Category: Policy
US military blows up alleged drug boat in eastern Pacific, killing 4 ‘narco-terrorists’
The U.S. military blew up another alleged drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Thursday, killing four male “narco-terrorists” and continuing its lethal counternarcotics campaign as scrutiny over the Trump administration’s early September operation intensifies. The boat on Thursday was struck in international waters and was operated by a designated terrorist organization, U.S. Southern Command…
Who is Adm. Frank Bradley, commander who issued second boat strike order?
The White House placed the decision to launch a second, follow-up Sept. 2 strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea at the feet of the commander overseeing the operation from Fort Bragg, N.C., Navy Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley. Bradley — who was authorized by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to carry out…
Hegseth says terror designation provides Pentagon with ‘new options’ to go after Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. government’s decision to designate Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles a foreign terrorist organization provides the Defense Department with “new options” to go after the alleged drug cartel, which officials alleged is headed by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. “Well, it brings a whole bunch of new options to the…
Europeans want US missiles to defend them, not America — and Rubio’s had enough of their hypocrisy
Secretary of State Marco Rubio called out European officials on Wednesday for criticizing America’s self-defense while expecting the U.S. to provide military support for their own.
The Trump administration has obliterated at least 19 alleged narco-terrorist drug boats since Sept. 2 with the stated aim of “protecting the homeland and killing these cartel terrorists who wish to harm our country and its people.”
‘I don’t think that the European Union gets to determine … how the United States defends its national security.’
President Donald Trump has suggested that each drug boat vaporized by U.S. fighter jets, AC-130J gunships, and drones amounts to 25,000 American lives saved.
A day after War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. had sunk an additional two boats in the Eastern Pacific, altogether killing six alleged narco-terrorists, French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot joined the chorus of foreign dignitaries who have been complaining about the strikes.
Barrot reportedly said at the G7 summit on Tuesday, “We have observed with concern the military operations in the Caribbean region, because they violate international law and because France has a presence in this region through its overseas territories, where more than a million of our compatriots reside.”
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Photo by Omar Zaghloul/Anadolu via Getty Images
When confronted with questions about the U.S. maritime strikes during a meeting with Latin American leaders last week, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that the EU upholds international law and “international law is very clear on that. You can use force for two reasons: one is self-defense, the other one is the U.N. Security Council resolution.”
Rubio addressed the European pearl-clutching on Wednesday, politely suggesting to reporters that the continentals should pound sand.
“I don’t think that the European Union gets to determine what international law is, and what they certainly don’t get to determine is how the United States defends its national security,” said Rubio. “The United States is under attack from organized criminal narco-terrorists in our hemisphere, and the president is responding in the defense of our country.”
After indicating that the Europeans are out of their depth, Rubio hammered America’s allies across the Atlantic for their apparent hypocrisy.
“I do find it interesting that all these countries want us to send, you know, and supply, for example, nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles to defend Europe, but when the United States positions aircraft carriers in our hemisphere where we live, somehow that’s a problem,” said the secretary of state.
Rubio added, “The president ordered it in defense of our country. It continues. It’s ongoing. It can stop tomorrow if [terrorist cartels] stop sending drug boats.”
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Government set to reopen after historic shutdown: What to know
The House on Wednesday passed a bill to reopen the government, sending it to President Trump’s desk and setting up the end of the longest shutdown in U.S. history. That vote came after eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus cut a deal with Republicans and helped advance the legislative package. But the shutdown has…
Two US Navy aircraft go down in South China Sea
Two U.S. Navy aircraft went down in the South China Sea in separate incidents on Sunday, according to the U.S. Pacific Fleet. All of the crew members in both incidents were successfully recovered by search and rescue units, it said. The first incident involved a U.S. Navy MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter, which went down in…
Paul floats bipartisan commission amid Affordable Care Act subsidies battle
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called on President Trump to appoint a select group of bipartisan senators to a commission tasked with addressing the expiring health care subsidies — the issue at the core of the ongoing shutdown standoff. In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” the libertarian senator suggested Democrats could agree to reopen the…
