Blog Betty (Thomas Friedman is a Great Man was an online novel)

Tuesday, December 09, 2025

Standing is only important to the Crooked Court when they can use it against We The People

The Corrupt Supreme Court has six members who are going straight to hell for attacking the rights of We The People. J ohn Fritze (CNN) reports:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday left open the possibility that it might raise caps on how much money political parties may spend in coordination with candidates in a case initially filed by then-Senate candidate JD Vance.

But after more than two hours of oral arguments — and warnings that the court’s decision could upend the way American campaigns are funded — it was not clear which way the court would rule. Several key justices asked only a few questions, possibly keeping their options open.

Republicans who are challenging the regulations walked into the Supreme Court with the upper hand given that the court has repeatedly struck down other campaign finance rules. And at least a few of the court’s conservative justices appeared willing to do so again.

“I am concerned, as you said, that the combination of campaign finance laws and this court’s decisions over the years, together, have reduced the power of political parties as compared to outside groups with negative effects on our constitutional democracy,” said Justice Brett Kavanaugh, picking up an argument from the GOP campaign groups that lifting the caps might help funnel more money into traditional parties rather than to super PACs.

Kavanaugh, a conservative, said he is also concerned about the arguments from opponents who say lifting the caps might encourage corruption.

Critics say the justices should dismiss the case, in part because Vance hasn’t offered any concrete plans to run for president in 2028. But that argument, which would give the court an out to avoid deciding the more fundamental questions raised by the case, appeared to get little traction Tuesday.

JD? I am sick of the Court bending over backwards for this administration. Vance is not even a declared candidate for the Republican Party's presidential nomination.

Where is the standing issue? He has no standing. They use "standing" -- the crooks on that Crooked Court -- whenever they want to stop equality. But they'll let any idiot -- Vance, that ugly woman in Colorado -- bring a case before them when the individual has NO standing.

The Supreme Court long ago stopped working for the citizens of America and we need to remember that. Always.

An important comment on the article:

Bonne Hargan

8 hours ago

The extremely wealthy own the politicians already, there also needs to be a time limit on fund raising and campaigning. Trump is still asking for campaigning donations and has been campaigning for about a decade.

"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Tuesday, December 9, 2025. Labor Rights and Labor Law matter -- a few attorneys need to learn that even if they find the topic not as sexy or glamorous as Free Speech issues, Donald Chump continues to flounder in the polls and drags the GOP down with him, Kristi Noem has legal problems and so do her ICE agents, Sean Duffy really wants to be Trophy Wife, Robert Kennedy Jr. cannot do even one chin up, THE NEW YORK TIMES' David E. Sanger betrays journalism to cover for Chump, and much more.

Let's start with Devlin Barrett (NEW YORK TIMES):

A dozen F.B.I. agents fired this year for having knelt during a racial justice protest in 2020 sued the bureau’s director, Kash Patel, and the Trump administration on Monday, arguing that they had been unjustly punished for de-escalating a potentially dangerous situation.

The suit involves one of the largest groups of former law enforcement officials to challenge the Trump administration in court over its continuing purge of personnel at the Justice Department and F.B.I. Mr. Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi have vowed to end what they call weaponization of government, which they define as Democratic officials pursuing criminal investigations of President Trump and conservatives. So far, that has meant firing many senior career officials, as well as lower-level agents and prosecutors who worked on investigations related to Mr. Trump.

Mary Dohrmann, a lawyer representing the agents filing suit on Monday, warned of the repercussions given that the administration summarily removed about 16 agents who worked on counterintelligence and counterterrorism. “The country is less safe than it was before these F.B.I. agents were fired en masse,” she said.

She added that the abrupt dismissals violated the F.B.I.’s rules, which protect not only the agents but also the country by “ensuring that people who are highly trained and effective are employed at the F.B.I.” Ms. Dohrmann took the case as part of the Washington Litigation Group, which was formed this spring by former Justice Department lawyers seeking to defend the rule of law.

You know what that says to me? Blah blah blah I'm a f**king idiot. I'm not calling the writers an idiot but I am calling Mary Dohrmann an idiot and anyone else responsible for this legal strategy.

You're job is to help your client. I am so sick of attorneys with something to prove or some point to make that they ignore the real issue.

The real issue is not taking a knee.

Last week, Ava and I wrote "Media: Chump's administration doesn't even grasp the firing process." It applies here as well. David Maltinsky worked for the FBI. His attorneys want to make this a Free Speech case. That could go either way under the Supreme Court -- most likely David loses under the Supreme Court. David was fired for displaying a Pride Flag. LGBTQ+ issues don't really matter to the Supreme Court which regularly finds that LGBTQ+ people are not full persons. The Court regularly rules that they are second class citizens.

Do I believe that? Hell no. But were I David's attorney, I should know the climate we're currently in with regrds to the crooked Supreme Court. And I should be doing the best I can, in this climate, to ensure my clients prevails in court.

David wants to be let back in the FBI to complete his training so that he can be a special agent.

Maybe his attorneys win on this as a Free Speech issue. Maybe they don't.

But here's the reality for the FBI-ers taking the knee as it was for David.

You can't just fire people. You have to have cause. You have to document this and that.

Both cases should be fought that way.

The flag David displayed? Given to him by his supervisors. It had been displayed publicly and when they took it down, they gave it to David and he displayed it at his desk. And did so for years. No issue, no problem. Then Donald Chump gets sworn in and it's a problem.

You can't fire David because Chump doesn't like the Pride Flag. Now you could fire him for the flag if -- IF -- you changed the policy -- in writing -- and you informed David that the policy had changed. Had you done that and David was fired, it was no a Free Speech issue and only that. Does he have the right or not to display the flag.

But that's not what took place. What took place is Ka$h Patel acted on a whim and fired someone for doing something that had been with the FBI for years and now they were firing someone for doing what had been okay when no policy had been changed and he was given no warning.

You can't do that.

By the same token, the kneelers? They did what they did several years ago and several performance reviews ago. It was known then and it was not illegal and it was not considered unethical. They broke no rules. Years later, Ka$h and Donald don't like what happened long ago so they to punish the kneelers. They can't do that. They can't make a law or a policy in 2025 and try to retroactively apply it to five years ago.

The administration is breaking the law. Proving that in court -- all the way up to a Supreme Court appeal -- is enough of a win. For everyone who's gone public like David, that are hundreds who haven't. We need to fight when the administration thinks they're not bound by employment laws. That's a win for everyone.

I believe in Free Speech. But we're not there on these cases. This is wrongful termination and everyone involved could have their jobs back if attorneys weren't so quick to sneer at Labor Rights. Guess it's not sexy enough or doesn't pay enough money or doesn't get you the media coverage.

But most Americans in this country work or have worked. And Labor Rights are very important.

I decide to buy a Little Ceaser's (I'm hungry right now so we'll go with that for the example). I tell an employee who's been working there that he or she is fired today because five years ago they chewed gum on a shift. Their immediate response would be -- and should be -- that wasn't the rule five years ago. If we're not going to fight for Labor Rights, a lot of people are going to get fired until Chump leaves the White House.

Free Speech maters and, as Rachel Maddow noted last night, Joshua Aaron is suing the government over Free Speech due to APPLE dropping ICE BLOCK from the APPLE store under government pressure.

There is no right to fight Joshua's case except as a Free Speech case.

But there are other ways -- on stronger legal ground that requires no interpretation from Chump's idiotic appointees -- and then people like David -- who just wants his job back and to finish the last weeks of his training to be a special agent -- get what they want and need and Chump is delivered another blow.

What worker in this country is going to applaud Chump -- or any management -- for thinking you can change a policy and make the change retroactive to fire someone? No one. I would bet David's case and the kneelers could also be part of disparate-impact discrimination. They'd need to compile evidence to make that case -- others had political signs besides David but only David lost his job or the kneelers were fired while another group had similar actions of political speech and they weren't fired.

Moving from that to MEIDASTOUCH NEWS. Ben's first YOUTUBE posting of the day is always interesting and informative. But today even more than usual.

There are so many things in that video. Including that despite the steroid use (abuse) on the part of Robert Kennedy Jr., he still can't do a pull up. Not once in those multiple trials does his chin come above the bar -- he doesn't even get his eyes above the bar. But what I want to focus on is the uselessness of Melanie Trump. Even Barbara Bush had literacy. Melanie has nothing. I agree that clothing and exercise is not the business of the Secretary of Transportation.

But now I get it. Like me, Sean Duffy is worried how America will get through four years without a First Lady? So he's decided to take the soft causes like what to wear in flight and how to burn off a few calories before tackling that in-flight meal. If he can't be the First Lady, Sean's bound and determined to be The First Trophy Wife. He has the determination and now he ha the attitude of "Someone's got to do it so why not me!"

I think it's the sweetest thing in the world and as long as he stays away from busy dress patterns, I'm sure he'll do quite well in his new position.

Much better than Junior who made three attempts at a chin and, despite encouragement from observers, didn't complete one.

Let's move over to the increasingly unlikeable Donald Chump truly is, Frank Yemi (INQUISITR) reports:

Donald Trump’s approval rating is sinking again, and one columnist says the crash that follows will be more than just another bad poll for a deeply unpopular president. He thinks it will mark the unraveling of what he calls “one of the greatest and most destructive cons in American history.”

In a USA Today column, writer Rex Huppke argues that Trump’s second term is entering a final phase, with voters increasingly fed up and the president more interested in side projects than governing.

This fall, Huppke writes, is “going to be spectacular” as Trump remains “horrendously unpopular and [a] swiftly deteriorating lame duck focused more on building a glitzy ballroom or possibly invading Venezuela than on making life better for Americans.” He frames Trump’s grip on his supporters as a long running deception that is finally running into a wall of reality.

The latest Gallup survey helps explain the tone. According to the most recent numbers, Trump’s approval rating stands at 36 percent, with 60 percent disapproving, a new low of his second term. That kind of 20 point gap is the kind of political air pocket that usually sets off panic in any White House, especially one already staring down a tough midterm map.

And it's not just that Chump's dragged himself down, he's also dragged the entire party down. Melissa Lawson (South Carolina's THE STATE) notes:

A series of scandals and policy controversies tied to Republicans and President Donald Trump have kept the party in the headlines and hurt its standing with voters.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) have held the conference together, yet approval among Republican voters has fallen from 53 percent to 23 percent.

Do you think the Republicans currently fleeing Congress and the ones that will lose in the upcoming mid-terms knew this time last year that they were signing a suicide pact?

With ICE alone -- and it's not the only crime of the administration -- Chump has done real damage for the GOP. This could result in serious setbacks for the party for decades to come. Which idiot said, as they approached the cliff, "Don't worry, we'll be fine." And, as they now begin falling from the cliff, which idiot is still saying, "Don't worry, we'll be fine."

Whispers continue that Chump's about to send Kristi Noem packing from her post as H*A*R*L*O*T of Homeland Security and that an announcement is imminent where she declares she's stepping down to spend less time with her family and more time hunting dogs. But for now, at least, she remains in charge of the agency that has harmed America's name more than anyone except Chump himself.

On the topic of ICE, Tom Latchem (DAILY BEAST) reports:

The Trump administration has been sued over claims federal agents harmed low-income seniors, veterans, and families by firing chemical agents near an apartment building as part of an attempt by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to impress conservative influencers.

Since the summer, the use of force by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents has escalated around a federal facility in Portland, Oregon, with the deployment of tear gas, pepper balls, and chaotic tactics that even hit peaceful crowds. A new lawsuit alleges that their use has affected residents living near the facility.

The complaint, filed Dec. 5 by REACH Community Development and nine residents of Gray’s Landing in Portland, Oregon, argues that, for the past six months, federal agents have “indiscriminately deploy[ed tear gas], smoke grenades, pepper balls, and other chemical agents in mass volume,” with fumes that “seep through windows and vents, accumulate in hallways and bedrooms, and bind to walls, carpets, clothing, furniture, and children’s toys.”

It details yellow gas clouds, persistent coughs, burning eyes and throats, dizziness, and headaches.

Some deployments were “not to address any real danger,” according to the complaint, but to ”put on a show for conservative ‘influencers’” who had been invited by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and DHS to the ICE facility “to film the protests for propaganda purposes.”

They have included Benny Johnson, a pro-Trump social media personality from Florida, with 4 million X followers, and Trump ally Nick Sortor, who were mocked in October after filming Noem on the roof of the facility looking down at what Johnson called an “army of antifa,” but was actually just two small groups of peaceful protesters—and a man in a chicken suit.

The US gestapo. It's falling apart on the streets and it's falling apart in ICE's own households. Jennifer Edwards Baker (WXIX) reports:

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official is under arrest and held on an order of “no bond” at the request of Hamilton County prosecutors, according to a prosecutor’s office spokesperson.

Samuel Saxon, 47, of Cincinnati, is accused of putting a female household member in a “chokehold” and “causing serious physical harm,” court records show.

Cincinnati police arrested Saxon over the weekend on charges of felonious assault, strangulation and domestic violence.

That is the true face of ICE -- as violent in the home as they are on the streets. What a proud moment for Noem and Chump. This is caliber of the average ICE agent. Too stupid to get another job. Grasp that the test is now open book. Their recruits were too stupid to pass a test so they made the test open book. And guess what? Even after doing that, over half their recruits still weren't able to pass.

ICE: The too-many, the ashamed, the cowards.

Still on ICE, Edward Helmore (GUARDIAN) reports:

The Brazilian-born mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew – who was recently detained by US immigration authorities – has rejected the Trump administration’s characterizations of her as an absentee parent.

Bruna Ferreira, who was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in November during a traffic stop in Massachusetts and was being held at a Louisiana detention center, said in an interview with the Washington Post that the White House’s statements that she had never lived with her son or spoken with Leavitt “in many years” were incorrect.

Ferreira, 33, had a relationship with Leavitt’s brother, 35-year-old Michael Leavitt. They had a son, Michael Leavitt Jr, now aged 11.

She said she was offended by the White House’s characterizations, calling them “disgusting”. She said she takes her son to Dave & Buster’s, a food and video games chain; ferries him to school, cheers at sports games; and fills his bedroom with “everything a young boy needs”.

Ferreira told the Post that she also “moved mountains” to ensure her son could attend Karoline Leavitt’s wedding to real estate developer Nicholas Riccio in early January. Ferreira also said she approved her son to attend the White House Easter egg hunt in the spring.

I believe Bruna. I believe her for two reasons. Karoline is a known liar and the story as originally reported by the press. It broke about ten minutes into the snapshot I was dictating November 26th. I knew about it because one of the outlets noted in that snapshot called -- a friend with them called. And I stopped dictating to take the call, while on the phone I was scrolling through other coverage and was asking questions -- including 'it's the mother of Karoline's nephew. Why doesn't it say that instead of this garbled description?" Karoline can play dumb but she was involved in massaging that story to the press. That woman was badly mistreated and I wouldn't be at all surprised if a Congressional investigation revealed that Karoline's brother did order his ex picked up. Bruna does not have a pattern of lying. Karoline cannot say the same. And we all know that the original claims were false -- those came from Karoline -- that Bruna had little to do with her own son, blah blah blah. Karoline probably thought that, in all her Whiteness, she could say whatever she wanted about Bruna and get away with it.

It's not that easy, Karoline. And it won't be that easy for your nephew who, as he grows older, will always remember that Karoline tried to have his mother ripped out of his life. I hope he shows Karoline all the kindness she showed him (none) when she tried to get his mother kicked out of the country.

Maria Sacchetti (WASHINGTON POST) reminds of the original comments from the administration:

The White House had said in a statement that Ferreira had not spoken to Karoline Leavitt in years and that Ferreira had never lived with her son. Trump administration officials have not responded to requests for supporting documentation for the accusations about Ferreira.

Court records, family photos and news accounts show that Ferreira lived with her son and shared custody of him with Michael Leavitt. In a recent interview with The Washington Post, Ferreira said she had chosen Karoline Leavitt to be the child’s godmother. Ferreira arrived in the United States when she was 6 years old.

Criminals is not the focus, quotas are. And so they will go after anyone they think they can deport easily -- criminal background or not. For example, Billal Rahman (WASHINGTON POST) reports:

A 65-year-old Jamaican-born U.S. Army veteran is reportedly facing deportation after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Georgia.

Godfrey Wade, a longtime U.S. resident, was taken into custody following a September 2025 traffic stop for driving without a valid license, according to KENS5.

Newsweek has contacted the family and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

President Donald Trump has pledged to launch the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, and his administration has ramped up immigration arrests and removals.

Following the traffic stop, local authorities referred him to ICE, which transferred him to the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, a CoreCivic-operated immigration jail that has faced years of scrutiny over conditions.

“The Stewart Detention Center is overcrowded and our dad has been denied a bed for weeks,” the family wrote in a post on GoFundMe.

Turning to that wet mess Pete Hegseth, John Stoehr notes:

When I interviewed Sanho Tree, I wanted to discuss a recent CNN report. Apparently, in 2016, when Pete Hegseth was still a Fox anchor, he said military personnel should refuse to obey unlawful orders.

I wanted to talk to Tree, who is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, about the hypocrisy of saying one thing when the president is Barack Obama and another when the president is Donald Trump.

That’s mostly what we discussed (see below) – until the last question.

That’s when Tree characterized the September boat bombing as a much bigger deal. “I think this policy of murdering civilians goes much deeper in this administration. … This was a conspiracy to commit murder and that's how it should be investigated,” Tree told me.

I’m putting up front this concept of a conspiracy to commit murder, because of what the Post reported today – details from a meeting in October between congressional leaders and military officials on the killing of suspected drug runners in the Caribbean near Venezuela.

Evidently, the Pentagon did not send any lawyers to explain the legal basis for the boat attacks. (There have been nearly 20 since the first one on September 2.) The Department of Defense could not explain the mission’s “strategy or scope.” Leading Republicans complained about receiving more transparency from the Biden administration. Alabama Congressman Mike Rogers, who is chair of the House Armed Services Committee, was critical of the Pentagon’s “secrecy.”

Dan Abrms reviews the statements and claims and notes "This is nuts" in the analysis below.

Heroes still walks among us, the new Vote Vets ad notes, so do cowards and fools.

Isn't tomorrow the day Pete's supposed to learn if they can prosecute Senator Mark Kelly for free speech? For reminding the country of the actual law? The next 24 hours must be a very nervous period for Pete now that multiple videos from 2016 have emerged of Pete saying, when Barack Obama was president, on FOX "NEWS," that troops are legally barred from following illegal orders. Pete didn't think about that when he was attacking Senator Mark Kelly's character with one lie after another.

I'm calling out David E. Sanger and hadn't planned to. Saw he was covering Chump's change on releasing the video and thought it would be a solid text inclusion. It's not. From his NYT writing:

Days after President Trump declared he had “no problem” releasing a video of a second strike on a boat in the Caribbean on Sept. 2 that killed two alleged drug smugglers hanging to remnants of the hull, he reversed himself on Monday and said he would let Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth decide whether to make it public.

The video was shown to a few members of Congress last week, in the Pentagon’s first effort to tamp down intense criticism, some from Republicans, of the decision to attack the boat again. Some members of Congress have said that if the follow-on strike was intended to kill the remaining two survivors of the crew of about 11, it could be a war crime as well as a violation of the U.S. military’s own code of conduct.

Democrats who emerged from a showing of the video described it showing the two men clinging to wreckage to avoid drowning, and that the images were shocking and would repulse the public. Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the two survivors “were barely alive, much less engaging in hostilities,” when the follow-up strike took place.

Mr. Trump told reporters who asked about the video last week, “I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have, we’d certainly release, no problem.”

But on Monday he denied ever endorsing its release and referred the issue to Mr. Hegseth.

We spent years covering David E. Sanger in the past. I'm not a legacy artist, I don't do greatest hits. We're focused on the now. But we're having to note what a pathetic piece of writing this is. If you don't get it, go stream Ben's video above. Because David's offering the mildest version of what took place Monday.

I'm embarrassed for David. He's damn lucky that we're winding down or he would be the entire focus of this snapshot.

Go watch that video again. Ben provides it for you -- actual video of Chump raging and telling the female reporter that she's a liar and that he never said he would release the video and that she's lyin gand . . .

David E. Sanger, you owe your peers an apology. A journalist stood in the Oval Office and quoted back to Chump what he said, what he's on video and film saying, and he attacked her.

Yet when you write up what happened, not only do you not defend your fellow jouranlist, you don't even report to the readers that Chump attacked her. That Chump lied and attacked her.

You really need to find a new profession. If you can't even defend journalism, you have no place being a journalist. I'm going to stop now before I say anything else.

Let's note this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

SEATTLE TIMES: WA health insurance buyers fret as ACA subsidies remain in limbo

NEW YORK TIMES: Running Out of Time, Republicans in Congress Still Lack a Health Plan

Senator Murray has been sounding the alarm on the looming health care cost cliff and calling on Republicans to work with Democrats to extend the ACA tax credits well over a year—FULL TIMELINE HERE

***WATCH PRESS CONFERENCE HERE, DOWNLOAD HERE***

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, held a virtual press conference on the fight to save the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits ahead of the critical vote this week on a proposal to extend the tax credits for three years. Joining Senator Murray for the press conference were Ingrid Ulrey, CEO of the Washington State Health Benefit Exchange, and Lisa, a Washington resident of King County who buys her health care through the Marketplace and is facing skyrocketing premiums with the looming expiration of the ACA enhanced premium tax credits.

At the press conference, Senator Murray discussed how inaction by Republican Members of Congress will force Washingtonians to pay significantly more for health care next year, and how this week’s vote on a clean, three-year extension of the ACA tax credits is the last chance to prevent skyrocketing health care premiums starting in January, when the tax credits expire. Due to Republicans’ refusal to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits, 22 million Americans—including over 216,000 in Washington state—are seeing their health care costs for next year skyrocket. Premiums are more than doubling on average for people who buy health coverage on the ACA Marketplace (Washington Healthplanfinder in Washington state), and these higher costs will push 4.8 million people off their health insurance coverage over the next decade. A Washington-state specific fact sheet on the ACA enhanced premium tax credits is HERE.

“I’ve heard from families across the country who are staring down unthinkable health care hikes. Premiums doubling, tripling, and worse. I am talking to people who learned their monthly premium is jumping by hundreds—in some cases thousands—of dollars a month. Americans who are making painful decisions wondering how they can cut down on groceries, gas, and other essentials to cover their rising premiums, or whether they will just roll the dice and go without coverage, even if it means skipping checkups or rationing their prescriptions,” said Senator Murray. “These stories are so important to drive home the reality for Republicans who keep trying to bury their heads in the sand. This is not some talking point. It is not some thought exercise. The MAGA health care hike is a reality that millions of families are facing in this country right now. And unless we take action—decisive, quick action this week—to stop it, higher premium costs for millions of American families will be getting locked in for good.”

Senator Murray played a critical role in passing the ACA enhanced premium tax credits into law in the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and extending them in the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. Since then, she has called on Republicans to extend the enhanced premium tax credits dozens of times, calling attention to the tax credit cliff and how millions of Americans will see their health care costs jump dramatically if Republicans don’t work with Democrats on an extension.

Senator Murray has been speaking out nonstop about the urgent need to save the ACA tax credits and stop health care costs from skyrocketing and calling on Republicans to come to the negotiating table to work out a bipartisan deal to extend the tax credits—which they have so far refused to do. She has spoken on the Senate floor numerous times to call for an extension of the ACA tax credits, and has held numerous virtual press conferences with Washingtonians, as well as residents of neighboring states Idaho and Montana, to sound the alarm and highlight the stakes of the health care fight. As the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray led legislation supported by the Democratic caucus that would have addressed the health care crisis and prevented the government shutdown. Senator Murray has also cosponsored multiple pieces of legislation over the past year—the Health Care Affordability Actand the Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act—that would make the ACA tax credits permanent.

“Open enrollment is really tough right now. People, as you said, are experiencing sticker shock. And I really want to emphasize what you said about a clean extension—we’re overdue, we need this to happen. Literally, our customers are suffering and experiencing so much worry and anxiety about how they’re going to afford something so basic and meaningful and important as health insurance. As you said, we need a clean extension, that’s important. That means extending the existing policy as is, not changing into some other kind of policy, because we want to act quickly to pass on relief to our customers as soon as possible,” saidIngrid Ulrey, CEO of the Washington State Health Benefit Exchange. “Our average customer coming in who will no longer be eligible in that income bracket, the increase will be up to $800 a month, is what they’ll be seeing versus last year, a policy that cost $450 a month. And that’s just the average. Many people are experiencing tens of thousands of dollar increases. So overall [they are] thinking about what kind of choices am I going to make? How am I going to afford to pay for health insurance at $10,000, $20,000, or even $30,000 a year?”

“When I went on Washington Healthplanfinder to get insurance for 2026, I found that the premium for continuing my current plan is now over $1,600 a month. That is an increase of nearly $9,000 for the calendar year – all to continue the same coverage with no increase in my health care needs. As a person living on a fixed retirement income, I do not have that extra money… I have been planning for my retirement for 30 years. I have been responsible with my spending. I waited to retire until I had savings and retirement income that allowed me to be self-sufficient and also pay for some modest recreation, travel and occasional gestures for my adult children. That’s now gone,” said Lisa Riveland, a resident of King County, Washington. “In the past year, my fixed income has already been stretched by skyrocketing prices for food, housing and basic services. Now the loss of the health care tax credit, and accompanying increased healthcare premium rates, has tipped my carefully planned budget on its head. This is my story. I expect every member of Congress is hearing similar stories. I hope these stories will translate to immediate action in Congress to secure affordable health care.”

A timeline detailing how Senator Murray has been fighting for years to extend the ACA tax credits, and calling on Republicans to come to the table and negotiate, is HERE.

Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered on today’s press call, are below:

“Thank you all for joining me as we keep the spotlight on the MAGA health care hike, and give Republicans one last chance to join us and stop these premiums from skyrocketing across the country.

“I have been raising the alarm about this all year long, and Republicans have been trying to ignore it all year long. Literally, they chose to shut down the government rather than even talk with us about health care.

“Still, just because Republicans don’t want to talk about something, that’s never going to stop me from talking to my constituents about it, and lifting up their stories and concerns loud and clear in the other Washington.

“And I will tell you—I have heard so many heartbreaking stories from so many concerned families when it comes to skyrocketing health care costs. I’ve heard from families across the country who are staring down unthinkable health care hikes. Premiums doubling, tripling, worse. I am talking to people who learned their monthly premium is jumping by hundreds, and in some cases thousands—of dollars a month.

“Americans who are making painful decisions wondering how they can cut down on groceries, gas, and other essentials to cover their rising premiums, or whether they will just roll the dice and go without coverage, even if it means skipping checkups or rationing prescriptions.

“Later on this call, Lisa from Washington state is going to share her story and talk about the health care price hike she’s facing next year because of this Republican inaction.

“These stories are so important to drive home the reality for Republicans who keep trying to bury their heads in the sand. This is not some talking point. It is not some thought exercise. The MAGA health care hike is a reality that millions of families are facing in this county right now.

“And unless we take action—decisive, quick action this week—to stop it, higher premium costs for millions of American families will be getting locked in for good.

“So, time is of the absolute essence right now. The fact of the matter is, this should have been happening months ago. We should not be having this conversation in the middle of December. If Republicans wanted to make reforms to the tax credits, the time for that was before open enrollment.

“But right now, the only thing we have time for is a clean extension of the tax credits—which is exactly what Democrats will be forcing a vote on this week.

“We need to stop the health care hike right now, and we need to save health care for the tens of millions of American families who are counting on us. We are way past the deadline—we are in overtime.

“Republicans need to understand that it’s literally now or never for stopping these premium hikes families are facing next year. And by refusing a clean extension and running out the clock, Republicans are choosing: the never.

“But I’m not going to stop pushing. I am not going to stop sharing families’ stories, and keeping up the pressure. So long as there is even a chance we can stop premiums from skyrocketing, and save millions of patients from getting priced out of their health coverage. I am going to push with everything I’ve got to make sure we get it done.

“And if Republicans refuse to do the right thing, the obvious thing, the thing their own constituents are begging us to do, if they refuse to stop this MAGA health care hike, well, our fight doesn’t end at the end of this year.

“I am going to continue sharing these stories. I am going to continue holding Republicans accountable. And more importantly, the American people are going to hold Republicans accountable too—with their voices and their votes.

“And listen, looking past this fight to save the ACA tax credits, which is so crucial, we still need universal health care in America. We have needed that for a very long time. It’s always what I’ve fought for. So I am going to keep pushing for reforms that make high-quality health care—that’s actually affordable—a reality for every American.

“And now, I’ll turn it over to Ingrid, CEO of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange to share some remarks.”

###

The following sites updated:

Monday, December 08, 2025

The Crooked Court

That Crooked Court will be the death of democracy. These days the Court so rarely does its job that we're shocked when it upholds the law or even when it questions a claim by the administration. Jenna Sundel (NEWSWEEK) notes:

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh expressed “concerns” during oral arguments by a lawyer representing President Donald Trump‘s administration on Monday.

The Court is considering whether to overturn a 90-year-old precedent limiting when presidents can fire board members of federal agencies.

Kavanaugh, who was nominated by Trump during his first term, said he shares “concerns” about whether the Trump administration’s “position would undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve.”

U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer, arguing for the Trump administration, said the Fed “follows a distinct historical tradition” and the issues related to removal restrictions at the agency would raise “their own set of unique, distinct issues.”

The case centers around Trump’s decision to fire Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter. The administration is asking the Court to overturn a 1935 decision in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States. The unanimous Court ruling established that presidents cannot fire appointed leaders of federal agencies without cause.

In addition to Slaughter’s firing, Trump has fired officials from the National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The only officials from federal agencies who have so far survived efforts to remove them are Lisa Cook, a Fed governor, and Shira Perlmutter, a copyright official with the Library of Congress.

Some comments on the article:

diane luyken

48 minutes ago

Kavanaugh has concerns, because he knows it's wrong. Will be interesting to see if he is the lapdog we all know he is or whether he will grow a pair and prove separation of power is a real thing still.

DAR FL1 hour ago

It's about time SOMEONE on SCOTUS decided the Constitution, the law and the country are more important than the baby-man's ego.

Cleetus Maximus

21 minutes ago

This Roberts Court will go down as one of the worst and most corrupt in our history. We essentially have six corporate attorneys who are deciding the majority of Supreme Corrupt decisions on behalf of corporations, oligarchs, and religio-fasicsts over democracy and civil liberties and laughingly calling it "originalism". States' rights only seem to apply when it means stripping women of reproductive healthcare and minorities of voting rights. But when it comes to things like enforcing ethical standards for billionaire tech companies and their use of AI, that whole "states' rights" thing goes out the window.

This Supreme Corrupt along with the Republicans in Congress are the reason America lost its democracy.

"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Monday, December 8, 2025. Chump is enraged when one of the crooks he pardons doesn't scrape and bow, his ICE is all about quotas and not at all about crimes, Pete Hegseth's transition to War Criminal continues before our eyes, and much more.

Convicted Felon Donald Chump has abused the pardon power. He's pardoned thugs for January 6th and felt no qualms after wards when they've remerged to then threaten the lives of judges or Democratic politicians, when they've threatened police and/or FBI, nothing has bothered him about those pardons.

Because he only pardons his own. He's finally mad about a pardon he's made. Anushka Patil (NEW YORK TIMES) reports:

President Trump on Sunday upbraided Representative Henry Cuellar, Democrat of Texas, for not switching parties in his re-election bid after Mr. Trump pardoned him and his wife on bribery charges last week, saying Mr. Cuellar’s decision displayed a “lack of LOYALTY.”

Mr. Cuellar was indicted by a federal grand jury last year on charges that he and his wife had accepted roughly $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijani oil company and a Mexican bank in exchange for promises that he would use his position in ways that would benefit Azerbaijan and the bank.

As one of the few Democrats in Congress who openly criticized former President Biden for not imposing tougher immigration policies, Mr. Cuellar received public support and a pardon from Mr. Trump, who wrote on social media this week that the former president had gone “after the Congressman, and even the Congressman’s wonderful wife, Imelda, simply for speaking the TRUTH.”

But by Sunday, Mr. Trump appeared to have soured on Mr. Cuellar for running for re-election in Texas as a Democrat. In a lengthy social media post, Mr. Trump accused Democrats of looking to “destroy” Mr. Cuellar and blasted him for not switching parties after receiving the pardon. “Next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!” he added.

Donald thinks he was a nice guy? When? For the record, Cuellar's a crook. But people pardoned by Chump this year have gone on to reveal that they're pedophiles, they've gone to kill people, you name it. And nothing resulted in rebuke towards them from Donald after the pardon until it was someone refusing to switch over to the GOP. His pardon system is corrupt and makes us all question the pardoning power of the president. Not just for the choices but also because it appears many pardoned have won their pardon from Chump via bribery. And, yes, giving a pardon as a result of bribery would be a crime and even the Supreme Court would find it difficult to stick their heads far enough up their asses to pretend otherwise.

.

Again, the only time he's been upset over a pardon is when the person didn't agree to become part of the Republican party.

Let's move over to immigration. Last Monday, we noted:

If you celebrated the holiday, hope it was good for you. Friends and family and love. For those who are emotionally and mentally healthy. Those who have issues may have celebrated differently. The dementia prone rage-a-holic in the White House celebrated by harming others. For example? Amanda Holpuch and Annie Correal (NEW YORK TIMES) report:

A 19-year-old college student was about to board a flight to surprise her family for Thanksgiving when she was detained at Boston Logan International Airport and deported to Honduras two days later, her father and lawyer said on Sunday.

The student, Any Lucía López Belloza, was brought by her parents from Honduras to the United States when she was 7. Her father, Francis López, said in a telephone interview on Sunday that neither Ms. López nor her parents knew there was an order for her deportation.

“When they arrested Any, that’s when they told her,” said Mr. López, a tailor.

He said his employer had arranged and paid for his daughter’s travel to Austin, Texas, to surprise him at work.

As if that wasn't bad enough, he's now targeting the young woman's family. Annie Correal (NEW YORK TIMES) notes:

On Sunday, immigration agents appeared at the family home of a recently deported college student in Austin, Texas, according to the family and their lawyer.

The agents arrived in three unmarked vehicles, and one agent in a green vest marked E.R.O. — Enforcement and Removal Operations — rushed toward the student’s father, Francis López, as he washed his car, Mr. López said. He ran into his backyard and closed a latched gate. The agent forced open the gate and proceeded to enter the backyard.

Mr. López entered his house and locked the back door, he said. After about two hours, the agents left, without ever trying to communicate with the family or knocking on the door.

Any Lucía López Belloza, a 19-year-old freshman at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., was traveling home to surprise her family for Thanksgiving when she was detained by immigration authorities at Logan International Airport in Boston on Nov. 20. She was deported two days later to Honduras, the Central American country from which she and her parents fled more than a decade ago.

Ms. López’s case has drawn attention to the expanding scope of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants in the country illegally.

Immigration authorities cited a 2015 order of deportation in justifying the removal of Ms. López. Her lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, said he found no record of such an order and that she had been deported in violation of a court order that a federal judge signed on Nov. 21 that said Ms. López could not be removed from the United States while her case was pending.

It was not clear why agents from E.R.O., which is part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, appeared at Ms. López’s parents’ home on Sunday, but Ms. López and her father have spoken broadly to the media about the case.

It seems very clear to me. It's not about crimes. It's about quotas. So they deport Any and then they go after her family. It's not about crimes, it's never been about crimes. It's about quotas. That's why ICE haunts courthouses and goes after those legally working to become citizens. They know where these people are and they get to meet their quotas. Sometimes I picture the US in 2035 and picture people like Kristi Noem slitting their own throats, unable to live anymore. Due to the guilt? Oh, hell no. People like that are deranged and blame their actions on others. No, people like Noem will take their own lives when they realize the whole country hates them and they no longer have an office that provides with security and lets them live on a military base or travel via government planes. No, when they're back in the mix and have to face the public and people say things to them like, "You're a trollop who publicly cheated on your husband while betraying democracy as Secretary of Homeland Security" or when just walking into a Kroger store results in every customer turning around and booing them, that's when losers like Noem take their own life.

Let's note this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

***(WARNING: Graphic Content) Photos of Wilmer’s injuries, photos of Wilmer and his children, and partial video of his detainment are available to the press HERE***

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) issued the following statement condemning the violent and unwarranted assault of her constituent, Wilmer Toledo-Martinez, and calling for his immediate release from the Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC).

“On November 14, 2025, my constituent Wilmer was mauled by an ICE attack dog even though he has consistently explained that he was not resisting arrest or attempting to flee. His wife and two of his young children, ages two and three, all U.S. citizens, were forced to watch helplessly as he was violently attacked and dragged away. For hours afterward, he was denied even basic medical care following this unprovoked assault. The photos documenting his injuries are horrific. This should shock the conscience of every one of us. I do not want to live in an America where federal agents can sic attack dogs on peaceful residents with impunity and face no consequences.

“While Donald Trump’s entire mass deportation agenda has been nothing short of depraved, this is especially sickening. By now, everyone should realize, Trump is not going after violent criminals or the worst of the worst—he is terrorizing everyone, including U.S. citizens and their loved ones.

“I am calling for Wilmer’s immediate release from NWIPC—he has no criminal convictions, he poses no threat to the community, and he urgently needs appropriate medical care since ICE is denying him the treatment he requires. I am grateful for Wilmer’s willingness to let me share his story—there’s no telling how many similar stories are not being told for fear of retaliation. Every one of us must demand justice and accountability and every one of us must speak out against these kinds of human rights abuses.”

According to his attorney, Wilmer was violently detained by ICE and mauled by an attack dog despite not resisting arrest or attempting to flee. An ICE agent lured Wilmer out of his home under false pretenses, posing as a construction worker who claimed to have hit Wilmer’s car and needed him to step outside to verify. Another agent, accompanied by a dog, was hiding nearby and released the dog on Wilmer shortly after he stepped outside. Following the attack, Wilmer was left shaking and dizzy, and at one point his vision went black, yet he was denied medical care for hours. He was eventually taken to a hospital, where he received stitches for his injuries. He was prescribed antibiotics and additional medication, but the antibiotics were not provided immediately, and the other medication was never provided. Throughout his detention, Wilmer has repeatedly reported that obtaining adequate medical care has been extremely difficult. Wilmer, who is currently undocumented, was brought to the United States at the age of 15. Wilmer is married to a U.S. citizen and is the father of three U.S. born children, ages two, three, and seven, and this brutality has devastated the entire family.

###

Senator Patty Murray did the right thing. A number of US senators are. Bernie Sanders doesn't and it's not just because ICE provides a lot of jobs in Vermont. Bernie's xenophobia has been the thing that Bernie Bros have ignored even though you can find IN THESE TIMES calling him out for that back when he was in the US House of Representatives. "They're taking our jobs!" That was Bernie for many years and he never disowned that attitude, he just stopped making public statements. That's because other Socialists were getting very offended by his remarks and his scapegoating. The 84 year old man needs to go and those who keep praising him only demonstrate their stupidity and their lack of history. Whether it was his early support for apartheid or anything else, Bernie's never been the Saint his bros paint him as. And right now he's failing immigrants in Vermont. You lying bros may be able to cover for him and run interference in the right-now but when he's out of office or dead, you'll be too busy lying for some other politicians to beat back the truth on Bernie. History will show just how lousy he was and how he was not held accountable.

As part of the destruction of America that the lack of accountability results in, we have Pete Hegseth who is in the midst of his transition from TV personality to War Criminal. Hegseth appears to be on hormone therapy which would explain how he suffers from road rage even when not behind the wheel of a car. Well captured in this SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE skit.

Saturday, before the skit aired, he spoke to the press about . . . nothing at all. Robert McCoy (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth went to great lengths Saturday to avoid saying whether the military will release the full, unedited video of its controversial September 2 double-tap strikes on a boat it claims was carrying drugs in the Caribbean.

Thus far, only footage of the first strike has been released to the public. The full unreleased video, however, reportedly goes on to show two survivors clinging to the wreckage, before they were killed by a second strike that legal experts have described as a war crime or murder.

Democratic lawmakers who viewed the full video of the strikes, which killed 11 people, this week said it was “one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service” and that it “confirmed my worst fears about the nature of the Trump administration’s military activities.”

When asked Wednesday if his administration would release footage of the second strike, President Donald Trump’s answer was simple: “Whatever they have, we’d certainly release, no problem.”

His defense secretary was much more evasive.

Can he evade answers for ever? CBS NEWS notes, "Two people who survived an early September U.S. attack on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean were waving overhead before they were killed in a now-controversial second strike, according to two sources familiar with a video that was shown to lawmakers this week." Hegseth got an answer to that?

No.

Andre Damon (WSWS) notes:

On Saturday, NBC reported that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth “ordered the US military on September 2 to kill all 11 people” on a motorboat traveling between Venezuela and Trinidad, contradicting the administration’s denials that no such order was given.

The report substantiates the claim made by the Washington Post in a report on November 28 that Hegseth gave a “spoken directive” and that “The order was to kill everybody.”

NBC’s report contradicts the statement also issued by Hegseth Saturday that allegations that he gave an order to “kill everybody” were “patently ridiculous.”

Following an initial attack on a civilian speedboat in the Caribbean on September 2, the US military, at the direction of Admiral Frank Bradley, launched a second strike, targeting two survivors who had climbed on top of the capsized boat and were reportedly waving at US military aircraft in a request for rescue. The US military launched two more strikes, sinking what was left of the boat in a likely effort to conceal their crimes.

The Pentagon’s law of war manual declares that soldiers have a duty to refuse to carry out “clearly illegal” orders, such as killing shipwrecked sailors. “Orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal,” the manual declares.

The story isn't going away. People are focused on this. He continues to lose support in Congress. Sarah Fortinsky (THE HILL) reports:

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a former Black Hawk helicopter pilot and combat veteran, said the military operation that killed 11 alleged drug traffickers, including two initial survivors, in the Caribbean in early September was “essentially murder.”

In a Sunday interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Duckworth pushed back on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comparison of the operation in the Caribbean to the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq, where both Duckworth and Hegseth deployed.

“Well, there was actually a vote by Congress to put us at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. There was no such a vote, there was no such debate here in this situation,” Duckworth said.

She praised military personnel as “the utmost professionals” but said, “The problem is, they have not been authorized to be at war.”

Duckworth said she sees critical differences in the way the operations are being carried out. For one thing, she said, the individuals targeted by the U.S. military in the alleged drug boat “were not even aimed at the United States.”

Here's the video.

And it's not just Democrats like Tammy Duckworth. SKY NEWS notes:

Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney claims some members of the Republican Party are beginning to “push back” against US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s boat strikes. “It’s interesting to me as an observer because it’s one of the places that the Republican Party, on the hill, the Senate and the House, have started to push back a little bit against the Trump administration,” Mr Mulvaney told Sky News Australia. “Now you’ve got some very high-profile Republican senators and high-profile Republican House members starting to call Hegseth’s decision-making, especially regarding these Venezuelan drug boats, into question.”

Congress is talking about it. The story gets more and more traction. Snigdha Gairola (BENZINGA) reports:

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is demanding full transparency from the Pentagon after a recent military strike reportedly killed shipwrecked survivors at sea, calling the action both unlawful and morally unacceptable.

On Sunday, Schiff posted on X, criticized the killing as "a textbook violation of the laws of war" and called on the Pentagon to release the full video.

"If Hegseth is so proud of the killing of these survivors, the Pentagon should release the full video, just like they have with other boat strikes," he said.

And Kaja Hubbard (CBS NEWS) notes:

Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has "zero credibility" on the September strikes on an alleged drug boat, citing "shifting explanations" from the Pentagon for the second strike, which has drawn scrutiny in recent weeks.

Himes was among a small number of lawmakers who last week received briefings from military officials behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, which centered on the Trump administration's campaign against alleged drug trafficking boats off the coast of South America, including the Sept. 2 follow-on strike that has become a flashpoint in Congress. The lawmakers were shown video of the second strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat, after the Washington Post reported a week earlier that a second attack killed two survivors of the initial strike.

Himes, a Connecticut Democrat, told reporters after the briefing that "what I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service."

Appearing on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Sunday, Himes urged that it's "really important that this video be made public," noting that the interpretation of the video from lawmakers who were briefed "broke down precisely on party lines."

"And so this is an instance in which I think the American public needs to judge for itself," Himes said. "I know how the public is going to react because I felt my own reaction."

Steff Danielle Thomas (THE HILL) notes:

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) took his criticism of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth a step further Friday, claiming the Pentagon chief’s recent decisions have “ruined his credibility.”

“I’ve been on the record already,” he told Politico’s Dasha Burns, who also hosts “Ceasefire” on C-SPAN. “After Signalgate, I think I’ve seen enough. What I really wanted to see was someone take responsibility -- own to a mistake.”

Joseph Gedeon (GUARDIAN) reports:

Senator Patty Murray, the Democratic vice-chair of the Senate appropriations committee, called for Hegseth’s firing following a bipartisan briefing on the incident on Thursday. “Between overseeing this campaign in the Caribbean, risking US servicemembers’ lives by sharing war plans on Signal, and so much else, it could not be more obvious that Secretary Hegseth is unfit for the role, and it is past time for him to go,” Murray said.

No accountability, not even coherent lies. Bernd Debusmann Jr (BBC NEWS) notes the constantly changing storyline the White House attempts to pimp. The frustration continues to mount. Articles of Impeachment were introduced on Thursday:

[. . .] Congressman Shri Thanedar wrote Articles of Impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for Murder and Conspiracy to Murder, and for Reckless and Unlawful Mishandling of Classified Information.

“Pete Hegseth is uniquely unqualified to serve as Secretary of Defense,” said Congressman Thanedar. “Every day he serves in this role, he puts American servicemembers and their families in danger. He gave direct, unlawful orders to kill every single person on a civilian boat from Venezuela, violating the Defense Department’s Law of War Manual.”

“Additionally, his mishandling of classified information, leaking war plans in a Signal chat which included sensitive operations details, including target systems and attack times, has put American lives at risk. He can no longer serve as our Secretary of Defense, which is why I am introducing these articles of impeachment.”

And that's only one of Hegseth's two scandals currently. Joseph Gedeon (GUARDIAN) reports:

Pete Hegseth is facing the most serious crisis of his tenure as defense secretary, engulfed by allegations of war crimes in the Caribbean and a blistering inspector general report accusing him of mishandling classified military intelligence. Yet despite the long list of trouble and as lawmakers from both parties call for his resignation, Hegseth shows no signs of stepping down and still holds Donald Trump’s support.

The twin crises have engulfed the former Fox News personality in separate but overlapping allegations that lawmakers, policy experts and former officials say reveal a pattern of dangerous recklessness at the helm of the Pentagon. Democratic legislators have reignited calls for his ouster after revelations that survivors clinging to wreckage from a September boat strike were deliberately killed in a “double-tap” attack, while a defense department investigation released on Thursday concluded he violated Pentagon policies by sharing sensitive details via the Signal messaging app hours before airstrikes in Yemen.

[. . .]

Compounding Hegseth’s bad week, the defense department inspector general report released on Thursday concluded that he violated Pentagon policies by using Signal to share precise details about upcoming airstrikes in Yemen, including the quantity and strike times of manned US aircraft over hostile territory, approximately two to four hours before the missions were executed on 15 March.

The report determined that Hegseth’s actions “created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed US mission objectives and potential harm to US pilots”. The information, which was marked as secret and not to be shared with foreign nationals, was transmitted via Hegseth’s unclassified personal device in group chats with other Trump administration officials. The investigation also found he failed to retain all associated messages, violating federal record-keeping requirements.

The following states updated: