Latin America

[O Really]

The merits are only on whether you follow the law or you don't.

[supesalemgr2]

The merits are only on whether you follow the law or you don't.

BS if the action is protecting Americans.

[O Really]

I have no words.

[GoCubsGo]

I will take the military's assessment it was a drug smuggling operation. I am sorry O Really does not like my assessment of the operation.

My god you're a gullible old fool.

It's not a military assessment, they just did the murdering.

[GoCubsGo]

I have no words.

Is it good to be old?

[Vrede too]

https://www.blueridgedebate.com/viewtop ... 38#p218238

The U.S. Navy now has two Aegis guided-missile destroyers — the USS Gravely and the USS Jason Dunham — in the Caribbean, as well as the destroyer USS Sampson and the cruiser USS Lake Erie in the Pacific Ocean off Latin America, according to a defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe ongoing operations.

That military presence is set to expand. Three amphibious assault ships — a force that encompasses more than 4,000 sailors and Marines — would be entering the waters off Latin America by next week, the official said.

My god you're a gullible old fool.

It's not a military assessment, they just did the murdering.

Yep, you don't send a naval task force to interdict a few go-fasts, a job that the USGS has been doing with distinction for years. Rather, the goal is to goad Maduro into doing something rash and then, with or without a manufactured excuse, invade Venezuela proper and/or seize offshore islands and oil fields. Watch, it's a Yanqui script that has played out in Latin America and elsewhere for 200 years.

[GoCubsGo]

Lol

Supes is just fine with this.

[GoCubsGo]

Are we sure he's not a fascist?

[supesalemgr2]

Lol

Supes is just fine with this.

Fine with me. Protecting the American people. The fact it was not a governmental operation does not protect criminals.

[O Really]

Fine with me. Protecting the American people. The fact it was not a governmental operation does not protect criminals.

Actually, even if they were drug smugglers, they weren't (yet) criminals subject to US law. And the military has no authority to enforce civilian criminal law anyway. And even if they were criminals and were subject to US civilian criminal law, existing law would not permit their summary execution. Why can't you say "their intent was good, but they handled it poorly"?

[GoCubsGo]

Supes is a fascist, who knew?

[O Really]

Supes is a fascist, who knew?

Anybody who knows what fascism is and reads most anything Supes has written? Let's start with a summary:

Fascism is an ultranationalist political philosophy characterized by a strong, authoritarian central government, a dictatorial leader, militarism, and a focus on the nation over the individual. It rejects liberal democracy, embraces hierarchy and elitism, often includes racial nationalism and scapegoating of minorities, and uses propaganda and force to maintain power. Fascism's goal is to achieve national rebirth and stability through radical, often violent, political and social change.

What part of that definition does Supes disagree with?
Here's longer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism

The only thing not fascist in today's Republican party and its adherents is the name.

[supesalemgr2]

Supes is a fascist, who knew?

Anybody who knows what fascism is and reads most anything Supes has written? Let's start with a summary:

Fascism is an ultranationalist political philosophy characterized by a strong, authoritarian central government, a dictatorial leader, militarism, and a focus on the nation over the individual. It rejects liberal democracy, embraces hierarchy and elitism, often includes racial nationalism and scapegoating of minorities, and uses propaganda and force to maintain power. Fascism's goal is to achieve national rebirth and stability through radical, often violent, political and social change.

What part of that definition does Supes disagree with?
Here's longer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism

The only thing not fascist in today's Republican party and its adherents is the name.

[Vrede too]

Lol

Supes is just fine with this.

SoupySales is a cultist.

Pete Hegseth's Answer To Basic Legal Question Takes A 'Clown Show' Turn
The defense secretary's non-answer about the deadly strike on a suspected drug smuggling boat was slammed online.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced backlash after declaring the Pentagon had “absolute and complete authority” to bomb a suspected Venezuelan drug vessel, but then offering no legal basis to back up that claim about the Donald Trump-ordered deadly strike that killed 11 people.

A reporter pressed Hegseth on Thursday: “What legal authority did the Pentagon invoke to strike that boat full of drug smugglers?”

Hegseth shot back: “We have the absolute and complete authority to conduct that.”

But he did not cite any law or mechanism granting such authority.

Because there isn't any. What part of "illegal" do Jagoff and SoupySales not understand?

... Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, warned Wednesday that the move may set a chilling precedent.

“It’s hard to have any sympathy for drug dealers trying to import product into our country,” Paul said on Newsmax. “But at the same time, I guess, you might ask the question, ‘Where does it end? Are we the world’s policemen?’”

He added: “We all assume these people were bad people and drug dealers, but if they were caught off the coast of Miami, we would stop the boat. If they don’t shoot at us, we don’t shoot at them. They’re confiscated; they’re put in jail.” ...

GoRandGo

On social media, critics accused Hegseth of swerving the question entirely — and questioned what actual authority the Pentagon was relying on.

Dictatorship confirmed

This is the equivalent of a parent tells their kids, "Because I said so." He doesn't have an answer, so he tries to shut down the question.

Hegseth doesn't answer the question here. He attempts to do the standard tough guy routine, but it is not a legal defense or justification.

Perhaps if he hadn't fired all of the top Judge Advocates General for all of the branches of the military or the inspectors general or the many senior commanders he fired, he would have known that what he was doing violates international law--even if the men were what he's calling "narcoterrorists."

If we are a country of laws, then actions taken by the state must be legal.

We have yet to hear anything even remotely like a legal justification for what the administration did.

In other words, he doesn't know and it doesn't matter.

Southern
@NavyVet135
No, Pete. We don't.

The argument presented by Hegseth could be used by police officers to justify a shoot to kill policy for people on the street they suspect to be drug dealers.

Arbitrary justice makes a mockery of the rule of law.

More posts at the link.

Let's hear from our top "diplomat":

Trump Ordered Military To Blow Up Suspected Drug Boat Instead Of Intercepting It, Rubio Says
"And it’ll happen again," Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed.

... “Instead of interdicting it, on the president’s orders, we blew it up — and it’ll happen again. Maybe it’s happening right now,” Rubio told reporters Wednesday in Mexico City a day after Trump disclosed the strike, which marks a major escalation in his administration’s crusade against drug trafficking.

Stopping boats and capturing smugglers is ineffective, Rubio continued.

“The United States has long, for many, many years, established intelligence that allow us to interdict and stop drug boats,” he said. “We did that, and it doesn’t work.”

Prohibition is ALWAYS a failure, dummy.

... Vice President JD Vance also told reporters Wednesday that the people on the boat were “literal terrorists” attempting to bring in “deadly drugs.”

Just Deranged is literally clueless about the definitions of “literal" and "terrorists”. They may have been businesspeople delivering a product Americans desire.

However, experts told The New York Times that Venezuela plays little to no role in the fentanyl trade. That drug is almost exclusively produced in Mexico using chemicals imported from China....

Fentanyl is responsible for the large majority of US OD deaths. Opps.