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

Vol. 15 · No. 134 · Monday, 9 November 2026

Pentagon

Hegseth asks staff to make next execution more like ‘The Running Man’

Pentagon says condemned prisoners could compete for freedom in televised death matches

Pete Hegseth picks wrong week to stop drinking

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

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Vol. 15 · No. 134

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Vol. 15 · No. 134 · Deployed worldwide

Monday

9 November 2026

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Next edition Wednesday

← Front page
· Page 2

Trump on Gold Star families: 'Did they ever think of calling me first?'

Filed · 1534

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump asked whether Gold Star families had ever thought to call him first as he continued to defend himself amid criticism of his response to the death of four soldiers in Niger, sources confirmed today.

"If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls, a lot of them didn't make calls," Trump said in a press conference. "I would like to make that call. I'm going to be calling them. But did they ever think to call me first? Why do I have to be the first one to call?"

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