TESTOSTERONE TEST:  The Republican majority in the House voted last night to kill the impeachment of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, making it one of the shortest ever. The vote was 211 to 204.

  A handful of Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, did not show for the vote. 

  Earlier,  Hegseth put on a performance before the press that could be used as an argument for why he should be fired. Hegseth wrapped himself in patriotism, the arms of the troops, and even Donald Trump delivering a lengthy defense to the press. 

  Hegseth dismissed impeachment as the effort of “one disgruntled and defeated congressman.”  He said it was an effort to “do damage to this president, this country, and most irresponsibly, the warriors who defend it.”

  The articles were filed by outgoing Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie against Hegseth, not the president, the troops, or the entire country.

  The articles accused Hegseth, among other things, of waging war without authority and committing extrajudicial killings blowing up suspected drug trafficking boats. He said this is merely “policy disagreements, not high crimes, not misdemeanors, not bribery.” He said, “This is not patriotism, this is sabotage.”

   Hegseth touted the success of US military operations and then attacked the press. “The media can just never admit the military’s success,” Hegseth said. “because they, you, hate the president more than you love our country or our troops.”

FIGHT CLUB: In an indication that House Republicans are not retiring quietly into the night, they elected the combative Jim Jordan of Ohio to be their minority leader. He defeated Steve Scalise of Louisiana, a longtime rival for leadership positions.

  Jordan, who’s been chair of the House Judiciary Committee, told fellow Republicans that he plans to put up an aggressive defense against the many investigations House Democrats have said they will launch into President Trump, his family, and his administration after the next Congress is sworn in in January.

  Jordan said after the vote; “When Democrats offer more government, we will offer more freedom. And we will bring that fight in committee, on the floor, and on the stump every single day.”

  Republican senators voted to keep their Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota as their minority leader in January.

THE LONG COUNT: Without all the races decided, the balance in the House of Representatives starting in January is 255 Democrats and Republicans, 167. Sixteen seats are undecided.

YOU’RE FIRED: President Trump’s former personal lawyer Alinna Habba has been fired from the $50 million job she was given to influence a presidential pardon for Julio Herrera Velutini, a billionaire Venezuelan banker who had been accused of  felony bribery charges in Puerto Rico

  The NY Times reports that the firing came after Trump threw a fit after hearing about Habba’s contract with a Herrera family company, Concord partners, which no one knows what it actually is or what Habba was supposed to do for it.

But weeks after Habba signed with the company, Trump granted Herrera a full pardon. 

  Habba walks away with at least $14.5 million.  

ECON 101: The national average price of gasoline dropped below $4 a gallon yesterday for the first time in three months, according to AAA. The price of regular gas has fallen by 38 cents in the last month to a national average of $3.98.

  The price of oil has been dropping and so has demand for gasoline as Americans put away their boats and camper vans for the winter.

INFINITE SCROLL:

— Secretary of State Marco Rubio is required to fly on government airplanes, but he’s not required to fly to see his son play football for the Florida gators.

  The Washington Post reports that Rubio has flown to at least 10 Gators football games and that he has traveled to Gainesville aboard government aircraft at least 23 times, including 15 trips the department characterized as solely personal.

— Nine members of the Kennedy family have joined litigation to block construction of President Trump’s triumphal arch in Washington, arguing that it will block the long view of the family graves, including the sightline from the eternal flame at President John F. Kennedy’s gravesite, “destroying an essential element of the gravesite’s design.”

  The Kennedy filing claims that the arch would obstruct “a line of sight that was designed to represent the unification of the nation following the Civil War and that has existed for nearly a century.”

THE OBIT PAGE: Actor Stacy Keach, who had a long career in movies and television despite a prominent scar on his upper lip from having been born with a cleft palate, died at age 85 where he lived in Poland.

  Among many roles, Keach played Hamlet on stage and the detective Mike Hammer in television and film.

THE SPIN RACK: A Virginia jury convicted Manassas resident Naresh Bhatt of first-degree murder in the 2024 killing of his wife. His defense was that she died by suicide and all he did was dismember the body. — The average cost of a new car in the US has hit a record average over $51,000, according to Kelley Blue Book. — The frat boys in the Sigma Nu fraternity at North Carolina State University were all ordered out of the house yesterday following evidence of repulsive hazing practices and cocaine use. The house was closed by the national fraternity, not the university. — Canadian authorities killed a mother bear and her three cubs who they believe had killed two women hiking in British Columbia. 

BELOW THE FOLD: When the kicker for the Ohio Bobcats lined up for a field goal last night, the host stadium of the Miami Ohio RedHawks put up on their giant video screen multiple images of goalposts behind the actual goalpost.  

  Kicker Brack Peacock hit the right upright, but the referee called foul for unsportsmanlike conduct and the Bobcats were given a first down. Then failed to score.

  There should be some ultimate justice in this, but the RedHawks won, 34-17. 

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