CURRENT EVENTS July 31-Sept 27

[nycfan]

—> Trump Directs Military to Target Foreign Drug Cartels (Gift Article)


“… The order provides an official basis for the possibility of direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil against cartels.

U.S. military officials have started drawing up options for how the military could go after the groups, the people familiar with the conversations said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive internal deliberations.

But directing the military to crack down on the illicit trade also raises legal issues, including whether it would count as “murder” if U.S. forces acting outside of a congressionally authorized armed conflict were to kill civilians — even criminal suspects — who pose no imminent threat.…”

“…
Mr. Trump’s new directive appears to envision a different approach, focused on U.S. forces directly capturing or killing people involved in the drug trade.

Labeling the cartels as terrorist groups allows the United States “to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever, to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it,” Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser, said on Thursday in an interview with the Catholic news outlet EWTN. “We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug dealing organizations.”

Legal specialists said that under U.S. law, imposing sanctions against a group by declaring it a “terrorist” entity can block its assets and make it harder for its members to do business or travel, but does not provide legal authority for wartime-style operations targeting it with armed force.…”

 

[nycfan]

“…
Mr. Trump’s new directive appears to envision a different approach, focused on U.S. forces directly capturing or killing people involved in the drug trade.

Labeling the cartels as terrorist groups allows the United States “to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever, to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it,” Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser, said on Thursday in an interview with the Catholic news outlet EWTN. “We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug dealing organizations.”

Legal specialists said that under U.S. law, imposing sanctions against a group by declaring it a “terrorist” entity can block its assets and make it harder for its members to do business or travel, but does not provide legal authority for wartime-style operations targeting it with armed force.…”

“… In announcing two weeks ago that it was imposing sanctions on the Venezuelan group Cartel de los Soles, the Treasury Department accused the cartel of providing material support to Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, which it said in turn were “threatening the peace and security of the United States.”

Two days later, Mr. Rubio issued a statementaccusing Mr. Maduro of stealing elections and saying he was not the president of Venezuela and that his “regime is not the legitimate government.”

“Maduro is the leader of the designated narco-terrorist organization Cartel de los Soles, and he is responsible for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe,” Mr. Rubio said.

“Maduro, currently indicted by our nation, has corrupted Venezuela’s institutions to assist the cartel’s criminal narco-trafficking scheme into the United States.”…”




So, are they preparing to invade Venezuela and depose the current government?

 

[nycfan]

“… In announcing two weeks ago that it was imposing sanctions on the Venezuelan group Cartel de los Soles, the Treasury Department accused the cartel of providing material support to Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, which it said in turn were “threatening the peace and security of the United States.”

Two days later, Mr. Rubio issued a statementaccusing Mr. Maduro of stealing elections and saying he was not the president of Venezuela and that his “regime is not the legitimate government.”

“Maduro is the leader of the designated narco-terrorist organization Cartel de los Soles, and he is responsible for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe,” Mr. Rubio said.

“Maduro, currently indicted by our nation, has corrupted Venezuela’s institutions to assist the cartel’s criminal narco-trafficking scheme into the United States.”…”




So, are they preparing to invade Venezuela and depose the current government?

Trump doubles reward to $50 million for arrest of Venezuela's president to face US drug charges

The Trump administration is doubling to $50 million a reward for the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and accusing him of working with cartels to flood the U.S. with fentanyl-laced cocaine.

apnews.com

“…Maduro was indicted in Manhattan federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency, along with several close allies on federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. At the time, the U.S. offered a $15 million reward for his arrest. That was later raised by the Biden administration to $25 million — the same amount the U.S. offered for the capture of Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Despite the big bounty, Maduro remains entrenched after defying the U.S., the European Union and several Latin American governments who condemned his 2024 reelection as a sham and recognized his opponent as Venezuela’s duly elected president….”

 

[Callatoroy]

It looks like Fox "News" is quoting a "report" from the very well respected New York Post so I am going to accept this "report" as accurate and reject any suspicion that it is a bs story published to appease Trump because Jasmine called out Trump a couple of days ago.

Can't disprove facts so ignore them. How very dimocrat of you.

 

[Callatoroy]

I cannot deny that, unlike in 2016 and 2020, voters gave Trump a plurality of the vote in 2024.

Unfortunately , the voters who are registered to vote and free from voter suppression do not represent the majority of all Americans...but Callatoroy knows that

Poll after poll after poll over years show that a majority of Americans whether voting or not support Democratic policies with regard to every major issue.

You are so full of shit. The dim party is in the midst of a 30 year low unfavorable rating now.

 

[WaynetheDrain]

Isn't Oklahoma ranked close to the bottom in regards to education compared to all other states?

Yes. Wonder why.

 

[lawtig02]

You are so full of shit. The dim party is in the midst of a 30 year low unfavorable rating now.

As are the Pubs. Except for during the last two major recessions you guys caused.

 

[EyeballKid]

Trump doubles reward to $50 million for arrest of Venezuela's president to face US drug charges

The Trump administration is doubling to $50 million a reward for the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and accusing him of working with cartels to flood the U.S. with fentanyl-laced cocaine.

apnews.com

“…Maduro was indicted in Manhattan federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency, along with several close allies on federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. At the time, the U.S. offered a $15 million reward for his arrest. That was later raised by the Biden administration to $25 million — the same amount the U.S. offered for the capture of Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Despite the big bounty, Maduro remains entrenched after defying the U.S., the European Union and several Latin American governments who condemned his 2024 reelection as a sham and recognized his opponent as Venezuela’s duly elected president….”

This makes it all the more disgusting and inhumane that Trump/Steven Miller revoked TPS status from Venezuelan immigrants.

 

[Callatoroy]

To my knowledge, Massachusetts does not currently have any Republican members in the US House of Representatives.

I think you are correct even though 36% of voters voted for trump. That is a real problem that nobody in that state seems to think is a problem. Texas is about to embark on the same journey. I think in the race to the bottom, republicans stand to come out ahead because many blue states are already close to maxed out.

 

[Callatoroy]

As are the Pubs. Except for during the last two major recessions you guys caused.

lol prove it.

 

[Molotov Mocktail]

I think in the race to the bottom, republicans stand to come out ahead

You finally understand maga

 

[Callatoroy]

You finally understand maga

But not your point

 

[Callatoroy]

Because undocumented immigrants only live in blue states like Texas, Florida, and North Carolina. Duh.

But more so in sanctuary states

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

From the concurrence:

 

[nycfan]

 

[Callatoroy]

How does simply accounting for people rig anything in anyone's favor?

Seats are added or lost based on population. Flooding sanctuary states with millions of illegals and then counting them in the census adds more congressional seats. How is that not rigging the system? What is the logic in counting them when they can't vote? For purposes of voter representation they might as well be gold fish because like gold fish they can't vote. So no logical reason to count them in the census to determine the number of congressional seats.

 

[Mulberry Heel]

Again, why do you believe that all of the immigrants would vote Democrat when the last election demographics would indicate that to be wrong? This is the same talking point the pubs were using when I voted for bush. It's not defendable, but it makes the cult feel good about the right wanting to keep citizens from voting based on a made up myth. But we know that much of the cult is beholden to myth, so it's understandable that the same myth is working 20 years later.

No matter how it is spun, the bottom line is that there is very little fraud and the real goal is to minimize who can vote by keeping voting eligible citizens from being able to easily vote.

There's no damn consistency to any of their arguments, their arguments are all done to suit the needs of the moment. How many Trumpers have we seen over the past six months bragging about how Trump got a larger share of minority votes (and especially Latinos) than any Republican presidential candidate in a good while? Plenty. And yet how many of these same Trumpers are now arguing just the opposite - that naturalized Latino citizens always vote Democratic? And if they're really trying to argue that non-naturalized immigrants are voting illegally that is totally false, and has been proven so time and time again. It's a GOP myth, just like the myth that trickle-down economics actually works or that poor people are living like kings and queens on welfare checks and Medicaid.

 

[Callatoroy]

Democrats are hypocrites for conducting the census the same way it has been done since they started taking the census!!!111111

No, for being a weak minded, vote buying, policy-less, party that can't win without flooding the country with illegal immigrants. That's why you are hypocrites.

 

[farce©]

So not counting ILLEGALS (who can’t vote) is rigging the system, but flooding the country with ILLEGALS to increase blue numbers isn’t rigging the system. That’s some fucked up liberal hypocrisy and stupidity. One more time for you, ILLEGAL. Meaning no right to be in the country so not counted.

The goal of the census is to determine how many people are living in an area. It has nothing to do with whether or not they are citizens. Only citizens can vote, but EVERYBODY gets representation. Only citizens get to decide who represents EVERYBODY in a state or district. Everybody there uses roads, water, and other infrastructure that is apportioned according to census data. Census data is much more important than simply voting.