Sid Farkas said:

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Ed Harley said:

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akm91 said:

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Ed Harley said:

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I, for one, am shocked that people on this board defend killing innocents solely because Trump and Hegseth said it's ok.

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They're not innocent when transporting millions of drugs aboard the ships.

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When clinging for their lives to a boat that had been blown up, they were transporting millions of drugs? How could they possibly transport at that point?

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^probably believes the "Maryland Dad" narrative too.

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^Probably believes everything Trump tells him to believe because he's a sheep.

https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/drug-cartels-mexico-prisoners-4fff0cc9?st=HoHU49&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Quote:

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Quote:
Welcome to America!' Captured Drug Lords Choose: Snitch or Suffer
Under pressure from the Trump administration, Mexico turned over 55 cartel leaders in a pair of cloak-and-dagger missions

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Quote:

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Quote:
Transferring 55 drug leaders to U.S. custody was a high-stakes undercover mission that drew 2,000 Mexican special forces. Officials feared that if word got out, kingpins would attempt escapes, set off riots or file legal appeals. Authorities also believed cartels might try to assassinate their own leaders, rather than risk them spilling secrets to U.S. law enforcement.

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Trump is pushing a comprehensive, fast-paced war against drugs, human trafficking, terrorism etc coming from the south, across our southern border/shores.

I'll allow imperfections that perhaps, maybe, might result in questionable deaths of drug dealers at the hands of our military.

This is a fact: People like you give aid and comfort to the enemy. Full stop.

BarnacleBill said:

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Rand Paul has been one of my favorite senators for years but has really gone off the rails recently. I get sticking to your principles but he's getting close to TDS territory.

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We should wish this of every politician.

Sid Farkas said:

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https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/drug-cartels-mexico-prisoners-4fff0cc9?st=HoHU49&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Quote:

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Quote:
Welcome to America!' Captured Drug Lords Choose: Snitch or Suffer
Under pressure from the Trump administration, Mexico turned over 55 cartel leaders in a pair of cloak-and-dagger missions

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Quote:

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Quote:
Transferring 55 drug leaders to U.S. custody was a high-stakes undercover mission that drew 2,000 Mexican special forces. Officials feared that if word got out, kingpins would attempt escapes, set off riots or file legal appeals. Authorities also believed cartels might try to assassinate their own leaders, rather than risk them spilling secrets to U.S. law enforcement.

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Trump is pushing a comprehensive, fast-paced war against drugs, human trafficking, terrorism etc coming from the south, across our southern border/shores.

I'll allow imperfections that perhaps, maybe, might result in questionable deaths of drug pushers at the hands of our military.

This is a fact: People like you give aid and comfort to the enemy. Full stop.

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You're accusing me of giving aid and comfort to drug dealers for disagreeing with you? Dude, take a step back for a minute. Psycho.

Ed Harley said:

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akm91 said:

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Ed Harley said:

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I, for one, am shocked that people on this board defend killing innocents solely because Trump and Hegseth said it's ok.

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They're not innocent when transporting millions of drugs aboard the ships.

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When clinging for their lives to a boat that had been blown up, they were transporting millions of drugs? How could they possibly transport at that point?

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So if you are against providing aid and comfort to drug dealers and runners, what are we supposed to do with these narco terrorists clinging to their drug bales and activating radios and GPS beacons so their co-conspirators can come to complete the mission?

Seems like indeed you are for providing aid and comfort for these folks, are you not?

flown-the-coop said:

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Fdsa said:

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IndividualFreedom said:

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Rand Paul isn't the only one to the right of crazy that has questions.


I posted this in another Zuela thread and I will paraphrase here. It is not hard to set up a live stream with a boat full of kittens with false drug intel. Democrats would easily pay for that supply/labor cost and Madruo would approve it. It would only take one mishap.

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the cocaine cats! If they can train a band of cats to drive a drug boat, well I feel bad for the smart cats. In all seriousness, the camera imagery pre strike is very good. Better than the twitter videos.

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In almost all certainty, there is continual 4k video from multiple angles and likely 2-way audio. Except here, the concept of "sources & methods" and classified technology actually applies.

Congress will have their oversight consisting of Rs calling Hegseth and friends a patriot, Ds yelling about Trump and reclaiming their time, and a behind doors briefing that ends with Rs coming out saying they are satisfied and nothing to see here and Ds coming out saying they say definite evidence of potential war crimes that may require potential investigation whilst wearing a "muh Speech & Debate clause" t-shirts.

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I'm getting the vibe that you've seen something like this happen a time or two before.

The timeline of this whole deal is key here. I'm just waiting to hear from ADM Bradley on Thursday, but knowing he was involved, I'm very confident this is not an issue. He's one of the smartest, calculated flag officers we have and he has seen a lot. This wasn't his first chance to get to blow something up.

Fdsa said:

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The timeline of this whole deal is key here. I'm just waiting to hear from ADM Bradley on Thursday, but knowing he was involved, I'm very confident this is not an issue. He's one of the smartest, calculated flag officers we have and he has seen a lot. This wasn't his first chance to get to blow something up.

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THAT. And though it may shock, its not as out of precedent as it may seem. Those orders looked absolutely like what you would expect. No special provision is made for leaving someone alive---its almost the reverse if they think they are going to add "reinforce" the adversaries efforts in any way.

Fdsa said:

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The timeline of this whole deal is key here. I'm just waiting to hear from ADM Bradley on Thursday, but knowing he was involved, I'm very confident this is not an issue. He's one of the smartest, calculated flag officers we have and he has seen a lot. This wasn't his first chance to get to blow something up.

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TBH I'm waiting for this ****show to do its job and just fade away. It's 100% totally manufactured for the purpose of A) damaging Trump and 2) reenabling our porous borders.

Sid Farkas said:

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Fdsa said:

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The timeline of this whole deal is key here. I'm just waiting to hear from ADM Bradley on Thursday, but knowing he was involved, I'm very confident this is not an issue. He's one of the smartest, calculated flag officers we have and he has seen a lot. This wasn't his first chance to get to blow something up.

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TBH I'm waiting for this ****show to do its job and just fade away. It's 100% totally manufactured for the purpose of A) damaging Trump and 2) reenabling our porous borders.

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Especially that. Texas needs to plan on just ignoring anything and sealing it itself if Dems somehow win in '28. Don't even remotely accept the argument its `only federal' if they neglect it or like the Bidenites did, open it wide. In that case, it becomes more like prize law -- possession most of the law. If Fed neglects it, they forfeit the say to complain if someone else mans the border.

BarnacleBill said:

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Rand Paul has been one of my favorite senators for years but has really gone off the rails recently. I get sticking to your principles but he's getting close to TDS territory.

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Not at all close to TDS. Pretty standard libertarian stance on principle.

Im not pro cartel, but their existence is totally dependent on Americans demanding certain gov banned substances. Lots of alternative ways to solve the problem, other than blowing up supply boats. People arent gonna stop driving cars if oil tankers get blown up.

FobTies said:

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BarnacleBill said:

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Rand Paul has been one of my favorite senators for years but has really gone off the rails recently. I get sticking to your principles but he's getting close to TDS territory.

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Not at all close to TDS. Pretty standard libertarian stance on principle.

Im not pro cartel, but their existence is totally dependent on Americans demanding certain gov banned substances. Lots of alternative ways to solve the problem, other than blowing up supply boats. People arent gonna stop driving cars if oil tankers get blown up.

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We can blow up the boats to protect American lives and try the other stuff. Voter polls they DONT CARE if we blow up the drug boats, they actually are for it.

They chose to be drug runners
They chose poorly
Bad decisions have bad consequences

Quote:

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Not at all close to TDS. Pretty standard libertarian stance on principle.

Im not pro cartel, but their existence is totally dependent on Americans demanding certain gov banned substances. Lots of alternative ways to solve the problem, other than blowing up supply boats. People arent gonna stop driving cars if oil tankers get blown up.

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And yet blowing up these boats is a fantastic use of resources.

Rand deserves to catch flak for the social media post, but the X comments are so vile, they undermine the legitimate opposition.

samurai_science said:

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We can blow up the boats to protect American lives and try the other stuff. Voter polls they DONT CARE if we blow up the drug boats, they actually are for it.

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Blowing up boats incentivizes alternative smuggling tactics more than it saves lives. Its more of a geopolitical flex against Maduro.

Strikes against Iran were retaliation for their support of Hamas, but the sheep were convinced it was about imminent nukes. Likewise, this isnt about protecting drug addicts, its about running Maduro out of office. Like when we went after Noriega for drugs.

Thank God our president thinks differently and is using his constitutional authority as President and Commander in Chief to kill terrorists.

ts5641 said:

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Sid Farkas said:

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Paul gets credit for consistency. otoh, not one Dem said a word about Barry dropping a bomb every 20 minutes for 8 years - many of which fell on non-combatants.

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He's just so typical of a Republican. No democrat does this. None.
How about you go after the dems and how they're trying to ruin the country instead of playing to the MSM.

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Can you read or did the poster you quoted CRISPR the part about Barry in after?

Ellis Wyatt said:

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Thank God our president thinks differently and is using his constitutional authority as President and Commander in Chief to kill terrorists.

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Thinks differently than who? All the sheeple that think these strikes are about a "war on drugs"?

Terrorists use fear and violence to impose a political or ideological belief. These cartels are sophisticated gangs that seek to profit from an illicit black market by any means. The right uses the term "terrorist" like the left uses "racist".

But its effective. They use "terrorists" as a dog whistle to garner more support than they would otherwise by just labeling them "violent drug cartels." Just like you all got sold on an "imminent nuke threat" from Iran, bc it garnered much more support for a bomber strike than "retaliation for sponsoring Hamas" would get.

No one wants to admit they are being sold a narrative. They want to believe it. Just like libs wanted to believe Trump colluded with Russia.

This is all about the Maduro regime and undercutting that. Time will tell the right way forward for that situation - I personally haven't studied Venezuela enough to understand how the pieces will fall if Maduro is gone. You're right, this is not just about the drugs.

I believe the go-fast method will go away with the strikes and more drugs will find their way to commercial merchants ships. I believe about 15% of cocaine coming out of Venezuela right now is flowing in merchants right now. 60%+ via go fast boats. To me, these go fast strikes are a show of force for Maduro.

It's too early for me to form an overall opinion on what's going on overall with Venezuela, but I personally don't lose sleep over the drug runners getting struck.

Paul - a terrorist is whoever the president says is a terrorist without any evidence, and therefore they can be killed, is the argument that is being used

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1H9iFh9uy2/?mibextid=wwXIfr

CNN with a piece on how Paul is one of the only GOP senators standing up to Trump policies:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/03/politics/rand-paul-donald-trump-libertarians

FobTies said:

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Ellis Wyatt said:

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Thank God our president thinks differently and is using his constitutional authority as President and Commander in Chief to kill terrorists.

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Thinks differently than who? All the sheeple that think these strikes are about a "war on drugs"?

Terrorists use fear and violence to impose a political or ideological belief. These cartels are sophisticated gangs that seek to profit from an illicit black market by any means. The right uses the term "terrorist" like the left uses "racist".

But its effective. They use "terrorists" as a dog whistle to garner more support than they would otherwise by just labeling them "violent drug cartels." Just like you all got sold on an "imminent nuke threat" from Iran, bc it garnered much more support for a bomber strike than "retaliation for sponsoring Hamas" would get.

No one wants to admit they are being sold a narrative. They want to believe it. Just like libs wanted to believe Trump colluded with Russia.

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You really hate Trump, hate his supporters and think of them as sheep, or sheeple. Got it.

You think this is comparable to the Russia collusion bull***** What load *****

BBRex said:

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Drugs are coming here because there's a market for it. Teach kids to make better life choices and legalize more drugs, and the illicit market will shrink.

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No it won't. The black market will simply move on to alternatives that make them the same or more money. Why does everyone think that the cartels will just close up shop, layoff their distributors, and find legal ways of making money?

shiftyandquick said:

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CNN with a piece on how Paul is one of the only GOP senators standing up to Trump policies:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/03/politics/rand-paul-donald-trump-libertarians

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CNN and facebook links. Very powerful. I've completely changed my mind now, Trump is a facist.

It's probably best to put posters on ignore but why disable the fun in reading absurd over the top posts meant to troll.

Martin Q. Blank said:

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21% of "suspected" drug-smuggling vessels. The ones being blown up aren't suspected, but confirmed.

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So where is the dope?

2040huck said:

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Martin Q. Blank said:

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21% of "suspected" drug-smuggling vessels. The ones being blown up aren't suspected, but confirmed.

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So where is the dope?

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Sleeping with the fishes? Seems like all the videos are smoking wrecks that will burn to the water line when they sink below the surface if I understand your question correctly.

Fdsa said:

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I don't think this is just about the drugs. I think it's about the Maduro regime - the drugs are the major revenue provider. Take that away and times get tough for him. Striking boats is one of the easy, legal levers to pull.

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one would think the "innocent" Venezuelans might be rethinking the entire:

"should I get in my fast cigar boat that looks like a drug running cartel boat"?

I might be late to the party here....
Has it possibly crossed Rand's one-track, can't see the forest for the trees, single issue, puritanical libertarian brain that...

The requirements for a Coast Guard interdiction and search/inspection are significantly lower than a drone strike?

Kenneth_2003 said:

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I might be late to the party here....
Has it possibly crossed Rand's one-track, can't see the forest for the trees, single issue, puritanical libertarian brain that...

The requirements for a Coast Guard interdiction and search/inspection are significantly lower than a drone strike?

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Do you actually think this administration cares if they kill innocent people in boats unrelated to drugs? Like do you think this would cause some reflection and change in policies/procedures?