TV News LIES

New documents show the crew on board the United States' newest aircraft carrier are growing increasingly frustrated by design flaws that lead to regular failures in the ship's toilet system.

The USS Gerald R. Ford has been deployed for seven months since it left Norfolk in June. The carrier is currently at the center of the Trump administration's flotilla of Navy ships in the Caribbean. Since the raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the carrier continues to work with the Coast Guard as the U.S. interdicts oil tankers tied to Venezuela.

On board the carrier, the crew is battling a toilet system that the General Accountability Office reported in 2020 was undersized and poorly designed. The system continues to fail during deployment, forcing the crew of 4,600 sailors to live with a system that randomly breaks down during their months at sea.

NPR has obtained documents that include a series of emails that detail the ship's effort to grapple with the breakdowns. Problems with the Vacuum Collection, Holding and Transfer (VCHT) system increased in 2025. The vacuum system was adopted in part from the cruise ship industry. It uses less water, but the system used by USS Ford is more complex. Breakdowns have been reported since the $13 billion carrier first deployed in 2023.

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North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) aircraft will soon be in Greenland for “long-planned” activities, even as President Trump pushes for U.S. control of the Arctic territory. 

Along with aircraft operating from bases in the U.S. and Canada, NORAD aircraft at Pituffik Space Base, Greenland, will “support various long-planned NORAD activities, building on the enduring defense cooperation between the United States and Canada, as well as the Kingdom of Denmark,” according to a statement shared to the social platform X.

“This activity has been coordinated with the Kingdom of Denmark, and all supporting forces operate with the requisite diplomatic clearances. The Government of Greenland is also informed of planned activities,” NORAD said, noting that it “routinely conducts” operations for North American defense. 

The announcement, which stresses the defense command’s cooperation with Denmark and Greenland, comes as Trump pushes for the U.S. to take control of the mineral-rich territory to help advance U.S. national security.

Despite opposition from European allies, Trump this week announced plans to implement 10 percent tariffs on goods from eight European countries as part of his bid to acquire the semiautonomous territory. He has cited the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize last year as the reason he “no longer feel[s] an obligation to think purely of Peace.”

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Democratic US senator Mark Kelly filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to nullify the “chilling” attempt by the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, to reduce the military veteran’s rank and pension as punishment for speaking out against the Trump administration.

Hegseth had previously issued a formal censure to Kelly, a decorated retired navy captain and Nasa astronaut, for alleged “seditious statements” he made urging service members to resist unlawful orders. It began a process that could lead to Kelly, a senator for Arizona since 2021, being demoted and having his pension cut.

The lawsuit, filed in Washington DC federal court, argues that comments made by Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers – all military or intelligence veterans – in a short video to service members in November were protected free speech.

The 46-page court filing accuses Hegseth, the Department of Defense, the US navy, and John Phelan, the navy secretary, of “trampling” on constitutional protections “essential to legislative independence”. The filing said the defense secretary was attempting to dismantle the “bedrock principles of our democracy”, freedom of speech and the separation of powers.

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The U.S. military on Saturday carried out “large-scale” strikes against ISIS militants in Syria, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced.

CENTCOM forces worked with partners in the region to carry out the strikes.

“The strikes today targeted ISIS throughout Syria as part of our ongoing commitment to root out Islamic terrorism against our warfighters, prevent future attacks, and protect American and partner forces in the region. U.S. and coalition forces remain resolute in pursuing terrorists who seek to harm the United States,” CENTCOM wrote in a statement posted on the social platform X.

“Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” the statement reads.

The latest strikes mark the second time since Dec. 19 that the U.S. struck ISIS targets in Syria. During the previous strike, 70 targets were hit, including ISIS fighters, weapons sites and infrastructure.

Both strikes, on Dec. 19 and on Saturday, were part of “Operation Hawkeye Strike,” CENTCOM stated.

The initial strikes were in response to the Dec. 13 attack on U.S. service members in Palmyra, Syria, which killed two Iowa National Guard members and an American interpreter.

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The Pentagon is mounting a six-month review of women in ground combat jobs, to ensure what it calls the military "effectiveness" of having several thousand female soldiers and Marines in infantry, armor and artillery, according to a memo obtained by NPR.

Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel Anthony Tata wrote in a memo last month that the effort is to determine the "operational effectiveness of ground combat units 10 years after the Department lifted all remaining restrictions on women serving in combat roles."

Tata requested Army and Marine Corps leaders to provide data on the readiness, training, performance, casualties and command climate of ground combat units and personnel. The services are to provide points of contact no later than Jan. 15 to the Institute for Defense Analyses, a nonprofit corporation that assists the government on national security issues. The memo says the data should include "all available metrics describing that individual's readiness and ability to deploy (including physical, medical, and other measures of ability to deploy.)"

Moreover, the seven-page memo calls for any internal research and studies — not publicly available — on "the integration of women in combat."
"We should not have women in combat roles"

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson wrote in an email to NPR that the study is to "ensure standards are met and the United States maintains the most lethal military. Our standards for combat arms positions will be elite uniform, and sex neutral because the weight of a rucksack or a human being doesn't care if you're a man or a woman. Under [Defense] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth, the Department of War's [sic] will not compromise standards to satisfy quotas or an ideological agenda—this is common sense."

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Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has backed down from previous threats to court-martial retired Navy captain Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, for his role in a video telling service members they "can refuse illegal orders."

Hegseth instead issued a formal censure to Kelly, the defense secretary announced on X, and has initiated proceedings aiming to demote Kelly in retirement. If demoted, the Arizona senator's military pension would be reduced.

But demoting Kelly requires an administrative process known as officer grade determination, which by law makes its decisions based on an officer's conduct while on active duty. It's not clear how the Navy can legally consider Kelly's post-retirement conduct when making its determination.

According to federal law and Navy regulations, Navy Secretary John Phelan decides the retired rank of officers below the grade of vice admiral. In most cases, an administrative board reviews an officer's conduct before making a recommendation to Phelan.

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