A Deeply Fractured US

[HavokFour]

Lots in the Hegseth/Trump speech to the generals and admirals today, but the U.S. of U.S. military in domestic law enforcement talk very much jumped out at me and seems suitable for this thread. Selected portions of BBC’s reporting:

Trump says US cities should be military training grounds

The US president warned military leaders of a "war from within", and signals they will be tasked with intervening.

www.bbc.com

Trump appears determined to continue pushing boundaries regarding what the federally controlled military can and cannot do… I’d love to know what kinds of quiet conversations are happening among senior military leadership regarding legal lines in the sand.

There's going to be quiet a few off the record meetings over the next 24 hours between generals and admirals that wouldn't have happened otherwise with them all being there, bar tenders are going to be hearing an earful of smack talk for sure.

 

[McG]

Was anyone speaking when that picture was taken? Nobody seems to be paying attention to a common location forward, and the guy making a goofy face circled in the centre is clearly focused on a conversation with the person beside him.

 

[Czech_pivo]

There's going to be quiet a few off the record meetings over the next 24 hours between generals and admirals that wouldn't have happened otherwise with them all being there, bar tenders are going to be hearing an earful of smack talk for sure.

Gotta wonder if they put them all up at the same hotel in DC……

 

[The Bread Guy]

No, this is NOT from The Onion - check the domain name on this announcement about The Big Chat ....

https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4318394/hegseth-announces-series-of-war-department-reforms-in-sweeping-speech-to-top-mi/

https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/4318734/secretary-of-war-announced-memorandums/

Associated memos from the "meeting that could have been (and is also) a memo" (all in one PDF) attached for your reading pleasure - enjoy!

 

[brihard]

Career fires alright, career stops.

 

[Remius]

Career fires alright, career stops.

Oh he’s effed to be sure. I mean, he could just be reading his emails but it won’t matter….

 

[mariomike]

There's going to be quiet a few off the record meetings over the next 24 hours between generals and admirals that wouldn't have happened otherwise with them all being there, bar tenders are going to be hearing an earful of smack talk for sure.

Wonder how popular this will be,

"No more beards, long hair, superficial, individual expression. We’re going to cut our hair, shave, shave our beards and adhere to standards.”

 

[FSTO]

Wonder how popular this will be,

What about Crusader tattoos?

 

[rmc_wannabe]

Wonder how popular this will be,

I am certain the response will be "you first"

 

[Retired AF Guy]

So the Secretary of War has just released 11 memorandums that cover details that he discussed earlier today during his big powwow with the US military generals/admirals earlier today. They can found here:

https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/4318734/secretary-of-war-announced-memorandums/

 

[mariomike]

I am certain the response will be "you first"

See how they like it,

SUBJECT: Grooming Standards for Facial Hair Implementation

 

[Infanteer]

To understand Hegseth's approach to the SecDef (er...SecWar) job, you need to know the auspices under which the clearly political part-time soldier left the service.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/15/pete-hegseth-flagged-insider-threat-00189991

Hegseth Insider Threat Email Redacted

www.documentcloud.org

You can see this incident, rightly or wrongly, within all of his announcements and actions.