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The Duffel Brief · the free edition, Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Vol. 15 · No. 133 · Saturday, 7 November 2026

Pete Hegseth picks wrong week to stop drinking

Pentagon staffing delays leave secretary sober for worst 48 hours of his career

Pentagon confident U.S. will be ready for 2027 war with China by 2035

Hegseth wears Eisenhower's globe as Halloween costume

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Vol. 15 · No. 133

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Vol. 15 · No. 133 · Deployed worldwide

Saturday

7 November 2026

2341 Zulu

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Army · Page 4

Chelsea Manning comes out as cisgender, asks Trump for clemency

Filed · 1531

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Chelsea Manning has come out as a heterosexual man and is asking President Donald Trump for clemency, sources confirmed today.

Manning, who once orchestrated the largest intelligence breach in U.S. military history, is currently in federal custody for refusing to testify against WikiLeaks and the recently arrested Julian Assange.

"As we know, Chelsea is a tremendously courageous person," said Manning's lawyer Mena Finelli. "But right now, he is the only straight man in a jail full of women. Can you imagine? It's unconscionable."

Speaking at a rally in Lima, Ohio, Trump indicated he would not entertain Manning's latest request.

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