U.S. destroys Venezuelan vessels | Trump threatens Colombia

[rodoheel]

See what ChatGPT has to say. Seriously, I suspect he would be required by military ethics and law to do what he did.

Whatever AI tool Google uses for search results responded to my query of "what does a military officer do if given an illegal order" with the following:

"An officer should first ask for clarification and can report the order up the chain of command, but they have a duty to refuse an order that is patently illegal, such as one directing the commission of a crime. Refusing an order carries significant legal risks and potential consequences, so it is highly recommended that the officer consult with a military lawyer for guidance before taking any action."

I will not vouch for the accuracy of that. Just reporting the result as you suggested.

 

[superrific]

Whatever AI tool Google uses for search results responded to my query of "what does a military officer do if given an illegal order" with the following:

"An officer should first ask for clarification and can report the order up the chain of command, but they have a duty to refuse an order that is patently illegal, such as one directing the commission of a crime. Refusing an order carries significant legal risks and potential consequences, so it is highly recommended that the officer consult with a military lawyer for guidance before taking any action."

I will not vouch for the accuracy of that. Just reporting the result as you suggested.

ChatGPT says:

Once the president insists [on an illegal order] and the admiral refuses, the relationship is no longer tenable. The admiral has done his legal duty by refusing an unlawful order; but he can’t continue to serve effectively while defying the commander-in-chief. Staying on would mean either paralysis (he can’t obey) or complicity (others might).

So, in practice, yes: resignation—or more accurately, dismissal—is inevitable, and resignation is the honorable route. The act of refusing is about law; the act of stepping down is about institutional integrity. You can’t preserve civilian control by letting a general decide which orders to obey, but you also can’t preserve legality by letting him carry out an unlawful one. The only clean exit is to refuse, accept the consequences, and let the political system reckon with it.

In short: the admiral keeps his honor by disobeying—and his dignity by resigning.

 

[EyeballKid]

U.S. Military Killed Venezuelan Fisherman in Suspected Drug Boat Attack, Family Says

For the first time, one of the 27 people killed in U.S. airstrikes on suspected drug vessels has been publicly identified.

www.nytimes.com

Chad Joseph, a 26-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago who had been living in Venezuela in recent months, told his family he would soon be taking a short boat ride back home.

He has yet to return, and now his family fears the worst.

On Thursday, his name spread across social media, with users saying that he was one of six people aboard a suspected drug vessel that had been blown up by the U.S. military this week.

…………….

Venezuelan security officials descended on San Juan de Unare, cut off the electricity and made clear that public pronouncements about the attacks were not welcome, according to four townspeople, including the niece of one of the victims. Posts were deleted.

The wife of one of the people, who lived in Güiria, a town also on the Venezuelan coast, told The New York Times on the condition that her name not be published that her husband, a fisherman, had gone to work one day and had never returned.

The Venezuelan government appears to have cracked down on publicity about the attack, experts said, because officials were anxious not to antagonize the United States in the face of a military buildup in the Caribbean that appears to be meant to ratchet up pressure on Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, President Nicolás Maduro.

 

[rodoheel]

ChatGPT says:

Once the president insists [on an illegal order] and the admiral refuses, the relationship is no longer tenable. The admiral has done his legal duty by refusing an unlawful order; but he can’t continue to serve effectively while defying the commander-in-chief. Staying on would mean either paralysis (he can’t obey) or complicity (others might).

So, in practice, yes: resignation—or more accurately, dismissal—is inevitable, and resignation is the honorable route. The act of refusing is about law; the act of stepping down is about institutional integrity. You can’t preserve civilian control by letting a general decide which orders to obey, but you also can’t preserve legality by letting him carry out an unlawful one. The only clean exit is to refuse, accept the consequences, and let the political system reckon with it.

In short: the admiral keeps his honor by disobeying—and his dignity by resigning.

What was the prompt you gave Chat GPT?

 

[superrific]

What was the prompt you gave Chat GPT?

I closed the window

 

[BlooVooDoo]

Is it a "covert action" if an administration official confirms the "covert action"?

Depends. Was it communicated through a group chat that included a reporter?

 

[nycfan]

 

[rodoheel]

I closed the window

 

[Ddseddse]

U.S. Military Killed Venezuelan Fisherman in Suspected Drug Boat Attack, Family Says

For the first time, one of the 27 people killed in U.S. airstrikes on suspected drug vessels has been publicly identified.

www.nytimes.com

Chad Joseph, a 26-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago who had been living in Venezuela in recent months, told his family he would soon be taking a short boat ride back home.

He has yet to return, and now his family fears the worst.

On Thursday, his name spread across social media, with users saying that he was one of six people aboard a suspected drug vessel that had been blown up by the U.S. military this week.

…………….

Venezuelan security officials descended on San Juan de Unare, cut off the electricity and made clear that public pronouncements about the attacks were not welcome, according to four townspeople, including the niece of one of the victims. Posts were deleted.

The wife of one of the people, who lived in Güiria, a town also on the Venezuelan coast, told The New York Times on the condition that her name not be published that her husband, a fisherman, had gone to work one day and had never returned.

The Venezuelan government appears to have cracked down on publicity about the attack, experts said, because officials were anxious not to antagonize the United States in the face of a military buildup in the Caribbean that appears to be meant to ratchet up pressure on Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, President Nicolás Maduro.

I'm one of the relatively few people on the planet earth who has ever set foot in this part of Venezuela. I've visited the next town over from Güiria (three miles away) which we called Punta Pargo (though Google maps seems to call it Caserío de pargo).

The isolation is extreme. These settlements are not connected by road to anywhere, not even one to the other three miles away. The only way in or out is by boat.

We were sailing from St Thomas to down island and got to Trinidad and decided why not keep going on to Venezuela (this was pre-Maduro, pre-Chavez, in fact Chavez was in jail for his failed coup attempt at the time). Anyway, the boat we were on had an engine but it was broke and so were we, and we had no money to fix it so we decided to sail the entire way down island sans engine. The only time we used an engine was to cross the Boca de Monos (the straight separating Trinidad from Venezuela). The current ripped so hard there we had to lash the boat to our dingy which had an 8-horsepower outboard just to keep from getting swept down into Suriname.

Punta de Pargo was the first place we stopped in Venezuela (fun fact, we met a Swedish family of four that had slept out on the deck of their boat the night before and were all bitten by vampire bats and were headed out to find somewhere they could all get rabies shots).

Punta de Pargo is a fishing "village" of maybe a dozen houses. One "restaurant". First place I had an arepa. I remember we each were given a torn -in-half piece of tiny paper napkin with our meal because of how scarce anything not caught out of the ocean was in that town. EVERYTHING comes on by boat. I can't imagine what the living conditions are like there now. Fishing is the only economic activity available there. The ocean has to be closed to traffic and they must be 100% isolated. Both from their livelihood and from the resupply vessels.

 

[Ddseddse]

BTW, does the subject of Chavez ring any bells for anyone?

• Failed coup attempt
• Out of power
• Demagogues his way back in to winning a single election
• Never relinquishes power again
• Drives a thriving economy into the ground via a toxic mix of corruption and mismanagement

I feel like there may be a cautionary tale in there somewhere.

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

“… “It’s very clear that Rubio has won,” said James B. Story, who served as ambassador to Venezuela under President Biden. “The administration is applying military pressure in the hope that somebody inside of the regime renders Maduro to justice, either by exiling him, sending him to the United States or sending him to his maker.”

In a recent public message to Trump, Maduro acknowledged that Rubio is now driving White House policy: “You have to be careful because Marco Rubio wants your hands stained with blood, with South American blood, Caribbean blood, Venezuelan blood,” Maduro said.

As a senator from Florida, Rubio represented exiles from three leftist autocracies — Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela — and for years he has made it his mission to weaken their governments. He says his family could not return to Cuba after Fidel Castro’s revolution seven decades ago. He has long maintained that eliminating Maduro would deal a fatal blow to Cuba, whose economy has been buoyed by billions of dollars in Venezuelan oil in the face of punishing U.S. sanctions.…”

 

[nycfan]

“… “It’s very clear that Rubio has won,” said James B. Story, who served as ambassador to Venezuela under President Biden. “The administration is applying military pressure in the hope that somebody inside of the regime renders Maduro to justice, either by exiling him, sending him to the United States or sending him to his maker.”

In a recent public message to Trump, Maduro acknowledged that Rubio is now driving White House policy: “You have to be careful because Marco Rubio wants your hands stained with blood, with South American blood, Caribbean blood, Venezuelan blood,” Maduro said.

As a senator from Florida, Rubio represented exiles from three leftist autocracies — Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela — and for years he has made it his mission to weaken their governments. He says his family could not return to Cuba after Fidel Castro’s revolution seven decades ago. He has long maintained that eliminating Maduro would deal a fatal blow to Cuba, whose economy has been buoyed by billions of dollars in Venezuelan oil in the face of punishing U.S. sanctions.…”

“… Denouncing decades of U.S. foreign policy, Trump complained that “the interventionalists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand.”

To counter that sentiment, Rubio painted Maduro in a new light that he hoped would spark interest from Trump, who has been fixated on combating immigration, illegal drugs and Latin American cartels since his first presidential campaign.

…
Rubio tied Maduro to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang whose members the secretary of State says are “worse than Al Qaeda.”

“Venezuela is governed by a narco-trafficking organization that has empowered itself as a nation state,” he said during his Senate confirmation hearing.…”

 

[nycfan]

“… Denouncing decades of U.S. foreign policy, Trump complained that “the interventionalists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand.”

To counter that sentiment, Rubio painted Maduro in a new light that he hoped would spark interest from Trump, who has been fixated on combating immigration, illegal drugs and Latin American cartels since his first presidential campaign.

…
Rubio tied Maduro to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang whose members the secretary of State says are “worse than Al Qaeda.”

“Venezuela is governed by a narco-trafficking organization that has empowered itself as a nation state,” he said during his Senate confirmation hearing.…”

“… A declassified memo by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence found no evidence of widespread cooperation between Maduro’s government and the gang. It also said Tren de Aragua does not pose a threat to the U.S.

The gang does not traffic fentanyl, and the Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that just 8% of cocaine that reaches the U.S. passes through Venezuelan territory.

Still, Rubio’s strategy appears to have worked. …”

 

[ZenMode]

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

“… President Donald Trump's administration has informed Congress that the strikes are part of a U.S. war on narcoterrorism, raising the possibility that the strike survivors are the first prisoners of war in that campaign….”

 

[nycfan]

Senators Move to Force Vote to Bar Ground Strikes in Venezuela​

The bid comes after the Senate rejected a similar measure to curb President Trump’s attacks against alleged drug runners in the Caribbean Sea.

Senators Move to Force Vote to Bar Ground Strikes in Venezuela

The bid comes after the Senate rejected a similar measure to curb President Trump’s attacks against alleged drug runners in the Caribbean Sea.

www.nytimes.com

“… Senators Tim Kaine of Virginia and Adam B. Schiff of California, both Democrats, have teamed with Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a Republican, on the resolution, worried that the Trump administration’s order of covert C.I.A. action in Venezuela could be the first step toward an all-out war.

The measure would block the president from carrying out any military action “within or against” Venezuela unless it was “explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force” by Congress. Under the 1973 War Powers Act, aimed at limiting a president’s power to enter an armed conflict without the consent of Congress, such a resolution must be considered and voted upon under expedited procedures.…

 

[superrific]

I'm one of the relatively few people on the planet earth who has ever set foot in this part of Venezuela. I've visited the next town over from Güiria (three miles away) which we called Punta Pargo (though Google maps seems to call it Caserío de pargo).

The isolation is extreme. These settlements are not connected by road to anywhere, not even one to the other three miles away. The only way in or out is by boat.

We were sailing from St Thomas to down island and got to Trinidad and decided why not keep going on to Venezuela (this was pre-Maduro, pre-Chavez, in fact Chavez was in jail for his failed coup attempt at the time). Anyway, the boat we were on had an engine but it was broke and so were we, and we had no money to fix it so we decided to sail the entire way down island sans engine. The only time we used an engine was to cross the Boca de Monos (the straight separating Trinidad from Venezuela). The current ripped so hard there we had to lash the boat to our dingy which had an 8-horsepower outboard just to keep from getting swept down into Suriname.

Punta de Pargo was the first place we stopped in Venezuela (fun fact, we met a Swedish family of four that had slept out on the deck of their boat the night before and were all bitten by vampire bats and were headed out to find somewhere they could all get rabies shots).

Punta de Pargo is a fishing "village" of maybe a dozen houses. One "restaurant". First place I had an arepa. I remember we each were given a torn -in-half piece of tiny paper napkin with our meal because of how scarce anything not caught out of the ocean was in that town. EVERYTHING comes on by boat. I can't imagine what the living conditions are like there now. Fishing is the only economic activity available there. The ocean has to be closed to traffic and they must be 100% isolated. Both from their livelihood and from the resupply vessels.

Thank you for this perspective.

 

[superrific]

Sorry man, I didn't expect to get quizzed on it.