Free Republic

What the Hell is Happening at West Point? If you’re not up to speed with the recent SNAFU at West Point around @PeteHegseth 's nomination, it’s worth noting. Last Wednesday, ProPublica was on the verge of publishing a bombshell report contradicting Hegseth’s claim that he had been accepted to West Point in 1999. Apparently, ProPublica had been assured by West Point – twice – that Pete had never applied for admission. But this was demonstrably untrue, and when Pete got wind of the pending story, he simply posted his acceptance letter online. Obviously, ProPublica had been misinformed by a government...

West Point is refusing to say if officials who spread false info about Pete Hegseth’s acceptance into the school will be punished.. West Point is refusing to disclose whether school officials who gave false information to legacy media about Pete Hegseth’s acceptance into the academy will face disciplinary action for their conduct, The Federalist has learned. The entire saga came to fruition on Wednesday morning, when Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, posted screenshots of his 1999 acceptance letter into West Point on X. In the caption accompanying the images, the Army veteran wrote, “We understand that...

After a West Point spokesperson falsely claimed that Pete Hegseth had not even applied to the institution, much less been accepted, journalism outfit ProPublica reached out to Hegseth’s lawyer, asserting that the Secretary of Defense nominee had lied and gave him a one hour deadline to respond.Hegseth posted on Wednesday morning a photo of his acceptance to West Point and said ProPublica was planning on posting “a knowingly false report” that he was not accepted to the school in 1999. ProPublica editor Jesse Eisinger then responded with a Twitter thread, explaining that the outlet had done “real journalism” and determined...

One can identify individuals whom the establishment fears simply by paying attention to those whom the establishment media attacks. Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, seems to have learned how to handle the lying media. Wednesday morning on the social media platform X, Hegseth posted his letter of acceptance to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, as a preemptive rebuttal to what he described as a forthcoming hit piece from a leftist news outlet. “We understand that ProPublica (the Left Wing hack group) is planning to publish a knowingly false report that...

West Point said the discrepancy on Hegseth's relationship with the school was because of an "administrative error" but that a further review confirmed that he was accepted into West Point in 1999, but did not attend the university. Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton on Wednesday called for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to conduct an internal investigation into allegations that it repeatedly lied to a member of the press about Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth. A reporter at ProPublica claimed that an official at the school told them on the record twice that Hegseth was never accepted into...

West Point has acknowledged it inaccurately informed a media outlet that President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, did not get accepted into the institution more than two decades ago. Earlier Wednesday, Hegseth posted on social media that ProPublica “is planning to publish a knowingly false report that I was not accepted to West Point in 1999” without any additional information. He accompanied that with a picture of his acceptance letter into the institution. Hegseth did not attend West Point but rather Princeton University, graduating in 2003. A ProPublica editor subsequently acknowledged in response to...

Benedict Arnold was an early hero of the Revolutionary War who later became one of the most infamous traitors in U.S. history. At the outbreak of the war, Arnold participated in the capture of the British garrison of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775. In 1776, he hindered a British invasion of New York from Lake Champlain. The following year, he played a crucial role in bringing about the surrender of British General John Burgoyne’s army at Saratoga. Yet Arnold felt that he never received the recognition he deserved. In 1779, he entered into secret negotiations with the British, agreeing to turn...

A West Point graduate who first made headlines for his “Communism will win” message written in his uniform cap is now a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) studying “Modern Arab intellectual history.” In 2017, Spenser Rapone displayed various Marxist messages, such as wearing a Che Guevara shirt beneath his official West Point uniform and posting “#VeteransForKaepernick” on social media. According to UT’s website, Rapone entered the Ph.D. program in 2020. His university biography cites his interests as “decolonization, revolution, metaphysics, [and] consciousness,” with his research topics focusing on “question of the self, soul, and spirit...

The U.S. Defense Department is facing a lawsuit to turn over emails and documents about how the agency came to delete the phrase "Duty, Honor, Country" from the mission statement of the United States Military Academy at West Point. The conservative legal watchdog organization Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit against the Defense Department last week after the Military Academy failed to respond to its Freedom of Information Act request filed in March 2024. While the words "Duty, Honor, Country" remain the academy's motto, West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland said in March that following a year-and-a-half assessment, the mission...

Biden interrupted his weekend getaway in Delaware to visit New York and give the 2024 commencement speech at the United States Military Academy, West Point. During his address, Biden made several mistakes and shared inaccurate information, including falsely claiming that he was “appointed” to the Naval Academy.

Joe Biden is in Wilmington, Delaware, for yet another vacation. He did, however, take a brief sojourn from the vacation to go to West Point to deliver the commencement address. Biden previously gave a commencement address that got heavily criticized -- and rightly so -- for being a race-baiting mess. At West Point, Biden had to take a walk to get to the stage after they announced him. It was concerning to watch how he moved forward in that stilted fashion that he has, with the "Mr. Burns" empty look on his face:

President Biden told graduates of the U.S. Military Academy Saturday to stay true to their values as they face threats and turmoil across the globe. “Hold fast to your values that you learned here at West Point,” Biden told the graduates. He said they will have to uphold the oath they took on their first day at West Point. An oath taken to “not a political party, not to a president, but to the Constitution of the United States of America, against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

The United States Military Academy at West Point is introducing a new curriculum that includes courses on “deconstructing patriotism,” “cross-dressing in the military,” and other topics related to gender norms and representation. These courses are part of a broader initiative by the Biden regime to integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) propaganda into the curriculum over duty, honor, and country. Former Navy SEAL and Representative Scott Taylor (R-VA) tweeted his concerns after the curriculum was reportedly shared with him, stating, “This was sent to me, classes at U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Quite sure China and Russia are not...

Jettisoning the motto in today’s environment poses a real risk to the substance of West Point’s mission and to national security.. March 7, Superintendent Steve Gilland announced a planned change to the official mission of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point: eliminating the words “Duty,” “Honor,” and “Country.” It is impossible to overstate the reverence with which those three words have been held at West Point, in the entire Army, and throughout the U.S. military. In his 1962 farewell address to the West Point Corps of Cadets, Gen. Douglas MacArthur encapsulated their meaning for American soldiers: Duty, Honor, Country...

During the mid and late 1990’s, my mentor and boss at Defense Watch, the late Colonel David Hackworth frequently reported on the military’s descent into the PC maelstrom. What had merely been the rantings of the feminist fringe in Washington in the 1970’s and 80’s, had materialized into policy the moment the great draft dodger swore to protect and defend the constitution in 1993. The self-immolation of a phenomenal fighting force had begun. Highly decorated and a veteran of three wars, Hack knew more than anyone that the Pentagon’s perfumed princes didn’t have the intestinal fortitude nor the foresight to...

Duty – Honor – Country. Those three hallowed words, reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, and what you will be. They are your rallying points: to build courage, when courage seems to fail; to regain faith, when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. . Douglas MacArthur graduated from West Point in 1903. By that time, “Duty Honor Country” was already recognized as the official West Point motto. Since then, it has become ubiquitous – Among many other things, it is on the West Point crest that...

In June 2023, Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. (SFFA) prevailed in complaints alleging racially discriminatory admissions practices at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. The 6-3 Supreme Court decision in these cases eliminated decades of ambiguity about what aspects of race were permissible in candidate evaluations at some of our nation’s most prestigious universities. Following the Court’s decision, a number of analysts and commentators noted that Chief Justice Roberts’s majority opinion contained a footnote exempting military service academies. That footnote reads: The United States as amicus curiae contends that race-based admissions programs further compelling interests at our Nation’s...

The US Supreme Court on Friday declined to block West Point’s race-based admissions program that discriminates against whites while a lawsuit against the military academy makes its way through the lower courts. Recall that last year the Supreme Court crushed the racist ‘Affirmative Action’ policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. The High Court ruled 6-2 in the Harvard case with liberal justice Ketanji Brown Jackson opting out. The Supreme Court justices ruled 6-3 in the University of North Carolina case brought by Students for Fair Admission (SFFA). The conservative justices said the race-based affirmative action policies violated...

Student group requested high court block race-based admissions at the academy amid ongoing legal battle.. West Point defended using race in its admissions process in response to a student group's request that the Supreme Court force the military academy to pause the practice while a lawsuit makes its way through lower courts. "For more than forty years, our Nation’s military leaders have determined that a diverse Army officer corps is a national-security imperative," U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in a Tuesday court filing. "Achieving that diversity requires limited consideration of race in selecting those who join the Army as...

Established in 1802 under President Thomas Jefferson, West Point is our nation’s oldest armed services academy and the first engineering school in the United States. Why engineering? Because it is a battlefield-relevant discipline that promotes the kind of critical thinking military leaders need to fight and win wars. Successful combat officers must be able to solve basic engineering problems, such as determining whether bridges will support trucks and armored vehicles, how best to cross rivers and other obstacles, how to plan and build fortifications, and where to place demolition charges, to name just a few required skills. According to the...