Pillar II: Democracy, Peace, and Constitutional Duty
Veterans defend the Constitution, peace, and democratic stability.
Episodes on Pillar II: Democracy, Peace, and Constitutional Duty.
Challenging Ed Markey: Alex Rikleen on Ballot Access, Party Gatekeeping, and What It Costs to Run
With Alex Rikleen
Alex Rikleen, a history teacher from Acton, Massachusetts, challenged Sen. Ed Markey in the Democratic primary with no machine and no money. After 235 appearances in a year he withdrew and endorsed Markey. Carl Able, Bryan C. Winter, Steph Money, and Brit Robinson ask where the party machinery stops an ordinary candidate, and what reforms like multi-member districts would change.
SITREP: Three Iran War Votes, Eight Articles Against Hegseth, and the Postal Ballot Rule
Three times in 2026 the House has voted to end the war in Iran. The third passed 220 to 204 on September 15. None of them binds anyone. Carl Able, John Moses, and Bryan C. Winter take apart the week's three levers: a concurrent resolution with no force of law, eight articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth that the House walked away from, and a Supreme Court order on the Postal Service ballot rule that expires after this election.
Amend It: Supreme Court Term Limits, the Electoral College, and a Bigger House
Four veterans argue about amending the Constitution. Carl Able, Katie Chorbak, John Moses, and Tim Boivin take the three fixes the panel voted to the top of the list, thirty minutes each, with Carl arguing the opposing side on all three. Block one, the House. The 435 seat cap is not in the Constitution. It was set by the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929, and today one member of Congress represents about 761,000 people. Washington asked for one per thirty thousand. The panel works through House expansion under the House Expansion Commission Act, H.R. 2797, and proportional representation through the Fair Representation Act, H.R. 4632, which pairs multi member districts with ranked choice voting. Fifty percent of Americans want proportional representation. Two percent can name it. Block two, the Supreme Court. Article III says judges serve during good behaviour. It does not say for life. Eighteen year terms under H.R. 1074 from Khanna and Beyer, and Senator Whitehouse's Supreme Court Biennial Appointments and Term Limits Act, reintroduced July 2026. Hamilton in Federalist 78 and 79, Brutus XV in reply, and Jefferson in 1820 on what happens when nobody can check the judges. Block three, the Electoral College. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact stands at 222 of the 270 electoral votes it needs, 18 states and the District of Columbia, 48 short. Whether a compact survives the Compact Clause is untested and stays untested until it hits 270. Madison on July 19, 1787, and Hamilton in Federalist 68 on why they built it this way. Seventy-seven percent of Americans say the system needs major change. Twenty-seven percent think it can happen. Katie changes her position on the Electoral College live on air.
Who Holds the Sword: Federal Agents at the Polls, Socialism, and the Constitution
Carl Able hosts Katie Chorbak, Steph Money, and Brit Robinson for a theory show in three blocks: federal agents at polling places, why most Americans under 30 view socialism favorably, and the growing case from both left and right that the Constitution should be set aside. Madison, Locke and Hobbes get paired against the panel's own time in uniform.
Armed Men at the Polls
General Dan Caine told Senator Elissa Slotkin in writing that no federal troops or federalized National Guard will be sent to polling places for the midterms. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin added that agents could still respond to a threat, and the panel worked the gap between those two statements. They also covered roughly $40 million in unspent election security money at DHS and the extended USS Abraham Lincoln deployment.
Event Highlight: Operation Take Up Space
With Lindsey Knapp
Lindsey Knapp, an attorney and Army veteran, laid out Operation Take Up Space, a 300 mile, 22 day ruck march led by women veterans from Asheville to Wilmington by way of Charlotte and Fort Bragg, stepping off September 12. She tied it to election protection after Texas removed voters from its rolls, and explained why it ends at the 1898 Memorial in Wilmington.
Charged: 50501 Veterans' Dana Briggs on What Follows a Protest
With Dana Briggs
Dana Briggs, an Air Force veteran and member of 50501 Veterans, Veterans For Peace and Common Defense, described being shoved and arrested outside the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, a night in the Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center, a felony charge downgraded and then dropped, and the lawsuit he joined over DHS taking his DNA. The show opened with a veteran arrested that afternoon in Greene County, Missouri.
17 days. A volunteer’s view at the end of Afghanistan.
With Kate Kovarovic
John Moses walked day by day through the August 2021 Kabul evacuation using his own records, 7,200 messages across 19 family threads. He covered the fall of Kabul, Ashraf Ghani fleeing, paperwork that stranded families, the Abbey Gate bombing that killed 13 US service members and roughly 170 Afghans, and the 68 Afghans his volunteer group got out. Kate Kovarovic of AfghanEvac closed on moral injury and volunteer suicide.
SITREP: The Checks Aren't Checking
Tim Boivin, Bryan Winter and guest panelist Frank Stolba, a Navy and intelligence community veteran and attorney, worked a hard news week. They covered the USS Abraham Lincoln approaching 300 days at sea with no port calls and sailors reporting suicidal ideation, the USS George Washington leaving the Western Pacific without a carrier behind it, reporting on the intelligence behind a secret presidential flight, and the loss of roughly 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones.
Threat Assessment: Election Security from Voter Rolls to Certification
American elections are infrastructure, so the panel runs a threat assessment on them: polling place security, the election worker shortage, voter roll maintenance versus purging, certification chokepoints, and foreign influence aimed at the information environment. The ask at the end is concrete, work the polls and call your county elections board.
SITREP: The Kuwait Drone Attack, USS Lincoln Families, and Birthright Citizenship
The week worked pillar by pillar: the Democratic investigation into the Iranian drone attack that killed six US troops at Shuaiba in Kuwait, pressure on the Strait of Hormuz, USS Lincoln families confronting acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, the Senate panel vote to hold Fauci in contempt, and the birthright citizenship orders. Tim Boivin, former Stars and Stripes Wurzburg bureau chief, sits on the panel.
Back in the Pit: Three Pillars, Panelist's Choice
No guest and no script. Steph Money and John Moses took apart the Take Care of America's Veterans Act and its Section 108 cuts to tinnitus and sleep apnea ratings, the split between the American Legion and the VFW, and the discharge petition for the Major Richard Star Act sitting three signatures short. They also covered the SAVE Act riding on the FY27 NDAA and the 239 deported veterans counted by the National Immigration Forum.
Candidate call - Len Hennessy, Ret. Navy Cmdr. & GA State House Candidate (HD 125)
With Leonard Hennessy
Len Hennessy, a retired Navy commander running for Georgia House District 125, talked through the data centers coming to his district and who pays for the grid, water and roads behind them, using PFAS contamination from the Dalton carpet industry as the warning. He opposed eliminating Georgia's income tax, argued the state's taxpayer refunds belong in special education and Medicaid expansion, and came out against ending inpatient care at Eisenhower Army Medical Center.
Post Mission Analysis: Freedom Over Fascism
With Chris Koepp
An after action review of the July 4 Freedom Over Fascism march in Philadelphia, where roughly 650 veterans from 50501 Veterans, About Face, Military Families Speak Out and Veterans For Peace marched unpermitted in 105 degree heat. Carl Able, Bryan Winter and Chris Koepp walked through planning, peacekeepers, police conduct and coalition friction, then turned to election defense, the SAVE Act, and the ICE reversal on traffic stops.
Candidate Call: Angie Nixon, Florida State Rep and U.S. Senate Candidate
With Angie Nixon
Florida state representative Angie Nixon explained why she disrupted the Florida House floor with a pink megaphone over the DeSantis congressional maps and the 2010 Fair Districts amendment. She took questions on her US Senate run, her Working Families Party endorsement, Citizens property insurance, Pentagon audit failures, VA staffing backlogs, school vouchers and private prisons.
Mike Prysner on Conscientious Objection and the Center on Conscience and War
With Mike prysner
Mike Prysner of the Center on Conscience and War and Joy Metzler, an Air Force Academy graduate discharged as a conscientious objector, explained how service members file for CO status and what the discharge costs them. Prysner said inquiries spiked during the Iran conflict past anything in the war on terror, and that his organization's applicants are approved about 99 percent of the time. Both previewed the July 4 march in Philadelphia.
Candidate Call: Alex Hazen, Congressional Candidate for Florida's 5th District
With Alex Hazen
Alex Hazen, a healthcare simulation developer running in the Democratic primary for Florida's 5th District, told Tim Boivin, Carl Able and Bryan Winter that AI should be a tool and not a replacement, and that he would not back a taxpayer bailout if the AI bubble bursts. He supported Medicare for All with dedicated PTSD funding, opposed further military aid to Israel, and called for repealing the 1929 apportionment cap on the House.
Congressional Candidate Brit Robinson (FL-04) on VA Reform and Campaign Finance
With Brit Robinson
Brit Robinson, a military spouse running in Florida's 4th District, joins Katie Chorbak, Lisa Wohlrab, John Moses, and Bryan C. Winter. They cover VA funding shortfalls and the community care fight, military families on SNAP, vote by mail access, and why campaign finance keeps working-class candidates off the ballot.
Why We March: About Face and Veterans on Freedom Over Fascism, July 4th
With Zue Jernstedt
Organizers from About Face, the Fayetteville Resistance Coalition, American Opposition and Mass 50501 joined Katie Chorbak to build veteran turnout for the July 4 Veterans Against Fascism march in Philadelphia and the Seven Days in DC actions. Tim Boivin described organizing 206 veteran protests on D-Day, Austin described the fight over data centers in Cumberland County, and Bryan described removing Flock cameras town by town in Massachusetts.
Candidate Call: Adam Dunigan, Marine Veteran and Former CIA Officer
With Adam Dunigan
Adam Dunigan, a Marine veteran and former CIA case officer running in Virginia's 8th District, argued term limits with Katie Chorbak and Carl Able, put getting big money out of politics at the top of his platform, and said he left the agency over ethics. He called for abolishing and rebuilding ICE. The second hour covered William Pulte at ODNI, the fight over FISA Section 702, and reports of ICE seizing veterans' KIA bracelets.
Congressional Candidate Ceretta Smith (GA-12) on VA Staffing and Rural Care
With Ceretta Smith
Army veteran Ceretta Smith, a former PEBLO running in Georgia's 12th District, sits down with Katie Chorbak, Lisa Wohlrab, John Moses, and Bryan C. Winter. They cover VA staffing vacancies, rural healthcare deserts, what the oath means to someone who processed disability cases, and running a joyful campaign in a district that voted the other way.
Idiocracy Is Now: Trump's Cult of Self, Billionaires, and the Fight for What's Left
Katie Chorbak, Carl Able, and Bryan Winter take on the $250 Trump bill, artists walking out of the White House, a UFC event on the Pentagon lawn, and Peter Thiel's move to Argentina. Under the spectacle sits one question: what do billionaires want from a democracy, and what do worker co-ops offer instead?
Candidate Call: Tom Berhane, Army Ranger, Running for Governor of Minnesota
With Tom Berhane
Tom Berhane, a Sudanese immigrant, Army Ranger and Green Beret running for governor of Minnesota, proposed a 14 day mental health wait guarantee, mobile clinics for rural counties, and a peer support line he calls Battle Buddy 1776, describing his own suicide attempt. Carl Able and Katie Chorbak pushed back hard on what a governor should do about the ICE surge in Minneapolis, 287(g) agreements, and the shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Candidate Call: Shawn Harris, Brigadier General (Ret.), Georgia's 14th District
With Shawn Harris
Shawn Harris, a retired Army brigadier general running in Georgia's 14th District, explained why he refuses AIPAC money and how that money shaped the Iran war. He argued Congress is past the 60 day War Powers clock and should use the purse to end it, and took questions on the I Am Vanessa Guillen Act, the Feres Doctrine and military sexual trauma. Katie Chorbak reported from the ground on Angie Nixon's arrest in Tallahassee.
Jim Crow 2.0: Jamil Davis of Black Voters Matter on Gerrymandering
With Jamil Davis
Jamil Davis of Black Voters Matter traces the voting rights fight from Selma to Louisiana v. Callais, the case that could finish off Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The panel maps how redistricting targets the cotton belt, and what a constitutional convention would actually take.
Bootlegger, Not Bootlicker: Veterans on Civil Disobedience from Thoreau to MLK
Katie Chorbak leads the panel through the case for civil disobedience, from Thoreau and Gandhi to Rosa Parks and the boycotts that had real economics behind them. They draw the line between veteran-led dissent and January 6th, then ask why America celebrates the dissent it survived and condemns the dissent in front of it.
Two Things Can Be True: May Day Actions, Anti-Military Tension, and Gaza
A Saturday roundup built on member field reports from May Day: Jacksonville, Columbia, Raleigh where about 20,000 turned out and 17 districts closed, and ICE flights out of Hanscom Air Force Base. Carl Able described his clash on stage at the Southeast Convergence in Fayetteville over the difference between being anti-military and being anti-militarization, and the panel closed on Gaza and the safety brief.
No Troops, No Bombs: Zolal Habibi on the NCRI Plan for a Free Iran
With Zolal Habibi
Zolal Habibi of the National Council of Resistance of Iran laid out Maryam Rajavi's ten point plan for a secular democratic republic, a six month interim government and a constituent assembly, and why the NCRI rejects both foreign war and a return of the monarchy. She described the January uprising, the crackdown, the internet blackout and more than 2,600 named dead. The panel pressed her on the MEK terrorist designation and its 2012 delisting.
Arrested at Cannon: Nancy Lessin and Dusty Gannon on the Iran War Protest
Nancy Lessin and Jeff Merrick of Military Families Speak Out and Dusty Gannon of About Face described the mass civil disobedience arrest in the Cannon House Office Building rotunda over the Iran war, alongside Veterans For Peace, Common Defense and the Center on Conscience and War. They covered wearing the uniform at a protest, the push to repeal the 2001 AUMF and force a War Powers vote, and the near total absence of mainstream coverage.
Inside the MAGA Media Machine: Talk Radio, the SAVE Act, and Voter Roll Purges
The panel took apart how MAGA messaging actually works, from talk radio through Alex Jones to the paid media arm of Turning Point USA, and how platform algorithms reward it. They argued for pivoting the fight from left versus right to up versus down on economic justice, then turned to the SAVE Act, the version DeSantis signed in Florida, and the roughly 70,000 voters removed in North Carolina, most of them overseas military.
The 25th Amendment: When Is a President Unfit to Serve?
What does the 25th Amendment actually say, and could a sitting president ever be removed under it? The panel separates bad judgment from genuine incapacity, compares how the military relieves leaders who cannot perform, and lays out the political reality that makes invoking it nearly impossible.