Alan Wessman
@alanwessman.bsky.social
Former candidate for Utah County commissioner in 2024, United Utah Party. Politically moderate. Former Utah House candidate, district 64 (Spanish Fork). Husband, dad, hiker, misplacer of common household items.
Reposted by Alan Wessman
Thing is, we DID hear about it at his confirmation hearing.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Everyone should read this terrifying thread about Hegseth’s published views wrt war crimes. It’s pretty fucking radical …. We needed to hear about this in his confirmation hearing.
A chapter in Hegseth’s book is literally titled “More Lethality, Less Lawyers.”
It’s almost as if there were signs!
It’s almost as if there were signs!
November 29, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Thing is, we DID hear about it at his confirmation hearing.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Reposted by Alan Wessman
Remember, too, that Hegseth would have been rejected if a single additional Republican senator — or, JD Vance — had joined Sen. Collins, McConnell, and Murkowski in voting no with the Democrats. See: www.senate.gov/legislative/...
November 29, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Remember, too, that Hegseth would have been rejected if a single additional Republican senator — or, JD Vance — had joined Sen. Collins, McConnell, and Murkowski in voting no with the Democrats. See: www.senate.gov/legislative/...
Reposted by Alan Wessman
2/2 link:
Statement of the “Former JAGs Working Group” on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes
www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/u...
Statement of the “Former JAGs Working Group” on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes
www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/u...
November 29, 2025 at 8:11 PM
2/2 link:
Statement of the “Former JAGs Working Group” on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes
www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/u...
Statement of the “Former JAGs Working Group” on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes
www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Alan Wessman
Former US military lawyers speak out:
"The Former JAGs Working Group unanimously considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both."
Statement on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes
1/2
"The Former JAGs Working Group unanimously considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both."
Statement on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes
1/2
November 29, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Former US military lawyers speak out:
"The Former JAGs Working Group unanimously considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both."
Statement on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes
1/2
"The Former JAGs Working Group unanimously considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both."
Statement on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes
1/2
Reposted by Alan Wessman
This is one of the most important exposés published in WSJ in several years, and it derives from intercepts and analyses by foreign intelligence services studying the conduct of Trump and his inner team. It's first and foremost a wake up call to the people of the United States.
Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine
The Kremlin pitched the White House on peace through business. To Europe’s dismay, the president and his envoy are on board.
www.wsj.com
November 29, 2025 at 2:44 PM
This is one of the most important exposés published in WSJ in several years, and it derives from intercepts and analyses by foreign intelligence services studying the conduct of Trump and his inner team. It's first and foremost a wake up call to the people of the United States.
Reposted by Alan Wessman
The U.S.’s proposed Russia-Ukraine peace plan is this: Russia cuts Trump and his buddies in on the spoils of war.
"By dangling multibillion-dollar rare-earth and energy deals, Moscow could reshape the economic map of Europe—while driving a wedge between America and its traditional allies"
Read this excellent @wsj.com account of the business deals behind the "peace"negotiations
www.wsj.com/world/russia...
Read this excellent @wsj.com account of the business deals behind the "peace"negotiations
www.wsj.com/world/russia...
Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine
The Kremlin pitched the White House on peace through business. To Europe’s dismay, the president and his envoy are on board.
www.wsj.com
November 29, 2025 at 2:13 PM
The U.S.’s proposed Russia-Ukraine peace plan is this: Russia cuts Trump and his buddies in on the spoils of war.
Reposted by Alan Wessman
I cannot even begin to express my rage at this lie
reading this through me back into my pandemic EMT life, attempting to resuscitate a child experiencing a cardiac arrest secondary to COVID while a father says “we heard that the vaccine was riskier than COVID for kids” and a mother wails in agony
reading this through me back into my pandemic EMT life, attempting to resuscitate a child experiencing a cardiac arrest secondary to COVID while a father says “we heard that the vaccine was riskier than COVID for kids” and a mother wails in agony
NEW: The F.D.A. announced in an internal memo that 10 children died "because of" the Covid shot. Other experts want to see proof.
“This is a profound revelation,” Dr. Prasad's memo said. “For the first time, the U.S. F.D.A. will acknowledge that Covid-19 vaccines have killed American children.”
“This is a profound revelation,” Dr. Prasad's memo said. “For the first time, the U.S. F.D.A. will acknowledge that Covid-19 vaccines have killed American children.”
F.D.A. Attributes 10 Children’s Deaths to Covid Vaccines
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 12:27 PM
I cannot even begin to express my rage at this lie
reading this through me back into my pandemic EMT life, attempting to resuscitate a child experiencing a cardiac arrest secondary to COVID while a father says “we heard that the vaccine was riskier than COVID for kids” and a mother wails in agony
reading this through me back into my pandemic EMT life, attempting to resuscitate a child experiencing a cardiac arrest secondary to COVID while a father says “we heard that the vaccine was riskier than COVID for kids” and a mother wails in agony
Reposted by Alan Wessman
"The DOD Manual is clear because the law here is clear: 'Persons who have been incapacitated by . . . shipwreck are in a helpless state, and it would be dishonorable and inhumane to make them the object of attack.'"
A Dishonorable Strike
Indulging all assumptions in favor of the administration’s boat strikes, killing helpless men is murder
www.execfunctions.org
November 29, 2025 at 4:43 AM
"The DOD Manual is clear because the law here is clear: 'Persons who have been incapacitated by . . . shipwreck are in a helpless state, and it would be dishonorable and inhumane to make them the object of attack.'"
Reposted by Alan Wessman
You're not seeing the defense and international conflict experts disagreeing because if the facts are true, it's one of the most basic things in the law of armed conflict: You cannot kill people who are "hors de combat," taken out of the game by injury or attack. This is Geneva 101 stuff.
I follower a few defense experts.
Seeing them all straight-up declare this a war crime without any him-and-hawing is uhm
Disconcerting.
Pete Hegseth must resign, as does Stephen Miller. Donald Trump should be subpoenaed before Congress to answer for HIS policy.
Seeing them all straight-up declare this a war crime without any him-and-hawing is uhm
Disconcerting.
Pete Hegseth must resign, as does Stephen Miller. Donald Trump should be subpoenaed before Congress to answer for HIS policy.
November 29, 2025 at 2:01 AM
You're not seeing the defense and international conflict experts disagreeing because if the facts are true, it's one of the most basic things in the law of armed conflict: You cannot kill people who are "hors de combat," taken out of the game by injury or attack. This is Geneva 101 stuff.
Reposted by Alan Wessman
Sarah Beckstrom should be enjoying this weekend at home with her family. Bless them.
Rest in peace, Sarah Beckstrom (2005–2025). A young life taken far too soon in Washington, D.C. Her future was stolen, her story cut short, and our nation is poorer for it.
November 29, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Sarah Beckstrom should be enjoying this weekend at home with her family. Bless them.
Reposted by Alan Wessman
Thread about an actual drug smuggler who’s about to be pardoned by Trump
Juan Orlando Hernandez was convicted by a jury of conspiring to traffic 400 tons of cocaine into the United States.
November 28, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Thread about an actual drug smuggler who’s about to be pardoned by Trump
Reposted by Alan Wessman
So the order for the US military to launch these deadly Caribbean boat strikes was straightforwardly illegal under US and international law, immoral under long established standards, and on top of that, terrible strategy.
Not maybe. Not got to check with a lawyer. Unambiguous. Blatant. Deliberate.
Not maybe. Not got to check with a lawyer. Unambiguous. Blatant. Deliberate.
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:08 PM
So the order for the US military to launch these deadly Caribbean boat strikes was straightforwardly illegal under US and international law, immoral under long established standards, and on top of that, terrible strategy.
Not maybe. Not got to check with a lawyer. Unambiguous. Blatant. Deliberate.
Not maybe. Not got to check with a lawyer. Unambiguous. Blatant. Deliberate.
Reposted by Alan Wessman
Criminal liability attaches for following an order "which a man of ordinary sense and understanding would, under the circumstances, know to be unlawful, or if the order in question is actually known to the accused to be unlawful." U.S. v. Calley (1974)
So the order for the US military to launch these deadly Caribbean boat strikes was straightforwardly illegal under US and international law, immoral under long established standards, and on top of that, terrible strategy.
Not maybe. Not got to check with a lawyer. Unambiguous. Blatant. Deliberate.
Not maybe. Not got to check with a lawyer. Unambiguous. Blatant. Deliberate.
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Criminal liability attaches for following an order "which a man of ordinary sense and understanding would, under the circumstances, know to be unlawful, or if the order in question is actually known to the accused to be unlawful." U.S. v. Calley (1974)
Reposted by Alan Wessman
This is murder. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
November 28, 2025 at 6:16 PM
This is murder. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Hegseth is a criminal for giving the illegal order to commit premeditated murder.
The commander and those under him who obeyed that illegal order are also criminals for carrying it out instead of refusing as their oaths demanded.
The commander and those under him who obeyed that illegal order are also criminals for carrying it out instead of refusing as their oaths demanded.
This isn't a military strike. This is premeditated murder and Pete Hegseth is going to spend the rest of his fucking life rotting away in the deepest hole in Leavenworth once America is liberated from this illegitimate, illegal regime.
November 28, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Hegseth is a criminal for giving the illegal order to commit premeditated murder.
The commander and those under him who obeyed that illegal order are also criminals for carrying it out instead of refusing as their oaths demanded.
The commander and those under him who obeyed that illegal order are also criminals for carrying it out instead of refusing as their oaths demanded.
Reposted by Alan Wessman
The Trump DOJ played down the risk of deploying the National Guard to DC, despite warnings, and now one of them is dead. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
November 28, 2025 at 3:59 PM
The Trump DOJ played down the risk of deploying the National Guard to DC, despite warnings, and now one of them is dead. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by Alan Wessman
In 1945, the US Army put out a training manual designed to equip rank and file soldiers with the tools to spot and combat incipient fascism were it to emerge in post-war America. Those lessons are just as American as Miller's illiberal bigotry, and worth remembering today. bsky.app/profile/seth...
The first fascistic tactic to look out for is a hate campaign against a particular religious, racial, or ethnic group. Like, for example, let's say a candidate emerges who calls all people of one nationality "rapists" and "criminals," while promising to ban immigrants from only one religious group.
November 28, 2025 at 2:41 PM
In 1945, the US Army put out a training manual designed to equip rank and file soldiers with the tools to spot and combat incipient fascism were it to emerge in post-war America. Those lessons are just as American as Miller's illiberal bigotry, and worth remembering today. bsky.app/profile/seth...
Reposted by Alan Wessman
Paying the sitting President's wife $40 million for a self-produced "documentary" about herself is ... a bribe, pure and simple.
November 28, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Paying the sitting President's wife $40 million for a self-produced "documentary" about herself is ... a bribe, pure and simple.
Reposted by Alan Wessman
Apparently she offered to cover other people's shifts so they could go home to their families for the holiday.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/27/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/27/u...
Two National Guard members were tasked with serving the nation. One is dead as the other fights for his life after shooting | CNN
On a day when many families gather across the country to give thanks, a National Guard member’s family is mourning her death after an ambush-style shooting in Washington, DC, as her colleague fights f...
www.cnn.com
November 28, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Apparently she offered to cover other people's shifts so they could go home to their families for the holiday.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/27/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/27/u...
Reposted by Alan Wessman
“We most humbly beseech him to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed.”
— Washington, First Thanksgiving Proclamation
www.mountvernon.org/education/pr...
— Washington, First Thanksgiving Proclamation
www.mountvernon.org/education/pr...
Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789
By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation. Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits...
www.mountvernon.org
November 27, 2025 at 1:16 PM
“We most humbly beseech him to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed.”
— Washington, First Thanksgiving Proclamation
www.mountvernon.org/education/pr...
— Washington, First Thanksgiving Proclamation
www.mountvernon.org/education/pr...
Reposted by Alan Wessman
Don’t forget that *Trump’s own lawyer’s argument* to the Supreme Court in the immunity case was that the check on the President using his immunity to order criminal acts was that those under him would not follow illegal orders. Now it’s a crime for lawmakers to remind servicemembers of that?
The President doesn't want you standing up and speaking out against him, so he's coming after me to intimidate all of us.
But I won't back down — and neither should you.
But I won't back down — and neither should you.
November 26, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Don’t forget that *Trump’s own lawyer’s argument* to the Supreme Court in the immunity case was that the check on the President using his immunity to order criminal acts was that those under him would not follow illegal orders. Now it’s a crime for lawmakers to remind servicemembers of that?
Reposted by Alan Wessman
Let's hope the guardsmen recovery quickly and fully.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two National Guard members have been shot in Washington, D.C., and their condition isn't known, AP source says.
November 26, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Let's hope the guardsmen recovery quickly and fully.
Reposted by Alan Wessman
*Such* a pit in my stomach about the Georgia case. Such a wasted possibility. It's hard to avoid simultaneously crediting Willis for a strong, convincing, aggressive, and important set of indictments, and blaming her for the catastrophic misjudgment that made it impossible to have a trial in 2024.
November 26, 2025 at 7:09 PM
*Such* a pit in my stomach about the Georgia case. Such a wasted possibility. It's hard to avoid simultaneously crediting Willis for a strong, convincing, aggressive, and important set of indictments, and blaming her for the catastrophic misjudgment that made it impossible to have a trial in 2024.
Reposted by Alan Wessman
If the executive can unilaterally shift all functioning out of an congressionally established agency, then what is left of Congress’ lawmaking?
Why should Congress authorize executive agencies to do anything at all, ever?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Why should Congress authorize executive agencies to do anything at all, ever?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
School Groups Sue to Stop Dismantling of the Education Department
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:00 PM
If the executive can unilaterally shift all functioning out of an congressionally established agency, then what is left of Congress’ lawmaking?
Why should Congress authorize executive agencies to do anything at all, ever?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Why should Congress authorize executive agencies to do anything at all, ever?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Reposted by Alan Wessman
This is a bold but absolutely feasible solution, which would immediately bring Pu to the negotiation table in earnest, ready to make real concessions rather than aiming to swindle and take away Ukrainian sovereignty diplomatically. Europe needs to step up before it's too late.
Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called for Europe to deploy up to 20,000 troops behind Ukraine’s front lines, establish an air shield with around 150 combat aircraft and unlock frozen Russian assets.
November 26, 2025 at 2:15 AM
This is a bold but absolutely feasible solution, which would immediately bring Pu to the negotiation table in earnest, ready to make real concessions rather than aiming to swindle and take away Ukrainian sovereignty diplomatically. Europe needs to step up before it's too late.