Today in Politics, Bulletin 229. 10/14/25 NO KINGS PROTESTS OCTOBER 18TH!

Today in Politics, Bulletin 229. 10/14/25 Ron Filipkowski Oct 14 ∙ … Pete Hegseth received a stunning rebuke today from every media company that covers the Pentagon, including Fox and Newsmax, who all refused to sign the agreement to abide by his lengthy set of paranoid rules restricting their coverage of military issues. The deadline to sign was 6 PM today. Only far-right fringe outlet OAN signed. … CNN, Fox, NBC, ABC and CBS issued a joint statement: “We join virtually every other news organization in declining to agree to the Pentagon’s new requirements, which would restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues. The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections. We will continue to cover the US military as each of our orgs has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press.” … OAN’s primetime host, former Rep. Matt Gaetz: “Frankly I’m shocked these weren’t already the rules. It’s the PENTAGON! OAN is happy to follow these reasonable conditions, grounded in care for our national security. … The Pentagon Press Assn: “This Wednesday, most Pentagon Press Assn members seem likely to hand over their badges rather than acknowledge a policy that gags Pentagon employees and threatens retaliation against reporters who seek out information that has not been pre-approved for release.” … Hegseth responded with this social media post: “Pentagon access is a privilege, not a right. So, here is Dept of War press credentialing FOR DUMMIES: Press no longer roams free. Press must wear visible badge. Credentialed press no longer permitted to solicit criminal acts. DONE. Pentagon now has same rules as every US military installation.” … Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Mark Hertling: “For the record, there are 17 pages worth of requirements, and the only people that buy this shortened version from Hegseth are truly dummies.” … Paul McLeary, who covers the Pentagon for Politico: “The secretary and his staff know this, but: Journalists have never been able to roam free in the Pentagon. Journalists have always worn visible badges. Journalists ask what the department is doing with taxpayers’ money in their name, and do not solicit criminal acts.” … Olivier Knox, who covers the Pentagon for US News & World Report: “Press never roamed free. Always had visible badges. In a republic, the press cannot limit itself to what govt approves for release.” … Tom Bowman, who covers the Pentagon for NPR: “It’s important everyone understands that this document is not about press’ ability to ‘roam the halls.’ It equates asking for info—the press’ literal job—with criminal activity. The new rules even stipulate that sharing our contact info on social media and asking people to reach out could make journalists a ‘security risk’ and be grounds for revoking badges. That is the real reason why no one — save one far-right outlet— is signing.” … Military Reporters & Editors Assn: “Secretary Hegseth has not briefed Pentagon reporters in nearly 4 months, and Press Sec Kingsley Wilson has not conducted a briefing in 2 months. DOD has avoided questions from the press, all while US troops are operating around the globe, the Pentagon has conducted legally questionable military strikes that have killed people in international waters and the admin has deployed troops to American cities.” … Andrew deGrandpre, who covers the Pentagon for WaPo: “This is significant. MRE encompasses many of the independent newsrooms with a long, noble history of serving rank-and-file troops, vets and their families. Think deployment info, news about pay and benefits. It shows how Hegseth’s gambit actually undermines the military community too.” … Meanwhile, Trump announced today that he blew up another boat in the Caribbean, killing 6 more people. … House Republican leadership held their daily shutdown press conference today, where they once again attacked No Kings rallies planned for this Sat: Tom Emmer: “We call it the ‘Hate America’ rally because you’ll see the hate for America all over this thing when they show up. The rumor is that they can’t end this shutdown because this small but very violent group is the only one that’s happy about this.” … At the end of this Bulletin I posted a message from No Kings that was released today with some guidance and tips for Saturday’s protests. … The Fox reporter asked Mike Johnson about keeping the House out of session to block a vote on the Epstein files: Q - “ You said last week that you would swear in Grijalva whenever she wants. She has written a letter to your office. You have not sworn her in. Doesn’t your resistance add fuel to the fire that this is about Epstein? Johnson: No. This is another partisan manufactured thing.” … “Everyone in Congress is for maximum transparency for the Epstein files. But there may be as many as a thousand victims. Many of whom were underage. And we have to make sure when the files are released their names are redacted so they don’t suffer further harm. That is underway.” … It doesn’t take that long to redact the victim’s names. Johnson is lying again. Trump said he doesn’t want it released. Pam Bondi said they aren’t releasing anything else. We are supposed to believe that this is the first time Johnson is going to go against what Trump wants? No way. He’s following orders from Trump to obstruct this hoping that people would forget and move on. Their plan isn’t working. … Arizona AG Kris Mayes says Speaker Johnson has “delayed and stonewalled” Grijalva’s swearing in for no legal reason: “The voters need an elected representative. Today my office is sending a letter to Speaker Johnson demanding that he do so. We are keeping every option open to us, including litigation, to hold him accountable.” … Q: “We’ve seen images out of Chicago of federal agents shooting faith leaders with pepper balls and arresting journalists. Where’s the limit for you on what’s acceptable conduct by federal agents? Johnson: I’ve not seen them cross the line yet.” … Johnson: “I’m proud to tell you that together with my friend Speaker Ohana of the Israeli Knesset, we’re gonna embark on a project together to rally speakers and presidents of parliaments around the world so that we will jointly nominate President Trump for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize. No one has ever deserved that prize more.” … But, as with all things Trump, once you get past the choreographed hype of his big announcements made with much bombast and fanfare and take a look at the details and how things play out - they never resemble his claims. After declaring everlasting peace in the Middle East yesterday, things are already getting dicey already on Day 2. … ABC: “The Israel Defense Forces said its troops opened fire on Palestinians in Gaza City, killing 5, after they allegedly violated the terms of the ceasefire agreement. A Palestinian Civil Defence spokesperson denied the IDF’s claim.” … Joe Truzman, editor of Long War Journal: “Israeli media outlets report that Israel has decided to keep the Rafah crossing closed to Gazans and to scale back humanitarian aid deliveries until Hamas returns the bodies of Israeli captives. Hamas has returned only 4 of the deceased hostages out of 28.” … Time: “Plenty of questions remain about what lies ahead for peace in the region, particularly the future of Gaza. In the agreement, there is no mention of plans towards a Palestinian State that is recognized by the US, nor clear plans on Gaza’s future governance. This has somewhat been laid out in Trump’s initial 20-point peace plan. During Gaza’s redevelopment ‘the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood,’ Trump’s plan states.” … “But the President made no mention of a Palestinian state during his remarks at the signing ceremony, and has previously criticized recent moves from western countries to recognize Palestine. On Monday, asked by reporters about a two-state solution, Trump would only say: ‘We’ll have to see. I’m not talking about a single-state or double-state or two-state. A lot of people like the one-state solution, some people like the two-state solution. We’ll have to see.’” … “Israeli PM Netanyahu has long ruled out a separate Palestinian state, despite growing international pressure. The initial plan also outlined the proposal for a temporary transitional government body to oversee Gaza’s day-to-day public services. Led by both Palestinian and international experts, the body is set to include former British PM Tony Blair, something which Hamas has rejected.” … “And despite Monday’s prisoner and hostage exchange offering progress on the peace process, cracks in this aspect of the agreement have already appeared. Only 4 bodies of the remaining dead hostages have so far been returned to Israel, after all 28 were expected to be handed over on Monday. The families of the hostages were ‘shocked and dismayed’ by the development, calling it ‘a blatant breach of the agreement by Hamas,’ and called on the Israeli govt to ensure that Hamas ‘pays a price for this violation.’” … “The IDF also said Tues that there had been ‘a clear violation of the agreement’ when several people approached Israeli military positions beyond the current line of withdrawal in Gaza. Troops then opened fire ‘to remove the threat’, said the IDF. Local health authorities in Gaza said that 6 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire across two separate incidents on Tues, despite the cease-fire.” … “On the Palestinian side, there were claims by families that many of the prisoners released had suffered mistreatment. There are also growing fears of civil war breaking out in Gaza. Hamas has claimed it is seeking to ‘restore security’, amid claims it had executed members of rival groups.” … Steve Bannon: “There’s so much happy talk coming out of the Israel First crowd that just doesn’t face reality. The reality is you got yourself a two-state solution with BIG TIME MUSCLE backing the Palestinians now.” … The Times (UK): “Israelis and Palestinians may have danced in the streets when news broke overnight that a deal had been reached between Hamas and Israel over the first phase of a peace deal for Gaza. But the terms of the deal were in place more than a year ago, according to an independent Israeli negotiator, and could have been agreed months ago.” … “Gershon Baskin, the architect of the negotiations that freed the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011, revealed that Hamas had agreed the exact same terms of the deal in Sept 2024, in the last months of the Biden admin: “This deal could have been done a long time ago. Hamas agreed to all of the same terms in what became known as the ‘Three Weeks Deal’ that I had received in writing. But at that point the response of the Israeli negotiators was that ‘the prime minister did not agree to end the war’.” … I reposted a clip on social media from PBS that aired on August 20, 2024: “The reporting is that former President Trump is on the phone with the PM of Israel urging him not to cut a deal right now because it’s believed that would help the Harris campaign.” … Netanyahu flew to Mar-a-Lago for a private meeting with Trump three weeks before he rejected this peace proposal, despite the fact that he was not president at the time. This is the photo they released after the meeting. … Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) posted a clip from Trump’s press event in Israel: “Trump asked dual citizen Miriam Adelson, a billionaire running nasty ads against me in Kentucky, ‘what do you love more, the US or Israel?’ She refused to answer him. He says that might mean she loves Israel more. This isn’t AI, it’s real video.” … Adelson was the second largest donor to Trump’s campaign after Elon Musk, putting over $100 million into his various PACs. … The list of airports refusing to play Kristi Noem’s outrageous partisan political PSA video blaming Democrats for airport delays continues to grow. Portland Intl Airport, Seattle-Tacoma Intl, Niagara Falls Intl, Buffalo Niagara Intl, Westchester County Airport, Phoenix Intl, Las Vegas Intl, Charlotte Intl, Cleveland Intl, LAX, JFK and LaGuardia in NY, and Newark Intl all confirmed they will not play the video. … Trump was complaining on Truth Social about his photo on the Time cover: “The picture may be the Worst of All Time. They ‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that looked like a floating crown, but an extremely small one. Really weird! I never liked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a super bad picture, and deserves to be called out. What are they doing, and why?” … I think he is most upset about his neck, which he always weirdly folds into his collar. The cover photo went viral on social media last night with everyone mocking his neck, which is why he posted that this morning. Reminder there is no Bulletin on Wednesdays because that is when I do my podcast Uncovered where we do a deep dive on the biggest stories of the week. I also do my Ask the Editor show where we take 5 of your questions for me to answer. Please submit a question or any topic you would like me to talk about more for Ask the Editor in your comments below. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here. Thanks to each of you for subscribing and supporting my work. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. … Eric Trump launched his new book tour, which is about how his family was supposedly persecuted and victimized over the last 4 years. He made this bizarre statement on one podcast: “We’re saving Christianity. We’ve saving God. We’ve saving the family unit. We’re saving this nation. We have a return to people going to church.” … He was also asked about his dad’s recent statements that he isn’t likely to get into heaven based on his past deeds. Eric: “Make no mistake - he is heaven-bound. I’ve seen the hand of God on him for a very long time. I think there is a lot less people going to heaven - meaning, they are going to heaven slower because he stopped the death and destruction around the world.” … Eric then did an interview with Fox from Mar-a-Lago where he noted that Trump is re-making the WH to look like the Palm Beach country club: “Those are the exact same umbrellas at the Rose Garden. The beautiful flag pole right over there - exact same flag pole we have at the WH.” … Trump met with Argentine President Javier Milei today to discuss details of the continued US bailout of their economy. NYT: “The face-to-face meeting between the political allies comes after the Trump admin agreed to provide Argentina a $20 billion lifeline that would come in the form of a currency swap with the nation’s central bank. The details of the bailout remain unclear, but it could provide a political boost for Milei, who is hoping to stave off a financial crisis and a political disaster for his party.” … “Democrats have seized on the bailout to accuse Trump of helping out a foreign govt and wealthy investors while the US govt remains shut down. Major hedge funds, including those led by friends of Bessent, could benefit financially from the admin’s lifeline for Argentina. Funds at various investment firms, including BlackRock, Fidelity and Pimco, are heavily invested in Argentina, as are investors who worked with Bessent when he was an investor for George Soros.” … “American farmers have also criticized the move, given that China has been buying soybeans from Argentine farmers instead of American growers this year.” … I’m not sure who gets their cooking oil from China, but Trump is starting a Cooking Oil War with China now: “I believe that China purposefully not buying our Soybeans, and causing difficulty for our Soybean Farmers, is an Economically Hostile Act. We are considering terminating business with China having to do with Cooking Oil, and other elements of Trade, as retribution. As an example, we can easily produce Cooking Oil ourselves, we don’t need to purchase it from China.” … Guardian: “China’s commerce ministry said that the US was ‘threatening to intimidate’ with the prospect of new tariffs on Chinese exports, ‘which is not the right way to get along with China’. Its spokesperson said that China would ‘fight to the end’ in trade talks. The comments came shortly after the Scott Bessent, said China wanted to ‘to pull everybody else down with them’ by damaging the world economy.” … “It follows the US and China starting to charge each other increased port fees on cargo ships, increasing trade tensions. The US announced plans earlier this year to begin charging duties on China-linked ships to counter what it says are unfair maritime trade practices. Those tariffs – and retaliatory charges from China – came into effect on Tues. State media said that Chinese-built ships would be exempt from the new measures.” … “The commerce ministry said that it had notified the US about the rare earth export controls Beijing announced last week in advance, contradicting comments made by the US trade rep Jamieson Greer over the weekend that the US had not been warned. China increased its restrictions on rare earths and related technologies, citing national security concerns. China’s near monopoly on the supply chain of critical minerals needed for global manufacturing has been a sticking point in trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing.” … “Trump responded to the rare earths measure by announcing plans to impose tariffs of 100% on Chinese exports, effective Nov. 1. Trump’s announcement prompted threats of retaliation from China. Tariffs between the US and China have been largely paused until Nov. 10 as both sides try to reach a trade agreement. As of Sept 25, avg US tariffs on Chinese imports reached 58%, while Chinese tariffs reached 33%.” … They were talking about tariffs on Fox Business today: “The tariffs, 10% for lumber, 25% for cabinets, vanities, upholstered furniture. On Jan 1st, the tariff for cabinets and vanities increase to 50%, all the rest of the furniture to 30%. The cost of building materials has increased 34%. There is a concern that this is not going to be great for the home buying industry.” … Actress Cheryl Hines told Fox host Jesse Watters that she has to hide her snacking from her husband, RFK Jr. because he gets upset if he sees her doing it: “I hide when I eat it. I’ll stand in the pantry when nobody’s looking.” … NBC: “Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced that she is running for the Senate, pitching herself as the Democratic Party’s best chance to beat Susan Collins - and saying she does not plan to serve more than one term: “I’ve won two statewide offices, and unlike other people in the primary right now, I’ve actually won public office, won elections. And I’ve stood up to Trump, and I have delivered progress for Maine people when it comes to health care, clean energy, public health, education. And I’m willing to fight for that in the Senate.” … Mills on the Meidas podcast: Q - “How do you see yourself in that race versus Graham Platner? Mills: We’ve run people against Susan Collins before, and she has won. She won handily the last few times, and she won because we ran people who were untested. I don’t know much of anything about Platner. I know a couple of the other guys who are running - one of them is a brewer. It’s one of the reasons I said I’d have a beer with him. But, I’m the only one in the race who’s actually won an election, and that’s important to have under your belt.” … Platner responded: “If you don’t get a candidate that’s going to inspire and energize a lot of the independents - if you don’t get a candidate that can do that, you are running a serious risk of losing, yet again, to Susan Collins.” … The beer guy Dan Kleban then dropped out: “I am suspending my campaign for Senate and enthusiastically endorsing Gov. Janet Mills. I got in this race for the same reason I started Maine Beer Company–to ‘Do What’s Right.’ Mills is the right leader for this moment. Thank you to everyone who supported me, and I’ll continue to fight for this state I love.” … As a Maine Democrat, my concern about Platner is that he is largely unvetted at this point, hasn’t done many difficult interviews yet or answered a lot of questions on specific issues, and has never run before. My concern about Mills is her age and whether she is willing to take the fight to Susan Collins, because she has shied away from directly criticizing Collins specifically and instead just focused on Trump. That isn’t going get it done. … Bottom line, I’m very undecided but like all Maine voters I have plenty of time to make up my mind and I am happy to have two very good options to choose from. There aren’t many people here in Maine, so I am sure each Democratic voter here is going to get a lot of attention from each of them! BYE, BYE ALEX! … The Supreme Court today refused to hear Alex Jones’s final appeal from a $1.4 libel judgment against him obtained by Sandy Hook families. … The Verge: “Tesla only sold 5,385 Cybertrucks in Q3, down 63% compared to the same period in 2024, when the automaker delivered over 14,000. The company has sold a little more than 16,000 Cybertrucks so far in 2025 - a far cry from the 250,000 that Elon Musk once predicted would be sold annually. Tesla is now expected to deliver around 20,000 Cybertrucks this year, a steep drop from the estimated 50,000 sold in 2024.” … NPR did a lengthy story on AI data centers: “On one side are companies pouring billions of dollars into data centers, which increasingly are being built to support AI models that promise to transform how people live and work. On the other side are residents who worry the construction spree will have dire consequences for the environment, power prices and surrounding communities.” … “A typical AI data center uses as much electricity as 100,000 households, and the largest under development will consume 20 times more, according to the International Energy Agency. They also suck up billions of gallons of water for systems to keep all that computer hardware cool. Data centers have been around for decades. But there’s an investment frenzy around AI right now that’s fueling a construction boom.” … “That growth is being driven by AI investors seeking enormous profits, thanks to the rising interest in AI from individual consumers and businesses. Tech companies are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers and AI computer chips. But some people don’t want huge industrial facilities - and all the noise and light that comes with them - changing the character of their community.” … “People are also concerned about data centers depleting local water supplies for their cooling systems, driving up electricity bills and worsening climate change if the facilities rely on fossil fuel power plants for the electricity they need. The IEA says climate pollution from the power plants that run data centers could more than double by 2035.” … Rep. Marge Greene’s latest attack is on Republican misogyny. She noted that the House has only one woman who chairs a committee: “A lot of the men here in the House are weak. There’s a lot of weak Republican men and they’re more afraid of strong Republican women. So they always try to marginalize the strong Republican women that actually want to do something and actually want to achieve.” … Trump was asked if he would ever consider replacing Karoline Leavitt as Press Secretary: “It will never happen. Those lips of hers - they move like a machine gun.” … Creepy old perv. … Message from No Kings about this weekend’s rallies: No Kings Activists, we are 4 days away from No Kings; can you feel the excitement? RSVPs have nearly doubled in just a week’s time. This movement is strong, resilient, and ready to remind the world that, in this country, we have no kings! Here’s the truth: The Trump Admin wants the people to be scared. Whether they’re cutting jobs, deploying ICE and the National Guard, or ripping away healthcare from hardworking families, this administration wants us to fear: for our bank accounts, for our freedom, for our health, and more. But when we gather on Saturday, it will be a reminder that fear cannot win when we choose to live with joy. Joy is the active decision in the face of oppression that renders their tactics useless. So let’s go out there and show them that our spirits cannot be broken. Bring your friends and family, and let’s have a good time getting into some peaceful “good trouble.” Bring a sign, lead some chants, and connect with your neighbors and community at your event. Remember that all events are peaceful and non-violent, so we look to de-escalate any situations that arise. Follow the directions of your local host and their safety marshal team. Share pictures and video with #NoKings. Though we want everyone to be able to make it out to their local No Kings Day, we know some people won’t be able to. Let’s make sure they can share in the full experience of the day by following along on social media. Oppression thrives in isolation. Authoritarianism is strongest when the people feel as if they don’t have a voice. On Saturday, we will take to the streets to remind people in every corner of this country, and the world, that we are not alone. We will not be quiet. And we will choose joy. See you in the streets, The No Kings Team