Pete is in a category of his own. Hegseth, that is.
I can't believe Pete has not been given a thread of his own. He certainly deserves it. Oh, sure we have commented on him in the Trump Thread, the Fucking Cabinet thread, the Vance thread, I think he has even been mentioned in the Musk Thread.
But he is doing some things that do deserve attention.
I first became aware of Pete when he was a commentator on FOX. My brother is an avid Fox watcher. We don't talk politics much. But when I visit, I have to endure the FOX News. From the get go, I would say he presented himself as a fancy boy, not the effete kind, but he was always dressed so patriotically in red, white and blue. Blue suit, Red Tie, a handkerchief that looked like an upside down flag in his breast pocket. Red White and blue tennies. Always presenitng himsef as a military expert. To me he was all bark but no bite.
He has certainly shown that in his short tenure as SOD. He has trashed NATO, threatened withdrawal of military aid to Ukraine. Military people do not like him, especially pilots.
The Signal affair was a faceplant. He did not know who was in the group. He keeps denying the information he shared was not war plans--but another former SOD, Chuck Hegel, who served under Bush and Obama said they would have been while he was in office.
Now, come to find out his wife, Jennifer Hegseth, has been attending sensitive meetings in the DOD. She is not even an employee of the DOD, and she certainly does not have the clearance to be in those meetings. She just waltzes in and sits behind her husband, much like an observer. I bet Pete is relying on her intelligence to understand what is going on. No doubt, the Russians and Chinese, North Koreans and Iranians would love to bug their bedroom. I can imagine their pillow talk.
If we were taking bets on which Trumpie would get the first boot, I would bet the farm on Pete being the first one out. Rooting for you, Pete. Don't let me down--oh, wait, you already have.
But he is doing some things that do deserve attention.
I first became aware of Pete when he was a commentator on FOX. My brother is an avid Fox watcher. We don't talk politics much. But when I visit, I have to endure the FOX News. From the get go, I would say he presented himself as a fancy boy, not the effete kind, but he was always dressed so patriotically in red, white and blue. Blue suit, Red Tie, a handkerchief that looked like an upside down flag in his breast pocket. Red White and blue tennies. Always presenitng himsef as a military expert. To me he was all bark but no bite.
He has certainly shown that in his short tenure as SOD. He has trashed NATO, threatened withdrawal of military aid to Ukraine. Military people do not like him, especially pilots.
The Signal affair was a faceplant. He did not know who was in the group. He keeps denying the information he shared was not war plans--but another former SOD, Chuck Hegel, who served under Bush and Obama said they would have been while he was in office.
Now, come to find out his wife, Jennifer Hegseth, has been attending sensitive meetings in the DOD. She is not even an employee of the DOD, and she certainly does not have the clearance to be in those meetings. She just waltzes in and sits behind her husband, much like an observer. I bet Pete is relying on her intelligence to understand what is going on. No doubt, the Russians and Chinese, North Koreans and Iranians would love to bug their bedroom. I can imagine their pillow talk.
If we were taking bets on which Trumpie would get the first boot, I would bet the farm on Pete being the first one out. Rooting for you, Pete. Don't let me down--oh, wait, you already have.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
We have one for JFKjr. As I explained, while we have talked about him on other threads, many of his actions deserve special notice. That's why I started this. I am sure SoF has large enough bandwith to take on this thread.
Here is a link to Saturday Night Live's skit on the Hegseth group chat.
I’d say that one isn’t needed either.
Bandwidth isn’t really the issue, at least not as such. The issue is coming on the Ship and seeing thread after thread after thread about the current Trump-driven nightmare.
We have American shipmates who’ve talked about the effect all-Trump, all-the-time news coverage is having on their mental health and how they’re having to limit news intake or avoid the news altogether just to get through the day. If we end up with a Hell thread for every member of the Cabinet, that’s potentially 26 threads to scroll post to find something not related to American politics.
And it has been noted a number of times that participation by Americans in these Trump and Trump-adjacent threads it heavily outweighed by non-American participation. Reasons for that have been discussed elsewhere. But why start more if American participation in the ones we have is already low?
I’ve stated my preference that there be one Purgatory thread and one Hell thread for all things Trump. If that’s not how it ends up, then okay. But I worry that an ever-growing number of Trump-related threads is going to make some people avoid the Ship altogether.
In the case of Petie. we had been commenting on him in many other threads, but it was hard to determine where to put the comment about his wife's attendance at sensitive DOD meetings without it getting lost in the shuffle.
It seems whenever a UK cabinet member goofs up, the British members are not hesitant to call that particular member out in their own thread. I think we Americans should also have that privilege.
This. One Trump in Hell, the other in Purgatory - clearly, US posters will deal with the horror in their own way, but for those of us not so immediately affected (yet), a separate thread for each of the fuckwitted idiots would be hard to cope with.
A case in point. Kristi Noem has been mucking around. She has come out with ads telling migrants to leawe the country. She went to the prison in El Salvador to make a threat saying if we catch you, this can be what will happen to you. She did this while wearing a $50,000 Rolex. Now she is refusig to share who or what paid for that trip. Does this rise to a level where she deserves a thread of her own? Maybe for some, no for others. Frankly, she does not control a 3 million person military, so I am letting that pass for now.
Because @Gramps49 has apparently decided that this is how he's going to get through the collapse of American democracy - start a new thread every time a stupid, malign thing bugs him enough. And in all of them he'll get things wrong and refuse to read for comprehension. What he's getting out of I don't know, but I get the feeling he doesn't get the chance to hold forth in real life often enough to suit him.
There's no fruitful discussion to be had about most of these things on the Ship. They're evil and horrific, and since we're not using this space to organize against them - not the purpose of the forums, I'd say - we end up just exclaiming about how bad they are and getting into stupid squabbles with people we basically agree with. The non-US folks inevitably say the wrong thing, and Americans all snip at each other over stupid shit.
I need to find a way to not get sucked in.
My point is I am thinking Petie has risen to the point he deserves a thread of his own. I had thought someone might call me out for first using a category of his own-like Hell being a category of its own.
In the past, when I asked an administrator if I could start a thread on something, their response was to go ahead and see if it flies on its own. This is what I was doing with this thread. If someone wants to discuss Pete's antiques here, they have the opportunity to do so. If they don't, that's okay, let this thread sink to the bottom. Don't insist it has to be force closed. No one is holding a gun to anyone's head.
There's no fruitful discussion to be had about most of these things on the Ship.
This - the operative word being fruitful...
We will however be closing those threads if nothing on topic is posted on them or if they are taken over by non-US residents.
Dafyd Hell Host
Well, if there is one thing that is fruitful, is that it occupies our time. I am not wondering around the streets of the city looking for action.
Dafyd Hell Host