The Conservative Cave

A group of Democrat lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds released a video Tuesday urging service members to "refuse illegal orders," a message conservatives blasted as a call to defy President Donald Trump and his Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

The one-minute video, posted by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and viewed more than 1.6 million times, features six lawmakers invoking their prior service while telling members of the military and intelligence community that "the threats to our Constitution are coming from right here at home."

Slotkin and her colleagues have spent recent weeks introducing legislation to limit President Trump’s ability to deploy National Guard members domestically or launch military action against narcoterrorists without congressional approval.

None of that context appears in the video, titled "Don’t Give Up the Ship," which instead frames the appeal as a warning to military members to "stand up for our laws" and "refuse unlawful orders."

Conservative accounts countered the viral clip, citing military law and interpreting the call to action as an alleged appeal to commit treason against the United States.

"Elected Democrats just released a video encouraging members of the military to commit treason and defy orders from Trump and Hegseth," wrote the conservative account Libs of TikTok.

The left would rave about how he had put an audacious journalist in her place.

More from the real world:

US Thanksgiving Dinner Cost Drops for 3rd Year

https://www.newsmax.com/finance/streettalk/thanksgiving-dinner-cost/2025/11/19/id/1235139/

The cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 will be lower for a third straight year thanks to steep discounting in turkey prices, but about half the items that grace a typical U.S. holiday table are pricier than last year, a survey out on Wednesday shows.

The American Farm Bureau Federation's annual supermarket survey of a Thanksgiving dinner estimated the cost of a holiday meal for 10 this year would be $55.18, down 5% from 2024 and the lowest since 2021.

That is still 13% higher than what the bureau's "classic meal" - featuring a 16-pound turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, sweet peas, dinner rolls, pumpkin pie and other items - cost in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic and the relief efforts arising from it helped to stoke a surge in inflation.

When Panera Bread began shrinking its sandwiches and skimping on salads, it started shedding customers.

Now, to win them back, the chain plans to reinvest in the business and undo many of those same cost-cutting measures, it said Tuesday.

Once the No. 1 fast-casual brand in the U.S., Panera has dipped to No. 3, ceding the top spots to Chipotle Mexican Grill and Panda Express. Last year, its sales fell 5% to $6.1 billion, according to Technomic estimates. For years, the chain’s traffic has been shrinking, according to CEO Paul Carbone, who took the reins earlier this year. Controversy after the chain’s foray into energy drinks didn’t help matters, either.

Panera’s troubles have coincided with a tough year for fast-casual restaurants. Chipotle, Sweetgreen and Cava have all cut their full-year forecasts as they see younger consumers eating out less frequently.
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But it wasn’t just salads that were affected by the cost-cutting measures.

“In some instances, we shrunk portions, so guests would walk into our cafe to buy a sandwich that has gone up significantly in price, with lower-quality ingredients, in a smaller size,” Carbone said.