Thoughts on a busy week of news
NOV 22, 2025
It’s been a busy week of news. Here are four items that stood out.
A group of Democratic members of Congress released a short video addressed to the U.S. military, reminding service members that they may refuse unlawful orders.
President Trump denounced the video as “seditious behavior” and said such behavior was “punishable by death,” even resharing posts calling for the lawmakers to be hanged. The Democratic message itself was partisan and thin on specifics, but Trump’s response was far more troubling. U.S. troops already know they can and should refuse unlawful orders—though determining what is lawful in practice is rarely simple. What struck me most was the timing: Democrats issued this warning to the troops in response to Trump, but I don’t recall a similar concern when President Biden continued military support to Israel amid mounting accusations from human-rights bodies of grave—indeed, genocidal—violations in Gaza.
In sum, Congress should confront questionable executive actions directly rather than shifting responsibility to Lieutenant Smith or Corporal Jones.
The Trump administration has floated a 28-point plan to end the Russia-Ukraine War.
Reports indicate the plan involved Russian input but did not include Ukraine or key European partners. Unsurprisingly, many provisions cross Ukraine’s stated red lines. Diplomacy is still preferable to endless war—jaw-jaw over war-war is a sound motto—but it’s hard to see this plan gaining real traction, especially when it seems designed more to satisfy Washington and Moscow than Kyiv.
One thing is certain: Ukraine is learning that when you dance with elephants, you’re likely to get trampled.
Marjorie Taylor Greene has announced her resignation from Congress, effective January 5, 2026.
This surprised me. I read her resignation letter and, despite disagreeing with much of her politics, I respected her consistent opposition to regime-change wars and her outspoken criticism of Israel’s genocidal effort in Gaza and of the undue influence of AIPAC and similar lobbies. She is also right to highlight how far our government has drifted from serving America’s working and middle classes.
MTG, as unlikely as it sounds, is a viable candidate for the Republican nomination for President in 2028, assuming Trump obeys the Constitution and steps aside.
The UN Security Council has approved a U.S.-sponsored Gaza resolution, with Russia and China abstaining.
Their decision not to veto suggests a calculation: let Washington bear responsibility for the consequences of its own neocolonial proposal. The plan itself looks like a thinly veiled endorsement of a murderous status quo—one that provides political cover as Gaza remains strangled and devastated. If the United States is now the guarantor of this “peace,” then it also owns the moral and political fallout. If anything, this “peace” plan will only provide cover for Israel’s ongoing genocide in slow motion.
Which brings me back to unlawful orders. Any U.S. service member asked to support actions that clearly violate international law has a duty to refuse. Yet the Democrats who admonished troops about unlawful orders seemed focused only on hypothetical abuses under Trump, not on real-world concerns about U.S. support for Israel’s genocidal operations in Gaza. For too many in Washington, unwavering support for Israel overrides legal, moral, and humanitarian considerations.
Readers, what did you make of this week’s events? One thing seems certain: we continue to live in “interesting times.”
Bracing Views 
[From my entry to the Substack version.]
A big head smack to myself for not noting the obvious, the “refusal to obey” extended back to Biden, yet hasn’t been pushed ’til now. Nor the sleight of hand to pass off responsibility to Lt. Smith and Corp. Jones in order for Congress to say, “Who, us?” Reprehensible. And let’s see when Biden’s time come lie in state in the Rotunda, the media will lead off his legacy with “Genocide Joe.”
Russia-Ukraine? Of course par for the course to leave out Ukraine and key European parties. My understanding ever since the U.S. reneged on “not one inch to the East” concerning (wholly unwarranted, unnecessary) NATO expansion is that several proposals were put forth from Gorbachev to Yeltsin to Putin to involve all those parties in a mutually beneficial, respectful, and sustainable security arrangement, all undermined by the U.S. The result being that after several protests from Russia to knock it off, bringing Ukraine into NATO on Biden’s watch was the point at which Putin said “Иди на хер!” Can’t say I blame him. What else was he to do? And bear in mind that he and Zelensky were on the verge of a peace agreement, only to be undermined by Boorish Johnson dispatched to work over Zelensky on the U.S.’s orders. Putin may not be a nice guy, but he’s not the (sole) bad character in this mess.
Hard to believe that MTG makes sense, and a lot of hit. Never would have figured she’d be one to have her head screwed on right.
“U.S.-sponsored Gaza resolution”? Needn’t say anymore, done it cahoots with Israel (and the rest of the Israeli/Zionist apologists/supporters/enablers/sympathizers. History does repeat itself, it does rhyme, a la Marx, “first as tragedy, then as farce.” The former with the British mandate following the post-WWI carve up of the Ottoman Empire, the latter with the U.S. picking up where the British couldn’t continue, but to same effect, with nuclear capability along the way, taken to the present genocide, only to continue until fulfilled with yet another mandate.
Yeah, one helluva week in news. How many of these can we take?
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I shake my head not in disbelief but in sorrow at the desultory state of 21st-century politics, which from my lay perspective almost always looks like politicking (in the negative sense), positioning, and campaigning. In short, racehorse politics never ends and real governing activity — the high-minded stuff that addresses the needs of the people — gets shoved aside. Who gets the sit in which chair is paramount, which you reinforce by suggesting MTG might well be the next presidential front runner.
In some analyses, all this maneuvering is theater while a long-term plan, sinister in conception, slithers under the roiling surface. I don’t possess enough wherewithal to assess for myself and would rather not indulge in conspiratorial thinking, but the evidence is mounting.
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