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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's "manly act" and posturing have prompted even his MAGA allies to question his leadership, an analyst reported Friday. Salon's Amanda Marcotte described Hegseth as obsessed over his appearance — even pushing out photographers who take photos he deems unflattering — and his efforts to be a "big man" have started to reveal who he really is amid the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. "His efforts to butch himself up are so grasping that they inevitably backfire, revealing his vanity, insecurity and weakness — qualities that are very much the opposite of the John Wayne ideal of masculinity to which MAGA aspires," Marcotte wrote."Liberals have always laughed at Hegseth and his self-owning, try-hard energy," Marcotte explained. "But with the Iran war, even his fellow travelers in overcompensation, the MAGA bros, are starting to worry about the vicarious emasculation that is likely to come with his embarrassing failure to live up to his vaunted — and frequently espoused — 'warrior ethos.'"As the war with Iran drags on to its 14th day, questions have mounted over Hegseth's comments. "Hegseth’s rhetoric is so alarming that it sometimes eclipses how he also can come across like an eight-year-old boy inventing dialogue for the villain in his G.I. Joe game," Marcotte wrote. "He likes to say things like, 'maximum lethality, not tepid legality' and 'violent effect, not politically correct.' It’s impossible to hear the secretary spout these rhymes and not picture how he must have practiced them in front of the mirror in his rumored makeup studio at the Pentagon, imagining himself the hero of an action movie, unable to realize that he’s making most listeners feel embarrassed on his behalf."But Hegseth may have underestimated what would be required to wage this war. "As long as Hegseth keeps his chest-thumping and pull-up contests in the land of make-believe, these men are happy," Marcotte wrote. "Like their hero, the only masculine strength they seem interested in is the kind performed for cameras, far away from real-world challenges that might easily defeat their self-image as the mightiest of men. Hegseth, however, had to ruin it all by leading the U.S. into a real war with Iran. Unlike the imaginary wars conducted in right-wing rhetoric, which are won by yelling 'no homo,' real wars are hard. They require planning, foresight and smart people, including women and minorities, to win — and even then, only if you’re quite lucky. War is not for clowns and fake tough guys."He has continued trying to align himself with MAGA."Hegseth talks about how he’s 'politically incorrect,' as if that makes him tough," Marcotte added. "But there is no man that is weaker than one who revels in harming others in a pathetic bid to feel bigger. In the abstract, it’s easy to convince a lot of people that it’s the height of manly fortitude to extol your own sadism as loudly as he does. In practice, it looks not just immoral but pathetic: killing little girls and then not even having the guts to admit that you did."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s combative press conference at the Pentagon on Friday morning was on the mind of MS NOW contributor Sam Stein hours later when he made an appearance to discuss Donald Trump’s next overseas target.Hegseth spent a great portion of his thirty-minute-plus appearance attacking reporters and dictating what headlines he thinks they should be reporting, while accusing them of a lack of patriotism.Stein admitted he was still reeling from what he witnessed.Asked by host Jonathan Lemire about Donald Trump’s military adventurism in Iran and Venezuela, and threats aimed at Cuba, Stein took an off-ramp instead."Yeah, and I just want to take a moment to talk about the defense secretary's claims, because I watched this morning's press conference and it was flabbergasting, honestly,” the grimacing Stein told the “Morning Joe” host. “I mean, there's a few things that he said that just jump out. He called the new ayatollah the quote, ‘new so-called not-so-supreme leader.’ I mean, what are we doing here?” he asked. “He outlined plans to intensify the bombing of Iran and then simultaneously criticized news networks for running banners saying that the Middle East war is intensifying — totally contradictory. He urged CNN to get new ownership.”“I mean, this is a serious moment,” he lamented. “Obviously, an incredible human suffering, global economic ramifications. And we have someone in charge who is using these press briefings in a very unserious way, not trying to be moral about it, but it's just weird.” - YouTube youtu.be

Pro-MAGA morning show host Gina Loudon suggested President Donald Trump was using the Iran war to distract from the Epstein files.During a Friday conversation on Real America's Voice, co-host Terrance Bates followed up Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's briefing by arguing the U.S. was in a "holy war.""It's like the two sides that are in this are so dug in on this," Loudon said of Americans. "Both sides lose me at a certain point. I am not okay with forever wars. There's no question about that. I don't think we need to be sending all this money to Israel or any place else that we send.""I just think we got to, we got to, we need Jesus," she continued. "But we need Jesus. There's no other answer than that right now."Co-host David Brody, however, insisted that the conflict was "not a holy war.""I don't think it is from our standpoint," he remarked. "At least not publicly.""But America has been sold a lot of bills of goods," Loudon ranted. "And our young men and women have died because we were going to, this was not going to be a forever war.""So it's a fair level of accountability to say, hey, don't forget, there is a military industrial complex that does have a very vested interest, and there are very powerful people in every crevice of our world of entertainment of government," she added. "The Epstein files exposes that. We need to get back to that conversation, and we need to learn from it, and we need to say look we're not going to sit down and shut up just because somebody we like says, oh, by the way, we're going to war, this isn't going to last forever, because guess what?""We've been told that before. And so I think it's fair to ask questions and to give reminders and to be that accountability voice."

The Pentagon confirmed that all six crew members aboard a KC-135 refueling aircraft were killed when it went down on Thursday in Western Iraq.In a press release on Thursday, CENTCOM admitted that it was aware of the loss of the aircraft and insisted that it did not go down "due to hostile fire or friendly fire."On Friday, CENTCOM said that "all six crew members aboard a U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft that went down in western Iraq are now confirmed deceased.""The aircraft was lost while flying over friendly airspace March 12 during Operation Epic Fury."CENTCOM continued to insist that the aircraft did not crash because of hostile or friendly fire.The identities of the service members were being withheld for 24 hours.

Viral video of girl being shoved by fellow pedestrian has reignited debate over butsukari – with experts blaming stress and gender dynamicsIt starts out as a heartwarming clip. A young girl, clearly delighted to be in Tokyo, beams as she makes a peace sign to the camera. Seconds later, she is shoved to the ground from behind by a woman wearing a surgical mask. The assailant doesn’t skip a beat, striding out of shot of the clip filmed by the girl’s mother.This was no accidental clash of shoulders in a crowded place, but one of the most visible examples of a spate of butsukari otoko – “bumping man” – shoving incidents in Japan that experts attribute to a combination of gender dynamics and the stresses of modern life. Continue reading...

From fuel caps to four-day work weeks, the Middle East conflict has left the world’s top crude oil importing region desperate to shore up suppliesDonald Trump has scrambled in recent days to reassure the world that the economic impact of his war on Iran can be contained.Sure, one of the most important waterways in global trade has, in effect, been shut for almost two weeks – but it might reopen before long. In the meantime, US oil-related sanctions on “some countries” will be lifted. And besides, the entire conflict could be over soon. Continue reading...

New legislation will require schools to use Mandarin by default, taking priority over minority ethnic languages such as Tibetan, Uyghur and MongolianChina’s National People’s Congress (NPC), the state legislature, will vote on Thursday on a suite of new laws agreed at this year’s annual two sessions gathering, including a piece of legislation that will diminish the role of minority ethnic languages in the education system.NPC delegates are expected to approve a new ethnic unity law, along with a new environmental code and the 15th five-year plan, the economic planning document for 2026-2030. Delegates have spent the last week debating Beijing’s proposed bills, which they are all but certain to approve. The NPC, which is often described as a rubber-stamp parliament, has never rejected an item on its agenda. Continue reading...

Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra party secures thumping victory in first poll since gen Z protests that toppled government Balendra Shah, the rapper turned politician and popular figurehead of a gen Z revolution, looks set to become Nepal’s next prime minister after his party won by an unprecedented margin.Shah, known widely as Balen, and his Rastriya Swatantra party (RSP) secured a rare landslide victory in the first election since youth-led protests during which dozens were killed and the former government was toppled. Continue reading...