Trump blows up drug smugglers

[Don Alaska]

With President Trump's introduction of the U.S. military into the drug was--making it a REAL war--he has now chosen to execute drug smugglers who are bringing drugs into the country before they get here. Last night a drug boat carrying eleven members of Tren de Agua who were attempting to smuggle drugs in to U.S. by boat from Venezuela were killed by U.S. military action similar to the way President Obama took on Middle East terrorists during his term. This attack was done as the boat approached U.S. territorial waters in the waters to the south of the U.S. The source of the intelligence which led to this and the manner of the attack are classified, but the video of the attack can be found online if you choose to view it. I suspect this will make drug smugglers much more reticent to undertake the smuggling operations, as they are being destroyed instead of being intercepted by the Coast Guard (which is NOT a military organization in normal times despite what it often claims). This reflects military action instead of police action such as is carried out by the U.S. Coast Guard.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

With President Trump's introduction of the U.S. military into the drug was--making it a REAL war--he has now chosen to execute drug smugglers who are bringing drugs into the country before they get here.

No, it's not a real war. The POTUS (and that includes them all, not just Trump) does not have the authority to declare war. That is up to Congress, and they can only declare war on other countries, not individual people from them. And considering we're having yet another "Do Nothing Congress" (as Harry Truman said in 1948) seeing them actually get it together enough to have the votes to do that would be miraculous. Then of course, it remains to be seen if this was even legal. Some legal scholars don't think it was.

"The fact that US officials describe the individuals killed by the US strike as narco-terrorists does not transform them into lawful military targets," Professor Michael Becker of Trinity College Dublin said.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

I suppose we'll see once we get past the usual bout of frivolous, malevolent lawfare. It's almost as if there is a seditious faction that actively works to destroy the population here through narcotics. One can only wonder what their price was to turn on their countrymen time after time after time.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

I think that most of the people are totally in support of not allowing drug smugglers to bring in illegal and dangerous drugs into the United States. So many people, including many children and teenagers , die from drug overdoses, and I would much rather that we used whatever force necessary to stop these drugs coming into the country.
I lost a very dear friend who was not even 30, and the mother of two small children, from a drug overdose, and these poor little girls are growing up never knowing their mother.

Many of the gang members are also involved with human trafficking, which is also killing children and tearing apart families. I can’t imagine how anyone could care more about a drug smuggler than an innocent child who dies from drugs they should never have had, and I believe that most people are glad that we are stopping these drug traffickers with whatever it takes to do it.
Seeing the video of this happening is definitely going to make the drug runners think about coming in with their boatload of drugs from now on.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

It feels like these things like the drug running and infiltration of the economy through mass immigration, both of which involve a lot of crime, some very nasty and vicious, are perhaps merely an evolution of warfare.

Much as straight-on terrorism was a few decades back, warfare by our enemies has just moved to the next level. If it exploits the "fine sensibilities" of well-off white suburban women and also tickles the fancy of the bitter dregs of society it is just that much more effective at making us take pause over retaliation. Throw in a corrupt university-industrial complex and a quisling political party along with (thankfully dying) bought and paid for "mainstream" media outlets and it becomes that much more effective.

So the Administration seems to be acting appropriately to a situation that's gone on for far too long and should now be labeled as an emergency.

Why should the US goes down in flames into darkness the way Europe seems to have chosen to do? BTW: Europe is incredibly closed-mouthed and feigns superiority, but there are even worse crime, drug abuse, and human trafficking problems there.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

I think that most of the people are totally in support of not allowing drug smugglers to bring in illegal and dangerous drugs into the United States.

I support that, but it should be done legally. You shouldn't counter illegal activity with more illegal activity. I don't believe that blowing up boats in international waters is legal.

Seeing the video of this happening is definitely going to make the drug runners think about coming in with their boatload of drugs from now on.

I think they will still do it, they will just up their fire power...

 

[Don Alaska]

Now the Coast Guard has taken out another drug boat,. This time it was a law enforcement action rather than a military strike:

The FBI and other Federal law enforcement have taken out a drug and people smuggling operation in Florida with links to the Chinese government in Fort Pierce, Florida. I am awaiting the media stories about Trump ties to China now The operation was using Airbnb as a base of operations.