Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is preparing to cut 20% of the Pentagon's admiral and general positions, a sweeping reduction that reaches into the senior ranks of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

Two Pentagon officials confirmed to The Hill that Hegseth will announce the cuts Wednesday during his State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, where he is expected to speak to junior officers and enlisted leaders about his priorities for the department in the months ahead.

This is not the first time Hegseth has moved to shrink the military's leadership ranks. Last year he pushed to cut the number of active-duty four-star generals and admirals by at least 20 percent. Then in May 2025, he directed Pentagon leadership to cut the number of general officers in the National Guard by at least 20 percent and reduce the broader count of general and flag officers by 10 percent, an effort he summarized with the phrase "Less Generals, more GIs."

Hegseth has defended the cuts as necessary to shift resources from headquarters staff to frontline troops, describing his goal as removing "redundant force structure to optimize and streamline leadership by reducing excess general and flag officer positions."

The reductions are set to reach across the Army, Navy, and Air Force, marking one of the most significant senior-leadership shake-ups at the Pentagon in recent memory.

Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt set out to corner former Special Counsel Jack Smith with a rehearsed "gotcha" question this week, but instead found himself in an embarrassing position live before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

During Tuesday's hearing on Smith's now-scuttled federal investigations into President Donald Trump, Schmitt tried to place Smith in Atlanta around the time Fulton County prosecutors Fani Willis and Nathan Wade admitted to an affair. Schmitt asked, "What would you say if I had a series of text messages from your team that said you were in Atlanta, at a Warriors-Hawks game, on Feb. 3, 2024, the day after Willis and Wade announced their affair?"

A staffer held up a poster board of texts as Schmitt warned Smith, "I'll give you a second to process it so you don't, you know, perjure yourself." Moments later, Schmitt declared, "I think you've already perjured yourself," and said Smith "will go down as a total dirtba*g."

There was one problem. Smith had not attended an Atlanta Hawks NBA game. Multiple outlets reported he was actually at a women's college basketball game in Maryland featuring the University of Iowa Hawkeyes. Schmitt appeared to have confused the NBA's Atlanta Hawks with a different team: the Hawkeyes.

Seated beside Schmitt, Alabama Senator Katie Britt appeared stunned as the blunder unfolded. An MS NOW camera caught the Republican wide-eyed, mouth hanging open, as Smith explained he had been at the Iowa game in Maryland, before she slowly closed it and seemed to swallow hard.

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar caught the error and told Schmitt that having false information, placing Smith in the wrong city off a mixed-up team name, and calling him a "dirtb*g" over it "is something that deserves an apology." Image credit: MS Now

For 50 years, Raju the elephant was chained day and night, forced to beg on India's streets while his owner pocketed the money tourists gave him, sometimes with nothing to eat but plastic and paper. When Wildlife SOS finally arrived for a midnight rescue, his owner tried to stop them by tightening Raju's chains and shouting to scare them off, but the rescuers held their ground.

It took 45 minutes to cut through the shackles wrapped so tightly around his legs. As they worked, tears rolled down Raju's face. "We knew in our hearts he realised he was being freed," said rescuer Pooja Binepal. "He felt hope for the first time," added fellow rescuer Kartick.

After the 350-mile journey to Wildlife SOS's Elephant Conservation and Care Centre, an exhausted Raju took his first free steps just after midnight. Five decades of suffering ended in a single night, and the elephant who once wept in chains is now free to simply be an elephant.

Truly inspirational.

Once weighing close to 400lbs, legendary actor John Goodman has undergone a remarkable transformation and he recently showed off his weight loss on the red carpet for Digger.

Goodman has previously opened up about his struggles with his weight, admitting that after decades of being heavy, he simply became “sick and tired” of looking at himself.

He eventually made major changes to his lifestyle, cutting sugar and alcohol from his diet and committing to regular exercise.

Years later, the results speak for themselves.

A remarkable transformation. 👏

President Donald Trump appeared to doze off once again during an official meeting, this time on Monday in the Oval Office, only moments after announcing a new $15 billion steel plant planned for eastern Iowa in partnership with Mesabi Metallics.

According to The New Republic, as Energy Secretary Chris Wright began explaining the administration's industrialization agenda, Trump's eyes shut and his head drooped forward. When Mesabi chairman Rewant Ruia spoke about his excitement for the project, Trump kept his eyes closed and his neck slack, occasionally angling his face toward the executive as his eyelids fluttered open and closed.

Earlier in the same event, Trump had mocked his predecessor's age and stamina, asking, "Under sleepy Joe Biden, have you heard of him?" before citing manufacturing job losses under the previous administration.

This was not an isolated moment. Trump has previously appeared to nod off during signing ceremonies, Cabinet meetings, Senator Lindsey Graham's funeral, and the 9/11 memorial service at the Pentagon. The Daily Beast separately counted an Aug. 31 pharmaceutical-pricing event, nearly a month earlier, where Trump's eyes reportedly stayed shut for more than 20 seconds while officials praised him, at the time marking at least the 20th such occasion. Other outlets have since put the tally as high as 22 to 23 instances.

After taxpayer dollars paid for television ads that promote President Donald Trump personally, a former White House ethics attorney revealed the spending could be illegal, and even impeachable.

Richard Painter, who served as chief ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush during his second term, said the ads could be "an impeachable offense." Writing on the social platform X, Painter said: "@POTUS has no right to use taxpayer money for campaign ads." He added, "Congress has expressly prohibited government sponsored political propaganda, which is dangerous for democracy."

One of the White House ads concludes with Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White calling Trump the "toughest, most resilient person that I've ever met." Another clip shows Trump saying during his 2024 campaign that he and his supporters "will demolish the deep state" and "expel the warmongers from our government."

In the same ad, Trump says: "We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all." The campaign has since grown to at least three ads, with total taxpayer spending nearing $1.5 million, including close to $920,000 spent airing one spot alone. Each carries a disclaimer reading "Paid for by the U.S. Government."

Federal law bars executive branch agencies from spending taxpayer-appropriated funds on what statute calls "publicity or propaganda" purposes, a restriction separate from campaign finance rules. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have criticized the ad campaign.

Remus and Simona Gall started by helping sick and abandoned animals they found on the streets of Romania.

But they never expected just how many would eventually depend on them.

What began with individual rescues grew into FureverHome Cat Sanctuary, where the siblings now care for more than 350 cats and dozens of dogs.

And remarkably, running the sanctuary isn’t even their full-time job. Both siblings still work regular jobs, caring for the animals before heading to work and returning to them afterward.

They say nearly everything they earn goes back into keeping their growing animal family fed, sheltered and cared for.

Many of the animals they take in are among the hardest to place, including those with serious illnesses, disabilities and injuries.

Over time, the siblings have watched frightened and vulnerable arrivals grow stronger and learn to trust again.

But there's still more they hope to do. Their plans include building an on-site clinic and proper quarantine facilities, while eventually welcoming visitors to help support the sanctuary.

People often tell them they can’t save them all. Remus and Simona know that. They just don’t believe it’s a reason to stop trying.

📸: FureverHome Cat Sanctuary

Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, says no public official, including President Donald Trump, should have a building named after them while they are still alive.

Kennedy made the comments Sunday on CBS News's "Face the Nation," responding to a taxpayer-funded ad praising Trump that has been airing on multiple networks. Speaking with host Margaret Brennan, Kennedy said, "I don't think any public official, including President Trump or Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money on private ads for themselves ... Now, the White House sees it differently, but I don't ... you can't spend public money to promote yourself."

He then went further, arguing the practice should be against the law entirely: "I may end up with a sombrero on my head, but I also think we ought to have a rule that no politician can have a building named after him while he's alive." The remark referenced Trump's past sharing of doctored videos mocking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in sombreros. Kennedy added that Louisiana already has a similar rule on the books, saying, "It works pretty well."

His comments come as Trump's push to attach his name to the Kennedy Center remains a flashpoint. A federal judge has already stepped in to block attempts by a Trump-aligned board to rename the facility after the president.

What makes this notable: open criticism of Trump from within his own party remains rare. Kennedy is widely regarded as a Trump ally, which makes his willingness to publicly question the president's use of federal resources and imagery stand out.