TV News LIES

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth is putting his stamp on religion and its role in the military.

He tossed out the Army's spiritual fitness guide in December, lamenting its lack of explicit references to God in favor of broader spirituality. He's held Christian prayer services at the Pentagon with controversial pastors and framed elements of the war in Iran in biblical terms.

He announced in March that the Pentagon would reduce the number of recognized religious affiliation codes, which are used in part to connect service members with necessary faith resources, and that military chaplains would no longer display, but still retain, their rank insignia.

The shakeups continued in April..

On the same day Hegseth asked Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and immediately retire, two other high-ranking officials were ousted, including Maj. Gen. William Green Jr., the Army’s chief of chaplains.

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When Kevin Benderman learned that the U.S. had entered a war with Iran, his mind teleported back about 20 years to Fort Hood, Texas — the day he received orders to deploy to Iraq. 

That deployment profoundly changed Benderman, an Army veteran now living in Augusta, Ga. Despite coming from a long line of military service, he said nothing prepared him for the trauma and loss that he endured.

" I'm just nervous and upset about what I know the young service members are going to be facing when they are in Iran and what they're already facing," he said.

That worry led him to drive to Washington D.C. earlier this week. He was joined by over 150 veterans and military families who occupied the Cannon House Office Building to call for an end to the war. The demonstration on Monday was abruptly ended by Capitol Police, who arrested a total of 66 people. About Face, a veteran group who helped organize the protest, said everyone arrested has been released.

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A US soldier who played a role in the January capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro is now in custody after allegedly cashing in over $400,000 on wagers about the politician’s removal from office, federal authorities announced on Thursday.

Prosecutors say beginning in early December the soldier, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, was involved in planning for the military operation to capture and depose Maduro.

Between early December and early January, Van Dyke allegedly placed 13 bets on Polymarket, a popular prediction market, related to American forces invading Venezuela and taking its head of state.

Van Dyke has been charged with commodities and wire fraud in addition to unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, according to the Department of Justice (DoJ). He is facing up to 60 years in prison.

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Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is holding up hundreds of Coast Guard promotions over an issue with Eastern Shipbuilding Group, a Florida shipbuilder.

In a statement to The Hill on Wednesday, Scott said he has questions about what happened with contracts with the company since President Trump took office and “they haven’t been answered yet.”

Eastern Shipbuilding Group, based in Panama City, in 2016 won a multibillion-dollar deal with the Coast Guard to deliver four new Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPC).

But the company, which was supposed to deliver the first such ship in June 2023, hit several snags in production. Then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last year decided to cut the order from four down to two vessels, citing “failing to meet delivery agreements.”

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Dozens of US military veterans, some with visible disabilities, were arrested on Monday during a protest against the ongoing US-Israeli war against Iran. Approximately 60 veterans and family members gathered in the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill, many wearing military fatigues. They unfurled banners reading “End the War on Iran” and “We Can’t Afford Another War” while standing stoically at attention.

The group held a flag-folding ceremony to honor American service members who have died in the conflict and those who might be killed if fighting resumes. Several protesters held red tulip flowers in memory of Iranians killed since the war began on Feb. 28.

Mike Prysner, executive director of the Center on Conscience and War (CCW), was among those arrested. Before his detention, he said: “This war is already deeply unpopular, and it is already a crisis for the Trump administration.” Prysner noted that more than 100 service members have already filed as conscientious objectors, adding: “If even more stand up, and some speak out, we have a real chance of deepening this crisis for Trump in a way that forces them to pull back from this war.” According to the center, roughly five dozen protesters were arrested by US Capitol Police for civil disobedience.

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The U.S. has seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz after firing on its engine room, President Trump said in a post on social media.

Trump wrote that the U.S. Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS Spruance intercepted the Touska in the Gulf of Oman.

The U.S. Navy "gave them fair warning to stop. The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

He said U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel and that it is "under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity."

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