January 16, 2025

Thursday, January 16, 2025. Annette’s News Roundup.

Joe is always busy.

One more thing.

Felon Trump was his usual self.

Live Updates: Biden Delivers a Farewell Address and a Warning to the Nation

In his final speech from the Oval Office, President Biden urged the country to remember its roots and not surrender its values at the altar of a populist nationalism that he sees as dangerous.

President Biden dedicated his farewell address on Wednesday night to reminding the world of the importance of American democracy and the need to protect it, but warned the nation and his successor about the dangers of power left unchecked in America.

In a symbolic farewell to a nation he has served for more than five decades and to an office that he is surrendering to a man he disdains, Mr. Biden branded the circle of President-elect Donald J. Trump as an oligarchy, a denunciation of the concentration of wealth that revolves around Mr. Trump and many of his advisers, informal and formal, who are billionaires several times over.

Speaking to the American public for the final time before departing on Monday, Mr. Biden veered from trying to define his presidential legacy and instead rooted his own experience in public life against the backdrop of American democracy. “After 50 years at the center of all of this, I know that believing in the idea of America means respecting the institutions that govern a free society,” he said, before ticking off several — including the presidency, the press, and the courts — that Mr. Trump has spent years attacking.

Mr. Biden is scheduled to officially leave office at noon on Monday, when Mr. Trump takes over.

Here’s what else to know:

A check on power: President Biden proposed amending the Constitution “to make clear that no president, no president is immune from crimes that he or she commits while in office.” The Supreme Court ruled last summer that presidents have broad immunity for their official actions.

A familiar setting: Mr. Biden spoke from the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, where in a prime-time address six months ago he explained why he had withdrawn from the presidential race.

Longstanding tradition: The ritual of a farewell address dates back to George Washington, and many presidents have invoked the privilege to reflect on their accomplishment and warn of future challenges. Mr. Biden’s address evoked the one delivered by Dwight D. Eisenhower, who left office after more than five decades of public service — just as Mr. Biden will do. (New York Times).

President Biden’s Farewell Address. 17 minutes.👇

Full Transcript of President Biden’s Farewell Address

The president delivered the 17-minute speech from the Oval Office in the White House.

President Biden delivered a 17-minute farewell address to the United States on Wednesday. Below is a full transcript of his speech.

My fellow Americans, I’m speaking to you tonight from the Oval Office. Before I begin, let me speak to important news from earlier today. After eight months of nonstop negotiation, my administration — by my administration — a cease-fire and a hostage deal has been reached by Israel and Hamas, the elements of which I laid out in great detail in May of this year.

This plan was developed and negotiated by my team, and it will be largely implemented by the incoming administration. That’s why I told my team to keep the incoming administration fully informed. Because that’s how it should be: Working together as Americans. This will be my final address to you, the American people, from the Oval Office, from this desk, as president. And I’ve been thinking a lot about who we are and, maybe more importantly, who we should be.

Long ago, in New York Harbor, an ironworker installed beam after beam, day after day. He was joined by steel workers, stonemasons, engineers. They built not just a single structure, but a beacon of freedom. The very idea of America was so big, we felt the entire world needed to see the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France after our Civil War. Like the very idea of America, it was built not by one person but by many people, from every background, and from around the world.

Like America, the Statue of Liberty is not standing still. Her foot literally steps forward atop a broken chain of human bondage. She’s on the march. And she literally moves. She was built to sway back and forth to withstand the fury of stormy weather, to stand the test of time because storms are always coming. She sways a few inches, but she never falls into the current below. An engineering marvel.

The Statue of Liberty is also an enduring symbol of the soul of our nation, a soul shaped by forces that bring us together and by forces that pull us apart. And yet, through good times and tough times, we have withstood it all. A nation of pioneers and explorers, of dreamers and doers, of ancestors native to this land, of ancestors who came by force. A nation of immigrants who came to build a better life. A nation holding the torch of the most powerful idea ever in the history of the world: that all of us, all of us are created equal. That all of us deserve to be treated with dignity, justice and fairness. That democracy must defend, and be defined, and be imposed, moved in every way possible: Our rights, our freedoms, our dreams. But we know the idea of America, our institution, our people, our values that uphold it, are constantly being tested.

Ongoing debates about power and the exercise of power. About whether we lead by the example of our power or the power of our example. Whether we show the courage to stand up to the abuse of power, or we yield to it. After 50 years at the center of all of this, I know that believing in the idea of America means respecting the institutions that govern a free society — the presidency, the Congress, the courts, a free and independent press. Institutions that are rooted — not just reflect the timeless words, but they — they echo the words of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” Rooted in the timeless words of the Constitution: “We the People.” Our system of separation of powers, checks and balances — it may not be perfect, but it’s maintained our democracy for nearly 250 years, longer than any other nation in history that’s ever tried such a bold experiment.

In the past four years, our democracy has held strong. And every day, I’ve kept my commitment to be president for all Americans, through one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history. I’ve had a great partner in Vice President Kamala Harris. It’s been the honor of my life to see the resilience of essential workers getting us through a once-in-a-century pandemic, the heroism of service members and first responders keeping us safe, the determination of advocates standing up for our rights and our freedoms.

Instead of losing their jobs to an economic crisis that we inherited, millions of Americans now have the dignity of work. Millions of entrepreneurs and companies, creating new businesses and industries, hiring American workers, using American products. And together, we have launched a new era of American possibilities: one of the greatest modernizations of infrastructure in our entire history, from new roads, bridges, clean water, affordable high-speed internet for every American.

We invented the semiconductor, smaller than the tip of my little finger, and now is bringing those chip factories and those jobs back to America where they belong, creating thousands of jobs. Finally giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for millions of seniors. And finally doing something to protect our children and our families by passing the most significant gun safety law in 30 years. And bringing violent crime to a 50-year low. Meeting our sacred obligation to over one million veterans so far who were exposed to toxic materials, and to their families, providing medical care and education benefits and more for their families.

You know, it will take time to feel the full impact of all we’ve done together. But the seeds are planted, and they’ll grow, and they’ll bloom for decades to come. At home, we have created nearly 17 million new jobs, more than any other single administration in a single term. More people have health care than ever before. And overseas, we have strengthened NATO. Ukraine is still free. And we’ve pulled ahead in our competition with China. And so much more. I’m so proud of how much we’ve accomplished together for the American people, and I wish the incoming administration success. Because I want America to succeed.

That’s why I’ve upheld my duty to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition of power to ensure we lead by the power of our example. I have no doubt that America is in a position to continue to succeed.

That’s why my farewell address tonight, I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. And this is a dangerous — and that’s the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultrawealthy people, and the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked. Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. We see the consequences all across America. And we’ve seen it before.

More than a century ago, the American people stood up to the robber barons back then and busted the trusts. They didn’t punish the wealthy. They just made the wealthy play by the rules everybody else had. Workers want rights to earn their fair share. You know, they were dealt into the deal, and it helped put us on the path to building the largest middle class, the most prosperous century any nation the world has ever seen. We’ve got to do that again.

The last four years, that is exactly what we have done. People should be able to make as much as they can, but pay — play by the same rules, pay their fair share in taxes. So much is at stake. Right now, the existential threat of climate change has never been clearer. Just look across the country, from California to North Carolina. That’s why I signed the most significant climate and clean energy law ever, ever in the history of the world.

And the rest of the world is trying to model it now. It’s working, creating jobs and industries of the future. Now we have proven we don’t have to choose between protecting the environment and growing the economy. We’re doing both. But powerful forces want to wield their unchecked influence to eliminate the steps we’ve taken to tackle the climate crisis, to serve their own interests for power and profit. We must not be bullied into sacrificing the future, the future of our children and our grandchildren. We must keep pushing forward, and push faster. There is no time to waste. It is also clear that American leadership in technology is unparalleled, an unparalleled source of innovation that can transform lives. We see the same dangers in the concentration of technology, power and wealth.

You know, in his farewell address, President Eisenhower spoke of the dangers of the military-industrial complex. He warned us that about, and I quote, “The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power.” Six days — six decades later, I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex that could pose real dangers for our country as well.

Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power. The free press is crumbling. Editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit. We must hold the social platforms accountable to protect our children, our families and our very democracy from the abuse of power. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is the most consequential technology of our time, perhaps of all time.

Nothing offers more profound possibilities and risks for our economy, and our security, our society. For humanity. Artificial intelligence even has the potential to help us answer my call to end cancer as we know it. But unless safeguards are in place, A.I. could spawn new threats to our rights, our way of life, to our privacy, how we work, and how we protect our nation. We must make sure A.I. is safe and trustworthy and good for all humankind.

In the age of A.I., it’s more important than ever that the people must govern. And as the Land of Liberty, America — not China — must lead the world in the development of A.I.

You know, in the years ahead, it’s going to be up to the president, the presidency, the Congress, the courts, the free press, and the American people to confront these powerful forces. We must reform the tax code. Not by giving the biggest tax cuts to billionaires, but by making them begin to pay their fair share.

We need to get dark money — that’s that hidden funding behind too many campaign contributions — we need to get it out of our politics. We need to enact an 18-year time limit, term limit, time and term, for the strongest ethics — and the strongest ethics reforms for our Supreme Court. We need to ban members of Congress from trading stock while they are in the Congress. We need to amend the Constitution to make clear that no president, no president is immune from crimes that he or she commits while in office. The president’s power is not limit — it is not absolute. And it shouldn’t be.

And in a democracy, there is another danger — that the concentration of power and wealth. It erodes a sense of unity and common purpose. It causes distrust and division. Participating in our democracy becomes exhausting and even disillusioning, and people don’t feel like they have a fair shot. We have to stay engaged in the process. I know it’s frustrating. A fair shot is what makes America America. Everyone is entitled to a fair shot, not a guarantee, just a fair shot, an even playing field. Going as far as your hard work and talent can take you.

We can never lose that essential truth to remain who we are. I’ve always believed, and I told other world leaders, America will be defined by one word: possibilities. Only in America do we believe anything is possible. Like a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, sitting behind this desk in the Oval Office as president of the United States.

That is the magic of America. It’s all around us. Upstairs in the residence of the White House, I’ve walked by a painting of a Statue of Liberty I don’t how many times. In the painting there are several workers climbing on the outstretched arm of the statue that holds the torch. It reminds me every day I pass it of the story and soul of our nation, and the power of the American people.

There is a story of a veteran — a veteran, a son of an immigrant, whose job was to climb that torch and polish the amber panes so rays of light could reach out as far as possible. He was known as the keeper of the flame. He once said of the Statue of Liberty, “Speaks a silent, universal language, one of hope that anyone who seeks and speaks freedom can understand.”

Yes, we sway back and forth to withstand the fury of the storm, to stand the test of time, a constant struggle, constant struggle. A short distance between peril and possibility. But what I believe is the America of our dreams is always closer than we think. And it’s up to us to make our dreams come true.

Let me close by stating my gratitude to so many people. To the members of my administration, as well as public service and first responders across the country and around the world, thank you for stepping up to serve. To our service members and their families, it has been the highest honor of my life to lead you as commander in chief.

And of course, to Kamala and her incredible partner. A historic vice president. She and Doug have become like family. And to me, family is everything.

My deepest appreciation to our amazing first lady who is with me in the Oval today. For our entire family. You are the love of my life and the life of my love.

My eternal thanks to you, the American people. After 50 years of public service, I give you my word, I still believe in the idea for which this nation stands — a nation where the strength of our institutions and the character of our people matter and must endure. Now it’s your turn to stand guard. May you all be the keeper of the flame. May you keep the faith. I love America. You love it, too.

God bless you all, and may God protect our troops. Thank you for this great honor.

—————

Thank you, Mr. President.

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Details of the Cease Fire.

A Gaza Ceasefire and Hostage Deal

This is not the first column I expected to write for The Contrarian. I presumed it would be my personal story and how I’ve wrestled with issues associated with Israel, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the Middle East. Instead, I am thrilled that after fifteen months of agony in Israel and in Gaza, my first piece is about an agreement on a ceasefire and a hostage deal.

The agreement will be broken into three phases. In the first phase, which will last six weeks, Hamas will release 33 women, children, adults over the age of fifty, and those severely wounded or sick (both alive and dead). In exchange, Israel will release a large number of Palestinian prisoners—many who committed minor crimes, others who have been serving long sentences for violent acts.

During this phase, Israel will also pull out of main population centers in Gaza and allow Gazans to begin returning to the northern part of the Strip, which they have not been able to access since being displaced at the start of the war. Israel will also evacuate the Netzarim corridor, from where it launched much of its military operations, and agree to a major surge of humanitarian assistance.

In Phase II, Hamas will release all remaining living hostages – primarily men of military age – in exchange for a complete territorial withdrawal from Gaza. There will need to be an agreement on post-conflict governance in Gaza that is not Hamas. And in Phase III, all the bodies of the remaining hostages will be released in exchange for a major reconstruction plan.

Implementation will likely be very dicey, given the deep lack of trust between the parties and the logistical challenges of their commitments. Will Hamas be able to successfully track and release all of the hostages it has promised, given that some are being held by other groups in Gaza? Similarly, can Israel deliver on the surge of humanitarian aid it has promised? And even if it does, will the aid reach Palestinians in need, given that the devastated infrastructure in Gaza makes it hard to transport assistance? With a breakdown of the security inside the territory, much of the aid might get hijacked.

Why did it take so long? It starts with Hamas, which triggered this with the October 7th terrorist attacks, then took primarily hardline positions in the negotiations—especially when they believed that tensions in the region would ignite a regional war that would put Israel in a weakened position and get Hamas a better deal. The opposite happened: Israel dealt Hezbollah a significant blow, effectively defended itself from Iranian attack, and took out Iranian air defenses. Faced with a weakened hand, Hamas finally took a deal.

However, Prime Minister Netanyahu and his far-right allies—especially Itamar Ben Gvir—also bear a lot of the responsibility in extending the agony in Gaza and the misery of the hostage families. Netanyahu would not agree to a deal that Ben Gvir opposed while Ben Gvir had the ability to bring down the Israeli government. That changed in the fall when a small Israeli political party joined Netanyahu’s coalition and gave him the votes he needed to keep his government intact in the aftermath of a hostage deal. But remember: Netanyahu could have overwhelmingly passed a hostage deal at any time with support from the opposition, even if it would mean the collapse of his government.

As for who takes credit for this agreement—you’ll hear a lot of crowing from the right that this was somehow Trump who negotiated the deal. He does deserve some credit for applying public pressure and signaling his desire to end the war. The fact that both Trump’s representative and Biden’s were in Doha together was an exceptionally rare example of bipartisan cooperation on a seemingly impossible issue. But the Biden administration has worked tirelessly for the past fifteen months to bring about this deal.

Sadly, the agreement came about after way too much suffering and destruction. There are many things that this Administration, in which I served, could have done differently. But that is a story for a different column—or many columns. For today, it is worth celebrating this moment. Let everyone on the American political spectrum take some credit, if they must.

The mediators—including the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt—have a vital role in pressing the parties to live up to their commitments. This will be especially hard given the simultaneous US transition of the presidency. Trump’s negotiators, who have worked surprisingly well with Biden’s, would be smart to keep some of the latter around to help ensure that intensely detailed commitments are kept.

As for building something better in Gaza, my guess is that the parties will ultimately find a way to implement the second and third phase to end the war permanently, because neither side wants to keep fighting.

But don’t expect them to agree on a post-conflict governance arrangement for Gaza that Secretary Blinken laid out yesterday. For any of that to work and for international actors to buy in and support it with boots on the ground and resources, this plan would have to be seen as a major step towards the eventual reunification of Gaza and the West Bank and the beginning of a two-state solution. Netanyahu and his far-right allies would never go for that.

The most realistic scenario is that Hamas and Israel paper over their differences on post-conflict governance to end the war and get all the hostages out. The result leaves in place a weak Hamas in charge of Gaza, untold numbers of Palestinians living in horrific conditions, and no promising path forward for either side. (Ilan Goldenberg, The Contrarian)

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The Republican Senators continue to fail the nation.

The First Domino.

Democratic women lead the fight, all Republicans fail us.

In the weeks immediately after Pete Hegseth’s nomination to be Secretary of Defense was announced, and in the wake of the revelations about an alleged sexual assault allegations, business improprieties, serious problems with alcohol abuse, and his complete lack of qualifications for a job in which he would oversee over 3 million members of the armed services, I did not think he had a snowball’s chance in hell of being confirmed—even with this Republican majority in the Senate.

Yesterday’s hearing proved me wrong. Through a combination of behind-the-scenes strong-arm tactics, hubris, cowardice, and the Republican Party’s imperative to put country over party, perhaps the worst possible person for the job is going to get the job.

The confirmation of Hegseth, a Fox co-host who once bragged about not washing his hands for ten years, would be as dangerous as it is absurd, in part because the Secretary of Defense is sixth in the presidential line of succession.

A profile in New York Magazine gives a good summary of all of the reasons confirming Hegseth would be disastrous for our military, our service members, and the country:

Pete Hegseth is, by every measure, an abysmal nominee to run the American military. The Army National Guard veteran and former Fox News commentator has no experience managing enormous, complex organizations like the Pentagon and would, as secretary of Defense, be in charge of an $850 billion budget and 3 million active-duty and civilian personnel. His spotty professional record includes having been asked to step down from two nonprofit veterans’ groups whose budgets he reportedly ran into the ground. Questions about his personal behavior abound: He has been accused of rape (he reached a civil settlement with his accuser in 2017) and has a reported habit of excessive drinking, including while on the job and to the point of incapacitation in public. He has defended waterboarding and torture, advocated on behalf of alleged war criminals, and as recently as November he declared, ‘I’m straight up just saying that we should not have women in combat roles.’”

Hegseth is also a white supremacist and Christian nationalist—and he has the tattoos to prove it.

Only Donald could look at a degenerate like Hegseth and think he’s the right man for the job. Because Donald, of course, looks at this through a different lens: he doesn’t care about the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. He wants somebody at the Department of Defense who will do his bidding and, perhaps as importantly for Donald, who looks the part.

The process surrounding Hegseth’s nomination reveals some troubling details about the way the Trump transition team is approaching the confirmations of all of its more controversial nominees. As Jane Mayer reports:

The Trump transition team has waged an intense, and in many ways unprecedented, behind-the-scenes campaign ahead of the hearing to intimidate and silence potential witnesses, aimed at keeping Republican senators in line and in the dark.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which will be holding Hegseth’s hearing, told me, “I’m deeply concerned by an apparent pattern of intimidation and threats, whether it’s legal action or reputational harm. They’re playing the hardest of hardball. It’s harder by several orders of magnitude than in almost any other confirmation.” Senator Elizabeth Warren, another Democrat on the committee, said the pressure tactics “seem designed” to insure that witnesses “don’t speak up.” Blumenthal said that “it’s been pretty unnerving” for Senate Republicans, “because this nominee is so deeply unqualified and unprepared,” yet they fear political retaliation from Trump if they vote their consciences.”

Central to the dysfunction is the role of the F.B.I. background checks. As Garrett Graff writes:

Normally, transitions and administrations want desperately to know potential personnel vulnerabilities in advance. The entire point of a security check is to determine whether someone is already ethically compromised or has potential areas that an adversary could leverage to compromise them — from hidden affairs to gambling problems to substance abuse. At a fundamental level, a security check is about whether a potential nominee is worthy of public trust. You generally, as a point of good government, don’t want senior officials in sensitive positions open to compromise or blackmail.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, sees background checks differently — they want to hide and obfuscate the misdeeds, liabilities, weaknesses, conflicts-of-interest, corruption, and points of existing or potential compromise of their nominees until they’re safely ensconced in the highest level of the US government and already reading the nation’s most sensitive secrets.

Additionally, Mayer reports that,

Several Republican senators have taken the same approach as Collins, saying that they are waiting for the F.B.I.’s background report on Hegseth to assess the conflicting claims about his behavior. But, as the Senate rushes ahead with the confirmation process, the F.B.I. report doesn’t appear likely to resolve much. According to multiple well-informed sources, the Bureau failed to interview several potentially crucial witnesses, including the woman who has accused Hegseth of rape. The F.B.I. also neglected to do a full background interview with the second of Hegseth’s three wives—from whom he reportedly went through a contentious divorce—after initially struggling to get in touch with her. The Bureau failed, too, to interview former employees of Concerned Veterans for America who were critical of Hegseth when he ran the organization, between 2013 and 2016.

As The New Yorker reported in December, these former employees were so shocked by his behavior that they sent a blistering internal whistle-blower report to the nonprofit’s top management—a document that was subsequently shared with the Senate Armed Services Committee. Sources told The New Yorker that the F.B.I.’s background investigation also failed to interview Fox News personnel who had described Hegseth to NBC News as smelling of alcohol on the job as recently as last fall. Instead, sources say that the Bureau settled for an interview with a public-relations official at Fox.

That is the context in which yesterday’s hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee unfolded. The shadow of those threats cast a pall over the proceedings because, despite the pointed, at times, scathing questioning from Democrats, it became increasingly apparent that there was little doubt about where this was all headed.

That is the backdrop against which yesterday’s Hegseth’s confirmation hearing in front of the Armed Services Committee unfolded. The plethora of red flags notwithstanding, for the Republicans, the conclusion was foregone. At least Democratic senators took their job to advise and consent seriously, and refused to pull any punches.

Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) put the case against Hegseth succinctly:

If confirmed your words, actions and decisions will have real impacts on national security and our service members' lives. There are close to 3 million personnel in the Department of Defense, 900 billion budget. I hardly think you are prepared to do the job.

In other words, a guy who co-hosts a weekend show on Fox has no business being anywhere near the Pentagon. And this is in addition to Hegseth’s glaring character defects and long record of troubling behavior.

Under questioning from Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), Hegseth doubled down on his contention that the accusations of sexual assault against him were simply part of a smear campaign. Kaine’s summary was nonetheless damning:

You didn't reveal any of this to President [-elect] Trump or the transition team as they were considering you to be nominated for Secretary of Defense. You didn't reveal the action, you didn't reveal the criminal complaint, you didn't reveal the criminal investigation, you didn't reveal the settlement. You didn't reveal the cash payment. Why didn't you inform the commander in chief and the transition team of this very relevant event? . . . Because you knew it would hurt your chances. . . . Are there any other important facts that you chose not to reveal to the President-elect and his team as they were considering you to be Secretary of Defense? A sexual assault that would be disqualifying to be a Secretary of Defense, wouldn't it? So you can't tell me whether someone who has committed a sexual assault is disqualified from being a Secretary of Defense. . . . You acknowledged that you cheated on your wife and that you cheated on the woman by whom you had just fathered a child. You have admitted that.

Hegseth’s reply? “I will allow your words to speak for themselves.”

Kaine concluded that being an alleged sexual assaulter who cheats on his wife and who has demonstrated a pattern of sexually harassing women should render you unfit to serve as the head of the Pentagon. A huge part of the problem here, though, is that 49 percent of American voters do not believe that those same things do not disqualify Donald Trump from being president of the United States.

After Hegseth lied about having been “completely cleared” of those charges, Sen. Hirono set the record straight saying, “[Y] our own lawyer said that you entered into an NDA [non-disclosure agreement] and paid a person who accused you of raping her a sum of money to make sure that she did not file a complaint.”

In the past, Hegseth has stated unequivocally, and on many occasions, that women should not be allowed to serve in combat positions. Since being nominated, he has distanced himself from those views, but Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has been keeping score.

January, 2013 you told a Fox [ ] interviewer that women in the military simply couldn't measure up to men in the military saying that allowing women to serve in combat roles would force the military to lower the bar. You picked up on that same theme in 2015, making remarks on Fox [ ] referring to women in combat as it would erode standards. June, 2024, you said on Ben Shapiro's podcast, “Women shouldn't be in combat at all.” And then of course we've talked about it in 2024, you published a book and you say on page 26 of your book, “We need moms, but not in the military, especially in combat units.” On page 48 of your book, you claim that women should not be in combat roles men because men are distracted by women.

It seems to me that if men get distracted by the presence of women in their units, they are the ones who should not be allowed to serve in combat roles.

While Hegseth did modify his position regarding the role of women in the military for the sake of expedience, he was not willing to concede that women are fully realized human beings with rights. This exchange with Hirono was compelling:

Hirono: “Current DOD policy allows service members and eligible dependents to be reimbursed for travel associated with non-covered reproductive healthcare, including abortions. Will you maintain this common-sense policy?”

Hegseth: “I've always been personally pro-life. I know President Trump has as well and we will review all policies, but our standard is whatever the president wants on this particular issue.”

Hirono: If the president tells you that this policy will not be maintained, you will not enable our service members to seek reproductive care.

That, as far as I'm concerned, is all we need to know about Pete Hegseth, although you could say the same about any of his other myriad transgressions and shortcomings. Also, anybody who believes that Donald Trump is now or has ever been pro-life hasn’t been paying attention.

Throughout the rest of the hearing, Hegseth continued to reveal his unfitness across any number of categories:

He could not name any of the three main international security agreements.

He did not know what countries are part of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

He would not discount seizing Greenland if Donald ordered him to do so.

He would not say whether the Director of Defense should frequent strip clubs and harass strippers while under the influence of alcohol.

Under constrained circumstances (committee chair Roger Wicker [R-MS]) limited senators to one round of questioning during which they had seven minutes to speak with the nominee), Democrats did their jobs while Republicans complained about it.

Senator Markwayne Mullen (R-OK) called out Tim Kaine for suggesting that showing up to your job drunk was inappropriate. He offered an odd defense for Hegseth’s behavior:

How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night? Have any of you guys asked him to step down and resign for their job? And don't tell me you haven't seen it because I know you have.

Okay, well, Hegseth, who, if confirmed, will be in the chain of command as well as responsible for over 3 million employees, has a known history of showing up to work drunk. That's why the question needed to be asked.

Almost across the board, Republicans showed us (or reminded us) that they do not understand their role in this process. They are also not serious human beings. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) said, “The very idea that you should have to sit there and answer hypothetical potential in somebody's imagination crimes that may take place at some point, and wouldn't that disqualify you if you were a murderer or if you were a rapist? Unfair, unfair. And I'm embarrassed for this behavior.”

A nominee’s confirmation is not (or should not be) a foregone conclusion. That’s why it is part of a senator’s job to ask probing, sometimes difficult questions about a nominees competence and experience. These hearings are not supposed to be rubber stamps.

While true that it’s historically rare for nominees to be blocked from confirmation, it is even more rare for the president-elect to nominate such egregiously unqualified and, quite frankly, dangerous individuals.

I think Senator Duckworth said it best, “[Our serviced members cannot be led by someone who's not competent to do the job. How can we ask these warriors to train and perform to the absolute highest standards when you are asking us to lower the standards to make you the Secretary Defense, simply because you are buddies with our president-elect?”

This is the problem though: If Donald Trump is the standard by which everybody else is judged, by definition nobody can be unqualified. The standards have been set so low that the bar currently resides at the molten core of the earth.

As I said, in the weeks immediately after Hegseth was nominated, I felt confident he would not be confirmed. After yesterday, I am almost certain this unqualified, cruel, racist, misogynistic creep is going to be the man leading the United States Armed forces. The likelihood of this increased with the announcement that an original holdout, Jodi Ernst, (R-IA) a veteran and survivor of sexual assault, will vote to confirm Hegseth after all. Despite her background and alleged concerns about the prevalence of sexual assault against women in the military, Ernst refused to meet privately with Hegseth’s accuser, as did Susan Collins (R-ME).

Ernst knows better, but she’s up for re-election this year and she didn’t want to have to face a Musk-backed primary challenger. All but the most cultish Republican know better. Once again, they have chosen to put their own personal power above—well, everything else.

Like the other outrageously unqualified miscreants nominated for positions that will have an enormous impact over the lives of Americans—from Robert Kennedy at Health and Human Services to Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence—Hegseth is uniquely unfit. That’s the point. Donald and his transition team could have found other people to fill these roles who were less personally offensive, more qualified, but equally eager to betray their oaths to the Constitution in order to do Donald’s bidding, but they want to weaken our institutions and degrade people’s confidence in them. Putting the worse people in positions of power will more comprehensively achieve those goals.

These confirmation hearings are a slippery slope. Yesterday, we slid a long way down, and we are only picking up speed (Mary Trump, The Good in Us).

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Peace at last is about to happen between Israel and Hamas.

Thank you, President Biden and our amazing diplomatic team.

But it also seemed the right time to watch Screams Before Silence, a 60-minute documentary led by Sheryl Sandberg, featuring firsthand accounts of the October 7 attacks and highlighting the sexual violence against women during those attacks.

You don’t have to be pro-Israel or anti-Israel’s attacks on the people of Gaza to condemn the barbarians who used rape as a weapon of war on October 7.

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