All the markings of a big disagreement with this admin’s position on Venezuela & the boat strikes.

Perhaps resigned before getting fired?

If true, he has a big decision coming up about how vocal to be. If he speaks up publicly & puts his retirement rank at risk, it will be a very big deal.

If the Commander of Southern Command is stepping down less than a year into his tenure, I’m guessing we’re about to find out the intelligence picture on these “narco-terrorist” vessels that we’re blowing out of the water isn’t as solid as it’s being portrayed.

Again, remember, in month one, when Hegseth fired all the JAGs and the civil-military folks said it would be a disaster? This is the disaster.

Have been reporting on the military since the 1970s.

This is why people are loyal to it and believe in it.

Exactly the opposite of Hegseth/MAGA cosplay.

"That’s why Smith’s tone—precise, almost understated—was so affecting. He wasn’t defending himself so much as defending what it means to be a federal prosecutor. Every sentence reaffirmed the moral geometry of the old DOJ."

open.substack.com/pub/harrylit...

Increasingly acting like someone who knows how force and the relationship with the security services has to be managed

Someone needs to let jennifer know about this

Wait a second. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called you to give you your job at a private news outlet back?

OANN, anyone care to explain the government's role in your hiring decisions or do we need to FOIA to find out?

We shall see what plays out after his retirement date, but this has the markings of a very big crack in the administration’s defense of use of lethal force off the coast of Venezuela.

If the admin starts going after him publicly in the next few weeks, to preempt him, that will be a big tell.

🚨WOW. A unanimous per curiam (meaning no named author) panel of the 7th Circuit, made up of a Bush appointee, an Obama appointee, and a Trump appointee, decline to step in and block a lower court order barring the deployment of the National Guard in Chicago!

Wow. New Economist poll finds only 34% of Americans say ICE's use of force has been justified, vs 51% who say it's been excessive. And they oppose agents wearing masks by 52-35.

Yep, ICE is becoming a pariah agency, and that's gaining deep penetration in the culture:

This is blatantly unconstitutional and why no Democrat should ever hedge on "well tariffs..."

The President does not have the authority to impose taxes nor does he have the authority to distribute unconstitutionally collected revenue from those taxes.

Between this and major media orgs rejecting the new rules for covering the Pentagon, we are finally seeing resistance and more importantly COLLECTIVE RESISTANCE from elite organizations. Should have happened January-June, but better later than never.

"No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”
-Article 1, Section 8, US Constitution

Not a "norm" violation. A legal and constitutional violation.

“A House of Dynamite” is all too plausible. I’m a nuke expert - and it scared the heck out of me.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Extraordinary NEW story: We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. @nicolefoy.bsky.social w/ photos by @sbmaneyphoto.bsky.social

Trump kills funding previously appropriated by Congress for one of the most important infrastructure projects in the country because it involves NY and NJ, while Republicans ask for Dem votes on future government funding while refusing to talk to Dems about it.

You rarely get to see an actual photograph of the First Amendment being neutered.

1/2

Good morning from judge Sara Ellis' federal courtroom in Chicago.

We're waiting for the 8:30 hearing in the case, scheduled just yesterday, to begin.

In the week since Ellis entered the order meant to curtail federal immigration agents' violent behavior, they've gassed two Chicago neighborhoods.

Ellis wants the brass in court.

"On Monday, I want the field director here. And the field director is going to explain to me why I am seeing images of tear gas being deployed and... seeing images of ICE agents, if I cannot see the alphanumeric identifier... why is that so?" She says.

The Speaker of the House has praised this approach. The votes exist in Congress to pass legislation for the payroll. But Congress has passed no such legislation—in fact the Speaker has blocked it. So no such law exists. We don’t treat ideas as law when enough MoC speak to the media. They must vote.

Time for Congress to just pack it in. Caesar is paying the legions to make them his legions, regardless of the law:
www.newsweek.com/government-s...

If Congress can't dictate spending anymore, both what to spend on and what not to, it has no real authority anymore.

It’s easy to lose sight of how radical the MAGA agenda is by focusing on each action in isolation. Only by glancing at the entirety of what Trump and Hegseth have wrought can one see what a far-reaching assault they are mounting on the apolitical professionalism of the US military. bit.ly/47aHw7J

1/ Weaponized interdependence has proliferated and the US doesnt seem ready: “China has really begun to figure out how to take a leaf from the U.S. playbook and in a certain sense play that game better than the U.S. is currently playing it,” Mr. Farrell said.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/b...