Whiner’s

“West Point Cadets’ Silent Revolt—Anonymous Graduates and Faculty Reveal Why President Trump Didn’t Shake Their Hands”
By Robert Hawks
May 28, 2025
WEST POINT, NY — In an unprecedented turn of events that unfolded with all the subtlety of a brass band playing “Taps” backwards, President Trump declined to extend his stay at the graduation ceremony of the United States Military Academy, leaving the newly minted second lieutenants’ hands as unsullied by presidential sweat as the honor code itself.
The mainstream media, ever allergic to nuance and eager to maintain their symphony of static, hasn’t said a peep about the real reason for the snub.
But through a series of clandestine interviews with anonymous graduates and equally reticent Academy faculty members, I have unearthed the hidden story of this ceremonial duck-and-cover. The reason, dear reader, lies within the very marrow of West Point’s ethos: the Honor Code.
For those unfamiliar (or who haven’t been paying attention since the dawn of the republic), the Honor Code stands stark and absolute:
“I will neither lie, nor cheat, nor steal, nor will I tolerate the actions of anyone who does.”
One newly minted officer, who would only identify themselves as “Second Lieutenant K,” offered a hushed explanation:
“We realized that by shaking the hand of a man already convicted of 31 felonies, we’d be tacitly tolerating those actions. It’s not just semantics—under our code, we can’t wink at dishonor and call it ceremony.”
Faculty members, equally cryptic yet unwavering in their adherence to the Honor Code, found themselves wrestling with the potential fallout of the traditional handshake.
“Cadets approached me after final drills,” admitted an anonymous instructor. “They were genuinely concerned. ‘Sir, if I shake his hand, am I violating the code?’ They weren’t being flippant. These are people who signed up to die for principles if called upon—don’t underestimate how seriously they take them.”
Another faculty officer, known only as “Major T,” put it bluntly:
“Look, you can salute the office.
“That’s tradition and lawful.
“But to physically clasp the hand of a man who has lied, cheated, and stolen—when our code demands zero tolerance? That’s not a handshake. That’s an ethical trap.”
The consensus among these sources was clear: A handshake would have become a symbolic endorsement of the very actions the Honor Code forbids.
And it wouldn’t be a momentary lapse either—cadets feared it could haunt their entire careers. “Years from now,” explained a cadet, “someone might claim that our commissions were tainted—born in an act that violated the very code we swore to uphold.”
Thus, an extraordinary decision was made behind closed doors, framed in the same ironclad logic that has guided this institution since the days of Benedict Arnold’s ghost: better to forego the handshake altogether than compromise the moral backbone of the Corps of Cadets.
The decision, while sparing the graduating class an ethical quagmire, also spared the nation a broadcast spectacle that would have further underlined our national rift:
“Can you imagine,” mused Major T, “an entire line of newly commissioned officers refusing to shake the President’s hand, yet saluting him? It would’ve been the perfect image of our times—honor intact, but unity fractured.”
And so, President Trump’s decision to depart swiftly wasn’t born of political cowardice or personal pique, but of a carefully orchestrated plan to protect the very soul of West Point. After all, in a world where handshakes can be loaded weapons, even the Commander-in-Chief had to recognize that the Honor Code brooks no compromise.
Or perhaps he simply realized that he’d be exposed.
As for the graduates, they walked away with their honor unsullied, commissions secure, and a story to tell that would never appear on cable news but will echo down the halls of the Academy long after the brass bands fall silent.
In the end, what’s a handshake, really, when compared to the weight of an oath sworn under the long shadow of the Hudson?
After all, even the president can’t break the spine of an honor code written in blood, sweat, and the quiet resolve of those who know that a commission earned in truth must never be tarnished by the stains of another man’s lies.

Eleven former Republican members of the U.S. House and Senate denounced the felony charges filed against Rep. LaMonica McIver after her visit to a New Jersey immigrant detention facility.
“The constitutional duties of Members of Congress include not only passing legislation but also oversight of executive branch implementation of those laws. That is an essential dimension of American checks and balances,” the group said in a joint statement exclusively provided to USA TODAY. “Rep. Mclver was present at the ICE facility as part of her official congressional duties. We believe this extreme response to the events of that day is unwarranted.”

Telling exchange between Kristi Noem, our Secretary of Homeland Security, and Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.). It was one of those exchanges that caught everyone’s attention for a couple of hours. You know the one — it’s where Noem made it clear she thinks habeas corpus is the opposite of what it actually is. The exchange started simply — I’m sure you’ve seen it. Sen. Maggie Hassan asked Kristi Noem a very simple question: What is habeas corpus?
Noem said something to the effect that habeas corpus is the President’s ability to deport people. Habeas corpus is the opposite of that. Yeah, only the very best people.

Congressional Budget Office reveals that Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” will add a staggering $3.8 trillion to the national debt — while simultaneously gutting Medicaid.
This is the heist of the century carried out by MAGA and the top 1%…
The CBO revealed that the tax policies laid out in the House GOO’s bill would cut federal revenues by a jaw-dropping 10% of the current national debt over the coming decade.
MAGA is pushing to finalize and pass the bill through the house by Memorial Day in order to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and implement new tax reductions. As it turns out, all of those promises about DOGE wrestling down spending were a complete lie.
Not surprisingly, the 1,116-page bill is designed to help taxpayers in the richest parts of the country by increasing the SALT deduction cap.
It would also slash crucial Biden-era tax credits for green energy sources and eliminate tax credits for electric vehicles within two tears, amounting to a massive handout to the fossil fuel companies. Such cuts would please the large swath of the Republican base who have been brainwashed into believing that climate change is a “Chinese hoax.”
The bill would ballon defense spending by roughly $150 billion, pushing the Pentagon’s budget above $1 trillion for the first time ever. Americans won’t be able to afford groceries, healthcare, or education but the military-industrial complex will get richer and more bombs will drop overseas.
Worst of all, the legislation would destroy Medicaid, resulting in millions of Americans losing their coverage by 2023. It would force states to impose work requirements on childless adults up to age 64 and shorten the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act, a blatant effort to ensure fewer people are insured.
Overall, Republicans are driving for $1 trillion in cuts to crucial federal spending to help make way for their unnecessary tax cuts and even that won’t be enough to offset their greed. They want to rise the debt ceiling to $4 trillion.
In other words, the debt will still skyrocket but average Americans will suffer more. Welcome to MAGA.

U.S. engineers uncovered hidden communication modules in Chinese-made solar inverters and batteries, enabling remote shutdowns or firmware hijacks that could cripple the power grid.
Former NSA head Mike Rogers and GOP lawmakers warn that China’s dominance in solar-panel production gives the CCP a “backdoor” to disrupt U.S. infrastructure, potentially causing days-long blackouts.
By pushing large-scale adoption of Chinese-manufactured green-energy equipment under the Green New Deal and Biden’s solar policies, Democrats have inadvertently ceded critical grid control to a geopolitical rival.