Amendment To Make Service Academies Accept Classic Learning Test Added To Military Budget
The amendment, passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee, would allow applicants to submit CLT test scores instead of the traditional SAT or ACT.The amendment, passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee, would allow applicants to submit CLT test scores instead of the traditional SAT or ACT.Graham Platner Is A Far-Left Person’s Idea Of A Far-Right Person
The left strained to find Nazi symbolism in Republicans. It accused everyone of being a Nazi. And yet when presented with Platner, they emphatically tell you he is no Nazi.At D-Day Event, Hegseth Warns Of European Beaches ‘Stormed’ By Third-World Migrants
Hegseth said many countries in Europe 'grew comfortable' after World War II and 'forgot that peace is not wished into being.'Joy-less 'View' doing just fine; will Behar-besting Swisher go from temp to perm?
Better 30-plus years late than never?
Ted Danson committed one of the most outrageous blackface routines ever in 1993. The “Cheers” star was dating Whoopi Goldberg at the time, and the two appeared at the New York Friars Club, a comedians’ hangout.
The tour’s stage visuals included the group’s crow logo dressed as Uncle Sam. The crowd spontaneously began chanting, ‘USA, USA!’
His mission? Roast Goldberg, then a legitimate star and recent Oscar winner for “Ghost.” Except Danson wasn’t, and still isn’t, a stand-up comic. So he went for “performance artist,” dressing in full blackface to riff on interracial couples and related themes.
Regrets, Danson has a few, even though Goldberg helped write his jokes.
“Your intentions do not matter. The impact you have on people is what matters,” he told super woke comic W. Kamau Bell on the latter’s podcast.
The moment never rose to the level of career cancellation. Few stars have worked more than Danson over the decades. He keeps finding long-running TV shows like “The Good Place,” “Becker,” and, most recently, “A Man on the Inside.”
Now, if we can only get Jimmy “Karl Malone” Kimmel canceled ...
No Joy in ‘View’-ville
Did Joy Behar just get Wally Pipped?
Pipp famously played first base for the New York Yankees in the 1920s, but he took a day off to battle a headache issue. His replacement? Lou Gehrig, the “Iron Man” who went on to play 2,130 straight games for the team.
Joy Behar voluntarily stepped aside from “The View” this week to work on her play, “My First Ex-Husband,” set to bow on the West End.
Behar’s blend of ugly banter, misinformation, and ignorance seems impossible to replace, even temporarily.
Enter Kara Swisher, a far-left journalist known for covering the tech beat. And, boy, did she bring it during her “View” debut. She compared Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to a talk show host, suggesting he lacked combat experience.
That ignored Hegseth’s decorated military career, including two Bronze Star Medals, two Army Commendation Medals, and the Joint Commendation Medal.
Later, Swisher said Scott Pelley’s dismissal from “60 Minutes” was an attack on the media, not the fallout from publicly blasting his bosses. Finally, she ran to senatorial hopeful Graham Platner’s defense after the Maine resident’s wife had to bail him out of a gross sexting scandal.
Watch your back, Joy. Swisher is swinging a hot bat in the on-deck circle ...
RELATED: D-Day drama ‘Pressure’ celebrates forgotten values
Nothing to Crowe about
You’d think peaking in the 1990s would bring a bit of humility to a band.
Not for the Black Crowes, who broke out in a big way with songs like “She Talks to Angels” and “Jealous Again.” The band is back on the road, but a recent Florida tour stop became a prime example of rake stepping.
The tour’s stage visuals included the group’s crow logo dressed as Uncle Sam. The crowd spontaneously began chanting, “USA, USA!”
Rather than lean into the sentiment or simply smile over fans having a blast, lead singer Chris Robinson lectured them, according to TMZ. From the stage he snarked, “Thanks for the geography lesson. ... I don’t know what you have to be so proud of right now.”
That landed poorly with the crowd, so he doubled down amid the boos and walkouts.
“For those of you f**king booing us, some of us are not afraid. And we most assuredly are not f**king ignorant.”
Here’s guessing his band won’t be playing that Freedom 250 concert, either ...
Quentin unchained
This former video store clerk has had enough of Hollywood dreck, thank you. Except he’s so stuck on his 10th and “final” film that he’s not personally helping matters.
Quentin Tarantino penned a blistering essay this week on the current state of the Hollywood movie. Spoiler alert — it stinks, to paraphrase Jon Lovitz’s “Critic” character.
Since the pandemic, for me anyway, it seems almost impossible for a new movie to come out that I don’t pick to death. Flaws, implausibilities, audience pandering, miscast performers, or just plain stupid s**t usually torpedoes every new movie coming out of the flavorless sausage factory that used to call itself Hollywood.
Yikes.
Tarantino has pledged to stop making movies after he completes his 10th film. He seems stuck on number nine, following the roaring success of 2019’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
His planned final film, “The Movie Critic,” got scrapped in 2024. He’s gotten plenty of criticism for overusing the “N-word” on-screen and featuring too many feet close-ups over the years. Maybe penning a screenplay without his signature tics is proving harder than he thought.
Split appeals court says military transgender ban is unconstitutional
A split panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found that War Secretary Pete Hegseth had acted unconstitutionally when he ordered a ban on transgender-identifying members of the military.
Two of the three judges said a preliminary injunction could stay in force against the Pentagon keeping transgender-identifying plaintiffs out of the military.
'We have direct evidence in this case that animus motivated the classifications in the Hegseth Policy.'
The two judges said the order was likely a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.
"The government's stated reason for issuing the Hegseth Policy as based solely upon gender dysphoria was pretextual, and that instead, the Hegseth Policy was premised, at least in part, on a non-legitimate state interest to harm the politically unpopular group of transgender persons," Judge Robert Wilkins wrote in the ruling.
Judge Judith Rogers agreed with Wilkins about the constitutionality of the order.
However, Wilkins and Judge Justin Walker agreed separately that the Trump administration would be allowed to block transgender-identifying plaintiffs who wanted to join the military as the case progressed through the courts.
In the first days of President Donald Trump's second term, he issued an executive order declaring that the military's "high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity" were not compatible with the "medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria."
In Feb. 2025, the Defense Department issued the new restrictions on transgender-identifying military members.
Wilkins pointed out in his ruling that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit had collectively garnered more than 80 commendations in the military and served a combined 130 years.
"This is not a case where we are left to speculate why the government drafted such broad, undifferentiated classifications," he said. "Unless we are going to fall for the old Groucho Marx line — 'Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?' — we have direct evidence in this case that animus motivated the classifications in the Hegseth Policy."
RELATED: Transgender military members sue Trump, Hegseth over trans ban
Wilkins also argued that the Trump administration had "conceded" that there was "no evidence to establish that persons with gender dysphoria are not honest, humble, and full of integrity."
A defense official said that about 4,200 troops had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria by Dec. 2024.
Walker was nominated to the bench by President Donald Trump in 2020, Wilkins was nominated by former President Barack Obama, and Rogers was nominated by former President Bill Clinton.
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Massie vs. Gallrein: What's the skinny on the most expensive House primary in US history?
After winning the 2024 Republican primary for Kentucky's 4th Congressional District, Rep. Thomas Massie cleaned up in the general election, securing 99.6% of the vote. Yet his political career still may not survive 2026.
The MIT-trained engineer proceeded to force the issue of the Jeffrey Epstein files' release, speak out against the joint U.S.-Israeli entanglement in Iran, and pad his 86.79% lifetime Turning Point Action score. He also managed to once again draw the ire of President Donald Trump, who faulted Massie for being "an automatic 'NO' vote on just about everything."
Months after vowing in March 2025 to "lead the charge" against Massie, Trump officially named his champion: Navy SEAL veteran Ed Gallrein.
The final polls conducted before the primary election indicate the race is virtually deadlocked.
Gallrein — who not only enjoys the president's backing but the support of numerous powerful individuals and organizations, including War Secretary Pete Hegseth, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — is now poised to possibly oust Massie from the congressional seat he has held since 2012.
As he is running on a platform textually similar to Massie's, Gallrein has endeavored to distinguish himself from his competitor online and in rallies — but not in a debate — largely in terms of his relationship with Trump.
RELATED: Massie takes aim at AIPAC with new bill about Nazi-era law
Gallrein has called Massie both a "turncoat" and a "roadblock to the America First agenda," noting, for instance, that Massie:
- Opposed the U.S. entanglement with Iran;
- Voted against a stopgap spending bill to keep the government funded;
- Voted against a resolution the congressman said would unhelpfully equate "anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism"; and
- Voted against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — which the congressman said would "significantly increase U.S. budget deficits in the near term, negatively impacting all Americans through sustained inflation and high interest rates."
Gallrein has shared a graphic stating that Massie also voted against the SAVE America Act, even though the congressman voted against a particular rule then ultimately voted to pass the legislation.
Unlike Massie, who has apparently failed to toe the line and has been characterized in attack ads as "cheating with 'the Squad' on the America First movement," Gallrein has emphasized he will alternatively "stand with President Trump and put American first."
Vice President JD Vance has likewise said that Massie ultimately is not helpful for the Republican Party.
"Being independent, having your own opinions is one thing," Vance said at a TPUSA event six months ago. "Voting against the party on every single issue, you're eventually going to make too many enemies. And that is the problem that Thomas has had. It's not one issue. It's not three or four issues. It's that every time that we've needed Thomas for a vote, he has been completely unwilling to provide it."
The final polls conducted before the primary election indicate the race is virtually deadlocked.
A Neighborhood Research poll published on Friday found that the candidates were tied but that Gallrein "seems to be surging as the election comes to a close."
The poll found that Massie enjoyed a dominant 47-30 advantage among voters under 50, whereas Gallrein was leading 46-17 among women ages 50 and older. Men in the older cohort were split evenly between the two candidates.
The Public Polling Project also released a poll on Friday, this time finding that Massie led Gallrein among all likely voters 50.6% to 49.4%.
According to AdImpact, the battle between Gallrein and Massie for Kentucky's 4th Congressional District is the most expensive House primary on record, with $32.6 million spent on advertising.
The Republican Jewish Coalition has reportedly spent $4 million on ads supporting Gallrein. The AIPAC super PAC United Democracy Project has spent another $2.6 million helping Trump's champion.
In light of injections of cash into the primary battle by these and other pro-Israel groups, Massie has framed the race as a referendum on whether "Israel gets to buy seats in Congress."
Massie and pro-Massie groups Kentucky 4th PAC and Kentucky First PAC have also dumped a fortune into ads, including an ad accusing Gallrein of being "bought and paid for by the LGBTQ mafia."
A victory of Gallrein over Massie would be another scalp for Trump, who just in the past few weeks has seen crushing primary defeats for the Indiana state senators who defied him on redistricting and for Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to convict Trump on impeachment articles related to January 6.
Trump noted in a Truth Social post on Monday, "The Great People of Kentucky are wise to Massie — He only votes against the Republican Party, making life very easy for the Radical Left. Unlike 'lightweight' Massie, a totally ineffective LOSER who has failed us so badly, CAPTAIN ED GALLREIN IS A WINNER WHO WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN."
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Trump administration establishes ‘red, white, and blue dome’ to allow safe passage through Strait of Hormuz
The United States has established a “red, white, and blue dome” of protection over the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the safe passage of commerce ships, War Secretary Pete Hegseth stated during a Tuesday-morning press conference.
Hegseth was joined by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine to discuss Project Freedom, which Hegseth described as an operation that is “separate and distinct from Operation Epic Fury."
'We expected there would be some churn at the beginning, which happened, and we said we would defend and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have.'
“Project Freedom is defensive in nature, focused in scope, and temporary in duration, with one mission: protecting innocent commercial shipping from Iranian aggression,” Hegseth stated.
Caine stated that the operation involves more than 15,000 American service members protecting the region by land, sea, and air. Hegseth explained that American troops would not need to enter Iranian waters or airspace.
“We’re not looking for a fight, but Iran also cannot be allowed to block innocent countries and their goods from an international waterway,” he said.
Hegseth accused Iran of being an “aggressor” by “harassing civilian vessels, threatening mariners from every nation indiscriminately, and weaponizing a critical choke point for its own financial benefit.”
Two U.S. commercial ships and American destroyers had safely passed through the strait, according to Hegseth. Hundreds of ships from nations around the globe have since lined up to pass through, he added.
RELATED: Mike Johnson denies the US is at war with Iran ahead of key congressional deadline
“As a direct gift from the United States to the world, we have established a powerful red, white, and blue dome over the strait. American destroyers are on station supported by hundreds of fighter jets, helicopters, drones, and surveillance aircraft, providing 24/7 overwatch for peaceful commercial vessels, except Iran's, of course,” Hegseth stated.
The war secretary emphasized the temporary nature of the operation and stated that “at the appropriate time and soon,” the U.S. would hand over responsibility to allies and other nations ready to protect the strait.
RELATED: Hegseth warns European allies to stop 'free riding' and help reopen the strait
Caine explained that “Iran’s indiscriminate attacks across the region” had resulted in 22,500 mariners on over 1,550 commercial vessels being trapped in the Arabian Gulf, unable to pass safely through the strait.
Hegseth insisted that the ceasefire with Iran is not over.
“Ultimately, this is a separate and distinct project. And we expected there would be some churn at the beginning, which happened, and we said we would defend and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have,” he stated.
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