whitewashing of the Wounded Knee Massacre as a heroic "battle" only a few days ago. The message would seem to be that the Trump Administration is willing to forgive any atrocity US troops may commit as an "earnest mistake."

that's exactly right. the clear goal in mind is to deploy the us military against domestic "enemies," meaning political opponents and people who just disagree.

None of this is subtle. They're just counting on it being so horrifying and unthinkable that respectable voices won't name what's happening in front of our eyes.

And, of course, you selectively exploit individual acts of political violence to seed the idea that "the left" writ large—and ultimately everyone who's not MAGA—is a domestic terrorist threat that can legitimately be treated as enemy combatants.

You purge the armed forces as much as possible of everyone but white, straight, Christian Republican men. You mock norms & laws against war crimes. You test willingness to murder people on ships that pose no threat. You normalize domestic occupation of cities.

The endgame for all of this is constructing a military that will obey orders when ordered to fire on citizens. That's the throughline to half of what Trump is doing.

pete hegseth, who you will recall has been accused of domestic abuse and sexual assault, has announced a new policy by which you cannot file anonymous complaints of mistreatment. sex criminal solidarity.

yeah, this is hegseth straightforwardly announcing that it is free play time for bigots in the ranks. and together with his comments on standards, he clearly wants to purge as many women, black and brown people as he can from the armed services. a white man's military.

like, the fact that they felt this spectacle was necessary is itself evidence that they don't have the military support that they want

regular reminder that "he wants" ≠ "he will"

the president of the united states wants to use the american military to kill american citizens on american soil. that's the whole story!

I genuinely cannot imagine being an expert in your field, making the sacrifices that the military requires and being forced to travel halfway across the world to listen to this dude bloviate about things he doesn't understand and if enacted could undermine your job and land you in a prison

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but there are military reports going back to at least Bush 2 about climate risks for this reason. They're pragmatic people.

The military cares about climate change because they understand it's setting the ground for more conflicts, and because their bases are underwater. Seems like having your bases underwater might affect military readiness.

Will you now accept that Trump has declared war on his own country? That this is always what he was doing, was always his intent?

He's telling us what he's doing. Using the military to suppress protest. At some point the opposition needs to listen to him and adjust strategy.

starting to suspect that *all* forms of gutter guards, gutter shields, and gutter filters are just a boondoggle selling a fantasy of never having to clean yr gutters again, but leaving you with a reality of gutters that are now a nightmare to actually clean

David Cross folks.

reminder that one of the first things Hegseth did was end DOD recognition of Black History Month.

reminder that this directive functionally massively discriminates against Black men and should be understood as part of an ongoing campaign to resegregate the military www.military.com/daily-news/2...

you know what probably isn't great for military readiness? turning a blind eye to violent hazing, sexual assault and bigotry, while purging leaders on the basis of race and gender.

and he's obsessed with appearance because that's the only thing he understands.

just the hubris on this guy! like every chauvinist mediocrity, he sincerely believes he is a top specimen, the pinnacle of human achievement.

www.witn.com/2025/07/29/g... But "he didn't mean to be rude".

One of my favorite real time examples of this- two Black men stopped in front of a sink hole warning people who were about to drive into it. One very loud white man intentionally ignored them and tried to play off that they tried to warn him.

Hegseth: “Frankly, it's tiring to look out at combat formations or really any formation and see fat troops. Likewise, it's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon.”

The CDC made reporting listeria optional. Listeria in ready-to-eat pasta has killed four and hospitalized 19.

This makes a lot more sense if you look up his work history lol He basically gets fired from every gig he's ever had for either drinking or sexually assaulting people on the job too much

NEW: Rachel Maddow drops unseen bodycam footage of feds coordinating the arrest of Newark Mayor Baraka. I REPEAT: the feds ordered his arrest even though he wasn’t breaking any laws. Federal agent: “We are arresting the mayor right now per the Deputy Attorney General of the United States.”

i'm guessing this is for his buddies who have been accused of war crimes or blatant racism

Nonzero chance before 2028 he manages to bring back both Don't Ask Don't Tell and pederasty

can you imagine sitting in that audience as a three-star flag officer — decades in the service, multiple post-grad degrees and a virtually unequaled level of command expertise — and being forced to watch this dunderheaded dry drunk give an off-brand jordan belfort seminar?

this is, no exaggeration, some of the most loser shit i have ever seen in my life

Just completely cooked brain, 100 percent addled right-wing fever dream shit, spewed out to 800 people who spent their entire careers rising to the top of the military. That is a room completely full of the angriest people in the world.

"Dems will get blamed for a shutdown" as opposed to what, all the friendly coverage and positive credit they'd get for caving yet again? This whole premise is built on a delusion about what the alternative is. There's no cowering in the corner and being so inoffensive they won't still attack you.

Absolute all-timer sentence in today's @nytimes.com

I feel like it’s so easy to not be a transphobic piece of shit. And yet.

This sucks bro.

I don't think we'll ever get another sentence which sums up everything the New York Times embodies quite like "Some legal experts have called it a crime to summarily kill civilians".

j.k. rowling should be understood, first and foremost, as a misogynist. she just sometimes cloaks her misogyny by accusing others of sexism. see how she denigrates emma watson as an ungrateful, spoiled, bratty princess. this is solely because watson refuses to be a transphobe

literally anyone who has done abortion rights work in the last 30+ years could tell you that "destroy science by any means necessary" was the only thing on the bingo card

In a rare move, members of the press have organized a rally in protest against rising repression following the arrest of *yet another* NY-based photojournalist for documenting the aftermath of a protest event. 3pm - Foley Square - 10/1 #JournalismIsNotACrime

2 others who were arrested were also raided, one of whom had to spend the night in central bookings until this morning to be arraigned and released. My understanding is neither of them are members of the press, and their charges are lesser. #JournalismIsNotaCrime

This is the second credentialed press person to be raided & arrested & charged with hate crimes for documenting protest activity in NYC. The first was a little over a year ago. That case is still ongoing. #JournalismIsNotaCrime

The photojournalist spent nearly 24 hours detained, their home turned upside down, their family and friends terrified, for documenting the aftermath of explicit protest activity on a public sidewalk. #JournalismIsNotaCrime

NYPD also seized the camera equipment of another photographer who was with the photojournalist at the time of the predawn raid, despite being totally irrelevant to their “investigation.” NYPD shoved & briefly detained that photographer, as well. #JournalismIsNotaCrime