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November 20, 2025 at 6:00 PM

Mixed Messages

Doug Watt
@DougWatt

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Six Democrats in Congress have a message for current members of the armed forces. Each of the six has a history of military service and intelligence service. Their message is, Do not obey unlawful orders. One wishes they would not write unlawful laws or engage in insider trading, and ignore the FBI's lying to federal judges to obtain FISA warrants.

The six will be nowhere to be found when a service member is court martialed for taking their subjective advice.

Their message came in the month of November. I prefer a different message that was sent on November 10, 2025, the Marine Corps Birthday.

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Discussion (87)

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    DonG (Here.We.Go.)@DonG·50w
    Doug Watt (View Post):

    Their message is do not obey unlawful orders.

    That message is not necessary. The actual message is that they want insubordination, insurrection and treason. I hope Hegseth is able to purge out all the commie sympathizers.

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    EJHill@EJHill·49w

    X has been having an outrage fest with that video for two days now. The usual suspects are yelling “treason,” “sedition,” etc.

    Every recruit in every branch of the service gets a briefing on Authority Offenses of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in boot camp, including their right to refuse to carry out unlawful orders. In reality, it is a double edged sword, refuse and you are subject to courts martial, comply and the order is later deemed unlawful, same result.

    They also emphasize that all orders are presumed to be lawful and the burden is on the Service member to prove otherwise.

    So, what constitutes an “illegal” order?

    A civilian law firm specializing in the UCMJ gives these examples:

    • Targeting or intentionally harming civilians
    • Torturing or abusing detainees
    • Falsifying operational or legal records
    • Engaging in unauthorized political or domestic law enforcement actions

    All that being said, nobody wants to debate the base issue. The current US Navy operations in the Caribbean have taken 80+ lives. John Yoo touched on this on the last Flagship podcast, insisting those people were operating under the orders of the Venezuelan government and we are operationally at war with that country. This is up for debate.

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    TBA@RobtGilsdorf·49w
    Doug Watt (View Post):

    The six will be nowhere to be found when a service member is court martialed for taking their subjective advice.

    If I was their lawyer I would subpoena them right quick.

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    E. Kent Golding@EKentGolding·49w

    We need a declaration of war from congress, not a Special Military Operation.

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    Doctor Robert@DoctorRobert·49w
    ReplyingtoEJHill

    EJHill (View Comment):

    X has been having an outrage fest with that video for two days now. The usual suspects are yelling “treason,” “sedition,” etc.

    Every recruit in every branch of the service gets a briefing on Authority Offenses of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in boot camp, including their right to refuse to carry out unlawful orders. In reality, it is a double edged sword, refuse and you are subject to courts martial, comply and the order is later deemed unlawful, same result.

    They also emphasize that all orders are presumed to be lawful and the burden is on the Service member to prove otherwise.

    So, what constitutes an “illegal” order?

    A civilian law firm specializing in the UCMJ gives these examples:

    • Targeting or intentionally harming civilians
    • Torturing or abusing detainees
    • Falsifying operational or legal records
    • Engaging in unauthorized political or domestic law enforcement actions

    All that being said, nobody wants to debate the base issue. The current US Navy operations in the Caribbean have taken 80+ lives. John Yoo touched on this on the last Flagship podcast, insisting those people were operating under the orders of the Venezuelan government and we are operationally at war with that country. This is up for debate.

    What is there to debate? Only Congress can declare war. The 1973 War Powers Act allows the President 60 days to commit military action, with 30 more days grace to withdraw, but requires Congressional approval after that. The first Venezuelan drug boat was bombed on September 2.

    Absent a declaration under the War Powers Act, which Mr Trump has not made, the killings of Venezuelan civilians are illegal and orders to do so should be refused.

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