Colombia's president says boat struck by US was carrying Colombians (opens in new tab)

It's a modern day Roman colosseum event. Human lives are throwaway entertainment, and the more you kill, the more your political base gets fired up and outright overjoyed. From a political standpoint, there's no longer any consequence for killing small time nobodies with no name. It's only beneficial for a politician. And this phenomenon is spreading to more and more countries.

But those same people who are celebrating these killings, the same people who are ordering killings for their political gain, will say "It's time we come together to condemn political violence" when a small guy strikes someone else. It's interesting.

There were reports of Miller asking whether the administration could simply blow up boats that were presumably bringing illegal immigrants to the US during the first Trump admin. Now they are doing it but with the cover of "these are drug traffickers."

Of course I'm not naive enough to expect anybody outside of a few noble souls to actually disobey orders when push comes to shove, but for years people in and around the military have assured me that officers do training to prepare for rejecting illegal orders, and so I shouldn't worry.

And these orders seem pretty prima facie blatantly illegal.

Drug users need to be helped if we want to stop the problem.

I really can't see how it's possible to think this, even with recent history[0].

[0] https://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/23/politics/countries-obama-...

and likes war crimes.

Because what the US is doing is against international law, and they know it. US sovereignty extends 12 nautical miles from its coastline. Within that boundary, the US has full authority to enforce its laws however it sees fit.

Beyond those 12 miles, you're in international waters, where maritime law applies - and maritime law, like U.S. law, requires due process. You can't simply claim someone is breaking the law, execute them without trial, and then destroy the evidence that could prove guilt or innocence.

That’s called an extrajudicial execution, and it exceeds the constitutional powers of the President of the United States.

Trump is claiming - without presenting evidence - that this is a matter of national defense and therefore falls under his authority as Commander in Chief. But Congress has not authorized war, and drug trafficking does not constitute an armed attack under international law.