☕️ COON CAPERS ☙ Wednesday, December 3, 2025 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠

Pentagon swaps out aging press clique, spurring media hysterics; Tennessee special tests GOP turnout; billionaires boost Trump trusts; RFK eyes full pediatric vax review; and hairy bathroom bandits.

Good morning, C&C, it’s Wednesday! I’m hotel blogging again and preparing to change locations to avoid surveillance. Or because I’m needed elsewhere. Either way. In today’s hastily assembled roundup: Pentagon replaces aging press corps with dynamic team of new reporters, which vexes corporate media to the breaking point; mean girls crying club; successful Tennessee special election shows wins and risks for Republicans; turnout is the key; billionaires begin donating into Trump’s childhood trust accounts, media coverage is mixed; RFK’s vaccine committee signals intent to review the entire pediatric schedule; and crime strikes the ABC bathroom floor with unusually hirstute perpetator.

🌍 WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY 🌍

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Yesterday, The Hill ran a fabulous story headlined, “Gaetz, Loomer join new Pentagon press corps for rare briefing.” And if you haven’t seen the clips yet, brace yourself — former Project Veritas chief James O’Keefe, Human Events’ Jack Posobiec, and conservative wrecking ball Laura Loomer sitting smugly inside the Pentagon Press Pool, wearing corporate media’s official credential badges and occupying their surrendered seats:

CLIP 1: Libs howl as James O’Keefe weilds official Pentagon press credentials (0:53).

CLIP 2: And here’s Jack Posobiec asking his question (0:41).

CLIP 3: And Laura Loomer (1:03).

Regular liberal reporters are bad enough. But if you wanted to find a real mean-girls clique, you should start with the Pentagon Press Corps. For decades, journalists with Pentagon access were some of the most Swamp-connected, arrogant, and entitled reporters in the business. The Pentagon Press Corps claimed they were ‘protecting democracy,’ which is simply adorable, like watching raccoons claim they’re ‘protecting the trash.’

Then, earlier this fall, the Pentagon announced a major revamp of operating procedures for press covering the department. Trump’s War Department asked reporters to sign a detailed press policy contract that restricted where they could wander in the Pentagon, and that banned publication of any unapproved material (in other words, any leaked or anonymously sourced material, especially classified stuff).

The War Department wasn’t saying reporters can’t publish unflattering stories; they just can’t source those stories from the Pentagon’s own employees. Do some work, for Pete’s sake. Get out of the office.

Corporate media reacted with all the dignity of a piñata at a toddler’s birthday party — but without the piñata’s integrity. A mass exodus of corporate media types rage-quit, shredding their Pentagon press badges in synchronized unison, to teach President Trump a lesson. Fine! We just won’t cover you at all then!

They expected the Pentagon to back down, since it historically has fawned over the intimate cadre of corporate media’s military reporters, who under Democrat Administrations always swallow its propaganda without spitting, but under Republican Administrations, leak intel like a giant war bucket with a thousand pinholes.

But instead of caving to the rage-quitting ninnies, the Trump Administration responded by handing fresh media credentials to independent, populist, MAGA, and generally non-approved voices— some of whom have never before covered a Pentagon press briefing or, frankly, any briefing at all.

Corporate media fainted on their velvet audition couches. How dare they?

🚀 For a surprisingly thoughtful — and unexpectedly emotional — reaction, take ten minutes and watch this selfie video from John Konrad V (the fifth), former Merchant Marine captain and founder of the niche-but-influential maritime outlet gCaptain.

CLIP: Independent media reporter describes replacing corporate media at Pentagon (9:29).

Konrad is no MAGA soldier. He’s center-right, deeply technical (if not downright wonky), and often blasts Republicans —Trump included— for failures in shipbuilding and naval readiness. But he choked up explaining why he joined the new-and-improved Pentagon Press Corps: “This is important. Getting these stories out is important.” He pointed out his father’s memorial in D.C. —his father died from Agent Orange complications— and said, “You have to put the future of this nation ahead of yourself.”

Then he nailed it; elevating truth over convenience: “Can we help the military improve by asking the hard questions?”

Konrad’s answer was yes— and he declared that the previous press corps had failed that mission. The new lineup of independent voices, he insisted, “really, really care.” He also praised Sean Parnell, the DOD press team, the policy staff, and the soldiers behind the scenes: “They all signed their name on the line. They care,” he said, choking up.

It was a remarkable moment—a tearful independent journalist defending transparency in the Pentagon, while the legacy press gnashed its teeth and sulked back in the clubhouse.

🚀 What makes this story absolutely historic isn’t corporate media’s temper tantrum (that’s just background noise), but the Trump Pentagon’s decision to stand its ground and replace them outright. It reminds me of Reagan firing the striking air traffic controllers. For the first time in living memory, a presidential administration didn’t cower, appease, or issue the ritual apology to the credentialed elites; it executed a clean swap.

That took real institutional courage. It broke a decades-old cartel. And it fired off a warning shot: press access belongs to the public, not to a hereditary guild of narrative curators.

Trump has aired out one of the media’s most cherished insiders’ clubs, the smoky backroom where career Pentagon reporters spent decades trading flattering coverage for access, favors, and who-knows-what other unsavory bargains. Instead of appeasing the cartel after it staged its high-drama walkout, the administration cracked open the windows, rolled up its sleeves, and replaced them.

That’s the historic part: breaking one of the most protected guilds around, which thought it owned the briefing room. It took nerve and conviction. And it marked the first time in a generation that the War Department told the corporate press, politely but unmistakably, that its gravy train had reached its final destination. Buh bye.

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Yesterday, Politico published a story whose meaning depends on the eye of the beholder, headlined “GOP frets ‘dangerous’ result in Tennessee.” I keep telling you; it’s going to be about turnout: “Turnout was extraordinarily high for a special election, pacing even the 2022 midterms,” the story explained.

CLIP: Hannity announces GOP win in Tennessee special election (0:26).

Tennessee held a special election in a deep-red district to replace a retiring GOP representative. Last night, Republican Matt Van Epps won handily— but at a much smaller margin than Trump won the district last November. Thus, the special election has become a sort of Rorschach test. The bottom line is, Van Epps ran with full Trump support, both before and during the campaign. So the election at least disproves the Democrat myth that they will win whenever “Trump is on the ballot.”

This wasn’t just any old special election.

The Hill said Democrats “went all in” on the race. The Democrat House Majority PAC alone lavished a million bucks on ads supporting their blue candidate, Aftyn Behn. It was that PAC’s first special election spend so far this year. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) chipped in another million in a late surge. Behn’s campaign itself raised over $1.2 million, outpacing Van Epps’ $993,000.

Total Democratic-aligned outside spending topped $2 million, contributing to over $3 million in overall ad buys in the otherwise unremarkable race.

All the progressive bigwigs turned out to stump for Behn: Former Vice President Kamala Harris, DNC Chair Ken Martin, Alexandria “Cosmo” Ocasio-Cortez, and former VP Al Gore, fresh off reinventing the internet. Progressive activist groups like Your Community PAC ran targeted ads, ironically trying to tie Van Epps to “billionaire elite” interests.

Democrats nationalized the race around a single issue: affordability. But there is no such thing as a participation trophy in politics, and second-place doesn’t exist. Still, today, Democrats are celebrating that they greatly narrowed the Republican win in the district from +24% in 2024 to only +9% yesterday.

🔥 Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tx) said Van Epps’ underperformance was because Democratic voters were fired up by their TDS, and he pleaded with Republicans to “send out the alarm” to Republican voters about the dire consequences of losing control of the House and/or the Senate.

“It was dangerous,” Cruz told Fox News last night. “We could have lost this district, because many of the people who showed up are motivated by how much they dislike President Trump,” Cruz explained. “Next year, it’s going to be a turnout election, and the left will show up,” he added. “Hate is a powerful motivator.”

He’s not wrong. While Democrat leadership may be depressed, Democrats are madder than a swarm of angry hornets. Progressives can’t stand losing all this “progress.” Republicans must plan for high turnout in next year’s midterms and plan accordingly.

I agree with pundits who say it’s impossible to draw any broader conclusions from this race, since the circumstances and the Democrat push were so unique. The bottom line is turnout.

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Appropros to yesterday’s post, in which I reported on Congress’s enthusiasm for doing nothing, I must now note that yesterday H.R. 5750, the EQUALS Act of 2025, passed the GOP Oversight Committee. The bill is modest, but it’s a start; it cements in Trump’s changes to federal worker probation making it easier to fire federal workers by doubling the probationary period (during which new one can be easily fired), from one year to two years.

CLIP: Representative Brandon Gill (R-Tx.) describes EQUALS Act (1:23).

It would also require mandatory performance reviews. “Federal agencies are not intended to be jobs programs for substandard government workers,” Rep. Gill said. And, in the last 30 days of the two-year probationary period, agencies would have to certify —and get the Office of Personnel Management to approve— that the probationary employee “advances the public interest,” before any new employee can become tenured.

The fact that it advanced out of committee is a good sign. According to GovTrack, since WWII, only 10-20% of bills survive committee review.

Like all bills, it still has a long way to go. After “reporting” out of the Oversight Committee, the bill will go to the Rules Committee, then to the floor for a vote, then to a Senate Committee, then to amendments, which can significantly improve or dilute the bill, then to a ‘reconciliation’ process, and finally to a final vote in both chambers.

That long and difficult trajectory is why I usually don’t report these bills before they reach the president’s desk, however promising. But since I tore Congress a new one yesterday, it just seemed fair to mention it and encourage them a little. More like this, please!

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Yesterday, the Associated Press covered a transformational story under the headline, “‘Trump Accounts’ for kids just got a $6B boost. How can you claim one?” “It’s an IRA for kids,” explained tax advisor Evan Morgan. Yesterday, billionaire computer maker Michael Dell donated $6.25 billion to seed 25 million kids’ accounts with $250 each.

Under the program, established in President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, any child with a Social Security number born between 2025 and 2028 will receive a baby shower gift from Congress and President Trump: a $1,000 deposit into a “Trump Account.”

Now, thanks to Mr. Dell’s donation, it’s grown to $1,250. During the announcement, President Trump also said he planned to solicit other business leaders to donate more money to Trump Accounts. How high can he go?

Trump Accounts are automatically invested in low-cost stock index funds that track market indices, such as the S&P 500. Parents and employers can contribute up to $5,000 a year into the accounts until the child turns 18. After 18, it acts like an IRA, but kids can withdraw money without penalties for things like college education or buying a first home. At age 59.5, funds can be withdrawn for any reason.

Trump originally designed the accounts to be fully available to kids reaching young adulthood. But the Senate restructured the bill into something more like a conventional IRA (which illustrates the risks of legislation to Trump’s short-term agenda).

A Fox Business analyst calculated that, even with Dell’s or others’ donations, the accounts could grow to $200,000 by age 18, and to $2.25 million by retirement, assuming kids (and their parents and employers) keep putting money in. But it will also grow significantly even without additional money, since time in the market is the best driver of growth.

CLIP: Fox News Business analysis on Trump accounts (0:25).

This is good for Main Street —even kids with poor parents become stockowners at birth— and it’s also good for Wall Street, since the additional demand will support stronger stock prices, and will juice index fund providers. Win-win!

💉💉💉

Yesterday, the Washington Post ran a panicked story headlined, “RFK Jr.’s vaccine advisers plan biggest change yet to childhood schedule.” Kirk Milhoan, newly appointed chair of the CDC’s Vaccine Advisory Committee, ominously announced, “Not enough attention is being paid to risk.”

Dr. Milhoan, who replaced former committee chair Marty Makary, is a pediatric cardiologist, ivermectin proponent, and long-time critic of covid vaccines. You can imagine how much the media likes him. Yesterday, Dr. Milhoan announced that committee members, meeting tomorrow and Friday, will “broadly scrutinize” the entire pediatric vaccine schedule. You could hear a pin drop.

The “discussions on the timing of vaccines and ingredients could signal major changes to how children in the United States are vaccinated,” the Post reported despairingly. Tomorrow, the committee will formally vote on scrapping the hepatitis B vaccine for babies at birth, so long as their mothers test negative for the virus. (Hep B is usually acquired through sex and illegal drug use.)

Furthermore, and even more encouraging, the committee is “looking at what may be causing some of the long-term changes we’re seeing in population data in children, specifically things such as asthma and eczema and other autoimmune diseases,” Milhoan said in an interview Monday.

Then he dropped the hammer. Milhoan said, “What we’re trying to do is figure out if there are factors within vaccines” that could be causing these problems, instantly terrifying every reporter within earshot and sending ice shooting through their veins (at least, the ones not punctured by needle holes).

💉 Currently, and specifically, the committee is considering aluminum, which is added to over a dozen scheduled vaccines, intended to shock recipients’ immune systems into working even better than without aluminum.

“Public health and medical experts have raised alarms that the panel is moving toward recommending that only vaccines without aluminum adjuvants be used,” the Post said. “ Vaccine industry officials said that removing aluminum adjuvants from vaccines would cost billions of dollars and that finding a replacement would take years,” it explained.

The bowtied brigades can feel the walls closing in. Last week, the CDC revised its website to remove the claim that vaccines don’t cause autism. On Friday, the nation’s top vaccine regulator, Dr. Vinay Prasad, announced more stringent approaches to approving vaccines, citing research showing at least ten kids had been killed by the covid shots. Now this.

Government is glacially slow, which is probably a good thing in most cases. By any sane measure, RFK’s team is moving at lightspeed. This is terrific progress.

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Finally, yesterday ABC News ran a hard-hitting crime-slash-wildlife story headlined, “Drunk raccoon found passed out in liquor store bathroom: Officials.” It was nothing less than Black Friday mayhem in Hanover County, Virginia.

CLIP: Boozy raccoon passes out drunk in ABC bathroom (0:44)

In a daring nighttime raid, a highly motivated masked burglar of the raccoon species broke into an Ashland ABC liquor store after it closed on Friday night. He tried to flee, but failed. Officer Dana Martin described the beast’s condition at the time of arrest as “very intoxicated.” According to the official investigation, the furry thief “broke open multiple bottles and drank several different types of alcohol before collapsing in the store’s bathroom” next to the toilet.

We all know what that’s like.

“Rocky” (only first name given) slept it off in the animal shelter’s drunk tank till he’d sobered up, and was then released, more-or-less unharmed. “After a few hours of sleep and zero signs of injury (other than maybe a hangover and poor life choices), he was safely released back to the wild, hopefully having learned that breaking and entering is not the answer,” the shelter’s Facebook post reported.

Clearly, Rocky learned that crime doesn’t pay. But it can make you very sleepy.

Have a wonderful Wednesday! Today’s my final day of hotel-blogging in sunny South Florida; tomorrow I’ll be temporarily writing from home base, then Friday will be hotel-blogging again from chilly New York City. Childers is on the move. See you tomorrow.

Don’t race off! We cannot do it alone. Consider joining up with C&C to help move the nation’s needle and change minds. I could sure use your help getting the truth out and spreading optimism and hope, if you can: ☕ Learn How to Get Involved 🦠

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