Trump world running like a well-oiled machine

 

Yeah, soldiers don't need training.  Especially pilots.

And so it begins

Three huge volcanic eruptions have occurred in the past three days in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines, and the Pentagon is releasing UFO files.

Also...

Those two things have opposite intentions.  What will the universe assume?

The US Central Command (Centcom) claims it has struck two “unladen” Iranian-flagged oil tankers it said were attempting to violate the US blockade by entering an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.

[...]

Centcom claimed it had “disabled both tankers after firing precision munitions into their smokestacks”. The statement added that US forces had also disabled a third Iranian-flagged vessel on Wednesday. “All three vessels are no longer transiting to Iran.”

On Thursday Iran accused the US of violating the ceasefire by targeting two ships at the strait of Hormuz and attacking civilian areas. The US insisted it struck in retaliation.

  The Guardian

They fired on "unladen" tankers? What blockade are "unladen" tankers breaking? Anyway, I thought we were supposed to be in a ceasefire.

This just gets crazier and crazier. WTF?

And Trump is just as delusional as ever...

In case you're wondering, he has settled exactly 0 wars.

The victory in Iraq???

In case you're wondering - he hasn't been reading.  He doesn't read.  But the part about him knowing nothing about it could be said about everything.

UPDATE 05/13/2026:  Another huge volcanic eruption.

Illegal

 

And Trump will appeal it all the way to the Supreme Court.

Pentagon Press Association statement

 

Encouraging (at last)

 UPDATE 10/15/2025:

 

Dictatorship in America on the way

 

The only way we're going to get any news of what's being done in this administration will be from insider leaks.

The only amendment they're concerned with is the Second, and they certainly don't care about whether something is legal.

What the?

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday he's "proudly" ending a Pentagon program intended to advance women's participation in peace-building and security.

The Women, Peace and Security program was signed into law by President Trump in his first term with bipartisan support, and was touted by the administration as an accomplishment that "advanced women's economic empowerment."

Trump's Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, then a Congressmember, was a co-sponsor of the bill.

Hegseth said in a post on X Tuesday that the Department of Defense will fight to end the program, calling it "yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops — distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING."

He said it's "a UNITED NATIONS program pushed by feminists and left-wing activists" and "troops HATE it."

[...]

"So—yes—we are ending the 'woke divisive/social justice/Biden (WPS) initiative.'"

  Axios

Wait a minute. Trump signed it into law. And Ivanka supported it. WTF?

Who could have predicted?

 

Joe Kasper, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff will leave his role in the coming days for a new position at the agency, according to a senior administration official, amid a week of turmoil for the Pentagon.

Senior adviser Dan Caldwell, Hegseth deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll, the chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, were placed on leave this week in an ongoing leak probe. All three were terminated on Friday.

[...]

The changes will leave Hegseth without a chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, or senior adviser in his front office.

[...]

Two of the people said Carroll and Selnick plan to sue for wrongful termination.

[...]

The latest incidents add to the Pentagon’s broader upheaval in recent months, including fallout from Hegseth’s release of sensitive information in a Signal chat with other national security leaders and a controversial department visit by Elon Musk.

  Politico

I can't imagine this is only happening at the Pentagon. I can easily imagine that there are some people in the intel agencies who are still harboring a grudge over Trump saying in his first days in his first term that he trusted Putin more than he trusted his own intel agents.

“There is a complete meltdown in the building, and this is really reflecting on the secretary’s leadership,” said a senior defense official. “Pete Hegseth has surrounded himself with some people who don’t have his interests at heart.”

That's not a bad thing.

This week’s terminations follow a purge of top military officers in February, including former Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti.

“There probably will be more chaos,” said a third defense official. “It certainly reinforces the fear factor, awareness that no one’s job is safe.”

[...]

“The front office has some really first-rate uniformed military staff, but there’s only so much they can pick up in an organization that big,” said a former Trump administration official. “That kind of dysfunction compounds.”

UPDATE 04/21/2025:

Trump 2.0 - Privatize everything

 Burn it all down.

Jesus Christ

 

Cancer awareness and suicide prevention are DEI?

Trump 2.0 - Erase history and rewrite

On Feb. 26, the Pentagon ordered all the military services to spend countless hours poring over years of website postings, photos, news articles and videos to remove any mentions that “promote diversity, equity and inclusion.”

[...]

References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content.

[...]

The database, which was confirmed by U.S. officials and published by AP, includes more than 26,000 images that have been flagged for removal across every military branch. But the eventual total could be much higher [...] when considering social media pages and other websites that are also being culled for DEI content.

[...]

The vast majority of the Pentagon purge targets women and minorities, including notable milestones made in the military. And it also removes a large number of posts that mention various commemorative months — such as those for Black and Hispanic people and women.

[...]

In some cases, photos seemed to be flagged for removal simply because their file included the word ”gay,” including service members with that last name and an image of the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II.

  AP

Did they imagine they would find any photos of actual LGBTQ military people labeled "gay"? Fucking idiots.

And a photo of Army Corps biologists was on the list, seemingly because it mentioned they were recording data about fish — including their weight, size, hatchery and gender.

They culled anything with the word "gender"? Jesus wept.

The main page in a post titled “Women’s History Month: All-female crew supports warfighters” was removed. But at least one of the photos in that collection about an all-female C-17 crew could still be accessed. A shot from the Army Corps of Engineers titled “Engineering pioneer remembered during Black History Month” was deleted.

[...]

The Air Force briefly removed new recruit training courses that included videos of the Tuskegee Airmen soon after Trump’s order. That drew the White House’s ire over “malicious compliance,” and the Air Force quickly reversed the removal.

"Malicious complaince." Highly unlikely. Almost certainly untrue. It's just plain idiocy and dumbfuckery.

Asked about the database, Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot said in a statement, “We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms. In the rare cases that content is removed that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly.”

He noted that Hegseth has declared that “DEI is dead” and that efforts to put one group ahead of another through DEI programs erodes camaraderie and threatens mission execution.

[...]

A Marine Corps official said every one of its images in the database “either has been taken down or will be taken down.” The Marines are moving on the directive as fast as possible, but as with the rest of the military, very few civilian or contractor employees at the Pentagon can perform content removal, the official said.

In the Marine Corps, just one defense civilian is available to do the work. The Marine Corps estimates that person has identified at least 10,000 images and stories for removal online, and after further review, 3,600 of those have been removed. The total does not count more than 1,600 social media sites that have not yet been addressed.

Many of those social media sites were military base or unit support groups created years ago and left idle. No one still has the administrative privileges to go in and change the content.

The Marine official said the service is going through each site and getting new administrative privileges so it can make the changes.

[...]

If they couldn’t do that by Wednesday, they were told to “temporarily remove from public display” all content published during the Biden administration’s four years in office.

Government efficiency.

Hard to believe I'm agreeing with Steve Bannon

Steve Bannon roasted Musk over Neuralink and other issues in new interview: “Musk is a parasitic illegal immigrant. He wants to impose his freak experiment and play-act as God without any respect for the country’s history, tradition or values.”

[...]

Bannon then said Musk is a fraud: "DOGE is sitting there with the budget, but where the fuck are the DOGE cuts? We are 30 days away from approving a budget for the entire year with $2 trillion already baked in, and not one penny of anything that DOGE found. It's ludicrous. Performative. There's hesitancy to take on the Pentagon. I want $100 billion cut from its $900 billion budget."

  Meidas Touch

The GOP world of hate and bigotry

Western District of Louisiana Chief Judge Terry Doughty in an order Thursday declared that Title IX, a federal education law that bars sex-based discrimination, “was written and intended to protect biological women from discrimination.”

“Such purpose makes it difficult to sincerely argue that, at the time of enactment, ‘discrimination on the basis of sex’ included gender identity, sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, or sex characteristics,” Doughty, a Trump appointee, wrote. “Enacting the changes in the Final Rule would subvert the original purpose of Title IX.”

[...]

The Education Department said it is reviewing the ruling and that “Title IX guarantees that no person experience sex discrimination in a federally-funded educational environment.”

  Politico

In a 214-207 vote, lawmakers adopted Rep. Beth Van Duyne‘s amendment to overturn the Pentagon policy to reimburse troops who travel to seek abortion or other reproductive care.

[...]

Speaker Mike Johnson allowed a vote on the anti-abortion measure and a laundry list of other conservative amendments to ensure Republican support for the National Defense Authorization Act. But the tactic also means losing Democrats who had previously supported the bill, and there’s no guarantee Republicans can pass the bill.

  Politico

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Simply inexcusable

The blockade from Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) on about 250 of the Pentagon’s general and flag officers has left the Marine Corps without a confirmed leader for the first time in 164 years.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger officially retired on Monday, leaving Assistant Commandant Gen. Eric Smith as the acting commandant and leader of the military branch until he is confirmed in the Senate.

The last time the Marine Corps was left with an acting commandant was in 1859, when Archibald Henderson, the fifth commandant of the Marines, died at 76 without a successor in place.

[...]

Tuberville’s hold on the Pentagon nominees, which he began in March to protest the Defense Department’s new abortion policy, shows no signs of weakening, even as the block has sparked bipartisan frustration.

  The Hill

The Senate makes its own rules. It can change them. Why on earth do they have one that allows one person to have this power?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 09:04 am:  Yes.

UPDATE 07/16/2023:  Also yes.

Who's the biggest ass in the Senate?

As they vie for honors, Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), is pulling into the lead.

As of this week, Tuberville is holding up 250 promotions for general and flag officers that are normally approved on the Senate floor via unanimous consent.

[...]

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) on Tuesday made the 10th attempt by Senate Democrats to advance the military promotions, only to be blocked by the Alabama Republican.

[...]

The Senate Armed Services Committee this week failed to advance a bill that would have overturned the Pentagon’s policy that covers some expenses for service members who must travel for an abortion. That, coupled with a bitter back-and-forth between Tuberville and the Biden administration and lack of progress in talks with Republicans, means the holds are set to enter their fifth month with no end in sight.

[...]

[Tuberville] told The Hill earlier this week that there has not been internal pressure from Republicans to release his holds and that he has not heard directly from anyone in the administration or the Democratic side in recent weeks, outside of public missives.

[...]

Tuberville told reporters that three things could get him to lift the hold on military promotions: A reversal of Pentagon policy, a successful vote to codify the policy or a failed vote to do so, with the latter two options coming both via a bill proposed by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). Tuberville’s staff clarified his comments, saying that a failed vote would not do the trick unless the Department of Defense dropped the policy ahead of a hypothetical vote on the Shaheen bill.

None of the three options are likely, and no one has been willing to budge, meaning stalemate will likely go on for the foreseeable future.

  The Hill

Here's a question: Why in the name of Pete are the rules in the Senate such that ONE person can hold up ANYTHING?

The GOP is so far out of step with the majority of the country that it's mind-boggling how they still do this shit. Once again, people, stop electing Republicans.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Uh...okay

The United States has overestimated the value of the weapons it has sent to Ukraine by $6.2bn over the past two years – about double early estimates – resulting in a surplus that will be used for future security packages.

  alJazeera

How can they be that bad at estimating?

During an audit, “inconsistencies” were found in valuations of equipment sent from the US since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

[...]

“In a significant number of cases, services used replacement costs rather than net book value, thereby overestimating the value of the equipment."

Okay. But that is a legitimate way to determine value for some purposes.

As a result, the department now has additional money in its coffers to use to support Ukraine as it pursues its counteroffensive against Russia.

No. No, it doesn't. It has the same amount.

Based on previous estimates announced on June 13, the US had committed more than $40bn in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded. Using the new calculation, the US has actually provided less than $34bn in aid.

Not the same thing as the amount "in the coffers." But I take your point. They adjusted their accounting method, giving them the ability to spend $6+ billion more. Isn't accounting wonderful? Works for me.

Jesus Tapdancing Christ, Marj

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Thursday took to Twitter to defend Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, who was arrested Thursday over his alleged role in leaking Pentagon files.

“Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime,” Greene said on Twitter.

“Ask yourself who is the real enemy? A young low level national guardsmen? Or the administration that is waging war in Ukraine, a non-NATO nation, against nuclear Russia without war powers?” the congresswoman added.

  The Hill

You know, without a doubt, if the leaker had an Arab name, or had been black, she would be screaming for his head.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE :

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) slammed Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) over her comments defending Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira.

[...]

“I’m sorry, Marge, being white, male, and Christian is not license to betray your country and put the lives of thousands at risk,” he added. “But this wouldn’t be the first time she sided with traitors.”

  The Hill

UPDATE 12:19 pm: He's a whistleblower! Never mind he only posted on his gaming group site to impress his buddies. I didn't know that's where you're supposed to go to blow the whistle on shady government activity.

And Kyle Rittenhouse was a hero.

UPDATE 04/15/2023:

Members of the Discord group described Teixeira as someone looking to show off rather than being motivated by a desire to inform the public about US military operations or to influence US policy.

The Discord member said he did not believe Teixeira leaked documents to undermine the US government or for an ideological reason.

“If I had to give a gauge on it, it would be more or less just some nerds wanting to glance over some stuff and compare and contrast and kind of have a little joke about it,” he said.

“At the end of the day, I mean we’re just trying to have a fun time.”

  alJazeera

He'll be having lots of fun now. I hear military jail is especially fun.

UPDATE 04/30/2023:  We're learning some interesting things about this guy.  Not to mention the lax background investigations for security clearances.

Not quite smart enough

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Oh wait - not a leftie like Ed Snowden?

Edward Snowden didn't take strategic intelligence and plaster it on the internet.  He gave what he took to responsible journalists who vetted it, taking out names and information that might put people at risk. He didn't do it to impress some gobshites. He did it after careful and thoughtful planning to inform the American public they were being spied on by their own government. 

The man responsible for the leak of hundreds of classified Pentagon documents is reported to be a young, racist gun enthusiast who worked on a military base, and who was seeking to impress two dozen fellow members of an internet chat group.

[...]

The leaked documents have laid bare secrets about Ukraine’s preparations for a spring counter-offensive, US spying on allies such as Ukraine, South Korea and Israel, and the tensions between Washington and allied capitals over arming Kyiv.

[...]

The Washington Post interviewed a teenage member of the group, who described the man, referred to by the initials “OG”, from their online correspondence, and shared photographs and videos.

  Guardian

So the Post found the culprit before the US government did. Better sources?

The Post also viewed a video of a man identified as OG at a shooting range with a large rifle.

“He yells a series of racial and antisemitic slurs into the camera, then fires several rounds at a target,” the report said. OG told fellow members of the same internet group that he worked on a military base, which was not named in the report, where his job involved viewing large amounts of classified information.

[...]

The origins of the leaks on Thug Shaker Central was first reported on Sunday by the Bellingcat investigative journalism group, which also interviewed the same member, who is under 18.

[...]

[T]he Washington Post said the teen member, who had been in touch with OG “in the past few days” had yet to be interviewed by any federal law enforcement officials by the time of publication on Wednesday night, even though the justice department began a criminal investigation and an FBI manhunt was launched at the beginning of the week.

They're not very good at this, are they? They also didn't find Edward Snowden. He outed himself.

[The leak may likely be] the consequence of a Pentagon policy of granting top secret security clearances to huge numbers of service members, civilians and contractors. The number of employees and contractors in the entire US government with top secret clearance is about 1.25 million.

And one of those was Donald J Trump!

According to the teenage member of the group interviewed by the Post, OG “had a dark view of the government”, portraying the government, and particularly law enforcement and the intelligence agencies, as a repressive force. He ranted about “government overreach”.

The Post said details were confirmed anonymously by other members of the group, and that it had viewed a total 300 photographs of classified documents, three times the number previously thought to be circulating.

[...]

OG’s current whereabouts are unknown. The teenage group member told the Post he “seemed very confused and lost as to what to do”.

Sounds like a really brilliant guy.

In his final message to his fellow group members, OG told them to “keep low and delete any information that could possibly relate to him”, including any copies of the classified documents.

I'm guessing they're not going to be concerned about covering his ass for him.

The Ukrainian government is assessing the possible damage from the disclosures. The files give details of 12 newly formed brigades, equipped with western battle tanks and armoured vehicles, which are likely to lead the assault against dug-in Russian positions. “For sure, people are not happy,” one official admitted on Wednesday. “Ukraine was criticised last year for not being a trustworthy partner. At the beginning of the invasion, we weren’t provided with weapons because of this lack of trust. We lost a lot of territory and people as a result. This perception was wrong. And now this leakage happens from the US side.”

The world has had some experience with the US trustworthiness in recent years.

And, by the way, it's time to give amnesty to Edward Snowden and let him come home.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 11:24 am:  Speaking of Donald J Trump having sensitve security information...

Federal investigators are asking witnesses whether former President Donald J. Trump showed off to aides and visitors [an unidentified] map he took with him when he left office that contains sensitive intelligence information.

[...]

One person briefed on the matter said investigators have asked about Mr. Trump showing the map while aboard a plane. Another said that, based on the questions they were asking, investigators appeared to believe that Mr. Trump showed the map to at least one adviser after leaving office.

A third person with knowledge of the investigation said the map might also have been shown to a journalist writing a book. The Washington Post has previously reported that investigators have asked about Mr. Trump showing classified material, including maps, to political donors.

Sure. He's on a maturity level with the idiot who leaked the classified documents to impress his gaming buddies.

Investigators have been gathering evidence about whether Mr. Trump had aides bring him boxes to sift through after a grand jury subpoena was issued in May for any government documents Mr. Trump still had in his possession.

  NYT

UPDATE 02:37 pm: Nabbed.

FBI agents made an arrest in North Dighton, Mass., Thursday afternoon, according to Boston TV news station WCVB, which said an armored vehicle was used.

  MSNBC

Maybe their limo was in the garage.

The arrest comes as authorities on Thursday were focusing on a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman as the suspected leaker.

I hope he had a lifetime's worth of fun on those games he was playing, because he won't get back online for a very, very long time.

According to interviews and documents in a report by The New York Times, the suspected leaker is Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard's 102nd Intelligence Wing.

[...]

Biden also tried to downplay the harm caused by the leaks saying, "I am not concerned about the leak. I'm concerned that it happened, but there's nothing contemporaneous that I'm aware of that is of any consequence."

Maybe the Ukrainians have a different view.

[T]he leaker went by the moniker OG and ran the Thug Shaker Central discord server, where a small group of mostly young men would post racist memes and discuss video games.

UPDATE 04/22/2023:

UPDATE 04/30/2023:  We're learning some interesting things about this guy.  Not to mention the lax background investigations for security clearances.

SNAFU

The Pentagon, already nervous and angry after a trust-shattering tranche of highly classified images and documents spread online last week, is waiting to see if that leak is just the beginning.

Some officials view the still-unfolding saga as perhaps even more damaging than Edward Snowden’s famous leak of classified intelligence a decade ago, because of how recent and relevant the information is. And it remains unclear whether the Defense Department is anywhere near finding the source of the leak.

[...]

[O]ver 100 documents [were leaked] on Sunday evening, including information on Ukraine’s fight against Russia, as well as Turkish cooperation with Israel and U.S. efforts to spy on South Korea.

In addition to potentially damaging Ukraine’s planned counteroffensive this spring, the leak has also embittered U.S. allies, who are reportedly still waiting on substantive answers from Washington in response to requests for a briefing.

[...]

[The leak] contains information about sources and methods — something that can be really dangerous when we talk about intelligence gathering. And lastly, the leak of such highly classified intelligence raises serious questions about whether the U.S. can be trusted to share and disseminate the intel within the government in a safe and secure way.

[...]

[T]he documents appear to have first leaked many months ago — as early as January — on Discord on a server with about 20 members. The documents were then taken and reposted on other servers on that same site (Discord). And then they were reposted again on other sites such as Telegram, Twitter and 4chan.

[...]

There appears to be another tranche out there — possibly in the possession of one of the users in that original Discord group. The running theory is someone is holding some of these other docs close to the chest. We could see those published either on social media or in the media in the coming days.

  Politico

UPDATE 04/13/2023: Busted, by journalists.