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2025-01-15 Home Front: Politix
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Summarizing the Confirmation Hearings, Day 1: Trump’s defense secretary pick: ‘I support Israel killing every last member of Hamas’
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| See the liveblog of yesterday’s hearing here. |
[IsraelTimes] Pete Hegseth makes remark during fiery Senate hearing in which Democrats grill him on sexual misconduct claims, past remarks against women serving in combat
US President-elect Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
’s contentious nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, was grilled Tuesday by politicians about past controversies he has been embroiled in, while expressing support for Israel killing all remaining members of Paleostinian terror group Hamas
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
in the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
Speaking at his confirmation hearing before the US Senate’s Armed Services Committee, Hegseth said: "I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas."
Notably, Israel’s current war aims do not extend to killing every last member of Hamas, and Israeli officials have told The Times of Israel that even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged as much. Doing so would have Israel bogged down in Gaza indefinitely, given that the terror group is constantly recruiting new fighters.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
 ...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm...
said Tuesday that Hamas has recruited as many fighters as it has lost during the war.
"I’m a Christian and I robustly support the State of Israel and its existential defense," Hegseth told the Congressional committee when asked if he considers himself a "Christian Zionist."
He charged that the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror onslaught against Israel was the direct result of President Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. Joe's wife and daughter weren't killed by a drunk driver. He didn't graduate with three or even two degrees, wasn't in the top half of his law class, and his daddy didn't come home from a hard day's work in the mines and play football with the guys. The NAACP hasn't endorsed him every time he's run....
’s 2021 withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, which he also blamed for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There is no evidence linking either world event to Afghanistan or the Taliban
...Arabic for students ...
, which now governs the country. But he said the withdrawal, which was widely criticized, was a public failure of American leadership.
"What was unleashed because of what happened in Afghanistan? The October 7 attacks, an invasion into Ukraine," he said in response to questioning from GOP Senator Jim Banks of Indiana, who’d asked about Afghanistan but not about Israel or Ukraine. Hegseth continued, "The world recognized weakness for what it was."
At a few points in the hearing, discussion turned to one of Hegseth’s many tattoos: a Jerusalem cross of the kind commonly used during the Crusades. During questioning, Hegseth claimed he had "volunteered to guard the inauguration of Joe Biden but was denied the opportunity to serve because I was identified as an Death Eater by my own unit for a Christian tattoo." He later clarified that he was referring to his chest tattoo of the Jerusalem cross.
The cross is one of multiple Crusades-inspired tattoos on Hegseth, who also has a Hebrew variant of Jesus’ name; experts on religious extremism have said they believe the tattoos to be a sign that the nominee is aligned with Christian nationalism, a movement which seeks to apply Christian law to the United States.
Hegseth, though, dismissed the idea that the tattoo in question was Death Eater.
"It’s called the Jerusalem cross. It’s a historic Christian symbol," he said when asked about it by Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. Hegseth went on to claim that the symbol had also appeared on the funeral program of former U.S. President Jimmy Malaise Carter
...only the second worst president ever. Now the third worst, after Obama and Biden...
, which was held at the Washington National Cathedral.
The answer seemed to satisfy Cramer, who used his follow-up to attack the critics of Hegseth’s tattoo.
"You, Mr. Hegseth, are not an Death Eater," the senator said. "The people who would deny you your expression of faith are the Death Eaters. They’re the racists. They’re the bigots. You’re the one who is protecting their right to be one."
Like members of many previous administrations, Hegseth said his top priority would be shifting the US military priorities away from the Middle East and toward China.
Hegseth, a former Fox News host dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct and lacking experience leading large organizations, was grilled by Democratic members of the committee over his opposition to efforts to promote diversity in the military and to women serving in combat, but he was largely defended by Republicans.
Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
...Machine non-entity selected to become the successor to Hillary Clinton as Senatrix-for-Life from Noo Yawk. She is running for the Dem presidential nomination in 2020. She has no observable principles, will apparently say anything to anyone, and seemingly lacks any personality of her own....
slammed Hegseth’s past comments as "so hurtful to the men and women who are currently serving in the US military, harmful to morale, harmful to good order and discipline."
Hegseth, a former Army National Guard officer, stuck to his opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion policies, saying they are "dividing troops inside formations, causing commanders to walk on eggshells, not putting meritocracy first."
But he sought to soften past remarks on women serving in combat — something he stated as recently as November 2024 that he opposed.
"I respect every single female service member that has put on the uniform past and present. My critiques... recently and in the past, and from personal experience, have been instances where I’ve seen standards lowered," Hegseth told politicians.
"Women will have access to ground combat roles... given the standards remain high," the 44-year-old said.
US Senate Republicans are keen for Trump’s national security nominees to be confirmed quickly and Democrats
...every time you hear the phrase white people , white supremacy, white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects...
may agree to fast-track some. But they are determined to throw up roadblocks in front of candidates they see as unfit.
Hegseth has also come under fire for concerns about his past personal conduct, as well as his ability to lead the Pentagon — a massive bureaucracy that employs more than three million people.
Senator Jack Reed, the committee’s ranking Democrat, put it bluntly: "Mr. Hegseth, I do not believe that you are qualified to meet the overwhelming demands of this job."
"We must acknowledge the concerning public reports against you. A variety of sources — including your own writings — implicate you with disregarding the laws of war, financial mismanagement, racist and sexist remarks about men and women in uniform, alcohol abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and other troubling issues," Reed said.
Asked by Republican Senator Roger Wicker
...junior United States Senator from Mississippi, a member of the Republican Party. In December 2007 he was appointed by Governor Haley Barbour to fill the seat vacated by Trent Lott, winning reelection the next year. A lawyer by training, he was previously a Congressman, and before that a state senator...
, the committee chair, about allegations Hegseth has faced, the nominee claimed there was a "coordinated smear campaign" against him.
"I’m not a perfect person, but redemption is real," Hegseth said, later asserting he was "falsely accused" of sexual assault.
He can only afford three Republican rejections and still be confirmed, should every Democrat and independent vote against him.
But he has maintained Trump’s support while the excoriating headlines have multiplied, and Senate Republicans appear open to hearing him out.
Former Democratic congresswoman-turned-Trumpist Tulsi Gabbard, who was tapped for director of national intelligence, is another candidate whose lack of qualifications and experience have raised alarm bells, as have her attitudes toward US adversaries.
Gabbard met Syria’s then-president Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
in 2017, and declared him "not the enemy." She has also voiced sympathy for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Some pressure on the nominees is expected from both sides of the aisle, especially for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for secretary of health and human services, and an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist.
But US senator and foreign policy hawk Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
of Florida, Trump’s pick for secretary of state, is a sure bet with bipartisan support, and will likely be confirmed before Trump takes office on January 20.
Rubio gets his hearing Wednesday, along with homeland security secretary nominee Kristi Noem, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, and CIA pick John Ratcliffe, who has been confirmed by the Senate before, as director of national intelligence.
Some of the most potentially fiery
...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob...
hearings are yet to be scheduled, including for Kennedy and Kash Patel, a conspiracy theorist who is Trump’s nominee to run the FBI.
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Posted by trailing wife 2025-01-15 00:00||
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Posted by Skidmark 2025-01-15 00:20||
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Posted by Skidmark 2025-01-15 08:36||
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