Latest news with #AdamKinzinger


Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Rock band Metallica issues copyright strike to Pentagon
A promotional video showing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth touting U.S. drone capabilities was deleted and reposted after a major rock band complained about the Pentagon using their music. The clip showed Hegseth, 45, standing in front of the Pentagon as military operators piloted drones that whirred by. The video posted to the defense secretary's account, captioned 'Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance', originally had Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' blaring as background music. However, Hegseth and the Pentagon embarrassingly had to scrub the music from the promotional video after copyright issues were brought to their attention. 'This afternoon, representatives from X reached out to DoD regarding a video posted to our social media page and asked that the video be removed due to a copyright issue with the song 'Enter Sandman' by Metallica,' the Pentagon said in a statement on Friday. 'The video has been taken down, corrected, and re-uploaded to our page.' A representative for the band later confirmed to Rolling Stone that the song was used without authorization. Former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger ripped Hegseth for the post: 'I still can't believe you approved this video.' The latest mishap comes on the heels of the Daily Mail learning that some lawmakers in Congress are eagerly awaiting the former Fox News host-turned-Pentagon chief's downfall . Their concerns over the Pentagon secretary came after he reportedly paused aide to Ukraine earlier this month - a move that caught President Trump by surprise. 'There are a lot of people who are sharpening knives,' a Republican senator warned. 'There are a lot of people who would be delighted to see him go,' they added. 'A lot of people.' The since-deleted-and-reposted video also showed a drone delivering a paper memo to Hegseth. Specifically, the memo fast-tracks the military's production and use of drones. 'The Department's bureaucratic gloves are coming off,' Hegseth wrote in one of the memos. 'Lethality will not be hindered by self-imposed restrictions... Our major risk is risk-avoidance.' Hegseth acknowledged that America's adversaries - namely Russia and China - have a 'head start' on the use of unmanned aircraft systems. Drones have been an increasingly important piece of military hardware in recent years, evidenced by the Ukraine-Russia war as well as recent attacks involving Israel and Iran . Cheap drones available to civilians have been used as surveillance tools and weapon-dropping vehicles in Ukraine. Iran, meanwhile, has been producing drones for its skirmishes against Israel. Often, the cheap, autonomous vehicles have to be shot down by expensive munitions, posing an asymmetric challenge for U.S. forces. The Pentagon's new memos will look to lower per-unit costs of American-made drones that can be used to cheaply and effectively disable incoming drones and autonomous weapons.


Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Pete Hegseth suffers 'disastrous' drone video mishap as Congress awaits his downfall
A promotional video showing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth touting U.S. drone capabilities was deleted and reposted after a major rock band complained about the Pentagon using their music. The clip showed Hegseth, 45, standing in front of the Pentagon as military operators piloted drones that whirred by. The video posted to the defense secretary's account, captioned 'Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance', originally had Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' blaring as background music. However, Hegseth and the Pentagon embarrassingly had to scrub the music from the promotional video after copyright issues were brought to their attention. 'This afternoon, representatives from X reached out to DoD regarding a video posted to our social media page and asked that the video be removed due to a copyright issue with the song 'Enter Sandman' by Metallica,' the Pentagon said in a statement on Friday. 'The video has been taken down, corrected, and re-uploaded to our page.' A representative for the band later confirmed to Rolling Stone that the song was used without authorization. Former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger ripped Hegseth for the post: 'I still can't believe you approved this video.' The video originally featured 'Enter Sandman' by Metallica, but the Pentagon later deleted the video and reposted it without the music after X flagged the clip for copyright issues The latest mishap comes on the heels of the Daily Mail learning that some lawmakers in Congress are eagerly awaiting the former Fox News host-turned-Pentagon chief's downfall. Their concerns over the Pentagon secretary came after he reportedly paused aide to Ukraine earlier this month - a move that caught President Trump by surprise. 'There are a lot of people who are sharpening knives,' a Republican senator warned. 'There are a lot of people who would be delighted to see him go,' they added. 'A lot of people.' The since-deleted-and-reposted video also showed a drone delivering a paper memo to Hegseth. Specifically, the memo fast-tracks the military's production and use of drones. 'The Department's bureaucratic gloves are coming off,' Hegseth wrote in one of the memos. 'Lethality will not be hindered by self-imposed restrictions... Our major risk is risk-avoidance.' Hegseth acknowledged that America's adversaries - namely Russia and China - have a 'head start' on the use of unmanned aircraft systems. Drones have been an increasingly important piece of military hardware in recent years, evidenced by the Ukraine-Russia war as well as recent attacks involving Israel and Iran. Cheap drones available to civilians have been used as surveillance tools and weapon-dropping vehicles in Ukraine. Iran, meanwhile, has been producing drones for its skirmishes against Israel. Often, the cheap, autonomous vehicles have to be shot down by expensive munitions, posing an asymmetric challenge for U.S. forces. The Pentagon's new memos will look to lower per-unit costs of American-made drones that can be used to cheaply and effectively disable incoming drones and autonomous weapons.


Daily Mail
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Opinion: The most vile politicians I've ever met
Back by popular demand: more people I hate! My last article on the vilest celebrities I've ever met, including Ben Affleck , who once drunkenly smeared me as a 'ring-wing [expletive],' elicited such an overwhelming response that I've penned a sequel… Insufferable Politicians. For if you think that narcissistic superstars are bad, let me tell you, power-hungry egomaniac legislators are even worse. First up, Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy. A few years ago, I was in a hotel bar in midtown Manhattan with a few Fox News colleagues when one eagle-eyed Democratic pundit spotted the married senator at a corner table. And he was sitting so close to an attractive young blonde woman, who wasn't his wife, that their foreheads were practically touching. After the bar closed, Murphy dashed for the elevators, leaving his lady friend to linger on a lobby couch, twiddling her thumbs and staring at her phone. Moments later, her face brightened with the light of her phone screen and she scurried into the elevators, too. What happened next is anyone's guess. But… Murphy separated from his wife in November. So, what's worse than powerful men behaving badly – or so it seems? Powerful men behaving pathetically – and that's former Republican Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger in a nutshell. When he was in Congress, The Zinger chased multiple women I know at the Fox News Channel. I recently checked in with some of the gals that he squired and, to a lady, they rolled their eyes and described him as a brotastic ladder-climber desperate to have any famous Fox personality on his arm. One woman remembered him being as boring as a bucket of sand, while another said he was self–obsessed and a bad kisser to boot. She couldn't wait to ghost him. It's ironic that a guy who was apparently so hellbent on fame that he tanked his reputation by betting it all on the Never-Trump bandwagon. Next up, The Penguin, I mean New York Democrat Jerrold Nadler, who has been waddling around the halls of Congress since 1992. I ran into Jerry and his prickly wife during the COVID pandemic at my local NYC grocery store. They were both wearing 'Trump for Prison' buttons on their geriatric athleisure-wear – and he had a lump in his pants, like he was smuggling a kilo or a fully-loaded adult diaper. So, I was relieved that when my daughter's class later visited DC, instead of dropping in on their local congressman, another representative stood in and hosted her class because, in this congressman's words, 'Your daughter and her classmates would vomit from the stench in Nadler's office.' Pee-ew! But not all politicians are shameless skirt chasers or stinky pepper pots. Some are just nerds. An associate of mine who clerked with future Senator Ted Cruz in the office of Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist told me that young Ted was such an obsequious buffoon. Once, when Cruz heard that Justice Rehnquist was an avid squash player, he allegedly went out and bought a bunch of squash gear just to leave it in a bag outside Rehnquist's office. When the big man nearly tripped over it and excitedly asked, 'Who plays squash?!' apple-polisher Ted said, 'I do, sir!' I hear he pulled the same trick with Trump, except he used a big bag of Big Macs. And here's one you may have heard before: I knew Joe Biden was losing his marbles way back in 2016. I ran into ol' Amtrak Joe in Manhattan's Penn Station in 2016 when he was Vice President. I was with fellow pundit Guy Benson and we had just been on the Fox News show Outnumbered, where we had talked about Biden. 'Mr Vice President, we were just talking about you on Fox News!' I shouted, excited to share that we had all bashed him just as I pulled him in for an uncomfortable selfie. But he tried to pull away. (How dare he!) 'Oh, I can only imagine. I don't even want to hear what you people over there said about me,' he mumbled, then shuffled and almost fell as his handlers interceded before I could twerk all up in his grill. Finally, this one may surprise you – former comically bad NYC mayor Bill de Blasio is quite the delightful giant. I had recently dined with the 6-foot-5 electoral letdown and his girlfriend. I was expecting him to be as disastrous as his mayoral record. If you ask me, he governed like a shrill, left-wing ideologue who made a once-great city practically unlivable. Though mercifully, the topic didn't come up. He was funny, self-effacing, curious, a surprisingly good listener and an all-around good dude to spend a couple of hours with.

Los Angeles Times
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Letters to the Editor: Kudos to the Republicans who faced down Trump — and shame on those who haven't
To the editor: Because of President Trump, it will be difficult for me to ever use the words 'Republican' and 'courage' in the same sentence ever again ('How Trump is purging and purifying the GOP,' July 7). I disagree with Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney on a number of issues, but I admire their courage in facing down Trump. I will never understand why Mike Johnson, Marco Rubio and other Trump sycophants can't see what is so clear to so many of us: Trump is a coward, a bully and a narcissist. While still in Congress, Cheney said it perfectly when she told her fellow Republicans: 'There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.' Dan Cunha, Anaheim
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
MAGA Congressional Candidate Calls Texas Floods ‘Fake': It's ‘Murder'
A MAGA congressional candidate is facing backlash after spreading conspiracy theories about the deadly flash floods along the Guadalupe River in Texas. Kandiss Taylor, who is running to represent Georgia in the House of Representatives, posted on X Saturday: 'Fake weather. Fake hurricanes. Fake flooding. Fake. Fake. Fake.' Her bizarre post came as authorities searched for dozens of people who lost their lives in Texas' flash floods. Of the 30 people confirmed dead so far, at least nine were children, and 27 girls are still missing from Camp Mystic, a riverside Christian camp in Hunt, Texas. Taylor later posted her message again: 'FAKE WEATHER. REAL DAMAGE.' 'This isn't just 'climate change.' It's cloud seeding, geoengineering, & manipulation,' she added. 'If fake weather causes real tragedy, that's murder. Pray. Prepare. Question the narrative.' When she later acknowledged that tragedy had struck, someone in the comments called her out for walking back her earlier post. She wrote back: 'I'm not walking back a thing. No one can control the way you raging liberals twist words. Brainwashed zombies.' Taylor, who recently ran to be Georgia's governor, was slammed by leaders across the nation. 'Do your job Georgia ... Is this the best you have got?' wrote attorney Tracey Gallagher. Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) added: 'Hey Texas. What do you think of this? She's running for congress as a Republican? Any thoughts?' 'Over two dozen dead and more children missing, and this candidate for Congress says the flooding in Texas is fake,' said retired intelligence officer Travis Akers. 'So the dead bodies floating in Texas are fake too? The homes ripped apart? The kids being pulled out of floodwater?' asked commentator Thomas Mix. 'You're a clown. Sit the hell down and stop embarrassing the human race. I guess not even Republicans care when Republicans are hit with natural disasters.' Taylor, whose X bio reads: 'Christian. Georgian. MAGA. Jesus, Guns & Babies,' also notes that she's a candidate for Congress in 2026. Her posts came one day after fatal, fast-moving waters rose 26 feet on Friday, washing away homes, sweeping aside vehicles, and killing dozens of nearby individuals. Even President Donald Trump called the deaths in Texas 'shocking.' At least 850 people have been saved by rescue workers in the last 36 hours, said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, including those 'clinging to trees to save their lives.' 'Our Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, will be there shortly,' Trump said on Truth Social Saturday. 'Melania and I are praying for all of the families impacted by this horrible tragedy.'