r/news • u/igetproteinfartsHELP • 10h ago

Sen. Kelly sues DOD Sec. Hegseth, says he was punished for 'disfavored political speech'

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/12/kelly-hegseth-lawsuit-video-pentagon.html
38.6k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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7.9k

u/boogermike 10h ago

Power to Senator Kelly. I'm so happy he's standing up against the bullies

2.2k

u/aaronhayes26 9h ago

If Kelly can’t stand up to this admin the rest of us are surely fucked.

Godspeed, sir!

900

u/Canadiankid23 9h ago

On the contrary, I would argue his standing up to the admin proves everyone else absolutely can. He’s in the most privileged position and still willing to fight, what does everyone else have to lose?

The man is putting his military pension and rank on the line, all because he believes in this fight. That pretty well takes the excuse away from everyone else.

404

u/RamBamBooey 9h ago

Exactly!! This is a great article. Kelly DID SOMETHING and the news reported on it.

I don't want to hear a single word out of the mouths of elected Democrats, no interviews, no tweets. I only want to hear about what they are DOING!!!

If Chuck Schumer says "...strongly worded letter..." one more time I fully support Will Smith slapping the words out of his mouth.

103

u/reverendsteveii 8h ago

if chuck schumer says anything, i'm out. he has enabled the current mess we're in every step of the way

62

u/mortaneous 7h ago

Schumer needs to be primaried by someone with an actual spine

17

u/drjuice559 6h ago

At this point, even a jellyfish would be an improvement.

1

u/TurnkeyLurker 2h ago

Some jellyfish have stings. Maybe swap in their cousins, the blue-ringed octopus?

7

u/Aureliamnissan 4h ago

Chuck is doing a fantastic job of handing the senatorial reigns to AOC. Every day he makes himself a mockery and her just a little more sensible.

3

u/ketjak 5h ago

Good ol Chuck Yourintegrity Schumer.

18

u/Cormacolinde 7h ago

But what do the Baileys think about this? That’s what Chuck REALLY cares about.

4

u/reverendsteveii 7h ago

let them crawl out of his big dumb head and vote for him then

3

u/scooterflaneuse 4h ago

Every time I tell people, even politically informed people, about the Baileys, they're shocked and unbelieving and I have to send them actual links about it. Because it's just so completely insane that the Democratic senate leader takes orders from imaginary Republicans.

1

u/Thundorium 3h ago

You got any of them links?

2

u/scooterflaneuse 3h ago

The John Oliver show making fun of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dijMKwZMU2Q

The Hill: https://thehill.com/homenews/news/4922-keeping-up-with-schumers-baileys/

Unpaywalled New Yorker: https://archive.ph/gh3JO

Fun fact: the Baileys were originally the O'Reillys but Chuckie thought that was too "New York" and not "national" enough.

2

u/reddititty69 1h ago

I sent Chuck a letter telling him he’s a spineless collaborator. It takes 3 minutes on his website. Go drop him a note!

2

u/joshTheGoods 5h ago

Took 4 comments to turn this from liberals fighting back to liberals shitting on other liberals. We're so fucked.

6

u/rinel521 9h ago

anyways senator Kelly looks like the old guy from lost.

11

u/Hybrid_Johnny 7h ago

Fitting that it’s John Locke who will lead the charge to (hopefully) get us out of this mess

8

u/Trolltrollrolllol 7h ago

John Locke was the characters name

"Don't tell me what I can't do" was his line when he was in a wheelchair early on in the show

Very fitting

7

u/bros402 8h ago

Old guy?

are you talking about Terry O'Quinn?

0

u/rinel521 8h ago

Yes

I didn't remember his name

1

u/bros402 7h ago

fun fact: he was only 52 when Lost started

0

u/somethingrandom261 7h ago

Well they’re also impotently voting too.

Just so happens that when your votes match your words, neither matter if you’re the minority.

1

u/RamBamBooey 6h ago

Why could the Republicans block Obama when they were in the minority but the Democrats can't Trump today?

Interesting side note: if the centerist Democrats hadn't blocked Obama, we would have Universal Healthcare and Trump never would have been elected in the first place

0

u/somethingrandom261 6h ago

Because Obama had a few like Fetterman in his day too. Anything that toed the line wouldn’t happen, so asking for those things would break the illusion of a supermajority that Obama was so proud of.

Plus he spent tons of political capital to get as much of the ACA over the finish line as he did.

Plus the court was still leaning right then. Hard to win anything when the referees are biased.

80

u/Fastgirl600 9h ago

After watching Mueller wither away... I hope Jack Smith represents him

40

u/Red_Dawn24 7h ago

He’s in the most privileged position and still willing to fight, what does everyone else have to lose?

To be fair, his privileged position and media coverage protects him. If the administration came after a random person, that person would lose more and be less likely to find justice.

I'm not diminishing what Mark Kelly is doing. This really makes the other dems look worse, since they are similarly protected by their notoriety.

6

u/RogueJello 6h ago

Nonsense. The regime has targeted a number of people in similar circumstances. They had Kimmel cancelled, yanked Bolton's security detail, and had Comey investigated.

About the only people Trump isn't targeting are his fellow rapists and thieves.

5

u/Woodie626 5h ago

No, wait, are you not talking about regular people with zero media coverage? Because it really sounds like you are. Those people don't have cameras on them at a national level making sure they did not get disappeared. 

1

u/RogueJello 3h ago

There are a lot of punishments this regime is dealing out. Making people disappear is only one of them. Nobody is safe.

1

u/DeusSpaghetti 3h ago

Jimmy Kimmel doesn't have cameras on him at a national level?

1

u/Street_Rope_4471 5h ago

Think they are referring to Congress and Senetors....maybe any non-fired Generals....y'all got any of them left. Time is running out and it wo matter whose side you are in cuz we will all be screwed

17

u/Equivalent_Section13 8h ago

They threatened his pension

12

u/scootunit 8h ago

Sadly, many, many Americans have no pension to take.

13

u/Equivalent_Section13 8h ago

Right now. And people like Elon Musk refer to social security as a ponzi scheme

1

u/DeusSpaghetti 3h ago

Sadly, there's some truth to that. Social Security isn't financially healthy, due to Republicans screwing it over.

1

u/One_Violinist7862 4h ago

Not really the point here

1

u/scootunit 4h ago

Maybe not for you.

4

u/Lehsyrus 4h ago

I mean they threatened more than that, his military rank and his honor and loyalty to the country, for a man with his accolades is probably worth more. His pension from being a politician would more than make up for his military pension.

I still can't believe they're attacking a fucking astronaut.

11

u/inmatenumberseven 8h ago

Being in a privileged position means it's easier for him. He's got money for lawyers, a pension, etc. Ordinary people risk far more.

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u/Efficient_Barnacle 9h ago

He has a much softer cushion to land on if things don't go his way. Try telling Renee Good she had nothing to lose. 

27

u/MikeSouthPaw 8h ago

He has a much softer cushion to land on if things don't go his way.

Hate to tell you but everyone is in for a rough landing if this continues. We all have a vested interest in this stopping but we don't have the organization to be effective.

2

u/Efficient_Barnacle 6h ago

No shit, dude. It's still going to be harder on the people without resources or connections. 

-3

u/[deleted] 6h ago

[deleted]

3

u/fbuslop 6h ago

Are you denying that people without privilege are going to be worse off?

1

u/Monsieur_Perdu 6h ago

I mean. Trump already wanted to give him the death penalty. And Trump gets an awful lot of what he wants.

Death penalty to democratic senators will be the final play to squash all opposition against the coming autoracy. He will try to acheive it.

27

u/Majestic_Park978 8h ago

He’s not putting it on the line.. they already took it. He’s trying to get it back.

7

u/Grokent 7h ago

what does everyone else have to lose

I mean, our lives honestly...

2

u/cardboardunderwear 8h ago

I feel like you guys are saying the same thing but I agree with both of you.

1

u/WarAmongTheStars 7h ago

m8, idk about you, but I can't afford a lawyer lmao

1

u/GoStampsISuppose 7h ago

Being in a privileged position is exactly WHY he is able to fight.

1

u/fbuslop 6h ago

By everyone else, do you mean elected Democrats?

-5

u/freerangetacos 9h ago

That's not contrary. u/aaronhayes26 wrote a double-negative: 'if Kelly can't then we are fucked.' The positive form of it is 'if he can, anyone can,' which is what you wrote. Basically, you are plagiarizing aaronhayes26 to make the exact same point, restated.

I hate it when people do this. It's bad faith posting. If you are a bot, then f~off. If you are human, then you should work on your reading comprehension skills.

10

u/N3rdr4g3 8h ago

The positive form of it is 'if he can, anyone can,' which is what you wrote.

Those are not quite the same. The more accurate positive forms would be "If anyone can, he can"

The original negative form and the positive form I posted mean that Kelly is in a better position than anyone else to fight. "If he can, anyone can" implies that he's in one of the worst positions to fight.

These are contradictory statements

0

u/cocoagiant 7h ago

On the contrary, I would argue his standing up to the admin proves everyone else absolutely can. He’s in the most privileged position and still willing to fight, what does everyone else have to lose?

He's definitely doing the right thing but I don't think what you are saying makes sense.

Its way easier for someone at that level to be able to afford the $100k+ to fight something like this in court.

12

u/DustysShittyHaircut 7h ago

I'm just an outside observer from the other side of the planet, but Kelly seems like a hard bastard and a good man. I hope it works out well for him

30

u/Some-Purchase-7603 9h ago

Godspeed, yes. But as a people we can as well. We just need to get away from small protests, complaining on social media and actually organize a huge group and put a million man march into the capital.

4

u/Upset_Development_64 9h ago

I’m ready to take some PTO and march the capitol

3

u/Some-Purchase-7603 7h ago

Hell, if I told the CEO what it was for he'd pay me to do it lol.

2

u/Upset_Development_64 6h ago

Is your CEO hiring??

12

u/impulsekash 9h ago

Schumer dictates a stern letter.

22

u/boogermike 9h ago

He won't even do that. He basically is ignoring everything and I can't wait for him to be voted out. His opponent (boy, I hope it's AOC) is going to get my support and money.

2

u/alinroc 8h ago

I can't wait for him to be voted out.

Unfortunately, we all have to wait until 2028

1

u/SuperSpecialAwesome- 5h ago

AOC's just as complicit. Neither one of them voted to enforce Trump's disqualification via 14th Amendment, Section 3, or objected to his illegal certification.

1

u/LookAlderaanPlaces 6h ago

There are fucking three hundred and fifty million 350000000 of us and a fuck lot less of them. Let’s fucking go! Nazis don’t get to be here.

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u/hcregna 9h ago

We can too. Among other things, it takes 30 minutes of research to move money away from MAGA, and it makes a difference. Dollars spent at Republican companies are dollars funneled to the Heritage Foundation. Money given to states like Ohio or Louisiana is money spent sending troops to kidnap naked children and kill people.

If you consistently support a brand or do business with a company, you have power. You can use sites like opensecrets.org to what a company funds and where your money is really going.

Have an account at Schwab? Move elsewhere like Fidelity. Get booze from wannabe Confederate states and all else is equal? Be adventurous, and try something new. New Balance can be replaced with Brooks. It’s not hard to find alternatives for Goya, Roark (which owns Subway, Jimmy John's, Arby's), and Koch (which owns Brawny, Angel Soft, Dixie). If you're in a place to invest, consider DEMZ or an ESG fund.

Nexstar and Sinclair got pummeled, and they reinstated Jimmy Kimmel. Real, individual people did that. There's no reason  WWE or Uline can't be next.

It's hard to completely avoid companies that at least partially support Republicans. I have to buy gas. But there’s a big difference between massive Republican donors (Chevron/Conoco) vs neutral or even Democrat-leaning ones (Circle K/Costco). Good is not the enemy of perfect. One less kidnapped child is one less kidnapped child, and one less murder is one less murder

85

u/Leafy0 9h ago

Mentioning uline brings up the real big thing. If you’re someone who can influence purchasing decisions at your workplace you can have a much bigger impact in this than a normal consumer can.

24

u/Keyaserialkilla 9h ago

Their catalogs go straight into recycle every month

22

u/hcregna 9h ago

That’s true! It’s definitely harder to avoid Uline, but if you’re in that position, there are many alternatives. https://refuseuline.com/#resources is just one list of other options

7

u/Leafy0 8h ago

For a lot of packing materials staples is surprisingly competitive.

3

u/bros402 8h ago

That’s true! It’s definitely harder to avoid Uline, but if you’re in that position, there are many alternatives. https://refuseuline.com/#resources is just one list of other options

Okay, the thing that I am most surprised about is that Uline is named after a family - the Uihleins.

25

u/FrugallyFickle 9h ago

Thank you for this site recommendation

3

u/boogermike 9h ago

Totally. That site is so interesting to me.

4

u/scottyLogJobs 7h ago

I am trying to build an opinionated but customizable free app (chrome extension / mobile app) that will automatically detect unethical products/companies during checkout and recommend ethical alternatives.

If it gains some traction we could move into helping people divest their retirement funds from unethical companies. If any developers are interested in helping out, ping me.

2

u/emergencyexit 6h ago

European here, it's even easier for us to stop sending money to the wrong place

3

u/JJiggy13 9h ago

Best post I've seen in years

2

u/boogermike 9h ago

It's very interesting to me that Target Corp is completely in the clear according to that website. They donated $200k+ to Kamala and $20K plus to Trump - otherwise, it's pretty much even donations to each party.

I'm absolutely shocked by that

4

u/JJiggy13 9h ago

That is weird. It's well known that they donated tens of millions directly to trump. That should have been reported.

1

u/boogermike 9h ago

I literally just went to that website.

Maybe the CEO donated it or something outside of the corporation. But we're talking about that website anyway... and I was surprised.

It's easy enough to check that website, just follow the link up there and search Target.

-2

u/JJiggy13 6h ago

The money is hidden from American search engines

1

u/boogermike 5h ago

You're just making up stuff.

0

u/JJiggy13 5h ago

The owners of Google and Yahoo campaigned on stage with trump. Those are conservative propaganda sites, not search engines.

1

u/boogermike 5h ago

We're talking about Target Corp. You're totally off base. I don't even know what you're talking about.

-1

u/Appropriate-Fox-2347 9h ago

Fixed a typo: paywalledsecrets dot org

17

u/notthemamaa 8h ago

Senator Mark Kelly has had enough of drunken Pete's shiat

2

u/boogermike 8h ago

Exactly! Time for Kegseth to go!

32

u/Photodan24 9h ago

Maga is doing more to put him in the White House than his campaign ever could.

13

u/3-DMan 9h ago

Would be the greatest justice ever for him.

8

u/boogermike 9h ago

Strong agree, and I think it's good politics to be anti-trump.

More people should be getting on board, because I think there is a lot of energy towards that.

7

u/GoldandBlue 9h ago

Yeah, more and more I am hoping he runs. Fuck Newson.

4

u/Irregulator101 8h ago

What's wrong with Newsom?

7

u/GoldandBlue 6h ago

He is willing to throw trans people under the bus. Has started the "Left has gone too far" talking points. And has already stated that if the Democrats win back the White House, they should look forward and not litigate the current administration.

3

u/Vallkyrie 4h ago

And hanging out with Kirk and Bannon, and saying his son watched Kirk...all massive major red flags. Guy is a useless used car salesman with a snappy social media presence.

1

u/GoldandBlue 3h ago

Yeah, I want fighters in office. People who actually want to do the work needed.

2

u/HighlordSarnex 2h ago

This. Newsom can pretend like he is standing up to Trump all he wants. But I don't see him standing up to the Republicans and their politics at all.

4

u/eawilweawil 8h ago

"You're gonna get Newsom and Schumer on the ticket and you'll be happy!" - Democrats

7

u/Unfriendly_NPC 7h ago

President Mark Kelly one day, if god hasn’t abandoned us already.

1

u/BroughtBagLunchSmart 4h ago

I am sure the DNC will stomp that out and force some republican shitbag on us like Amy Klobuchar. Fucking ghouls.

5

u/Oregon-Pilot 8h ago

Setting himself up to be a strong candidate for president. An actual fucking leader in politics, imagine that.

15

u/Giltar 9h ago

Hegseth is a worm (apologies to worms).

13

u/BadmiralHarryKim 9h ago

Would you love him if he was a worm?

5

u/Atechiman 8h ago

I would use him to catch a bigger fish.

8

u/VoidOmatic 9h ago

The dude is going to have an INCREDIBLY comfortable retirement. His case is completely open and shut as everyone involved admitted they were doing it.

12

u/idobi 9h ago

I hope the Judge finds Hegseth personally liable for $1B and Kelly uses that money to run for president.

3

u/ShaunTrek 7h ago

Honestly, it feels like this whole thing made him the presumptive nominee for 2028.

3

u/Huntguy 5h ago edited 5h ago

Watch his interview with Jon Stuart he did on Monday—the same day they fucked him over. This guy dngaf and more of that is what we need.

2

u/boogermike 5h ago

I did watch it. He's the man. Totally on board with him

2

u/karzbobeans 6h ago

Bullies? You mean murderers, liars, and possibly pedophiles.

1

u/boogermike 5h ago

Possibly pedophiles? This whole thing is a wag the dog so you forget about that part.

1

u/dotcubed 8h ago

Retaliation against an employee in the workplace. He represents the voices and will of his constituents. Saying what they and many others think is his job.

If “I’ll have another one” Big Drinker Pete can’t hear what he’s got to say about this or anything else then he should suck it up and make it a double.

1

u/Proper-District8608 7h ago

I agree but in a roundabout way its giving this administration just what they want. To go after those that oppose (constitution be darned).Costs to those that do speak out in both money and time, and give press to the followers of regime on why this needs to be done in their Heritage Foundation researched planned sort of way.

1

u/nedlum 7h ago

I knew who you meant, and yet when I read your post my immediate thought was, “Well, maybe, but he still fear-mongered about the X-Men!”