#Pentagon ’s “Arsenal of Freedom” tour borrows name from #StarTrek episode—about killer #AI
Neither #Musk nor #Hegseth seemed to recall that the “Arsenal of Freedom” phrase—at least in the context of Star Trek—is also the title of a 1988 episode of Star Trek: TNG. That episode depicts an AI-powered #weapons system, & its automated salesman, which destroys an entire #civilization & eventually threatens the crew of the USS Enterprise. (Some #Trekkies made the connection.)
Today the Secret Word is PERFIDY so if you think that #Hegseth is a criminal breaking the rules of engagement endangering us all, call your representative and SCREAM REAL LOUD!
Sen #MarkKelly sues #Pentagon over punishment for warning troops of illegal orders
Kelly, a former Navy pilot, is seeking to block his censure from #Defense Secy #PeteHegseth last week. #Hegseth announced last Monday that he censured Kelly over the former Navy pilot’s participation in a video that called on #troops to resist #unlawful orders.
Because the previous thread commenting on Trump's invasion of Venezuela has gotten so long, while hot-off-the-press commentary continues, I'm starting a new thread. My goal with these threads is to allow anyone interested to see pieces of commentary that seem valuable to me, and to link to the commentary itself.
"A reporter asked the obvious: if the U.S. is going to 'run' Venezuela, who is in power right now? Trump’s answer was incoherent. He claimed the U.S. would run it 'with a group' and then gestured vaguely to people behind him, saying, 'The people that are standing right behind me, we’re going to be running it.'
That 'group' included Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth."
"So here we are… Trump invades Venezuela, claims the U.S. will run it, and then dismisses the primary opposition leader [María Corina Machadowho], by all accounts, would be the obvious person to elevate. That’s because Trump isn’t focused on democracy. He’s focused on control. He’s focused on oil."
"Today, Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed the House and the Senate on the strikes but continued to refuse to show the lawmakers an unedited version of the video of a strike of September 2 that killed two survivors of a previous strike, an event that legal analysts suggest is a war crime or murder."
I asked the Pentagon about Pete Hegseth's mentor. Then the threats started.
Friedman:"…audience for the smear, clearly, was my peers…meant to scare me into spiking my own story."
…titles such as “Asian Wife Went With Her Dad’s Friend: A #Cuckold Story,” listed alongside books by #Hegseth and #military histories. They contain #Posobiec's detailed descriptions of cuckolding, group sex, and…“#ladyboys”—a term used to refer to #Thai#transgender women…
"When a government is so afraid of its nation’s own judicial system that it feels that any survivors of military attacks on boats hundreds of miles from its own territory, if picked up, must be remanded to a notoriously brutal prison in a third country, never to be seen again, rather than have any access to the judicial system back at home, what does that tell you?"
"The Trump Administration is pressuring the International Criminal Court to grant immunity to Trump and his inner circle from potential war-crimes prosecutions—an extraordinary move driven by deep concern among senior officials about possible legal exposure in 2029."
Just in case you were still buying the #propaganda from the White House that this is about #DrugTrafficking, they’re making their real intentions clearer & clearer…
The Caribbean Faces Two Choices: Join the US Attempt to Intimidate Venezuela or Build Its Own Sovereignty
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/01/the-caribbean-faces-two-choices-join-the-us-attempt-to-intimidate-venezuela-or-build-its-own-sovereignty
"The 'double-tap' boat strike scandal seems to get more complicated by the hour. Not because the facts of what took place that September day are complicated, but because it’s getting difficult to keep track of all the lies, distortions, and whiplash-inducing story revisions the Pentagon and its Republican allies have floated the last few weeks."
"On Friday, Natasha Bertrand of CNN reported that the boat the U.S. military struck on September 2 was not, in fact, headed for the U.S., a claim from the president that had always seemed doubtful because of how far away from the U.S. the small boats the U.S. has been hitting are."
"Instead, Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who was overseeing Special Operations on that day, told Congress that the intelligence he received said the boat was on its way to meet a larger vessel bound for Suriname, a small South American country to the east of Venezuela, to transfer drugs to it. Bradley told the lawmakers that the military could not find the second, larger vessel."
"Attention has focused on the United States’ shocking, illegal, and reprehensible action in murdering unarmed civilians whose ship our military had already destroyed. No justification exists for killing shipwrecked civilians. …
Throughout last weeks, even more disturbing facts emerged."
"CNN reported: 'The alleged drug traffickers killed by the US military in a strike on September 2 were heading to link up with another, larger vessel that was bound for Suriname.' The boat was not headed to the U.S., so Trump’s attenuated logic that it threatened the homeland collapses."
"One of the saddest jokes of our time is that Arkansas, a state once primarily known for rice, Wal-Mart founders, and the Clintons, has now given our nation a U.S. Senator whose chief distinction is an instinct for the most primitive idea in any room.
I am talking, of course, about Republican Tom Cotton."
"Even the U.S. military leaders who briefed Congress sheepishly acknowledged the boat carried no missiles, no explosives, and no plausible path toward any U.S. shore. ...
Some day when a future archaeologist digs up the remains of this once respected republic, he or she will undoubtedly find among the ruins a MAGA plaque, signed by Trump and Hegseth, honoring Tom Cotton for his gallant stand against a capsized and burned speedboat."
"History will also record that Cotton and the other deranged Trumpian psychopaths caused more harm to America than any fleet of drug boats ever could."
Blue Amp continues its reporting on a story I noted here yesterday re: two survivors of a US attack on a boat on 17 October who were rescued by the US military. They were then photographed and videotaped in accord with law — but someone somewhere apparently then gave an order to destroy this documentation in contravention of law.
Trump Orders Construction Of ‘The Golden Fleet’ ( www.telesurenglish.net )
https://ikona.telesurenglish.net/content/uploads/2025/12/U.S.-President-Donald-Trump-1-1024x576.jpg.webp ...