What everyone in this administration has in common:
Incompetence,
Cruelty,
Corruption,
Compulsive liars,
Hate,
Lawlessness,
"Alpha male" obsessed,
Misogyny,
Hypocrisy,
Fascism.
The US is at a dangerous stage and we could lose our country due to the extreme incompetence of this administration. The brutal incompetence of the Trump Administration is only matched by it's ignorance.
Here's my favorite tee: It says "Don't blame, I voted for her"
Sure. But with Republicans in Congress, this isn't going past a stunt generating a few headlines at best. The J6 committee was effective because it had evidence to show for, but I don't see how this investigation could get anything like. Whistleblowers started this, but they won't be able to provide much more. And using the FBI? Even under Wray they wouldn't investigate Kavanaugh's perjuries.
A lot will need to happen before we're going to see justice. Probably the worst mistake of the Biden admin was to ignore this problem.
100% correct. Until the Gross Oligarch Party loses its majorities in our government, the lawlessness of this regime will be enabled no matter how awful things get.
"House Vote: The House vote was largely along party lines. Not a single Republican House member voted for impeachment.
.
Senate Trial: In the subsequent Senate trial in February 2020, every Republican senator except one voted to acquit."
.
.
- Just one republican, and in the senate only.
- In contrast, Richard Nixon resigned when he heard in no uncertain terms that for his crimes (lesser by comparison with Trump's), members of his own party would vote to impeach him in the House.
I find Google A.I.'s summary disturbing, because it added the misleading adjective "largely". The House vote wasn't "largely": such implies that there were some exceptions ("Not a single republican" means that there were zero exceptions.). So now we have to be worried about even Google AI's accuracy being questionable for its own fear of sounding too partisan.
Retired Army chaplain and professor of military ethics here. There is nothing legal or ethical about the killing and the justification presented by the administration and Admiral Bradley. As other experts have stated, we are not in a formally declared war. The alleged drug traffickers are no national security threat. They are not legitimate enemy combatants. By bombing these vessels and killing these people the administration has committed murder. As noncombatants engaged in the criminal activity of drug trafficking, law dictates that they are to be arrested and detained for trial and provided due process. Even if it were true that we were in a state of war, the admiral’s statement violates the law of armed conflict. There is no legal justification for killing defenseless combatants due to the possibility that their comrades could retrieve them and their cargo, or that the damaged vessel poses a navigational risk. According to the law, the attacking force is required to safeguard wounded and defenseless enemy combatants. Our forces should not have bombed the vessel in the first place. But in the second place, our forces should have retrieved the two individuals before completely destroying the vessel in order to remove it as a navigational hazard. Everyone in the chain of command should be investigated.
It is both tragic & infuriating that our country now exists at the crossroads of murder & immorality. Your points are so well-taken, that I wish Trump, Hegseth & the entire Project 2025 cabal were forced to read them — and then stand charged with War Crimes.
I have no relatives in the military and even I know that any combat by our military is for fighting in times of war only. Any attacks outside such parameters are therefore ILLEGAL and subject to USA's criminal law (To hell with the military courts... these were crimes!!!). .
Unfortunately, we'll have to wait for Bondi and Patel to be replaced.
Hegseth, like most appointees in this regime, is deeply unqualified for the position and, as we know just another Trump puppet. Will the investigation initiated by Wisker and Reed go anywhere? Given the preponderance of the Republicans to support Trump, no matter how horrific his efforts, I am doubtful but feel strongly that Hegseth must be removed from the position.
Love that you mentioned the pardoning of that drug trafficking master mind. That’s the kind of reporting we need to awaken the consciences of Republican senators. It’s so eye opening. It puts the nail on truth here.
It points out there were orders to kill the little traffickers but orders to save the powerful trafficker. It proves that Trump is not about helping the little guy and Trump doesn’t care about drugs. He’s using that situation to look powerful.
We also must keep reminding people there was a little once kind of important agreement called the Ten Commandments. How are we okay with killing these guys and also connected to religion of any sort?
That was my first thought when I read today about that pardon. Trump is pardoning people who are among the most vicious and inhumane, whom he perceives to be "strong" men. At the same time he is visiting so much pain and loss upon anyone he perceives to by "lesser than" and upon those he considers his enemies. Trump is emerging as one of the most vile and sick individuals ever to have gained power in the USA.
All his pardons are prefaced by “ I don’t know him personally but other people I trust say he’s a good guy” . He l owes and he’s doing it purposefully!
Don't his own campaign promises count as "what's in front of him"... such as lowering the prices of eggs... and keeping USA out of war? No, this man only wishes to do evil.
No, "what's in front of him" has nothing at all to do with campaign promises. He's signing elements of Project 2025 that the handlers are implementing, piece by piece.
As far as wishing to do evil, that may be true in some cases. In others, it's a simple matter of getting what he wants---power, attention, and money---with zero regard for consequences.
My take is that he is signing whatever is in front of him if they offer money. Trump is more than careless and his administration is complicit. Do they not realize they have no immunity?
Trump's careless "like a fox". He'll outright say that congress people should killed, but when confronted say it was just a figure of speech. He's a hell of a lot smarter than Kegsbreath, who's now on record ordering war crime behavior when we're not even at war.
I can't wait to see a televised expression of the look on Hegseth's face the day he hears that he's going on trial for those 80+ murders in the Caribbean. "But Trump said...." - yea, we've heard that line before!
No one in Trump's cabinet will deserve prison without parole more than Hegseth: betrayer of military vets when he ran their org into the ground, liar for Fox, white supremacist, and now our nation's highest ranked war criminal.
“Kill everybody”? Who does he think he is…Caesar? Thumbs down? If we cannot resurrect the Legislative branch of our government, then this INFURIATING behavior will continue. I don’t know whether to ‘rage, rage into the night’ over our inability to stop this, or whether to pray to a G-D I don’t even know exists to encourage some kind of divine intervention on behalf of humanity. These reactions within myself tell me that I am witnessing if not a war crime, a crime against humanity, a crime against all decency.
What kind of person, let alone someone charged with the most serious of tasks on behalf of our nation, acts with reckless abandon where human life is concerned? I am just heartbroken that the most evil people seem to be in charge of the direction of our once-respected foreign policy and military deployments.
Pete Hegseth is, like the Nazi SS soldiers of decades ago, “just following orders”. His recklessness is entertainment for the Czar, his depravity a flag planted for the United States, where we all pledge our loyalty to “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Where will this lead and when and how will this end?
I agree with you and feel enraged also but don’t know where to place that rage. It feels like nothing can stop them. When will doing the right thing win?
When will doing the right thing matter? When will it move us toward greater stability, justice and peace? Sometimes I wonder if decency is becoming obsolete and unworkable, like milliners, cobblers and blacksmiths?
Elections will stop him. Biden was 4th among dem primary candidates yet he managed to beat Trump. Too many in USA are unfortunately not willing to elect a black woman, no matter how smart and charming. But they'll elect a better white man.
Pete Hegseth should be taking a supervised urine test every morning before he goes to work at the defense department… excuse me, the department of war.
The International Criminal Court should work in league with the Senate armed forces oversight hearings to investigate any evidence that might pertain to the murder of 80+ men. The regime has given no evidence to justify the legal predicate for these killings. Simultaneously, someone/organization (Vote/Vets?) should litigate this issue up to the Supreme Court where “facts” still have some sway. The reps from the ICC should be allowed on US soil to arrest, bring to trial at The Hague and convict Hegseth. Trump cannot pardon him in this instance. While we’re at it, throw Trump into the international grinder. As he is so proud of crowing: “I am the law!” Prove it at The Hague you POS.
The problem is: the US is not a signatory to the ICC. W Bush in 2002 "unsigned" the signed but not ratified 2000 Rome Statute (Clinton).
I am not anti-military. The US military only does what politicians decide to order. US politicians don't want any impartial legal body investigating the bomb sites.
Ditto for Israel: signed in 2000, withdrew in 2002.
March 2003: US invasion of Iraq.
The Bush administration would have been wholesale convicted by the ICC.
W Bush was a dishonest scumbag in every possible sense. If you think Trump holds the record for total lies you don't remember W. Why do you think WP was so well prepared to document 40K Trump lies? - W proved this was necessary!
"The US military only does what politicians decide to order. "
.
- I agree with everything except this part. FOOLS in the military will obey unlawful orders... but those who want to stay out of PRISON will refuse. The current crop of much vaunted SEALs have proven themselves to be idiots.
Ah, yes, but US military would not be lurking in the waters off Venezuela to obey unlawful orders if a politician hadn't sent them there in the first place, right?
That's true. But just cooling their heels in a place they don't need to be isn't criminal.... it's just a misuse of their time (They could be checking China's growing menace or helping NATO invade Russia. I'm sure this in itself is another favor to Putin.).
But we need to see more of the juxtaposition of who the administration is killing and who they are pardoning in the mainstream media. This is beyond ludicrous. I am actually nauseated by who our "leaders" have become!
Agree. I had not heard of that pardon yet and it is simply shocking. It lays bare the “narco-terrorist” excuse and totally reinforces the fact that Trump is a self-dealing maniac who must be stopped. Damn, Congress! Pull it together!
Democrats need to do a better job of talking to the media about how Trump is pardoning people involved in drug trafficking while conducting his bogus war on...DRUG TRAFFICKING. MSM is sure doing a lousy job of it.
Totally. Where are they talking! I don’t hear one thing from them. Are they on the daily news stations hammering messages out like the Fox “News” folks ! No! They need to be on TV ads , pod casts , main stream news stations getting the truth to the people.
Indeed Hegseth should be immediately relieved of duties, taken into custody, and investigated for War Crimes, and these attacks are war crimes. These is precedent to try everyone in the chain-of-command for war crimes and crimes upon the high seas. Your question is fortuitous as I wrote about this subject last night. The link to that article is here.
And who will take Hegseth's place? Supposedly Daniel Driscoll, U. S. Army Secretary and Vance's buddy who delivered the Russian/Trump Plan to Ukraine demanding they give up Ukraine to Putin and American businessmen who want to develop rare-earth minerals in Russia, Ukraine and the Arctic. (HRC, 11/29/25)
I'm old enough to remember the My Lai massacre. Obviously nothing was learned about such atrocities and crimes. If true, there should be a swift investigation leading to charges. I doubt, however, that this Congress has the courage to do so.
I wish the military brass would gang up on Himmler Hegseth. The day he called that meeting with those generals they were all steaming you could tell. I bet everyone of them hate him.
He must be impeached. He is a war criminal and a national security risk.
What everyone in this administration has in common:
Incompetence,
Cruelty,
Corruption,
Compulsive liars,
Hate,
Lawlessness,
"Alpha male" obsessed,
Misogyny,
Hypocrisy,
Fascism.
The US is at a dangerous stage and we could lose our country due to the extreme incompetence of this administration. The brutal incompetence of the Trump Administration is only matched by it's ignorance.
Here's my favorite tee: It says "Don't blame, I voted for her"
This one 👇
https://libtees.dashery.com/products/74030236-dont-blame-me-i-voted-for-harris-t-shirt
Easier said than done. I don't see anyone with the standing to do justice.
Any member of the house can introduce articles of impeachment.
Sure. But with Republicans in Congress, this isn't going past a stunt generating a few headlines at best. The J6 committee was effective because it had evidence to show for, but I don't see how this investigation could get anything like. Whistleblowers started this, but they won't be able to provide much more. And using the FBI? Even under Wray they wouldn't investigate Kavanaugh's perjuries.
A lot will need to happen before we're going to see justice. Probably the worst mistake of the Biden admin was to ignore this problem.
100% correct. Until the Gross Oligarch Party loses its majorities in our government, the lawlessness of this regime will be enabled no matter how awful things get.
Trump was impeached during his first term and a few brave republicans voted for it. There’s no way he’ll be impeached now.
"House Vote: The House vote was largely along party lines. Not a single Republican House member voted for impeachment.
.
Senate Trial: In the subsequent Senate trial in February 2020, every Republican senator except one voted to acquit."
.
.
- Just one republican, and in the senate only.
- In contrast, Richard Nixon resigned when he heard in no uncertain terms that for his crimes (lesser by comparison with Trump's), members of his own party would vote to impeach him in the House.
I find Google A.I.'s summary disturbing, because it added the misleading adjective "largely". The House vote wasn't "largely": such implies that there were some exceptions ("Not a single republican" means that there were zero exceptions.). So now we have to be worried about even Google AI's accuracy being questionable for its own fear of sounding too partisan.
Are you posting from Lagos or St. Petersburg?
Hegseth is a war criminal and should be tried for murder.
And Trump must be part of the War Crimes trial at the Hague as well.
This would be the first time in history that USA has turned any of its own over to The Hague (There's a first time for everything.).
I think our country is entering a time of many firsts, as "We the People" are faced with a historical decision...will our Democracy live or die.
Agree 100%!
Retired Army chaplain and professor of military ethics here. There is nothing legal or ethical about the killing and the justification presented by the administration and Admiral Bradley. As other experts have stated, we are not in a formally declared war. The alleged drug traffickers are no national security threat. They are not legitimate enemy combatants. By bombing these vessels and killing these people the administration has committed murder. As noncombatants engaged in the criminal activity of drug trafficking, law dictates that they are to be arrested and detained for trial and provided due process. Even if it were true that we were in a state of war, the admiral’s statement violates the law of armed conflict. There is no legal justification for killing defenseless combatants due to the possibility that their comrades could retrieve them and their cargo, or that the damaged vessel poses a navigational risk. According to the law, the attacking force is required to safeguard wounded and defenseless enemy combatants. Our forces should not have bombed the vessel in the first place. But in the second place, our forces should have retrieved the two individuals before completely destroying the vessel in order to remove it as a navigational hazard. Everyone in the chain of command should be investigated.
It is both tragic & infuriating that our country now exists at the crossroads of murder & immorality. Your points are so well-taken, that I wish Trump, Hegseth & the entire Project 2025 cabal were forced to read them — and then stand charged with War Crimes.
Wish I could like this 27 times. You speak the truth!
I have no relatives in the military and even I know that any combat by our military is for fighting in times of war only. Any attacks outside such parameters are therefore ILLEGAL and subject to USA's criminal law (To hell with the military courts... these were crimes!!!). .
Unfortunately, we'll have to wait for Bondi and Patel to be replaced.
Hegseth, like most appointees in this regime, is deeply unqualified for the position and, as we know just another Trump puppet. Will the investigation initiated by Wisker and Reed go anywhere? Given the preponderance of the Republicans to support Trump, no matter how horrific his efforts, I am doubtful but feel strongly that Hegseth must be removed from the position.
Love that you mentioned the pardoning of that drug trafficking master mind. That’s the kind of reporting we need to awaken the consciences of Republican senators. It’s so eye opening. It puts the nail on truth here.
It points out there were orders to kill the little traffickers but orders to save the powerful trafficker. It proves that Trump is not about helping the little guy and Trump doesn’t care about drugs. He’s using that situation to look powerful.
We also must keep reminding people there was a little once kind of important agreement called the Ten Commandments. How are we okay with killing these guys and also connected to religion of any sort?
That was my first thought when I read today about that pardon. Trump is pardoning people who are among the most vicious and inhumane, whom he perceives to be "strong" men. At the same time he is visiting so much pain and loss upon anyone he perceives to by "lesser than" and upon those he considers his enemies. Trump is emerging as one of the most vile and sick individuals ever to have gained power in the USA.
All his pardons are prefaced by “ I don’t know him personally but other people I trust say he’s a good guy” . He l owes and he’s doing it purposefully!
I think he's just signing whatever is put in front of him.
Don't his own campaign promises count as "what's in front of him"... such as lowering the prices of eggs... and keeping USA out of war? No, this man only wishes to do evil.
No, "what's in front of him" has nothing at all to do with campaign promises. He's signing elements of Project 2025 that the handlers are implementing, piece by piece.
As far as wishing to do evil, that may be true in some cases. In others, it's a simple matter of getting what he wants---power, attention, and money---with zero regard for consequences.
My take is that he is signing whatever is in front of him if they offer money. Trump is more than careless and his administration is complicit. Do they not realize they have no immunity?
Trump's careless "like a fox". He'll outright say that congress people should killed, but when confronted say it was just a figure of speech. He's a hell of a lot smarter than Kegsbreath, who's now on record ordering war crime behavior when we're not even at war.
I can't wait to see a televised expression of the look on Hegseth's face the day he hears that he's going on trial for those 80+ murders in the Caribbean. "But Trump said...." - yea, we've heard that line before!
"Trump is emerging as one of the most vile and sick individuals ever."
FIFY.
Trump’s so amazingly counterfeit it’s shocking how many people haven’t figured it out! Almost unconceivable.
Yes, thank you SB for bringing into the discussion the pardoning of the "big-league" drug trafficker.
Pete Hegseth is taking his newly-minted title literally: the Secretary of War is Secretary-ing the Hell out of War in the name of the US.
Congress should demand a return to calling it the Defense Department — because Hegseth has simultaneously declared War on American
decency & the staunch belief in abiding by our nation’s laws.
No one in Trump's cabinet will deserve prison without parole more than Hegseth: betrayer of military vets when he ran their org into the ground, liar for Fox, white supremacist, and now our nation's highest ranked war criminal.
He doesn’t belong as head of any cabinet post and must be sacked and put on trial along with his boss donald j trump
“Kill everybody”? Who does he think he is…Caesar? Thumbs down? If we cannot resurrect the Legislative branch of our government, then this INFURIATING behavior will continue. I don’t know whether to ‘rage, rage into the night’ over our inability to stop this, or whether to pray to a G-D I don’t even know exists to encourage some kind of divine intervention on behalf of humanity. These reactions within myself tell me that I am witnessing if not a war crime, a crime against humanity, a crime against all decency.
What kind of person, let alone someone charged with the most serious of tasks on behalf of our nation, acts with reckless abandon where human life is concerned? I am just heartbroken that the most evil people seem to be in charge of the direction of our once-respected foreign policy and military deployments.
Pete Hegseth is, like the Nazi SS soldiers of decades ago, “just following orders”. His recklessness is entertainment for the Czar, his depravity a flag planted for the United States, where we all pledge our loyalty to “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Where will this lead and when and how will this end?
I agree with you and feel enraged also but don’t know where to place that rage. It feels like nothing can stop them. When will doing the right thing win?
When will doing the right thing matter? When will it move us toward greater stability, justice and peace? Sometimes I wonder if decency is becoming obsolete and unworkable, like milliners, cobblers and blacksmiths?
Elections will stop him. Biden was 4th among dem primary candidates yet he managed to beat Trump. Too many in USA are unfortunately not willing to elect a black woman, no matter how smart and charming. But they'll elect a better white man.
Pete Hegseth should be taking a supervised urine test every morning before he goes to work at the defense department… excuse me, the department of war.
The International Criminal Court should work in league with the Senate armed forces oversight hearings to investigate any evidence that might pertain to the murder of 80+ men. The regime has given no evidence to justify the legal predicate for these killings. Simultaneously, someone/organization (Vote/Vets?) should litigate this issue up to the Supreme Court where “facts” still have some sway. The reps from the ICC should be allowed on US soil to arrest, bring to trial at The Hague and convict Hegseth. Trump cannot pardon him in this instance. While we’re at it, throw Trump into the international grinder. As he is so proud of crowing: “I am the law!” Prove it at The Hague you POS.
The problem is: the US is not a signatory to the ICC. W Bush in 2002 "unsigned" the signed but not ratified 2000 Rome Statute (Clinton).
I am not anti-military. The US military only does what politicians decide to order. US politicians don't want any impartial legal body investigating the bomb sites.
Ditto for Israel: signed in 2000, withdrew in 2002.
March 2003: US invasion of Iraq.
The Bush administration would have been wholesale convicted by the ICC.
W Bush was a dishonest scumbag in every possible sense. If you think Trump holds the record for total lies you don't remember W. Why do you think WP was so well prepared to document 40K Trump lies? - W proved this was necessary!
I forgot in my need to find a viable means of accountability!
"The US military only does what politicians decide to order. "
.
- I agree with everything except this part. FOOLS in the military will obey unlawful orders... but those who want to stay out of PRISON will refuse. The current crop of much vaunted SEALs have proven themselves to be idiots.
Ah, yes, but US military would not be lurking in the waters off Venezuela to obey unlawful orders if a politician hadn't sent them there in the first place, right?
That's true. But just cooling their heels in a place they don't need to be isn't criminal.... it's just a misuse of their time (They could be checking China's growing menace or helping NATO invade Russia. I'm sure this in itself is another favor to Putin.).
Great idea. Thinking outside the box.
But we need to see more of the juxtaposition of who the administration is killing and who they are pardoning in the mainstream media. This is beyond ludicrous. I am actually nauseated by who our "leaders" have become!
But yes, THANK YOU, Steven, for this incredibly important piece!
This is an important query!
Yes!
Agree. I had not heard of that pardon yet and it is simply shocking. It lays bare the “narco-terrorist” excuse and totally reinforces the fact that Trump is a self-dealing maniac who must be stopped. Damn, Congress! Pull it together!
https://open.substack.com/pub/ojaiohana/p/essay-debunking-official-wh-fake?r=5chxge&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
🤮
Democrats need to do a better job of talking to the media about how Trump is pardoning people involved in drug trafficking while conducting his bogus war on...DRUG TRAFFICKING. MSM is sure doing a lousy job of it.
Judith
I agree
There must be constant public revelations and reminders of these atrocities.
We must match the constant deluge of lies perpetuated by members of the Regime.
Totally. Where are they talking! I don’t hear one thing from them. Are they on the daily news stations hammering messages out like the Fox “News” folks ! No! They need to be on TV ads , pod casts , main stream news stations getting the truth to the people.
Now is the time to investigate. The corruption has gone far too long.
Steven,
Indeed Hegseth should be immediately relieved of duties, taken into custody, and investigated for War Crimes, and these attacks are war crimes. These is precedent to try everyone in the chain-of-command for war crimes and crimes upon the high seas. Your question is fortuitous as I wrote about this subject last night. The link to that article is here.
https://dundas.substack.com/p/murder-on-the-high-seas
Anyway. Thank you for bringing this up, your articles are always pertinent and well done. Have a good day, and as always, watch your six.
Steve Dundas
And who will take Hegseth's place? Supposedly Daniel Driscoll, U. S. Army Secretary and Vance's buddy who delivered the Russian/Trump Plan to Ukraine demanding they give up Ukraine to Putin and American businessmen who want to develop rare-earth minerals in Russia, Ukraine and the Arctic. (HRC, 11/29/25)
Good point, Mary. Driscoll is as dangerous as, or more so than, Hegseth.
I'm old enough to remember the My Lai massacre. Obviously nothing was learned about such atrocities and crimes. If true, there should be a swift investigation leading to charges. I doubt, however, that this Congress has the courage to do so.
I wish the military brass would gang up on Himmler Hegseth. The day he called that meeting with those generals they were all steaming you could tell. I bet everyone of them hate him.
Not all. When you want to be a"manly-man", you want a Secretary of War who looks the part and is willing to kill.
What’s a secretary of war look like?
Ok Most of them.