Thanks, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) for reminding US Military they should not obey illegal orders. From any leader. The Pentagon is not amused and is arranging a court martial of the senator. Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay has thoughts on this and other Trump administration so-called emergencies in today’s Right Column. Watch the video featuring Kelly and five other congressional Democrats HERE.
MONDAY 12/1/25
War Crimes, Potentially – Hill Republicans as well as Democrats are ready to grill Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth over a Friday Washington Post news report that Hegseth gave an order for a second military strike against an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean. WaPo reported Hegseth ordered the second strike to “kill everybody,” including two apparent survivors among the 11 aboard, in the first of more than 20 hits on alleged drug boats from Venezuela.
Hegseth has called The Washington Post’s report “fake news.”
But the armed services committees of both the House and Senate are asking questions of the War (Defense) Department over potential war crimes, The Hill reports. The House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said in a statement released Sunday they are “taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question.”
Senate Armed Services Committee Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said in a statement; “The Committee has directed inquiries to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to the circumstances.”
Trump’s backing … President Trump told the press aboard Air Force One Sunday he maintains great faith in Hegseth.
Fall guy … Even as Trump’s status among the MAGA faithful appears shakier thanks to the Epstein Files controversy and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) defection from Trumpworld, it will be easier for congressional Republicans to make Hegseth take the fall for the War (Defense) Department’s alleged violation of its own rules of military engagement.
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Russian a Peace Deal – Trump administration envoy Steve Witkoff meets with Russian dictator/President Vladimir Putin Tuesday afternoon to negotiate a peace deal that started with a 28-point plan that met all the Kremlin’s wishes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that revisions to the plan could lead to a deal, though no details following meetings between the White House and Kyiv in Geneva and last week in Florida have been made public. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy’s position has been damaged by the resignation last Friday of his chief of staff and lead negotiator, Andrii Yermak amidst allegations of deep and widespread corruption.
US Army Sec. Dan Driscoll reportedly told Ukrainian officials they would be better off taking a quick deal with Moscow rather than face defeat, Martin Fornusek and Tim Zadorozhnyy write Monday in The Kyiv Independent. Ukraine and Russia remain “poles apart” ahead of Witkoff’s Kremlin meeting, as Putin “sees no reason to make meaningful concessions,” while withdrawing from unoccupied territory is a “non-starter for Kyiv.”
Fornusek and Zadorozhnyy quote Oleksiy Melnyk, co-director of foreign relations and international security at the Razumkov Center in Kyiv that it “seems like the plan was designed to assist Ukraine’s capitulation.”
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Pardon Who? – A poll by Israel’s Kan news finds 42% oppose a pardon for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if not accompanied by a resignation, while 38% support a pardon for the leader, who has not yet been convicted after a years-long corruption investigation, Haaretz reports.
The newspaper’s Gidi Weitz in an analysis writes that “Anyone who has read the transcripts understands that no power can save Benjamin Netanyahu from conviction on at least some of the charges. But the pardon request submitted to President (Isaac) Herzog contains no hint of this, and appears to be the most brazen request ever submitted.”Brazen, indeed … Netanyahu made the request to Herzog last week, saying his requirement to testify in court up to three days a week is getting in the way of important state business and echoing President Trump’s plea to the president after the US brokered a peace deal to end Israel’s war in Gaza. Many Israelis oppose a pardon because they believe Netanyahu should step down over his government’s security failures from Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack. –TL
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THANKSGIVING WEEK 2025
Shooting Leads to ‘Reverse Immigration’ – It’s easy now to forget the outcry from veterans of the US occupation of Afghanistan when many Afghans who aided the military and the CIA were left behind during President Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from the country. Whether they helped the US with intelligence or as translators and drivers, some 86,000 Afghans had reason to fear for their safety and the safety of their families when the Taliban took over.
Many of those 86,000 Afghans were allowed to immigrate to the US under Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome, US attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro reminded us when announcing a first-degree murder charge for Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, suspect in the fatal shooting of US Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, of the West Viginia National Guard, at the Farragut West Metro Station in Washington Wednesday (per The Wall Street Journal).
Another National Guard soldier, Andrew Wolfe, 24, also was hit in the shooting. He remained in critical condition Friday. The suspect was shot by other National Guard soldiers and remains hospitalized.
President Trump on Thanksgiving evening Truth Socialed his solution.
“Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation,” Trump wrote. “Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything America stands for – You won’t be here for long.” (Per AP.)
Since Lakanwal was identified as the suspect, pundits left and right have been arguing about who let him in. He was granted asylum during the Trump administration in April 2025, apparently under authority of the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome.
Our question is… For the families of Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe, and 86,000 Afghans who risked their lives by helping the US military and CIA in their home country, does it matter whether either president deserves blame?
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Thanks to Witkoff – From Russian dictator/President Vladmir Putin. Presidential envoy Steve Witkoff called the Kremlin’s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, October 14, before a Trump-Putin call later that week to say the Trump administration could write a peace plan for Russia in its war on Ukraine much like the peace plan the White House brokered with Israel in its Gaza agreement, Bloomberg reports.
“We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace and I’m thinking maybe we should do the same thing for you,” Witkoff said in the five minute-plus call with Ushakov, according to a Bloomberg transcript from a recording of the conversation.
Portions of the Trump administration’s 28-point peace plan for Ukraine, which leaked out earlier in November, offered everything to Putin’s Russia, including portions of the Donbas region still under Ukrainian control, halving of Ukraine’s military force and no path for the country to NATO membership.
The Kremlin Wednesday morning called the leaked phoner an attempt to interfere in peace talks, Politico reports.
“It is unlikely this is done to improve relations,” Ushakov told Russian media.
White House thankful for Hegseth’s absence … Meanwhile, the White House reportedly is thankful Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth has not joined top national security officials in Ukraine for peace talks, preferring to rally troops and troll MAGA enemies online, Politico reports. In Hegseth’s place, Army Sec. Dan Driscoll is leading the surprise negotiations with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv and with Russian advisors in Abu Dhabi.
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Thank You for Your Service – Because Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) is a former combat pilot and astronaut, he can be called back into military service. The Pentagon is considering doing just that for a potential court-martial or administrative measures over Kelly’s lead of five other Democratic Congress members in posting a video on X-Twitter telling US Military the Constitution requires they do not obey illegal orders, per Arizona Public Radio’s Cronkite News. Kelly has accused the Trump administration of trying to bully him into silence.
Kelly contrasted Republican Congress members’ lack of reaction to Trump’s calls for hanging the members he accused of treason to their reaction to the assassination of Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk, on CBS News Face the Nation Sunday; “We’ve heard very little, basically crickets, from Republicans in the United States Congress about what the president has said about hanging members of Congress.” – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa