Gaetz has a brand that triggers libs like no other. Maybe Boebert and Green. Triggering libs is one of Trump’s top goals.
About Hegseth, I’m trying to find his citations for his bronze star medals but am having difficulty. Has anyone been able to find them?
I want to get some inkling of what he did to get awarded for them.
Thanks in advance.
He bravely and without regard for his own safety crossed state lines to pick up a couple cases of Coors so the officer’s club wouldn’t run out on a Sunday.
That’s at least worth the DSC!
I can’t find specifically why they were awarded, but they seem legitimate.
Hegseth served in the National Guard from 2002 to 2021, rising to the rank of major, with deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, according to service records released by the Army on Wednesday. His awards include two Bronze Stars, two Army Commendation Medals and the expert infantryman and combat infantryman badges, according to the records.
But yeah, I can’t find details anywhere.
A little more detail on his deployments:
Hegseth served in the Army National Guard from October 2002 to March 2021, reaching the rank of major, according to a copy of his service record released Wednesday by the Army He deployed three times — first to Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay from June 2004 to April 2005; second to Iraq from September 2005 to July 2006; and third to Afghanistan from May 2011 to January 2012.
I don’t know if those records cited were released publicly, I’ve tried searching for them.
By ‘brand’ you mean ephebophile? Because that is entirely on-brand for Trump.
Stranger
The NYT says Trump would like to make Kennedy Secretary of Health. UPDATE: has selected Kennedy. An inspired choice… Providing there isn’t another COVID epidemic that kills 500,000+ people. According to the CDC there was considerable variation in which states were most affected (see bottom link). However, I am unable to discern a pattern with 100% confidence. Of course, Trump may be trolling. Such a gruff billygoat!
Removing fluoride from drinking water would also be a bold move… just not a smart or scientific one. But why stop there? Ivermectin, chelation, pasteurization…. such promising bold changes, each more surprising than the last! (/s)
(Canadian health has its problems, but most decision makers in most provinces respect the science… This may change, Canada catches cold when America sneezes. But 99% of Canadian pols during Covid were willing to listen to scientific experts.)
The problem with health or other positions is that voters will judge both Trump’s legacy and his administration by the efficacy of their decisions. It is plausible that unscientific decisions might involve legal consequences. Many corporate raiders keen to cut costs and reduce headcount have found that there-are downsides to erasing institutional memory and undervaluing expertise. And now, you’ll know - the rest of the story…
I was supprised how many places have removed flouride despite all the evidence.
I am aware of a pretty small and weak study showing a minimal decrease in intelligence scores in rural China. Probably just a bad study. Even if the drop was real, there are a million things that might have caused it - but just one that was blamed. A good study is one that can show or evaluate causation and that has a study population similar to your population.
The few places in Canada where this happened were small municipalities with an influential skeptic, generally with more charisma than sense or scientific acumen. I am not an expert on these things, but doubt deniers know more than dentists.
I stayed at a ‘hotel’ (I use the term loosely) on the border of Guatemala and Belize. It was owned by an ex-pat from Los Angeles.
He wouldn’t let me in unless I traded in my bottle of water for one of his. Later that evening, he went on, at some length, about fluoride and a few studies claiming this and that.
When I got back to the states, I remembered that he specifically mentioned Harvard’s School of Public Health.
F’rinstance:
This one may refer to the study that you mentioned:
Troy Nehls (R)Texas “He’s (Trump) got a 10lb brain and we need to take advantage of that, he’s never wrong”. Last minute of Lawrence O’Donnell
A sperm whale has a 20 lb brain, maybe we should have elected one of those.
Squeeze! Squeeze! Squeeze! All the morning long; I squeezed that sperm till I myself almost melted into it; I squeezed the sperm till a strange sort of insanity came over me; and I found myself unwittingly squeezing my co-laborers’ hands in it, mistaking their hands for the gentle globules. (Melville, Moby Dick or, The Whale )
I am reminded of the Adam West Batman episode where the Penguin ran for mayor of Gotham City and declared that he was appointing the Riddler as Police Commissioner and Joker as Chief of Police.
This just keeps getting more and more bizarre.
Let’s not forget
Apparently not.
Lara strikes me as kind of the female Jim Jordan.
:shudder:
Just in case you had even a tinge of belief Trump’s not doing all of this out of spite, read this AOL article.
Details about how the new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, will operate – and how Musk and his co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy will avoid conflicts of interest – remain scarce. But the duo has spoken openly about areas of the government they’d like to see altered, while Trump and Republican lawmakers have a long list of programs and operations they’d like to reform.
Details, you ask?
Musk also took aim at the Department of Education, a frequent target of Trump and Republicans, criticizing the agency for allegedly indoctrinating kids with left-wing propaganda and other failings. However, he did not call for its elimination during the town hall.
And from Ramaswamy:
On the campaign trail, he said he would get rid of up to 75% of the federal workforce. About 2.3 million civilians are employed by the federal government, with nearly 60% working for the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security.
The kicker:
The plan also called for closing the Education Department and shifting its workforce training programs to the Labor Department; eliminating the FBI and relocating its 15,000 special agents who solve cases to other agencies; and getting rid of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and shifting its duties to other departments.
But they’ll be in this with the rest of us, right? Right?
Musk’s and Ramaswamy’s vast business ventures pose considerable conflict of interest concerns if they lead the new initiative. For instance, in his X town hall, Musk repeatedly criticized government regulations, citing their interference with his companies. The duo and Trump have all pushed for slashing regulations.
But Trump has tried this non-government advisory thing before and it died a premature overdue death.
Legal experts told CNN that the government efficiency entity, based on what’s known about it so far, will likely be covered by a federal law requiring transparency and a balance of views on such advisory commissions.
Multiple commissions set up under the first Trump administration faced litigation under the law, known as the Federal Advisory Committee Act, or FACA, and one of those commissions – set up to study the alleged problem of voter fraud after Trump claimed falsely that millions voted illegally in 2016 – ultimately disbanded rather than continue to fight the cases in court.
And there’s more from AOL on Hegseth:
“First of all, you got to fire the Chairman Joint of the Chiefs and obviously going to bring in a new Secretary of Defense, but any general that was involved – general, admiral, whatever – that was involved in, any of the DEI woke s—, has got to go,” Hegseth said during a recent interview on the “Shawn Ryan Show” podcast.
How TF does a major not know the actual title of the senior military officer? Anyway, the rest of the article really shows what he’s all about: shoot them all ad let God sort them out.
We’re in for four years of the country being punished by a spoiled brat who can’t handle the fact the real world is not mommy and daddy wrapped around his fingers. Actually, we’re in for more than four years of it. Assuming he survives to the end of his dictatorship presidency, he’ll still be making pronouncement which those seeking political office must follow to escape the wrath of the magaflatearther movement. And when he finally and thankfully dies, the new head of the movement will just do all of that in his name.
As I said way back near the beginning of this thread, we are well and truly screwed.
Thank you, @Atamasama .