TV News LIES

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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The Coast Guard said Friday that it is coordinating the search with multiple vessels, including those from partner nations and commercial fishing boats in the water about 400 nautical miles southwest of Mexico’s border with Guatemala, covering an area spanning more than 1,000 nautical miles. 

“Weather reported in the area was nine-foot seas, and 40-knot winds,” it said in a statement shared with The Hill.

The Coast Guard dispatched its HC-130J Super Hercules, a surveillance aircraft with long-range maritime patrol capability, from Sacramento, Calif., to search the area and sent out an urgent “marine information broadcast” to mariners in the region. 

As of Friday, the Coast Guard said it had spent more than 65 hours in its search efforts for the survivors, who jumped into the water after the U.S. military struck the first of the three alleged drug-smuggling vessels Tuesday. 

It is unclear how many people may have survived the Tuesday attack, but the U.S. has said three were killed.

The U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) said the U.S. military conducted strikes against an alleged drug-smuggling convoy operated by a designated terrorist organization. It is unclear which terrorist group the U.S. military was referring to.

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth got an unexpected Christmas gift from President Donald Trump this year: Hegseth’s embattled chief of staff — who’d been doing the job in an acting capacity for eight months — will take the role permanently, according to two people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss personnel issues.

Hegseth reportedly tried to make Ricky Buria his official chief of staff beginning in the spring but was blocked by the White House presidential personnel office. Buria was a former junior military aide for Biden-era Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and donated to a Democrat in 2023, according to FEC records.

Pinch hitter: Buria replaced former Hegseth chief of staff Joe Kasper who left in the spring shortly after a wave of firings of Hegseth senior aides that Pentagon officials attributed to a leak investigation. Several of the aides contested the investigation and their subsequent dismissals. Besides being very close to Hegseth, Buria has also reportedly won over Hegseth’s wife Jennifer.

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