The Soldier's Secretary
Yesterday, Pete Hegseth sat before the Senate Intelligence Committee considering his confirmation as Trump's Secretary of Defense. The hearing lasted about 4 hours. The only thing surprising was how well Hegseth stood up under some hostile questioning by democrats. In the end the audience made up mostly of veterans, family & friends of Hegseth stood and chanted "USA'.
Of course, there were a few troublemakers in the room who tried to interfere with Hegseth's opening statement. The ultra left wing group "Code Pink" was among them. The Committee Chairman Roger Wicker was well prepared. He had the Capitol police remove the protestors immediately. There were about three who were carried out bodily. I believe one was a chubby woman wearing an Air Force jacket.
Then Hegseth delivered his opening statement. Clearly, he was intent on restoring the military to its former stature of readiness and was determined to rid the military of all the woke nonsense that Obama/Biden had subjected it to. He pledged that the standards would be high and equal, not equitable. The democrats were their usual nasty selves trying to destroy Hegseth's character. Four of the leftist female Senators seemed completely unhinged and Senator Tim Kaine pretended that there is nothing more he hated than a man who cheats on his wife. A very strange attitude for someone who was the running mate of Hillary Clinton. The ranking member requested a second round of questioning. I was so proud of the Committee Chairman who said "No, we are going to stick with what we agreed to."
For anyone who watched that hearing yesterday it was clear that Hegseth aced it. The most important question came from Senator Joni Ernst when she asked if Hegseth would continue to allow women to act in combat roles. It was the only commitment that Hegseth made, and it came with the qualifier that the same high standards would be equal for both men and women. After the hearing Ernst said she would vote for Hegseth. I'm guessing that deal was made when Hegseth met her earlier. I am also guessing that this nomination will go right down party lines. Hegseth will be the Defense Secretary who will have the backs of the soldiers.
In other news:
The House passed a bill that would bar biological men from participating in women's sports. It now goes to the Senate.
The SCOTUS is about to render a decision in the TikTok case.
The Security & Exchange Commission is suing Elon Musk. They are accusing him of securing a large stock position in Twitter before he bought it without filing the proper notification.
It looks like Trump did it again as Hamas and Israel are close to a deal that would end fighting and release hostages.
Firefighters in Southern California managed to contain some fires, while the largest fires remain far from contained.
Senator Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of state pick, is expected to appear at a hearing today.
Pam Bondi, Trump’s choice for attorney general, has a solid reputation as a prosecutor. Her hearing is also set for today. The democrats may seek to get her to comit to not prosecuting former officials who may have broken laws while trying to stop Trump from winning the election.
Mike Johnson ordered that American flags at the Capitol be temporarily raised for the inauguration.
Michelle Obama will not attend the Trump inauguration. She did not attend former president Carter's funeral either.
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Good morning.
Tonight, Joe Biden will make his farewell address.
The long nightmare is coming to an end.
And then immediately forget what he was doing or where he is.
As long as they escort him out on Jan 20th.
and take him to The Shady Rest Hotel at Petticoat Junction.
More likely Bellevue Hospital.
How about Shady Oaks LOL
Does he know?
I assume they wrote a speech for him. The only problem is his lethal enemy - the teleprompter.
The hearing demonstrated how few normal democrats are left with senators like manchin and even cardin leaving. The shrill and crazy are left.
That is why the country turned away from them.
It was strange to watch Senator Blumenthal question a veteran about veteran organizations that had shortfalls.
Blumenthal was the man who lied about serving in Vietnam.
How is Schumer dumb enough to let him near any committee that has anything to do with defense?
Good question.
I can only assume that Schumer doesn't care about national defense.
Veteran Washington Post opinion writer Jennifer Rubin said Monday she is leaving to join a startup — and blasted the Beltway broadsheet’s billionaire owner on her way out the door.
Rubin, an outspoken critic of President-elect Donald Trump, had recently publicly attacked the paper and its owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, for appearing to seek to get into the Republican’s good graces.
Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin quits, slams owner Jeff Bezos as mass exodus continues at money-losing publication
Crazy racist Crockett almost got her rotten ass kicked:
As if we needed more evidence how unhinged the left has become.
I can still see that woman in the Air Force jacket kicking and babbling something about Gaza.
That was funny. She, like the Democrats in this hearing is merely looking for their 15 minutes and don't care how utterly stupid they have to make themselves look to get it.
I thought I heard someone say she wreaked of beer. Maybe that was part of it.
Are we sure it's wasn't Nancy?
Nancy is on the outs ever since Kamala got beat.
I'm guessing this will be the first that Trump or Hegseth will fire:
Can the Navy ever wash away such a stain?
More proof that the Marine Corps is the men’s department of the Navy.
Oh, come on. Who else gives you guys a ride to the action.
The Navy has excellent chow.
I've heard.
Especially in the Chief’s mess. Better than the wardroom.
Maybe the worst of the lot. We need sailors.
Ahh. One of the MANY DEI hires in the Biden Administration.
If hegseth can stay sober long enough.
Unlike so many of my fellow Vets on the left. I’d like to thank Pete for his service and wish him well if he gets confirmed as SecDef.
Which in spite of all the left wing lunacy ….. he should.
Same here.
Ditto.
Service sure... But he was never in charge of anything more than a platoon....I was in charge of more than that as an E-5 in the Marines. I have no problems with his service and I respect that, but his claims are BS.
Plenty of cabinet secretaries have had less “qualifications” than Hegseth. Including SecDef’s with ZERO military experience.
The attacks on him are nothing more than partisan whining.
Nothing more.
Well, many of them were D mega donors to the D president's campaign.
That's all that matters and settles their qualification.
Biden cabinet was a true ship of fools. Granholm in energy ….. zero experience, Buttigeig in Transportation…. Zero experience, I could go on but it falls on TDS induced, rotted brains so there is no point to it really.
To be fair, I read somewhere that he did some sort of transportation stuff, albeit a minor role, before he became mayor.
Be that as it may, it is nothing compared to what Hegseth did in the military, but the left praised Biden for picking Buttigieg for Transportation.
It was all about checking the right box. If he were a straight white male, no way he would have gotten that position.
Exactly ….. a diversity hire.
Nothing more ….
He drove to work?
Probably the husband did most of the driving.
Three of Trump’s cabinet picks, Kristi Noem, Doug Bergum, and Tulsi Gabbard, have all had their confirmation hearings postponed due to so-called paperwork issues. They pulled the same bullshit during Trump's first term. They’re blaming both FBI background check delays and a failure of the Office of Government Ethics to complete their reviews. What's taking the FBI so long?
The swamp is fighting back. Further insuring their demise ….
You bet.
My guess is they're dragging their feet solely because they are all Trump's nominations.
Patel can't get there fast enough.
Ranking member Dick Durbin is asking Pam Bondi to contradict Trump. That is the kind of questioning democrats are asking the AG nominee.
I think Sheldon Whitehouse might have committed the biggest self own in history with this question:
And she came back with the perfect answer:
Pam Bondi: That’s exactly what’s been happening to Donald Trump since 2016.
It is kind of another worldliness that they worry about what she might do, but were never concerned with what Merrick Garland actually did do!
Kamala Harris message to Californians:
“It’s critically important that, to the extent you can find anything that gives you an ability to be patient in this extremely dangerous and unprecedented crisis, that you do,"
Kamala Harris roasted for her ‘word salad’ advice to LA fire victims: ‘Classic Kamala’
I would love to see the inner workings of the mind that comes up with that shit.
Yet many members on the left insist she is presidential and blame the voters for rejecting her.
I imagine it would be like looking at a plate of spaghetti. Noodles all twisted together with absolutely zero logic.
No wonder so many on the left think she is presidential. Kindred spirits.
There can't be much to those inner workings.
What inner workings there are probably pretty rusted and corroded...
Gawd, to think so many happily voted for this dimbulb.
Scary!
A lot of them were trained to think a certain way.
I hate to break up this far right love fest with a taste of reality , but
Hegseth's elevation is pretty much the exact opposite of meritocracy. Other than being on tv and writing a couple of extremist books that promote culture wars and praise Christian nationalist ideas, what is there about this guy that makes him acceptable to one of the highest positions in government? I strongly suspect that there are tens of thousands of vets with similar qualifications as Hegseth. Trump could just as easily have picked a candidate out of a phone book consisting of veterans.
In 1989 a nominee for Defense Secretary was denied confirmation because of alcohol and infidelity issues, and unlike Hegseth he was probably otherwise qualified.
I guess Trump thinks that being on tv translates into "meritocracy".
Yawn …. Your apathy towards some of Biden shitty cabinet selections and Harris’s VP pick exclude you from this conversation.
Our soon to be president chose him
No comedy, please.
You shouldn't have started it at 12.
‘Other than being on tv and writing a couple of extremist books that promote culture wars and praise Christian nationalist ideas, what is there about this guy that makes him acceptable to one of the highest positions in government?’
How about serving his country, unlike many leftists?
Also deploying to more than one war zone and awarded the Bronze Star twice. The man is a hero.
Many of past SECDEF were nothing more than large donors or were engaged in weapons companies.
If no leftists are serving their country in the military , why are people like you always complaining about the leftists in the military?
Serving the country is not a winning qualification for government office. Hegseth has more or less pledged to go after officers involved in the Afghanistan withdrawal. He did so again yesterday. Do you really think the generals involved in that wanted it to go off badly? Or that it happened because they were "woke"? Its total nonsense.
By any objective standard Hegseth is a political extremist. I would ask you to name one Secretary Of Defense from the past that was a political extremist.
Show me where I said no leftists are serving.
The rest of your rant was just once again complaining about something you thought you heard yesterday. Nothing more.
Yeah, Biden’s SecDef was righteous prior to getting the job. Served on boards like Raytheon, United Tech, Tenet Health and Nucor Corp to name a few.
Righteous man!
Hyperbole is about all they got …..
By YOUR OPINION Hegseth is a political extremist. Don't get your opinion confused with fact.
Trump could have nominated General Norman Schwarzkopf and you all would cry about it.
I have looked at what Hegseth has said in his books. Have you? He declares the left to be the enemy of the United States. Thats probably ok for a blogger, it is not ok for a high government official. Hegseth mentioned that Jesus is his lord and savior at least three times yesterday. No one asked him to.
Is that opposed to members of congress saying the right is the enemy? Sounds kind of hypocritical to acknowledge one and not the other.
OH THE HORROR!!!!!!!!
The ideology, not the people. The ideology fucked up many minds, causing them to just plain go stupid.
And that offends you how?
Well, let's see how Project 2025 Vought does once veterans read his answers from today.
He plans to cut VA benefits and put veterans under a "means" tested system of providing benefits.
Good luck with military recruitment if everyone knows they will not get equal benefits according to their service to our country. It will be subject to welfare style "means" testing.
We do know that Hegseth will support and defend service members accused of war crimes, he has a proven record of that.
The Soldier's Secretary?
This soldier of more than 20 years service, responds "I don't think so"!
He was a Company Commander at the pinnacle of his military service - he should stick to his talk show
I'm disappointed.
Which means he has a more current experience at the unit level than most former Secretaries of Defense. Puts him in a better position to make decisions regarding the armed forces than a General Officer who has played politics the latter part of their career.
But it makes him totally inept in speaking with Generals with decades of experience or with world leaders
Except for Gaetz the absolute worst of the cabinet picks
And that is an indication that the Generals have been out of touch with those they are supposed to lead.
Anyone who has served who understand that leadership (especially at the highest levels) is focused on leading and developing a strong defensive posture (capable of a rapid evolution to offense) more than on "relating" to the lowest ranks.
Ans when we volunteer to serve, we swear an oath to "obey the orders of the officers senior to us" rather than "staying in touch with those leaders".
I repeat one of the two worst candidates for the cabinet nominated by Trump.
And Pete Hegseth shows that focus. He's also shown that he won't play the political games his predecessors have.
I took the same oath. But what's been missing for quite a while is what makes a leader a leader; keep in touch with their subordinates.
That's a matter of opinion.