Powerful forces are out to derail Pete Hegseth’s bid to become secretary of defense and carry out President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to reform the Pentagon.

The Army veteran and former Fox News host has been hammered by a stream of inflammatory accusations in recent days, from past allegations of sexual assault to absurd and baseless claims that his faith-based tattoos reveal him as a white supremacist.

Hegseth, of course, has never faced criminal charges, has never been connected to any white supremacy groups or activities and has never deviated from his loyalty to country — so these preposterous attacks merely reveal the desperation of those seeking to subvert his confirmation.

Why? Because, after a groundless 10-year war in Iraq and a 20-year stalemate in Afghanistan, the US military is embroiled in a culture war — another war it seems to be losing. It’s a good thing they’ll lose it to Pete Hegseth.

Vladimir Strangelove Putin

Over the past months, the increasing threat to resort to nuclear weapons has been observed not only in Russian propaganda but also in fairly reputable analytical platforms close to the Kremlin. Kremlin “experts” do not conceal that such threats are only intended to break the West psychologically, as they themselves are not prepared for full-scale nuclear war.

Russian nuclear blackmail is seemingly affecting Western politicians. Independent media reports that in President-elect Donald Trump’s entourage, it is considered essential to freeze the front line as it stands and postpone Ukraine’s accession to NATO in exchange for the continuation of arms supplies to the country (Istories.media, November 7).

Western concessions to Russia, however, are unlikely to reduce the risk of nuclear escalation. Russian radicals lobbying for the use of nuclear weapons live in a distorted reality and are simply incapable of understanding these concessions.

For example, experts on the website “Military Review,” which is closely associated with the Russian Defense Ministry, publish conspiracy theories about how a mysterious “World Government” controls the United States, of which Trump is just one of its adherents (Topwar.ru, November 5).

As the love affair with so-called green energy cools and “net zero” commitments to eliminate “carbon emissions” wane, we see glimmers of acknowledgment for the benefits of carbon dioxide.

That’s right: More people are beginning to understand that the gas—widely demonized as a pollutant endangering Earth with excessive heat—is a life-giving substance needed in greater amounts.

U.S. voters know that President-elect Donald Trump has declared the Green New Deal a “scam” and promises to return common sense to environmental regulations and energy development. His return to office rests partly on that pledge.

Educating the public on the benefits of carbon dioxide is the mission of the CO₂ Coalition, which I lead. We sponsor speakers and publish scientifically based materials for adults and children.

“Fossil Fuels Are the Greenest Energy Sources” by Dr. Indur Goklany is an example of our work. Did you know that up to 50% of the globe has experienced an increase in vegetation and that 70% of the greening is attributed to plant fertilization by carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels?

Yesterday (11/12), the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit summarily vaporized 46 years of Federal environmental regulations.

Writing in a case called Marin Audubon Society, et al v. FAA, et al., the majority of a three-judge panel ruled that the Council on Environmental Quality, a cabal inside the Executive Office of the President charged with ensuring that National Environmental Protection Act requirements are interpreted uniformly across the federal government, had illegally used the Federal Register to publish that guidance thereby giving citizens, agencies, and even the courts the impression that their internal guidance had the authority of law.

The decision was written by Karen LeCraft Henderson (George H. W. Bush) and A. Raymond Randolph (George H. W. Bush) with Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan (Joe Biden) dissenting, and it found:

“As the parties argue the case, it centers on whether the Agencies complied with regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality, an entity within the Executive Office of the President.  We will not address these arguments.  The CEQ regulations, which purport to govern how all federal agencies must comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, are ultra vires.”