this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2026
286 points (100.0% liked)

politics

28225 readers
2316 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

A federal judge on Thursday shut down Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s attempts to punish Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly over his urging of US service members to refuse illegal orders, ruling that the Pentagon chief’s actions were unconstitutionally retaliatory.

The decision landed two days after a grand jury in Washington, DC, declined to approve charges sought by federal prosecutors against the Arizona senator and several other Democratic lawmakers who taped a video last year warning that “threats to our Constitution” are coming “from right here at home,” and repeatedly implored service members and the intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders.”

Together, the grand jury declination and ruling from senior US District Judge Richard Leon represent major impediments to efforts by aides of Donald Trump to use the levers of government to punish Kelly, a retired Navy captain and former astronaut, over his participation in the video.

top 10 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Soulphite@reddthat.com 65 points 1 day ago

Yeah, no shit.

This entire administration is unlawfully retaliating against all it's enemies. The nazi pedophiles biggest revenge tour to date.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Every time this story is mentioned it should include that Pete Hegseth was recorded on video saying the same thing he attacked Mark Kelly for.

[–] santa@sh.itjust.works 3 points 17 hours ago

When MSNOW has reported on this story they note it and play the tape every time.

[–] My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

In my fantasy land, hypocrites get held accountable for their hypocrisy.

[–] foggy@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Hey judge, did you know you are one of the only people that can hold him accountable for having done something "unlawfully," as you described?

[–] dhork@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I don't know about that. I was kind of hoping this would make it to a military tribunal.

Now, I was never in the military and don't have my inside knowledge of how it all works like some of you do. But if they claim to have the authority to recall a sitting congressman to active duty and demote him, can't the tribunal do the same thing to the SecDef? If I were writing the script, I would have the tribunal haul Major Hegseth in and give him the lecture on illegal orders that he obviously missed while in the Army National Guard.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Maybe, but not at the same time as he’s deciding the first case. With thus judge’s opinion, Kelly can file a civil suit to bilk and embarrass Drinky Pete but only the corrupt DoJ can bring criminal charges (or military, but I dunno how that works).

[–] lesinge@sh.itjust.works 7 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

"...[Kelly] urging service members not to obey unlawful orders that could be issued by the Trump administration."

Justice dept. interpretation:

"When viewed in totality, your pattern of conduct demonstrates specific intent to counsel servicemembers to refuse lawful orders."

Jfc. 🤡

[–] My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Well that's good. Sad and disgusting this little episode of power abuse ever happened, but it's nice to see Major Dickhead get shut down for being a (unlawful) major dickhead. Thanks for wasting lots of the country's time and money to produce nothing of any value, Peter.