“You, Sir, Are a No-Go”

January 14, 2025

Scenes from Hegseth’s hearing ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

January 14, 2025

Greetings, Meteor readers,

For anyone trying to get help while navigating the wildfires in California, we want to point you to this master document of resources, shelters, and distribution hubs created by Sarah Vitti and Bianca Wilson. And if you’re not in the LA area but you’re looking for ways to help, you can see what’s needed here.

In today’s newsletter, we tune in to the Pete Hegseth hearing. Plus, some good news for Bad Bunny fans.

With love,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

When politics and theater collide: Today was the Senate confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, who is auditioning to become our next Secretary of Defense on this week’s episode of America’s Next Top Menace. Now normally, a confirmation hearing for a drunken, underqualified, racist TV personality (who’s also an alleged rapist) would be incredibly high stakes. The kind of event that would rivet the nation, that I would halt my entire workday to watch. (In fact, we all did just that a few years ago.)

But when you’ve already watched an underqualified, racist, former TV personality (who’s also an alleged rapist!) get elected president twice, you’re probably less likely to drop everything to watch history repeat itself on C-SPAN. And given the new GOP control of the Senate, today felt like a fruitless piece of political theater.

Hegseth during the January 14th Senate confirmation hearing

HEGSETH REACHING FOR A POINT TO MAKE AND FINDING NOTHING BUT AIR. (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

But it was also necessary. True, the hearings may not prevent Hegseth from getting a job for which he has no aptitude. But if nothing else, the record will show that Hegseth stood in front of a group of senators who confronted him with his utter lack of leadership experience; the allegations of workplace misconduct, sexual assault, and financial mismanagement against him; and the “insufficient” FBI investigation of Hegseth ahead of his nomination. (According to the Washington Post, the FBI did not even interview the woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017 as part of the vetting process. Sounds familiar.)

Some of the harshest questioning came from women senators demanding that Hegseth answer for his “degrading” statements about women in the military. He chose to deny, saying, “I’ve never disparaged women serving in the military.” So to clarify: when he went on a podcast and said “we should not have women in combat roles” and when he wrote in his book “women cannot physically meet the same standards as men,” he didn’t say it in a degrading way. He was merely commenting on the lower standards the military has adopted in order to accommodate women! Sure, Jan.

His comments on standards didn’t fly with Senator Tammy Duckworth, who is also a veteran—and, as a retired Lieutenant Colonel, outranks Hegseth. “You say you care about keeping our Armed Forces strong and that you like our Armed Forces’ meritocracy,” she told Hegseth. “Then let’s not lower the standards for you. You, sir, are a no-go at this station.”

AND:

This morning, Special Counsel Jack Smith—who was slated to try Donald Trump over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election but dismissed the case after Trump’s re-election—made his final report on the investigation public. And PHEW, there’s a lot in there! The major takeaway is that Smith was certain that, were it not for Trump’s election victory, “the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.” The report goes into detail about the ways in which Trump and his accomplices knowingly spread lies about the election, with a clear emphasis on the fact that Trump knew and admitted to others that what he was telling the American people was untrue—and that he also used those lies to pressure election officials.

Since the devastating LA fires began last week, more than 40,000 acres have been burned and more than 12,000 structures destroyed. LA mayor Karen Bass has come under heavy scrutiny for her public response by just about everyone from Khloe Kardashian to her detractors at the LA Times. But while Bass is politically and literally in the line of fire, Governor Gavin Newsom is taking an unwarranted victory lap by announcing that he will rebuild LA in time for the city to host the upcoming World Cup, Super Bowl, and Olympics. Gavin, maybe we should wait until people’s homes aren’t actively on fire before we start discussing parties?
Today the House passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025. The misleading title is tacked onto an anti-trans bill that bans all transgender girls and women from competing in sports at the K-12 level. Reuters reports that the bill “proposes to amend the landmark 1972 Title IX legislation that outlawed sex-based discrimination to force schools to follow strict gender definitions ‘based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.’” It’s now up to the Senate to decide just how far they want to go with stripping the rights of trans children and teenagers.
Bad Bunny continues to be a hometown hero. Yesterday the singer announced a 21-show residency, beautifully titled “No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí,” at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico. What makes this even more special is that the first nine shows will be exclusive to Puerto Rican residents through an in-person pre-sale. Sorry to all of us traveling from Nuevayol, but non-resident shows won’t begin until August.

ICYMI: Among the flurry of changes Meta went through last week (similar to the second puberty its founder is experiencing), the company removed some of its restrictions on what is considered “hateful conduct.” Thanks to these changes, users are now free to call LGBTQ+ people “mentally ill” as well as refer to women as “household objects or property or objects in general.” Just adding this note here for my owner husband: If I’m going to be referred to as a household object, I’d like to be the green KitchenAid stand mixer.