Wednesday, December 3, 2025
Video of Hegseth Telling Military Not to Follow ‘Illegal Orders’ Resurfaces
A video of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly saying there must be "consequences" for carrying out unlawful orders has resurfaced.
"If you're doing something that is just completely unlawful and ruthless, then there is a consequence for that," Hegseth said in the video from 2 2016
In 2016 video, Hegseth says US troops ‘won’t follow unlawful orders’ from the president
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/02/us/hegseth-illegal-orders-video-democrats-kfile-invs
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told an audience in a previously unreported 2016 video that the US military “won’t follow unlawful orders from their commander in chief,” and described the refusal of illegal commands as a part of the military’s ethos and standards — a message he now condemns Democrats for spreading.
Hegseth’s Decadeslong Quest to Rewrite the Rules of Engagement
Former Army National Guard major and TV personality endeared himself to Trump by defending troops accused of war crimes
Pete Hegseth built a national profile defending troops accused of violating the laws of armed conflict, a trait that won over President Trump in his first term and put him atop the Pentagon in his second.
But the defense secretary who has complained about “stupid rules of engagement” is now at the center of a Washington debate about whether a September strike against a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean amounts to a war crime, testing Hegseth’s standing with lawmakers and his leadership of the military.
Trump said he was ‘sharper than I was 25 years ago.’ Then he spent an hour appearing to doze off – again
But over the next hour and a half, Trump struggled to embody the sharpness and vigor he had just laid claim to.
In fact, he seemed to wage a lengthy and often-losing battle with a midday nap. Even as his Cabinet was assembled to engage in one of his favorite activities – singing the praises of Trump – he repeatedly appeared to doze off.
It was the kind of scene, in fact, that Trump once upon a time ridiculed as evidence of a president’s lack of stamina and fitness for the job.
Despite loss, Democrats overperformed in bright red Tennessee House race
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/02/tennessee-aftyn-behn-matt-van-epps-democrats-00674118
Nevertheless, House Republicans privately bemoaned the results.
Speaker Mike Johnson leadership’s team was bracing for a tighter than comfortable race, and the single digit margin was a hard pill to swallow after national Republicans raced to rescue Van Epps in the final days.
“It was too close,” said one House GOP leadership aide.
A sickening moral slum of an administration
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/12/02/trump-hegseth-rubio-ukraine-venezuela-boats/
Regarding Venezuela, Ukraine and much more, Trump and his acolytes are worse than simply incompetent.
The killing of the survivors by this moral slum of an administration should nauseate Americans. A nation incapable of shame is dangerous, not least to itself. As the recent “peace plan” for Ukraine demonstrated.
Rubio, whose well-known versatility of convictions is perhaps not infinite, told some of his alarmed former Senate colleagues that the plan was just an opening gambit from Russia — although Trump demanded that Ukraine accept it within days. South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds, a precise and measured speaker, reported that, in a conference call with a bipartisan group of senators, Rubio said the plan was a Russian proposal: “He made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives. It is not our recommendation. It is not our peace plan.” Hours later, however, Rubio reversed himself, saying on social media that the United States “authored” the plan.
The glaring ‘hypocrisy’ behind Trump’s war on drugs
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/12/02/trump-honduras-president-pardon-drug-boat-strikes/
For weeks, the Trump administration has demonstrated its zeal in taking on supposed “narcoterrorists” in the Western hemisphere. The United States bombed numerous boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that Trump officials claimed were transporting drugs to U.S. shores, while also rattling the saber at the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom the White House has cast as both an illegitimate tyrant and a thuggish cartel boss. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump held a Cabinet meeting on potential U.S. plans for Venezuela, during which Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hailed Trump for “taking the gloves off” and declared that “we’ve only just begun” sending drug traffickers to “the bottom of the ocean.”
According to Justice Department documents, Hernández once allegedly bragged to a drug kingpin that he was going to “stuff the drugs right up the noses of the gringos.” He caused “untold damage” and “unimaginable suffering” in the United States, U.S. prosecutors wrote in the government’s sentencing memo, recommending life in prison plus 30 years. “The defendant engaged in this egregious conduct while publicly posing as an ally of the United States in its efforts to combat the importation of narcotics that destroy countless lives in this country. But behind closed doors, the defendant protected the very traffickers he vowed to pursue.”
“It just shows that the entire counter-drug effort of Donald Trump is a charade — it’s based on lies, it’s based on hypocrisy,” Mike Vigil, the former Drug Enforcement Administration chief of international operations, told the Guardian. “He is giving a pardon to Juan Orlando Hernández and then going after Nicolás Maduro. … It’s all hypocritical.”
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Top Jewish donors take stock of GOP infighting over Israel and antisemitism
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/01/jewish-donors-gop-israel-and-antisemitism-00670406
Top Republican Jewish donors are beginning to confront a growing antisemitism problem in their party, but have yet to find consensus on how to respond.
The discomfort among top pro-Israel donors, who steer the Republican Party’s fundraising apparatus, signals the complexity of this political moment for conservative U.S. Jews. Many of them feel the Democratic Party allowed antisemitism to seep into its mainstream in recent years. Now, they fear the same could happen to the GOP.
“Anti-Israel, antisemitic — that gets conflated. A lot of them hide behind anti-Israel, and it’s very hard to prove because you truly should be allowed to be critical of Israel. I’m Justice Potter on this: I know it when I see it. They’re not just anti-Israel,” the donor added. “I think they hide behind free speech, they hide behind isolationism. I think there’s a fair amount of just classic antisemitism going on.
America has become a rogue nation. U.S. allies are looking elsewhere.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/11/25/europe-canada-nato-trump
Europeans and Canadians are now talking about making their own security arrangements. What would a post-American NATO — or NATO 3.0 (NATO 2.0 was the post-Cold War alliance) — mean? It could ultimately lead countries such as Germany and Poland to acquire their own nuclear arsenals. It is likely to lead to greater levels of defense integration among some NATO members — notably the Nordic-Baltic Eight — than in the alliance as a whole. It is also likely to lead U.S. allies to buy weapons from each other, rather than from Washington. And it is already resulting in greater cooperation between NATO members and the like-minded democracies of Asia: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia.
No wonder Trump is outraged by warnings about illegal orders
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/12/01/pete-hegseth-military-orders-boat-mark-kelly
Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard law professor who headed the Office of Legal Counsel in the George W. Bush administration, wrote online: “If the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water,’ as the Post put it.” A working group of former judge-advocates general also weighed in: “Orders to kill survivors of an attack at sea are ‘patently illegal,’ anyone who issues or follows such orders can and should be prosecuted for war crimes, murder, or both.”
Fears grow inside military over illegal orders after Hegseth authorized follow-up boat strike
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5628685-service-members-boat-strikes-orders-hegseth
Service members’ uncertainty over whether they will be asked to carry out an illegal order or pressured to go against their training is likely to be exacerbated after The Washington Post and CNN late last week reported that Hegseth authorized a highly unusual strike to kill all survivors aboard a boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea this fall.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Monday that on Sept. 2, Hegseth authorized Adm. Frank Bradley to carry out a follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean; the strike reportedly killed two people who were hanging onto the burning vessel, having survived an initial strike.
Monday, December 1, 2025
5 Polls That Spell Trouble for Donald Trump and the Republicans
https://www.newsweek.com/5-polls-trouble-donald-trump-republicans-11131436
A string of new polls paints a challenging picture for President Donald Trump and the GOP: His approval rating has plunged to a second-term low, cracks are widening in his MAGA coalition, Hispanic support is eroding, Democrats are competitive in deep-red districts, and national polling averages show Trump underwater across every major survey.
These polls paint a portrait of declining approval, rising disunity among Republican voters, and significant inroads for Democrats—even in historically conservative districts. The unfolding trends could reshape congressional control and influence the GOP’s prospects in 2028 and beyond.
Shorter Days, Signs of Fatigue: Trump Faces Realities of Aging in Office
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/us/politics/trump-age-health.html
Mr. Trump has prompted additional questions about his health by sharing news about medical procedures he has had, but not details about them. While in Asia, Mr. Trump revealed that he had undergone magnetic resonance imaging at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in early October.
“I gave you the full results,” Mr. Trump told reporters, mischaracterizing the summary that was released by his physician, which did not say that Mr. Trump had an M.R.I. scan and contained few other details.
“There will be a day when I run low on Energy, it happens to everyone,” Mr. Trump wrote, “but with a PERFECT PHYSICAL EXAM AND A COMPREHENSIVE COGNITIVE TEST (“That was aced”) JUST RECENTLY TAKEN, it certainly is not now!”
Trump says he’ll release MRI results; he doesn’t know what part of his body was scanned
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mri-physical-white-house-0c66f2f9fca865d842ee94329a210a42
President Donald Trump said Sunday that he would release the results of his MRI test that he received in October
Trump added Sunday that he has “no idea” on what part of his body he got the MRI.
“It was just an MRI,” he said. “What part of the body? It wasn’t the brain because I took a cognitive test and I aced it.”
Noem confirms she approved deportation flights despite court order
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Sunday confirmed that she instructed the federal government to carry out the deportation and transferring of Venezuelan detainees to El Salvador despite a court order halting the flights.
The administration has argued it was not obligated to follow the March directive from District Judge James Boasberg.
The latest DOJ filing states that Noem “directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador,” adding that the “decision was lawful and was consistent with a reasonable interpretation of the Court’s order.”
Damning report labels FBI ‘rudderless ship’ under Kash Patel — with he and Dan Bongino more concerned with building ‘personal résumés’
FBI Director Kash Patel is facing withering criticism from an alliance of active-duty and retired agents and analysts, days after the White House denied media reports that the president is about to fire him.
A troubling new report card on the first six months of Patel’s leadership concludes he is “in over his head” and his deputy, Dan Bongino, is “something of a clown,” according to the alliance, which in two previous reports warned about crippling DEI and politicization of the FBI during the Biden administration.
Patel is described by multiple internal sources as inexperienced, with one source saying he “has neither the breadth of experience nor the bearing an FBI director needs to be successful.”
Another source, a self-professed Trump supporter, said Patel is “not very good,” “may be insecure,” and “lacks the requisite experience” or the “measured self-confidence” to be FBI director.
Sunday, November 30, 2025
Doubts Raised Over Mark Kelly’s Illegal Orders Punishment
https://www.newsweek.com/doubts-mark-kelly-illegal-orders-punishment-pentagon-11130982
According to reporting by The Associated Press, Colby Vokey, a civilian military attorney, said: “Let’s say you have a 100-year-old World War II veteran who is retired with pay and he steals a candy bar. Hegseth could bring him back and court-martial him. And that, in effect, is what is happening with Kelly.”
Patrick McLain, a retired Marine Corps judge, said: “I’ve not seen anything like the kind of wackadoodle thing they’re trying to do to Senator Kelly for essentially exercising his First Amendment right to free speech, which they don’t like.”
Pete Hegseth lashes out at 'kill them all' report on boat strikes
Since September, the Trump administration has attacked at least 21 boats traversing international waters, killing 83 people. Trump and other officials defend the boat strikes as an attempt to crackdown on illegal narcotics flooding into the U.S., but lawmakers from both parties have criticized the administration for providing no intelligence briefings or other evidence about what the vessels are carrying.
"At this point, I would call them extrajudicial killings," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said during an Oct. 26 appearance on Fox News Sunday. "This is akin to what China does, what Iran does with drug dealers − they summarily execute people without presenting evidence to the public. So it's wrong."
The commander overseeing the operation from Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, told people on the secure conference call that the survivors were still legitimate targets because they could theoretically call other traffickers to retrieve them and their cargo, according to two people. He ordered the second strike to fulfill Hegseth’s directive that everyone must be killed.
Late Friday, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island), respectively the chairman and senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a statement about the “recent news reports — and the Department of Defense’s initial response — regarding alleged follow-on strikes on suspected narcotics vessels,” saying that they intend to conduct “vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances.”
Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which are at the center of humanitarian rules and international standards, any wounded or sick combatants are to be retrieved and receive care by either side in a conflict.
But in his Nov. 28 post slamming the report, Hegseth argued that each "trafficker we kill is affiliated" with a terrorist group and the current U.S. operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law.
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
A missile screamed off the Trinidad coast, striking the vessel and igniting a blaze from bow to stern. For minutes, commanders watched the boat burning on a live drone feed. As the smoke cleared, they got a jolt: Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken directive, according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. “The order was to kill everybody,” one of them said.
The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack — the opening salvo in the Trump administration’s war on suspected drug traffickers in the Western Hemisphere — ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, two people familiar with the matter said. The two men were blown apart in the water.
Hegseth’s order, which has not been previously reported, adds another dimension to the campaign against suspected drug traffickers. Some current and former U.S. officials and law-of-war experts have said that the Pentagon’s lethal campaign — which has killed more than 80 people to date — is unlawful and may expose those most directly involved to future prosecution.
Saturday, November 29, 2025
What is an autopen and why can’t Trump stop talking about it?
On Friday, Donald Trump claimed that he will reverse everything that Joe Biden has signed with an autopen.
It remains unclear how Trump plans to undo the majority of Biden’s decisions, although presidents are legally allowed to reverse executive orders signed by their predecessors. However, the president does not have authority to overturn his predecessor’s pardons, according to legal scholars who point to the constitution.
Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine
https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/russia-u-s-peace-business-ties-4db9b290
The Kremlin pitched the White House on peace through business. To Europe’s dismay, the president and his envoy are on board.
Counterterrorism officials vetted Guard shooting suspect before he entered U.S.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/11/28/dc-shooting-afghan-resettlement-immigration
The Afghan national accused of shooting two National Guard members near the White House this week underwent thorough vetting by counterterrorism authorities before entering the United States, according to people with direct knowledge of the case.
A key question from critics has been whether any evacuees managed to enter the U.S. without proper vetting. Lakanwal, however, would not have been among them, according to the individuals, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation. One of the individuals said Lakanwal was vetted years ago, before working with the CIA in Afghanistan, and then again before he arrived in the U.S. in 2021. Those examinations involved both the National Counterterrorism Center as well as the CIA, the person said.
Trump rages about New York Times story on age: ‘PERFECT PHYSICAL EXAM AND A COMPREHENSIVE COGNITIVE TEST’
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/26/donald-trump-nyt-age-health-00669553
President Donald Trump lashed out at The New York Times for a story this week that pointed to his advanced age and a diminished White House schedule, extolling what he sees as his administration’s wins and accusing the publication of unfair coverage.
“There will be a day when I run low on Energy, it happens to everyone, but with a PERFECT PHYSICAL EXAM AND A COMPREHENSIVE COGNITIVE TEST (‘That was aced’) JUST RECENTLY TAKEN, it certainly is not now!” the president boasted on social media.
Hegseth defends strikes after WaPo ‘kill everybody’ story: ‘Fake news’
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5626054-defense-secretary-defends-drug-strikes
The Post cited sources who said Hegseth had ordered “to kill everybody” on an alleged drug boat in an early September attack, which reportedly required two strikes after an initial one failed to kill all on board.
The U.S. military has carried out over 20 strikes targeting alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing more than 80 people that the administration has said were “narco-terrorists.”
The strikes have resulted in backlash from both sides of the aisle, with some raising questions about the legal grounding of the attacks.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said in a Friday post on X sharing the Post’s report that “if you want to know why Hegseth is panicking about reminders that there is accountably for giving or carrying out illegal orders, it’s likely because he knows he has given illegal orders to murder people.”
Trump says he will pardon former Honduran president serving sentence in drug-trafficking case
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/28/politics/trump-honduran-president-juan-orlando-hernandez-pardon
President Donald Trump said Friday he intends to grant a “full and complete pardon” to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, a move that would erase a major US drug-trafficking conviction for a onetime US ally who is currently serving a 45-year federal prison sentence.
Prosecutors had accused Hernández of conspiring with drug cartels during his tenure as they moved more than 400 tons of cocaine through Honduras toward the United States. In exchange, prosecutors said, Hernández received millions of dollars in bribes that he used to fuel his rise in Honduran politics.
During his years in office, the Justice Department said, Hernández “protected and enriched the drug traffickers in his inner circle.” Prosecutors cited his use of executive power to support extraditions to the US of certain drug traffickers “who threatened his grip on power,” while “promising drug traffickers who paid him and followed his instructions that they would remain in Honduras.”
The Kingmaker from Williamsburg endorsed Mamdani
https://mishpacha.com/the-kingmaker-from-williamsburg
“How could you endorse Mamdani?” Tough questions for Satmar askan Rabbi Moishe Indig
The first anti-Semite in history was Eisav. And what did Yaakov do? He gave him piles of gifts. Ja, mein Herr. Yeah, I’m your slave, how are you? What else can I do for you? He hugged and kissed him even while Eisav was trying to bite him.
With this approach, we’ve won over many people.
For example, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso was considered for years to be an outright enemy of our community, but now he’s a great friend. The same is true for Ed Day in Monsey, and many others.
I said to him, “The perception is that you are an anti-Semite. So I want to ask you straight out, are you an anti-Semite?”
He said, “No, I’m not an anti-Semite. I just don’t like what Israel is doing in Gaza.”
Friday, November 28, 2025
Crows know the future
Malbim (Bereishis 08:07) And Noach sent out the crow – in ancient times they thought that crows knew about the future and therefore they had special houses for them and their priests were thought to be able to divine the future from whether they flew to the right or left or up or down whether they were silent or made noise