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Mutiny watch: The ‘Illegal Orders’ Minefield
“The law is clear that service members can disobey illegal orders,” explains Joshua Braver at The Wall Street Journal, but with a deep “ambiguity,” as this is a system where “all incentives point toward obedience.”
Disobeying a “lawful order” is “punishable by a dishonorable discharge” and penalties including prison and even “death.”
And if an order is “legally ambiguous,” its legality can only be determined at court-martial.
More: “There is no general, affirmative legal duty to disobey an unlawful order,” and the acclaimed “Nuremberg principle was true for those trials of Nazi officials but has since been narrowed.”
In sum, “the law’s message is simple: Obey and you are likely protected; disobey and you shoulder the risk.”
Libertarian: A Food-Price Win for Americans
“The share of their incomes that average Americans devote to paying for food has fallen steeply over the last 100 years,” cheers Reason’s Ronald Bailey.
“This happy development stems from two long-term trends: rising incomes and falling food prices.”
“In 1929, Americans spent 23.4 percent of their after tax-personal disposable income buying food”; today, “Americans spend 4.9 percent of their incomes on food at home and 5.5 percent on food away from home, such as dining out at restaurants.”
Thus: “As their incomes rise, Americans spend more money on food but it represents a smaller share of their income.”
So, despite the 2020-’24 jump in food prices, “the century-long trend has been falling prices for food staples.”
Conservative: In Immigration Policy, Facts Matter
“Progressives have suggested” that reporting “about widespread fraud committed by Somalis in Minnesota” is “racist,” notes City Journal’s Chris Rufo, especially because it led the White House to revoke protected status for Somali migrants.
But “facts should not be measured as ‘racist or not racist,’” when it is true that a small Somali community “stole billions in funds.”
Until recently, “Americans have been loath to address” the question of “different behaviors and outcomes between different groups,” but “different groups have different cultural characteristics.”
America has “expected Somalis to play by the rules”; some “have certainly done so,” but many have not. “A rational government would amend its policies accordingly.”
We should “recognize cultural norms as a reasonable measure of capacity to assimilate and to contribute.”
Liberal: Voters Want Affordability Solutions
“It’s easy to campaign on angry sentiments about the economy and affordability,” but harder to craft policies that “help voters cope with high costs in a timely fashion and reduce overall anxiety,” cautions The Liberal Patriot’s John Halpin.
A year after electing President Trump and a Republican Congress, “voters are still mad about inflation and the overall state of the economy” even as “American politics has been stuck in an endless cycle of partisan blame and talk about ‘doing something.’ ”
Expect voters next year to nonetheless turn to “candidates running on affordability” and “shifting partisan control of government in response” to the unresolved “affordability” crisis — but beware: As The Wall Street Journal’s Greg Ip warns: “There is nothing any elected official can do to ‘solve’ the affordability crisis” without making things worse.
Space beat: The Commercial Race Is On
“After a couple of scrubs and a few aggravating holds, the Blue Origin New Glenn finally rocketed into the clear, blue Florida sky,” cheers Mark R. Whittington at The Hill.
The successful launch not only rocketed a “pair of ESCAPADE probes” Mars-bound, “it also ushered in a new phase in the development of the commercial space sector.”
But to truly compete with SpaceX, Blue Origin must reuse its first stages “multiple times with the same rocket” and “greatly increase its flight rate.”
Ultimately, SpaceX and Blue Origin have plans for moon missions involving “a human landing system.”
The rivals share three goals: “return to the moon by 2028,” “beat the Chinese” and give President Trump “an event to ring out his presidency.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board