Final Word from Thursday, December 11, 2025
Donald Trump questioned in Nov. whether six Democratic lawmakers shouldn't be imprisoned for urging armed-services members to disobey "unlawful orders," without having specified exactly what those would be. "This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???" It was largely a chain-of-command issue, because the "unlawful" orders would be coming from Trump as the civilian commander in chief. In the Czech Republic, defiance of the chain of command has been an issue ever since Defense Min. Jana Černochová agreed to install Karel Řehka, a product of U.S. structures, as army chief of staff. The clashes between the two over civilian control of the army increased after Petr Pavel, a retired general, took over as president and started covering Řehka's flank. When Řehka called yesterday for the introduction of an "administrative draft," Pavel immediately backed him. Řehka and Pavel are trying to inch Czechs toward war and are circumventing civil control of the military as a way to do it. [ Czech Republic jail Congress United States conscription ]
Glossary of difficult words
to lock someone up - to imprison someone;
seditious - inciting or causing people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch;
chain of command - a system in a military or civil organization by which instructions are passed from one person to another;
defiance - open resistance; bold disobedience; the act of defying;
flank - the side of a person's or animal's body between the ribs and the hip;
administrative draft - in this context, registration for military service;
to inch - to cause (something) to move slowly and carefully;
to circumvent - to find a way around (an obstacle).