White House Deletes Video With Bizarre Stolen Valor Claim
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White House Deletes Video With Bizarre Stolen Valor Claim
The White House deleted a video boasting about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s military record. The video falsely claimed Heg seth received the Bronze Star Medal for valor. The Bronze Star medal is considered the fourth-highest ranking award a service member can receive. Journalists debunked the claim, and the video has been reposted on social media. The White House has given the Department of Defense the secondary title of “Department of War.” The name change is a secondary title given that the president does not have the power to rename a governmentDepartment. Congress must approve any name change..
The Hegseth video came after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday that gave the Department of Defense the secondary title of “Department of War.” To celebrate the change, the White House posted a video boasting about Hegseth’s military record, calling him “an officer in the United States Army National Guard. A veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. Recipient of the Bronze Star medal for valor. A warrior. A leader. And a patriot.”
The video was taken down as soon as journalists debunked the claim that Hegseth had received the Bronze Star Medal for valor. Hegseth did receive two Bronze Star medals during his service—not for valor but for meritorious service, according to Associated Press journalist Konstantin Toropin.
The Bronze Star medal is considered the fourth-highest ranking award a service member can receive. It can be granted for valor, merit, and achievement.
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Hegseth’s awards reflect commendable performance during his time serving, but medals of valor require acts of heroism during combat. The distinction is so significant that Bronze stars for valor are marked with a special “V.”
Users on social media have reposted the video to highlight the administration’s blunder.
“That video misleads the public, disrespects those who’ve earned valor citations, and weaponizes military honor for political branding,” one user said.
Pete Hegseth received two Bronze star medals for meritorious service. / AL DRAGO / Al Drago/Pool/REUTERS
“Deleting the video was the right call, but it never should’ve been posted with that false claim to begin with. Words matter. Valor and meritorious service are not the same, especially to those who’ve actually risked their lives under fire. Pete inflating his record, even by mistake, disrespects those whose Bronze Stars were earned in the heat of battle,” another chimed in.
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Hegseth has jumped on the “Department of War” bandwagon, touting the name change in a promo video while awkwardly reading from a script.
“This name change is not just about renaming; it’s about restoring,” Hegseth said. “It’s going to fight to win, not not to lose [sic]. We’re going to go on offense, not just on defense.”
The name change is a secondary title given that the president does not have the power to rename a government department. Congress must approve any name change.
Greek PM calls fraud in EU farm subsidies ‘a chronic problem’
Greece’s prime minister said Sunday that alleged fraud of EU agricultural subsidies was “a chronic problem” in his country’s farm sector. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that the fraud — which Greek authorities estimate amounts to at least 23 million euros ($27 million) — started in 2016, before he came to power in 2019. The EU probe, looking into allegations that fraudulent claimants syphoned off the money in massive graft, is mainly investigating the period since his government took office.
“Our government cannot take all the responsibility” in this matter, which is under investigation by the European Union, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told a press conference.
He said that the fraud — which Greek authorities estimate amounts to at least 23 million euros ($27 million) — started in 2016, before he came to power in 2019.
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The EU probe, looking into allegations that fraudulent claimants syphoned off the money in massive graft, is mainly investigating the period since Mitsotakis’s conservative government took office.
EU investigators three months ago raided the Athens offices of the Greek government agency that handled the payments, OPEKEPE, which has since been closed down.
The EU probe has shown widespread abuse of funds handed out by OPEKEPE, which according to the government annually disbursed more than three billion euros, mainly in subsidies to 680,000 farmers.
A probe subsequently launched by Greek authorities examined 6,354 aid recipients, of whom 1,036 were determined to have received illegal payments totalling 23 million euros.
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EU investigators have not yet given their own estimates of the alleged fraud or the number of suspect claimants.
Mitsotakis, speaking at an event in the northern city of Thessaloniki in which he presented his government’s economic plans for next year, admitted that his administration “did not manage to clean up OPEKEPE”.
He asserted that the funds wrongly disbursed “have started to be recovered” and that “the government is now on the right path to fix this problem”.
Those who illegally claimed EU subsidies mainly did so by making false declarations about agricultural land they claimed to control and false claims about livestock, the premier said.
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The EU probe has found that most of the allegedly fraudulent subsidy claims came from the Greek island of Crete. Experts and media have pointed the finger at corruption and a system of patronage said to be rampant in the country.
Mitsotakis said that “the EU has investigations into numerous matters in all the (member) countries” and his government “has nothing to hide or to fear from such checks”.
mr/rmb/cw
In pictures: Blood Moon captivates sky-gazers around the world
Sky-watchers around the world have been witnessing a striking Blood Moon. The phenomenon happens when the Moon passes through the Earth’s shadow, taking on a deep red hue. The captivating display was visible in its totality in several countries around world. The Blood Moon was also pictured above Malton in the UK.
The captivating display was visible in its totality in several countries around world.
People at the top of the Shanghai World Financial Centre in China watch as the Moon rises above skyscrapers in the financial district [Getty Images]
The Moon illuminates a promenade along the Huangpu river in Shanghai [Getty Images]
Sky-watchers on a beach in Odesa, Ukraine, saw the Blood Moon rise above the sea [AFP via Getty Images]
The full Moon above a minaret in Kuwait City [Getty Images]
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Sky-watchers also saw the red Moon in Ankara, Turkey [Anadolu via Getty Images]
A golden statue in Dresden, Germany, is seen alongside the Moon [Reuters]
A striking view of the Blood Moon near a building in Berlin [EPA]
The Blood Moon rose above the clouds in Johannesburg, South Africa [AFP via Getty Images]
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In Baghdad, the Moon stood out in the hazy sky near a Ferris wheel [Reuters]
The Blood Moon seen high above the Sinai desert in Egypt [Getty Images]
The bright Moon seen from Jerusalem [EPA]
The Blood Moon was also pictured above Malton in the UK [Sunshinesid/BBC Weather Watchers]
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Woman Struggles to Remove Shoe After It Gets Twisted, Stuck Up Her Leg While Playing with Her Kids at Zoo (Exclusive)
Hannah Butler and her family spent 10 minutes working to get the shoe off. The video of the removal went viral, amassing over 780,000 views. Butler is now avoiding buying that type of shoe, but if it happens again, she knows what to do. “Some things aren’t so deep as the internet thinks. It’s just a funny thing to make fun of yourself,” she says. “In real life, he always shows up,” Butler says of her dad. “People like that because that is how my dad is. He helps beyond what he ever needs to,” she adds of her family’s helpful response to the incident.
Hannah Butler and her sister, Hollie Poore, were enjoying a day at the zoo when the unexpected derailed the day
While Butler was chasing her kids through the splash pad, her feet got wet and one of her sandals slipped onto her leg
Butler and her family spent 10 minutes working to get the shoe off
Hannah Butler was enjoying a fun day at the zoo with her family and sister, Hollie Poore, when a new fear was unlocked.
As Butler chased her kids around the zoo’s splash pad, a water play area with interactive features, her feet got wet because she was wearing sandals. Within seconds, her foot “slipped through the entire shoe and it got stuck.”
“I laughed and thought that I would just take it off after that. Then I realized that my foot was way too big and I could not get it off,” Butler tells PEOPLE. “I started panicking and laughing and running to my dad and Hollie to help me.”
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Butler begged her sister to help get it off, but they both quickly realized the shoe was stuck, not moving an inch. Poore then took out her phone and pressed record. The video, which she posted on TikTok, shows their attempts to get the pink slide off. However, adding more water only made it worse and Butler could feel the shoe “cutting off [her] circulation.”
Hollie Poore Hanna Butler and Hollie Poore Hanna Butler and Hollie Poore
Their dad suggested they use Dawn dish soap as a lubricant, but naturally, they didn’t have any. Inspired by his grandfather’s helpful suggestion, Poore’s 11-year-old son suggested they try using sunscreen to slip the shoe off.
They lathered sunscreen on Butler’s leg and inside the shoe. After 10 minutes of unsuccessful attempts to pry it off, it finally budged.
The video of the removal went viral, amassing over 780,000 views. People in the comments were quick to offer up other ways they could have removed the shoe, many of which Bulter says she had already tried. Other comments pointed out how helpful their dad was, jumping in to help resolve the issue.
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“People like that because that is how my dad is. He helps beyond what he ever needs to. It’s a silly example with the shoe, but in real life, he always shows up,” Butler shares.
Hollie Poore Hollie Poore and Hannah Butler Hollie Poore and Hannah Butler
While some questioned why Poore recorded the ordeal rather than help, she notes that she knew her sister would be okay and it’s “important to be able to laugh at each other.”
“Some things aren’t so deep as the internet thinks. It’s just a funny thing to make fun of yourself,” she adds.
While Butler is now avoiding buying that type of shoe, if it happens again, she knows what to do.
Read the original article on People
‘So adamant and loud’: Phillies dad explains why he gave angry fan his son’s home run ball
Drew Feltwell scooped up a home run ball for his son, Lincoln, as an early 10th birthday gift. He handed the ball over to an angry woman who insisted she was the one to catch it. The father says he gave up the ball because the woman was “so adamant and loud and yelling and persistent, and I just didn’t want to deal with it anymore” The woman was booed out of the game and a member of the Marlins’ staff gifted Lincoln a signed bat from Harrison Bader after the game.. Internet sleuths began to speculate that the woman involved in the incident had been fired from her job at a New Jersey school district. The Hammonton School District refuted the rumors in a joking manner online.
Drew Feltwell beat out several other fans by grabbing a home run ball hit into the stands by the Phillies’ Harrison Bader during Friday night’s matchup against the Marlins in Miami. While he hoped to catch a ball for his son, Lincoln, as an early 10th birthday gift, it ended up going home with an irate woman who insisted she was the one to catch it.
“I felt like super dad putting that ball in his glove and giving him a hug,” Feltwell told NBC10 Philadelphia .
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Feltwell said the family was “trying to make this week” about his son, and was hoping he’d be put on the jumbotron with the ball in his hand.
However, seconds after scooping up the ball, an unknown woman approached the father and began shouting into his ear, “That’s my ball!”
The father who handed over a home run baseball at a Phillies’ game this week is speaking out about why he gave up his son’s prized possession. (NBC Universal, Inc.)
“I thought I was doing this great thing, and putting it in his glove meant a lot, but she was just so adamant and loud and yelling and persistent, and I just didn’t want to deal with it anymore,” the dad said.
“She was, very, very, very close, and I’m dad of the family so I didn’t want to do something I regret. That was the choice I made. I handed the ball back and told her to go away,” he added.
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Feltwell noted he was “just trying to set an example of how to de-escalate a situation” in front of his son.
His son also said he felt like the crazed woman was not going to back down.
“I wasn’t very happy that we had to give it to her, but we can’t win,” Lincoln said.
Footage of the incident recorded by fans shows the woman demanding the ball back, seeming to believe she was entitled to it because it was closer to her seat — even though Feltwell had chased after it and gotten it first.
Based on the footage, the woman did not appear to ever be in possession of the ball.
Viral footage showed the woman confronting Feltwell at the game. (screengrab)
After the incident, fans booed the woman out of the arena. Meanwhile, a member of the Marlins’ staff gifted Lincoln a prize pack that included a signed bat from Bader, who met with the boy after the game.
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“We ended up having a good night because of good people,” Feltwell said.
Following the incident, Internet sleuths began to speculate that the woman involved in the incident had been fired from her job at a New Jersey school district — but that wasn’t the case.
The Hammonton School District refuted the rumors in a joking manner online, noting that anyone who works for their district “would obviously have caught the ball bare-handed in the first place, avoiding this entire situation.”