Pete Hegseth, I solemnly swear, would bring about the end of the world and not feel bad about it because it was predicted in Scriptures. He is a Christian nationalist, and of the worst kind––a hypocrite who beats his wife and drinks to the point of blacking out. The Christian nationalists and Dominionists have slowly taken over our government. And the expert author of the book on the movement, Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times, refused to write about it since she's been at that Morose Gray Lady. Her cowardice, and the cowardice of journalists in general, let this happen. You've let Dr. Strangelove push the button. And out of some politesse you didn't try to stop it. Opus Dei. Knights of Malta. Freemasons. The press is silent. They're gonna get what they deserve; we're gonna get what we don't deserve.
Forming a collection of anything can be a hobby. One has the pleasure of the hunt, endless research, chatting with fellow enthusiasts, and finally the arranging of one’s finds. Add to that competition between collectors and you really do have a hobby.
Very disappointed that FP will be platforming Brianna Wu… again. Perhaps Bari should read Corinna Cohn’s Substack piece on Wu from December 7 of last year.
The secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte, has said that the West is not prepared for the challenges that will come over the next five years and that it’s time to “shift to a wartime mind-set.” Kori Schake, who directs foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, writes that while World War III has not begun, “a world war is approaching.”
Recent American defense strategy has been based on the optimistic assumption that we will have to fight only one war at a time. But the closer cooperation between China, Russia, Iran and North Korea make a coordinated attack more likely, meaning we may have to fight three or four regional wars simultaneously.
The weak U.S. industrial base has hollowed out American resilience. China’s shipbuilding industry has a capacity more than 230 times greater than that of the United States. When experts recently conducted war games with China, the United States ran out of long-range anti-ship missiles within three to seven days.
The Chinese are building gigantic amphibious landing craft of the sort they would use for an invasion of Taiwan. They have developed a powerful microwave weapon that has the intensity of a nuclear explosion and can disrupt or destroy electronic components of our weapons systems. H.R. McMaster, the former national security adviser, recently said, “I think China is laying the groundwork for a first-strike nuclear capability against the United States.”
In 2023, the RAND Corporation issued a report on U.S. military “power and influence.” Here’s how it opened: “The U.S. defense strategy and posture have become insolvent. The tasks that the nation expects its military forces and other elements of national power to do internationally exceed the means that are available to accomplish those tasks.”
Now, if you are holding hearings for a prospective secretary of defense, you would think you might want to ask him about these urgent issues. Or you might come up with other serious questions: How do drones change war-fighting? How will artificial intelligence alter the nature of combat? How do we shift from a defense policy built around counterterrorism to a policy built around nation-state warfare? If you’re a Democrat trying to sink a nomination, you would think you’d want to ask substantive questions on life-or-death issues like these in order to expose the nominee’s ignorance and unpreparedness.
Wow, seems the FP really let their Freak flag fly today -- both River and Lake, in their respective hydrosphericalities, betrayed quite the liberal leanings. Eli, with his "MAGA conservative media blitz PR's Hegseth from heel to hero" and River decrying those deluded conservative parents who just needed to not take junior to drag shows. I sometimes like what these guys write. Today, not so much...
Thanks for the info, but I really don't want to have to open an Apple account. Don't trust em. I do wish Bari would at least include highlights of the conversation.
Pete Hegseth is the Christian nationalist goal to lead an even more zealous DOD, as if Lloyd Austin’s devout Catholicism wasn’t enough. This is a secular country. Christians should not be put in positions of power, lest their religious dementia (an unacknowledged form of psychotic disorder) convince them that they must destroy non-Christian societies.
Oh, the hardheaded brutes who think violence solves problems; the gun nuts in the military and police and white trash and gangs who use excessive force and do not help people solve their problems, but chuck them in dungeon-like jails where they await trial for years. Most people are not mentally ill, I’ll grant you that. But the majority of people suffer from a society wide delusion that everything is OK in this country and the world, so they don’t have to pay attention. There’s a thin (non-blue) line between insanity and genius. Nietzsche: “Madness is something rare in individuals — but in groups, parties, peoples, and ages, it is the rule."
Loved this last Honestly episode. I really enjoy Batya and Brianna. It's so refreshing to hear adults who disagree have a meaningful conversation. Please keep them talking.
Also, I am the mother of a trans identified kid, and have been fighting for 6 years to get my kid to reverse course. I HATE what trans activists have done to our kids and the world at large. That said, the hateful comments here toward Brianna are beyond unacceptable. I wish everyone could see the difference between the insanity of trans activists and a trans person - who denounces trans activists, childhood medicalization and men in women's spaces - and is just trying to live her life. When I first heard her on a podcast a few months ago, I was like "oh geez". But on that panel of people discussing the election, she was my favorite voice. She's a lovely and sensible human being, and I really hope she doesn't read these horrible comments on here. I love the FP and Honestly, but the comments section is one of vilest places I lay eyes on.
I ask this with all sincerity. Why should anyone be vilified if they don't want to call Brianna Wu a "she?" Just because Brianna desires it? Why should I be forced to do something against MY beliefs? Just because that person desires it? Why does that person's desire trump what I believe?? This is not being hateful, it's following one's own conscience and beliefs.
What is vile about saying that he is male? Some of us believe in truth. There wouldnt be such a backlash happening if the trans “activists” hadnt been so hateful and abusive towards women all these years. Read up on the abuse that has been happening in female prisons. That is what is truly vile.
"But River Page says that even if the age verification laws are upheld, they won’t work. “The day an American teenager with a normal IQ can’t access porn on an unfiltered internet connection is the day freedom no longer exists in the United States,”"
Maybe River should argue that these same American teenagers just demand their bank accounts online have no user name / password? How dare they filter access to their bank accounts online.
To this 20-year Air Force veteran, Pete Hegseth is saying all the right things. I joined during Vietnam to avoid the draft. At my first assignment after tech school, I had to attend a race relations session for one whole day. What a shock it was as this white kid who had only seen a black person to be berated by two black instructors. A full Colonel left shortly into the morning session. I assumed to put in his retirement paperwork. It changed over the remaining years and that session always perplexed me. I would hate to see what military members have endured under this Administration.
Pete Hegseth, I solemnly swear, would bring about the end of the world and not feel bad about it because it was predicted in Scriptures. He is a Christian nationalist, and of the worst kind––a hypocrite who beats his wife and drinks to the point of blacking out. The Christian nationalists and Dominionists have slowly taken over our government. And the expert author of the book on the movement, Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times, refused to write about it since she's been at that Morose Gray Lady. Her cowardice, and the cowardice of journalists in general, let this happen. You've let Dr. Strangelove push the button. And out of some politesse you didn't try to stop it. Opus Dei. Knights of Malta. Freemasons. The press is silent. They're gonna get what they deserve; we're gonna get what we don't deserve.
Forming a collection of anything can be a hobby. One has the pleasure of the hunt, endless research, chatting with fellow enthusiasts, and finally the arranging of one’s finds. Add to that competition between collectors and you really do have a hobby.
Very disappointed that FP will be platforming Brianna Wu… again. Perhaps Bari should read Corinna Cohn’s Substack piece on Wu from December 7 of last year.
We Deserve Pete Hegseth
Jan. 15, 2025
By David Brooks
Opinion Columnist
First let me hit you with some realities:
The secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte, has said that the West is not prepared for the challenges that will come over the next five years and that it’s time to “shift to a wartime mind-set.” Kori Schake, who directs foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, writes that while World War III has not begun, “a world war is approaching.”
Recent American defense strategy has been based on the optimistic assumption that we will have to fight only one war at a time. But the closer cooperation between China, Russia, Iran and North Korea make a coordinated attack more likely, meaning we may have to fight three or four regional wars simultaneously.
The weak U.S. industrial base has hollowed out American resilience. China’s shipbuilding industry has a capacity more than 230 times greater than that of the United States. When experts recently conducted war games with China, the United States ran out of long-range anti-ship missiles within three to seven days.
The Chinese are building gigantic amphibious landing craft of the sort they would use for an invasion of Taiwan. They have developed a powerful microwave weapon that has the intensity of a nuclear explosion and can disrupt or destroy electronic components of our weapons systems. H.R. McMaster, the former national security adviser, recently said, “I think China is laying the groundwork for a first-strike nuclear capability against the United States.”
In 2023, the RAND Corporation issued a report on U.S. military “power and influence.” Here’s how it opened: “The U.S. defense strategy and posture have become insolvent. The tasks that the nation expects its military forces and other elements of national power to do internationally exceed the means that are available to accomplish those tasks.”
Now, if you are holding hearings for a prospective secretary of defense, you would think you might want to ask him about these urgent issues. Or you might come up with other serious questions: How do drones change war-fighting? How will artificial intelligence alter the nature of combat? How do we shift from a defense policy built around counterterrorism to a policy built around nation-state warfare? If you’re a Democrat trying to sink a nomination, you would think you’d want to ask substantive questions on life-or-death issues like these in order to expose the nominee’s ignorance and unpreparedness.
Wow, seems the FP really let their Freak flag fly today -- both River and Lake, in their respective hydrosphericalities, betrayed quite the liberal leanings. Eli, with his "MAGA conservative media blitz PR's Hegseth from heel to hero" and River decrying those deluded conservative parents who just needed to not take junior to drag shows. I sometimes like what these guys write. Today, not so much...
Kamala Harris not inviting the Vance family: "classy", as always.
Harris sources said that arrangements are underway to accommodate the Vance children. - Aka clear all empty wine bottles from the premises.
Please print the transcript of your "On Honestly" podcasts.
Apple podcast app has a reader option.
Thanks for the info, but I really don't want to have to open an Apple account. Don't trust em. I do wish Bari would at least include highlights of the conversation.
Pitiful!
Your stories are so refreshing. He deserves a chance.
Pete Hegseth is the Christian nationalist goal to lead an even more zealous DOD, as if Lloyd Austin’s devout Catholicism wasn’t enough. This is a secular country. Christians should not be put in positions of power, lest their religious dementia (an unacknowledged form of psychotic disorder) convince them that they must destroy non-Christian societies.
Secular country? Sez who?
Just look at the Great Seal of the United States. It proclaims the values of our country: “Novus ordo seclorum” A new secular age.
Who’s psychotic again?
Oh, the hardheaded brutes who think violence solves problems; the gun nuts in the military and police and white trash and gangs who use excessive force and do not help people solve their problems, but chuck them in dungeon-like jails where they await trial for years. Most people are not mentally ill, I’ll grant you that. But the majority of people suffer from a society wide delusion that everything is OK in this country and the world, so they don’t have to pay attention. There’s a thin (non-blue) line between insanity and genius. Nietzsche: “Madness is something rare in individuals — but in groups, parties, peoples, and ages, it is the rule."
I still have some hope that The Free Press will evolve into a centrist site, but slanted articles like these move me closer to giving up.
Loved this last Honestly episode. I really enjoy Batya and Brianna. It's so refreshing to hear adults who disagree have a meaningful conversation. Please keep them talking.
Also, I am the mother of a trans identified kid, and have been fighting for 6 years to get my kid to reverse course. I HATE what trans activists have done to our kids and the world at large. That said, the hateful comments here toward Brianna are beyond unacceptable. I wish everyone could see the difference between the insanity of trans activists and a trans person - who denounces trans activists, childhood medicalization and men in women's spaces - and is just trying to live her life. When I first heard her on a podcast a few months ago, I was like "oh geez". But on that panel of people discussing the election, she was my favorite voice. She's a lovely and sensible human being, and I really hope she doesn't read these horrible comments on here. I love the FP and Honestly, but the comments section is one of vilest places I lay eyes on.
I ask this with all sincerity. Why should anyone be vilified if they don't want to call Brianna Wu a "she?" Just because Brianna desires it? Why should I be forced to do something against MY beliefs? Just because that person desires it? Why does that person's desire trump what I believe?? This is not being hateful, it's following one's own conscience and beliefs.
I encourage you to read Corinna Cohn’s Substack piece on Wu from December 7, 2024.
What is vile about saying that he is male? Some of us believe in truth. There wouldnt be such a backlash happening if the trans “activists” hadnt been so hateful and abusive towards women all these years. Read up on the abuse that has been happening in female prisons. That is what is truly vile.
Do more research. Brianna Wu is not against child medicalization.
"But River Page says that even if the age verification laws are upheld, they won’t work. “The day an American teenager with a normal IQ can’t access porn on an unfiltered internet connection is the day freedom no longer exists in the United States,”"
Maybe River should argue that these same American teenagers just demand their bank accounts online have no user name / password? How dare they filter access to their bank accounts online.
Re: The Hegseth Hearings.
After listening to Elizabeth Warren and Mazie Hirono questioning Pete Hegseth I can only hope that both of their husbands have girlfriends.
I continue to be stunned by the realization that people keep electing them.
To this 20-year Air Force veteran, Pete Hegseth is saying all the right things. I joined during Vietnam to avoid the draft. At my first assignment after tech school, I had to attend a race relations session for one whole day. What a shock it was as this white kid who had only seen a black person to be berated by two black instructors. A full Colonel left shortly into the morning session. I assumed to put in his retirement paperwork. It changed over the remaining years and that session always perplexed me. I would hate to see what military members have endured under this Administration.