When accused of ordering the execution of survivors clinging to wreckage, Hegseth’s response was to attempt toddler humor by posting a childish meme.

Mass killing as content.

War crimes as punchlines.

Accountability as something that happens to other people.

Notice what Hegseth has not done.

He hasn’t denied ordering the second strike to kill survivors. He hasn’t denied the “kill everybody” directive. He hasn’t denied that two people were clinging to the burning wreckage before Admiral Bradley ordered them executed.

Hegseth instead on Friday exploded in rage again, calling reporters “lügenpresse“, without directly refuting the “kill everybody” order.

When asked specifically about the order, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she “would reject” that Hegseth “ever said” those words and then did the opposite and confirmed:

Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes.

That’s not a denial. That’s a confession with extra steps.

So the White House’s position is: Hegseth authorized the strikes and Bradley followed orders with the second strike on survivors. But Hegseth never said the words “kill everybody”, he just… authorized and celebrated the operation to kill everybody, including the survivors in the water.

A month after the strike, Bradley was promoted from commander of Joint Special Operations Command to commander of US Special Operations Command.

Trump declared that Hegseth, like a character out of a bad 1960s Nixon story, definitely “did not say that, and I believe him, 100 percent.”

But then Trump also slipped and said:

I wouldn’t have wanted that, not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal, it was fine.

Even Trump is distancing himself from the obviously unlawful second strike the one that killed survivors in the water. The one that Rep. Don Bacon, a retired Air Force general, said would be “a clear violation of the law of war” if it happened as reported.

And Hegseth’s response to all of this?

A cartoonish meme, a toddler rant, captioned “For your Christmas wish list.”

The Bulwark’s Sarah Longwell asked:

Are we going to be a country that lets a person meme and shitpost his way out of accountability for alleged war crimes, or do some things still matter?

Senator Mark Kelly said:

He is in the national command authority for nuclear weapons, and last night he’s putting out, on the internet, turtles with rocket-propelled grenades. I mean, have you seen this? This is the secretary of defense.

Mens rea – Latin for “guilty mind” – is the mental element prosecutors must prove to establish criminal responsibility. It demonstrates the defendant knew their actions were wrong or illegal, and proceeded anyway.

Hegseth has been publicly informed by his own JAG officers, by Georgetown Law’s national security law director, by allied intelligence services cutting ties, by bipartisan members of Congress, by former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta who said the reported second strike constitutes a war crime “because these individuals were injured” that ordering the execution of hors de combat survivors is a war crime.

His response to serious war crime charges is mockery. “We have only just begun to kill…” he shitposted.

He knows.

He doesn’t care.

He thinks war crimes are funny.

The publisher of the Franklin books, Kids Can Press, responded to abuse of their book:

Franklin the Turtle is a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy, and inclusivity. We strongly condemn any denigrating, violent, or unauthorized use of Franklin’s name or image.

The Pentagon in response, digging themselves a deeper hole, tried to attack and malign the Canadian publisher:

We doubt Franklin the Turtle wants to be inclusive of drug cartels… or laud the kindness and empathy of narco-terrorists.

That’s the official Pentagon spokesman, attacking a children’s book publisher for objecting to war crimes being turned into memes.

The prosecutors who eventually try Hegseth will enter these posts into evidence.

The Franklin meme. The taunts. The “we have only just begun to kill” follow-up. The conspicuous absence of any denial of the specific order. Every lawyer who has warned him, every expert who has explained the law, every ally who has distanced themselves… all of it establishes that he was informed and chose contempt.

That’s not a defense.

That’s a confession.

Elon Musk Just Taught Us Everything We Need to Know About Government Fraud

There is some very TROUBLING news from the front lines of fiscal responsibility.

As you know, our dear hero Elon Musk recently stepped down from his heroic role at the Department of Government Efficiency, or as I call it Definitely Our Greatest Experiment (DOGE). And the liberal media is trying to make him look bad just because his department was dissolved eight months early, fell roughly $1.85 trillion short of its initial savings goal, and used what Politico has called “faulty math.”

That’s right. Faulty math. You know who else used faulty math? Tesla Door Handles. And owners turned out fine, apart from being trapped and burned to death.

The Lying Panda Principle

But here’s where Elon proves he’s playing 4D chess in a failed spaceship to reach Mars in 2018 where everyone died, while the rest of us are playing checkers—and the checkers are on Earth, and we’re still alive.

In a recent interview, Musk explained how to spot government fraud using what I’m calling The Lying Panda Principle™:

It’s going to be like the Save the Baby Pandas NGO… But then it turns out no pandas are being saved in this thing, it’s just corruption, essentially. And you’re like, ‘Well, can you send us a picture of the panda?’ They’re like, ‘No.’ OK. Well, how do we know it’s going to the pandas?

EXACTLY, Elon. If someone can’t prove their results, they’re obviously a fraud.

Which is why I’m SO RELIEVED that DOGE posted a “Wall of Receipts” on their website claiming $214 billion in savings. Sure, it “has not been independently verified.” Sure, outside analysis found the numbers were inflated, probably fraud. But that wall of lies is called “Receipts.” What more proof do you need than a word? It’s right there in the name!

And that brings us to the Panda-nomics.

See, the liberal media wants you to believe that when Elon promised $2 trillion in savings, (that’s a lot of pandas) then revised it to $1 trillion, (fewer pandas) then said actually $150 billion, (one panda, shared custody) that this represents some kind of “failure.”

But they’re missing the point.

Elon’s Panda Test asks: “Can you show me proof your program works?”

And DOGE answers: “We have a website” (a website is basically a digital panda).

The real fraud, people, is all those USAID programs with accurate accounting and transparency that were feeding children in Africa (163,500 projected additional deaths annually from DOGE cutting off aid to starving children— that’s a lot of gratitude we won’t have to deal with).

Those programs had the AUDACITY to keep detailed records, (documentation is for losers) track measurable outcomes, (nerds) and submit to independent audits (communism).

You know what that’s called?

SUSPICIOUS. If you have nothing to hide, then why are you keeping such good records?

Meanwhile, Elon shut down agencies, fired thousands of workers, (efficiency!) and when asked for verification of savings, provided… a wall (walls work, just ask the border).

The Real Victim Here

And let’s not forget, all you gamers out there, that Elon Musk described his time at DOGE as an “interesting side quest.”

A SIDE QUEST! This man is so efficient, he streamlined the entire federal government as a hobby. While the rest of us are playing the main story, Elon is collecting coins and participation medals for sticking a fork in the administrative state.

Speedrunning the tutorial. Declaring victory. Ragequitting.

Sure, he left in May, had a public falling out with Trump, accused him of being in the Epstein files, and then showed up at a Saudi dinner in November. (that’s called blood networking) But that’s just the kind of bold, erratic leadership this country needs.

Discussing his decision to step down from DOGE, Elon Musk had earlier remarked, “Is Buddha needed for Buddhism?”

Eats, Shoots and Leaves

So the next time someone asks you, “Where’s the proof that DOGE actually saved money?” you look them dead in the eye and say:

“Where’s your panda?”

And when they say, “That doesn’t make any sense, you’re the one who should have the panda, you’re the one who made the claims—”

You just walk away and say “see you in my driverless car on Mars in 2018 that runs on the bones of dead liberals“.

Because fellow Americans, in the end, Elon Musk re-taught us the most important Enron lesson of all:

Fraud is when other people can’t prove their claims. Success is when you don’t have to.

No panda.

And that’s DOGE… and Tesla, and Hyperloop, and Neuralink, and The Boring Company, and X, and XAI, and SpaceX, and Starlink…

Can someone show me a picture of the Hyperloop?

Twelve years since Musk first proposed the concept, and despite millions of dollars being invested in marketing and development by the various companies that have worked on the technology, the idea of hyperloop as a transportation option is still largely theoretical. In fact, many commentators remain deeply skeptical about it. “Hyperloop is unworkable,” says rail expert and author Christian Wolmar.

Oh, the efficiency!

Conditions may apply. No actual pandas were consulted. DOGE claimed savings are for entertainment purposes only.

The buried lede of this massive Telsa fire story seems to be that it was so bad a fire truck was lost.

Flight Sergeant Third Class Ekkarat Sartsanasunthornchai, who was at the scene, told police that closed-circuit television footage showed a flash of white light at about 7.50am, believed to be an electrical short circuit, before the fire occured.

Firemen raced against time to battle the blaze, but flames engulfed the warehouse and spread to one of fire trucks, forcing crews to flee for safety as the inferno intensified.

Police said initial assessments revealed that … 45 Teslas worth another 90 million baht were destroyed, along with the fire truck.