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.

[Vrede too]

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.

Historical fascists are usually more competent than today's Republican party.

SoupySales can't even know what it is that he's fanboying over:

Trump’s Team Is Struggling to Get Its “Drug Boat” Story Straight
It’s disturbing how the details keep changing.

Typical.

[GoCubsGo]

WTF is he doing?

That Epstein shit must be incredible.

[Vrede too]

WTF is he doing?

That Epstein shit must be incredible.

https://bsky.app/profile/bencollins.bsk ... 45vjvx2c2m

I THINK it's three amphibious assault ships, two destroyers, a cruiser and a littoral combat ship in the Caribbean, and one destroyer in the eastern Pacific. There are also submarine/s and other ships involved.

Dementia Don has talked about regime change in Venezuela for years, and an op this complex takes months to organize. That said, the final go-ahead may be influenced by the desire for Epstein distraction.

https://www.blueridgedebate.com/viewtop ... 45#p218345

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.

Maduro Says US Pointing '1,200 Missiles' at Venezuela After Trump Sends More Warships
One anonymous American military official told Axios that the US seemed to be revving up for "Noriega part two," suggesting a regime change war may be on the horizon.

... During Trump's first term, he repeatedly suggested that the US should invade Venezuela to take Maduro out—an idea that his top aides rebuffed.

... According to Responsible Statecraft, lobbying groups in bed with Exxon Mobil have been leading the campaign for "maximum pressure" against Venezuela, with the goal of protecting the company's control of over 11 billion barrels of oil in neighboring Guyana, which has been referred to as a "petrostate" closely aligned with the oil giant.

Exxon Mobil - The new United Fruit Company.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made several posts in support of Guyana as it backed Trump's escalation with Venezuela.

... Prior to that, Rubio obliquely suggested in a Fox Business interview that there may be plans in the works to force Maduro out of power, saying the Venezuelan president was "going to have to be dealt with."

No mention of drugs, Marco? Funny that.

... Though Trump has named Maduro as a global drug kingpin and the leader of the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil disputed that accusation Monday, calling it a "false narrative."

He cited the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's 2025 World Drug Report, which says that Venezuela is not a major cocaine-producing or transit country.

This is backed up by data from the US Drug Enforcement Agency, which has found that 84% of the cocaine seized in the US comes from Colombia.

According to UNODC, "the majority of Colombian cocaine is being trafficked north along the Pacific coast," rather than trafficked through Venezuela. Just 2% of all the cocaine seized by UNODC is in Venezuela, ranking it sixth among Latin American countries.

"For there to be a drug cartel, either you produce (the drugs), you process it, or you traffic it," Venezuelan congresswoman Blanca Eekhout told CNN. "If there is no cultivation, production, or drug trafficking in Venezuela, how can there be a cartel? It's unsustainable."

Only SoupySales and the rest of MAGA are gullible enough to think this is about drugs. Others aren't so stupid:

As Trump's military threats have revved up, Maduro has mobilized tens of thousands of soldiers and several warships to prepare for a possible invasion.

This weekend, the streets of Caracas filled up with demonstrators opposing US aggression and supporting Maduro's military recruitment efforts. They were joined by supporters across the globe in cities including London, Johannesburg, Sydney, and Mexico City.


Protesters Gather In Venezuela After Trump Deploys Naval Fleet Outside Of Country

Even members of Maduro's opposition have harshly criticized the idea of US intervention. Henrique Capriles, a frequent critic and one-time presidential opponent of Maduro, told the BBC that although he opposes Maduro's antidemocratic actions in the most recent election, he wants to see the tensions between Venezuela and the US solved through negotiations rather than gunfire.

"There are no good wars; they're all bad. That's my position, and I'm not afraid to express it publicly," Capriles said. "Most of the people who want a military solution and a US invasion don't live in Venezuela. They don't even consider the consequences. Human lives are lost."

"Peace President"? Maduro being an asshole does NOT justify murderous Yanqui assholes.