The Rise and Fall of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
In November 2024, then-President-elect Trump named Hegseth as his nominee for his secretary of defense. In a Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing right before Trump’s second inauguration, Hegseth faced allegations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement, and excessive drinking. Yet, he was confirmed by the Senate that month, but only with the vice president, JD Vance, casting a tie-breaking vote.
Recently, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) introduced articles of impeachment alleging that the defense secretary “abused” his powers and “knowingly executed and implemented unlawful orders.”
On November 10, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 211 to 204 to block an impeachment push against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, effectively killing the resolution for now.
11 absent Democrats undermined Hegseth’s impeachment
Is this the end of the story?
No, the current Republican-controlled House sidelined the measure, but Democrats are set to take control of both chambers of Congress in January. Incoming Democratic leadership has signaled that Pentagon operations and Hegseth’s actions will face intense congressional investigations. So, impeachment or oversight efforts could be revisited next year.
Then again, if this not the end of the story, it should be the beginning of internal reflection in the Democratic Party.
What do you mean?
Rep. Thomas Massie was the sole Republican to vote against the referral, while several members—including 11 Democrats – missed the vote. Why did they miss it?
Every single one of the 203 Democrats who made it to the floor voted against the Republican motion to block the impeachment. Yet, several of the absent lawmakers blamed severe traffic (Reps. Melanie Stansbury, Jonathan Jackson, and Brittany Pettersen).
Since the final vote was tight (211-204), these absences effectively cost the party a push to advance the impeachment. They had a chance to protest an unconstitutional war, which has cost too many innocent lives, including those of fellow-Americans. So, bad traffic sounds like a lame excuse.
Interestingly, the absent Democrats included Nancy Pelosi, who was flying back to San Francisco to attend an annual Veterans Day event and accept an award. Presumably, it was more important to her than protesting the unconstitutional war and its victims. With the exception of progressive-leaning Jonathan Jackson, the list of the absent 11 largely comprised of mainstream, establishment Democrats, reliant on corporate and establishment PACs.
Perhaps bad traffic wasn’t the only motivation.
“Unwarranted, unconstitutional and illegal Iran war”
What do you think about Hegseth’s management style?
DS: Defense Secretary Hegseth’s term is likely to be seen as one of the most disastrous ones in the Pentagon’s history. The lack of personal integrity and even basic executive experience compounds an aggressive, ideologically overdriven campaign that has triggered a chilling effect, tanked military approval ratings and alienated America’s allies, partners and adversaries alike.
What kind of role did Hegseth play in Trump’s launching his war on Iran alongside Israelis?
DS: Hegseth made an unwarranted, unconstitutional and illegal war against Iran even worse, driving regular televised briefings to aggressively market the conflict to the public as a campaign of “maximum lethality” to disable Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. With his apocalyptic Christian-Zionist beliefs, he should have had absolutely no role in the Pentagon.
How successful has Hegseth been in his conduct against Iranians?
DS: While Hegseth claims “historic devastation” against Iranian capabilities, independent analysts view the grinding, nine-month conflict as a strategic disaster that has failed to control the Strait of Hormuz, depleted American munitions, and wreaked global economic havoc.
“Sympathy for war crimes and war criminals”
You have argued that Hegseth’s activities include war crimes. Why?
DS: Because he has contributed to or authorized actions amounting to war crimes center on several key military operations, institutional decisions, and formal accusations from lawmakers and military veterans.
First, Hegseth has a dark track record of past support and lobbying for service members accused or convicted of war crimes in past foreign conflicts whom he previously championed and lobbied to receive pardons. It is pattern of disregard for military justice and the moral authority of the laws of armed conflict.
Also, early in his tenure, Hegseth dismissed senior military lawyers (Judge Advocate General / JAG officers) for the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and reassigned hundreds of JAGs away from advising commanders on the laws of war to other duties. Sidelining or purging military legal advisors removes vital institutional checks designed to prevent war crimes and ensure battlefield compliance with international law. It set the stage for international crimes.
“Extrajudicial killings and waging war outside constitutional bounds”
These questionable activities also feature the war against Iran?
DS: Yes, during the U.S. military campaign in Iran, Hegseth was accused by members of Congress, like Representative Thomas Massie and Representative Seth Moulton, pushing an aggressive strategy that ignored laws and norms designed to minimize civilian casualties, including a deadly strike on an Iranian school.
Conducting strikes with high civilian death tolls without strict adherence to proportionality and distinction under the Geneva Conventions breaches the laws of armed conflict. This is why Massie introduced articles of impeachment charging Hegseth with extrajudicial killings and waging war outside constitutional bounds.
Then, there are the reports, including investigations published by the Washington Post, alleging that during military operations targeting suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, a follow-on strike was ordered against survivors who were clinging to wreckage and no longer posed a threat.
Intentionally killing incapacitated or surviving combatants/non-combatants violates Customary International Humanitarian Law (specifically ICRC Rule 46 prohibiting the denial of “no quarter”) and constitutes extrajudicial murder or war crimes.
“Effort to politicize the military”
What do you think about his purge in the US military? Does it have a merit or it has been a bad idea from the very beginning?
DS: Hegseth’s military purge has no merit and it has been flawed from the beginning. He has forced out over two dozen decorated four-star commanders under the guise of removing “woke” leaders, in a disastrous attempt to turn the military into an at-will political playground while gutting combat readiness during active hostilities.
How does the military brass see his actions from the purge inside and his war on Iran outside?
DS: For months, Pentagon insiders have reported a toxic climate of “fear and paranoia.” Current and retired leaders warn that replacing irreplaceable warfighters with political “yes-men” has severely damaged strategic cohesion and compromised basic national security.
When ideology replaces military experience, unwarranted body bags follow.
“Wrong man, wrong place, wrong time”
Can Hegseth survive the US mid-term as the war on Iran sees no letup in the short-term?
DS: Following massive Republican midterm losses blamed largely on the deeply unpopular war, Hegseth faces imminent House articles of impeachment and behind-the-facade questioning from President Trump regarding his standing, leaving his political future in severe jeopardy.
Hegseth was precisely the wrong man in the wrong place in the wrong time.
This is an updated version of the original published by the Informed Comment (US) on November 11, 2026.
African push to triple climate adaptation finance left off Cop31 agenda
Climate activist Greta Thunberg has blasted the annual COP climate summit as being hypocritical and "full of lobbyists".
Attending the talks for the first time since 2021, she urged leaders to put people and the planet ahead of profits and power.
The two-week COP31 talks kicked off in Turkey earlier this week with governments under pressure to tackle climate change after a year of searing heatwaves and wildfires in Europe, and deadly floods in Nepal.
“It’s a hypocrisy every year that the host countries are given an opportunity to whitewash themselves and we know that these negotiations are filled with lobbyists, paid by the very destructive industries which are benefiting from our extremely violent status quo,” Thunberg said as she arrived. “Our political and economic systems that have become incompatible with human nature.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also spoke about these "very destructive industries" while addressing the conference: "Fossil fuel interests keep making a killing, while killing our planet," Guterres said, urging governments to tax the windfall profits of oil companies.
"Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs, but that won't happen on its own. The dinosaurs did not have a lobby, but fossil fuels do," he said.
"The brutal truth is that the climate crisis is outrunning us," Guterres told dozens of world leaders assembled at a sprawling expo centre in the Mediterranean city of Antalya.
But few major breakthroughs are anticipated at the COP31 negotiations, which run until 20 November, as countries grapple with an oil price shock and geopolitical tensions fuelled by the US war with Iran and Russia's war in Ukraine.
Since agreeing in 2023 for the first time to transition away from fossil fuels - the main driver of climate change - nations have struggled to advance that goal at the annual COP conferences.
"Fossil fuel interests keep making a killing, while killing our planet," Guterres said, urging governments to tax the windfall profits of oil companies.
"Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs, but that won't happen on its own. The dinosaurs did not have a lobby, but fossil fuels do," he said.
"Their strategy is simple: Distort the science. Delay the policy. Delay the action. Delay the accountability. It's time to kick the habit – and end the fossil fuel addiction," he said to applause.
Guterres, who has made the fight against climate change a central issue since taking office in 2017, is attending his last COP before his term ends in December.
Electrification and waste reduction are set to be key focus points of this year's negotiations, which run until 20 November. Many EU countries are expected to advocate for the role of renewables and the transition away from fossil fuels, however the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Spain have all been criticised for not attending the Leaders' Summit which runs today and tomorrow.
COP31 co-hosts Turkey and Australia are promoting renewable energy and rooftop solar installations, but both still rely heavily on fossil fuels, especially coal, to generate electricity. Previous hosts, including Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan, are major oil producers.
Climate change is “threatening everything,” Thunberg said, warning that “everything and everyone we love is at stake.”
“We should act to protect and benefit people rather than constantly sacrificing the global majority and the very planet we are all living on, for a fortunate few to keep making unimaginable profits and maintaining geopolitical power,” she said.
This is the first climate summit Thunberg has attended since the 2021 talks in Glasgow, Scotland, where she dismissed world leaders’ promises as “blah, blah, blah.”
She rose to prominence in 2018 when, aged 15, she began a solitary 'School Strike for Climate' outside the Swedish Parliament. In 2022, she published 'The Climate Book', outlining actions to address the climate crisis.
She has won multiple awards and advocated for other causes, including the Free Palestine movement. Last year, she was arrested in London while supporting hunger-striking pro-Palestinian activists. More recently, she supported French students protesting for more school resources.
In 2024, she joined a protest in Georgia against Azerbaijan’s hosting of COP29.
A key goal for Turkey is global electrification: shifting sectors such as transportation, buildings and heavy industry away from fossil fuels and toward electricity. Turkey wants electricity, preferably generated from renewable sources such as solar and wind, to account for 35 per cent of global energy consumption by 2035, up from 23 per cent today.
“We have to take the victories we have, of course, because we are so desperate in this situation that we have to take all the positive signs we can get to save as much as we can still save,” said Thunberg, who is expected to spend several days at COP31.
Thunberg's arrival at the conference created excitement among many youth climate activists
“In this time of heightened geopolitical tensions, I hope that Greta’s presence here reminds us of why we started this work in the first place: to push for meaningful change, hold decision-makers accountable, and work towards a better future for all of humanity,” said Amber Turner, a 26-year-old fellow with the Alliance of Small Island States.
“Worsening climate change impacts make it challenging for young people to be sure of a safe and thriving future,” Turner added.
Protests at COP31 demanded more climate finance and criticised growing interest in nuclear energy.
“The presence of such a headline climate activist at one of the world’s biggest conferences on climate is symbolic, and I hope that it will put pressure on the COP itself to deliver real action and implementation,” said Kamori Osthananda, a youth negotiator with Thailand’s COP delegation.
Qiyun Woo, a youth environmentalist from Singapore, said Thunberg's “powerful” presence "adds to calls from a generation that inherits the consequences of these negotiations.”
“Besides her, there are many youth activists from around the world who are also on the ground who are actively fighting for their communities, home and collective future,” she said.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across Spain on Wednesday in the country’s first general strike in 14 years, called in protest at the housing crisis and low wages. Even heavy rain did not stop the demonstrations. In the capital, Madrid, protesters braved the weather with chants, dancing and keys held aloft.
The 24-hour stoppage began at midnight under the slogan "Wages, housing and prices". It was backed by Spain’s two largest trade unions, Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and the General Union of Workers (UGT), along with the smaller CGT and CNT unions and other organisations. It was the first major mobilisation by the main unions since 2012, under the conservative prime minister Mariano Rajoy, and the eighth general strike since Spain returned to democracy in the late 1970s.
Estimates of turnout varied widely between organisers and the authorities. In Madrid, the Tenants’ Union (Sindicato de Inquilinas) put attendance at more than half a million people, while the central government’s office in the city counted 120,000. In Barcelona, organisers said 400,000 people took part, compared with 55,000 according to the city police. In the northern city of Bilbao, municipal police recorded around 50,000 people.
Young people are among the hardest hit by a housing crisis that has pushed rents up by around 80% over the past decade, while wages have failed to keep pace. The protests were aimed at national, regional and local authorities of all political colours, which organisers accuse of failing to take effective action.
Valeria Racu, a spokesperson for the Tenants’ Union, directed her criticism at every level of government. "This is a strike against rentierism, against landlords, against employers and against all governments," she said. "That includes the central government, this progressive government that has been very disappointing and whose housing policy has been disastrous and has brought us to this point, just as the policies of the Partido Popular did before."
Afternoon marches were scheduled for 05:30pm local time in Barcelona, starting from the Jardinets de Gràcia, and for 6:00pm in Madrid, from Atocha station to Plaza de España. The most tense moments came in both cities, where riot police charged groups of masked protesters who had thrown fireworks and flares at officers. Nationwide, more than 70 people were arrested and police recorded 1,500 incidents.
Tensions had already flared early in the morning in Madrid. The unions reported at least eight people injured when police charged a picket outside the city’s bus depots. The UGT’s general secretary, Pepe Álvarez, also accused police on X of obstructing a constitutional right by surrounding an information picket at Mercamadrid, the city’s main wholesale food market.
While the unions described the strike as a success, employers called it a failure. One indicator was a 25.6% drop in industrial electricity demand. According to CCOO and UGT, participation reached 90% in the ports, especially Valencia and Algeciras, and in the car industry, with complete stoppages at Volkswagen’s plant in Navarre and at Seat.
Participation stood at 85% in the meat industry and 82% in waste collection. The Madrid metro, which ran a minimum service, recorded 21% fewer passengers at 7:00.
On the political front, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the conservative Partido Popular (PP), Spain’s main opposition party, warned that the unions may have made a “historic mistake” by calling the strike. Álvarez defended the walkout, saying that whoever is in government “will have to listen to the people”.
Data from 10,000 workers show sit-stand desks boost active work time by 43 minutes a day — or roughly $9,000 in annual productivity per employee.
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The Center for Worker Health at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health drives innovation in worker health and safety, championing research and solutions that make workplaces safer and workers healthier.
view moreCredit: Texas A&M University Division of Marketing and Communications/Brad Abrahams
Every workday is a negotiation between our bodies and our jobs. Sit too long, our backs and necks protest; stand too long, our feet might have something to say about it.
Sit-stand desks, also known as height-adjustable desks or standing desks, promise a healthier way to work, giving employees the flexibility to alternate between sitting and standing throughout the day.
Now, new research suggests these desks may be giving employees, and employers, another benefit beyond ergonomics and well-being: productivity.
Drawing on data from more than 10,000 employees, researchers at Texas A&M University found that workers who used sit-stand desks averaged 43 additional minutes of active computer use each day compared with those using regular desks, a difference that could translate to nearly $9,000 in annual productivity per employee.
The study, published in Theoretical and Applied Ergonomics, was co-led by Texas A&M School of Public Health professor Dr. Mark Benden and U.S. Army Public Health Command Region, West, Regional Ergonomist Dr. Tricia Salzar.
The findings suggest that the physical workspace may be a powerful, often overlooked, influence on employee well-being, productivity, and even a company’s overall performance.
“The design of the workplace itself can be a powerful driver of human health and performance, including better engagement, productivity and organizational success,” Benden said.
When organizations look to boost performance and productivity, they turn to new technologies, training programs and management strategies. But another powerful influence may be hiding in plain sight: the physical workplace itself.
“It’s what we call the ‘workplace effect,’” Benden said. “The direct impact that the physical work environment has on the behavior, health, psychological well-being, and even engagement and performance of employees.”
Sit-stand desks are a striking example of the workplace effect. Rather than locking employees into a single position for hours at a time, they give workers the flexibility to sit, stand and move throughout the day, as tasks and energy levels shift.
“It can have a profound effect,” Benden said. “Alternating between different working positions promotes better health outcomes by reducing physical strain and encouraging movement for those who might otherwise spend most of their workday sedentary.”
But the benefits may extend beyond physical health. Benden and Salzar’s new research shows that sit-stand desks can also have a substantial impact on productivity.
“It has a cumulative, positive effect for both employers and employees,” Benden said.
For employees, height-adjustable desks could lead to sustained energy and longer stretches of focused work. For employers, the higher work productivity could translate into a nearly $9,000 return on investment per employee annually.
“The implications are hard to ignore,” Benden said. “When we design workplaces around employees and their needs, better health, better performance and better organizational outcomes follow.”
The takeaway? Investing in the physical workplace, like height-adjustable desks, isn’t just good for employee comfort and health; it could be good for business, too.
To test whether sit-stand desks could influence work output and productivity, Benden and his colleagues stepped out of their labs and turned to the real world, using a resource few ergonomics studies can match.
“We analyzed a huge dataset of more than 10,000 workers over a yearlong period, comparing the total computer use of traditional desk users and height-adjustable desk users,” Benden said.
The records paired employee comfort surveys with a digital trail of workplace activity, tracking everything from keystrokes and words typed to mouse clicks and typing errors, all to paint a detailed picture of how employees interacted with their computers throughout the workday.
“It was important that we collected subjective measurements, like employee survey responses of their comfort and objective measurements of computer activity through software, to analyze how people engaged with their work,” Benden said.
The team found that workers with sit-stand desks averaged 3.66 hours of active computer time, compared with 2.95 hours among regular-desk employees — a gap of about 43 minutes a day.
That might not sound like much, but over a year it adds up to roughly 171 additional hours, or more than four 40-hour workweeks.
And those additional hours come with a practical price tag, too.
Multiplying the 171 additional hours by a standardized hourly wage of about $52, the researchers estimate that sit-stand desks could generate nearly $9,000 in potential annual productivity value per employee.
“Our findings were exciting because they suggest that height-adjustable desks can directly influence overall work output and economic organizational productivity,” Benden said.
The researchers also found that employees using sit-stand desks generally typed more words and logged more keystrokes than their counterparts at non-adjustable desks.
“The data showed that people aren’t just engaging with their work, they are producing output in a meaningful way,” Benden said.
For Benden, the findings open the door to broader questions about the future of organizations, focusing on another force rapidly reshaping the modern workplace.
“Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly integrated into daily work,” Benden said. “Just as we’ve studied how the physical environment affects human health and performance, we’re interested in understanding how emerging AI technologies could influence the physical workspace and outcomes of organizations.”
From adjustable desks to emerging technologies, the underlying question remains the same: how can organizations design environments and systems to better support the people who use them?
“The next breakthrough may not come from working harder, but from designing workspaces and systems that help people work smarter and more efficiently,” Benden said.
The story told by the more than 10,000 employees is that the desk may be doing far more than just holding up your computer.
For Benden, sit-stand desks represent more than an ergonomic innovation. They’re part of a lifelong passion to understand how workplaces can be designed to better support employee well-being and organizational success.
“We spend a lot of time at work,” Benden said. “It’s my passion to make sure that workers feel supported in their workplace, built on informed and guided scientific evidence.”
A former Army Reserve officer, engineer, healthcare professional, inventor and world-renowned researcher, Benden has spent decades studying the complex relationship between people and the environments in which they work.
Today, he serves as director of the Center for Worker Health, where engineering, management and technology converge and harmonize in an interdisciplinary symphony of research, innovation and education, each playing its own tune in service of a shared mission to improve the lives of workers.
“The Center partners with industry nationwide, to develop innovative, impactful systems and practices that have a direct effect on worker health and efficiency,” Benden said. “We also train students and give them the platform to be as creative as possible to turn new ideas into impactful applications.”
So, the next time you find yourself slumping in your chair at 3 p.m. with an aching back, don’t just reach for another cup of coffee, because the verdict is in: show this study to your boss. Your back — and your company’s bottom line — will thank you.
By Zaid Elayyan, Texas A&M University Division of Marketing and Communications
Improved Computer Utilization Associated with Height Adjustable Workstations in a Large Office Population
