Originally published at: Trump’s Retribution Requires a New Way of Covering Bogus Criminal Cases
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. The Old Journalism Doesn’t Work in the Current Moment With the not-at-all-surprising-but-still-dismaying news that newly appointed U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan will seek an indictment of former FBI Director James Comey on bogus charges…
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WaPo exclusive
Hegseth orders rare, urgent meeting of hundreds of generals, admirals
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered hundreds of the U.S. military’s generals and admirals to gather on short notice — and without a stated reason — at a Marine Corps base in Virginia next week, sowing confusion and alarm after the Trump administration’s firing of numerous senior leaders this year.
The highly unusual directive was sent to virtually all of the military’s top commanders worldwide
The Pentagon has summoned military officials from around the world for a gathering in Virginia. Even top generals and their staffs don’t know the reason for the meeting.
Martial law or declaring war? 800 generals and top brass from around the world?
Coming in just ahead of the government shutdown.
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Today, Chicago. Tomorrow, Greenland. Probably he’ll tell them that they all have to wear a MAGA insignia under their campaign ribbons or suchlike.
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A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo
With one story. What were the other things…???
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Another Tulsi screw up when she pulled security clearances without letting anyone know.
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These people are not America. They’re far superior to that. They are are a NYT focus group with stealth Republican operatives.
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Who knows with Whiskey Pete in charge. I’m worried anytime Kegsbreath does anything with the military.
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The memo, written by Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg on May 29 and sent to all the military services, says reserve troops now will need to be on active duty for 30 days or more before being required to get an annual flu shot. It also says the military will no longer be paying for reservists or National Guard members to get the vaccine on their own time.
So when the flu runs through the ranks at a location…So much for “battle ready”
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Jimmy’s numbers have rebounded.
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(3) The traditional journalistic practices for covering [fill in the blank] are not up to the task
and have not been for 30 years. It’s why we’re where we are.
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I actually appreciate the thought that went into Kurtz’s analysis on how to cover, and by extension, interpret what we see and hear from the government and in the press vis a vis the corruption and power grabs TSF and his minions are engaged in. Puts a base under everything else that is going on. JMO
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But this could have been released as a very good stand-alone story. The MM Is supposed to be a news summary of the day’s events, as stated in their prologue that I shared.
The story is important, but it’s not representative of a Morning Memo.
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This doesn’t sound good. What an amazing target for terrorists or bad international actors. Right up there with Putin’s repeated losses of top staff congregated in easily targeted locations. And that doesn’t even address whatever TSF and Hegseth have on tap.
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https://archaeologymag.com/2025/08/diseases-that-decimated-napoleons-army-in-1812/
A team of researchers has uncovered the first direct genetic evidence identifying two infectious diseases that caused the terrible losses of Napoleon Bonaparte’s army in its retreat from Russia in 1812. The findings, released as a preprint on bioRxiv, challenge a long-standing assumption that epidemic typhus was the major cause of death among the retreating army.
This study not only solves part of a 200-year-old mystery but also reminds us that, in war, disease has repeatedly proven to be as deadly as any weapon.
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Yesterday the rain took a respite and we finally began our rehearsals for A Lake Story. It’s a celebration of Lake Ontario. On Saturday and Sunday we will have 120 identical canoes, two paddlers and a flag bearer in each.
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Doesn’t sound good, but it could be anything with that clown Hegseth in chage of the circus. Best case scenario: He has new ridiculous rules about dealing with the press, or new dress codes and haircut rules, and he wants to make sure everyone gets the message.
Worst case scenario, requiring all US bases everywhere to be on high alert? We’re either invading Venezuela, or assisting Israel in airlifting all Palestinians out of Gaza and sending them to some African country.
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Well, now the Russians know when to attack us, and the Chinese know when to take Taiwan.
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