The US has declared ‘war’ against people with no large calibre weapons, no ships, no planes, no army, no service academies, no official ranks, no tanks, no personnel carriers, no veterans’ benefits.
Bill, when did you make your switch to the dark side? When did Killing narco terrorists equipped with automatic weapons in boat for their use become the pathetic left wing cause. These guys are murdering thugs whose only purpose in life is enriching their pathetic selves by killing men, women and children in the U.S. They are in high speed boats that cant be caught and the only way to stop them is whats being done. Miranda rights and legal mumbo jumbo doesnt work here.
Terrorist - "a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims."
As far as I can tell, the alleged drug-runners are motivated financially, not politically. Words have specific meanings. I think it's best if we stick to their meanings.
You apparently know narco terrorist so well what are their names? It seems to me that drug abuse is an American problem. Perhaps we should enforce immediate death penalties on the end users to dismantle the US market. Police can give you a test and then execute you on the spot. Gone will be the legalizes and other hindrances.
Seriously???? How do you know there were "illegal drugs" or drugs at all. Talk about delusional........killing people just because someone thinks they are doing something bad......really??? This is the America you want! God help us all!
THere it is, I been waiting for your idiotic response. You think these criminals should be treated with our laws. Well, our laws say don’t immigrate illegally, who is stoping that? The US has tried negotiation, dialogue, trade… nothing works. Apparently, only violence will. How many drug runners are now crapping in their pants and refusing to make the run. Get over yourself ole man, you do not have all the answers as much as you like to think you do.
Yep - and your response is idiotic and delusional. Geez.......you have your head so far up Trump's rear side to be unbelievable. You think Trump knows all and can decide right and wrong and punish because he thinks so. That is horrific thinking......Trump is dumber than a box of rock and what is seriously wrong with America is the other branches just hide their heads. Unfortunately America has earned and going to get what is coming. And, believe this ol' man, none of his with a lick of sanity will mourn for your soul.
If that's true, it must be keeping company with your delusional, I am the father of knowledge and I know best because I'm old and I use to work on an LST. Get lost, you are delusional. Stop using my words when i call you out, can you not come up with your own thoughts? Probably not - since your head is up your own ass, it must get pretty lonely.
That’s a stretch. Comparing Pedophilia and drug use; in one there is a victim and the other self choice. But then you’re the type of person that knows better than the rest of us as to what is good for us. Even if you want to assign culpability, I doubt the real culpable parties are sitting in the boat, yea, there may be a lieutenant with a gun, but is is very possible the others are just guys with their wives sitting at home with a gun to their heads. When I was a kid, I remember the police chief on the Mexican side of the border calling in the Federales to bust all the local smugglers. He was just fingering his competition as he hid his drugs in his pantry. The word on the street was the Federales were working over the competition with cattle prods shoved up between their legs. That’s the guy that deserves what is being dealt, but he ain’t running the drugs.
Life is cheap in Third World countries. I remember a comment that my mom made. When they were first married and feeling poor they would drive across the border and see people living in piano boxes. I grew up in retail and one thing I learned is that the most honest people will steal from you when their kids are starting. Easy for you to say that you’d let them blow your wife’s head off out of a strong sense of morality. You have to remember that in Third World countries it’s not about equality, it’s about the landed gentry vs the peons. The landed gentry being the wealthy and the politicians. The poor don’t stand a chance.
As for “underdress”, it’s one thing to go beat off versus rape an unsuspecting child. A crime that deserves the harshest consequences.
For the last 70 years at least, we’ve had this War on Drugs and during that time I and could’ve purchased any drug I wanted within a 20 minute drive of my home. I don’t care if you’re living in Utah, it’s the same. The point being you cannot outlaw something that somebody wants, it does not work. So legalize it, make it cheaper, make it safer, get it out in the open so people can get help if they need help from addiction, and at the same time put the cartels out of business.
Bob, so agree with you. And, for people to actually believe "killing" someone because they are in a high speed boat in international waters is - as ol' Bill says - beyond the pale! America has sunk into the slimey swamp. Payback is coming and it is going to be ugly. Morals have gone the way of the Dodo bird.
Yes. Agreed 100%. No morals here in the US. While we are busy executing suspected drug traffickers our dear leader just pardoned a big time drug trafficker. A guy responsible for helping move more than 400 tons of cocaine into the US. Perhaps the best solution is to turn back the clock to pre 1914 days when these drugs were legal and addiction was treated as a medical problem.
Terrorism - someone who uses violent action, or threats of violent action, for political purposes. Perhaps the Trump admin should launch a bombing campaign against Pfizer, J&J, Merck&Co..... Afterall, they've been maiming and killing Americans for generations now. Get your flu shot, got your flu shot?, triple dose is ideal. Are you denier?. wish to get sick? , its safe and effective.
You can allways tell when your dealing with riff raff no different than the pedaler on the street corner. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
If we abandon the principle of “innocent before proven guilty” then the state will persecute you next. You claim not to be a tax dodger? Doesn’t matter — guilty as charged.
Incredible how can many Trump fanboys in the comments can’t understand these basic ideas.
A high speed boat that can’t be caught? If it can be observed, tracked and its final destination expected. Then of course it can be caught. Not only that it could be intercepted offshore by more heavily armed CG and naval forces. A great training exercise for the forces, for when it comes to the real shooting match. They are just taking the lazy way out and hoping no one will care. People such as your good self.
David, have you ever seen any victim of fentanyl? I have and its not a pretty death. If you libtards want to cry over these murderous drug runners have at it but I expect most good Americans have no problem with our milatary taking them out on the high seas.
Resort to name calling as you please. We are only arguing about the method of treating criminals. You are for summary execution without trial. I am against it. Your department of war has all the necessary tools to deal with these cartels. As I said they took the easy way out. You are on a slippery slope.
Mr. Bonner argues day and night that government is responsible for having ruined the "money" and that when the money goes everything go, and yet he expresses regret and moral outrage when it turns out the country engages in improper, illegal, and immoral acts and is, essentially, craven and wicked? Can we get a grip here? And then, it is implied WE should be doing something about it? If I could have done something about it, JFK would never have been rubbed out by a rogue bureaucracy and cabal within his government, and politicians would have been forbidden to buy votes via policies, programs, and laws that guaranteed deficits, debt, and financial and moral ruin. Back in junior high, I learned about the concept of what was then called "LCD", the "lowest common denominator", understanding it then, thanks to excellent instruction, as an essential, fundamental concept of mathematics. I had to wait years to come to the understanding that the base side of human nature also was an LCD and would, over time, come to prevail in everything. Decry away, everybody. Best always. PM
I’ve been thinking about the same ‘race to the bottom’ concept … but LCD is 👌 How one politician will wilfully waste billions in order to keep one lousy job. And, the bigger problem it’s not just one … it’s all of them - as the Somalian scandal as revealed.
One of the fallouts of no longer being a functioning Republic, perhaps of the highest import, is that we are no longer told the truth about what our government is doing, at any level, about anything. More often we are not told anything at all, unless and until there is some leak or rogue report that forces a response. Then we are simply told lies. One could easily argue that this isn’t new, but it would seem to have been taken to a new level in the 21st century. And now we have the added problem of the Signal-to-Noise ratio, the sheer volume of “information” bombarding us daily, most of which is not information.
Venezuela is perhaps the latest example. There are pundits that claim that Venezuela is the headquarters of the largest narco cartel on the planet, and that the cartel works in close partnership with China, Russia and certain Islamic states, who have large satellite operations in situ, with one overarching purpose, to serve as the hemispheric nexus for the overthrow of America, and that both plans and execution are well along, that decades of work have created perhaps our most powerful and capable enemy, on our southern flank. But we are not told anything, weren’t told anything, all the while. We only have whistleblower pundits who creep about in the Signal-to-Noise shadows and get air time on obscure broadcasts or in marginal print media. I don’t know what’s going on in Venezuela but I’m pretty sure it’s not about cocaine runners in small boats.
What about the legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco that have been killing Americans too? What about the Sackler Family of Oxycontin fame? Their drug helped get the current opioid epidemic started but they maintained most of their ill gotten gains thanks in part to Donnie's buddy Rudy Giuliani. Why not let the killings begin at home?
I disagree fully. These people have been killing Americans for more than a generation. We should do everything in our power to wipe this scourge off the face of the earth.
The tobacco companies have also been killing Americans for generations. The CDC says tobacco is responsible for around 480,000 deaths each year and alcohol kills another 178,000. Perhaps like charity the wiping out of the scourge should begin at home. Let's start at the top and bomb the tobacco companies headquarters.
Way to compare apples to oranges. The MAGA fanboys are celebrating the killing of suspected drug traffickers because their drugs are killing Americans. At the same time the legal drugs tobacco and alcohol are killing more Americans than the illegal drugs. If you're worried about deaths maybe we should focus on these legal drugs too. Or maybe we should take a lesson from Prohibition and legalize drugs.
So Bill thank you for pointing out that when Obama killed terrorists the liberal press applauded his actions. However, when Trump took the same, or similar actions, the same liberal press denigrate him and deem his actions "over the pale". Moreover, you keep saying "suspected narco boats...really? Do you really think, given all of the sophisticated surveillance technology and techniques, that the government possesses, they do not know unequivocally what is in those boats? I can walk down the street and NYC and with their camera technology my social number would be known before I get to the corner. Okay a bit exaggerated but you get the point. Bottom line, drugs kill Americans and Trump kills the purveyors of the drugs. Walks like a moral equivalent, talks like a moral equivalent what do you think Bill?
So why don't we simply "kill the drug dealers on the street you just walked down". Our sophisticated surveillance technology and techniques would be all the proof needed to demonstrate to our legal system such actions were warranted. The drug trade doesn't stop by eliminated a few speeding boats in the gulf.
Hey Angry, you hit that nail on the head. I cannot believe how many seem to be unable to distinguish killing from murder. While in the military I was given authority to kill but not to murder. Seems simple enough.
Just remember, Tom, this is the same government that told us that "for sure, for sure" Hussein had WMDs. The same government that told us that the Warped Speed experimental mRNA vaccine was safe and effective even though the Pfizer sales agreement says that the purchaser - our esteemed government - acknowledges that the long term effects and efficacy of the Vaccine are not currently known and that there may be adverse effects that are not currently known.
Isn't it time that we question everything these evil bastards tell us regardless of which team they are on?
Yes, I agree with you. But in this instance I believe the government has done it's due diligence . Thousands of American families have been, if not destroyed, severely wounded by the "war on drugs". That war has been raging for decades where the only result has been an industry built to serve itself just like "war on poverty" where the only result has been the development of a class of poverty pimps. Trump's approach to the war on drugs is the kill the partipating predators before they kill members of your family.
Kill the suspected little guys while pardoning a big dog - ex Honduran president Hernández who was convicted of helping to move over 400 tons of cocaine into the US.
Your response represents too much generalization and conflating. You pick a single instance, in this case a purported drug dealer who was released by the Trump administration. Neither you or I know the nuance of that situation. Logic should guide our discussions and not emotionally.
Simple logic. It always works. Just like in 2009 - the big time criminals , the Banksters, got bailed out and the little guys got screwed. Read up on the Hernandez case - a Republican appointed judges presided over the trial that convicted the major league drug trafficker. But the MAGA fanboys jump up and down like trained seals when Donnie executes a few small time suspects. Same thing with the Sacklers of Perdue Pharma - they helped get the current opioid crisis started but got a sweetheart deal - no executions or jail time and still rich. Sorry but you're be olayed by Donnie.
Bill, et al at Bonner, seem to believe that somehow American law enforcement can protect Americans against a state-sponsored asymmetric war. When you want to weaken your opponent who is much stronger than you, the best way to do it is the Venezuelan way (and every other anti-US way). So don't hit the narco boats, nor their supplies ,or threaten their boss. Then what?
I have no answer to your question. I have noted over the decades though, that the war on drugs never ends, and at the macro level there never seems to be much progress.
How then did the US survive before 1914 when drugs became illegal? Everything I've read indicates that drug addiction was treated as a medical problem before then. Think of all the savings from ending the failed War on Drugs that could be used for rehab.
Guess the CIA truly doesn't like competition in the narco-trafficking business! I imagine their boats, planes, and all other various routes are still secure as ever.
And an addendum. All those other countries smuggling in drugs (especially ones using boats) are so lucky they don't have such a massive amount of proven oil reserves! Am I right?
Speaking of the CIA perhaps you've seen that poppy production in Afghanistan increased drastically after the US invasion and continued at high levels until after our retreat. How can the Taliban with limited resources control poppy production and why did it flourish under US occupation?
Thanks for the input, Tim, and I totally agree with you here. However, the clue is "... the war on drugs". I experienced 10 years during Vietnam as a Naval Aviator, and I learned a few things about war. Drugs don't fight. It's the people performing the harmful actions that we must fight. Same with "corruption". The escalation must occur, unfortunately, if the bad guys also run a sovereign country. The UN won't help so it's our Commander in Chief left holding the bag. We could ignore it, like our previous weak and corrupt administrations, but Americans die at a rate higher than any declared war we've been in. Like I said "then what?"
The "war on drugs" never ends because we've never been serious about fighting it.
In a real war, you determine who the enemy is and then you do everything in your power to kill them. If you kill enough of them and destroy their ability to wage war, you leave those who remain with just two choices--surrender or die. If they choose to surrender, the war ends. If they choose to die, you oblige them and the war ends.
As a country, we don't have the political will to do what is necessary to end the "war on drugs". That is why it has not and never will end.
It's the systemic moral rot of a corrupt empire that creates the demand, both inadvertently and intentionally. The only cure is an educated citizenry who understands ignorance is a marketing strategy to divide and control that appears to be highly successful. When you follow the money both up and down it easy to see who the beneficiaries are. Since they control the levers of power the hope is on the individual, "each one reach one". It seems like a painfully slow process but like the gospel a powerful, undeniable force.
They're not wearing uniforms so let's assume they're civilians. What difference does that make. Drug smugglers don't wear uniforms; does that entitle them to some kind of immunity? It's not what they are; it's what they're transporting in their high-powered speed boats. Note, they're not going fishing. They're transporting something at high speed at significant expense. My best guess is drugs. I say sink them offshore before they land and poison us.
Maybe he was in a hurry (or maybe Bill didn't write today's missive) but I've never seen a BPR post this sloppily written. Misspellings, incorrect words, missing words somebody was asleep at the switch in the editing room today.
It was nice that whoever wrote it made the point that they come down with the "liberal" media. The quip about declaring "'war' against people with no large calibre (sic) weapons . . ." ignores the fact that what these people are smuggling has the capacity to take out far more people than most armies and they deliver their materiel under the radar in a way that's not easy to stop. Instead of criticizing it the author should be applauding it.
I'm inclined to agree Bill although this example, while stark, is by no means the only one you could choose to support your thesis that a terrible economic, cultural and social rot has set in after our loss of sound money. Virtually every professional class and institution has given in to corruption which is now so broad and deep that you can't throw a stone without hitting an example. Why even the Catholic church embraced unchecked migration without concern for the impact on those already here. I suppose their virtue and the signaling of it trumps (no pun intended) all.
We've talked about the war on drugs for years and have done nothing about it. Now we are trying to stop a major transportation source for this poison. These are not boy scouts, they are drug runners. Suppling a means to destroy our country. NO MERCY!
Bill, you are an exceptional investment, financial, historical kind of guy. Do what you do best, but leave the Evil Narco terrorists to the experts at killing terrorists. The Trump administration is hell-bent on dismantling the command-and-control structures of narco-trafficking routes that funnel illicit drugs into the U.S. and have contributed to the drug-death catastrophe that kills 100,000 Americans per year.
BB-these drug runners may not have tanks, or other sophisticated weapons but they were carrying weapons of mass destruction for our youth. Drugs that kill with a minuscule amount of poison. I would like to have your opinion and feelings if one of your children overdosed and died from one of these poisons. I suspect your reporting would be different.AP
Ok, Bill, you have continually expressed your absolute disdain for anything that Trump does in your beautifully written prose, including his war on drugs. How about explaining to we poor peons out here your "detailed" solutions to our nations drug and fiscal problems. The big supprise in your latest prose is a mention of "one" of Obama's shortcomings.
I don't think it is an honest argument to evoke 50yrs of bad US foreign policy to criticize the current approach to drug trafficking and border security. Any sovereign nation is allowed to keep drug boats or any other identified threat from reaching its shores. Period. It is border security; a critical security issue citizens are entirely reliant on the government to provide. Regime change? No. Invasion? Of course not. Control our waters and secure our shores? Absolutely. The threat is being grossly downplayed in these recent notes.
Bill, when did you make your switch to the dark side? When did Killing narco terrorists equipped with automatic weapons in boat for their use become the pathetic left wing cause. These guys are murdering thugs whose only purpose in life is enriching their pathetic selves by killing men, women and children in the U.S. They are in high speed boats that cant be caught and the only way to stop them is whats being done. Miranda rights and legal mumbo jumbo doesnt work here.
Even if we assume they are transporting drugs, how are they terrorists?
Tim, what do you call them. Transportation services? Come on man they are terrorists.
Terrorist - "a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims."
As far as I can tell, the alleged drug-runners are motivated financially, not politically. Words have specific meanings. I think it's best if we stick to their meanings.
Good you elaborate a bit?
How does "Drug Runners" work for ya?
After they are proven to be carrying drugs, that would be perfect!
You apparently know narco terrorist so well what are their names? It seems to me that drug abuse is an American problem. Perhaps we should enforce immediate death penalties on the end users to dismantle the US market. Police can give you a test and then execute you on the spot. Gone will be the legalizes and other hindrances.
...so the illegal suppliers of illegal drugs are not culpable?
To your reasoning if there's a "demand", there's no crime?
Pedophiles and rapists are free to roam, after all it's the victims that lure them...
Seriously???? How do you know there were "illegal drugs" or drugs at all. Talk about delusional........killing people just because someone thinks they are doing something bad......really??? This is the America you want! God help us all!
Apparently you've never been on a fishing boat either...
THere it is, I been waiting for your idiotic response. You think these criminals should be treated with our laws. Well, our laws say don’t immigrate illegally, who is stoping that? The US has tried negotiation, dialogue, trade… nothing works. Apparently, only violence will. How many drug runners are now crapping in their pants and refusing to make the run. Get over yourself ole man, you do not have all the answers as much as you like to think you do.
Yep - and your response is idiotic and delusional. Geez.......you have your head so far up Trump's rear side to be unbelievable. You think Trump knows all and can decide right and wrong and punish because he thinks so. That is horrific thinking......Trump is dumber than a box of rock and what is seriously wrong with America is the other branches just hide their heads. Unfortunately America has earned and going to get what is coming. And, believe this ol' man, none of his with a lick of sanity will mourn for your soul.
If that's true, it must be keeping company with your delusional, I am the father of knowledge and I know best because I'm old and I use to work on an LST. Get lost, you are delusional. Stop using my words when i call you out, can you not come up with your own thoughts? Probably not - since your head is up your own ass, it must get pretty lonely.
That’s a stretch. Comparing Pedophilia and drug use; in one there is a victim and the other self choice. But then you’re the type of person that knows better than the rest of us as to what is good for us. Even if you want to assign culpability, I doubt the real culpable parties are sitting in the boat, yea, there may be a lieutenant with a gun, but is is very possible the others are just guys with their wives sitting at home with a gun to their heads. When I was a kid, I remember the police chief on the Mexican side of the border calling in the Federales to bust all the local smugglers. He was just fingering his competition as he hid his drugs in his pantry. The word on the street was the Federales were working over the competition with cattle prods shoved up between their legs. That’s the guy that deserves what is being dealt, but he ain’t running the drugs.
...yeah maybe, but you're the one that is "supposing", not me.
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Would you allow yourself to be a drug runner?
If indeed the "other guys" are merely pawns, how did they end up in the boat?
Likely their affiliation with the bad guys got them there.
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The pedophile "jonesing" is as the addicts.
Both are under duress.
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Both are victims of themselves, and both are a danger to society.
Not a stretch...
Life is cheap in Third World countries. I remember a comment that my mom made. When they were first married and feeling poor they would drive across the border and see people living in piano boxes. I grew up in retail and one thing I learned is that the most honest people will steal from you when their kids are starting. Easy for you to say that you’d let them blow your wife’s head off out of a strong sense of morality. You have to remember that in Third World countries it’s not about equality, it’s about the landed gentry vs the peons. The landed gentry being the wealthy and the politicians. The poor don’t stand a chance.
As for “underdress”, it’s one thing to go beat off versus rape an unsuspecting child. A crime that deserves the harshest consequences.
For the last 70 years at least, we’ve had this War on Drugs and during that time I and could’ve purchased any drug I wanted within a 20 minute drive of my home. I don’t care if you’re living in Utah, it’s the same. The point being you cannot outlaw something that somebody wants, it does not work. So legalize it, make it cheaper, make it safer, get it out in the open so people can get help if they need help from addiction, and at the same time put the cartels out of business.
Legalizing drugs and prostitution would only proliferate the acts.
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Moral concern becomes apathy and then the acceptable norm.
Just as much of what follows today, 50 years ago was taboo.
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Sin is universal, it's just not the same for everyone.
To live harmoniously we must all whistle the same tune.
We must agree upon set standards, a moral code.
Multi-culturalism seems in opposition to this notion.
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For most of us, morality requires maintenance.
Usually performed by religion and/or discipline.
Respect of people and things are the result.
It seems much of society has wandered from this path...
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Allowing vice to consume folks, ruin their lives;
...and then offer aid is kinda backwards, no?
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Education and discipline from the get-go would be the solution.
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IMO media and social society seem focused upon individual "wants" and "rights" at the expense of the communal good...
No Steven, the drug use problem is a world problem and there are plenty of laws against its use.The rest of your statement is ludicrous.
Bob, so agree with you. And, for people to actually believe "killing" someone because they are in a high speed boat in international waters is - as ol' Bill says - beyond the pale! America has sunk into the slimey swamp. Payback is coming and it is going to be ugly. Morals have gone the way of the Dodo bird.
Yes. Agreed 100%. No morals here in the US. While we are busy executing suspected drug traffickers our dear leader just pardoned a big time drug trafficker. A guy responsible for helping move more than 400 tons of cocaine into the US. Perhaps the best solution is to turn back the clock to pre 1914 days when these drugs were legal and addiction was treated as a medical problem.
Terrorism - someone who uses violent action, or threats of violent action, for political purposes. Perhaps the Trump admin should launch a bombing campaign against Pfizer, J&J, Merck&Co..... Afterall, they've been maiming and killing Americans for generations now. Get your flu shot, got your flu shot?, triple dose is ideal. Are you denier?. wish to get sick? , its safe and effective.
You can allways tell when your dealing with riff raff no different than the pedaler on the street corner. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
If we abandon the principle of “innocent before proven guilty” then the state will persecute you next. You claim not to be a tax dodger? Doesn’t matter — guilty as charged.
Incredible how can many Trump fanboys in the comments can’t understand these basic ideas.
A high speed boat that can’t be caught? If it can be observed, tracked and its final destination expected. Then of course it can be caught. Not only that it could be intercepted offshore by more heavily armed CG and naval forces. A great training exercise for the forces, for when it comes to the real shooting match. They are just taking the lazy way out and hoping no one will care. People such as your good self.
David, have you ever seen any victim of fentanyl? I have and its not a pretty death. If you libtards want to cry over these murderous drug runners have at it but I expect most good Americans have no problem with our milatary taking them out on the high seas.
Resort to name calling as you please. We are only arguing about the method of treating criminals. You are for summary execution without trial. I am against it. Your department of war has all the necessary tools to deal with these cartels. As I said they took the easy way out. You are on a slippery slope.
Mr. Bonner argues day and night that government is responsible for having ruined the "money" and that when the money goes everything go, and yet he expresses regret and moral outrage when it turns out the country engages in improper, illegal, and immoral acts and is, essentially, craven and wicked? Can we get a grip here? And then, it is implied WE should be doing something about it? If I could have done something about it, JFK would never have been rubbed out by a rogue bureaucracy and cabal within his government, and politicians would have been forbidden to buy votes via policies, programs, and laws that guaranteed deficits, debt, and financial and moral ruin. Back in junior high, I learned about the concept of what was then called "LCD", the "lowest common denominator", understanding it then, thanks to excellent instruction, as an essential, fundamental concept of mathematics. I had to wait years to come to the understanding that the base side of human nature also was an LCD and would, over time, come to prevail in everything. Decry away, everybody. Best always. PM
I’ve been thinking about the same ‘race to the bottom’ concept … but LCD is 👌 How one politician will wilfully waste billions in order to keep one lousy job. And, the bigger problem it’s not just one … it’s all of them - as the Somalian scandal as revealed.
One of the fallouts of no longer being a functioning Republic, perhaps of the highest import, is that we are no longer told the truth about what our government is doing, at any level, about anything. More often we are not told anything at all, unless and until there is some leak or rogue report that forces a response. Then we are simply told lies. One could easily argue that this isn’t new, but it would seem to have been taken to a new level in the 21st century. And now we have the added problem of the Signal-to-Noise ratio, the sheer volume of “information” bombarding us daily, most of which is not information.
Venezuela is perhaps the latest example. There are pundits that claim that Venezuela is the headquarters of the largest narco cartel on the planet, and that the cartel works in close partnership with China, Russia and certain Islamic states, who have large satellite operations in situ, with one overarching purpose, to serve as the hemispheric nexus for the overthrow of America, and that both plans and execution are well along, that decades of work have created perhaps our most powerful and capable enemy, on our southern flank. But we are not told anything, weren’t told anything, all the while. We only have whistleblower pundits who creep about in the Signal-to-Noise shadows and get air time on obscure broadcasts or in marginal print media. I don’t know what’s going on in Venezuela but I’m pretty sure it’s not about cocaine runners in small boats.
I would quadruple heart 💓 your comment if I could.
... no thoughts about "maybe it's the drug smugglers that are creating this situation"?
The issue is who they’re killing, the military get it wrong as in the Iraq example above. No thoughts on how to stop demand?
...IMO the only ones questioning "who" have never been fishing.
Illegal drugs are a more potent threat to Americans than any other weapon. The smugglers of these
drugs should be eliminated by any means.
What about the legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco that have been killing Americans too? What about the Sackler Family of Oxycontin fame? Their drug helped get the current opioid epidemic started but they maintained most of their ill gotten gains thanks in part to Donnie's buddy Rudy Giuliani. Why not let the killings begin at home?
Bill,
I disagree fully. These people have been killing Americans for more than a generation. We should do everything in our power to wipe this scourge off the face of the earth.
The tobacco companies have also been killing Americans for generations. The CDC says tobacco is responsible for around 480,000 deaths each year and alcohol kills another 178,000. Perhaps like charity the wiping out of the scourge should begin at home. Let's start at the top and bomb the tobacco companies headquarters.
After that you can blow up the car manufacturers. So many deaths on roads.
Way to compare apples to oranges. The MAGA fanboys are celebrating the killing of suspected drug traffickers because their drugs are killing Americans. At the same time the legal drugs tobacco and alcohol are killing more Americans than the illegal drugs. If you're worried about deaths maybe we should focus on these legal drugs too. Or maybe we should take a lesson from Prohibition and legalize drugs.
So Bill thank you for pointing out that when Obama killed terrorists the liberal press applauded his actions. However, when Trump took the same, or similar actions, the same liberal press denigrate him and deem his actions "over the pale". Moreover, you keep saying "suspected narco boats...really? Do you really think, given all of the sophisticated surveillance technology and techniques, that the government possesses, they do not know unequivocally what is in those boats? I can walk down the street and NYC and with their camera technology my social number would be known before I get to the corner. Okay a bit exaggerated but you get the point. Bottom line, drugs kill Americans and Trump kills the purveyors of the drugs. Walks like a moral equivalent, talks like a moral equivalent what do you think Bill?
So why don't we simply "kill the drug dealers on the street you just walked down". Our sophisticated surveillance technology and techniques would be all the proof needed to demonstrate to our legal system such actions were warranted. The drug trade doesn't stop by eliminated a few speeding boats in the gulf.
Well Harold please remember there are legal, although not well used, remedies for American criminals, not such much for non American narco terrorists.
In international waters with zero constitutional rights.
..."kill" is a good word, it feeds us, it prevents us from harm, we kill bacteria, we kill lice, we kill our foes...
Murder is what the drug boats are stowing...
Hey Angry, you hit that nail on the head. I cannot believe how many seem to be unable to distinguish killing from murder. While in the military I was given authority to kill but not to murder. Seems simple enough.
Just remember, Tom, this is the same government that told us that "for sure, for sure" Hussein had WMDs. The same government that told us that the Warped Speed experimental mRNA vaccine was safe and effective even though the Pfizer sales agreement says that the purchaser - our esteemed government - acknowledges that the long term effects and efficacy of the Vaccine are not currently known and that there may be adverse effects that are not currently known.
Isn't it time that we question everything these evil bastards tell us regardless of which team they are on?
Yes, I agree with you. But in this instance I believe the government has done it's due diligence . Thousands of American families have been, if not destroyed, severely wounded by the "war on drugs". That war has been raging for decades where the only result has been an industry built to serve itself just like "war on poverty" where the only result has been the development of a class of poverty pimps. Trump's approach to the war on drugs is the kill the partipating predators before they kill members of your family.
Kill the suspected little guys while pardoning a big dog - ex Honduran president Hernández who was convicted of helping to move over 400 tons of cocaine into the US.
Your response represents too much generalization and conflating. You pick a single instance, in this case a purported drug dealer who was released by the Trump administration. Neither you or I know the nuance of that situation. Logic should guide our discussions and not emotionally.
Hardly "purported," he was convicted and jailed for 40 odd years I believe
Simple logic. It always works. Just like in 2009 - the big time criminals , the Banksters, got bailed out and the little guys got screwed. Read up on the Hernandez case - a Republican appointed judges presided over the trial that convicted the major league drug trafficker. But the MAGA fanboys jump up and down like trained seals when Donnie executes a few small time suspects. Same thing with the Sacklers of Perdue Pharma - they helped get the current opioid crisis started but got a sweetheart deal - no executions or jail time and still rich. Sorry but you're be olayed by Donnie.
Bill, et al at Bonner, seem to believe that somehow American law enforcement can protect Americans against a state-sponsored asymmetric war. When you want to weaken your opponent who is much stronger than you, the best way to do it is the Venezuelan way (and every other anti-US way). So don't hit the narco boats, nor their supplies ,or threaten their boss. Then what?
I have no answer to your question. I have noted over the decades though, that the war on drugs never ends, and at the macro level there never seems to be much progress.
As long as there is a demand, there will be a supply. Prostitution is a case in point.
But unlike prostitution, drugs are deadly and they incapacitate even when not taken in lethal quantities.
Cross a pimp or don't use a condom and see how deadly prostitution can be...
Haven't ever been a customer so I haven't thought through all the possible downsides LOL.
😂
How then did the US survive before 1914 when drugs became illegal? Everything I've read indicates that drug addiction was treated as a medical problem before then. Think of all the savings from ending the failed War on Drugs that could be used for rehab.
Guess the CIA truly doesn't like competition in the narco-trafficking business! I imagine their boats, planes, and all other various routes are still secure as ever.
And an addendum. All those other countries smuggling in drugs (especially ones using boats) are so lucky they don't have such a massive amount of proven oil reserves! Am I right?
You really get right to it!
Speaking of the CIA perhaps you've seen that poppy production in Afghanistan increased drastically after the US invasion and continued at high levels until after our retreat. How can the Taliban with limited resources control poppy production and why did it flourish under US occupation?
Thanks for the input, Tim, and I totally agree with you here. However, the clue is "... the war on drugs". I experienced 10 years during Vietnam as a Naval Aviator, and I learned a few things about war. Drugs don't fight. It's the people performing the harmful actions that we must fight. Same with "corruption". The escalation must occur, unfortunately, if the bad guys also run a sovereign country. The UN won't help so it's our Commander in Chief left holding the bag. We could ignore it, like our previous weak and corrupt administrations, but Americans die at a rate higher than any declared war we've been in. Like I said "then what?"
"𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙣 𝙙𝙧𝙪𝙜𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨"
The "war on drugs" never ends because we've never been serious about fighting it.
In a real war, you determine who the enemy is and then you do everything in your power to kill them. If you kill enough of them and destroy their ability to wage war, you leave those who remain with just two choices--surrender or die. If they choose to surrender, the war ends. If they choose to die, you oblige them and the war ends.
As a country, we don't have the political will to do what is necessary to end the "war on drugs". That is why it has not and never will end.
It's the systemic moral rot of a corrupt empire that creates the demand, both inadvertently and intentionally. The only cure is an educated citizenry who understands ignorance is a marketing strategy to divide and control that appears to be highly successful. When you follow the money both up and down it easy to see who the beneficiaries are. Since they control the levers of power the hope is on the individual, "each one reach one". It seems like a painfully slow process but like the gospel a powerful, undeniable force.
Probably the most overused but yet underrated phrases that if truly implemented would yield the truth so clearly, "follow the money".
I have noted over the decades that war never ends...
Hit them at the 12 mile limit. Simple.
They're not wearing uniforms so let's assume they're civilians. What difference does that make. Drug smugglers don't wear uniforms; does that entitle them to some kind of immunity? It's not what they are; it's what they're transporting in their high-powered speed boats. Note, they're not going fishing. They're transporting something at high speed at significant expense. My best guess is drugs. I say sink them offshore before they land and poison us.
Yes they are fishing from those high speed boats and some are fishing from home made submarines. Ain't fishing grand?
Maybe he was in a hurry (or maybe Bill didn't write today's missive) but I've never seen a BPR post this sloppily written. Misspellings, incorrect words, missing words somebody was asleep at the switch in the editing room today.
It was nice that whoever wrote it made the point that they come down with the "liberal" media. The quip about declaring "'war' against people with no large calibre (sic) weapons . . ." ignores the fact that what these people are smuggling has the capacity to take out far more people than most armies and they deliver their materiel under the radar in a way that's not easy to stop. Instead of criticizing it the author should be applauding it.
I'm inclined to agree Bill although this example, while stark, is by no means the only one you could choose to support your thesis that a terrible economic, cultural and social rot has set in after our loss of sound money. Virtually every professional class and institution has given in to corruption which is now so broad and deep that you can't throw a stone without hitting an example. Why even the Catholic church embraced unchecked migration without concern for the impact on those already here. I suppose their virtue and the signaling of it trumps (no pun intended) all.
We've talked about the war on drugs for years and have done nothing about it. Now we are trying to stop a major transportation source for this poison. These are not boy scouts, they are drug runners. Suppling a means to destroy our country. NO MERCY!
Jim Marshall
Bill, you are an exceptional investment, financial, historical kind of guy. Do what you do best, but leave the Evil Narco terrorists to the experts at killing terrorists. The Trump administration is hell-bent on dismantling the command-and-control structures of narco-trafficking routes that funnel illicit drugs into the U.S. and have contributed to the drug-death catastrophe that kills 100,000 Americans per year.
"America First"
"Semper Paratus"
Ken Nass
US Coast Guard Aviation Retired
PS. Leave Trump Alone.
BB-these drug runners may not have tanks, or other sophisticated weapons but they were carrying weapons of mass destruction for our youth. Drugs that kill with a minuscule amount of poison. I would like to have your opinion and feelings if one of your children overdosed and died from one of these poisons. I suspect your reporting would be different.AP
Ok, Bill, you have continually expressed your absolute disdain for anything that Trump does in your beautifully written prose, including his war on drugs. How about explaining to we poor peons out here your "detailed" solutions to our nations drug and fiscal problems. The big supprise in your latest prose is a mention of "one" of Obama's shortcomings.
I don't think it is an honest argument to evoke 50yrs of bad US foreign policy to criticize the current approach to drug trafficking and border security. Any sovereign nation is allowed to keep drug boats or any other identified threat from reaching its shores. Period. It is border security; a critical security issue citizens are entirely reliant on the government to provide. Regime change? No. Invasion? Of course not. Control our waters and secure our shores? Absolutely. The threat is being grossly downplayed in these recent notes.