You can always count on the media to focus on the wrong thing.

[drray23]

So, they are easily tricked into following whatever narrative the gop is pushing.
Right now, everybody is focused on :

1) Was striking a second time to kill survivors of the Venezuelan boat attack a war crime
2) Were the people on these boats drug traffickers .


Both of these are besides the point. The act of striking a civilian boat in international waters is already a crime.

They can intercept and board the boats ( even that is questionable in international waters) but definitely not slaughter people arbitrarily.

Likewise, the president can not just declare a group , a terrorist group and then use that to say he is authorized to kill them. No guards and barriers.

Anyhow, as usual the magats are going to get away with it.

[NewHendoLib]

1. It's been many years since I counted on the media for anything of

real value.

It's all about $$$$$.

[spooky3]

2. Thank you! This has bothered me since the first boat was hit. Nt

[Attilatheblond]

3. If stopping REAL drug shipments is the goal, the Coast Guard does in extremely well

Stop, search, incarcerate crew if drugs found, boat/cargo brought into port under the guns of the USCG

Edited to add: US doesn't get information on the cartel bosses or even the organization from guys blown up at sea. Taking the traffickers into custody makes it possible to get the names of the 'bigger fish' up the distribution chain.

What this administration is doing is making propaganda porn for their dwindling MAGA fools.

[SheltieLover]

8. If stopping drug influx were the point, he wouldn't have just pardoned that shitbag

He should look closer to home, beginning with the mirror & expanding to his son.

[Attilatheblond]

10. Yep. It's like he thinks all of us are as dim and forgetful as his die-hard maga cultists.

How ya doin, SheltieLover?

[SheltieLover]

11. Exactly! Hoping Aftyn wins big in TN today.

That will.cause magat heads to explode. Lol

I'm ok, thx. How are you doing?

[slightlv]

17. Yes... propaganda porn! A new phrase I like a lot!

It's also paving the way to gain control of the country and its resources, as well as any money it has in sovereign funds. Our corporate masters are already carving up the country via hedge funds, etc. And trump is giving it to them as payment for services rendered to him by them. It's not at all about drugs, and its certainly NOT about helping the American people.

The entire "War on Drugs" has been a ruse for a government slush fund, starting with Nixon. Although Nixon's reason for starting the whole damn thing is his intense hatred for POC and "hippies." However, since his days in office, the entire concept has been one used to incarcerate POC and other non-conservatives, and create a slush fund for black ops projects... like overturning governments in third world countries, specifically the Central and South American countries. Also throw in there various countries in the Middle East, for good measure, too. We've always done exactly what trump is doing... its just that up until trump, everything was covert and hidden from prying eyes. trump is just doing it in monarchical fashion, out there for everyone to see, daring anyone to do anything to stop him... pageantry for his throne.

If a government was ever truthful and sincere about drugs, they'd be running tests to see which drugs can be used with less physical and/or emotional issues involved... like Pot. Some drugs are worthless, in that any momentary rewards are lost in the great damage they can do. Others, like pot, can be used (in general) without great danger to the individual. Enough of us old hippies alive today are actually proof of that. But beyond actual studies, if they were serious about drugs in the U.S., they would focus on eliminating or relieving the conditions that have people turning to drugs... namely, stress from living in the U.S. on a daily basis, economic disparities, food insecurity, etc. But since the welfare of the general population is not their concern (as opposed to what the Constitution and Declaration state) they could care less what makes people turn to drugs.

Beyond that, this country is a totally reactive country. We don't do pre-emptive well... we react, and usually in the worst possible way to the worst possible sort of circumstances.

[peacebuzzard]

4. Not only have I let go of MSM way back in the Bush era

but have no clue how to use the latest version of a remote control.
I actually wanted to watch a basketball game while overseas and with time to kill before drifting away to sleep. I was on a business trip and staying in a fancy hotel room with a remote control for the huge screen I haven't used since the Gore/Bush debacle over hanging chads.
In the end I just gave up.
No experience with that latest device whatsoever.

[usonian]

5. A word from the Don

[SheltieLover]

7. Exactly!

[twodogsbarking]

16. That was mine but thanks for putting it up. I lack the ability. The rattles are a nice touch.

[usonian]

24. Oh yes, the text. Thanks.

So many graphics.

I use the Free and Open Source GIMP image editor almost all the time, dipping into Apple's Preview app to do much of the text because the GIMP font selector gives me fits.

Teamwork!

[twodogsbarking]

25. Ya dun good.

[SheltieLover]

6. Always pay attention to what they don't say, if you are of a mind to watch them lie

[hay rick]

9. Even-handed coverage...

The media's description of their task is to find a middle perspective between:
1. The insistence on the rule of law by radical, leftist, Democrat hoaxers and
2. Indulging in murderous war crimes by patriots with a strong warrior ethic.
Cue exploding boats and handwringing about the "double-tap."

[robbob]

12. They aren't "tricked": it's called framing the narrative

And it’s what they do. It’s what they always do. I’m disappointed in the elected representatives who go on their shows and don’t call them out. I mean, there should be ZERO discussion of the issue you mentioned seeing them raising. Someone should just say stop it! These are war crimes and acts of war! You can’t just arbitrarily decide to kill people in international waters!

It’s just so sickening.

[slightlv]

19. Always read between the lines with these people.

They can't hide the truth completely... but only those of us with functioning minds can see the truth behind their lies... they hide it so well between their spoken sentences.

[Warpy]

13. Striking a civilian boat in international waters

js appropriate when that boat is carrying contraband, engaged in piracy, or engaged in terrorisem. However, you kind of want to send in a boat after the act to pick up the remains to confirm the reason for the strike.

Back when the Somalis were engaged in large scale piracy, ships from all over the planet thought nothing of blowing them away. I was legal to do so and either the Somalis have run out of surplus speed boats or they've turned away from crime, alt least for now.

What the US is doing is legal, but proof should have been obtained. The two survivors might have provided that proof if a ship had been close enough to pick them up, which is what civilized nations do with survivors, even enemy survivors during a big war. Tgat' is where the real potential crime is, not in the strike on a boat that was most likely carrying contraband.

[Cirsium]

14. It is?

Striking a civilian boat in international waters is appropriate when that boat is carrying contraband? Proof should have been obtained? Shouldn't that happen before we start killing people? "Engaged in terrorism?" The administration has called Democrats to be terrorists. Would open season on all of us be "appropriate" and the hell with probable cause, due process and international law?

But let's say you are right and what the administration is doing is legal and appropriate. Should it be, in your opinion?

[Warpy]

26. How about Ukraine's action against 2 "shadow fleet" tankers in the Black Sea?

Ukraine did it right, using air based drones to start fires in the engine room and waiting for the crews to be evacuated before sending in the Sea Baby drones to finish the job. However, it was sinking nominally civilian ships carrying supposed contraband in international waters.

In Ukraine's case, they targeted empty tankers flying non Russian flags but which were headed toward the one remaining Black Sea oil depot. In the case of the US, they targeted speed boats that carried no fishing gear but which did carry large packages wrapped in plastic. Probable cause isn't what you think it is, not in international waters. Nor is due process, although survivors are to be picked up, not blown up. The latter is why this is a scandal, not the attacks against the strongly suspected drug delivery boats.

[Cirsium]

33. Apparently you are serious

[Bev54]

15. Yeah if any used their brains they would realize this was murder. No proof they are drug dealers,

the boats are too small to make it to US, the first one had 11 people in it, no room for drugs as was pointed out by one military official. It scares the hell out of me that our media in Canada is becoming just as stupid, not calling out direct lies of the Conservatives that are easily disproved, without little research and as a matter of fact many things they have already reported the truth on but seem to be afraid to call it out.

It makes them, the media, look as idiotic as the administration they are covering, do they not see that?

[slightlv]

20. I see this whole thing as trump proving his prior statement

that he could kill someone on 5th Avenue and no one would do anything to him. Isn't this basically the same thing? He's got a good laugh on us, AFAIC. He's just proved himself correct to the entire world. And we're the dumbest people to have fallen for it.

Extrajudicial killing is murder, period, in my mind. If he sets troops on the ground, he is declaring war... and can therefore be charged not only with murder and war crimes, but also treason (since we WILL be at war). But realize, the main reason he is doing this is the $$$ to himself and his cronies, and to halt all elections going forward. Will we let him get away with it? And how do we stop him if even the courts are in his pocket? How do we regain our country when he has killed, fired, or otherwise dismissed the fully functioning non-partisan parts of government? That's where my head is at right now. Will it take a January 6 of our own?

[Bev54]

27. All very good questions that none of us seem to have any answers for. I hope he can be stopped

but so far I have seen little progress. He is jamming up the courts with cases so nothing gets stopped because it is too much for the courts to handle and takes so long. I guess you will see in the next few weeks/months whether SCOTUS has any balls at all to stop him and if not, then I cannot see a way out. The world has moved on because we have all seen the impotence of the so called checks and balances put in place to stop any of this.. The entire system is hamstrung by the inability to adapt and update to real day problems. What I have learned is that the US system is not a democracy at all but is a minority rule system and until and unless it is corrected you are so we say, fucked.

[KS Toronado]

34. A "minority rule system" is the 600 richest Americans

they have all the strings & levers. That should be part of our messaging on the campaign trail.
Billionaires vs the Working Class.

[TBF]

18. And they sure aren't talking about the EPSTEIN FILES -

he has distracted them yet again. Despite the dementia he is still pretty good at manipulating the press.

[pansypoo53219]

21. rupertan. war crimes began w/ GW. cheeney. torture is fine. abu grabe.

the admiral should have fucking said no.

[Moostache]

22. Our current mass media gives whoring one's self a bad name. (n/t)

[Walleye]

23. I agree, the strikes have been unlawful from the beginning. I can't watch the news. I keep screaming at the TV.

[ProfessorGAC]

28. Except...

..the Robert's court idiotically declared anything he does in office is legal.

[drray23]

29. No. They declared he is immune from the consequences of ordering it.

That does not make everything he does legal. That can still be stopped by courts and people who acted on it prosecuted. Of course he could pardon these people but eventually the dam will break and all these enablers will face consequences once Trump is gone.

[ProfessorGAC]

30. A Distinction Without A Difference

He is acting like anything he does is legal because (your words) "They declared he is immune from the consequences."
The legality or lack of is irrelevant if there are no consequences.
It can be legal or not legal. It doesn't matter because illegality is not part of his calculus.

[damifino10]

31. Magicians!

So, where or what has happened to the Epstein fiasco. Diversion at its best.
Please don't let the MSM get away with this flooding of lies to cover their
other flooding of lies. The GOP had JE killed and now they are sweeping it under a rug.
The pedophilic layers of hidden perps are being covered up and the elite folks that are
guilty are shaking in their boots. Nail the SOB's and put this "I can't make this shit up"
shit show come to an end.

Don't let this HAPPEN!!!!!

[BlueTsunami2018]

32. They aren't "tricked" into anything.

The so-called mainstream media are nothing more than mouthpieces for the ruling class and they’ve always been.

None of this is by accident.