"That's How Real Journalism Works:" Leaked Emails Show How ProPublica Tried to Manufacture a Smear Against Pete Hegseth

ProPublica -- which my friend Kyle Sheidler noted was not a journalistic operation at all, but a well-funded anti-conservative private intelligence service -- claimed that it had merely followed up on a hot tip, then abandoned a story when that hot tip turned out to be false.

That "tip" was part of the left's Full Kavanaugh smear operation against Pete Hegseth. ProPublica had written a completely false story, based on a claim from a surely hard-left West Point administrator, that Hegseth had "never applied" to West Point, but somehow just got added to the school by some Cigarette-Smoking Man conspiracy or something.

When Hegseth pre-butted the story by posting his acceptance letter from West Point, the editor who was ready to publish this complete fabrication said it was all good because he didn't wind up publishing his defamatory lies.

"That's how real journalism works," the editor at ProPublica claimed.

Is this how journalism works?

Really?

Full story from Reese Reagan at the Daily Caller:

Justin Elliott, a reporter for ProPublica, reached out to Hegseth's lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, on Tuesday about the story. Elliot told Parlatore he had an "urgent request" for comment and gave him just one hour to respond, an email obtained by the Caller shows.
"I'm reaching out with an urgent request for comment for your client Pete Hegseth. We're moving quickly so please let me know if you or he would like to comment as soon as possible. Our deadline is in one hour," the email reads.
Elliott explains that a West Point spokesperson told ProPublica Hegseth never even applied to the school. He then asserts, seemingly based on West Point's statement at face value, that Hegseth was lying.
"Why did Mr. Hegseth say he got in to West Point when that is not true?" Elliott wrote. "How can Mr. Hegseth be Secretary of Defense given that he has made false statements about getting in to the military's most prestigious academy?" he continued. "Is there anything else we should know?"
Elliot's assertion that Hegseth lied appears to have been based on a single email and phone call with West Point spokespeople. Eisenger tweeted that one West Point spokesman told them over email that Hegseth hadn't even applied to the school, citing the Admissions Office. ProPublica then called West Point and a second spokesperson confirmed the falsehood, saying "Absolutely. 100%."
The Daily Caller reached out to ProPublica to ask them a series of questions, including whether or not they would require more evidence than just two statements to accuse a cabinet secretary nominee of lying, and if they did any additional work to verify the story before accusing Hegseth of lying.
The Caller reached out to ProPublica nearly 6 hours before publication.
"Reporters do their job by asking tough questions to people in power, which is exactly what happened here. Responsible news organizations only publish what they can verify, which is why we didn't publish a story once Mr. Hegseth provided documentation that corrected the statements from West Point," a ProPublica spokesperson told the Caller.
The Caller followed up to ask if ProPublica did any additional work to verify their story beyond taking two Army public information officers at face value. The spokesperson said the first statement "speaks for itself" and they have no further comment.
The Caller also reached out to Elliot directly, but the email bounced back stating he was "out of office."

"How can Mr. Hegseth be Secretary of Defense given that he has made false statements about getting in to the military's most prestigious academy?"

They ask this question, then when find out they were lied to, they just shrugged and dropped the story. Incredible. pic.twitter.com/FS2pvNlsMD
— John Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) December 12, 2024

ProPublica's Editor-in-Chief claimed that they gave @PeteHegseth a fair chance to respond to the West Point story because they "care about accuracy."

According to this unhinged email obtained by @reaganreese_, they straight up accused him of being a liar and gave him a one hour… pic.twitter.com/PHdkcl7CzP
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 12, 2024

A one-hour deadline for comment (in a nothing story that no one else will touch, so there's no time pressure on the "journalist") is not a real opportunity for comment. It's a lie. It's a fake request for comment so that you can say "Pete Hegseth did not respond to questions before the publication of this article."

Taylor Lorenz is fond of this "journalistic" technique, except she takes it one small step further and just lies about having ever requested comment. She just doesn't bother asking for comment but "reports," "the subject did not respond to a request for comment."

But even if you do technically ask for comment -- people need more than one hour just to get their lawyers on the phone, for crying out loud.

Greg Price
@greg_price11
"One hour deadline" by the way means they had already written the story they were gonna publish. ProPublica should be lucky Pete had his acceptance letter otherwise they would've taken one the fattest L's in journalism history.

Posted by: Ace at 02:25 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 first?

Posted by: gnats local 678 at December 13, 2024 02:26 PM (CWTWj)

2 Christine "Bill De" Blaseyford, Part 2.

Posted by: XTC at December 13, 2024 02:26 PM (UnA8+)

3 Why is legacy media dying? Just read those email for an explanation

Posted by: Ann at December 13, 2024 02:26 PM (4neFu)

4 Hegseth should have waited until they had published the story before presenting his acceptance letter.

Might have been able to sue them for defamation.

Posted by: Scuba_Dude at December 13, 2024 02:28 PM (0XVad)

5 Drat! That Hegseth is a slippery fellow.

Posted by: Polutico at December 13, 2024 02:28 PM (DKIGo)

6 It’s time to take the legacy media out for a fishing trip on the lake.

Posted by: Vengeance at December 13, 2024 02:29 PM (RZVaz)

7 I'm glad Hegseth is fighting back.

Posted by: Scarymary at December 13, 2024 02:29 PM (F2xQR)

8 Smear Merchants R Us.

not journalists.

Posted by: illiniwek at December 13, 2024 02:29 PM (Cus5s)

9 nooded

Posted by: Scuba_Dude at December 13, 2024 02:29 PM (0XVad)

10 The first person Hegseth should fire is the West Point PAO who leaked that lie.

Posted by: Vengeance at December 13, 2024 02:30 PM (RZVaz)

11 A guy on Insty did a great analysis of why the Dems and the media (BIRM) can't reform themselves, e.g. by getting a Rogan.

The Bluegeoisie can never come back to the center.

Everyone is now fully aware of how contemptuous, how bereft of common sense, how dishonest and incompetent they are. It won't work.

They can never build "their own Joe Rogan." The notion is ridiculous--not just because it evinces their tendency toward top-down control, but because their cult renders intellectual, political and philosophical exploration outside of narrow ideological parameters impossible.

These people have psychotic meltdowns, blacklist peers, and cut off relatives over politics. They're incapable of empathizing with anyone outside their congregation.

For all their fetishizing of credentials, their masturbatory exaltation of their educations, they're violently allergic to intellectual curiosity--how on earth COULD they "build" their own Rogan, or a Lex Fridman, whose curiosity and openness are part of their brand?

How COULD they lower themselves to understand why they're so despised?

https://is.gd/Mrkp37

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:30 PM (xCA6C)

12 I guess that means that when the government lies, it's a dog bites man story.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at December 13, 2024 02:30 PM (fs1hN)

13 kill

Posted by: Ciampino - how about OctaLead at December 13, 2024 02:31 PM (i0xsb)

14 They are scared to death of us.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 13, 2024 02:31 PM (WXNFJ)

15 I kind of wish Hegseth had waited until they actually published the "story" and then pounced, or possibly even seized.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:31 PM (xCA6C)

16 I have no doubt that this "journalist" was taught in school and firmly believes that "real journalism" indeed requires them to do whatever they can to make republicans look bad because truth to power and fourth estate or whatever.

Posted by: joe, living dangerously at December 13, 2024 02:32 PM (B9Prs)

17 I sort of wish Pete had let them publish and then release his acceptance letter. However, once the lie gets out there it's difficult to refute in the biased press so I'm glad he did it this way.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at December 13, 2024 02:32 PM (2UnvF)

18 I'm always hesitant to put limits on speech, but I really think so-called 'journalists' need to be forbidden from claiming that they 'contacted X for comment' unless they have given a minimum of 12 hours notice before publication.

This 1 hour nonsense is just the extreme of that.

Posted by: DudeAbiding at December 13, 2024 02:32 PM (quxC9)

19 yeah the chick at West Point needs firing

...out of a cannon, if they still have any working ones there

Posted by: BlackOrchid at December 13, 2024 02:32 PM (Pv3Rg)

20 The first person Hegseth should fire is the West Point PAO who leaked that lie.

It's my guess they're polishing their CV as we speak.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:32 PM (xCA6C)

21 17 I sort of wish Pete had let them publish and then release his acceptance letter. However, once the lie gets out there it's difficult to refute in the biased press so I'm glad he did it this way.

yes that wouldn't have worked. better this way.

it would have been to easy for that lie to be in every headline about the story

Posted by: BlackOrchid at December 13, 2024 02:33 PM (Pv3Rg)

22 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:33 PM (7Q7Ca)

23 That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works.

Posted by: Minnfidel at December 13, 2024 02:33 PM (ewjUl)

24 I sort of wish Pete had let them publish and then release his acceptance letter. However, once the lie gets out there it's difficult to refute in the biased press so I'm glad he did it this way.
Posted by: Duke Lowell

60pt font, page A1: "HEGSETH IS A LIAR"
3 days later, page B65: "Hegseth refutes claims and there's a sale at Macy's"

Posted by: weft cut-loop at December 13, 2024 02:33 PM (IG4Id)

25 The first person Hegseth should fire is the West Point PAO who leaked that lie.

----------------------

File this under "if you shoot at the king you best not miss."

Posted by: Duke Lowell at December 13, 2024 02:34 PM (2UnvF)

26 Sounds like there could be a real "real journalism" story to identify why somebody at West Point would leak false information to a news outlet with the intent to hamper a presidential appointment. That's something that I'd be interested in someone doing investigation on.

But then again I'm one of those deplorables so my opinions are worth dirt. Less than dirt.

Posted by: joe, living dangerously at December 13, 2024 02:34 PM (B9Prs)

27 What dicks.

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle at December 13, 2024 02:34 PM (c+HYQ)

28 I sort of wish Pete had let them publish and then release his acceptance letter. However, once the lie gets out there it's difficult to refute in the biased press so I'm glad he did it this way.

yes that wouldn't have worked. better this way.

Disagree. There's no way for them to gloss over a failure that big. They'd try, but they'd fail.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:34 PM (xCA6C)

29 She just doesn't bother asking for comment but "reports," "the subject did not respond to a request for comment."

I'm sure the request just went to their spam folder or something.

Posted by: mikeski at December 13, 2024 02:34 PM (NWHd1)

30 Meh, I wish Hegseth the best. I hope he turns over tables and pisses in the punch bowl. His opponents are mostly deep staters and GOPe trying to stall Trump. But that said I think he’s in over his head and doesn’t have the shoes to undertake the needed reforms and fight the inbred ticks who occupy the Five Sided Nuthouse. I Hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think so.

Posted by: Marcus T at December 13, 2024 02:34 PM (5Vdzv)

31 It worked, didn't it?

Posted by: Zombie Harry Reid at December 13, 2024 02:35 PM (7Q7Ca)

32 But that said I think he’s in over his head and doesn’t have the shoes to undertake the needed reforms and fight the inbred ticks who occupy the Five Sided Nuthouse.

The shoes?

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:35 PM (xCA6C)

33 Ace, you're being kind of sloppy on this one. This is the second post where you seem to be suggesting that Hegseth went to West Point. He did not. He was admitted to West Point but turned down the appointment and went to Princeton. He got his commission through ROTC.

Posted by: RichieC at December 13, 2024 02:36 PM (n4Uod)

34 Disagree. There's no way for them to gloss over a failure that big. They'd try, but they'd fail.

most people only read headlines

the headlines would repeat the slur

you don't really see the "but he denies" part nor does it help

hey I work for an ad agency with a PR team but what do I know. it worked easier/better and cut off the negative connotations this way

remember we are insanely into the weeds on this political stuff

Posted by: BlackOrchid at December 13, 2024 02:36 PM (Pv3Rg)

35 The first person Hegseth should fire is the West Point PAO who leaked that lie.
Posted by: Vengeance

And the person who hired her, and the person who hired him, and the person who hired ...

Posted by: weft cut-loop at December 13, 2024 02:36 PM (IG4Id)

36 >> yeah the chick at West Point needs firing

...out of a cannon, if they still have any working ones there

…and into the sun. USMA leadership, isn’t. It’s largely staffed by a bunch of left leaning ass kissers.

Posted by: Marcus T at December 13, 2024 02:36 PM (5Vdzv)

37
It has been noted that the fact of the West Point PR office making this false statement, and then confirming the false statement is the actual hot story here. And, any actual news operation would follow up with West Point and then publish thst story, because that's how a news operation makes its money. And ProPublica did not.

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at December 13, 2024 02:36 PM (xPNeT)

38 I kind of wish Hegseth had waited until they actually published the "story" and then pounced, or possibly even seized.
Posted by: Archimedes

I think he handled it perfectly. Similar to his response to the CNN reporter. No need for any effort outside of swatting the fly.

Posted by: Sock Monkey * Justice for Ashli at December 13, 2024 02:36 PM (L99WE)

39 Whig, if you're still here, thank you for your response to my Megan Markle question in the last thread.

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 02:37 PM (v6JzV)

40 Mr. Hegseth,

Have you stopped beating your wife?

Posted by: For Realz Journalism at December 13, 2024 02:37 PM (EES2L)

41 Can you really ever hate the media enough?

Sad, too, because I really try not to hate in my advancing age as it's not really healthy.

"They DRAG ME BACK IN."

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:37 PM (7Q7Ca)

42 If Propublica had real journalists, they would burn their source that gave them the bad tip so as to protect their reputation. Im guessing they dont really care about their reputation.

Posted by: WisRich at December 13, 2024 02:37 PM (5DPGD)

43 That's how real journalism works
----------

We need to open up the libel laws.

Posted by: ... at December 13, 2024 02:37 PM (h4sFO)

44 Posted by: Marcus T at December 13, 2024 02:34 PM (5Vdzv)

Just curious why you think that. Just a feeling or some objective reasons?

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at December 13, 2024 02:37 PM (D6PGr)

45 How COULD they lower themselves to understand why they're so despised?

https://is.gd/Mrkp37
Posted by: Archimedes
======
Has happened in the past, e.g., the iconoclasts of the Byzantine Empire.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 02:37 PM (ctrM5)

46 This *is* how journalism works.

Posted by: davidt at December 13, 2024 02:38 PM (i0F8b)

47 Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:37 PM (7Q7Ca)

Say hello to the missus for me

Posted by: ... at December 13, 2024 02:38 PM (h4sFO)

48 I'm sure the request just went to their spam folder or something.

there are ways - which some reporters know of - to ensure that this in fact happens

Posted by: BlackOrchid at December 13, 2024 02:38 PM (Pv3Rg)

49 It's urgent because we say it's urgent . If it wasn't urgent we wouldn't say it's urgent. You aren't genius propaganda ministers, who are you to question what is urgent. Harumph

Posted by: Smell the Glove at December 13, 2024 02:38 PM (YO1Vi)

50 Disagree. There's no way for them to gloss over a failure that big. They'd try, but they'd fail.
Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:34 PM (xCA6C)

---------------------

The press covering for the decline of Biden's mental faculties was huge as well and they glossed the shit out of that one.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at December 13, 2024 02:38 PM (2UnvF)

51 I think he’s in over his head and doesn’t have the shoes to undertake the needed reforms and fight the inbred ticks who occupy the Five Sided Nuthouse. I Hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think so.
Posted by: Marcus T

Hegseth is the tip of the sword. Trump is the sword master.

Posted by: Sock Monkey * Justice for Ashli at December 13, 2024 02:38 PM (L99WE)

52 I think Hegseth will be fantastic and is completely capable.

FWIW

Posted by: BlackOrchid at December 13, 2024 02:39 PM (Pv3Rg)

53 Giving a subject an unreasonably short time to respond should be treated as prima facia evidence of malice for purpose of libel laws.

Posted by: Emmett Milbarge at December 13, 2024 02:39 PM (5IFb9)

54 He's doing a journalism.

He is a journalismist.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at December 13, 2024 02:39 PM (RIvkX)

55 These are the same type of people who sincerely believe a bunch of preppy lacrosse dudes at Duke would gang rape a black chick from the ghetto.

Posted by: Jay in PA at December 13, 2024 02:39 PM (i7Q7S)

56
Say hello to the missus for me
Posted by: ... at December 13, 2024 02:38 PM (h4sFO)

Will do. She's actually out getting lunch with a friend and doing some shopping. I'm very happy about that.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:39 PM (7Q7Ca)

57 42 If Propublica had real journalists, they would burn their source that gave them the bad tip so as to protect their reputation. Im guessing they dont really care about their reputation.
Posted by: WisRich
========
They were founded BECAUSE they are leftists, not journalists and employ those that believe the constraint of objective analysis of facts constrains their ability to tell narratives favorable to leftists.

They are cultists and apologists for leftists, not reporters.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 02:39 PM (ctrM5)

58 "It was just a couple rogue agents (in Cincinnati)"
West Point

The Lois Lerner dodge.

Or "mistakes were made".

Posted by: illiniwek at December 13, 2024 02:39 PM (Cus5s)

59 >>The Bluegeoisie

That's a well turned phrase.

Posted by: garrett at December 13, 2024 02:40 PM (j6KoD)

60 28 Disagree. There's no way for them to gloss over a failure that big. They'd try, but they'd fail.
Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:34 PM (xCA6C)

A lie encircles the world three times before the truth can even think about putting its pants on.

Posted by: XTC at December 13, 2024 02:40 PM (UnA8+)

61 Will do. She's actually out getting lunch with a friend and doing some shopping. I'm very happy about that.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:39 PM (7Q7Ca)

That is EXCELLENT news.

Posted by: ... at December 13, 2024 02:40 PM (h4sFO)

62 They are scared to death of us.

Meh. I'd say all those that have drifted into this space ... the so-called guardians of speech ... got there for a reason.

Like the cop that tickets you for two over. Dicks by definition. Who, in their right mind, decides to regulate ... moderate, as they call it ... public speech as either a vocation or hobby ?

Pricks. That's who answer that calling.

Posted by: I'm Back at December 13, 2024 02:41 PM (FjMAB)

63 I wrote a letter to Santa Clause asking for these people who illegally leak information get to look on the wrong side of prison bars (promising extra cookies, milk, and a shot of Basil Hayden Dark Rye).

Posted by: Cray Cray at December 13, 2024 02:41 PM (EES2L)

64 one can only see what one perceives

and one only perceives what is already in the mind

/a very smart evil guy said this; PR peeps and nudgers live by it

Posted by: BlackOrchid at December 13, 2024 02:41 PM (Pv3Rg)

65
That is EXCELLENT news.
Posted by: ... at December 13, 2024 02:40 PM (h4sFO)

She's on the every other week regimen for the last 4 doses of chemo, so her energy level appears to be doing a bit better with no treatment this week.

The new stuff really does kick her butt.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:41 PM (7Q7Ca)

66 A lie encircles the world three times before the truth can even think about putting its pants on.
Posted by: XTC

Which is why The Truth generally stays away from the Sunday Book Thread.

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 02:41 PM (v6JzV)

67 I Hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think so.
Posted by: Marcus T at December 13, 2024 02:34 PM (5Vdzv)

I hope so too, and rather think you may be. After watching his long form interview with Shawn Ryan, he convinced me.

Posted by: Ordinary American at December 13, 2024 02:41 PM (h/ffs)

68 "fake but accurate"

Posted by: MSM at December 13, 2024 02:42 PM (NGHTx)

69 I still imagine a Joe Rogan - Kamala 3-hour marathon of nothing but hundreds of Venn diagrams scattered everywhere, with a few toy yellow schoolbuses intermingled amongst the papers. After 15 minutes she would have exhausted her repertoire and I can't imagine the rest. How many ways can you say "I grew up in a middle class family"?
BTW her mom was a Brahman caste - the top one so not middle class particularly since both parents were university profs.

Posted by: Ciampino - what a maroon at December 13, 2024 02:42 PM (i0xsb)

70 They can never build "their own Joe Rogan."

They had their own Joe Rogan: Joe Rogan.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 13, 2024 02:42 PM (aD39U)

71 Where is the Senator Joseph McCarthy library going?

Posted by: Deplorable Minion at December 13, 2024 02:42 PM (QSrLX)

72 Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:39 PM (7Q7Ca)

You are a really good husband, Sponge.

Posted by: IC - Cope Harder, Liberals at December 13, 2024 02:42 PM (DJ7uY)

73 "fake but accurate"
Posted by: MSM at December 13, 2024 02:42 PM (NGHTx)

"Mostly peaceful"

"White Hispanic"

They really do need a bus caused coma........

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:43 PM (7Q7Ca)

74 >> Just curious why you think that. Just a feeling or some objective reasons?

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at December 13, 2024 02:37 PM (D6PGr)

Pete is obviously a solid guy. But he has no real executive experience in a large organization. As a field grade he has some idea how the Pentagon and DoD works. But uncovering all the crap they’ve hidden, getting personnel in place, getting contracts under control, understanding the battle space needs, etc., etc. takes experience. There’s not a lot of time for learning curves if you’re undertaking large scale reforms. It’s more that just low hanging fruit that a novice can identify or be pointed to by the GO’s. It’s being able to cover root causes and completely changing the paradigm without hurting our war fighting capabilities. Pete wasn’t even a staff officer (that I know of) and the small organizations he was part of are not a fair comparison IMVHO.

Again, I wish him luck. But he’s no Kashmiri Patel, or Pam Biondi.

Posted by: Marcus T at December 13, 2024 02:43 PM (5Vdzv)

75 Sponge, how's your stepmother doing?

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 02:43 PM (v6JzV)

76 Why do you think a West Point person even told them that’s? Elliott probably made the whole thing up.

Posted by: keena at December 13, 2024 02:43 PM (RiTnx)

77
You are a really good husband, Sponge.
Posted by: IC - Cope Harder, Liberals at December 13, 2024 02:42 PM (DJ7uY)

I do try.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:43 PM (7Q7Ca)

78 They had their own Joe Rogan: Joe Rogan.

Bill Clinton. If he was 40-ish today ? He wouldn't go into politics.

Posted by: I'm Back at December 13, 2024 02:43 PM (FjMAB)

79 Im guessing they dont really care about their reputation.
Posted by: WisRich

They're reputation is based entirely on bagging elephants. If they miss 100 times in a row, it doesn't matter. Once they get one, all is good.

Posted by: Ordinary American at December 13, 2024 02:43 PM (h/ffs)

80 To be fair, being top caste in India might just mean that you have a loo to poo in.

Posted by: XTC at December 13, 2024 02:43 PM (UnA8+)

81 Hegseth headed up two organizations that focused on reform and issues in the Pentagon related to his and others experience in theater and afterwards. I don’t know if he can handle the job but I know he’s well versed on what needs to be done based on a Conservative viewpoint.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at December 13, 2024 02:43 PM (D6PGr)

82 McCarthy library? Clean out the giant Chinese Interest building at UC Berkely.

Posted by: Deplorable Minion at December 13, 2024 02:44 PM (QSrLX)

83 That one hour deadline was the bit that made me laugh.

It's like they live in this imaginary world where they have to yell
"Stop the press!!!"

These people are all assholes.
He should have told them to print it, then provided the prrof.

Posted by: Gentlemen, time for a reckoning at December 13, 2024 02:44 PM (pSp/J)

84 If there's a major gap in our Bill of Rights, its the difficulty in applying its protections and principles to all these quasi-governmental power centers like 501c3s, NGOs and "think tanks" which give kickbacks to and have interlocking/family memberships with actual, boot-on-your-neck government power.

It's rule by The Blob.

Posted by: Zek at December 13, 2024 02:44 PM (5FPX4)

85 Sponge, how's your stepmother doing?
Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 02:43 PM (v6JzV)

Step-sis said she was doing much better last night. They're requesting the home nurse does a pee test to see if she's got an infection or dehydration that caused her memory lapse.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:44 PM (7Q7Ca)

86 unsend! unsend!

Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 13, 2024 02:44 PM (aD39U)

87 yeah the chick at West Point needs firing

...out of a cannon, if they still have any working ones there
Posted by: BlackOrchid at December 13, 2024 02:32 PM (Pv3Rg)

and made to watch and re-watch The Long Gray Line until she gets it.

Posted by: Count de Monet at December 13, 2024 02:44 PM (Aqu9a)

88 They're reputation is based entirely on bagging elephants. If they miss 100 times in a row, it doesn't matter. Once they get one, all is good.
Posted by: Ordinary American

This is about me, isn't it?
-- Zombie Gen. John Sedgwick

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 02:45 PM (v6JzV)

89 Why do you think a West Point person even told them that’s? Elliott probably made the whole thing up.
Posted by: keena at December 13, 2024 02:43 PM (RiTnx)

I thought they verified and know who actually did the lying.

Of course, she hasn't been reprimanded, punished or fired.......

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:45 PM (7Q7Ca)

90 I'm sure the request just went to their spam folder or something.

there are ways - which some reporters know of - to ensure that this in fact happens

Dear Mr. Hegseth:
Would you comment on this story we're about to run? Also, I am a Nigerian prince...

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:46 PM (xCA6C)

91 Posted by: Marcus T at December 13, 2024 02:43 PM (5Vdzv)

Thanks for the response.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at December 13, 2024 02:46 PM (D6PGr)

92 I thought they verified and know who actually did the lying.

Of course, she hasn't been reprimanded, punished or fired.......
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:45 PM (7Q7Ca)

It was a simple mistake.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 13, 2024 02:46 PM (aD39U)

93 Did we cover the story that Pelosi got hospitalized today? There's no update on the condition of the house that fell on her...

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 13, 2024 02:46 PM (PiwSw)

94 69
Brahmin not Bramhan - stupid auto-cucumber.

Posted by: Ciampino - what a maroon! at December 13, 2024 02:46 PM (i0xsb)

95
Hot tip: There's someone at West Point who's either a liar or an incompetent, and they're in contact with the public. Go journalist.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia's office at December 13, 2024 02:46 PM (I87yH)

96 53 Giving a subject an unreasonably short time to respond should be treated as prima facia evidence of malice for purpose of libel laws.
Posted by: Emmett Milbarge
=======
NYT v. Sullivan was a bad legal decision based on bad facts in the case forced by the idiotic ruling of the Alabama Seg forever Supreme Court justices that heard the appeal.

Sullivan was never mentioned by name in the NY Times ad and a reader would have to know that he was the county (or city--I forget) commissioner assigned to supervise Public Safety to even vaguely blame him for the actions of police. There were also some errors in the advertisement and exaggerations customary in such a political ad.

The trial court and jury in Alabama were solely out to punish the NYT for daring to allow an advert to mention the unmentionables about segregation in Alabama and the Alabama Sup. Ct. should have had the wisdom to quash the suit over facts at trial not amounting to any defamation of Sullivan. Instead, in a stupidly futile example of Mass Resistance, they caved. At the very least, the Alabama Courts could have excused the NYT from liability and put the onus on the group that made the ad.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 02:46 PM (ctrM5)

97 Pete Hegseth ate my baby.

Posted by: sifty boones, dingo (ret) at December 13, 2024 02:47 PM (nptZK)

98 85 Fingers crossed and prayer up, Sponge.

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 02:47 PM (v6JzV)

99 To be fair, being top caste in India might just mean that you have a loo to poo in.

I'm continually amazed that India ... who has built a minor industry of sending book educated people to the United States ... hasn't given them at least a seminar on why Your Indian Caste Doesn't Mean a Fucking Thing to the Big White Redneck.

its a real thing. On every green field jobsite. And most factories.

Posted by: I'm Back at December 13, 2024 02:47 PM (FjMAB)

100 Of course, she hasn't been reprimanded, punished or fired.......

she's on administrative paid leave in cabo

Posted by: brak at December 13, 2024 02:47 PM (NGHTx)

101 Regardless how you feel about MacArthur , his West Point speech is in the top tier of all time speeches.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at December 13, 2024 02:47 PM (D6PGr)

102
This is about me, isn't it?
-- Zombie Gen. John Sedgwick
Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 02:45 PM (v6JzV)

You asked for it.........ish.

https://youtu.be/5oRwlSIn918

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:47 PM (7Q7Ca)

103 Greg Price
@greg_price11
"One hour deadline" by the way means they had already written the story they were gonna publish.

ProPublica should be lucky Pete had his acceptance letter otherwise they would've taken one the fattest L's in journalism history.

Pete screwed up. When you KNOW you have affirmative evidence, you let the assholes take enough rope to hang themselves.

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at December 13, 2024 02:47 PM (lkGEd)

104 93 Did we cover the story that Pelosi got hospitalized today? There's no update on the condition of the house that fell on her...
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 13, 2024 02:46 PM (PiwSw)

And your little dog too... *drunken snore*

Posted by: Curled Up Drunken Sot in the Crawl Space at December 13, 2024 02:47 PM (bss/y)

105 I thought they verified and know who actually did the lying.

Of course, she hasn't been reprimanded, punished or fired.......
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:45 PM (7Q7Ca)

It was a simple mistake.

TBH, I'm kind of surprised the error didn't originate in the Cincinnati office.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:48 PM (xCA6C)

106 Fingers crossed and prayer up, Sponge.
Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 02:47 PM (v6JzV)

Thank you.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:48 PM (7Q7Ca)

107 Regardless how you feel about MacArthur , his West Point speech is in the top tier of all time speeches.

As much as the fucking guy talked - the law of averages said he'd get it right at least once.

Posted by: I'm Back at December 13, 2024 02:49 PM (FjMAB)

108 [ICYMI:]

"I Don’t Feel the Need to Respond to CNN"

– Pete Hegseth Lights Up Reporter (VIDEO)

[Gateway Pundit:] https://tinyurl.com/5asw7www

Posted by: ShainS -- Deus Ex Muskina [h/t Mike Benz] at December 13, 2024 02:49 PM (7VhLP)

109 It was a simple mistake.

Maybe she misspelled his name in the database search.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 13, 2024 02:49 PM (aD39U)

110 This is narcissistic tendencies. (And I hate using that term)

They have no fear of being wrong since it is not their character or career on the line. They never think of the people they might be destroying. They only think about themselves. Assholes.

Posted by: Gentlemen, time for a reckoning at December 13, 2024 02:49 PM (pSp/J)

111 They certainly are making me like Hegseth.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 02:49 PM (bss/y)

112 “ I hope so too, and rather think you may be. After watching his long form interview with Shawn Ryan, he convinced me.
Posted by: Ordinary American at December 13, 2024 02:41 PM (h/ffs)”

I bet $100 I could pull an E-5 or an O-2 who has deployed at least once off the line and get some of the same answers. It’s largely not identifying the problem, it’s figuring out the right way to fix them. Saying things like we need to focus on training for the fight and the best warfighting capabilities is nice. But it doesn’t speak to how you turn that into actionable goals. You have to have the knowledge of where to start, how to execute and how to set future policy and achievable objectives.

Posted by: Marcus T at December 13, 2024 02:50 PM (5Vdzv)

113 Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:30 PM (xCA6C)

"Destiny" had aspirations of being the "Leftie Joe Rogan", but a) he figuratively sucks, as his main "debating" tactic is talking quickly and hoping that people confuse that with intelligence and b) he literally sucks off strange men via Grindr and (maybe) did so with Nick Fuentes, the supposed huwhite supremacist.

Posted by: Thrawn at December 13, 2024 02:50 PM (uGhsv)

114 I thought it was already known that it was the Spokestits at West Point that sent out the bullshit info.

There may be nuance to which I am not privy.

Posted by: sifty boones at December 13, 2024 02:50 PM (nptZK)

115 109 It was a simple mistake.

Maybe she misspelled his name in the database search.
Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 13, 2024 02:49 PM (aD39U)

The struggle is real. Hesgeth.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 02:50 PM (bss/y)

116 "They certainly are making me like Hegseth.--Aetius451AD"

Incoming flak=over target.

Posted by: Zek at December 13, 2024 02:50 PM (5FPX4)

117 West Point allowed an admitted American hating Marxist to graduate. Rapone.

Of course it’s probable this Hegseth lie was intentional.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at December 13, 2024 02:50 PM (D6PGr)

118 my guess would have been Cindy Jebb, but she retired from the military

Posted by: avi at December 13, 2024 02:51 PM (cBCwV)

119 You have to have the knowledge of where to start, how to execute and how to set future policy and achievable objectives.
Posted by: Marcus T at December 13, 2024 02:50 PM (5Vdzv)

Isn't that what Colonels are for?

Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 13, 2024 02:51 PM (aD39U)

120 Blond Morticia, from NYPost story about it,
------
"Cotton (Sen. Tom Cotton) claimed that West Point’s civilian press rep, Theresa Brinkerhoff, also showed “egregiously bad judgment to share such information about the nominee to be Secretary of Defense with a known liberal outlet like ProPublica," claiming that the reporter at the outlet was preparing "a derogatory hit piece."

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 02:51 PM (ctrM5)

121 >> Thanks for the response.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at December 13, 2024 02:46 PM (D6PGr)

Of course. You deserve as much

Posted by: Marcus T at December 13, 2024 02:51 PM (5Vdzv)

122 Cocksucking grifters suck cock, sources say...

Posted by: Tex Lovera at December 13, 2024 02:51 PM (wtvvX)

123 "Destiny" had aspirations of being the "Leftie Joe Rogan", but a) he figuratively sucks, as his main "debating" tactic is talking quickly and hoping that people confuse that with intelligence and b) he literally sucks off strange men via Grindr and (maybe) did so with Nick Fuentes, the supposed huwhite supremacist.
Posted by: Thrawn at December 13, 2024 02:50 PM (uGhsv)

Wait, I thought he was the one who's girl was getting banged by another streamer? And? I dunno, it is hard to keep these guys straight as it seems you cannot swing a dead cat without hitting a streamer who seems to indulge in cuckery.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 02:51 PM (bss/y)

124 I have to walk past the Chinese Consulate every day and tamp down my violent fantasies.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at December 13, 2024 02:51 PM (RIvkX)

125 Regardless how you feel about MacArthur , his West Point speech is in the top tier of all time speeches.

Agree, but he should have acknowledged Lord Byron for the line he stole.

"Glimmering through the dreams of things that were" is a line from Lord Byron's poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," specifically from Canto II, and it refers to the fading memory of past glories, like a faint glimmer in a dream, signifying the passage of time and the inevitability of decay.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:52 PM (xCA6C)

126 West Point allowed an admitted American hating Marxist to graduate. Rapone.

Of course it’s probable this Hegseth lie was intentional.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at December 13, 2024 02:50 PM (D6PGr)

It might be a shame that asshole hasn't met an unfortunate accident. Someone mentioned yesterday, he's a teacher in Austin somewhere.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:52 PM (7Q7Ca)

127 OW MY BALLS!

Posted by: Nancy Pelosi at December 13, 2024 02:52 PM (paSBy)

128 122 Cocksucking grifters suck cock, sources say...
Posted by: Tex Lovera at December 13, 2024 02:51 PM (wtvvX)

It's in the name.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 02:52 PM (bss/y)

129 I have to walk past the Chinese Consulate every day and tamp down my violent fantasies.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at December 13, 2024 02:51 PM (RIvkX)

You're in San Fran. It's legal for you to take a shit on the sidewalk in front of it.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:52 PM (7Q7Ca)

130
I'm continually amazed that India ... who has built a minor industry of sending book educated people to the United States ... hasn't given them at least a seminar on why Your Indian Caste Doesn't Mean a Fucking Thing to the Big White Redneck.

So much this.

I resent being told by heads of companies, particularly tech ones, who are of Indian descent and cannot stop running their mouths about racist behavior in the United States. To those products of a stratified and a very bigoted society themselves I ask, "How many members of your own family married outside of your caste? I can wait for your answer, bigot."

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 13, 2024 02:53 PM (xG4kz)

131 101 Regardless how you feel about MacArthur , his West Point speech is in the top tier of all time speeches.
-----------------
My mother took me and my sister to pay respects to General MacArthur in Norfolk around 63/64. Stood in a very long line to visit the rotunda. He was a larger than life figure and a son of Virginia. This was when America was a nation not an Empire of Ghettoes.

Posted by: pudinhead at December 13, 2024 02:53 PM (jFCkp)

132 Wait, I thought he was the one who's girl was getting banged by another streamer? And? I dunno, it is hard to keep these guys straight as it seems you cannot swing a dead cat without hitting a streamer who seems to indulge in cuckery.
Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 02:51 PM (bss/y)

That was also Destiny, although I don't recall if his then-wife was banging another streamer or just some other bull rando.

Posted by: Thrawn at December 13, 2024 02:53 PM (uGhsv)

133 Hegseth should have waited until they had published the story before presenting his acceptance letter.

Yep. This was kind of a missed opportunity to increase the volume of egg on certain faces exponentially.

Now this turd is breaking his own arm publicly patting himself on the back about his sterling journalistic "ethics."

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at December 13, 2024 02:53 PM (+myjY)

134 "One hour deadline" by the way means they had already written the story they were gonna publish. ProPublica should be lucky Pete had his acceptance letter otherwise they would've taken one the fattest L's in journalism history.

-------------

Pete should have waited until after they published -- then sued both their asses (maybe with Elon's money) for Defamation.

This shit has to end. FAFO.

Posted by: ShainS -- Deus Ex Muskina [h/t Mike Benz] at December 13, 2024 02:53 PM (7VhLP)

135 I guess that the criteria for being a journalist is making things up and pretend they are facts.

Do I have that right?

Posted by: dantesed at December 13, 2024 02:53 PM (Oy/m2)

136 my guess would have been Cindy Jebb, but she retired from the military
Posted by: avi at December 13, 2024 02:51 PM (cBCwV)

Please clap!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:53 PM (7Q7Ca)

137 "Glimmering through the dreams of things that were" is a line from Lord Byron's poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," specifically from Canto II, and it refers to the fading memory of past glories, like a faint glimmer in a dream, signifying the passage of time and the inevitability of decay.
Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:52 PM (xCA6C)

Objection! I was taught you never use a word in the definition for that word. Seems like it would hold with metaphorical phrases.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 02:53 PM (bss/y)

138 Of course, the whole point of the story was that one line:
"What else has he lied about??

That "what else" is the other lie that is sputtering out of steam:
The "bruise on the thigh" that they have spun from "sexual assault allegation" to now where they're all using "accused of rape."

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at December 13, 2024 02:53 PM (FAgwP)

139 80 To be fair, being top caste in India might just mean that you have a loo to poo in.

Posted by: XTC at December 13, 2024 02:43 PM (UnA8+)
----
I did teach at a university in South Africa where there was one prof who was a Brahmin and demanded his own exclusive toilet when we didn't even have staff toilets. He got shot down.

Posted by: Ciampino - Indians are racyss at December 13, 2024 02:53 PM (i0xsb)

140 Regardless how you feel about MacArthur , his West Point speech is in the top tier of all time speeches.

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain..."

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at December 13, 2024 02:54 PM (lkGEd)

141 Regardless how you feel about MacArthur , his West Point speech is in the top tier of all time speeches.

Agree, but he should have acknowledged Lord Byron for the line he stole.

Or acknowledged that he got a Navy ride off the Philippines while the rest of his command lined up for the Bataan Death March.

That fucking guy.

Posted by: I'm Back at December 13, 2024 02:54 PM (FjMAB)

142 In case you need some funny tied to tragedy: Alex Stein at the Dallas city council meeting trolling them with a "call" from Trump, after exposing their affairs during his air time.

https://x.com/alexstein69420/status/1867600366331994175

Context: Hell hath no fury like a comedian whose mom died during covid. (Baylor Hospital gave her Remdesevir against the clear wishes of the family, and then she died a slow death of organ failure.) I hope he haunts the Dallas city council forever.

https://x.com/alexstein99/status/1455964522053713924

And I love the oversized MAGA hat with the built in cam he's been flaunting recently. Reactions of people around him have been priceless, especially all the positive ones.

Posted by: LizLem at December 13, 2024 02:54 PM (wcIbG)

143 Pete screwed up. When you KNOW you have affirmative evidence, you let the assholes take enough rope to hang themselves.
Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at December 13, 2024 02:47 PM (lkGEd
------

He handled it just right. Remember the old cliche: A lie travels half way around the world before the Truth puts its pants on.

Posted by: WisRich at December 13, 2024 02:55 PM (5DPGD)

144 Regardless how you feel about MacArthur , his West Point speech is in the top tier of all time speeches.

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain..."

Idiot! That line was from Patton.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:55 PM (xCA6C)

145 129 I have to walk past the Chinese Consulate every day and tamp down my violent fantasies.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at December 13, 2024 02:51 PM (RIvkX)

You're in San Fran. It's legal for you to take a shit on the sidewalk in front of it.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at December 13, 2024 02:52 PM (7Q7Ca)

Hah! 'Membership has privileges.'

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 02:55 PM (bss/y)

146 Or acknowledged that he got a Navy ride off the Philippines while the rest of his command lined up for the Bataan Death March.

along with his chest of gold dollars.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 13, 2024 02:55 PM (aD39U)

147 Before I decide what to think about this issue, I'd like to hear from Max Boot and Jen Rubin.
Hello, WAPO opinion page?

Posted by: dr kill at December 13, 2024 02:56 PM (BSNnK)

148 I just do eyes.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 13, 2024 02:56 PM (aD39U)

149 Willowed Yellowstone pink haired waifish chick

And I highly doubt your hypothesis of doing 200 lb man things. I don't think Sheridsn rolls that way.
-

Watch how they're setting her up. She's doing masculine things, swigging beer like the men in their places, and easing into being a pro cowboy just like them. Her dead cowboy boyfriend is gone and she'll take his place

Her pink hair will give her her strength.

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - society needs the pejorative faggot, so the term sassy is now used at December 13, 2024 02:56 PM (XFjGZ)

150 Or acknowledged that he got a Navy ride off the Philippines while the rest of his command lined up for the Bataan Death March.

That fucking guy.

He was ordered to leave. You can fault him for lots of things, but that isn't one of them.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:56 PM (xCA6C)

151 "Meh. I'd say all those that have drifted into this space ... the so-called guardians of speech ... got there for a reason.

Like the cop that tickets you for two over. Dicks by definition. Who, in their right mind, decides to regulate ... moderate, as they call it ... public speech as either a vocation or hobby ?

Pricks. That's who answer that calling."

Over the last 3 years I've been banned from 3...or was it 4? guitar forums. You all know me--I don't call names, I rarely curse, I'm not saint but not the devil either. My bans were caused by explaining how supply and demand curves work and what made new guitars so expensive (explaining covid-money drove up prices in response to outrage threads about new guitar pricing) and short off-the-cuff remarks about vaccines.

I'm sure its not just guitar forums--I bet I could get similarly banned in vacuum cleaner forums (if there is such a thing). There is very little public interest these days in honest and full discourse.

Posted by: Crusader at December 13, 2024 02:56 PM (TN0g+)

152 Idiot! That line was from Patton.
Posted by: Archimedes

Doh!

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at December 13, 2024 02:56 PM (lkGEd)

153 ProPublica also lied about having 2 sources for the story. Their 1st "source" was just somebody quoting their 2nd source.

Posted by: Wally at December 13, 2024 02:56 PM (1fkrS)

154 I'll bet ProPublica will go to bat for that named woman at West Point who did the nasty on Pete, when he fires her and everyone up the chain of command to the joint chiefs.

Ain't that right, ProPub? We'll give you a minute to respond.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at December 13, 2024 02:57 PM (KiBMU)

155 30. I think he’s in over his head and doesn’t have the shoes to undertake the needed reforms and fight the inbred ticks who occupy the Five Sided Nuthouse. ...

I'm reading Pete's "War on Warriors" book now. Very impressive. Lots in there about Pete's background I was unaware of. Not only is Pete's heart in the right place about cleaning out these reeking stables, he's got the brains and balls to actually do it. Plus, he's credentialed out the wazoo, so the extra sting will be one of their own (elites) will be sticking it to them.

Posted by: Martin Tell at December 13, 2024 02:57 PM (sFNX2)

156 ProPublica also lied about having 2 sources for the story. Their 1st "source" was just somebody quoting their 2nd source.

I mean, it worked for us.

Posted by: FBI investigating the pee dossier at December 13, 2024 02:57 PM (xCA6C)

157 The thing I like most about MacArthur was he scared FDR and would talk to him as if he were an idiot.

Posted by: pudinhead at December 13, 2024 02:58 PM (jFCkp)

158 "ProPublica also lied about having 2 sources for the story. Their 1st "source" was just somebody quoting their 2nd source."

That right there sounds like CIA 101: Plant a story and cite the story that picked up on the plant.

Posted by: Zek at December 13, 2024 02:58 PM (5FPX4)

159 $83 a month for ewetub TV? That seems pricey...

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 02:59 PM (bss/y)

160 He was ordered to leave. You can fault him for lots of things, but that isn't one of them.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:56 PM (xCA6C)

Bullshit. Hal Moore was ordered to leave his men ... he didn't. Because when you lead men, you lead men. For good or ill.

I am so not surprised that you, of all people, are defending him.

Posted by: I'm Back at December 13, 2024 02:59 PM (FjMAB)

161 I don't see the problem? Weeeeeeeeeee!!! The Merry-Go-Round is sooooooo fun. Stand back, now. Time to do a little dance and point at people with my head nodding.

WEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Posted by: Timmy Walz at December 13, 2024 02:59 PM (dIske)

162 Mr Gaga, that person was named by Senator Cotton in a public statement. See my post above.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 02:59 PM (ctrM5)

163 I have a "hangup" about sh*tting in the street.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at December 13, 2024 03:00 PM (RIvkX)

164 MacArthur was an odd duck, that's for sure.

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 03:00 PM (v6JzV)

165 I'm reading Pete's "War on Warriors" book now. Very impressive. Lots in there about Pete's background I was unaware of. Not only is Pete's heart in the right place about cleaning out these reeking stables, he's got the brains and balls to actually do it. Plus, he's credentialed out the wazoo, so the extra sting will be one of their own (elites) will be sticking it to them.
Posted by: Martin Tell at December 13, 2024 02:57 PM (sFNX2)

Cleaning out a place is easy so long as there is support from the top. Go in and immediately fire 20 - 30 Generals, then immediately fire any others who so much as make a complaint. And so on and so forth down through the ranks. It won't have to be that many, they love their careers, and after the first few dozen are tossed out the rest will become much more cooperative.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 13, 2024 03:00 PM (wyMQY)

166 I'm sure its not just guitar forums--I bet I could get similarly banned in vacuum cleaner forums (if there is such a thing). There is very little public interest these days in honest and full discourse.
Posted by: Crusader

Knitting forum (Ravelry) has entered the chat.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 13, 2024 03:00 PM (WXNFJ)

167 My guess is that they just wanted to put a story out there saying that he never got into West Point that would go around the world before he had a chance to respond and then become established as "the truth" that he was forced to refute. Maybe they were hoping he didn't save his acceptance letter to put this to bed quickly. All they had to do was shop around until they found a couple West Point "spokespeople" to go along with the story.

I'm actually surprised that they didn't pull their own Obama birth certificate analysis on the acceptance letter he put out and produce "experts" claiming it was fake.

Posted by: sabbasam at December 13, 2024 03:00 PM (mxEar)

168 >>> Pete Hegseth ate my baby.

Get in line, poser...

Posted by: Saturn in that one Goya painting at December 13, 2024 03:01 PM (wcIbG)

169 163 I have a "hangup" about sh*tting in the street.
-----------------
Shit in a paper bag and deliver it to the street. Might as well make it a flaming bag of shit while you're at it, too.

Posted by: pudinhead at December 13, 2024 03:01 PM (jFCkp)

170
I'm just devasted. My cousin, the retired meteorlogist I've mentioned here over the years, died this morning. Sudden cardiac event, seems like.

His daughter found him slumped over a chair this morning around 10AM. He had just texted me at 8AM this morning. He wore and Apple watch with the health/fitness stuff, and data showed the "event" happened at 8:50AM.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at December 13, 2024 03:01 PM (w6EFb)

171 As Twain said in a simpler time: A lie can run around the world before the truth ties its shoes.

Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov at December 13, 2024 03:01 PM (wBaIH)

172 NYT confirming Pelosi broke her hip. Thats bad juju for the elderly.p

Posted by: WisRich at December 13, 2024 03:01 PM (5DPGD)

173 I hear ProPublica has dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Posted by: Dr Spank at December 13, 2024 03:01 PM (++oVT)

174 I wouldn’t trade 100 MacArthur’s for 1 CPT. Joseph J. McCarthy’s or a bunch of others.

Posted by: Marcus T at December 13, 2024 03:01 PM (5Vdzv)

175 I bet I could get similarly banned in vacuum cleaner forums (if there is such a thing). There is very little public interest these days in honest and full discourse.
Posted by: Crusader

Don't mess with the vacuum fanatics; they suck and blow.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at December 13, 2024 03:02 PM (IG4Id)

176 Isn't Columbia University, the premiere journalism school, the epicenter of communism in US academia? Even more so than Berkeley or Madison?

Posted by: davidt at December 13, 2024 03:02 PM (i0F8b)

177 MacArthur was an odd duck, that's for sure.

He was indeed. I read a bio of him (Manchester?) that described him as being physically courageous to the point of suicidality.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 03:02 PM (xCA6C)

178 I saw Empire of Ghettoes open for The Animals and The Zombies at Sage Gateshead in 2014.

Posted by: ShainS -- Deus Ex Muskina [h/t Mike Benz] at December 13, 2024 03:02 PM (ucPEp)

179 Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley

Sorry for your loss.

Posted by: Dr Spank at December 13, 2024 03:02 PM (++oVT)

180 They did the right thing preempting, and here is why, no matter how many corrections happen after, the public will always remember the smear , not the correction. And some for years may go on believing that Hegseth lied. I am sure you can think of plenty examples of such.

Posted by: runner at December 13, 2024 03:02 PM (QTCRF)

181 160 He was ordered to leave. You can fault him for lots of things, but that isn't one of them.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 02:56 PM (xCA6C)

Bullshit. Hal Moore was ordered to leave his men ... he didn't. Because when you lead men, you lead men. For good or ill.

I am so not surprised that you, of all people, are defending him.
Posted by: I'm Back at December 13, 2024 02:59 PM (FjMAB)

'I was just following orders' cuts both ways. On the one hand, considering the situation and the outcome, it is understandable- but as a dude, you still think less of him.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 03:02 PM (bss/y)

182 172 NYT confirming Pelosi broke her hip. Thats bad juju for the elderly.p
----------------
At her age death follows within two - three years.

Posted by: pudinhead at December 13, 2024 03:03 PM (jFCkp)

183 I wouldn’t trade 100 MacArthur’s for 1 CPT. Joseph J. McCarthy’s or a bunch of others.

Posted by: Marcus T at December 13, 2024 03:01 PM (5Vdzv)

Gimme' just one Roger Staubach. Served his time - then went pro. That's an American.

Posted by: I'm Back at December 13, 2024 03:03 PM (FjMAB)

184 Isn't Columbia University, the premiere journalism school, the epicenter of communism in US academia? Even more so than Berkeley or Madison?
Posted by: davidt at December 13, 2024 03:02 PM (i0F8b)

That's so 1990s. Haven't you heard that it's now the epicenter of Jooo-Hatred in America?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at December 13, 2024 03:04 PM (+myjY)

185 He was indeed. I read a bio of him (Manchester?) that described him as being physically courageous to the point of suicidality.
Posted by: Archimedes

American Caesar? I should really read that.

I read the first volume of Manchester's projected 3-volume biography of Churchill, and enjoyed it immensely.

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 03:04 PM (v6JzV)

186
Cousin was just 75. He lost his wife a little over a year ago. Losing a spouse is a noted actuarial risk factor over about a year or so -- stress and all that.

Don't know what it was, he had no known heart problems, just typical old age stuff, high BP and stuff like that.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at December 13, 2024 03:04 PM (w6EFb)

187 MacArthur was an odd duck, that's for sure.

He was indeed. I read a bio of him (Manchester?) that described him as being physically courageous to the point of suicidality.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 03:02 PM (xCA6C)

--------------

The same was said about Generals (and subsequently Presidents) Washington and Grant.

Posted by: ShainS -- Deus Ex Muskina [h/t Mike Benz] at December 13, 2024 03:04 PM (ucPEp)

188 163 I have a "hangup" about sh*tting in the street.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at December 13, 2024 03:00 PM (RIvkX)

Well la de da! Look at mr fancypants! Probably drink your tea with pinky out too.

j/k

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 03:04 PM (bss/y)

189 NYT confirming Pelosi broke her hip. Thats bad juju for the elderly.

You always used to hear about the elderly falling and breaking a hip. It was only recently that we began to realize that they fell BECAUSE their hip broke.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 03:04 PM (xCA6C)

190 based on a claim from a surely hard-left West Point administrator, that Hegseth had "never applied" to West Point,

remember the commie cadet?

Posted by: kallisto at December 13, 2024 03:05 PM (dCxaZ)

191 publius, Rascally Mr. Miley

That's awful.

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle at December 13, 2024 03:05 PM (c+HYQ)

192 "Theresa Brinkerhoff"

I'm thinkin' bitch didn't think this thing through.

Posted by: Tawana Brawley at December 13, 2024 03:05 PM (paSBy)

193 American Caesar? I should really read that.

That's it.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 03:05 PM (xCA6C)

194 172 NYT confirming Pelosi broke her hip. Thats bad juju for the elderly.p
Posted by: WisRich at December 13, 2024 03:01 PM (5DPGD)

yes it is - not wishing that level of hurt on anyone, especially the elderly. In a woman her age, it's also probably a sign of serious osteoporosis, which also makes healing very difficult.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 13, 2024 03:05 PM (wyMQY)

195 NYT confirming Pelosi broke her hip. Thats bad juju for the elderly.p
----------------
At her age death follows within two - three years.
Posted by: pudinhead at December 13, 2024 03:03 PM (jFCkp)

All that gourmet ice cream in her fridge apparently didn't provide her with enough calcium...

Posted by: sabbasam at December 13, 2024 03:05 PM (mxEar)

196 He was indeed. I read a bio of him (Manchester?) that described him as being physically courageous to the point of suicidality.

Suggested to Truman to create a Nuclear Ring between north and south Korea.

He was pretty indicative of the brain-trust in that era.

Posted by: I'm Back at December 13, 2024 03:06 PM (FjMAB)

197 My brother used to quote a joke that Redd Foxx would use at the end of some of his standup routines>

"It's now time for me to say to you what MacArthur said to his troops on Corregidor: Bye!"

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 03:06 PM (v6JzV)

198 I'm sure its not just guitar forums--I bet I could get similarly banned in vacuum cleaner forums (if there is such a thing). There is very little public interest these days in honest and full discourse.
Posted by: Crusader
-------
Its all there in DeTocqueville as one of the biggest criticisms he had of American society. Once the American public decides what the story is, doubters and those countering the narrative get shouted down.

Herbert Hoover's tome Freedom Betrayed blaming FDR for the sneak attack starting WWII is something , for example, few if any have heard of. Finally published in 2011.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:06 PM (ctrM5)

199 MacArthur was an odd duck, that's for sure.

He was indeed. I read a bio of him (Manchester?) that described him as being physically courageous to the point of suicidality.
Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 03:02 PM (xCA6C)

I didn’t think he was odd fwiw. American Caesar is in my top three biographies. That Manchester didn’t really like MacArthur prior to and after writing the biography made the good stuff more credible for me.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at December 13, 2024 03:06 PM (D6PGr)

200 The weekend is here

Posted by: Skip at December 13, 2024 03:06 PM (fwDg9)

201 The Sundowner administration and Deep State are at cold war against Trump

Posted by: Skip at December 13, 2024 03:06 PM (fwDg9)

202 I have to walk past the Chinese Consulate every day and tamp down my violent fantasies.
Posted by: San Franpsycho
--------------------------------

When you walk by, is it rush hour?

Posted by: Chris Tucker at December 13, 2024 03:06 PM (EFZgU)

203 >NYT confirming Pelosi broke her hip.

Just as AOC makes a power play.

Posted by: davidt at December 13, 2024 03:07 PM (i0F8b)

204 MacArthur managed post war Japan to become our best ally and most capable friend. Old Japanese still worship him to this day.

Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov at December 13, 2024 03:07 PM (wBaIH)

205 157 Well that's because FDR was an idiot, and a commie symp.

Posted by: Angzarr the Cromulent at December 13, 2024 03:08 PM (qZ9Nw)

206 203 >NYT confirming Pelosi broke her hip.

Just as AOC makes a power play.
Posted by: davidt at December 13, 2024 03:07 PM (i0F8b)

AOSHQ: AOC PUSHES NANCY PELOSI DOWN THE STAIRS!

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 03:08 PM (bss/y)

207 The same was said about Generals (and subsequently Presidents) Washington and Grant.

-----------

BTW, wasn't there a movement to try and get MacArthur to run for President as a Republican against Truman -- and some speculate that that's why the latter fired the former?

Posted by: ShainS -- Deus Ex Muskina [h/t Mike Benz] at December 13, 2024 03:08 PM (zmr+E)

208 God is doing everything necessary to Nancy Pelosi. There is no need for me to wish for more.

She'll face a sterner judge than I could ever be.

Posted by: sifty boones at December 13, 2024 03:08 PM (1VZWj)

209 which my friend Kyle Sheidler noted was not a journalistic operation at all, but a well-funded anti-conservative private intelligence service

which current "news" source is not an op?

Posted by: kallisto at December 13, 2024 03:09 PM (dCxaZ)

210 AOSHQ: AOC PUSHES NANCY PELOSI DOWN THE STAIRS!

Also AOSHQ: But first took off her shirt.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 03:09 PM (xCA6C)

211 Publius, prayers.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 13, 2024 03:09 PM (PiwSw)

212 The left lies.
About everything.
Always.
No exceptions.

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at December 13, 2024 03:09 PM (bYi+r)

213 Prayers to you and yours, Publius.

Posted by: sifty boones at December 13, 2024 03:09 PM (VbeRV)

214 Sounds like this group should be investigated for trying to blackmail Government officials or defame them. If they all turn out to be ham and eggers who expose miscreants of all parties then they should be easily cleared.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 13, 2024 03:09 PM (n7h9X)

215 Posted by: ShainS -- Deus Ex Muskina [h/t Mike Benz] at December 13, 2024 03:08 PM (zmr+E)

That happened after his firing.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at December 13, 2024 03:09 PM (D6PGr)

216 On the afternoon of September 12, 1918, in the midst of a bloody battle between the American Expeditionary Force and the German Army, two American Army officers, a thirty-two year old lieutenant colonel and a thirty-eight year old brigadier general, greeted each other on a small exposed hill. On either side of them, infantry and tanks maneuvered forward to the French town of Essey, a quarter mile to the north. Small arms fire and an occasional artillery burst kept the air alive and dangerous.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 13, 2024 03:09 PM (aD39U)

217 According to Patton’s account, which he wrote four days after the encounter: “I met General MacArthur commanding a brigade, he was walking about too. I joined him and the creeping barrage came along towards us, but it was very thin and not dangerous. I think each one wanted to leave but each hated to say so, so we let it come over us. We stood and talked but neither was much interested in what the other said as we could not get our minds off the shells.” Patton wrote this account as part of a six-page letter to his wife, which, despite all its bombast, managed to be magnanimous to MacArthur’s unwillingness to seek shelter: “I was the only man on the front-line except for General MacArthur who never ducked a shell.”

Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 13, 2024 03:10 PM (aD39U)

218 I read the first volume of Manchester's projected 3-volume biography of Churchill, and enjoyed it immensely.
Posted by: Bulg

Paul Reid's third volume based on Manchester outlines resembles Gilbert's arid accounts more than the first two Manchester written volumes.

Alone is one of the most spectacular and moving accounts of a man who seemingly could not do anything politically popular in the 30's either with the public or his Conservative party colleagues. But he was right about Adolph all along and was put in office during desperate times again.

Excellent story of redemption from the political wilderness in time to save his country.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:10 PM (ctrM5)

219 Don't get too excited about Nancy shedding her mortal coil. The rich and politically connected receive a different level of healthcare. Just ask 4th stage cancer survivor Jimma Carter.

Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov at December 13, 2024 03:10 PM (wBaIH)

220 Prayer up, Publius.

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 03:10 PM (v6JzV)

221 https://tinyurl.com/376fwycy

Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 13, 2024 03:10 PM (aD39U)

222 The same was said about Generals (and subsequently Presidents) Washington and Grant.

Grant may have been physically brave, and he was an excellent horseman (except for one time when he was (supposedly) drunk and fell off his horse), but he also had a morbid fear of blood. I suppose that was ironic since he was also nicknamed (in the North) "The Butcher," and he did not get that name by killing Confederates.

Posted by: Martin Tell at December 13, 2024 03:10 PM (sFNX2)

223 BTW, wasn't there a movement to try and get MacArthur to run for President as a Republican against Truman -- and some speculate that that's why the latter fired the former?

He was devastated when Eisenhower was chosen over him.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 03:11 PM (xCA6C)

224 Publius, very sorry to hear that.

Posted by: scampydog at December 13, 2024 03:11 PM (2bFN5)

225 BTW, wasn't there a movement to try and get MacArthur to run for President as a Republican against Truman -- and some speculate that that's why the latter fired the former?
Posted by: ShainS -- Deus Ex Muskina [h/t Mike Benz] at December 13, 2024 03:08 PM (zmr+E)

He was fired for insubordination, and probably was because he wanted to risk war with China and went public with it.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 13, 2024 03:11 PM (n7h9X)

226 BTW, wasn't there a movement to try and get MacArthur to run for President as a Republican against Truman -- and some speculate that that's why the latter fired the former?
Posted by: ShainS

Yep. Especially after MacArthur's address to Congress. Firing MacArthur, was at least in part, the reason why Truman was so unpopular he could not run for a second term (22nd did not apply to him as it was ratified during his term in office).

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:12 PM (ctrM5)

227 "Herbert Hoover's tome Freedom Betrayed blaming FDR for the sneak attack starting WWII is something , for example, few if any have heard of. Finally published in 2011.
Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:06 PM (ctrM5)"

I wasn't aware of it until you posted--thank you for sharing that.

Posted by: Crusader at December 13, 2024 03:12 PM (TN0g+)

228 BTW, wasn't there a movement to try and get MacArthur to run for President as a Republican against Truman -- and some speculate that that's why the latter fired the former?
----------------
No. That was the threat MacArthur used to force FDR to underwrite the invasion of Phillipines. 'I Shall Return' or Imma Running for President. Deal was done in Hawaii.

Posted by: pudinhead at December 13, 2024 03:13 PM (jFCkp)

229 Someone check to see if Mr. Pelosi bought stock yesterday in the hospital that old Skeksis went to.

Posted by: sifty boones at December 13, 2024 03:13 PM (VbeRV)

230 Herbert Hoover became good friends with Harry Truman. Truman even tried to convince Hoover to become a Democrat.

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 03:14 PM (v6JzV)

231
Thanks everyone. This is one of those things that really gets me. Totally unexpected. Early this morning, we were texting back and forth about the data from my weather station over the morning hours.

And then boom, less than an hour later, he's gone. He was gone when they found him. Just boom, he's gone.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at December 13, 2024 03:14 PM (w6EFb)

232 219 Don't get too excited about Nancy shedding her mortal coil. The rich and politically connected receive a different level of healthcare. Just ask 4th stage cancer survivor Jimma Carter.
Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov

Even the elites become feeble--modern medicine can keep you alive but not restore past health so you wallow in a purgatory prior to death. Not the way I want to go but then again, I have not done what Nanzi has done so she is probably afraid of judgment in the afterlife.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:14 PM (ctrM5)

233 I'm sorry to hear about your loss, Publius, and pray that you and your family find peace in time.

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at December 13, 2024 03:14 PM (VNX3d)

234 So sorry pub.

Posted by: ... at December 13, 2024 03:15 PM (h4sFO)

235 Pete Hegseth and Ron DeSantis will be accompanying Trump at the Army/Navy game tomorrow.
Daniel Penny will be accompanied by JD Vance.

Posted by: redridinghood at December 13, 2024 03:15 PM (NpAcC)

236 Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at December 13, 2024 03:14 PM (w6EFb)

Sorry to hear that, man.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 03:15 PM (bss/y)

237 230 Herbert Hoover became good friends with Harry Truman. Truman even tried to convince Hoover to become a Democrat.
Posted by: Bulg
==========
Both of them disliked FDR as a person. So they had that in common.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:15 PM (ctrM5)

238 Pete Hegseth and Ron DeSantis will be accompanying Trump at the Army/Navy game tomorrow.
Daniel Penny will be accompanied by JD Vance.

Vance has the touch.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 03:16 PM (xCA6C)

239 NYT confirming Pelosi broke her hip.

Just as AOC makes a power play.

Posted by: davidt at December 13, 2024 03:07 PM (i0F8b)

An elderly surgeon friend of mine was visiting the Vatican when he fell and broke his tibial plateau. I asked him if he had surgery in Italy and he said "Hell no, I'm not going to let those butchers near my knee." He had paid for emergency medical flight insurance prior to the trip and was flown back to Baltimore on a private jet for his surgery at Hopkins.

I'm sure San Fran Nan will have a private jet waiting for her to bring her back for her hip replacement.

Posted by: Timon at December 13, 2024 03:16 PM (IjYbp)

240 >>> AOSHQ: AOC PUSHES NANCY PELOSI DOWN THE STAIRS! Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 03:08 PM (bss/y)

Ah, A Separate Peace but for dummies.

Posted by: LizLem at December 13, 2024 03:16 PM (Eng1Z)

241 235 Pete Hegseth and Ron DeSantis will be accompanying Trump at the Army/Navy game tomorrow.
Daniel Penny will be accompanied by JD Vance.
Posted by: redridinghood at December 13, 2024 03:15 PM (NpAcC)

I want to make a joke about a sausage party...

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 03:17 PM (bss/y)

242 And then boom, less than an hour later, he's gone. He was gone when they found him. Just boom, he's gone.
Posted by: publius
======
Feeble words mean little in consolation for your loss but he lingers in your heart and mind and that is what counts for you and his loved ones.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:17 PM (ctrM5)

243 59 >>The Bluegeoisie

That's a well turned phrase.
Posted by: garrett at December 13, 2024 02:40 PM (j6KoD)

How bout Bluejitsu?

Where the left tries so hard to get a righty they punch themselves in the dick.

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at December 13, 2024 03:17 PM (OA79/)

244 I'm sure San Fran Nan will have a private jet waiting for her to bring her back for her hip replacement.

Private jet or not, she'll be out of commission for a bit.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 03:17 PM (xCA6C)

245 Grant may have been physically brave, and he was an excellent horseman (except for one time when he was (supposedly) drunk and fell off his horse), but he also had a morbid fear of blood. I suppose that was ironic since he was also nicknamed (in the North) "The Butcher," and he did not get that name by killing Confederates.
Posted by: Martin Tell at December 13, 2024 03:10 PM (sFNX2)

Oh he killed a lot of Confederates too. Most of the historical measures have known undercounting. There was a survey taken in the last 20 years using newspaper counts of reported casualties in 1865 in the east and the totals rise significantly .. Also transfers of troops to Lee's army in the period are found which are not in the official records.

And if the fall is the one in New Orleans that was caused by the horse itself falling on a wet cobblestone street and crushing his leg under its weight.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 13, 2024 03:17 PM (n7h9X)

246 Remember:
Everything the left does is stagecraft.
Every act is built upon the prior and ever act has a follow.

This story was to be followed by another smear.

The woke generals really, really do not want Pete to be their boss.
And they are desperate.
Consider: How would Pro Publica have the contact info of 2 people at West Point, the exact people who are needed to prop up this smear?

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at December 13, 2024 03:17 PM (FAgwP)

247
An elderly surgeon friend of mine was visiting the Vatican when he fell and broke his tibial plateau. I asked him if he had surgery in Italy and he said "Hell no, I'm not going to let those butchers near my knee." He had paid for emergency medical flight insurance prior to the trip and was flown back to Baltimore on a private jet for his surgery at Hopkins.

But Italy has freeeeeee health care. Are you suggesting it’s no good? How racist!!

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at December 13, 2024 03:18 PM (bYi+r)

248 I'm sure San Fran Nan will have a private jet waiting for her to bring her back for her hip replacement.
Posted by: Timon
=====
Many of the rich are cheap. I am sure Nanzi is demanding the USAF to provide a plane to haul her back. At taxpayer expense.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:18 PM (ctrM5)

249 239 NYT confirming Pelosi broke her hip.

Just as AOC makes a power play.

Posted by: davidt at December 13, 2024 03:07 PM (i0F8b

That's really unfortunate. I hope she recovers fully. Thoughts and prayers.

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at December 13, 2024 03:19 PM (OA79/)

250 I'm surprised that Vatican City doesn't have its own hospital.

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 03:19 PM (v6JzV)

251 244.

Evil, like rust, never sleeps.

Posted by: sifty boones at December 13, 2024 03:19 PM (VbeRV)

252 I hear Luxemburg is pretty in the fall.

Posted by: Minnfidel at December 13, 2024 03:19 PM (ewjUl)

253 publius, may his memory be a blessing

Posted by: San Franpsycho at December 13, 2024 03:19 PM (RIvkX)

254 Evil, like rust, never sleeps.

It does if it's on morphine and alcohol.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 03:19 PM (xCA6C)

255 Oh he killed a lot of Confederates too. Most of the historical measures have known undercounting. There was a survey taken in the last 20 years using newspaper counts of reported casualties in 1865 in the east and the totals rise significantly .. Also transfers of troops to Lee's army in the period are found which are not in the official records.

Posted by: Oldcat
===
There was a recent recounting of Confederate deaths both civilian and military based on the people disappearing between the 1860 and 1870 census.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:19 PM (ctrM5)

256 250 I'm surprised that Vatican City doesn't have its own hospital.
Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 03:19 PM (v6JzV)

There's not really enough space for that. And heck, half of that is parking space for the museum and church staff.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 03:20 PM (bss/y)

257 People, please. If you're going to refer to Peloshi, please use her correct title: Schpeaker Emerita Peloshi!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 13, 2024 03:21 PM (PiwSw)

258 I hear Luxemburg is pretty in the fall.
Posted by: Minnfidel

The sweater puppies in Buxombourg are magnificent.

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 03:21 PM (v6JzV)

259 That was also Destiny, although I don't recall if his then-wife was banging another streamer or just some other bull rando.
Posted by: Thrawn at December 13, 2024 02:53 PM (uGhsv)

I don't believe his wife was banging "some other bull rando". I believe she was banging SEVERAL other "bull" randos and finally left with one who, if memory serves, had barely enough testosterone to be considered male and, yet, more than her "husband".

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 13, 2024 03:21 PM (ExV1e)

260 Pelosi ain't dying anytime soon. they will probably give her a bionic hip and she will come back better than before..

Posted by: IC - Cope Harder, Liberals at December 13, 2024 03:21 PM (DJ7uY)

261 200 The weekend is here
Posted by: Skip at December 13, 2024 03:06 PM (fwDg9)

How do you figure? The sun just came up over the mountains.

Posted by: tcn in AK at December 13, 2024 03:21 PM (K861k)

262 254.

This place makes it so difficult to stay sober.

Posted by: sifty boones at December 13, 2024 03:22 PM (VbeRV)

263 >>> Just as AOC makes a power play.

I missed it, what power play? She finally announce she's preggers, or she and Hogg are teaming up to take the DNC chair?

Posted by: LizLem at December 13, 2024 03:22 PM (Eng1Z)

264 Map of Vatican City:

https://tinyurl.com/yc5hpby2

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 03:22 PM (bss/y)

265 Gee I hope Nancy won't miss any votes. Hip breakage is pretty serious and she's bound to be laid up for a while.

Tough news for the House with the margins being so slim and all.
I imagine AOC will be able to whip the vote as capably as Nancy.

Posted by: Just Lily at December 13, 2024 03:23 PM (6LD5D)

266 So, we have two government employees lying about Hegseth, using their official positions for political reasons...

But of course, the media will not pursue who they were, even though they broke Federal law.

Posted by: Romeo13 at December 13, 2024 03:23 PM (QAkQ3)

267 Sorry to hear about Nancy's hip. Such a spritely little nymph.

Posted by: Bitch McTurtle at December 13, 2024 03:24 PM (paSBy)

268 OT: When you can't shop, and you want beef for dinner...it's a godsend when the spouse finds the beef rib roast bought on sale at Easter at the bottom of the freezer.

Turning it into 3 meals with the bounty of veg my farm box sent me unexpectedly (sometimes, you just get smacked in the face with how much the One above blesses you - an order of broccoli supposed to be 1-3 stalks was 12 stalks worth - 1.5 lbs of tomatoes was 7 big tomatoes - no idea why they stuffed my box, but not complaining since I can't grocery shop easily with the foot).

Tonight is beef stir fry, tomorrow is beef fajitas, and Sunday is a cross between a french onion soup and a beef stew with the tallow (cut from the top) and the ribs and leftover meat from the bottom...

1st time I've ever chopped up a beef rib roast...but the mother of invention is known to be necessity...

Posted by: Nova Local at December 13, 2024 03:24 PM (exHjb)

269 >>>ProPublica should be lucky Pete had his acceptance letter otherwise they would've taken one the fattest L's in journalism history.

I disagree. As we've seen before, false allegations, especially against conservatives, become The Truth once published. Bad actors and LIVs keep repeating the lie until it becomes accepted fact. Also keep in mind this was timed in order to give the Sunday morning propagandists something to talk about. Evil stuff.

Posted by: Citizen Cake at December 13, 2024 03:24 PM (CwhoI)

270 MacArthur was an odd duck, that's for sure.

He was indeed. I read a bio of him (Manchester?) that described him as being physically courageous to the point of suicidality.
Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 03:02 PM (xCA6C)

This was petty much a requirement to any officer in any branch of service in any country for hundreds of years. Its hardly out of the norm.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 13, 2024 03:25 PM (n7h9X)

271 That's interesting about MacArthur and Patton. I had just been wondering what Patton's opinion of MacArthur was.

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 03:25 PM (v6JzV)

272 "But of course, the media will not pursue who they were, even though they broke Federal law."

We know their names--Ace posted the name and picture of one of them a couple of days ago. But you're right, the supposed "regular" media isn't chasing this story.

Posted by: Crusader at December 13, 2024 03:25 PM (TN0g+)

273 Tough news for the House with the margins being so slim and all.
I imagine AOC will be able to whip the vote as capably as Nancy.

*cough*

Posted by: Hakeem S. Jeffries at December 13, 2024 03:25 PM (xCA6C)

274 260 Pelosi ain't dying anytime soon. they will probably give her a bionic hip and she will come back better than before..
Posted by: IC - Cope Harder, Liberals at December 13, 2024 03:21 PM (DJ7uY)

She should have warmed up more before trying for a 500 lb PR squat.

Ask me how I know.

Posted by: Zombie RBG at December 13, 2024 03:25 PM (OA79/)

275 I missed it, what power play?
---
She's angling for ranking member of House Oversight.

Posted by: Meade Lux Lewis, Domestic Terrorist at December 13, 2024 03:25 PM (paSBy)

276 WTFO Radio: President Biden what do you say about the Drones over New Jersey???

I love Scones and why would anyone put scones in the sky? They are meant to be eaten ............

Posted by: Radio Station WTFO out of Washington DC at December 13, 2024 03:26 PM (7uGna)

277 182 172 NYT confirming Pelosi broke her hip. Thats bad juju for the elderly.p
----------------
At her age death follows within two - three years.
Posted by: pudinhead at December 13, 2024 03:03 PM (jFCkp)

Nah, she will live forever. She can't go to heaven and even Satan thinks she would be a bad risk.

Posted by: tcn in AK at December 13, 2024 03:26 PM (K861k)

278 So, Pelosi's hip got hammered?

Too soon?

Posted by: dantesed at December 13, 2024 03:26 PM (Oy/m2)

279 260 Pelosi ain't dying anytime soon. they will probably give her a bionic hip and she will come back better than before..
Posted by: IC
=======
I doubt it. Plus anyone that apparently abuses alcohol like she does has a poorer prognosis regardless of her age.

Unfortunately, I have a lot of experience with being in physical rehab and notice elderly people with hip fractures rarely get around as well as they did before and their health worsens as well. I have seen them during rehab and seen it myself in family members. Plus the fog from being put under becomes increasingly long lasting in the elderly. Some never recover mentally from it.

As I said above, medicine can keep you alive but at a certain age, simply cannot restore your vitality.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:27 PM (ctrM5)

280 "Nah, she will live forever. She can't go to heaven and even Satan thinks she would be a bad risk."

Satan is afraid she'd attempt to unseat him.

Posted by: Crusader at December 13, 2024 03:27 PM (TN0g+)

281 278 So, Pelosi's hip got hammered?

Too soon?
Posted by: dantesed at December 13, 2024 03:26 PM (Oy/m2)

I'll hold her financial portfolio while she rests up a bit ...

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at December 13, 2024 03:27 PM (x0n13)

282

Posted by: Mitch McConnell at December 13, 2024 03:28 PM (PiwSw)

283 Nah, she will live forever. She can't go to heaven and even Satan thinks she would be a bad risk.
Posted by: tcn

Great. She'll be roaming the Earth carrying a lantern and we're gonna hafta carve her hag face into pumpkins every Halloween.

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 03:28 PM (v6JzV)

284
MacArthur's greatest defeat wasn't the Japanese running over the Philippines, it was his clerk Eisenhower running over him for President.

Posted by: Auspex at December 13, 2024 03:28 PM (j4U/Z)

285 Bullshit. Hal Moore was ordered to leave his men ... he didn't. Because when you lead men, you lead men. For good or ill.

There was a vast difference between Colonel Moore and General MacArthur.

Moore, for example, could be re-supplied whereas the Philippines could not. Moore was a battalion commander, MacArthur was a theater commander.

I don't even like MacArthur but he did the right thing.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 13, 2024 03:28 PM (ExV1e)

286 So many lying, defaming leftists. Would be nice to see them sued to insolvency as an example. Hell, do it even if it isn't and none of the BS settling out of court; the world needs to see how they make their commie sausage.

Posted by: jim (in hospital in Kalifornia) at December 13, 2024 03:29 PM (SSBCb)

287 New one: Merrick Garland

Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 03:29 PM (xCA6C)

288 Bet she keeps her seat in the house the whole time she is curling up like dying pill bug over the next three years.

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at December 13, 2024 03:30 PM (OA79/)

289 271 That's interesting about MacArthur and Patton. I had just been wondering what Patton's opinion of MacArthur was.
Posted by: Bulg
=======
Might be covered in Patton's War as I Knew It published after his death by Beatrice Patton. I have not read that one but I don't recall Patton's feeling being included in the several biographies of Patton that I have read. You gave me a reason to go and buy it now.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:30 PM (ctrM5)

290 Moore, for example, could be re-supplied whereas the Philippines could not. Moore was a battalion commander, MacArthur was a theater commander.

I don't even like MacArthur but he did the right thing.
Posted by: I used to have a different nic

Yeah, his getting captured would've been seriously no bueno.

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 03:30 PM (v6JzV)

291 Why do you think a West Point person even told them that’s? Elliott probably made the whole thing up.
Posted by: keena at December 13, 2024 02:43 PM (RiTnx)

If the information they gave about their calls to WP happened and was confirmed by WP is a lie, then WP should have refuted it. If they are letting it run, then they are conspirators after the fact.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 13, 2024 03:30 PM (n7h9X)

292 This F88King Idiot is going to cause Armageddon !!!!

Is there any Pale Horse in the White House Lawn ????

Posted by: Buster Hymandd at December 13, 2024 03:30 PM (7uGna)

293 He was indeed. I read a bio of him (Manchester?) that described him as being physically courageous to the point of suicidality.
Posted by: Archimedes at December 13, 2024 03:02 PM (xCA6C)
-------------
Both MacArthur and Patton would lead their WWI attacks personally and point out targets to their men and tanks with a riding crop. Old school guys. Generals leading troops in combat.

Posted by: pudinhead at December 13, 2024 03:30 PM (jFCkp)

294
Is Paul flying to Luxembourg or cruising the tenderloin tonight?

Posted by: Auspex at December 13, 2024 03:31 PM (j4U/Z)

295 I have not read that one but I don't recall Patton's feeling being included in the several biographies of Patton that I have read. You gave me a reason to go and buy it now.
Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:30 PM (ctrM5)
-----------
It's very well written and highly literate. You'll enjoy it.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea, Radioactive Knight, Concertina Czar at December 13, 2024 03:31 PM (fsC91)

296 Allegedly, an Ohio teacher bear hugged a student and shook her for chewing gum. In the process of mah-handling the the student, the student's face hit a desk. The student then refused to get up. In response, the teacher put her hands or arms around the student's neck, leaving bruises.

http://tiny.cc/la71001

Posted by: bonhomme at December 13, 2024 03:31 PM (Odg76)

297 Both MacArthur and Patton would lead their WWI attacks personally and point out targets to their men and tanks with a riding crop. Old school guys. Generals leading troops in combat.

Bring me a Bucket !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: General Miley at December 13, 2024 03:32 PM (FDlb9)

298 >>> Just as AOC makes a power play.

Ah! *Runs to read*

I love how none of these articles ask Hakeem Jeffries what he thinks. Everyone knows who really matters.

Posted by: LizLem at December 13, 2024 03:33 PM (Eng1Z)

299 Two serious falls in one week. That's got to be some kind of record.

Posted by: washrivergal at December 13, 2024 03:33 PM (C53IZ)

300 297 Both MacArthur and Patton would lead their WWI attacks personally and point out targets to their men and tanks with a riding crop. Old school guys. Generals leading troops in combat.

Bring me a Bucket !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: General Miley at December 13, 2024 03:32 PM (FDlb9)

The brown pants

Posted by: jim (in hospital in Kalifornia) at December 13, 2024 03:34 PM (SSBCb)

301 284
MacArthur's greatest defeat wasn't the Japanese running over the Philippines, it was his clerk Eisenhower running over him for President.
Posted by: Auspex
-------
Patton remarked that Ike would run for president someday to his aides during WWII when he and his aides witnessed Ike doing a pr stop with average GIs. They expressed disbelief but Georgie told them wait and see what would happen.

He was right.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:34 PM (ctrM5)

302 296 Allegedly, an Ohio teacher bear hugged a student and shook her for chewing gum. In the process of mah-handling the the student, the student's face hit a desk. The student then refused to get up. In response, the teacher put her hands or arms around the student's neck, leaving bruises.

http://tiny.cc/la71001

Posted by: bonhomme at December 13, 2024 03:31 PM (Odg76)

https://tinyurl.com/yjm8p7nv

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 03:34 PM (bss/y)

303 > my farm box sent me

I've looked into getting a subscription with a local farm, but I don't like the uncertainty involved. You don't know what you're getting or how much. What is your experience with the farm box? Do you like it?

Posted by: bonhomme at December 13, 2024 03:34 PM (Odg76)

304 Lt. Col Vindman would fall on a whole box of donuts rather than have his men be a risk for early onset diabetes. True Story.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 13, 2024 03:34 PM (PiwSw)

305 It's very well written and highly literate. You'll enjoy it.
Posted by: Captain Obvious

Your average person doesn't realize how erudite and well-read military commanders can be, and how well they can write. Patton is one example. Lee, Grant, and Sherman are others. And, of course, Washington.

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 03:35 PM (v6JzV)

306 299 Two serious falls in one week. That's got to be some kind of record.
Posted by: washrivergal at December 13, 2024 03:33 PM (C53IZ)

Well, it's yet winter...

Posted by: jim (in hospital in Kalifornia) at December 13, 2024 03:35 PM (SSBCb)

307 Nood.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at December 13, 2024 03:35 PM (bss/y)

308 Moore, for example, could be re-supplied whereas the Philippines could not. Moore was a battalion commander, MacArthur was a theater commander.

I don't even like MacArthur but he did the right thing.
Posted by: I used to have a different nic

Yeah, his getting captured would've been seriously no bueno.
Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 03:30 PM (v6JzV)

They had to pretty much force him out when it should have been obvious he couldn't do much in his bunker in the PA. He'd pretty much screwed up his defense by the numbers, not that the result would have been much different but the lack of supplies in Bataan caused much suffering.

He slagged his replacement who did surrender and kept him from getting medals. He was useful in propping up the confidence in the Aussies when promises of US aid seemed a ways off.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 13, 2024 03:36 PM (n7h9X)

309 299 Two serious falls in one week. That's got to be some kind of record.
Posted by: washrivergal at December 13, 2024 03:33 PM (C53IZ)

The record comes from having a ruling class of 80+ year olds who should be in a home, and pretending that they're still 30 years old.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 13, 2024 03:36 PM (wyMQY)

310 It's very well written and highly literate. You'll enjoy it.
Posted by: Captain Obvious
=======
Thanks. I have read that it pissed Omar Bradley off so much that Patton became the butt of his ire in his own retelling of WWII. Ike was probably incandescent. I would guess only ole Monty would laugh about it albeit with clenched teeth at times.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:36 PM (ctrM5)

311 I hear Luxemburg is pretty in the fall.
Posted by: Minnfidel at December 13, 2024 03:19 PM (ewjUl)

Buddy and I spent a night in a NATO officers hotel one Sunday. Only place that would let us stay as Europe at that time rolled up the sidewalks early afternoon.

Posted by: Beartooth at December 13, 2024 03:37 PM (WuJwx)

312 Two serious falls in one week. That's got to be some kind of record.
Posted by: washrivergal

The Pope also had a fall, but it might have been last week.

Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 03:37 PM (v6JzV)

313 Two serious falls in one week. That's got to be some kind of record.
Posted by: washrivergal

The Pope also had a fall, but it might have been last week.
Posted by: Bulg

But no fatalities. Lame.

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at December 13, 2024 03:39 PM (lkGEd)

314 >>Is Paul flying to Luxembourg or cruising the tenderloin tonight?

Posted by: Auspex

Nah, staying home and getting hammered.

Posted by: Aviator at December 13, 2024 03:40 PM (HQ9Sl)

315 MacArthur's greatest defeat wasn't the Japanese running over the Philippines, it was his clerk Eisenhower running over him for President.
Posted by: Auspex at December 13, 2024 03:28 PM (j4U/Z)

Ike was slotted in to overtake Mac overall in WWII long before the war, the assignment to the PI was to fast track him to lead teh ETO once it was clear Marshall would not be allowed to leave Washington to do it.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 13, 2024 03:40 PM (n7h9X)

316 From an intel standpoint, you do not let the former Chief of Staff for the US military get captured. He had all sorts of secrets in his head. About the same as Monty. But remember that Japan eschewed the Geneva Conventions on POWs and often used torture to get what they wanted out of the POWs.

Brits, when capturing Not See Generals would treat them nicely and then put them in society with other captured high ranking Not Sees commanders and eavesdrop on their private conversations. They learned a lot while treating the generals nicely according to the Geneva Conventions.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:42 PM (ctrM5)

317 The record comes from having a ruling class of 80+ year olds who should be in a home, and pretending that they're still 30 years old.
Posted by: Tom Servo
=======
Vanity has no age limit.

Posted by: whig at December 13, 2024 03:44 PM (ctrM5)

318 Patton is one example. Lee, Grant, and Sherman are others. And, of course, Washington.
Posted by: Bulg at December 13, 2024 03:35 PM (v6JzV)

These days reading up on Sherman would be particularly fun. He hated politicians (despite bis brother/brother in law being a Senator) and the press even more so. He was making jokes on the running of the US fleet past Vicksburg when a small steamer holding reporters was sunk.

Posted by: Oldcat at December 13, 2024 03:44 PM (n7h9X)

319 Publius, I'm so sorry. It can happen so quickly and catch us off guard and somehow that's part of the shock.

Prayers up.

Posted by: Wenda at December 13, 2024 03:48 PM (xGR+v)

320 Most all the M.S. Media and Scandal Mongers looking to make big headlines and earn a undeserved Pulitzer for a fake story

Posted by: Tamaa the Drongo Bird at December 13, 2024 05:01 PM (wGqjj)

321 In retrospect, maybe Pete should've not responded until 1 minute before the story was posted, and post his link 1 minute later.

Maybe then sue for defamation.

Posted by: Rick C at December 13, 2024 09:58 PM (NEIix)

322 Names of the WP “spokespersons” are needed. They blew 5hei4 right to confidentiality by LYING.
And, they should lose their PR jobs. For LYING about a public figure that did attend WP, and who was tagged for destruction simply because of his position.

Posted by: Linda S Fox at December 14, 2024 02:44 PM (7Rs+y)

323 Sadly, this is left-Wing media. All they do is lie. "ASK OFFICIALS TOUGH QUESTIONS" ? That is a cute fabrication because, as we saw, they babied Biden and Pierre for four years with ice cream questions and nothing else. Far-left legacy media do not care about the facts or the truth, just protecting democrats and smearing republicans. Why do they not quiz democrats for denying an election, threatening to impede incoming government, supporting murder of CEO's, pushing violence and racism, politically targeting opponents, calling half a nation Nazis ? How about when trannies attack congresswomen or left-Wing mobs attack capitals or uni's ? Why? Because they are not journalist, they are far-left activist. Fake press.

Posted by: Sarah N at December 15, 2024 08:08 AM (9T2zz)

324 ProPublica is a JEWISH smear operation founded by Jewish billionaires:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProPublica#History

Posted by: X at December 15, 2024 09:31 AM (H6IkX)

325 @X, 12/15/24, 09:31am.

ProProPublica is a far-left leaning outlet, focused on defending dems and smearing republicans.

Try not using left leaning wiki for your information, even the founder have stated wiki has becone untrustworthy, misleading with false info, and carers to the far-left.

Posted by: Sarah N at December 15, 2024 10:03 AM (9T2zz)

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