When six Democratic lawmakers released a video in November 2025 urging U.S. troops to refuse unlawful military orders, they framed it as a defense of the Constitution. The Trump administration called it sedition.

The video appeared against the backdrop of two controversial administration actions: the deployment of National Guard troops to U.S. cities, a policy being actively litigated in federal court, and U.S. military strikes on suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

It is important to note that no court had issued a final ruling determining either policy to be illegal, nor had any court found that illegal orders were given to individual U.S. troops. Equally significant, even if the Supreme Court were to ultimately determine that the president lacked the authority to order these deployments, the duties carried out by individual soldiers would not necessarily constitute illegal orders. Both issues involve complex questions of constitutional law that ordinary soldiers are neither trained nor qualified to adjudicate.

The lawmakers named neither action in the video, nor did they identify any specific order they considered unlawful. That omission would prove legally significant. Under military law, there is a critical distinction between reminding soldiers of a constitutional principle and encouraging them to act on their own political judgments. The latter is not a constitutional safeguard. It is a prescription for insubordination, and in some circumstances a crime.

The senator at the center of the resulting legal battle is Mark Kelly, a Democratic U.S. Senator from Arizona, a retired Navy Captain, and a former NASA astronaut who commanded multiple Space Shuttle missions.

Kelly and his five colleagues, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Rep. Jason Crow, Rep. Chris Deluzio, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, and Rep. Maggie Goodlander, all veterans or former intelligence officers,  released the video as the administration was actively discussing domestic military deployments. President Trump characterized the lawmakers’ actions as “seditious behavior” punishable by death. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally censured Kelly, placing a Letter of Censure in his permanent military record accusing him of “conduct unbecoming an officer” and undermining the chain of command, and initiated administrative proceedings to strip him of his retired rank of Navy Captain, a move that would significantly reduce his pension.

A Washington grand jury declined to criminally indict Kelly, but the administrative battle has continued in civil court. Kelly filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Kelly v. Hegseth, 1:26-cv-00081), seeking to block the censure, halt the demotion proceedings, and protect his pension. On February 12, 2026, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Pentagon from reducing Kelly’s rank or cutting his pension while the case proceeds. The Justice Department has since appealed. The clash has turned Kelly into a Democratic fundraising figure, with his campaign pulling in tens of millions of dollars from donors who view the Pentagon’s actions as an attack on free speech.

The lawsuit rests on two legal arguments. Kelly contends the executive branch is unconstitutionally retaliating against him for political speech made as a civilian, in violation of the First Amendment. He also argues that the Pentagon cannot use military law to discipline an elected member of the legislative branch without violating the separation of powers.

The government’s counter-argument invokes 10 U.S.C. § 1370, the federal statute governing military retirement grades. The Pentagon’s position is that “satisfactory service” in a retired rank is not locked in at the moment of retirement; a retiree drawing a pension must continue to maintain conduct befitting that rank, and Kelly’s video constitutes a current failure to meet that standard.

Kelly’s legal team argues that “satisfactory service” can only evaluate conduct while the officer was on active duty, which ended for Kelly in 2011, and that applying the statute to civilian political speech made fifteen years after retirement is legally unsupportable.

The deeper question, however, is whether Kelly’s video was legally defensible in the first place. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), the federal law governing military conduct, orders issued through the chain of command, extending to the President as Commander-in-Chief, carry a presumption of legality.

Individual soldiers are neither constitutional scholars nor courts. They are not authorized to independently adjudicate whether a presidential directive is lawful before executing it. The soldier’s oath includes both defending the Constitution and obeying the orders of the President and superior officers.

Kelly and the other Democrats did not claim that any of Trump’s orders issued so far were illegal, leading to criticism that they were implying illegality where there was none, which could lead to insubordination and disarray in the military. On several Sunday morning talk shows, none of the lawmakers involved could point to a specific illegal order given by the president. By publicly warning troops to watch for “unlawful orders” without identifying any, Kelly was not invoking a legal principle. He was introducing political doubt into the chain of command.

The My Lai massacre, in which 2nd Lt. William Calley ordered his men to execute Vietnamese civilians during the Vietnam War, is the standard reference point in military training for the duty to refuse a manifestly illegal order. A manifestly illegal order is one so obviously criminal that any person of ordinary sense would recognize it immediately as such. That standard does not apply to the complex constitutional questions surrounding domestic military deployments.

The Posse Comitatus Act generally prohibits federal troops from performing domestic law enforcement functions. However, the president retains several statutory authorities to deploy troops domestically under defined circumstances. The deployments that formed the backdrop to Kelly’s video were carried out under different legal authorities depending on the city: federalization of National Guard troops under 10 U.S.C. § 12406 in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland; a separate authority applicable to the District of Columbia; and 32 U.S.C. § 502(f) in Memphis, where the governor consented to the deployment.

The Insurrection Act, which grants broader authority and explicitly overrides the Posse Comitatus Act, was repeatedly threatened but never invoked. Whether any specific statutory authority was validly exercised is a complex constitutional question that no individual soldier standing on a street corner is equipped to resolve.

The operational tasks assigned to troops in such deployments, including securing perimeters, guarding infrastructure, and providing logistical support to federal agents, are not manifestly illegal in the way an order to kill civilians would be. A soldier who refuses a lawful operational order based solely on the personal belief that the president exceeded his constitutional authority risks committing the offense of willful disobedience under Article 90 of the UCMJ.

Kelly’s defense team argues the video was not an instruction to soldiers to independently evaluate constitutional law or stage a mutiny, but rather a preemptive reminder that their ultimate allegiance is to the constitutional framework, not to any individual. The video’s actual language, however, contradicts that characterization. Kelly stated directly: “Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders.”

The video further told troops that “threats to our Constitution” were coming “from right here at home,” language that explicitly invited soldiers to form their own judgment about the legality of orders they were receiving in connection with ongoing domestic deployments. Determining whether an order is illegal requires precisely the kind of constitutional and legal analysis that individual soldiers are neither trained nor authorized to perform. The defense team’s framing of the video as a generalized constitutional reminder cannot be reconciled with language that pointed soldiers toward active domestic operations and told them their laws were clear.

The legal team also contends that Kelly’s statements as a sitting U.S. senator constitute protected political speech, and that using administrative UCMJ proceedings to strip a sitting lawmaker of his retired rank over public statements sets a dangerous precedent. However, calls to action encouraging insurrection, rebellion, or insubordination are not protected speech, regardless of whether Kelly is an elected official.

The court must now determine whether Kelly’s statements constitute protected speech or an actionable attempt to undermine military discipline and the chain of command, a distinction the Constitution does not resolve in his favor by default. There is little modern precedent for such a case, making Kelly v. Hegseth largely uncharted legal territory.

The post Can a U.S. Senator Encourage Troops to Disobey Orders? The Mark Kelly Case appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

European Globalists whine and refuse to modernize in the name of their favorite fiction: ‘man-made global warming’.

This last week, European Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen caught ‘a lot of heat’. Why? She decided that the European Commission HQ in Brussels would shut off air conditioning from floors 0 to 7 during Brussels’ summer heatwave.

That’s asinine, of course. But the worst: floors 8 to 13 — where von der Leyen works — remain icy cold with the simple technological gadgets that anyone in the rest of the world can enjoy.

Nowadays, every summer, the overlords utilize the hot weather to violently push their ‘net-zero lunacy’ on the populations, while refusing the obvious solutions.

Europe is sweating through a nasty heatwave this week.

The European Commission’s brilliant solution inside its main building in Brussels?

Forced shutdown of the air conditioning on floors 1 through 7.

Meanwhile floors 8 and above stayed perfectly cool.

EU Chief Ursula von… pic.twitter.com/zXOxqTWFrZ

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) June 27, 2026

Euronews reported:

“Once considered an unnecessary luxury across much of Europe, air conditioning has become one of the continent’s most politically charged household appliances after nearly two weeks of extreme and deadly temperatures. For decades, Europe distinguished itself from hotter parts of the world by relying on thick masonry buildings, shutters, tree-lined streets and mild summers. Air conditioning remained relatively uncommon, particularly in northern and western Europe but climate change could alter that reality.”

‘Climate change’, right? Their obsession.

When we hear Europeans treating 35°C as a calamity, we cannot help but smile at their lack of knowledge and gullibility. But when we hear that in Germany, for example, even surgical rooms do not have A/C, we start to wonder if they are not killing people on purpose.

“Climate advocates and government officials warn that widespread adoption of air conditioning risks creating a vicious cycle. More cooling requires more expensive electricity, increasing demand during heat waves when power systems are already under strain.”

A London pre-school kept their students happy and cool by hosing off students with water during lesson breaks to stave off the heatwave that’s gripped Western Europe https://t.co/vT9NEFURSG pic.twitter.com/j3kHGdJQ71

— Reuters (@Reuters) June 24, 2026

The warning comes from ‘climate advocates and government officials’ – but there is no difference between these two categories.

All the planet uses A/C – but Europeans think they are the center of the world and know better.

“However, the debate over air conditioning moved into the spotlight after French lawmaker Marine Le Pen (Front National) called for a mass, subsidized roll-out of the cooling appliance, with traditionally hostile Greens conceding that some air-conditioning may now be inevitable.”

[…] Air conditioning ownership has surpassed 1.5 billion units globally, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), yet usage varies widely across regions. While 90% of homes in the United States have air conditioning units, the figure is just 20% in European homes, the IEA said.”

The EU Commission says it has no “pro or contra” position on air conditioning despite Europe swelters through another heatwave. A spokesperson said the issue could be discussed at the political level and that, if so, Brussels would act if member states signal they want action pic.twitter.com/OlFPzPkDqg

— Gerardo Fortuna (@gerardofortuna) June 29, 2026

The post THE AIR-CONDITIONING WARS: ‘Modern’ Europe Faces the Summer With a Lot of Climate Panic and No A/C’s appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

At least three people were injured in an explosion in Monaco on Monday evening.

According to French media, the explosion happened after a person dropped off bags at the explosion site.

The suspect is still at large.

Explosion à Monaco: un colis piégé a été déposé en bas d’un immeuble pic.twitter.com/8yr3VOxfNm

— BFM (@BFMTV) June 29, 2026

Per Reuters:

Police in Monaco were hunting for a man ​suspected of detonating a makeshift ‌bomb that wounded three people on Monday, French media reported.

The blast ​occurred shortly before 9 p.m. (1900 ​GMT). French newspaper Le Figaro ⁠said video surveillance images showed ​a man dropping a backpack ​at the entrance of a residential building shortly before the explosion.

ALERTE – Attentat à la bombe ce soir à #Monaco, près de la place des Moulins. Plusieurs victimes.
De nombreux secours convergent sur les lieux.
Un suspect est activement recherché, il a été aperçu sur les caméras de vidéosurveillance en train de déposer un sac à dos. pic.twitter.com/dko4LYev8J

— Infos Françaises (@InfosFrancaises) June 29, 2026

DEVELOPING…

The post DEVELOPING: Several People Injured After Explosion in Monaco – Suspect Dropped Bags at Explosion Site appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

President Trump on Sunday highlighted his work to make DC safe and beautiful with low crime and the fixing of 73 statues, monuments, and fountains across the city after visiting Lafayette Square outside the White House. 

Trump also announced that he will turn the East Potomac Golf Links golf course into “one of the Greatest Golf Courses anywhere in the World” and that it will host “Major Golf Tournaments, including The U.S. Open, The Ryder Cup, The PGA Championship, and other top PGA Tour events.” This comes as a judge sided with a leftist “preservation group” to implement hurdles to Trump’s work on the course.

Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum were seen on Sunday touring Lafayette Square and stopping at the statue of Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans.

Via Margo Martin on X:

Trump further commented on the vandalism of the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool,  which has become his most controversial renovation yet, as leftwing media pushes lies about the project and leftist criminals target the pool with vandalism. Large portions of the bottom have been ripped out, and several people have been arrested for the destruction since last week. The National Park Service is now asking for help in identifying at least one vandal who was seen in surveillance video allegedly “destroying and removing a piece of the lining and attempting destruction of the lining.” The Interior Department released footage of the vandals on Tuesday.

The National Park Service confirmed that the blue sealant at the bottom of the pool was vandalized and “cut with a sharp knife or razor” and confirmed plans to drain the pool and begin repairs after the Fourth of July, according to new court filings.

While speaking on Friday at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s 2026 Policy Conference, Trump said the vandals “cut it up with a box knife and tried to destroy it,” and he also confirmed that it will be drained and fixed after the Fourth of July. “They’ve caught six of them, I guess, maybe more; they’ve got others in line to be caught… These people are sick. They ripped a scar 350 feet long through the side of the reflecting pool,” Trump said.

WATCH:

Trump went on to highlight the vandalism of the Reflecting Pool in his statement on Sunday, announcing the success of his renovations and crime crackdown, as well as his plans to rejuvenate the East Potomac Golf Links course.

“They cut and butchered a 350 foot long strip, with many 1 and 2 foot individual cuts, creating great damage to this beautiful piece of art that was, last week, 100% free of leaks, and any of the other problems it has had since its building in 1922,” Trump said. “It never worked properly until last week and, right after July 4th, when we will drain the water to treat the damage caused by these “animals,” it will again be in perfect shape. In the meantime, it is working well, the criminally made algae is gone, and the grass, which was destroyed, is being replaced shortly.”

The “dilapidated, worn out, and very dangerous and outdated Golf Course known as East Potomac Golf Links,” he said, is set to be redesigned by famed golf course architect Tom Fazio in September.

Full statement below:

The post After Touring Lafayette Square Trump Touts DC Renovations and Blasts “Animals” Who Vandalized Reflecting Pool – Reveals He’ll Break Ground on New Golf Course in Sept appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Chuck Schumer has completed one of the most stunning political transformations in Washington. The self-proclaimed defender of Israel is now chasing the pro-Palestinian wing of the Democrat Party, abandoning the very ally he spent decades claiming to protect.

But here’s the hypocrisy that should outrage every American. Schumer proudly marches in New York’s Pride parade while appeasing activists who defend a movement where, under Hamas, homosexuality isn’t celebrated, it’s brutally persecuted.

How can Democrats wave the rainbow flag one day and excuse those who would erase it the next?

Then, JD Vance delivers a masterclass. Sitting across from Bill Maher, the vice president never flinches. He dismantles the left’s talking points, defends the America First agenda, and projects the calm, disciplined leadership Americans expect from a president.

If there was any doubt about whether JD Vance is ready to lead this country, that interview answered it.

Truth. Hypocrisy exposed. And the future of the MAGA movement.

The post Sen. Schumer’s Pride Politics Collide With Reality (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

A man was arrested on Saturday in Los Angeles after shooting participants in a naked bike riding event in Downtown Los Angeles.  

The man reportedly faces assault with a deadly weapon (a BB gun) charges and other charges. Two victims reportedly suffered lacerations.

Some may call this man a hero, but according to the state of California, he’s a violent criminal.

The male suspect, dressed in all black, is seen being arrested by police after shooting the nude cyclists with a BB gun.

Via ABC 7:

Typically, the annual World Naked Bike Ride takes place during the mid-summer months, and participants ride through the streets naked to protest for cyclist safety and climate issues.

Two bike rides were held in Los Angeles at different times on Saturday. Each route ran nearly 10 miles across the city.

Per the New York Post:

The clothes came off as the rubber hit the road at the World Naked Bike Ride in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, with hundreds of cyclists taking part in the body-baring cruise along city streets.

Staged out of the parking in Little Tokyo, the event transformed the area into a sea of skin of body paint, before riders set off on their eyebrow-raising routes.

Participants moved through the city in various states of undress, with body paint replacing biker shorts and police escorts directing traffic as the cyclists passed sidewalks packed with onlookers.

The event, which occupies a legal gray zone around public nudity, operates under guidelines that prohibit lewd or sexually explicit exposure. The ride is instead framed as a protest against car culture and an exercise in public expression.

The post LOL! Man Arrested for Assault with a Deadly Weapon After Shooting Nude Bike Riders With BB Gun in Los Angeles (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.