My New YouTube Channel š¬
VIDEO: We talk Hegseth, U.S. military coups and what the Pentagon is saying privately
The first episode of our new YouTube channel responds to the backlash against our story this week about the avalanche of leaks threatening to bury Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Help us grow by subscribing to our channel (link here), where you can find the full episode.
Called āKLIPNEWS with Ken Klippenstein & Bill Arkinā (Bill, my editor, wouldnāt agree to āKlippyLeaksā š©), we launched the channel so that subscribers can hear us go longer on stories that donāt always fit neatly into a written article. We also wanted to give people a window into the sometimes often heated debates Bill and I have on the issues weāre covering.
Iāve always hated journalismās disembodied voice from nowhere. That convention allows the media to play god by pretending journalists are perfectly dispassionate observers bestowing the objective truth, like god giving Moses the 10 commandments on a mountaintop. In actuality, news articles are often the result of a debate between reporter and editor who donāt always see things the same way.
I donāt understand why media tries so hard to hide this reality. It seems natural and even healthy that people have different perspectives. I guess admitting this would require media to concede it isnāt the authoritative account of whatever itās covering.
In our YouTube discussion, Bill and I agree on the importance of civilian control of the military and that itās being eroded in recent years. Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump waived the rule prohibiting retired generals from serving as Secretary of Defense ā which hadnāt previously been done since the 1950s.
Not good!
But where we disagree is on why thatās important. Bill sees the necessity of civilian control as deriving from the Constitution, whereas I see it as more of a common sense thing.
We also caught a lot of flak for, in the view of some readers, being pro-Hegseth ā which I am not.
So in the YouTube segment, I asked Bill point blank if heās a Hegseth fan:
āKEN: Bill, are you a Hegseth fan?
BILL: Look, Hegseth is a buffoon and he's obviously not qualified to run the Pentagon, and he is an idiot. But, he is the Senate confirmed civilian leader of an organization, the military, that the founding fathers intended not to rule themselves. That they intended that the military be accountable to our elected representatives.
And, as much as we might hate Trump or hate Hegseth, I'm more concerned that we adhere to the principles of the Constitution, which means that you can't destroy the Constitution in order to defend it.
Watch the rest of Billās response, and mine, on our YouTube channel below. Oh, and let us know in the comments whoās right (Ken).
Good to hear of your channel.
Yesterday, as I continue my one man vigil on the street corner with my Palestinian flag, I received a death threat. AFAIK I am the one and only person in the entire country doing this forthright anti-Zionist action and have been at it for six months. I have tried to get Glenn Greenwald or Ryan Grim interested in at least mentioning what I am doing but not a peep in response. Any chance you might give me a mention, Ken?
My dream is that other Americans, in particular white guys who are retired like me and thus (for now) immune from Trumpism, might get out in their communities. What is going on is clearly bigotry as Trump goes after people of color. White people are shamefully apathetic to the horrors Israel is committing. In the NYT poll on Trump's first 100 days, the subject of Gaza was not even mentioned in the article I saw. Incredible!
YouTube is where the big bucks roll in - post some of the more controversial bites on TikTok, let them go viral, then direct them to the YT. big time!