'Jagoff' Hegseth

[Vrede too]

Worse than initially reported.


Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has taken steps to block or delay promotions for more than a dozen Black and female senior officers across all four branches of the military, some of whom are seen as having been targeted because of their race, gender or perceived affiliation with Biden administration policies or officials, according to nine U.S. officials familiar with the process.

The process within the Army, the Air Force, the Navy and the Marines is structured to ensure the most qualified officers get promoted. Hegseth’s decision to intervene in the process has raised concerns among some officials within those military branches and the White House, the nine U.S. officials familiar with the situation said.

“There is not a single service that has been immune to this level of involvement by Hegseth,” one of the U.S. officials said.

Putin's orders.

[GoCubsGo]

Putin's orders.

I think the racist and misogynistic part is all us.

[GoCubsGo]

That is what I was wondering, someone had to write this for him.

[Vrede too]

That is what I was wondering, someone had to write this for him.

https://x.com/ProjectLincoln/status/2045208170436411421

Or, "His entire team" are stupid jagoffs.

[GoCubsGo]

Someone is sorry they got out of bed.

[Vrede too]

Someone is sorry they got out of bed.

https://x.com/HannahBrandt_TV/status/20 ... 1411124631

Code Pink rocks!

He's being grilled live on MS NOW and likely several other outlets.

[Vrede too]

‘This is just disarray’: alarm inside Pentagon after Hegseth staff purges

... Now – after an unprecedented wave of firings that has been compared by some to Stalin’s purges – the Pentagon top brass no longer seem like such a reliable bulwark.

Putin’s purges.

Since Trump returned to office in January last year, Pete Hegseth, the rumbustious defense secretary who has made it his mission to remake a military ethos he denounced as “woke”, has fired or forcibly retired 24 generals and senior commanders, with no performance-related reason given.

rumbustious: boisterous

About 60% have been Black or female, an approach seemingly driven by the administration’s proclaimed onslaught against “DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) hires”.

Yet the officers forced out have had impeccable reputations. The most recent victim was Gen Randy George, the army chief of staff, ousted last month reportedly after he refused to obey Hegseth’s instruction to strike four officers – two Black men and two women – from a list of prospective promotions.

... In interviews with the Guardian, insiders have portrayed Hegseth – a former Fox News host known for combative public appearances and an aggressive stance towards journalists – as increasingly isolated within the Pentagon’s sprawling bureaucracy and surrounded by a small coterie of close friends and relatives.

Some say he expresses fear and paranoia about Trump firing him from a job for which critics say his background as a former national guard infantry major with combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan is inadequate qualification....

GoCubsGo and O Really are hopeful.

[GoCubsGo]

This is unsettling on so many levels.


Army cuts training as service is short billions of dollars

The Army is grappling with a sudden budget crunch and scrambling to slash training costs across broad swaths of the force, according to internal documents reviewed by ABC News and multiple U.S. officials.

The move is to make up for a shortfall of some $4 billion to $6 billion, according to one of the officials, as the service has drastically expanded its operational footprint at home and abroad.

The cuts, which range from elite schools to unit-level training, have triggered a wave of abrupt cancellations and unusually aggressive spending scrutiny months before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

The service's multibillion-dollar shortfall is the product of a widening set of operational demands and rising costs across the force.

Major drivers, a U.S. official noted, have been costs associated with the Iran war and an expanding mission securing the southern U.S. border.

Additionally, expansive National Guard missions, including the ongoing deployment in Washington, D.C., which alone is projected to cost roughly $1.1 billion this year, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

At the same time, the service is absorbing ballooning personnel expenses and stepping in to cover missions tied to Department of Homeland Security funding lapses, including at the southern border and construction projects. The Army is expected to be reimbursed for covering down for some of DHS' expenses incurred during the record 76-day DHS shutdown.

The Army's III Armored Corps, an umbrella of the Army's heavy armor and cavalry units, is expected to bear a lot of the brunt, a document outlining projections to units on consequences of funding cuts shows.

That internal plan warns that the corps' aviation units will deploy next year at "a lower state of readiness," and "career stagnation" of mid-level officers who would oversee key training events and noted it would take a full year for units to rebuild "combat proficiency."

[Vrede too]

This is unsettling on so many levels.


Army cuts training as service is short billions of dollars

GoJagoffGo

[Vrede too]

Pete Hegseth SNL skit considered 'too ridiculous' to air - then it happened in real life
Colin Jost has claimed that he suggested a joke about Pete Hegseth reading the Bible verse from Pulp Fiction two weeks before the Secretary of War read it out during a speech

... But to Jost's surprise, Hegseth actually did quote the fake Bible verse during a speech two weeks later, as the comedian said, "And then he for real did it, like two weeks later, and I was like, 'Well, the good news is, I'm being surveilled, so that's a relief.'" ...

GoPete DGo

[Vrede too]

Pete Hegseth sparks fury after removing female and Black Navy officers from promotion list
The anti-DEI defense secretary turned down at least two women and two Black men for promotions within the U.S. Navy

... The anti-DEI Pentagon chief is accused of taking similar actions across other U.S. military branches, which has prevented more than a dozen female and Black officers from rising through the ranks of the Army, Air Force and Marines, as well as the Navy....

Racist misogyny = Loyal MAGA

[Vrede too]

Making friends wherever he goes:

LDS groups and Utah Republicans rage as military no longer counts church as Christian under Hegseth religion list shake-up

Jagoff is trying to turn OUR military into his own narrow little SS.

[O Really]

I've generally gone by the concept "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity (or ignorance)", but in Jagoff's case as well as many other Tru*p appointees, I'd have to adapt to: "never attribute to reason that which is most likely malice."

Having said that, however, I think the data classification cutting is a tempest in a teapot. Anybody who reads the original list of 220 is most likely to say "WTF do they need with all this detail and why do some of these obscure sects get an individual category?"

One might ask instead why the military needs to track religious affiliation anyway.

[GoCubsGo]

I've generally gone by the concept "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity (or ignorance)", but in Jagoff's case as well as many other Tru*p appointees, I'd have to adapt to: "never attribute to reason that which is most likely malice."

Having said that, however, I think the data classification cutting is a tempest in a teapot. Anybody who reads the original list of 220 is most likely to say "WTF do they need with all this detail and why do some of these obscure sects get an individual category?"

One might ask instead why the military needs to track religious affiliation anyway.

Being too lazy to do real research, AI came up with this.

Pretty much as I figured.

The U.S. military tracks religious affiliation for several practical and legal reasons:
Chaplain Support
The military provides chaplains for service members of many faiths.
Knowing religious affiliation helps determine how many chaplains of different faith groups are needed at a base, on a ship, or in a deployed unit.
Religious Accommodations
Some service members may request accommodations for dietary requirements, worship services, grooming standards, holy days, or religious items.
Tracking affiliation helps commanders and support personnel meet those needs.
Emergency and Casualty Assistance
If a service member is injured, killed, or otherwise unable to communicate, the military can notify families and arrange care or burial according to the member's religious preferences.
Burial and Funeral Honors
Religious preference can affect funeral rites, grave markers, and memorial services.
The military keeps this information to ensure a member's wishes are respected.
Demographic and Planning Purposes
Aggregate data helps the military understand the religious makeup of the force and plan support services accordingly.
Importantly, in the modern U.S. military, reporting a religious preference is generally voluntary, and service members can identify as having no religion. Federal law and military regulations prohibit discrimination based on religion, and religious affiliation is not supposed to affect assignments, promotions, security clearances, or career advancement.

[O Really]

Thanks, but meh.

[Vrede too]

I've generally gone by the concept "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity (or ignorance)", but in Jagoff's case as well as many other Tru*p appointees, I'd have to adapt to: "never attribute to reason that which is most likely malice."

Having said that, however, I think the data classification cutting is a tempest in a teapot. Anybody who reads the original list of 220 is most likely to say "WTF do they need with all this detail and why do some of these obscure sects get an individual category?" ...

Agreed, but going out of their way to leopardize the large, global, influential, generally well-off, solidly red sect seems foolish. Of course, this was no accident and wasn't done in the name of efficiency. RW evangelicals, like Jagoff, have long claimed that Mormons aren't "real" xtians, and Mormons have always responded as they have here.

[O Really]

Oh, foolish fershure. But isn't stepping on their own dicks a right wing specialty?

[GoCubsGo]

Yeah.

[neoplacebo]

I've generally gone by the concept "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity (or ignorance)", but in Jagoff's case as well as many other Tru*p appointees, I'd have to adapt to: "never attribute to reason that which is most likely malice."

Having said that, however, I think the data classification cutting is a tempest in a teapot. Anybody who reads the original list of 220 is most likely to say "WTF do they need with all this detail and why do some of these obscure sects get an individual category?"

One might ask instead why the military needs to track religious affiliation anyway.

When I was in the navy my dog tags said "no pref" on the religion line. I don't remember what the choices were at the time. I would have chosen "no thanks" but it wasn't available. I've still got those tags but never use them because when I was in the military my ID number is my SS number.

[GoCubsGo]

No vaccines!

Their body their....nevermind.