The Democrat women of the Senate&#8217;s Armed Services Committee were all clearly working from the same playbook during Tuesday morning&#8217;s hearing for decorated Army veteran <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pete-hegseth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pete Hegseth</a>, President-elect Donald Trump&#8217;s choice to lead the Pentagon.
While there were a few substantive questions directed at Hegseth, who acquitted himself calmly and rationally throughout, the majority of the time allotted to the Democratic women was devoted to dishonest and repeated attempts to conflate comments Hegseth has made about women serving in direct combat roles with an outright opposition to all women in military service.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) pointed out the fact that women currently make up 18% of the United States military — and Hegseth agreed with her that they were a vital part of the mission.
Shaheen then referred to Hegseth&#8217;s comments from a podcast last year, when he said, &#8220;I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective. Hasn’t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated.&#8221;
Hegseth has also said on more than one occasion that he absolutely respected and valued the women with whom he&#8217;d served, and that his concern was solely related to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/im-not-a-general-pete-hegseth-tomahawks-sen-warrens-attempted-smear-with-just-4-words" target="_blank" rel="noopener">direct combat roles</a> and the fact that in order to ensure more women met the qualifications to serve in such roles, standards were often lowered.
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Still, Shaheen pressed on as though he&#8217;d said there was no place for women in the military at all — and then suggested that he was only agreeing with her that women played a valuable role because he thought it might help his chances at getting confirmed.
&#8220;What I&#8217;m confused about Mr. Hegseth is, which is it?” Shaheen asked. “Why should women in our military, if you were the secretary of Defense, believe that they would have a fair shot at an equal opportunity to rise through the ranks if, on the one hand you say that women are not competent, they make our military less effective, and on the other hand, you say, ‘Oh no, now that I&#8217;ve been nominated to be the secretary of Defense, I&#8217;ve changed my view.’&#8221;
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Sen. Jeanne Shaheen presses Pete Hegseth on conflicting statements regarding his stance on women in the military.
Hegseth: &quot;It&#39;s not about the capabilities of men and women, it&#39;s about standards.&quot;
Shaheen: &quot;I appreciate your 11th hour conversion.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/SURuMFpSHY">https://t.co/SURuMFpSHY</a> <a href="https://t.co/NB8dBjMMko">pic.twitter.com/NB8dBjMMko</a>
&mdash; ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/1879196923309047874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) ripped a page from the same playbook, claiming, &#8220;For 12 years, you were quite open about your views, and your views were consistently the same: women are inferior soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and guardians. Then on November 9, 2024, just 32 days after your last public comments saying that women absolutely should not be in combat, you declare that ‘some of our greatest warriors are women.'&#8221;
&#8220;I very much appreciate you bringing up my comments from 2013, because for me, this issue has always been about standards,&#8221; Hegseth replied — and every time he attempted to clarify his position further, Warren interrupted, talking over him and substituting her own assessment for his.
Warren also ultimately suggested that Hegseth had only just changed his views upon receiving a nomination to serve in Trump&#8217;s cabinet: &#8220;I have heard of deathbed conversions but this is the first I’ve heard of a nomination conversion.&#8221;
WATCH:
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren questions Pete Hegseth about women in combat roles, telling him &quot;I&#39;ve heard of deathbed conversions, but this is the first time I&#39;ve heard of a nomination conversion.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/auFB1Jif2U">pic.twitter.com/auFB1Jif2U</a>
&mdash; The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) <a href="https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1879218845224669366?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) raised her voice, repeatedly scolding Hegseth based solely on the false equivalence between his actual position and the one she and her Democratic colleagues had fabricated for him.
&#8220;In all of these other circumstances, you denigrated active duty service members. We have hundreds – HUNDREDS of women who are currently in the infantry. &#8230; You degrade them. You say, we need moms but not in the military, especially in combat units,&#8221; she complained, adding, &#8220;You&#8217;re basically saying women, after they have children, can&#8217;t ever serve in the military in a combat role. It&#8217;s — it&#8217;s — it&#8217;s a — it&#8217;s a silly thing to say. It&#8217;s a silly thing to say, beneath the position that you are aspiring to. To denigrate LGBTQ service members is a mistake.&#8221;
&#8220;Please explain these types of statements because they’re brutal and they’re mean and they disrespect men and women who are willing to die for this country,&#8221; she demanded.
WATCH:
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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand yells at Hegseth for statements about not wanting to have women serve in combat roles: &quot;We have hundreds – HUNDREDS of women who are currently in the infantry&#8230;You degrade them. You say, we need moms but not in the military, especially in combat units. <a href="https://t.co/LhNKrD4FoV">pic.twitter.com/LhNKrD4FoV</a>
&mdash; Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) <a href="https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1879198683616719115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI), in addition to accusing Hegseth of being willing to shoot protesters and lead a military takeover of Greenland, cited Hegseth&#8217;s &#8220;inflammatory statements&#8221; and demanded to know, &#8220;If confirmed, will you commit to defend, not denigrate our troops?&#8221;
Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who lost her legs in war, held up her copy of The Soldier&#8217;s Creed as a visual aid and suggested that somehow Hegseth was not up to the same standard she claimed for herself.
WATCH:
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Nauseating meltdowns, down to the prepared remarks and sighs that come off like stage cues from Illinois Democrat Senator Tammy Duckworth, arguing he&#39;s somehow not emblematic of the Soldier&#39;s Creed (unlike her b/c of her own service and war injuries)
Disgusting. <a href="https://t.co/IGJGLyUw5V">pic.twitter.com/IGJGLyUw5V</a>
&mdash; Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) <a href="https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1879228021392990224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Hegseth clarified his position on several occasions during the hearing, but it did nothing to dissuade the Democrats from talking over him — perhaps in the hopes that no one would hear him pointing out how disingenuous they were — and pushing their own agenda in place of his words.
WATCH:
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Incoming Secretary of Defense <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PeteHegseth</a>: I&#39;m incredibly grateful for the two women who&#39;ve served our military in uniform&#8230; When I&#39;m talking about that issue, it&#39;s not about the capabilities of men and women, it&#39;s about standards — standards that we have seen eroded. <a href="https://t.co/Q4VPYsVFfv">pic.twitter.com/Q4VPYsVFfv</a>
&mdash; Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1879194242444341431?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Senate Impeachment Trial Of President Trump Continues

Talking Points, Assemble! Democrat Women Launch Dishonest But Coordinated Attack In Hegseth Hearing

Department of Defense

Elizabeth Warren

General

Kirsten Gillibrand

Mazie Hirono

Military

Pete Hegseth

Politics

U.S. Senate

Women

Senator <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/markwayne-mullin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Markwayne Mullin</a> (R-OK) blew up Tuesday morning&#8217;s Armed Services Committee hearing, torching his colleagues — and taking some of the blast himself — for their hypocrisy as they criticized Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth.
Mullin argued that even as they sat in judgment of Hegseth — his qualifications to lead the Pentagon and his admitted struggles — many of them were ignoring their own failings while demanding that Hegseth meet the standards they themselves could not.
WATCH:
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MUST WATCH: Sen. <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkwayneMullin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MarkwayneMullin</a> just called out the hypocrisy of every single Democrat who have spent the hearing wagging their fingers at Pete Hegseth. <a href="https://t.co/jq8fvaHA42">pic.twitter.com/jq8fvaHA42</a>
&mdash; Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1879224487981486263?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;There&#8217;s a lot about qualifications,&#8221; Mullin said, referencing his colleagues who had raised questions regarding whether or not Hegseth had the necessary experience to run the Pentagon. &#8220;I think it&#8217;s so hypocritical of senators, especially on the other side of the aisle, to be talking about his qualifications to not be able to lead — to be the Secretary of Defense, and yet, your qualifications aren&#8217;t any better.&#8221;
&#8220;You guys aren&#8217;t any more qualified to be a senator than I&#8217;m qualified to be the senator, except we&#8217;re lucky enough to be here,&#8221; Mullin continued, after which he read aloud the qualifications upon which a Defense Secretary was to be judged.
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&#8220;In general, the U.S. Secretary of Defense position is filled by a civilian,&#8221; Mullin said. &#8220;That&#8217;s it. And if you have served in the U.S. Army forces and have been in the service for — you have to be retired for at least seven years and Congress can waive that. And then there&#8217;s questions that the senator from Massachusetts brought up about serving on a board inside the military industry, and yet your own secretary that you all voted for, Secretary Austin, we had to vote on a waiver because he stepped off the board of Raytheon. But I guess that&#8217;s okay because that&#8217;s a Democrat Secretary of Defense. But we so quickly forget about that.&#8221;
Mullin then pivoted to questions raised by Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) regarding Hegseth&#8217;s previous marital woes, adding, &#8220;And then Senator Kaine — I guess I&#8217;d better use &#8216;the Senator from Virginia&#8217; — starts bringing up the fact that &#8216;what if you showed up drunk to your job?'&#8221;
&#8220;How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night?&#8221; Mullin asked after a brief pause, prompting laughter throughout the chamber.
&#8220;Have any of you guys asked them to step down and resign from their job? And don’t tell me you haven’t seen it because I know you have. And then how many senators do you know have gotten a divorce before cheating on their wives? Did you ask them to step down?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;No, but it’s for show. You guys make sure you make a big show and point out the hypocrisy because a man&#8217;s made a mistake.&#8221;
&#8220;And you want to sit there and say that he&#8217;s not qualified?&#8221; Mullin kept at it. &#8220;Give me a joke. It is so ridiculous that you guys hold yourself as this higher standard and you forget you got a big plank in your eye. We&#8217;ve all made mistakes. I&#8217;ve made mistakes.&#8221;
Mullin turned to Hegseth&#8217;s wife, Jennifer, crediting her with standing by her husband through difficulties.
&#8220;The only reason why I&#8217;m here and not in prison is because my wife loved me, too,&#8221; Mullin said to a few more laughs and a smattering of applause. &#8220;I have changed, but I&#8217;m not perfect — but I found somebody who thought I was perfect. And for whatever reason, you love Pete, and I don&#8217;t know why. But just like our Lord and Savior forgave me, my wife&#8217;s had to forgive me more than once, too, and I&#8217;m sure you&#8217;ve had to forgive him, too. And so, thank you.&#8221;

Sen. Markwayne Mullin

Senator Mullin Blows Up Hegseth Committee Hearing, Tells Senators They’re Not Qualified To Judge

Senator Mullin Blows Up Hegseth Committee Hearing, Tells Senators They're Not Qualified To Judge

Markwayne Mullin

Decorated U.S. Army veteran Pete Hegseth completely dismantled legacy media during his Tuesday confirmation hearing, exposing the slanted and anonymously-sourced attacks on his character for exactly what they were.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) opened the hearing by giving Hegseth a chance to address the accusations — which he also noted were anonymously-sourced and quickly amplified by a breathless media.
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🚨 HOLY SH*T!
Pete Hegseth just totally dismantled the left-wing media smears against him in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
&quot;Our left-wing media doesn&#39;t CARE about the truth. All they want to do is destroy ME &#8211; because I am a change agent, a threat to them.&quot;… <a href="https://t.co/JqcgzafC4p">pic.twitter.com/JqcgzafC4p</a>
&mdash; Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1879187806293045602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;From story after story in the media, left-wing media, we saw anonymous source after anonymous source, based on second-or-third-hand accounts,&#8221; Hegseth began. &#8220;And time and time again, stories would come out and people would reach out to me and say, you know, &#8216;I&#8217;ve spoken to this reporter about who you really are and I was willing to go on the record — but they didn&#8217;t print my quote, any of my quotes!'&#8221;
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&#8220;Or &#8216;I&#8217;ve worked with you for ten years,&#8217; or &#8216;I was your accountant,&#8217; or &#8216;I was your Chief Operating Officer,&#8217; or &#8216;I was your board member,&#8217; or &#8216;I was with you on a hundred different tour stops for Concerned Veterans for America. No one called me,'&#8221; Hegseth continued. &#8220;&#8216;No one asked about your conduct on the record or off the record.'&#8221;
&#8220;Instead, a small handful of anonymous sources were allowed to drive a smear campaign, an agenda about me, because our left-wing media in America today, sadly, doesn&#8217;t care about the truth,&#8221; Hegseth took direct aim at legacy media then. &#8220;All they were out to do, Mr. Chairman, was destroy me. And why do they want to destroy me? Because I am a change agent, a threat to them.&#8221;
&#8220;I am willing to endure these attacks,&#8221; Hegseth said. He went on to add that he would continue to stand up against them: &#8220;What I will do is stand up for the truth and for my reputation. False attacks. Anonymous attacks. Repeated ad nauseam, printed ad nauseam as &#8216;facts.'&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m not a perfect person, as has been acknowledged,&#8221; he concluded. &#8220;Saved by the grace of God. By Jesus and Jenny. I&#8217;m not a perfect person, but redemption is real and God forged me in ways that I know I&#8217;m prepared for &#8230; I look forward to leading this Pentagon on behalf of the warfighters.&#8221;

President-Elect Trump’s Cabinet Nominees Meet With Lawmakers On Capitol Hill

WATCH: Pete Hegseth Dismantles Legacy Media In Under 3 Minutes

Media

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cnn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a> is under fire as Navy veteran Zachary Young testifies in his $1 billion lawsuit against the network, telling judge and jury that a CNN report that aired November 11, 2021, had &#8220;destroyed his reputation and business.&#8221;
Young&#8217;s suit alleges that the segment — which aired on &#8220;The Lead&#8221; with anchor Jake Tapper and featured reporting by correspondent Alex Marquardt — incorrectly implied that he had profited illegally from his efforts to aid in the evacuation of &#8220;desperate Afghans&#8221; who were trying to flee the country in the wake of President Joe Biden&#8217;s disastrous military withdrawal from Afghanistan months earlier.
As <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/cia-trained-navy-veteran-details-very-devastating-impact-cnn-segment-had-his-life-labeled-criminal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> by Fox News Digital, &#8220;14th Judicial Circuit Court Judge William S. Henry, who is presiding over the trial in Bay County, Florida, has already ruled that Young &#8216;did not act illegally or criminally&#8217; despite what the network reported on air. Judge Henry has also declared the court found Young &#8216;did not take money from Afghans.'&#8221;
CNN&#8217;s reporting painted a very different picture, however. Twice before the November 11 segment even aired, Tapper had teased a story about &#8220;desperate Afghans still trying to escape the country being preyed on by folks demanding that they pay up big time to get out.&#8221;
Tapper then introduced Marquardt&#8217;s report, saying, &#8220;Afghans trying to get out of the country face a black market full of promises, demands of exorbitant fees, and no guarantee of safety or success.&#8221;
Marquardt&#8217;s report focused on Young, claiming that the Navy veteran had asked for &#8220;prices well beyond the reach of most Afghans&#8221; in exchange for his efforts to help them escape the Taliban-controlled country.
&#8220;In a text message, he told CNN that Afghans trying to leave are expected to have sponsors pay for them,&#8221; Marquardt explained, also noting that Young had attributed the &#8220;volatile&#8221; high costs attached to evacuation to &#8220;environmental realities.&#8221;
Marquardt went on to say that Young had declined to share a detailed explanation of the costs, adding, &#8220;In another message, that person offering those evacuations, Zachary Young, he wrote, ‘Availability is extremely limited, and demand is high’… he goes on to say, ‘That’s how economics works, unfortunately.'&#8221;
The segment concluded with interviews of two anonymous Afghans — with whom Young says he never had contact — who told CNN that they hoped to evacuate family members from the country, but were afraid they could not afford to do so.
<a href="https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2025/01/07/facts-didnt-matter-testimony-cnn-defamation-trial-begins" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Young&#8217;s defense</a> is set to focus on a number of text messages that his attorneys say make it clear that some at the network were aware prior to airing the story that it was &#8220;full of holes.&#8221;
Young&#8217;s attorney Kyle Roche, during Tuesday&#8217;s opening statements, claimed that the CNN report was &#8220;reckless&#8221; and that the network had &#8220;set out to destroy Zach’s reputation.&#8221;
&#8220;They didn’t care about the truth. They cared about theater and they cared about ratings,&#8221; he said, previewing internal messages from CNN editors who stated that Marquardt&#8217;s report was &#8220;full of holes like Swiss cheese&#8221; and &#8220;80 percent emotion and 20 percent obscured fact.&#8221;
During Young&#8217;s testimony, which began Tuesday and continued on Wednesday, a series of messages between Marquardt and Young were presented as evidence. The exchange showed that Marquardt had told Young he planned to go ahead with the story, but then only gave him a two-hour window in which to respond to multiple questions.
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That message came in the night, Vienna-time. Young responded 5-minutes later: &quot;I will need some time to review and provide comment.&quot; Marquardt told Young that the story was &quot;running this afternoon DC time.&quot; This would be in just a couple of hours. <a href="https://t.co/RoAnDsV99t">pic.twitter.com/RoAnDsV99t</a>
&mdash; Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/1877019355956822089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Young replied, saying that the story&#8217;s claims were not accurate and the deadline was not reasonable — and threatened legal action against the network if they ran with it anyway.
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&quot;That&#39;s definitely not a realistic deadline. In any case, I can tell you for sure, some of your facts/assertions for not accurate, and it they are published, i will seek legal damages,&quot; Young warned CNN&#39;s Alex Marqardt. The warning was not heeded. <a href="https://t.co/fLwCNb3M9K">pic.twitter.com/fLwCNb3M9K</a>
&mdash; Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/1877020492948770889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Following the report, Young said on the stand that he had been in therapy and placed on medication after suffering multiple panic attacks a day. He also said that he&#8217;d not been able to work since the report came out — and that when he&#8217;d tried to offer his assistance with evacuations in Sudan, his posts were &#8220;flooded&#8221; with &#8220;hate echoing what CNN said&#8221; in the reports about him.
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Young testified that he tried to offer evacuations during the crisis in Sudan, but people flooded his LinkedIn post with hate echoing what CNN said about him.
&mdash; Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/1877078103391895686?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
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When CNN attorney David Axelrod (no relation to the CNN commentator/former Obama staffer) got up to cross-examine Young, one of the first questions he asked referenced an old resume in which Young had cited his ability to &#8220;deal with stress.&#8221; Some speculated that line of questioning would later be used to attack his claims that the CNN report was damaging to his mental health.

CNN Under Fire As Navy Veteran Testifies In $1 Billion Defamation Case

Afghanistan

Joe Biden

Lawsuit

U.S.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday repeatedly refused to rule out using the U.S. military to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Trump made the remarks during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Florida when asked by a reporter if he could &#8220;assure the world&#8221; that he would not &#8220;use military or economic coercion&#8221; to acquire the two areas.
&#8220;No,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;I can&#8217;t assure you, you&#8217;re talking about Panama and Greenland. No, I can&#8217;t assure you on either of those two, but I can say this, we need them for economic security. The Panama Canal was built for our military.&#8221;
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The reporter then asked specifically only about whether Trump would commit to not using the military.
&#8220;I&#8217;m not going to commit to that,&#8221; Trump fired back. &#8220;No, it might be that you&#8217;ll have to do something.&#8221;
&#8220;Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country. It&#8217;s being operated by China. China!&#8221; he continued. &#8220;And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama, we didn&#8217;t give it to China. And they&#8217;ve abused it. They&#8217;ve abused that gift. It should have never been made. Giving the Panama Canal is why Jimmy Carter lost the election, in my opinion, more so maybe than the hostages&#8221; in Iran.
WATCH:
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🚨 BREAKING: Trump says that he may use economic leverage or the U.S. military to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland. <a href="https://t.co/q5dUMD0bR1">pic.twitter.com/q5dUMD0bR1</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1876676280533364822?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2025</a></blockquote>

President-Elect Donald Trump Delivers Remarks On New Years Eve At Mar-A-Lago Club

Trump: ‘I’m Not Going To Commit’ To Not Using Military To Get Greenland, Panama Canal

Donald Trump

Executive

Greenland

Panama

Panama Canal

The U.S. military confirmed on Monday that it killed a senior member in the Islamic terror group Al-Shabaab late last year.
U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said the strike happened on December 24th in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia approximately 10km southwest of Quyno Barrow.
&#8220;The strike killed senior al-Shabaab leader, Mohamed Mire and another al-Shabaab [terrorist],&#8221; the statement said. &#8220;Mire, also known as Abu Abdirahman, was responsible for al-Shabaab’s regional governance in Somalia for the last 15 years.&#8221;
AFRICOM said that the Mire played a key role in the terrorist group&#8217;s strategic decision-making.
AFRICOM said that specifics of the mission could not be released due to operational security concerns.
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U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Michael Langley, AFRICOM commander, said that Al-Shabaab represented a &#8220;serious global threat&#8221; and that the U.S. would continue partnering &#8220;with like-minded nations in the region to combat them and other malign actors.&#8221;
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UPDATE: On Dec. 24, in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command conducted a precision airstrike approximately 10km southwest of Quyno Barrow that resulted in the death of senior al-Shabaab leader, Mohamed Mire and another al-Shabaab militant.
— U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) (@USAfricaCommand) <a href="https://twitter.com/USAfricaCommand/status/1876245833563418797?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
Voice of America News highlighted a <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/us-somali-operation-kills-10-al-shabab-militants/7926036.html">statement</a> from the Somali government that said 10 terrorists were killed in a strike coordinated with the U.S. government.
&#8220;Over 10 al-Shabaab terrorist militants were eliminated by our brave security forces with the help of @USAfricaCommand airstrikes, in Berhano village, approximately 35km from #Kismayo town,&#8221; the statement said. &#8220;Key terrorist outposts were destroyed during the operation, and no civilians were harmed.&#8221;

TOPSHOT-SOMALIA-UNREST-SHABAB

U.S. Kills Top Al-Shabaab Terrorist In Africa

Africa

Radical Islamic Terror

Terrorists

U.S. Navy veteran Harry Chandler, a medic who helped rescue injured service-members from the water during the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pearl-harbor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pearl Harbor</a> attack in 1941, died earlier this week at the age of 103. There are just 15 survivors of that devastating attack who now remain living.
Chandler, according to his grandson-in-law Ron Mahaffee, passed away in Florida at a senior living center, The Associated Press reported. It was also noted that while he had suffered from congestive heart failure, the cause of death was primarily attributed to his age.
&#8220;Pearl Harbor survivor Harry Chandler who passed away on Monday at the age of 103. Chandler was serving as a hospital corpsman 3rd class when the Japanese attacked on 7 Dec 1941. He boarded a boat and helped pull oil-covered sailors from the water,&#8221; the U.S. Naval Institute shared photos of Chandler on Wednesday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIP?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RIP</a> Pearl Harbor survivor Harry Chandler who passed away on Monday at the age of 103. Chandler was serving as a hospital corpsman 3rd class when the Japanese attacked on 7 Dec 1941. He boarded a boat and helped pull oil-covered sailors from the water. <a href="https://t.co/E97TtC3D4o">pic.twitter.com/E97TtC3D4o</a>
&mdash; U.S. Naval Institute (@NavalInstitute) <a href="https://twitter.com/NavalInstitute/status/1874626263492760063?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Chandler was interviewed about his experience when he returned to the Hawaiian naval base in 2023 for the 82nd anniversary of the attack, and he said that even eight decades later, the events of that terrible morning were still fresh in his mind.
&#8220;I look out there, and I can still see what’s going on. I can still see what was happening,&#8221; he told The AP.
The Sunday morning of the attack, Chandler told the outlet that he was raising the flag over an Aiea Heights mobile hospital near the base when he saw the planes coming in.
&#8220;I thought they were planes coming in from the states until I saw the bombs dropping,&#8221; Chandler explained, adding, &#8220;I was afraid that they’d start strafing.&#8221;
Ignoring his first instinct, which he said was to &#8220;get the hell out of here,&#8221; he first boarded a truck down to the base and then a boat out to the burning and damaged destroyers and carriers in the water. Once there, he assisted other medics in pulling injured sailors from the harbor, many of them coated in oil.
&#8220;It got so busy you weren’t scared. Weren’t scared at all. We were busy. It was after you got scared,&#8221; he explained, saying that there wasn&#8217;t really time to think about the fact that he could have been killed while there were lives to save. &#8220;But you didn’t think about that while you were busy taking care of people.&#8221;
According to Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors, only 15 survivors remain following Chandler&#8217;s passing.

74th Commemoration Of Attacks At Pearl Harbor Held In Hawaii

Pearl Harbor Survivor Has Died At 103, Only 15 Remain

Pearl Harbor

U.S. Navy

World War II

As we prepare to enter the new year, we’re taking you back to some of The Daily Wire’s best reporting from 2024. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-biden-harris-admin-paid-consultants-millions-to-help-military-implement-race-based-hiring-combat-resistance-to-dei" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on August 2. 
The Biden Defense Department paid outside organizations millions of taxpayer dollars to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, including race-based career advancement programs, in the U.S. military, documents shared exclusively with The Daily Wire reveal.
The documents, first obtained by the Functional Government Initiative, highlight the extent of the Pentagon’s efforts to embed leftwing, race-based ideology in the military, in partnership with academic institutions and consulting firms. The outside organizations received taxpayer dollars to set up hiring pipelines that gave candidates preferential treatment on the basis of race and sex, advise the government agency on DEI policy, and combat internal and external resistance to said policies.
The contracts are the latest evidence of the Biden administration’s push to impose DEI policies and practices throughout the federal government, including the military. Critics have blasted the administration for this push, arguing that their ideological focus detracts from military readiness and may even cause some Americans to sour on military service amid an ongoing recruiting crisis, compromising our national security in the process.
The Functional Government Initiative slammed the DOD’s decision to push a political agenda rather than focus on military readiness.
“The U.S. and its allies are facing challenges and threats all over the globe. Despite the increased concern for military preparedness, the DOD continues to prioritize DEI initiatives,” FGI spokesman Peter McGinnis told The Daily Wire.
“Rather than maximizing readiness training to ensure a capable military, the DOD’s training seems calculated to foster sowing internal discord with aggressive efforts to promote controversial ideologies,” McGinnis added. “Americans join the military to serve their nation and protect the homeland, not to sit through sensitivity training. The DOD owes them better.”
The Defense Department went beyond pushing DEI on members, paying academic institutions to build career pipelines that disadvantaged men and white people on the basis of their sex and race.
The Department of the Navy <a href="https://functionalgovernment.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Military-readiness-or-diversity-training-grant-doc-2.pdf">awarded</a> the University of Missouri Kansas City $760,000 to design a program that would give preferential treatment to non-white students and women in STEM applying for Defense Department jobs. The program’s designers openly acknowledged that it would give preferential treatment to applicants on the basis of their sex and race.
“To meet our equity-focused programmatic goals, campus internship selection will be equitable such that qualified applicants from underserved and underrepresented cohorts … will be provided first choice,” the designers said.
The Defense Department <a href="https://functionalgovernment.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Military-readiness-or-diveristy-training-contract-doc.pdf">awarded</a> Cornell University around $202,000 “to provide Diversity training that is mission imperative to ensure readiness and addressing discriminatory behavior from a cognitive perspective.” The DEI program sought to train 35 employees of the Air Force Materiel Command to deliver DEI training to an estimated 70,000 employees, with a focus on “counteracting unconscious bias,” “fostering an inclusive environment,” and “diversity and inclusion at work.”
The Defense Department also <a href="https://functionalgovernment.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Military-readiness-or-diversity-training-Air-force-grant.pdf">paid</a> the RAND Corporation an undisclosed sum of money for a project titled “Research and Analysis Support for the Department of Defense Board on Diversity and Inclusion.”
Among other things, RAND’s report offered the DOD advice on how to combat growing resistance to military DEI initiatives.
“Across organizations, a resistance to DE&amp;I is growing, while discriminatory and xenophobic expressions are increasing,” the report reads. “Some researchers describe the presence of ‘denial perspectives’ and ‘diversity defiance,’ or ‘White fatigue,’” the report went on to say before cautioning the Defense Department to “watch for” these perspectives “and exercise caution to guard against them.”
RAND urged the Department of the Air Force to “develop techniques and tools to mitigate resistance” to the DEI agenda among its employees and enlisted members.
The Defense Department paid DEI consulting agency <a href="https://www.bctpartners.com/insights-1">BCT Partners</a> just under $2 million in <a href="https://functionalgovernment.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Military-readiness-or-diversity-training-grant-doc.pdf">2021</a> to create a “DEI Action Plan” for DOD-operated schools, called the DOD Education Activity.
In its performance work statement, BCT deploys typical DEI boilerplate. It notes that Critical Race Theory “is an approach to grappling with a history of white supremacy” and ““Systematic racism [that] is part of the American life.” The document also decries “microaggressions” and “implicit bias.”
The Biden administration has continuously worked to embed the far-left DEI agenda throughout the federal government, from the military and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/internal-docs-show-entire-intelligence-community-warned-to-avoid-problematic-phrases-on-islamic-terrorism">intelligence community</a> to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-federal-guide-on-inclusive-language-tells-bureaucrats-to-ditch-gendered-terms-like-son-daughter">bureaucracy</a> writ-large. The Daily Wire previously revealed that the Pentagon requested nearly $270 million in taxpayer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-pentagon-slated-to-spend-nearly-270-million-on-diversity-agenda">funds for the DEI agenda</a> from 2022 to 2024 under the leftwing administration.
President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/02/16/executive-order-on-further-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/">signed</a> multiple <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/06/25/executive-order-on-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-accessibility-in-the-federal-workforce/">executive orders</a> institutionalizing the leftwing doctrine, and his federal agencies have even worked to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-biden-admin-enables-government-employees-to-change-genders">enable gender transition</a> attempts among government employees, barring the use of biologically accurate pronouns in the process.
Former President Donald Trump has pledged to gut the bureaucracy through <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/trump-presidency-schedule-f-federal-employees">executive orders</a> if he is reelected in November, cutting down the size of the administrative state and firing those who may otherwise work to undermine his policy agenda.
The contract between the DOD and the University of Missouri Kansas City was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pentagon-was-compelled-to-drop-discriminatory-dei-program-after-supreme-court-ruling">amended</a> to drop the race and sex-based preferences immediately following the Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action policies in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard in June 2023.

Biden Admin Paid Consultants Millions To Help Military Implement Race-Based Hiring

EXCLUSIVE: Biden Admin Paid Consultants Millions To Help Military Implement Race-Based Hiring

Biden Admin

This article was previously published on December 21, 2023.
Months after his return from combat, actor James &#8220;Jimmy&#8221; Stewart was still adrift — unmoored in the Hollywood he had previously called home, living with fellow veteran Henry Fonda, and waiting for film offers that just weren&#8217;t coming in.
After a couple of months had gone by, director <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-jimmy-stewart-book-mov-1202-20161201-column.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Frank Capra</a> — who had worked with Stewart before in 1936&#8217;s &#8220;You Can&#8217;t Take It With You&#8221; — first pitched &#8220;It&#8217;s a Wonderful Life.&#8221; A meeting was set, and Capra described the story to Stewart and his agent Lew Wasserman.
Stewart, who had been adamant about doing a comedy upon his return to Hollywood, was reportedly taken aback at first. &#8220;You want me to do what?&#8221; he asked, and according to Capra&#8217;s notes walked out of his initial pitch meeting. But Capra believed in the strength of the story — and he was equally adamant that Stewart was not just the right person to play George Bailey, he was the only person who could do it.
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Stewart eventually sat down to listen to Capra&#8217;s pitch in full, and he recalled the director&#8217;s awkward description of the story in a <a href="https://guideposts.org/positive-living/entertainment/movies-and-tv/guideposts-classics-james-stewart-on-its-a-wonderful-life/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1987 interview</a> for Guideposts.
&#8220;&#8216;Now, listen,&#8217; Frank began hesitantly. He seemed a little embarrassed. &#8216;The story starts in heaven, and it’s sort of the Lord telling somebody to go down to earth because there’s a fellow who’s in trouble, and this heavenly being goes to a small town, and … Well, what it boils down to is, this fella who thinks he’s a failure in life jumps off a bridge. The Lord sends down an angel named Clarence, who hasn’t earned his wings yet, and Clarence jumps into the water to save the guy. But the angel can’t swim, so the guy has to save him, and then … This doesn’t tell very well, does it?'&#8221;
The actor said his response was simple: &#8220;Frank, if you want to do a picture about a guy who jumps off a bridge and an angel named Clarence who hasn’t won his wings yet coming down to save him, well, I’m your man!&#8221;
<div id="attachment_478827" style="width: 777px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-478827" class="size-large wp-image-478827" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1187707423-767x576.jpg" alt="LOS ANGELES - DECEMBER 20: The movie &quot;It's a Wonderful Life&quot;, produced and directed by Frank Capra. Seen here from left, Henry Travers as Clarence and James Stewart as George Bailey. Premiered December 20, 1946; theatrical wide release January 7, 1947. Screen capture. Paramount Pictures. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)" width="767" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1187707423-767x576.jpg 767w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1187707423-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1187707423-768x577.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1187707423.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 767px) 100vw, 767px" />&#8220;It&#8217;s a Wonderful Life&#8221;, produced and directed by Frank Capra. Seen here from left, Henry Travers as Clarence and James Stewart as George Bailey. Paramount Pictures. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)</div>
For Capra and Stewart both, the film was a do or die project. For Stewart, it was his chance to prove that he still had something to give to fans. And Capra — who had also been away from Hollywood making movies for the War Department — believed so much in the story that he put everything on the line, even forming a new independent studio (Liberty Films) to produce it. But making the film was not without its difficulties. As actress Donna Reed — who played Mary Bailey to Stewart&#8217;s George Bailey — put it, &#8220;This was not a happy set.&#8221;
At one point, an agitated Stewart complained about the superficiality of Hollywood and acting in general, prompting veteran actor Lionel Barrymore — who plays the movie&#8217;s villain Mr. Henry F. Potter — to scold him: &#8220;So, are you saying it&#8217;s more worthwhile to drop bombs on people than to entertain them?&#8221;
<div id="attachment_478823" style="width: 777px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-478823" class="size-large wp-image-478823" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1187707402-767x576.jpg" alt="LOS ANGELES - DECEMBER 20: The movie &quot;It's a Wonderful Life&quot;, produced and directed by Frank Capra. Seen here from left, Lionel Barrymore as Henry F. Potter, Frank Hagney (in background) as Potter's Bodyguard and James Stewart as George Bailey. Premiered December 20, 1946; theatrical wide release January 7, 1947. Screen capture. Paramount Pictures. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)" width="767" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1187707402-767x576.jpg 767w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1187707402-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1187707402-768x577.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1187707402.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 767px) 100vw, 767px" />&#8220;It&#8217;s a Wonderful Life&#8221;, produced and directed by Frank Capra. Seen here from left, Lionel Barrymore as Henry F. Potter, Frank Hagney (in background) as Potter&#8217;s Bodyguard and James Stewart as George Bailey. Paramount Pictures. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)</div>
As Matzen explained in a <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-jimmy-stewart-book-mov-1202-20161201-column.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2016 interview</a> with The Chicago Tribune, Stewart appeared to funnel all the bottled up rage, anxiety, anger, fear, and frustration into the role — making his portrayal of a man on the brink truly blur the line between fiction and reality.
&#8220;There&#8217;s a scene in the movie where he questions his sanity and he&#8217;s got this wild look about him. That&#8217;s one scene that really struck me, watching it on the big screen. And the other scene that always made me uncomfortable, but now means so much more to me, is when he&#8217;s in his living room and he&#8217;s throwing things and screaming at his kids — and his wife and children look at him like, &#8216;Who is this man? Who is this monster?'&#8221; Matzen explained. &#8220;And that is so reflective of what millions of families faced, looking at these strangers who came back from the war with this rage. Stewart played it beautifully. He just lets it out.&#8221;
Stewart recalled a similar moment in the <a href="https://guideposts.org/positive-living/entertainment/movies-and-tv/guideposts-classics-james-stewart-on-its-a-wonderful-life/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guideposts interview</a>, when George Bailey turned to God in desperation — completely unaware that his entire town was also praying for him in the same moment.
&#8220;In agony I raise my eyes and, following the script, plead, &#8216;God … God … dear Father in heaven, I’m not a praying man, but if you’re up there and you can hear me, show me the way. I’m at the end of my rope. Show me the way, God …'&#8221; Stewart said, adding, &#8220;As I said those words, I felt the loneliness, the hopelessness of people who had nowhere to turn, and my eyes filled with tears. I broke down sobbing. This was not planned at all, but the power of that prayer, the realization that our Father in heaven is there to help the hopeless, had reduced me to tears.&#8221;
Capra, who loved spontaneity in his films, kept the powerful moment in the final cut — he even sacrificed some of the film quality to turn a wide shot into a close-up so that the audience could better see &#8220;George Bailey&#8217;s&#8221; pain.
The film was a resounding flop when it was released in 1947 — bringing in less than half of the expected box office haul — but still managed to impress the Academy. In addition to two technical nominations, Stewart received another Best Actor nod, Capra was nominated for directing, and the film was nominated for Best Picture. All five lost — and Capra&#8217;s newly-formed studio <a href="https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,793760,00.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Liberty Films quickly went under</a>.
<div id="attachment_478828" style="width: 775px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-478828" class="size-large wp-image-478828" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1187707436-765x576.jpg" alt="LOS ANGELES - DECEMBER 20: The movie &quot;It's a Wonderful Life&quot;, produced and directed by Frank Capra. Seen here from left, Donna Reed as Mary Hatch Bailey, James Stewart as George Bailey and Karolyn Grimes as Zuzu. Premiered December 20, 1946; theatrical wide release January 7, 1947. Screen capture. Paramount Pictures. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)" width="765" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1187707436-765x576.jpg 765w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1187707436-300x226.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1187707436-768x578.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1187707436.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 765px) 100vw, 765px" />&#8220;It&#8217;s a Wonderful Life&#8221;, produced and directed by Frank Capra. Seen here from left, Donna Reed as Mary Hatch Bailey, James Stewart as George Bailey and Karolyn Grimes as Zuzu. Paramount Pictures. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)</div>
&#8220;By the end of 1947 the film was quietly put on the shelf,&#8221; Stewart <a href="https://guideposts.org/positive-living/entertainment/movies-and-tv/guideposts-classics-james-stewart-on-its-a-wonderful-life/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recalled</a>, adding, &#8220;But a curious thing happened. The movie refused to stay on the shelf. Those who loved it loved it a lot, and they told others. They wouldn’t let it die any more than the angel Clarence would let George Bailey die. When it began to be shown on TV, a whole new audience fell in love with it.&#8221;
The fact that the movie appeared on television was actually the result of a probable <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2TYK2NfhJ6pmDqW8rfT4LCf/its-a-wonderful-life-from-festive-flop-to-christmas-classic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clerical error</a> that resulted in Republic Pictures — who owned the rights after Liberty Films collapsed — failing to apply for a copyright renewal in 1974. Because it was public domain, television studios quickly added it to their holiday line-ups. A Supreme Court decision nearly two decades later determined that the owner of the short story it was based on — &#8220;The Greatest Gift&#8221; — actually owned the copyright, and to this day, NBC is the only network licensed to show the movie on television.
But those twenty years meant that millions of people saw that film — and many of them came to love it and come back to it every year.
Stewart explained that he believed the thing that had truly resonated with the audience was the thing that had resonated with him all those years ago — revealing that of the 80-or-so films he had made in his career, &#8220;It&#8217;s a Wonderful Life&#8221; remained his favorite.
&#8220;Today, after some 40 years, I’ve heard the film called an American cultural phenomenon,'&#8221; Stewart told Guideposts. &#8220;Well, maybe so, but it seems to me there is nothing phenomenal about the movie itself. It’s simply about an ordinary man who discovers that living each ordinary day honorably, with faith in God and a selfless concern for others, can make for a truly wonderful life.&#8221;

One of the Final Scenes from Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life

Jimmy Stewart, A World At War, And Why ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ Was Almost Less Wonderful: Part II

Celebrities

Entertainment

Hollywood

PTSD

In 1955, Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup had a very important job. It was the height of the Cold War, and Shoup was working at the Continental Air Defense Command — now known as the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
One December day, his phone rang, but it wasn&#8217;t his regular phone. It was the red phone — the phone that had a <a href="https://kdvr.com/news/local/wrong-number-started-norad-santa-tracker/">number so secret</a> that only he and a four-star general at the <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/disney-hires-obama-era-pentagon-spokesperson-to-build-on-companys-strong-reputation/">Pentagon</a> knew of its existence. But when he answered the phone, a child was on the other end.
&#8220;Is this Santa Claus?&#8221; the child asked. <a href="https://www.coloradoan.com/story/life/2018/12/21/santa-tracker-creator-norad-colonel-christmas/2369617002/">Shoup</a>, according to his children — Terri Van Keuren, Rick Shoup, Pam Farrel — was initially surprised and annoyed, but when the child began to cry, he quickly changed his tone. He said, &#8220;Ho, ho, ho,&#8221; and asked the child whether he had been good — and then he asked to speak to a parent.
<a href="https://www.npr.org/2014/12/19/371647099/norads-santa-tracker-began-with-a-typo-and-a-good-sport">NPR reported</a>:
<blockquote>His children remember Shoup as straight-laced and disciplined, and he was annoyed and upset by the call and thought it was a joke — but then, Terri says, the little voice started crying.
&#8220;And Dad realized that it wasn&#8217;t a joke,&#8221; her sister says. &#8220;So he talked to him, ho-ho-ho&#8217;d and asked if he had been a good boy and, &#8216;May I talk to your mother?&#8217; And the mother got on and said, &#8216;You haven&#8217;t seen the paper yet? There&#8217;s a phone number to call Santa. It&#8217;s in the Sears ad.&#8217; Dad looked it up, and there it was, his red phone number. And they had children calling one after another, so he put a couple of airmen on the phones to act like Santa Claus.&#8221;
&#8220;It got to be a big joke at the command center. You know, &#8216;The old man&#8217;s really flipped his lid this time. We&#8217;re answering Santa calls,&#8217; &#8221; Terri says.</blockquote>
The joke took another turn when, on Christmas Eve of 1955, several of the Airmen under Shoup&#8217;s command drew a sleigh and eight reindeer on the glass board that they normally used to track the paths of airplanes over U.S. and Canadian airspace.
According to Terri, Shoup saw the drawing and asked, &#8220;What is that?&#8221;
The airmen said it was just a joke, apologizing and offering to take it down.
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&#8220;Dad looked at it for a while, and next thing you know, Dad had called the radio station and had said, &#8216;This is the commander at the Combat Alert Center, and we have an unidentified flying object. Why, it looks like a sleigh.&#8217; Well, the radio stations would call him like every hour and say, &#8216;Where&#8217;s Santa now?'&#8221; Terri told NPR, adding, &#8220;And later in life he got letters from all over the world, people saying, &#8216;Thank you, Colonel,&#8217; for having, you know, this sense of humor. And in his 90s, he would carry those letters around with him in a briefcase that had a lock on it like it was top-secret information. You know, he was an important guy, but this is the thing he&#8217;s known for.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s probably the thing he was proudest of, too,&#8221; her brother agreed.
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In the years since, NORAD has embraced the tradition. Call centers are operational and children can call from all over the world to see where Santa is as he makes his grand journey delivering gifts around the world in a single night.
Santa&#8217;s 2024 journey is already underway and can be tracked on X at @NORADSanta.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NORAD?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NORAD</a> has received reports from Defense Support Satellites indicating Santa has lifted off! Start tracking his journey with us at <a href="https://t.co/Zmnvc5vhPq">https://t.co/Zmnvc5vhPq</a> 🎄 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NORADTracksSanta?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NORADTracksSanta</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NTS24?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NTS24</a> <a href="https://t.co/necBYBkpez">pic.twitter.com/necBYBkpez</a>
&mdash; NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) <a href="https://twitter.com/NoradSanta/status/1871512429005336615?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

US-CANADA-MILITARY-HOLIDAY-CHRISTMAS-OFFBEAT-GOVERNMENT

‘The Santa Colonel’: The Air Force Officer Who Turned A Sears Ad Typo Into A Holiday Tradition

Air Force

Christmas

Santa Claus

This article was previously published on December 24, 2023.
Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe and his men — many from the 101st Airborne Division, along with some stragglers from Pennsylvania&#8217;s 28th Infantry Division (known as &#8220;The Bloody Bucket&#8221;) and the 9th Armored &#8220;Phantom&#8221; Division — spent Christmas of 1944 in the Belgian city of Bastogne, surrounded by an ever-encroaching enemy and greatly outnumbered.
On December 22, the German commander sent word to McAuliffe, informing him that he and his troops were surrounded and demanding that they surrender. He warned the American general that if he did not surrender, the attack would be swift and merciless — and he promised that the inevitable civilian casualties would be blamed on the Americans.
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McAuliffe responded to the German threat with just one word: &#8220;Nuts!&#8221; And, as promised, the German army began to tighten its grip on <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/watch-world-war-ii-veteran-breaks-into-song-during-ceremony-honoring-his-service-in-belgium/">Bastogne</a>. Machine-gun fire and approaching tanks met any American soldier who approached the perimeter, and Junkers Ju 88 bombers flew over the city as visibility allowed. The Germans also blanketed the area with pamphlets promising relief from the hunger and frigid conditions to anyone who surrendered.
And so it was that on Christmas Eve, McAuliffe sent a letter to rally his troops:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
75 years ago this Christmas Eve, Gen. Anthony McAuliffe wrote this letter to his troops during the Battle of the Bulge. Today we remember the service members who served during the holidays both then and now and wish you a Merry Christmas! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoVeteranEverDies?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NoVeteranEverDies</a> <a href="https://t.co/VuYyhYqqVj">pic.twitter.com/VuYyhYqqVj</a>
— National Cemeteries (@VANatCemeteries) <a href="https://twitter.com/VANatCemeteries/status/1209458808587784192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2019</a></blockquote>
McAuliffe&#8217;s letter began with the heading &#8220;Merry Christmas&#8221;:
<blockquote>What’s Merry about all this, you ask? We’re fighting — it’s cold, we aren’t home. All true but what has the proud Eagle Division accomplished with its worthy comrades the 10th Armored Division, the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion and all the rest? Just this: We have stopped cold everything that has been thrown at us from the North, East, South and West. We have identifications from four German Panzer Divisions, two German Infantry Divisions and one German Parachute Division. These units, spearheading the last desperate German lunge, were headed straight west for key points when the Eagle Division was hurriedly ordered to stem the advance. How effectively this was done will be written in history; not alone in our Division’s glorious history but in World history. The Germans actually did surround us, their radios blared our doom. Their Commander demanded our surrender in the following impudent arrogance:
To the U. S. A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne.
The fortune of war is changing. This time the U. S. A. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units. More German armored units have crossed the river Ourthe near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompres-Sibret-Tillet. Libramont is in German hands.
There is only one possibility to save the encircled U. S. A. Troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town. In order to think it over a term of two hours will be granted beginning with the presentation of this note.
If this proposal should be rejected the German Artillery Corps and six heavy A. A. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U. S. A. Troops in and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hour’s term.
All the serious civilian losses caused by this Artillery fire would not correspond with the well known American humanity.
The German Commander
The German Commander received the following reply:
22 December 1944
“To the German Commander:
N U T S !
The American Commander”
Allied Troops are counterattacking in force. We continue to hold Bastogne. By holding Bastogne we assure the success of the Allied Armies. We know that our Division Commander, General Taylor, will say: “Well Done!”
We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present and being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms are truly making for ourselves a Merry Christmas.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
73 years ago, the US <a href="https://twitter.com/101stAASLTDIV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@101stAASLTDIV</a> was surrounded at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bastogne?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bastogne</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Belgium?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Belgium</a> over the Christmas time during the December 1944 Battle of the Bulge. Here is Gen. McAuliffe&#8217;s historic Christmas letter <a href="https://t.co/BHR6MsHjMj">https://t.co/BHR6MsHjMj</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WW2Nation?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WW2Nation</a> <a href="https://t.co/IEpjyM3fmv">pic.twitter.com/IEpjyM3fmv</a>
— Pascal Heyman (@PascalHeyman) <a href="https://twitter.com/PascalHeyman/status/945012709669703680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2017</a></blockquote>
That night, the Junkers dropped one-ton bombs on the city of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/12/23/christmas-eve-snow-turned-red-with-blood/">Bastogne</a>. They destroyed a makeshift hospital, killing dozens of wounded soldiers, nurses, and medics. But McAuliffe&#8217;s men held the city, earning for the 101st Airborne Division the nickname &#8220;The Battered Bastards of Bastogne.&#8221;
General George S. Patton arrived the day after Christmas, bringing with him the necessary strength to break the siege and relieve McAuliffe&#8217;s men.

Band Of Brothers Movie Still

Read The Letter General Anthony McAuliffe Sent Exhausted, Surrounded Men At The Battle Of The Bulge

This article was previously published on December 20, 2023.
The beloved Christmas classic film &#8220;It&#8217;s a Wonderful Life&#8221; was the movie that brought a beleaguered and combat-weary actor James &#8220;Jimmy&#8221; Stewart back to fans after the war — but it may have also been the movie that brought a desperate man back from the brink.
<a href="https://www.life.com/people/jimmy-stewart-photos-of-a-world-war-ii-hero-homecoming-1945/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Maitland Stewart</a> was preparing to go to war for several years before he was drafted in 1941. He earned a civilian pilot&#8217;s license in the hopes that the Army would let him fly — and he even took a trip to Europe in 1939 to get a feel for the landscape, knowing that it was likely he would end up there at some point.
By the time the Empire of Japan launched its surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Stewart had already attempted to join the Army. Rejected once in 1940 because he was underweight, the always-slim actor attempted to pack on a few pounds and ultimately turned to a doctor for a note explaining that he was just genetically predisposed to be thin.
Biographer Robert Matzen — who wrote &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mission-Jimmy-Stewart-Fight-Europe/dp/0996274057/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=jimmy+stewart+and+the+fight+for+europe&amp;qid=1621538823&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe</a>&#8221; — explained, &#8220;Step by step, he set himself up to end up in England in a bomb group. One of those steps was taken years before he was drafted, and that was when he became a star in Hollywood and bought a plane that was an army trainer and proceeded to learn to fly and train, and log hours on that plane so that he could be a pilot when the war came.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_478319" style="width: 461px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-478319" class="size-large wp-image-478319" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1337627840-451x576.jpg" alt="Portrait of American actor lieutenant colonel James Stewart (1908 - 1997), 1944. He had just been named chief of staff of a Liberator bomber combat wing, and recently had been awarded both the Oak Leaf Cluster and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service. (Photo by US Army/PhotoQuest/Getty Images)" width="451" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1337627840-451x576.jpg 451w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1337627840-235x300.jpg 235w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1337627840-768x982.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1337627840.jpg 801w" sizes="(max-width: 451px) 100vw, 451px" />Portrait of American actor lieutenant colonel James Stewart (1908 &#8211; 1997), 1944. US Army/PhotoQuest/Getty Images.</div>
Stewart&#8217;s determination — and his pre-war preparations — did not pay off immediately, however. The actor, who was fresh off his Best Actor win in 1940&#8217;s &#8220;The Philadelphia Story,&#8221; was initially drafted to appear in film reels and enlistment propaganda films — but eventually he demanded to see combat alongside his other draftees.
Stewart eventually got what he asked for, rising through the ranks from buck private to major in just four years and earning a spot in the cockpit of a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber known as Dixie Flyer. He flew dozens of missions over Germany, some as command pilot, and earned both a Distinguished Service Medal and a Distinguished Flying Cross.
But toward the end of the 8th Air Force&#8217;s <a href="https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/mission/8th-air-force-226-big-week-day-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Big Week</a> in early 1944 — a six-day mission in late February originally named Operation Argument and designed to decimate the German Luftwaffe in preparation for the D-Day invasion — things <a href="https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/jimmy-stewart-ww2-mission-air-force/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">went sideways</a>. Stewart was on his 10th mission as a leader and serving as co-pilot when his plane was hit. The German flak left a sizable hole in the fuselage of his plane — just inches from his feet. And while he and his pilot were able to recover, when the smoke cleared from the cockpit, they had to watch as another in their squadron took a similar strike, lost a wing, and plummeted toward the ground.
Stewart was not the same after that and was eventually grounded. At the time, his condition was referred to as &#8220;flak-happy,&#8221; &#8220;shell-shock,&#8221; or &#8220;combat fatigue&#8221; — but today&#8217;s doctors might have diagnosed the decorated pilot with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
&#8220;He wasn&#8217;t afraid of bombs or bullets. He was afraid of making a mistake and causing someone to die. That was his endless stress, and that&#8217;s what ended up grounding him,&#8221; Matzen wrote.
<div id="attachment_478808" style="width: 744px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-478808" class="size-large wp-image-478808" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-515219828-734x576.jpg" alt="(Original Caption) 9/1/1945-New York, New York-Just like any serviceman returning from the war, Colonel James Stewart was greeted by his proud parents, who journeyed from Indiana, PA, to see their son after his arrival aboard the Queen Elizabeth. A veteran of a year and a half overseas with the 8th Air Force, Colonel Stewart, in his last command, was senior officer over approximately 9,000 men. Here he is shown with his parents at the St. Regis Hotel." width="734" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-515219828-734x576.jpg 734w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-515219828-300x236.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-515219828-768x603.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-515219828.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 734px) 100vw, 734px" />(Original Caption) 9/1/1945-New York, New York-Just like any serviceman returning from the war, Colonel James Stewart was greeted by his proud parents, who journeyed from Indiana, PA, to see their son after his arrival aboard the Queen Elizabeth. Getty Images.</div>
He returned home to his proud parents in Pennsylvania. On the outside, he was a war hero; on the inside, he was nearly broken.
Surviving on little more than peanut butter and ice cream — he struggled to keep any solid foods down — Stewart&#8217;s already thin frame became painfully so. Still, he decided after a short time at home that what he really needed was to get back to work.
&#8220;I have to go back and face Hollywood. I&#8217;ve been away for five years, other people are taking my roles,&#8221; he said — but when he got there, he quickly realized that the landscape had changed and so had he. Stewart ended up sharing an apartment with fellow actor Henry Fonda, who had also recently returned after serving in the Pacific.
<div id="attachment_478811" style="width: 427px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-478811" class="size-large wp-image-478811" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-103354640-417x576.jpg" alt="Lt. Henry Fonda (1905 - 1982) during his military service on board the USS Bearss, summer 1945. (Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images)" width="417" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-103354640-417x576.jpg 417w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-103354640-217x300.jpg 217w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-103354640.jpg 742w" sizes="(max-width: 417px) 100vw, 417px" />Lt. Henry Fonda (1905 &#8211; 1982) during his military service on board the USS Bearss, summer 1945. (Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images)</div>
&#8220;I had been away from the film business, my MGM contract had run out and, frankly, not knowing how to get started again, I was just a little bit scared,&#8221; Stewart described the precarious nature of his situation in a 1987 interview with Guideposts. &#8220;Hank Fonda was in the same boat, and we sort of wandered around together, talking, flying kites and stuff. But nothing much was happening.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-jimmy-stewart-book-mov-1202-20161201-column.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stewart</a> got only one offer in those early weeks. His former boss and MGM exec Louis B. Mayer proposed a biopic capitalizing on the star&#8217;s military service. &#8220;Let&#8217;s do &#8216;The Jimmy Stewart Story&#8217; — we can show you flying over Frankfurt, we can show you as a military hero,&#8221; Mayer said. Stewart&#8217;s answer was an unequivocal &#8220;No,&#8221; and he flatly refused to discuss the matter further.
Director Frank Capra, an Italian immigrant who had been naturalized after serving in World War I, had also spent <a href="https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/director-frank-capra-goes-to-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">time away from Hollywood</a> during the war. As soon as Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Marshall got wind of Capra&#8217;s enlistment, he had him commissioned as a major and assigned to report to him personally.
<div id="attachment_478955" style="width: 782px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-478955" class="size-large wp-image-478955" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-931704116-772x576.jpg" alt="Italian-American film director Frank Capra (1897 - 1991) as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the US Army, during a stay in London, World War II, 19th August 1943. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)" width="772" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-931704116-772x576.jpg 772w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-931704116-300x224.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-931704116-768x573.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-931704116.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 772px) 100vw, 772px" />Italian-American film director Frank Capra (1897 &#8211; 1991) as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the US Army, during a stay in London, World War II, 19th August 1943. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)</div>
&#8220;To win this war we must win the battle for men’s minds,&#8221; Marshall told Capra in one of their early meetings. &#8220;I want to nail down with you a plan to make a series of documented, factual-information films – the first in our history – that will explain to our boys in the Army why we are fighting, and the principles for which we are fighting.&#8221;
Capra protested, explaining that he had never made any film that could be considered a &#8220;documentary.&#8221;
Marshall responded with the gruff bluster that he was known for, saying, &#8220;Capra, I have never been chief of staff before. Thousands of young Americans have never had their legs shot off before. Boys are commanding ships today, who a year ago had never seen the ocean before.&#8221;
&#8220;I’m sorry, sir. I’ll make you the best damned documentary films ever made,&#8221; was Capra&#8217;s reply.
But when it was all over, Capra returned to Hollywood in much the same state as Stewart: adrift, and wondering if he still had what it took to deliver what the fans wanted.

It’s A Wonderful Life

Jimmy Stewart, A World At War, And Why ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ Was Almost Less Wonderful: Part I

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