by
Anna
Moneymaker/Getty
Images)
You
don’t
want
to
get
on
Pete
Hegseth’s
bad
side
…
literally.
That
maniac
just
booted
photographers
from
Pentagon
press
briefings
for
failing
to
capture
his
manly
jaw
from
a
sufficiently
flattering
angle.
But
the
secretary
will
be
seeing
a
bunch
of
his
old
enemies
again
soon,
thanks
to
a
ruling
on
Friday
from
Judge
Paul
Friedman
in
DC.
The
court
struck
down
the
Pentagon’s
policy
excluding
reporters
who
publish
“unauthorized”
news
and
ordered
the
Defense
Department
to
restore
passes
for
seven
New
York
Times
reporters
who
walked
out
in
October
rather
than
agree
to
it.
And,
as
usual,
the
Trump
administration’s
constant
shitposting
provided
the
evidence
of
animus
that
sank
them
in
court.
Snowflake
melts
As
a
weekend
host
on
Fox,
Pete
Hegseth
spent
years
slinging
mud
at
Democrats.
But
during
his
confirmation,
he
found
that
being
on
the
receiving
end
was
a
lot
less
fun.
He
made
it
through,
despite
extensive
coverage
of
his
drinking,
alleged
sexual
assault,
and
professional
failures,
and
even
survived
the
publication
of
his
classified
Signal
messages
in
a
group
chat
that
included
the
editor
of
The
Atlantic.
But
with
so
many
blabbermouths
writing
about
upheaval
in
DOD
leadership,
the
Pentagon
decided
it
was
time
to
batten
down
the
hatches.
In
February
2025,
they
evicted
the
New
York
Times,
NBC,
Politico,
and
NPR
from
their
dedicated
Pentagon
workspaces.
Then
in
September,
DOD
Spokesman
Sean
Parnell
rolled
out
a
new
policy
for
the
Pentagon
press
corps.
For
decades,
journalists
with
Pentagon
Facilities
Alternate
Credentials
(PFACs)
got
access
to
press
briefings
and
non-classified
areas,
where
they
could
chat
with
officials
and
develop
the
connections
and
background
knowledge
essential
to
keep
the
public
informed.
Under
the
new
rules,
journalists
would
have
to
agree
not
to
publish
or
solicit
unauthorized
information,
essentially
promising
to
be
obedient
stenographers
in
exchange
for
access.
And
the
DOD
could
revoke
credentials
for
journalists
deemed
a
“security
or
safety
risk,”
based
on
a
nebulous
set
of
criteria
that
vested
more
or
less
complete
discretion
in
the
government.
On
October
15,
virtually
every
reporter
walked
out
rather
than
surrender
their
journalistic
ethics,
including
those
from
Hegseth’s
old
network
Fox,
as
well
as
its
hillbilly
cousin
Newsmax.
Tatooine
on
the
Potomac
The
following
week,
Parnell
triumphantly
announced
“the
next
generation
of
the
Pentagon
press
corps,”
outlets
that
“circumvent
the
lies
of
the
mainstream
media
and
get
real
news
to
the
American
people,”
unlike
those
“activists
who
masquerade
as
journalists.”
At
a
December
2
briefing,
Pentagon
Press
Secretary
Kingsley
Wilson
crowed
that
“the
legacy
media
chose
to
self-deport.”
“American
people
don’t
trust
these
propagandists
because
they
stopped
telling
the
truth,”
she
smirked.
The
“next
generation”
includes
such
luminaries
as
Laura
Loomer,
a
virulent
racist
who
rose
to
fame
by
handcuffing
herself
to
the
doors
of
the
headquarters
at
Twitter
and
is
currently
suing
comedian
Bill
Maher
for
implying
that
she
slept
with
Trump,
making
her
too
toxic
for
a
government
job.
She’s
joined
by
Mike
Lindell,
the
pillow-puffing
election
fraud
aficionado
currently
running
for
governor
in
Minnesota,
as
well
as
James
O’Keefe,
founder
of
Project
Veritas,
and
beanie-ed
podcaster
Tim
Pool.
“Does
the
Department
of
War
plan
on
pursuing
any
legal
action
against
the
Washington
Post?”
wondered
one
such
intrepid
journalist
at
the
initial
presser.
“And
what
consequences
will
there
be
for
lying
to
the
American
people?”
“The
Washington
Post,
I
think,
readership
should
think
twice
before
reading
that
outlet
again,”
Wilson
agreed.
“It
is
disgraceful
that
they
call
themselves
journalists
and
we
told
them
as
such,
right?”
Big
mouth
meets
bigger
Constitution
Two
days
later,
the
New
York
Times
sued,
citing
violations
of
the
First
and
Fifth
Amendments.
“The
Policy
fails
to
provide
fair
notice
to
Plaintiffs
and
other
journalists
and
news
organizations
of
what,
in
the
Department’s
‘unbridled
discretion,’
will
(or
will
not)
be
deemed
improper
newsgathering
or
reporting
that
warrants
the
immediate
suspension
and
eventual
revocation
of
a
PFAC,”
they
argued.
“And
its
incurably
vague
language
and
lack
of
standards
invite
arbitrary
as
well
as
content-
and
viewpoint-based
determinations
as
to
which
reporters
and
news
organizations
will
be
granted
or
denied
access
to
the
Pentagon
and
for
what
reasons.”
Parnell
and
Wilson’s
sneering
featured
prominently
as
evidence
of
viewpoint
retaliation.
And
the
patrons
of
the
Star
Wars
bar
prove
that
the
“discretionary”
policy
is
“based
on
favored
and
disfavored
content
and
speakers.”
Exhibit
A:
Laura
Loomer.
The
day
her
credential
came
through,
she
posted
that
she’d
“developed
a
Rolodex
of
sources”
and
invited
followers
to
submit
tips
to
“the
most
influential
Tip
Line
in
all
of
DC.”
Asked
why
Loomer’s
tipline
was
acceptable
when
the
Washington
Post’s
was
not,
Wilson
replied
that
“Unlike
[the
Post’s]
solicitation,
which
explicitly
and
exclusively
targets
military
personnel
and
DoW
employees,
Laura
Loomer’s
X
post
regarding
tips
to
her
news
outlet
is
a
general
tip
line,
which
is
constitutionally
permissible.”
“If
Fake
News
reporters
actually
had
a
brain
and
could
read
our
policy
correctly,
then
maybe
one
day
they
will
be
as
effective
of
a
journalist
as
Ms.
Loomer
is,”
she
sniped.
The
complaint
noted
that
O’Keefe’s
entire
career
revolves
around
secretly
recording
officials,
and
in
2010
he
pled
guilty
to
unlawfully
entering
a
sitting
senator’s
office
disguised
as
a
repairman
with
the
aim
of
planting
a
bug.
For
his
part,
Tim
Pool
was
apparently
too
stupid
to
realize
he
was
being
paid
by
a
Russian
cutout
to
spout
Kremlin-friendly
propaganda.
But
they
were
apparently
fine
to
wander
the
halls
of
the
Pentagon
without
a
minder,
unlike
the
prior
crew,
who
were
deemed
to
be
a
“safety
and
security
risk.”
Because
none
of
the
factual
claims
was
seriously
contested,
the
parties
moved
directly
to
summary
judgment.
At
oral
argument
on
March
6,
the
government’s
own
lawyer
called
the
policy
“more
subjective,”
a
damning
admission
the
DOJ
tried
to
walk
back
a
week
later
in
a
Notice
of
Clarification.
The
standards
are,
too,
“guided
by
enumerated,
objective
factors,”
they
insisted,
it’s
only
the
imposition
of
judgment
which
is
subjective.
Also,
when
they
said
at
oral
argument
that
asking
a
question
was
“soliciting
a
criminal
act,”
what
they
meant
was
yes,
it
totally
is,
and
you
can
establish
mens
rea
“for
example
by
offering
anonymity
and
privacy
protection
to
the
source
in
exchange
for
the
information.”
(Any
questions
should
be
directed
to
the
“senior
pentagon
official”
who
speaks
to
every
reporter
in
DC
when
snark
from
a
27-year-old
internet
troll
won’t
cut
it.)
Of
course,
if
you
have
to
issue
multiple
codicils
to
your
policy,
you’re
probably
losing
on
the
issue
of
vagueness.
Or,
as
Judge
Friedman
put
it
“neither
counsel’s
statement
at
argument
nor
the
subsequent
‘clarification’
makes
much
of
a
difference
to
the
Court’s
analysis
because
neither
changes
what
the
Policy
actually
says.”
The
court
granted
summary
judgment
to
the
plaintiffs
on
their
constitutional
claims,
vacated
the
challenged
provisions
of
the
policy,
and
ordered
the
Pentagon
to
reinstate
the
Times
reporters’
credentials.
“To
state
the
obvious,
obtaining
and
attempting
to
obtain
information
is
what
journalists
do,”
the
court
wrote.
“Under
the
Policy’s
terms,
then,
essential
journalistic
practices
that
the
plaintiffs
and
others
engage
in
every
day—such
as
asking
questions
of
Department
employees—could
trigger
a
determination
by
the
Department
that
a
journalist
poses
a
security
or
safety
risk.”
As
for
viewpoint
discrimination,
Judge
Friedman
simply
included
a
linkroll
of
Parnell,
Wilson,
and
Hegseth
slagging
mainstream
reporters
as
“scum”
and
praising
media
who
are
“on
board
and
willing
to
serve.”
“That
is
viewpoint
discrimination,
full
stop,”
he
concluded.
Just
in
time
for
a
shooting
war
Calling
the
constitutional
violations
“extremely
serious,”
Judge
Friedman
declined
to
send
the
policy
back
to
DOD
to
take
another
swing
at
it.
Instead
he
vacated
the
offending
provisions
entirely,
ordering
the
Pentagon
to
reinstate
the
credentials
of
the
seven
Times
reporters
named
in
the
lawsuit.
Presumably
the
rest
of
the
“scum”
will
return,
too,
edging
out
the
Tim
Pools,
who
said
from
the
jump
that
they
weren’t
going
to
be
spending
much
time
there
because
their
job
is
hanging
out
and
shooting
the
shit,
not
journalism.
Secretary
Glass
Jaw
has
vowed
to
appeal.
But
for
now
at
least,
the
real
journalists
are
back
at
the
Pentagon.
Liz
Dye produces
the
Law
and
Chaos Substack and podcast. You
can
subscribe
by
clicking
the
logo:
