Firing Hegseth
Plus: Martha Stewart's poor person costume, Nvidia shares slide, and more...
Impeach the man: Yesterday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) introduced articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. "Massie has alleged that the war is unconstitutional, because the Trump administration launched the conflict without the approval of lawmakers and has since continued military action despite Congress demanding that the Pentagon cease hostilities," reports The Washington Post. Massie has long opposed executive abuse of warmaking powers and has frequently admonished his colleagues to serve as legitimate checks on the president, specifically when it comes to foreign policy.
The Reason Roundup Newsletter by Liz Wolfe Liz and Reason help you make sense of the day's news every morning.
The resolution alleges, per NPR: "3 charges for illegally waging war against Iran in violation of the War Powers Resolution; 1 charge for ignoring laws designed to minimize civilian casualties; 1 charge for overseeing 'extrajudicial killings' in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean with strikes on alleged drug boats; 1 charge for suppressing free speech, brought in connection to the effort to punish Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., for a video telling service members they can refuse illegal orders; 1 charge for the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro without congressional authorization; 1 charge for illegally waging war against Yemen in violation of the War Powers Resolution." The full text can be found here.
These "sham articles of impeachment," Hegseth said, "didn't work against President Trump, and it won't work with me." Massie is just "one disgruntled and defeated congressman" who hopes to damage the president's reputation, per Hegseth.
Democrats are likely to side with Massie, and "as few as three Republican defections or absences could allow the charges to advance to the Senate for trial," notes The New York Times, though "Republican leaders could delay the matter, [and] Democrats could take it up when they assume power in January. The Constitution requires two-thirds of the Senate—a difficult target—to vote to convict and remove an official from office."
"I'm being polite here," Massie insisted to reporters. "What is an impeachment? An impeachment is just firing someone, really. You don't go to prison. You don't go to jail. You don't pay a fine. When the Democrats get in charge, they are going to be very vicious." This is correct; Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D–N.Y.), presumed to be the next speaker of the House, has already spoken publicly about how he supports impeachment efforts against Hegseth.
"The so-called secretary of defense has abused his power, undermined our national security, and engineered this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran," Jeffries said on ABC's "This Week," adding that "Pete Hegseth has got to go."
The War Powers Resolution has been repeatedly ignored, time and time again—a perennial frustration of Massie's. "What's at heart here is the balance of power between the executive branch and Congress," he added.
Massie recently lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, but intends to most likely run again in 2028. It's kind of wild that there are so few independently minded politicians (who've actually read the Constitution!) left and that Massie types are so rare. More updates here as the Hegseth impeachment progresses.
Scenes from New York: For Halloween, Martha Stewart dressed up as a poor person.
Martha Stewart deletes 'offensive' Halloween costume photo after being accused of mocking homeless people https://t.co/sVQ23zBHV3 pic.twitter.com/KsSaX4Spzt
— New York Post (@nypost) November 1, 2026
It was apparently an impromptu, last-minute choice, and she has apologized for it (saying she "intended to bring more awareness to the very serious subject of homelessness," which seems…implausible), but the news cycle keeps going.
"I know many people are suffering economically," wrote Stewart. "Wearing a costume like I did was insensitive and not funny. I am very sorry."
I find it a little funny, personally, that Stewart can't seem to make up her mind about her own persona: Is she an everywoman trying to democratize the art of hosting (for fun and profit), or is she so well connected that she can know when to sell 4,000 shares of biotech stock just before its value tanks? How on Earth did she make friends in prison if she's so out of touch? Still, a society that rakes its 85-year-olds through the coals for their ill-advised decision making even after they've deleted the evidence and apologized for it is one that needs to better understand forgiveness.
QUICK HITS
- "Nvidia's shares slid 4.3% today after the company's board launched an investigation into reports that CEO Jensen Huang had been a spying target after a romantic relationship with an executive suspected of working for Chinese intelligence," reports The Wall Street Journal. "The chip giant lost about $230 billion in market value, making it the worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and second weakest in the S&P 500."
- "Parents track their kids everywhere they go. Location tracking might start, for younger kids, with an AirTag slipped into a backpack, jacket, or shoe. (Skechers now makes shoes with a dedicated compartment in the sole.) For kids old enough to have their own smartwatch or phone, the GPS is built right in—and so parents keep tracking them into adolescence and even beyond," writes Sarah Zhang for The Atlantic. "Even among college students, one-third were being tracked by their parents, according to another study, conducted in 2021 by Michaeline Jensen, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Five years later, Jensen says, that number is even higher: More than half of college students are being tracked, per her unpublished data."
- "By a vote of 73-25 on Monday night, including 22 members of the Democratic caucus, the Senate advanced its permitting reform deal—a strong indicator the bill will ultimately pass the chamber," reports The Washington Post. "This could mark a historic achievement and a chance to reinvigorate the country's ability to meet its energy needs." Environmentalist groups like the Sierra Club have opposed the legislation, naturally.
- Democrats embrace tougher-on-crime policies—or at least Democratic voters do—after the long prison-abolition activist frenzy.
- Lol:
Pangram is good, but has some well-known failure modes, like:
- A time you heard it didn't work
- A school essay you wrote years ago that it flagged as AI (you don't have a link or the essay text handy)
- A different AI detector got it wrong, and they're all the same, right?— Byrne Hobart (@ByrneHobart) August 6, 2026