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I may have found a way to spot U.S. at-sea strikes before they're announced
- valicord 11mo agoThe satellite feed removed from internet in 3, 2, ...
- irjustin 11mo agoFrom one of the comments: > Yes, FIRMS data is what most people use to monitor large strikes that create a significant heat signature. In the middle of the sea you'll usually just see oil platforms generate heat like that. > A lot of people reading this know this already, but you could see exactly where the bunker busters were being dropped in Iran months ago from FIRMS data within ~15-20min of the strikes.
- energy123 11mo agoAre you sure that 15-20min latency is the fastest you can get that data?
- jjk166 11mo agoThe lower resolution geostationary satellites transmit every 10 to 15 minutes and the data is made available within 30 minutes of transmission. There are polar orbit satellites which can potentially make detections faster but they only overfly specific regions and are only looking at a small portion of that at a given time. The database itself is updated every 5 minutes. For Iran, 15 minute latency would mean you got lucky with the cycles of several steps lining up just right.
- somenameforme 11mo agoThis post is relatively old information to anybody following e.g. the Ukraine War, which is where I assume the poster got the inspiration for this. It's regularly used to publicly confirm strikes.
- mrguyorama 11mo agoUnfortunately, why would the current admin want to stifle info about these strikes? They brag about them, because murdering random people in the ocean on flimsy pretenses is popular to their base. We have murdered at least 66 people so far. It sure is funny how republicans insist that Fentanyl is a huge problem, but decline to punish those actually responsible, the sacklers, and have abandoned their blame of China for fentanyl production. Meanwhile we continue a military build up off the coast. Can't wait for all those people who voted for Trump because he "Doesn't start wars" to be completely silent or even supportive of a war against Venezuela. Some things don't entirely make sense with the cynical view though. I would think his base would be very supportive of openly advocating for regime change in Venezuela even by force, so I don't quite understand subterfuge unless this is just early opinion driving. Republican presidents sure like how wars do for their re-election though, and the Trump admin would love a war to "excuse" something like... say.... suspended elections.
- flyinglizard 11mo ago[flagged]
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 11mo agoWhat narco boats?
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- BLKNSLVR 11mo agoNote: "before they're announced" which is quite specifically not "before the strike occurs"
- NaomiLehman 11mo agothat would require a time machine
- SirFatty 11mo agoNo, that would take an information leak.
- giantg2 11mo agoThat would only be a scheduled strike. That wouldn't work for ad-hoc strikes.
- lazide 11mo agoAd-hoc strikes still need approval from the chain of command (or at least would have/used to), so there would still be radio chatter.
- kulahan 11mo agoI assume there are scenarios where the chain is skipped? I could be wrong, but don't the people sitting at nukes just launch if they see certain things? If they have autonomy, I assume everyone with a missile launch button has some to some degree.
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- aerostable_slug 11mo agoNuclear release authority is pre-delegated to varying degrees, but not down to the launch control centers. They do not possess the required information to launch their missiles. Precise delegation details are classified. For combatants down in Venezuela's waters, the only time they're going to have permission to blow a boat out of the water without checking with higher authority is if that boat is actively firing on American servicemen or presenting a similar imminent threat to human life. Otherwise the strikes flow through an approval matrix. All of this is subject to change as situations develop, and command centers have military attorneys present in the room with them to counsel local leadership.
- bragr 11mo agoNeat, but not really new. People have been monitoring military activity with FIRMS for years.
- confirmmesenpai 11mo agoespecially in the Ukraine war
- consumer451 11mo agoNot for long, after TFA.
- enjaydee 11mo agoMakes sense, it was launched in 2021
- NedF 11mo ago[dead]
- beefnugs 11mo ago[flagged]
- taccal 11mo ago[dead]
- davidw 11mo ago"narco-trafficking boats" There's no public evidence of that though. No trial. It's the same as if we sent the navy to board those boats, put a gun to people's heads and execute them in cold blood.
- wetpaws 11mo ago[dead]
- voganmother42 11mo agoThe US gov cartel is ruthless - military members get to be murderers, but its good preparation for when they are deployed against US cities
- somenameforme 11mo ago100% agreed with this and this is one of the worst issues about the development of long range weapons. 'We droned this guy.' 'We bombed this area.' 'We destroyed this boat.' All of this really sounds so much better than what it really is. It's murdering people all around the world, many of whom are 100% innocent. For instance the last person we droned in occupied Afghanistan was Zemari Ahmadi - a longtime worker for a US humanitarian aid organization. A US drone operator mistook bottles of water he was loading into his car for his family as bombs, and so they murdered him as well as 10 other civilians, including 7 children, all with the press of a button. [1] [1] - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/world/asia/us-air-strike-drone-kabul-afghanistan-isis.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/world/asia/us-air-strike-...
- jmb99 11mo ago>many of whom are 100% innocent Under US law, 100% of them are 100% innocent, by definition. "Innocent until proven guilty" and whatnot; it literally means that every person is innocent in the eyes of the law until a court finds them guilty.
- PenguinCoder 11mo agoUnfortunately that had been forgotten in this era.
- breppp 11mo ago[flagged]
- tomhow 11mo agoPlease don't post snark on HN. We're trying for something better here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- breppp 11mo agosorry for that, however it did seem a bit too much on the baity title and trivial reality side
- tomhow 11mo agoSure, and we’ve let flags and normal penalties pull it down off the front page now. Best to flag the post if it’s a low quality article, and if it’s really needing our attention, email us - hn@ycombinator.com.
- martythemaniak 11mo agoCould we change the title to the more accurate "summary executions" instead of "at-sea strikes"?
- croisillon 11mo ago[flagged]
- exe34 11mo ago[flagged]
- vkou 11mo agoExecution implies some sort of legal process. This is just murder.
- eru 11mo agoIf you want to be nitpicky: randomly killing people isn't necessarily murder. There's eg also manslaughter and a few other legal categories.
- extraduder_ire 11mo agoThat's what the reddit thread is called, there's a rule against editorialising titles here.
- aussieguy1234 11mo agoLike alot of others on the reddit thread, I suspect this will get shut down fast, since it relies on US government imagery from NASA.
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- aaronbrethorst 11mo agoThe United States seems to be using the same logic as Uncle Jimbo in South Park did when he hunted animals: "it's coming right for us!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaazFYTrQ_A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaazFYTrQ_A
- vkou 11mo agoWhen you direct it at humans, it's called murder. When you do it at sea, it can be called piracy. But as long as you leave no survivors, who is going to dispute whatever story you want to spin about the people you are killing.
- lazide 11mo agoWhen you are a world superpower, most people will hesitate to call you anything you don’t like. Because they’ll likely be next.
- dataviz1000 11mo agoThe United States has been famous for this logic for a while now. [0] [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9WMSxV6lMs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9WMSxV6lMs
- hentrep 11mo agoI submitted this link to HN with the Reddit title in quotes. Not sure why the quotes were removed, but I want to clarify that I am not the Reddit post author.
- tomhow 11mo agoIt's never been the case that an HN title like this is assumed to be a statement by the submitter. We always match the HN title to the original post's title, unless it's misleading or linkbait, as per the guidelines. Quotation marks are generally superfluous except, I think, if the article is about a quote. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- AlecSchueler 11mo agoHow can they do this? Why is the world tolerating it? Would it be as acceptable for China to start doing this?
- terminalshort 11mo agoBecause they are drug traffickers and nobody likes them. The argument against the strikes is based on principle alone, and matters of principle count for nothing in geopolitics. Other countries aren't complaining too loudly because they are happy that the traffickers are getting killed, and even happier that someone else is doing it for them. China does worse things daily and nobody makes much of a fuss.
- cma 11mo agoTrump pardoned the operator of the largest opiates by mail operator in world history on his first or second day in office (Ross Ulbricht). I'm pretty sure they're doing this just to start war with Venezuela from some mix of Venezuela nationalizing their oil in the past and wanting to undo that, Venezuela lobby and intersection of with the rightwing Cuban lobby/Rubio's ties to that. Democracy probably as low concern, given our relation with Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. The history of Rubio introducing the Venezuela Temporary Protected Status and Asylum Assistance Act of 2018 in Trump's first term, leading to large parts of the "immigration crisis" under Biden, and then Rubio going along with rescinding the status is pretty crazy. We played a big part in their economic crisis, offered asylum to many people driven to flee not just politically but largely from that crisis, then rescinded status to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and began deporting to concentration camps based in some cases on tattoos, now the extrajudicial killings, and it's looking like big potential for a war of aggression.
- terminalshort 11mo agoYou aren't getting it. Basically every country on earth hates the cartels and wants them dead. They aren't going to complain when somebody is making that happen, and they don't much care how it's done as long as it isn't happening on their soil. And they care even less that the people doing it aren't saints themselves because nobody is. Nobody is going to stick their neck out for a cartel.
- IncreasePosts 11mo agoDoes anyone know - do they give the guys on the boat a chance to surrender, and they're fleeing? Or do they just bomb them without any kind of notice?
- elAhmo 11mo agoThis is spray and pray, they have no idea who is on the boat or what are they transporting. So offering 'surrender' makes no sense for them, it would just expose this behaviour. It is not a secret, but they act like it is.
- lingrush4 11mo agoNo, you have no idea who is on the boat. That's very different from the US military having no idea.
- kg 11mo agoIf they're known drug traffickers worthy of execution without due process, why are the survivors being sent home instead of tried for their supposed crimes? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/us/politics/boat-strike-survivors.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/us/politics/boat-strike-s...
- GenerocUsername 11mo ago"...for their home countries to prosecute" Does not imply a belief of innocence.
- pempem 11mo agoIs vague enough to mean either thing which in and of itself is a red flag. "To face justice" is both a phrase this administration would use and is more concrete.
- anigbrowl 11mo agoGMAFB. The US is famous for using 'extraordinary rendition' to take custody of people it deems terrorists and either try them or hold them in isolation at military camps. Do you really buy the line that they're being 'sent home to be prosecuted' by the same countries that are condemning these strikes? It seems far more likely that they're being sent home because they don't want to put them in front of a judge.
- qwertox 11mo ago[flagged]
- exasperaited 11mo ago[flagged]
- hunterpayne 11mo ago[flagged]
- trhway 11mo ago>If any other "framing" was correct, they would be flying a flag of some country. sounds like your knowledge of maritime law tells that flying some country's flag would have prevented those boats from being blown up. Silly narcos not knowing that yours maritime law. >Sending them home is about making sure there isn't anyone willing to take the next run. Why it isn't done with other criminals?
- atomicnumber3 11mo agoAre navies allowed to just kill people on boats for not flying a flag? Arrest them perhaps, I could see - but just kill them with no attempt to find any other recourse?
- jimnotgym 11mo agoIt depends on what you mean by allowed. It doesn't matter what rules exist if there is no way to enforce them.
- pksebben 11mo agoDefine "allowed", esp. whom it is doing the allowing. Any and all current international treaties are visibly toothless these days. Russia invades Ukraine and the UN shrugs while they say "hey, cut it out!". Israel colonizes parts of Gaza that it has specifically agreed not to colonize and the response is the same. The US commits a war crime with it's morning cuppa and every time the international community sorta whistles and heel-turns hoping that they're not interesting enough to be next. The problem is that IOT have any kind of effective enforcement mechanism, you have to have the bigger stick, and we've just allowed countries to do nothing but build bigger sticks since the 40s.
- HaZeust 11mo agoFor those who don't know, FIRMS is NASA's "Fire Information for Resource Management System". https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/data/tools/firms https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/data/tools/firms
- 650REDHAIR 11mo agoI wonder how long this data will be publicly available for. I just assume all federal data hoses are on borrowed time :(
- basisword 11mo ago[flagged]
- burnt-resistor 11mo agoExtrajudical executions without evidence, just a bunch of spurious talking points and unfounded accusations. It reeks of the stench of the "Saddam WMDs" that didn't exist. Churning the curds of casus belli to justify launching a foreign war to distract from domestic concerns like the Epstein files and the clawing back of healthcare to give more money to the billionaires.
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- maxglute 11mo agoTFW next generation of US specop influencers are from SouthCom. Boring counter-narctoics = boring books = boring movies without explosions. At the end of the day policy bros just want to make sicario reality. That's barely a joke. Villeneuve triumph of the willed war on drugs.
- heroiccocoa 11mo agoIt's frustrating how some people insist on prefixing reddit URLs with "old", requiring everybody else who opens their link to load the wrong page, edit it, and reload the modern version. 3 seconds of OPs time could have saved thousands of people from wasting their 8 seconds each.
- bathtub365 11mo agoI prefer the old links as they don’t put up login walls or other popups that try to get me to use an account.
- HPsquared 11mo agoMaybe I like the misery! https://youtu.be/dwz6vBp8MPw https://youtu.be/dwz6vBp8MPw
- ASalazarMX 11mo ago> requiring everybody else who opens their link to load the wrong page, edit it, and reload the modern version Don't put everyone in the bandwagon that wants the new Reddit UX. It happens because many people don't.
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- gs17 11mo ago> requiring everybody else who opens their link to load the wrong page, edit it It's not required. You have a preference for the "new" experience, but many people see the additional time it takes to load and read the "new" experience as the actual waste of time.
- AngryData 11mo agoAnd how do you think everyone else feels about being forced to open a shitty mobile page with 30x the data requirements and extra telemetry, popups about using an app, and asking for a login and requiring people to edit the title with old.
- nielsbot 11mo ago> Over the last month the U.S. has carried out several interdiction strikes on narco-trafficking boats in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean There’s no proof that that’s actually what they’re doing. They should present some.
- foofoo12 11mo agoShouldn't we just trust them? Have they ever made a false public statement?
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- RobotToaster 11mo agoYou dropped this /s
- GoatInGrey 11mo agoThey assumed that most users here weren't homeschooled!
- expedition32 11mo ago[flagged]
- metabagel 11mo agoLOL https://projects.thestar.com/donald-trump-fact-check/ https://projects.thestar.com/donald-trump-fact-check/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/24/trumps-false-or-misleading-claims-total-30573-over-four-years/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/24/trumps-fa...
- dyauspitr 11mo agoIs this satire?
- black_13 11mo ago[dead]
- black_13 11mo ago[dead]
- offmycloud 11mo ago"Your request has been blocked due to a network policy" Is Reddit going login-required now?
- trianglesphere 11mo agoThey’ve gotten pretty strict if they think your IP is a scraper (i.e. coming from AWS or another cloud provider even inside a full browser environment).
- MallocVoidstar 11mo agoThey ban VPNs unless you're logged in (and randomly shadowban users using them), and probably other datacenter IPs.
- Quarrel 11mo agoJust a guess, but are you in the UK and is /r/osint flagged NSFW, harmful or mature? If so, they want to age-verify you.
- silisili 11mo agoSame. Brave on Linux, no VPN. I didn't at face value care too much, as I find the site cancerous, but it did make me realize how many times I click links into it. I can't wait until a worthy successor appears.
- ritzaco 11mo agohttps://lemmy.world https://lemmy.world isn't as big and it doesn't have active subgroups for as many things as Reddit, but for a bit of casual doom scrolling it's fully replaced Reddit for me.
- RunningDroid 11mo agoRedlib typically has less aggressive restrictions: https://farside.link/redlib/r/OSINT/comments/1opjjyv/i_may_have_found_a_way_to_spot_us_atsea_strikes/ https://farside.link/redlib/r/OSINT/comments/1opjjyv/i_may_h... (Farside.link just picks a random instance)