Are we going to war with Venezuela?

[Don Alaska]

Marines have been conducting landing exercises in Puerto Rico and those forces are now moving toward Venezuela. When asked, Trump said "We'll see...." It was a similar response to what Trump said when he was asked about attacking Iran. Undersea cables linking India to Europe have been cut, so those "Help Desks" in India cannot keep in contact with Europe. Maduro was taunting Trump like Noriega did Bush, so he might end up in a U.S. prison as Noriega did.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

From what I have been reading, we are not going to war with Venezuela, the country, but we are going to be stopping the drug trafficking from that country, and apparently even the government is involved with the drug trade.
After we took out one of their drug running boats and the whole load of drugs, they sent fighter jets over where we have ships stationed in the Caribbean, and President Trump has told the military to do whatever they need to do if they are threatened at all by the fighter planes.
I do not think that it will come to us having to shoot down a plane, but if they are threatening to attack one of our ships, that could very well end up happening; so hopefully, they won’t try anything so foolish as to attack our ships.

Maduro is a known drug dealer, and the US would not hesitate to arrest him, or to take out drug trafficking boats that are being sent to the US with drugs. The “war” is not against a country, but against the illegal drugs and the drug traffickers, and helping to set the people of Venezuela free from the rule of these terrible people.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

Just like 911... That's misuse of our military. You can't declare war on people, only other countries. And as I said in the thread about blowing a suspected drug boat in International waters, it should be done legally. It's un-American to fight crime with crime.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

We're too soft on drug abusers. With the exception of the even more despotic Europeans, the world laughs at us for coddling druggies. It just provides another weapon our enemies and the globalists behind them can use on us.

 

[Don Alaska]

We're too soft on drug abusers. With the exception of the even more despotic Europeans, the world laughs at us for coddling druggies. It just provides another weapon our enemies and the globalists behind them can use on us.

That is apparently what China has been doing to us for many years. Laughing at us while they pump drugs into the U.S. from Latin America. Biden made it so much easier for them, either by design or incompetence, to fill the nation with fentanyl and other drugs to poison our naïve populace. President Trump is now determined to stop the drug trade. We'll see if he will be as successful at that as he has been at stopping the flow of illegals into the country.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

 

[Axel Slingerland]

Biden made it so much easier for them, either by design or incompetence, to fill the nation with fentanyl and other drugs to poison our naïve populace. President Trump is now determined to stop the drug trade.

President's can't make or enforce laws. Congress makes laws and the Judiciary enforces those laws. Presidents are executives. Their job is to lead. Presidents can have their own agenda, but as some of them have seen, there are times when Congress and the Judiciary can stall them or make them grind to a halt. Or one or the other can help the president.

As an example, to make a long story short, in 1861 President Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, the SCOTUS said only Congress had that authority. President Lincoln did it anyway, and in 1863 Congress passed a law authorizing the president to do it.

Other times, the president doesn't get any help from Congress or the Judiciary. Such as when President Trump tried to end Birthright Citizenship with an Executive Order. That got shot down because Birthright Citizenship is plainly outlined in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, unlike many other Amendments which are not very clear to many people. Any legal challenges to it as well as the process to create a new Constitutional Amendment could both be lengthy and could take years.

 

[Don Alaska]

President's can't make or enforce laws. Congress makes laws and the Judiciary enforces those laws. Presidents are executives. Their job is to lead. Presidents can have their own agenda, but as some of them have seen, there are times when Congress and the Judiciary can stall them or make them grind to a halt. Or one or the other can help the president.

As an example, to make a long story short, in 1861 President Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, the SCOTUS said only Congress had that authority. President Lincoln did it anyway, and in 1863 Congress passed a law authorizing the president to do it.

Other times, the president doesn't get any help from Congress or the Judiciary. Such as when President Trump tried to end Birthright Citizenship with an Executive Order. That got shot down because Birthright Citizenship is plainly outlined in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, unlike many other Amendments which are not very clear to many people. Any legal challenges to it as well as the process to create a new Constitutional Amendment could both be lengthy and could take years.

The Executive Branch is the law enforcement branch and also contains the prosecutors--the FBI is part of the Executive Branch and is part of the Justice Department which contains the prosecutors. The President is the chief law enforcement officer in the country. The court judge whether things are done to Constitutional standards, but are not law enforcement.
Police are also law enforcement and the courts pass judgement on whether they did their job properly within U.S., state, and local established standards and precedents.

Congress is a legislative branch and has the power to make laws. According to the Constitution, Congress makes all the laws but that has not been true for some time as Congress has delegated much of their power to the Executive Branch; the Executive Branch makes regulations that generally have the force of laws. Some departments within the Executive Branch also have taken on judicial powers that was never intended by the Founders; e.g., the IRS, the EPA, and the ATF who make laws and pass judgement as to who violates those regulations/laws.

 

[Don Alaska]

Two aircraft carrier groups are moving to the southern Caribbean at the moment with at least one more available at short notice in Norfolk. We had 4 carrier groups off Iraq when we started "Shock and Awe" under President Bush. I haven't heard of anything of that magnitude moving to the Columbia coast in the Pacific where additional drug cartel members are running drugs into California, but we will see. It may be that the Coast Guard, not the military will control that aspect.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

Things are moving along with Maduro. This last weekend, President Trump closed the airspace and had negotiations with Maduro. Since we have been stopping the illegal drugs from coming from Venezuela, things have gotten worse for him, and it looks like he is ready to step down as president as long as he is allowed immunity for himself and his family.

As has been suspected all this time, Biden and Maduro made some sort of a deal and allowed them to send the drug gangs of the Tren D’Argua up into the United States. President Trump and ICE have been catching and removing the drug gangs, but now it looks like Maduro is ready to tell the truth about how Biden brought them up here in the first place.

 

[Don Alaska]

Things are moving along with Maduro. This last weekend, President Trump closed the airspace and had negotiations with Maduro. Since we have been stopping the illegal drugs from coming from Venezuela, things have gotten worse for him, and it looks like he is ready to step down as president as long as he is allowed immunity for himself and his family.

As has been suspected all this time, Biden and Maduro made some sort of a deal and allowed them to send the drug gangs of the Tren D’Argua up into the United States. President Trump and ICE have been catching and removing the drug gangs, but now it looks like Maduro is ready to tell the truth about how Biden brought them up here in the first place.


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We shall see how it works out. I see the "Seditious Six" are accusing the Trump Administration of war crimes as they are killing too many drug traffickers. Nothing was said when Barry dropped 20,00 bombs on civilian areas in Afghanistan or killed an American citizen in the Middle East with a drone strike without indictment or trial of any kind, and ol' Joe killed an Afghan family by mistake with a missile attack, but killing people who are poisoning people in the U.S. is somehow a war crime to Democrats who appear to be trying to take down the American government just to get to Trump. I find what they are doing, especially "Captain" Kelly, absolutely disgusting.

 

[Marie Mallory]

Just like 911... That's misuse of our military. You can't declare war on people, only other countries. And as I said in the thread about blowing a suspected drug boat in International waters, it should be done legally. It's un-American to fight crime with crime.

I agree, we have the most advanced military and technology on earth.
We should be able to first prove boats are carrying drugs, then blow em out of the water.
We also need to lock up Americans and others taking the drugs.It use to be against the law to take illegal drugs.
Drug addicts and illegal immigrants have destroyed our nation.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

I agree, we have the most advanced military and technology on earth.
We should be able to first prove boats are carrying drugs, then blow em out of the water.
We also need to lock up Americans and others taking the drugs.It use to be against the law to take illegal drugs.
Drug addicts and illegal immigrants have destroyed our nation.

We ARE providing that the drug runners are carrying the drugs, and that is why we have to end up blowing up the drug boats when they refuse to stop and surrender.
The fake news makes it look like we are just out there killing fishermen, but when you actually see the photos from the drug boats, the ones who stop when they are told to stop, are arrested , and the ones who keep going after being told to stop and surrender have the boat blown up, and survivors are then arrested.
This is not much different than when law enforcement tells a criminal to stop and surrender and they are not stopping, and by fleeing, then they are likely to be shot at or have the vehicle ran off the road.
It is pretty obvious that these guys are not fishermen.

 

[Marie Mallory]

We ARE providing that the drug runners are carrying the drugs, and that is why we have to end up blowing up the drug boats when they refuse to stop and surrender.
The fake news makes it look like we are just out there killing fishermen, but when you actually see the photos from the drug boats, the ones who stop when they are told to stop, are arrested , and the ones who keep going after being told to stop and surrender have the boat blown up, and survivors are then arrested.
This is not much different than when law enforcement tells a criminal to stop and surrender and they are not stopping, and by fleeing, then they are likely to be shot at or have the vehicle ran off the road.
It is pretty obvious that these guys are not fishermen.


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I know , but my point is, why entice criticism when solid evidence is so easy to produce?

 

[Marie Mallory]

We're too soft on drug abusers. With the exception of the even more despotic Europeans, the world laughs at us for coddling druggies. It just provides another weapon our enemies and the globalists behind them can use on us.

I agree.

 

[Don Alaska]

We ARE providing that the drug runners are carrying the drugs, and that is why we have to end up blowing up the drug boats when they refuse to stop and surrender.
The fake news makes it look like we are just out there killing fishermen, but when you actually see the photos from the drug boats, the ones who stop when they are told to stop, are arrested , and the ones who keep going after being told to stop and surrender have the boat blown up, and survivors are then arrested.
This is not much different than when law enforcement tells a criminal to stop and surrender and they are not stopping, and by fleeing, then they are likely to be shot at or have the vehicle ran off the road.
It is pretty obvious that these guys are not fishermen.


View attachment 1540

The boats being blown up are definitely NOT fishing boats, nor are they recreational cruisers. They are high-speed pursuit boats crewed by 4 men (usually). I don't think the Pentagon should be releasing pictures or information about it to the public either, just as I don't believe they should be talking about other military operations.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

I keep seeing apologists on the left claiming Trump is just destroying "innocent fishermen" in a quest to look like a big man on his way to steal the oil.

As far as I can tell they actually believe this. The indoctrination machine must be working overtime.

 

[Nancy Hart]

Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves, estimated at approximately 303 billion barrels as of 2023. This is more than Saudi Arabia's reserves, placing Venezuela at the top in global ranking.

Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine, not Venezuela.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

We also need to lock up Americans and others taking the drugs.It use to be against the law to take illegal drugs.

I think the reason that doesn't work is simple. The US is already criticized for having the largest prison population in the world. And Officer Greg Hill, of the Eureka PD put it best on the TV Series Speeders. He pulled someone over for speeding. When the guy rolled down the window, pot smoke came billowing out. He could smell it, he knew full well what it was. He wrote the guy a speeding ticket, said please don't drive stoned and left it at that. The cameraman (or someone at least) asked him why he didn't arrest him. His reply was something like "If we arrested every pot smoker and put them in jail, where would we put violent criminals?" That is also why the War on Drugs has failed miserably.

He was just talking about the Humboldt County Jail, of course, and how there were only 417 beds. Humboldt County has a very low crime rate in comparison to some Counties of the same size. In 2014 someone murdered a Catholic Priest in Eureka. The suspect was arrested and taken to the county Jail. Where would they have taken him if the jail was full of minor drug offenders?

After as much traveling as I've done over the course of my life, specially with my band playing all across the country, we saw there are pot smokers everywhere we went. Pot may just be a plant, but the US government lists it as a Schedule 1 drug. The same as Heroin, Cocaine and many other dangerous, highly addictive drugs. And after personally being a pot smoker for 30 years, I laugh at the notion that it is addictive. When I stopped in 1999, I had no withdrawal symptoms at all. Unlike people withdrawing from Heroin. I just stopped and left it at that, never doing anything to do with it except make pot jokes since then. Some horrible case of drug addition, eh?

You've heard of MADD, right? Mothers Against Drunk Driving. We used to joke about HADD, Hippies Against Drunk Driving, for the same reason as Mothers, but also because Americans have been HADD by the government over false comparisons of the dangers of pot vs. Alcohol. Too much Alcohol is extremely dangerous, yet it's legal. Pot is much safer, and it's a Schedule 1 drug.

 

[Don Alaska]

Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves, estimated at approximately 303 billion barrels as of 2023. This is more than Saudi Arabia's reserves, placing Venezuela at the top in global ranking.

Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine, not Venezuela.

The oil reserves are why China is in Venezuela and that might be the real reason Trump wants Maduro out.