6 ms·

Seems like we're bombing a bunch of low level, poverty stricken fisherman who occasionally bring a load of drugs from point A to point B. I'm sure the complete

by codyb 11mo ago

Seems like we're bombing a bunch of low level, poverty stricken fisherman who occasionally bring a load of drugs from point A to point B. I'm sure the complete lack of effectiveness will be worth the condemnation and lost intelligence by our allies, and further erosion of our separation of powers.

Qem 11mo ago
> Seems like we're bombing a bunch of low level, poverty stricken fisherman There is some precedent: https://www.reuters.com/article/world/cia-faulted-in-shooting-down-of-missionary-plane-idUSTRE4AJ9AX/ https://www.reuters.com/article/world/cia-faulted-in-shootin...
- teachrdan 11mo ago
  Heh, I thought you were going to link to this: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/6/us-navy-seals-killed-north-korean-civilians-during-botched-mission-report https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/6/us-navy-seals-killed...
- steveBK123 11mo ago
  Reading a GWOT era CIA book and.. you'll never guess where some of the guys responsible for this shootdown ended up next..
bad_haircut72 11mo ago
Im not actually in support of killing these people but I have to say, people seem to gloss over that each boatload of these drugs literally destroys multiple American families. People who have lost someone (either through death or just throwing their life away) to drugs will tell you these "poor fishermen" are murderers, who in no way extend the kind of empathy to us that we're expected to show them. It does get very complicated when you consider they're probably under a lot of "carrot AND stick" from the cartels... but the damage they do is real.
- victorbjorklund 11mo ago
  Would you accept other countries blowing up Americans because some Americans bring drugs and other things into other countries?
  - bad_haircut72 11mo ago
    Singapore has given many foreigners the death penalty for drug smuggling and I couldnt care less actually If youre implying the people being killed are innocent countrymen of the real criminals then of course I object. Everything I have said applies to people actually comitting crimes
    - Qem 11mo ago
      "Penalty" is the key word here. Like, issued by a judge, after proper judgement according to the law of the land. Not random shooting people without any due process.
      - bad_haircut72 11mo ago
        This will definitely get lost in the conversation but like I said right up front, I dont actually agree with killing them. It seems that we ought to be able to intercept these boats and process them as suspects of a crime. It just rubs me the wrong way how every issue gets written up as a one-sided narrative of good vs evil depending on who you support politically.
    - lazide 11mo ago
      The issue here is we have zero evidence any actual crimes were being committed - because we blew up the evidence from afar before we even saw it. Seems rather incompatible with a justice system, and hard to distinguish from random military action.
    - victorbjorklund 11mo ago
      After their day in court. We are talking about killing Americans without evidence and without due process.
loeg 11mo ago
And the bombs are relatively expensive, when bullets are cheap. Even if you don't mind eroding the rights of drug traffickers, it's a wasteful way to do the enforcement action.
- richard_todd 11mo ago
  If I'm considering becoming a drug runner, and I hear "sometimes they arrest you" I'd say "so what?" If I hear "sometimes you get shot at", I'd take my chances and shoot back. But if I keep hearing about missiles obliterating drug runners with no warning... maybe I just stay home.
  - hshdhdhj4444 11mo ago
    You’re right. I’m sure the drug runner recruitment ad response rate has plummeted /s. People don’t choose to be drug runners…
  - standardUser 11mo ago
    All evidence suggests that harsh enforcement can not, does not and will not stop the drug trade from thriving.
  - bilbo0s 11mo ago
    Again, I'm just suggesting that maybe cartels make fishermen the proverbial "offer they can't refuse". I'm just wondering if it would be more effective, and far less expensive, to target the subjects making these offers?
  - davidw 11mo ago
    Maybe we should try the same thing with people running red lights.
  - kelnos 11mo ago
    Decades of the War on Drugs would seem to disagree with your interpretation. Escalating deterrents doesn't work.
Terr_ 11mo ago
> from point A to point B. Plus neither point is anywhere close to US territory and alleged drug markets, because the little boats the administration has been bombing can't race their way across 1000+ (terrestrial) miles from Aruba to Florida. OK, Puerto Rico is a bit closer, but yknowwhatimean.
- jrs235 11mo ago
  I don't think this Administration/Executive Branch recognizes Puerto Rico (populace) to be American or part of the U.S. except only in as much as it can do whatever it wants there.
strictnein 11mo ago
Not saying this is called for or legal or anything of the sort, but you can find pictures of some of the boats being destroyed. These aren't fishing boats: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9k2w8ell0o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9k2w8ell0o https://abcnews.go.com/International/4-killed-latest-us-strike-alleged-drug-boat/story?id=127000424 https://abcnews.go.com/International/4-killed-latest-us-stri... Again, I don't support these actions, just pointing out that at least some of these boats are very obviously being used for one thing and one thing only.
- standardUser 11mo ago
  Great, then track them to their destination and make arrests. I can't conceive of any capital crime they've committed, can you? Plus, then there's a chance to disrupt someone other than the lowest-level operators.
  - bdangubic 11mo ago
    > track them to their destination and make arrests so we gonna invade countries, US military boots on the ground at ports where the destination might be? :)
    - standardUser 11mo ago
      If these drugs aren't coming into the United States then what in the fuck are we even doing? Murdering people just to create minor disruptions in foreign supply chains?
      - bdangubic 11mo ago
        we are trying to overthrow the government of course :)
- burkaman 11mo ago
  > very obviously being used for one thing and one thing only Can you explain this? I agree they are not fishing boats but I don't understand how anything beyond that is obvious. Is smuggling the only possible use for that boat? Are drugs the only thing that can be smuggled?
esbranson 11mo ago
> “Fishing doesn’t pay enough to buy a motor like that,” said fisherman Junior González[1] [1] https://apnews.com/article/1061debe2f983ef7bc9666d3f002b3a0 https://apnews.com/article/1061debe2f983ef7bc9666d3f002b3a0
- metabagel 11mo ago
  Maybe so, but the administration claims that these people are not just drug smugglers, but narco-terrorists. Normally, suspected drug smugglers should be interdicted, boarded, and inspected. The Coast Guard and U.S. Navy train for this. It's standard operating procedure. It's not normal to destroy boats which don't pose any immediate threat. It would be acceptable to fire on a boat which refuses to permit boarding and inspection, assuming the interdiction itself is legal under maritime law. Unless there is an imminent threat, you've got to give people a course of action which they can take to avoid their vessel being fired upon: turn back, change course, submit to boarding and inspection, etc.
  - esbranson 11mo ago
    If they are indeed accused of being narco-terrorists, then they are enemy combatants, and there are no such requirements in either international or US law.
    - SauciestGNU 11mo ago
      I accuse you of being a narcoterrorist. Hellfire incoming. Goodbye.
      - esbranson 11mo ago
        That's how war works. Narcoterrorists are no different.
        UncleMeat 11mo ago
        Narcoterrorism isn’t a real thing in this context. Repurposing the term “terrorism” to refer to people who aren’t seeking to enact political aims by doing violence against civilians is ridiculous.
ericmcer 11mo ago
My conspiracy theory is that the administration recognizes the current media climate (a flood of frantic but ephemeral media/social media coverage of everything he does) and are leveraging it to combat things like immigration and drug-smuggling down. The ICE deportation shit seemed nuts at first. Sure deport undocumented immigrants, but have some compassion and sympathy. Things like deporting a mom and dad at their kids birthday party seemed psychotic and bad for everyone. Then I read that 80% of the deportations are a result immigrants turning themselves in out of fear. Whether intentional or not the most effective thing ICE did was creating a media frenzy that resulted in people turning themselves in out of fear. Ironically the people trying to "hold ICE accountable" by blowing them up on social media have caused way more deportations than ICE themselves. Maybe this is the same thing? If all of a sudden a few smugglers getting blown up goes viral the next fisherman who wants to make some extra money might take a pass. The alternative is Trump is just crazy and evil and power hungry (could be easily true based on his past), but I tend to get suspicious whenever we attribute a humans motivations to: "yeah they are crazy/evil/bad" because people are much more nuanced. Also I know I am gonna get downvoted to oblivion lol
NoMoreNicksLeft 11mo ago
>Seems like we're bombing a bunch of low level, poverty stricken fisherman who occasionally bring a load of drugs from point A to point B. If I understand things correctly, no one's denying that this is what they're doing. Furthermore, not only are they denying it, in many people's minds, this is justification. I'm sure that many carjackers had awful childhoods, but when one has a gun to your head you're not really in a mood to pray that no one hurts him.
christkv 11mo ago
Why are you making the assumption that they are poverty stricken fishermen. That kind of boat and engines is not something a poor fisherman would use or own.
- metabagel 11mo ago
  What makes you assume they own the boat? Doesn't seem like this survivor has much money. https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/22/americas/caribbean-strike-survivor-ecuador-drug-smuggling-latam-intl https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/22/americas/caribbean-strike-sur...
deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]

by codyb 11mo ago

Qem 11mo ago

> Seems like we're bombing a bunch of low level, poverty stricken fisherman There is some precedent: https://www.reuters.com/article/world/cia-faulted-in-shooting-down-of-missionary-plane-idUSTRE4AJ9AX/ https://www.reuters.com/article/world/cia-faulted-in-shootin...

teachrdan 11mo ago
Heh, I thought you were going to link to this: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/6/us-navy-seals-killed-north-korean-civilians-during-botched-mission-report https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/6/us-navy-seals-killed...
steveBK123 11mo ago
Reading a GWOT era CIA book and.. you'll never guess where some of the guys responsible for this shootdown ended up next..

bad_haircut72 11mo ago

Im not actually in support of killing these people but I have to say, people seem to gloss over that each boatload of these drugs literally destroys multiple American families. People who have lost someone (either through death or just throwing their life away) to drugs will tell you these "poor fishermen" are murderers, who in no way extend the kind of empathy to us that we're expected to show them. It does get very complicated when you consider they're probably under a lot of "carrot AND stick" from the cartels... but the damage they do is real.

victorbjorklund 11mo ago
Would you accept other countries blowing up Americans because some Americans bring drugs and other things into other countries?
- bad_haircut72 11mo ago
  Singapore has given many foreigners the death penalty for drug smuggling and I couldnt care less actually If youre implying the people being killed are innocent countrymen of the real criminals then of course I object. Everything I have said applies to people actually comitting crimes
  - Qem 11mo ago
    "Penalty" is the key word here. Like, issued by a judge, after proper judgement according to the law of the land. Not random shooting people without any due process.
    - bad_haircut72 11mo ago
      This will definitely get lost in the conversation but like I said right up front, I dont actually agree with killing them. It seems that we ought to be able to intercept these boats and process them as suspects of a crime. It just rubs me the wrong way how every issue gets written up as a one-sided narrative of good vs evil depending on who you support politically.
  - lazide 11mo ago
    The issue here is we have zero evidence any actual crimes were being committed - because we blew up the evidence from afar before we even saw it. Seems rather incompatible with a justice system, and hard to distinguish from random military action.
  - victorbjorklund 11mo ago
    After their day in court. We are talking about killing Americans without evidence and without due process.

loeg 11mo ago

And the bombs are relatively expensive, when bullets are cheap. Even if you don't mind eroding the rights of drug traffickers, it's a wasteful way to do the enforcement action.

richard_todd 11mo ago
If I'm considering becoming a drug runner, and I hear "sometimes they arrest you" I'd say "so what?" If I hear "sometimes you get shot at", I'd take my chances and shoot back. But if I keep hearing about missiles obliterating drug runners with no warning... maybe I just stay home.
- hshdhdhj4444 11mo ago
  You’re right. I’m sure the drug runner recruitment ad response rate has plummeted /s. People don’t choose to be drug runners…
- standardUser 11mo ago
  All evidence suggests that harsh enforcement can not, does not and will not stop the drug trade from thriving.
- bilbo0s 11mo ago
  Again, I'm just suggesting that maybe cartels make fishermen the proverbial "offer they can't refuse". I'm just wondering if it would be more effective, and far less expensive, to target the subjects making these offers?
- davidw 11mo ago
  Maybe we should try the same thing with people running red lights.
- kelnos 11mo ago
  Decades of the War on Drugs would seem to disagree with your interpretation. Escalating deterrents doesn't work.

Terr_ 11mo ago

> from point A to point B. Plus neither point is anywhere close to US territory and alleged drug markets, because the little boats the administration has been bombing can't race their way across 1000+ (terrestrial) miles from Aruba to Florida. OK, Puerto Rico is a bit closer, but yknowwhatimean.

jrs235 11mo ago
I don't think this Administration/Executive Branch recognizes Puerto Rico (populace) to be American or part of the U.S. except only in as much as it can do whatever it wants there.

strictnein 11mo ago

Not saying this is called for or legal or anything of the sort, but you can find pictures of some of the boats being destroyed. These aren't fishing boats: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9k2w8ell0o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9k2w8ell0o https://abcnews.go.com/International/4-killed-latest-us-strike-alleged-drug-boat/story?id=127000424 https://abcnews.go.com/International/4-killed-latest-us-stri... Again, I don't support these actions, just pointing out that at least some of these boats are very obviously being used for one thing and one thing only.

standardUser 11mo ago
Great, then track them to their destination and make arrests. I can't conceive of any capital crime they've committed, can you? Plus, then there's a chance to disrupt someone other than the lowest-level operators.
- bdangubic 11mo ago
  > track them to their destination and make arrests so we gonna invade countries, US military boots on the ground at ports where the destination might be? :)
  - standardUser 11mo ago
    If these drugs aren't coming into the United States then what in the fuck are we even doing? Murdering people just to create minor disruptions in foreign supply chains?
    - bdangubic 11mo ago
      we are trying to overthrow the government of course :)
burkaman 11mo ago
> very obviously being used for one thing and one thing only Can you explain this? I agree they are not fishing boats but I don't understand how anything beyond that is obvious. Is smuggling the only possible use for that boat? Are drugs the only thing that can be smuggled?

esbranson 11mo ago

> “Fishing doesn’t pay enough to buy a motor like that,” said fisherman Junior González[1] [1] https://apnews.com/article/1061debe2f983ef7bc9666d3f002b3a0 https://apnews.com/article/1061debe2f983ef7bc9666d3f002b3a0

metabagel 11mo ago
Maybe so, but the administration claims that these people are not just drug smugglers, but narco-terrorists. Normally, suspected drug smugglers should be interdicted, boarded, and inspected. The Coast Guard and U.S. Navy train for this. It's standard operating procedure. It's not normal to destroy boats which don't pose any immediate threat. It would be acceptable to fire on a boat which refuses to permit boarding and inspection, assuming the interdiction itself is legal under maritime law. Unless there is an imminent threat, you've got to give people a course of action which they can take to avoid their vessel being fired upon: turn back, change course, submit to boarding and inspection, etc.
- esbranson 11mo ago
  If they are indeed accused of being narco-terrorists, then they are enemy combatants, and there are no such requirements in either international or US law.
  - SauciestGNU 11mo ago
    I accuse you of being a narcoterrorist. Hellfire incoming. Goodbye.
    - esbranson 11mo ago
      That's how war works. Narcoterrorists are no different.
      - UncleMeat 11mo ago
        Narcoterrorism isn’t a real thing in this context. Repurposing the term “terrorism” to refer to people who aren’t seeking to enact political aims by doing violence against civilians is ridiculous.

ericmcer 11mo ago

My conspiracy theory is that the administration recognizes the current media climate (a flood of frantic but ephemeral media/social media coverage of everything he does) and are leveraging it to combat things like immigration and drug-smuggling down. The ICE deportation shit seemed nuts at first. Sure deport undocumented immigrants, but have some compassion and sympathy. Things like deporting a mom and dad at their kids birthday party seemed psychotic and bad for everyone. Then I read that 80% of the deportations are a result immigrants turning themselves in out of fear. Whether intentional or not the most effective thing ICE did was creating a media frenzy that resulted in people turning themselves in out of fear. Ironically the people trying to "hold ICE accountable" by blowing them up on social media have caused way more deportations than ICE themselves. Maybe this is the same thing? If all of a sudden a few smugglers getting blown up goes viral the next fisherman who wants to make some extra money might take a pass. The alternative is Trump is just crazy and evil and power hungry (could be easily true based on his past), but I tend to get suspicious whenever we attribute a humans motivations to: "yeah they are crazy/evil/bad" because people are much more nuanced. Also I know I am gonna get downvoted to oblivion lol

NoMoreNicksLeft 11mo ago

>Seems like we're bombing a bunch of low level, poverty stricken fisherman who occasionally bring a load of drugs from point A to point B. If I understand things correctly, no one's denying that this is what they're doing. Furthermore, not only are they denying it, in many people's minds, this is justification. I'm sure that many carjackers had awful childhoods, but when one has a gun to your head you're not really in a mood to pray that no one hurts him.

christkv 11mo ago

Why are you making the assumption that they are poverty stricken fishermen. That kind of boat and engines is not something a poor fisherman would use or own.

metabagel 11mo ago
What makes you assume they own the boat? Doesn't seem like this survivor has much money. https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/22/americas/caribbean-strike-survivor-ecuador-drug-smuggling-latam-intl https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/22/americas/caribbean-strike-sur...

deleted 11mo ago

[deleted]