Tuesday, December 2, 2025. In the grip of his dementia, Chump posts 400 social media posts last night, Chump and Hegseth attempt to throw an admiral under the bus as though that would mean Hegseth wasn't at faul when, in fact, that just means Hegseth engaged in a months long cover up, Senator Elizabeth Warren calls for the Secretary of Education to resign, Kristi Noem remains a disgrace, and much more.
Let's start with Ben and MEIDASTOUCH NEWS from a little earlier this morning.
"Donald Trump is not a Democrat, he's not a Republican, he's a movement!"
A bowel movement maybe.
As Ben explains, Chump posted that and 399 other things last night/this morning when the 79-year-old should have been sleeping.
Apparently even he feels guilty over the War Crimes and, as a result, can't sleep. Especially when Chump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are trying to blame the War Crime on an admiral and not on Hegseth.
Defense Secretary
Pete Hegseth has been a political problem for President Trump since his
confirmation in the Senate early this year, which he survived thanks to
a single, tiebreaking vote cast by Vice President JD Vance.
He survived the leaked Signal chat episode,
even when it became clear he had copied classified battle plans and
pasted them into an encrypted, but unclassified, messaging chain. He
blamed the press, began kicking news organizations out of the Pentagon
press room and insisted they sign a pledge never to seek news not
approved by his public affairs office. Almost no one signed, not even
his previous employer Fox News.
Now,
the political price of Mr. Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon has
increased. As investigations mount into the legality of strikes that
have killed scores of people in the waters off Venezuela, his
take-no-prisoners, leave-no-survivors approach has led even Republican
supporters to demand answers. So far, few have been forthcoming.
With
claims flying that Mr. Hegseth’s orders might have led to the
commission of war crimes — if not by the secretary, then by senior
commanders following his general orders — Mr. Trump sounded over the
weekend like he was putting some distance between himself and his
defense secretary.
On Sunday evening, Mr. Trump said he
would not have been comfortable with orders to kill the survivors of the
first strike on the fast-running boat. “Pete said he did not order the
death of those two men,” the president said. He added, “I believe him,
100 percent.” Mr. Trump also said: “I wouldn’t have wanted that. Not a
second strike.”
But even as Mr. Trump
was answering questions aboard Air Force One about whether his defense
secretary had stepped over the legal lines with the Venezuela killings,
the same defense secretary was on social media cracking jokes about the
affair. Mr. Hegseth posted a meme on Sunday depicting Franklin, the
turtle from a children’s book series, firing a weapon at a vessel laden
with cargo from a helicopter.
“For your Christmas wish list,” Mr. Hegseth wrote on social media.
The
joke fell flat, eliciting a storm of criticism, including from
conservative social media users. “A civilized people respect life given
by God and don’t treat lightly taking of life no matter how vile that
life was used,” one user wrote replied to Mr. Hegseth’s post. “That meme
was far from Christian. It was bloodlust.”
This is not a minor scandal. This is not something that falls only under international law which would allow Chump to try to build support by verbally lashing out at foreign countries. The second strike is completely against DoD's LAW OF WAR MANUAL. Rachel Maddow made that point on MS NOW last night.
Now let's talk about what people aren't focusing on as Chump and Hegseth try to do a shell game in front of us.
They want to push it off on the admiral -- Adm Mitch Bradley. I don't believe it and let's see what the Congressional investigation reveals. But in the mean time, grasp that if Bradley did order the second strike, that's not an excuse for Pete. It is a War Crime. Pete's the Secretary of Defense. Does he not understand his job? If someone under him commits a War Crime, he needs to hold them accountable. That was back in September and it's December now.
He serves the American people.
So why didn't he do that. Why didn't immediately relieve Bradley of his duty and report to Congress what had happened?
Hegseth's the superior.
So what we're seeing is -- if you believe the claim that the administration is making -- Hegseth didn't just fail at his job, he engaged in a cover up. Laws were broken and Hegsth not only refused to hold anyone accountable, he also engaged in a cover up.
Arizona Senator Mark Kelly accused Pete Hegseth Monday of “playing
army,” after the defense secretary posted a juvenile meme making light
of his military’s extrajudicial executions.
Speaking at a
press conference, Kelly nailed precisely what’s so disturbing about
Hegseth’s lackluster leadership of the Pentagon: he’s like a little kid
playing dress up.
“I
mean think about this, he runs around on a stage talking about
lethality and warrior ethos and killing people. We have the most
competent, capable military this planet has ever seen by far. That’s not
the message that needs to come from the secretary of defense,” Kelly said.
Instead
of focusing on the military’s mission “he runs around on a stage like
he’s a 12-year-old playing army. And it is ridiculous, it is
embarrassing,” Kelly said. “And I can’t imagine what our allies think of
looking at that guy in this job, one of the most important jobs in our
country.”
Kelly was referring to Hegseth’s outrageous summit
in September, where he invited droves of top military personnel to
listen to him lecture about how much he hates the way overweight men
with beards make him feel.
The Arizona senator seems to be fighting back after becoming a target for the Trump administration. Last week, Hegseth threatened to court-martial
Kelly, a former astronaut and U.S. Naval officer, after he appeared in a
video alongside fellow Democratic lawmakers to urge members of the U.S.
military and intelligence community not to follow illegal orders.
For
days, President Donald Trump and his allies pilloried half a dozen
Democrats for their video that urged troops to disobey any potential
illegal orders from the administration
Now we
have a case-in-point example of what those Democrats may have been
talking about. The US military in early September conducted a follow-up
attack — known as a “double-tap” strike — on an alleged drug vessel in
the Caribbean after the first strike did not kill everyone on board, CNN
reported last week.
The US military was aware that survivors remained, according to CNN’s sources. The news — which was first reported by The Washington Post and The Intercept — has caught the attention of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
The administration’s strikes on alleged drug vessels were already legally dubious,
given there is no declared war in the Caribbean. But killing survivors
takes things to a new level, given that the law of armed conflict
prohibits the execution of an enemy combatant who is removed from the
fight due to injury.
Indeed, killing the survivors of a shipwreck is often treated as an archetypal example of an illegal order and a war crime.
“They’re
breaking the law either way,” Sarah Harrison, a former associate
general counsel at the Pentagon, told CNN. “They’re killing civilians in
the first place, and then if you assume they’re combatants, it’s also
unlawful — under the law of armed conflict, if somebody is ‘hors de
combat’ and no longer able to fight, then they have to be treated
humanely.”
Yet
Trump, during his second presidency, is drawing vehement criticism from
both Democrats and the non-MAGA right for his Venezuela policy — which
includes a series of military strikes against Venezuelan boats that
Trump claims were transporting illegal drugs to the United States and
possible strikes in Venezuela itself.
One of those critics is MS NOW host and Never Trump conservative Joe Scarborough, a former GOP congressman.
On
the Monday, December 1 broadcast of "Morning Joe," Scarborough and one
of his guests — retired Gen. Mark Hertling, former commander of U.S.
Army Europe — attacked Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's
Venezuela policy as a shoot-first/ask-questions-later approach that
violates military protocols.
Scarborough told a
panel that included Hertling, fellow "Morning Joe" host Mika
Brzezinski, Axios' Jim VandeHei and former Associated Press (AP)
reporter Jonathan Lemire that Trump is "accusing…. senators of treason,
talking about their hanging, for simply going back and saying you don't
have to follow illegal orders that would have you held responsible….
that would have you, in the end, found guilty for war crimes, or
murder."
Trump and Hegseth, Scarborough warned, are getting the U.S. into an "extraordinarily dangerous legal situation" with Venezuela.
Chump and Hegseth looked ridiculous last week as they savaged Senator Kelly. They only look more ridiculous now that everyone's talking about the War Crime of the second strike.
Maybe it's time for Pete Hegseth to be called back into the military so he can face a court-martial for War Crimes?
Pete
Hegseth just admitted to murder and is heading toward executing a
massive mission that one ex-GOP insider says will "end in ruin."
Steve
Schmidt, an independent political strategist who worked on former
President George W. Bush's campaign, on Sunday published a piece called,
"Kill them all" is a confession to murder under American law, in which he discusses how the "United States of America stands at the edge of war against Venezuela."
Congress
launched inquiries and lawmakers from both parties raised the
possibility of war crimes after a report that the U.S. targeted
survivors of a strike on an alleged drug boat.
The
Republican-led armed-services committees in the House and Senate said
this weekend they are opening bipartisan inquiries, after the Washington
Post reported on a Sept. 2 attack on a boat in the Caribbean. In that
attack, the Post said, a second strike was ordered to kill two survivors
in the water.
Herb Scribner (AXIOS WORLD) reviews the 21 known US strikes on boats near Venezuela. Let's note some video coverage of the issue before we move on to a different topic.
Senator Mark Kelly has been receiving death threats. Words have consequences. And those who led rabid mobs
need to remember that. Chump should have been checked on this nonsense
long ago. He made it through most of the year purposely getting his
thugs to threaten judges and politicians. David Edwards (RAW STORY) reports on the most recent threat:
Indiana
state Sen. Jean Leising (R) said she was the newest victim of threats
after refusing a demand from President Donald Trump to redistrict the
state ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
In a Sunday post on X, Leising revealed that her home "was the target of a pipe bomb threat on Saturday evening."
"This is a result of the D.C. political pundits for redistricting," she explained.
The lawmaker thanked the Oldenburg Town Marshall and the Franklin County Sheriff's Office for responding to the threat.
Chump is a menace who is forever attempting to incite violence.
Homeland
Security Secretary Kristi Noem said deportation decisions are under her
authority and denied defying a federal judge who ordered a halt to
removal flights to El Salvador earlier this year.
In
an interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press," Noem said she would "let
[legal proceedings] continue to play through that process," adding that
"the decisions that are made on deportations, where flights go and when
they go, are my decision at the Department of Homeland Security, and we
will continue to do the right thing and ensure that dangerous criminals
are removed."
Asked whether she violated the court's directive, she said "no" and criticized "activist judges" and "radical decisions."
I
don't really believe that the H*A*R*L*O*T of Homeland Security needs to
concern herself with evaluating federal judges. All she needs to do is follow the law and follow court orders. That appears to be too much for her which is why she should have been fired long ago. And Kristi -- who works with her
lover or her ex-lover -- really isn't anyone who can credibly boast of
her decision making. Lastly while she may insist that she didn't defy a
court order, we all remember last week when the administration threw
her under the bus and stated otherwise.
She should get some additional training on how to do her job.
Elaine
Miles should not have suffered through her experience with ICE.
Elaine's an actress who has many credits but most know her from CBS'
NORTHERN EXPOSURE in the 90s. She appeared on all 110 episodes, all six
seasons, playing Marilyn Whirlwind. Her other credits include the
indie classic SMOKE SIGNALS. Billal Rahman (NEWSWEEK) reports what happened to her last month while walking in Redmond, Washington
Native
Americans who are enrolled members of federally recognized tribes are
considered U.S. citizens under federal law. Their citizenship comes from
the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 and tribal sovereignty recognition.
ICE can briefly detain and question individuals if they have reasonable
suspicion, but Native Americans who are U.S. citizens cannot be lawfully
deported.
Four
masked men wearing vests labelled “ICE,” who emerged from two unmarked
black SUVs, demanded her ID, The Seattle Times reported.
Miles
said she presented a valid tribal ID issued by Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), based in Oregon, according to
the outlet.
One of the agents allegedly told
her the document was “fake,” while another reportedly remarked: “Anyone
can make that,” per the report.
When
she pointed to an enrollment office phone number printed on the back of
the card and asked them to call to verify, the agents refused. Miles
then attempted to call herself, at which point the agents reportedly
tried to seize her phone. Shortly after, a fifth agent called from one
of the SUVs, and the group drove away.
Miles said agents did not provide names or badge numbers, according to The Seattle Times.
Homeland
Security Secretary Kristi Noem gave an interview answer on Sunday that
some experts and political observers determined was an "admission"
warranting legal action.
Noem appeared on NBC News over the weekend, where she was asked about how she reportedly rejected a court's order.
Kristin
Welker asked, "The DOJ said that when the administration was ordered to
stop sending detained migrants to a mega-prison in El Salvador, you
personally made the final call to continue the flights anyways. Is that
correct?" to which Noem replied, "The decisions that are made on
deportations, where flights go or when they go, are my decision."
Welker
further pressed Noem, asking, "So you're saying it was your decision.
The judge wanted to ensure that people were given due process…Did you
defy the court's order?" Noem replied, "No. That's one of the things we
continue to face across the country are activist judges."
Experts weighing in (including Tim Miller of THE BULWARK) note tha Noem is saying she will continue to defy court orders.
A
new investigation has debunked the Department of Homeland Security’s
claim that assaults against immigration enforcement officers have
skyrocketed this year.
In September, President
Donald Trump wrote in a memo that “riots” in Los Angeles and Portland,
Oregon, had to led to a “more than 1,000 percent increase in attacks” on
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
The
agency also said last month that ICE agents had been assaulted 238
times between late January and late November of this year, compared to
19 times during the same period in 2024. That represents an increase of
1,153 percent.
DHS, however, has refused
to release a complete list of the alleged assaults, and there have been
signs—including the case of a Washington, D.C., man who was charged
with assault after he threw a hoagie sandwich at a Border Patrol
agent—that the department’s claims are inflated.
Now, an analysis by the Los Angeles Times has revealed the extent to which DHS appears to be exaggerating its claims of violence against federal officers.
A
review of court records in Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Washington,
D.C., and Portland found that assaults on federal officers were up by
just 26 percent.
No one in the current administration is capable of telling the truth. No one.
Newsweek reports
that blue collar jobs are collapsing under President Donald Trump as
the labor market in 2025 "takes a decidedly white-collar tone" driven by
artificial intelligence.
"AI has already been
cited in many of the mass reductions announced by Amazon and other
corporations in recent weeks," writes Hugh Cameron.
"But
for all the hand-wringing over the potentially ill-fated employees of
Silicon Valley and Wall Street, a quieter crisis appears to be unfolding
for the U.S.'s blue-collar employees, despite the pledges and efforts
of the current administration to foster a renaissance in marquee
industries such as construction and manufacturing," he adds.
The
delayed September jobs report corroborates this, showing "an
encouraging uptick in overall hiring but no pause in blue-collar
employment's long-term decline," Cameron writes.
Of
the five areas of employment considered blue collar — manufacturing,
mining and logging, transportation and warehousing, utilities, and
construction — only construction saw an increase in employment, he
notes.
That said, construction's 19,000-job
gain was also "insufficient to offset the monthly loss of 25,300 jobs in
transportation or manufacturing shedding a further 6,000," he writes.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:
“Linda McMahon has no business leading the Department of Education. She should resign.”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) published an op-ed
in USA Today calling for Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to resign
following the recent news that President Trump and Secretary McMahon
plan to further dismantle the Department of Education (ED).
Senator Warren has led the fight to make the higher education system
more affordable, cancel student loan debt, and hold student loan
servicers accountable for incompetence and malfeasance. She launched the
Save Our Schools campaign in a coordinated effort to fight back against President Trump’s attempts to abolish the Department of Education.
Last week, Senator Warren pushed for an expanded investigation
into the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle ED and whether
its recent decision to transfer many of ED’s responsibilities to four
other agencies violates federal law.
USA Today: Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Education Secretary Linda McMahon should resign December 1, 2025
Shortly after she was sworn in, I invited Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to my office.
I looked her dead in the eye and asked, “Now, I just want to be
clear, do you think you can shut down the Department of Education?”
She looked straight back at me and said, “No, I don’t have the legal authority to do that.”
But here we are.
It’s official: Donald Trump and Secretary McMahon are dismantling the
Department of Education one piece at a time. This is, in Secretary
McMahon’s words, the department’s “final mission.”
The assault on the department has come in several directions. On Nov.
18, Secretary McMahon announced that she was transferring major
functions of the department to four other federal agencies. This means
that programs are being moved into other agencies that have no relevant
expertise to be managed by people who know nothing about the issues.
NO PART OF PUBLIC EDUCATION WILL REMAIN UNTOUCHED
Here’s just one example of how this will work: Under this new
arrangement, the Department of Labor will be in charge of supporting
K-12 literacy, American history and civics, and Title I funding. Drink
that in: Labor Department employees will decide which reading readiness
programs to support for kindergartners.
In fact, no part of public education will remain untouched by this
move. Title I provides the biggest federal fund for K-12 schools and is
used to help pay for good teachers and new textbooks all across America.
School administrators are concerned that these changes may result in
bigger class sizes, fewer afterschool and tutoring programs, and not
enough workbooks for our kids because federal funding isn’t coming
through.
There’s more: Secretary McMahon has been trying to slash the section
of the Department of Education that assists students with disabilities
and their families. If she’s successful, this could sharply limit access
to speech therapy, individual aides and special equipment that are all
essential for these children to participate fully in a classroom
education.
Secretary McMahon has also fired half the staff at the Department of
Education. For the 6 million students taking out loans for college each
year and the 43 million wrestling with their outstanding loans, cuts at
the Department of Education's student loan division will hit hard. The
secretary of Education seems determined to sideline the cop on the beat
to stop the scammers who prey on these students.
Both families and schools will suffer. Because of the changes the
secretary has made, schools will no longer be able to turn to the
Department of Education when they face problems. Instead, they will now
have to navigate four federal agencies and new staff and systems.
TRUMP AND MCMAHON WANT TO DESTROY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT FROM WITHIN
Agencies that have no experience will be in charge, risking mistakes,
confusion and delays in funding. For all the Trump administration’s
talk about government efficiency, this is the opposite. This is no
accident.
While Donald Trump and Secretary McMahon claim to care about
efficiency, the real goal has been clear all along: They want to destroy
the Department of Education from within. They want to make the
department so dysfunctional that people will want to get rid of it.
Because here’s the thing: If they can create a system so complicated
that it doesn’t work and if they hollow out the Department of Education
just enough, there will be nothing left to abolish.
This isn’t a fight over a national curriculum or putting education
back into the hands of states. Federal law already guarantees that
states – not the federal government – will decide what gets taught.
Instead, this assault on public education is exactly that – an effort to
undermine public schools all across America.
I was a special education teacher. I know how much families rely on
the Department of Education to ensure that their kids get the resources
they need. To me, what’s at stake in this fight is more than the future
of a federal agency. It’s about whether our country is truly committed
to the idea of public education: the idea that anyone, no matter where
they are born or how much money their parents have, can get a
first-class education.
Public education is a foundational block in our democracy, both for
informed citizens and to give everyone a chance to build lifelong
skills. And that’s what the Trump administration is trying to dismantle
by closing down the Department of Education, an agency dedicated to
building opportunities for kids all across the country.
Public service is exactly that – serving the public. When a secretary
of Education is actively dismantling our public education system, it’s
time to reconsider her role in government. When the secretary is working
to make class sizes bigger, take away aides for kids with special
needs, leave college students at the mercy of financial predators, and
make the whole department nonfunctional, it’s time for new leadership.
Linda McMahon has no business leading the Department of Education. She should resign.
