AJ Van Handel

“No just cause is futile, even if it’s lost, if it helps make the future better than the past." - John McCain

Wrecking America in a holistic way so it will take generations to recover

This is the part that keeps getting buried under the raw numbers. Hegseth spent months pressuring Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to remove four decorated colonels from the one-star promotion list. Two Black men. Two women. Driscoll refused, because their records demanded it. So Hegseth pulled their names himself… which legal experts say he likely had no authority to do. The defense secretary is supposed to approve or reject the entire list, precisely to prevent this kind of targeted discrimination. Then Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George - the Army’s top officer - asked to meet with Hegseth to discuss the blocked promotions. Hegseth refused to meet. Refused to discuss his decisions at all. Then he fired George. Whose term wasn’t supposed to end until September 2027. Nine U.S. officials across all four branches confirmed the NBC reporting. “There is not a single service that has been immune,” one said. The officers’ attributes being cited for removal include past support for Covid vaccine mandates… and association with Mark Milley. The Pentagon’s response to every outlet that asked: “fake news.” They didn’t dispute a single name.

The Presidential Records Act was written in 1978 for one reason: Nixon tried to claim his White House documents as personal property on his way out the door. Congress said no. Presidential records belong to the public. Forty-eight years later, Trump’s Justice Department just said that law is unconstitutional. The opinion came from T. Elliot Gaiser - Assistant AG at the Office of Legal Counsel, former clerk to Samuel Alito. His finding: the PRA “unconstitutionally intrudes on the independence and autonomy of the President.” Trump accordingly does not need to comply with it. This is the same law Trump repeatedly cited to defend himself after he was indicted in 2023 for keeping classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. He argued the PRA let him keep the material. Now his own DOJ says the law isn’t valid at all. OLC opinions bind the executive branch. Courts can override them. But until one does, the administration has told itself it has no legal obligation to preserve emails, texts, phone records… anything. Nixon at least tried to hide what he was doing. This is just saying it out loud.

Nichols is identifying something the Sunday shows keep dancing around. Hegseth doesn't just distrust senior officers. He's systematically dismantling the institutional buffer between a commander-in-chief and a personal army... and using scripture as the solvent. During an Iran war briefing he told Americans to pray to Jesus for U.S. forces. Days later he read a Pentagon sermon praying "wicked souls" be delivered to "eternal damnation." He restructured the Chaplain Corps so chaplains now display religious affiliation instead of rank. The "Deus Vult" tattoo on his arm is not incidental. That phrase launched the First Crusade. He put it on his body and then took control of the most powerful military on earth. Render unto Caesar. The problem is Hegseth can't figure out which one he is.

Someone needs to tell the American people what's going on in the Pentagon, and it obviously won't be Pete Hegseth, who is at war with America's senior military officers. My latest: theatlantic.com/politics/2026/…

100% correct

Wahooo! 10 year old me never knew how good we’d have it… 2 for 2 Nintendo

Nothing compares to baseball season in Milwaukee

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Trump is unilaterally redirecting $1.25 billion in taxpayer money for foreign aid to his personally controlled "Board of Peace." This isn't even a normal U.S. government entity. It's a "public international organization" he created by executive order, naming himself as chairman for life. He gets veto power, picks the members, sets the agenda, & controls how the money flows, with no real oversight or auditing built in. Congress is supposed to control spending & appropriations. They're the ones who can (and should) stop this. If Republicans won't even ask questions about funneling billions of taxpayer dollars into a "board" Trump himself owns for life, I'm seriously done voting for them for a while. It's beyond ridiculous at this point.

I’d love to see what a timeline where NIL and funding weren’t an issue…our current timeline has led to plenty of I can’t believe that happened moments - add this to the list.

Sources: Utah State and Northern Iowa coach Ben Jaconson are finalizing a five-year deal to make him the school’s next coach, per me and @jeffborzello. Jacobson won 397 games over 20 seasons at Northern Iowa, including five NCAA appearances.

A reminder that judging college basketball teams by performance in March while ignoring the other 85% of the season is about as useful as the NBA playing a single elimination tournament to crown a champion…or as useful as a 3-1 record against the the teams in Indy next week is when you’re sitting at home.

Franklin Graham says Donald Trump has been raised up by God and urges loyalty in the midterms. It sickens me when “Christians” claim that Trump has been raised up by God, because Trump is the antithesis of Jesus’ teachings. Instead of love, he portrays hatred; instead of forgiveness, vengeance; instead of meekness, narcissistic egoism. And the list goes on. But I am no longer surprised by Franklin Graham. This is the same man who has appeared on multiple russian propaganda channels, praised Vladimir Putin repeatedly, and urged people to pray for Putin’s “wisdom.” Not once has he called for Putin’s repentance. It is because of people like Franklin Graham that many atheists want nothing to do with the church. “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” – Brennan Manning

It’s a Great Day For Hockey!

Excellent piece…that feeling after losing to Cornell 16 years ago stays w/me…in the 16 locker rooms I’ve been a part of sense - it’s one thing to see a player fighting back tears it’s another to see it in the eyes of someone trying to hide it from coaches as they pack the bus.

Someone from the media needs to ask if you could legally be paying TSA workers via executive order the whole time why didn’t you? What took so long?

Remind me how he doesn’t have narscistic personality disorder again? Embarrassing - thank God for electronic payments.

College basketball/athletics in a nutshell… If you think judging how we’re doing should be based on viewership and money then the first two tweets shouldn’t shock you. We’re doing a big thing badly.

Turn him one time…may not be a single negative play I’ll remember more when I hang up the MacBook for good.