Opinion

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered his “State of the Forces” address at Quantico Wednesday, where he unveiled a series of military initiatives. Staged in front of Patton-the-movie inspired stars and stripes, Hegseth began by accusing the media of treason for criticizing the war in Iran.

He pulled no punches, encouraging those in attendance to pile on. “It’s your movements and bases that they reveal to the enemy,” he told the assembled troops. “Ultimately, it’s your lives they put directly at risk when they lie about munition stockpiles.”

The price of oil has come down marginally this past week, largely because the Iranians are letting tankers transit the Gulf of Hormuz (presumably in an effort to work out a peace deal with Trump).

Meanwhile, though, the big lesson the world seems to have learned because of Trump’s fiasco — other than that our military is under the control of an irresponsible alcoholic and a narcissist and unreliable wannabe king — is that it’s high time to get off fossil fuels.

HED: Trump DOJ investigating Nixon prosecutors is not AI slop without pictures

I was 10 years old in 1974 when my great-great-grandmother turned 100. Richard Nixon, then president, sent her a congratulatory letter with his signature at the bottom. She gave it to me because even then I was obsessed with the presidency.

Let’s just come right out and say it: the Republicans couldn’t do a better job of tanking the midterms if they were doing it on purpose.

Is it possible they are? Or have they just inherited their president’s gift for doing the worst imaginable thing at the worst imaginable time?

On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on a climate case that could make or break efforts to stop rising temperatures before they reach the point of no return.

Our planet is hotter than it has ever been, at any time, in the entire history of modern civilization.The six warmest years on record have all been within the last 10, and world scientists agree unequivocally that fossil fuel emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, is the cause.

It occurs to me that we don't know much about former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, beyond the obvious: lost a congressional campaign, pregnant to a rich guy she later married, stumbled as press secretary, especially at first, and then got out with a veteran's sense of timing.

The above is obvious, and it's not that much, not really, especially since it sounds like she's about to tell us a great deal more in an upcoming tell-all book being shopped around, one that may make her as rich as her husband.

Donald Trump learned how to manipulate the media while instilling distrust in it directly from his Daddy Vladdy Putin.

Beginning in 2015, when Trump ousted a Univision reporter from a press conference, what started as a simmer became a roiling boil that led to his petty, arbitrary, and unconstitutional press ban last month — which a Trump-appointed federal judge blocked.

They’re at it again. The billionaires who own and run the GOP — including the billionaire in the White House and the billionaires in his Cabinet — are throwing out another desperate “let’s buy some votes” scheme by sending a million Americans their own money.

According to the White House, over the next few days about a million Americans will get a check for $500 in the mail, prominently signed by Donald Trump, along with a letter telling them a naked lie about it being money Joe Biden kept from them.

Former Trump-pet Marjorie Taylor Greene has somehow reinvented herself as some sort of truth-teller and is even garnering praise from liberals for how forthcoming she’s being about Republicans and her former boss.

Yet this is still her pinned tweet.

In 1998, Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana, a truly loathsome character at the time but now almost angelic in comparison to today's characters, told the Indianapolis Star that Bill Clinton was "a scumbag" and that's why he was "after him."

It was a really big deal. It sent shock waves through Washington. I recall being gobsmacked at the language. It triggered intense political backlash, with Democrats attempting to remove him from his committee chairmanship. He was never formally investigated, as the Dems demanded. The House Republican leadership ultimately blocked all disciplinary resolutions, allowing him to retain his position despite his potty mouth.