For anyone who has been closely following Asha's discussions on this particular subject, I just finished reading an excellent interview from Politico (link here: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/11/01/trump-boat-strikes-international-law-interview-00632077) that approaches the topic from the perspective of international criminality. Both the interviewer and interviewee are really knowledgeable, thoughtful and reasoned "experts" and I found it to be well worth the read. Also, Asha, should you happen to read this comment, I hope you find time to check this article out; I honestly think you would find it interesting and valuable: you might even want to include it as a reference in one of your next posts.
"Three hops away"? WTF? So, lets go with a conservative estimate:
I know 100 people;
Each of those 100, also know 100 people = 10,000;
Each of those 10,000 know 100 people = 1,000,000
So... if any of those one million people is a drug trafficker, (which I couldn't possibly know about), it's OK to fire a missile at me if I'm out on a boat in the Caribbean.
It may be time to move to a US military base along with several other US government officials and their families.
You may only know 100 people. I have several thousand contacts in my personal phone book. I may be three hops away from 1/3 of the population of the USA. However, due to my professional career, many of my contacts, coworkers, relatives, etc., are located in various countries around the world. So, thanks for the warning.
On the other hand, some of my associates are merely one or two hops away from government officials, military officers at the Pentagon, etc.
Trump does this thing where he’ll try to get a response through the media to see what the response will be. He did that with this third term. Like I’m doing a great job the economy is doing so good. And if he doesn’t hear a pushback than it’s like game on. And just deflect and say well I think the people like it. And he threw it out there. And the 2028 Trump caps in the meeting with Jeffries and Shuemer just didn’t happen. It wasn’t just a coincidence. Now that becomes a talking point and now it’s out there. So no one is surprised when he explores it. He’ll try the question is will the media allow this and talk about it and push back? Will the lawmakers push back?? At this point who knows???? He feels emboldened so I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried it. Great journalism on this. This is why I say you’re the best. Because you talk about this stuff.
If you have off-year municipal elections on Tuesday like Ohio and Pennsylvania do, please don’t forget to go vote. Those elections are still just as important as the ones in even-numbered years. I’ve been helping a lady with her run for the local school board and I hope she wins her election.
I could be totally offer my rocker here, but I think the illegal boat attacks in the Caribbean and Pacific are the beginning of an effort to foment regime change in Colombia and Venezuela. In a quid pro quo, we would back rebel forces and they would consent to form the southern edge of our new sphere of influence (which would eventually extend through Canada to Greenland if all goes as planned), and allow us to put naval bases in their countries.
With the ability to execute military operations from Colombia and Venezuela, it would be a matter of time before the U.S. blockades the Panama Canal from both sides and claims Panama as another country in our sphere.
"Our army is weak; country is falling apart" - shocking appeal to Putin from Kremlin propagandists--@ 4:10 UN: [US boat strikes] "Unacceptable and must stop." Kanal13
Its so clear trump is banking on the idea that his mass followers did not attend the basic US Law and Society junior high school classes where the teacher engages the students with what seems a simple scenario and asks “should the person be punished even if law enforcement did not read the perp his rights…” or “even if the search was found to be illegal…” and all us kids would be saying “yeah punish the guy”, and then the teacher explains that in England, the King could have anybody locked up and there were no “illegal search and seizure” rights of the accused, and then it sinks in that what may seem right and proper and obviously correct may look very different by adding a few real life examples of terrible injustices done either because police were not as sharp as others or, the police may have an improper reason for making up false accusations. Trump is reading middle America and thinking the masses will come down on his side or he simply doesn’t care. He has a plan and he’s moving forward on it with or without any people’s assent. Asha you make the absolutely right point when you say this is coming to a neighborhood near you. It already is occurring in large cities and small towns across America. Attorney Ben Crump if he was writing my comment would likely say “its been happening to Black people in inner cities and small town America the whole time that the U.S. existed but glad its now a concern to White and other shades of Americans too.” Just how far has this concern spread across the rest of America? Revealing just what a nerd I am, early this morning I was getting ready to go out and do some errands and while making my breakfast I was watching a youtube video made Thursday called The Directors. It was a thoughtful discussion on intelligence agencies under trump these last 9 months as compared to pre trump intell agency processes & policies, filmed at George Mason University and the former NSA & ODNI Director Retired Air Force General Michael Hayden was one of the participants and former CIA Director John Brennan was a discussant, and at a certain point in the discussion there was agreement that individual rights and freedoms were under attack by the trump administration. It’s enough to drive one back to bed and under the covers waiting to wake up from this nightmare. But alas we are awake. It’s no dream. We must fight them. We must. But Intelligently.
Thanks Asha: I won't be going on a Caribbean. cruise anytime soon. Can the US coast guard board any boat in international waters legally. Why don't they just board the vessels and arrest the dealers. They are basically just murdering folks , after a drone strike on a small boat, would leave very little evidence of a crime. It seem that if you have more than one outboard engine on your boat its a slam dunk . Do they recover any of the dead dealers or fishermen after the strike?? they did at one strike locate two living souls and sent them home, now if they were drug dealers , why not prosecute them. The whole government seem to be operating in a haphazard way. The DOJ just assumes you are guilty and there assumption is proof. The military just assumes a boat is loaded with drugs and blows them sky high on an assumption. Some of the folks think Trump is a great business man.
Asha, I apologize for being a calendar nag, but is the Class Guest Speaker session with John Witt on Tuesday, Nov. 11, or on Wednesday, Nov. 12? You listed Wednesday, Nov. 11, which is ambiguous.
Now that Trump/Patel are firing FBI agents and AUSAs for the crime of following leads on the Trump/Russia investigation, anything to say about that?
Now that Trump/Patel are threatening FBI agents and AUSAs into outing their colleagues and fellow travelers for the crime of working assigned leads, what say you?
Now that Trump/Patel are only promoting FBI agents to senior positions if they are not eligible for retirement, so they can be threatened and compromised with career-ending firings, anything to say about that?
Now that the FBI is becoming “copified” with police applicants, camo, face masks, long guns, civilian-abusive tactics, now a rubber stamp with long-lost credibility everything Patel, the DOJ and Trump say, anything to say about that?
Anything to say about the Society and the FBIAA (an association I helped start) keeping quiet in the face of attacks on FBI credibility and reliability? It’s amazing how administrative types that never actually worked cases tend to capitalize on the work of thousands of agents that went before them, the people in the trenches, the people in court to put shine on their apple.
Always appreciate your retrospectives for context, information and perspective. Speaking of retro, may I return to the initial phase of our class on mis- and disinformation? Was reading about Operation Gladio, and ended stuck in the conundrum of trying to decide whether the acts carried out in Western Europe as part of this operation were really false flags being run by the CIA and western intelligence agencies or actual operations by the KGB. When faced with this kind of conflicting evidence, how does one parse the fog to see the reality?
If it's a stupid and baseless argument, you can be sure that Stephen Miller was involved in the decision.
For anyone who has been closely following Asha's discussions on this particular subject, I just finished reading an excellent interview from Politico (link here: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/11/01/trump-boat-strikes-international-law-interview-00632077) that approaches the topic from the perspective of international criminality. Both the interviewer and interviewee are really knowledgeable, thoughtful and reasoned "experts" and I found it to be well worth the read. Also, Asha, should you happen to read this comment, I hope you find time to check this article out; I honestly think you would find it interesting and valuable: you might even want to include it as a reference in one of your next posts.
Thank you, I will check it out!
FYI: your “This New York Times piece reports that Pentagon officials…” link actually links to CNN.
Sorry for that -- it's fixed in the piece but here is the link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/us/politics/trump-democrats-boat-strikes.html?unlocked_article_code=1.yE8.iNTk.VJ331zNfrJzX&smid=url-share
Awesome… thanks!
"Three hops away"? WTF? So, lets go with a conservative estimate:
I know 100 people;
Each of those 100, also know 100 people = 10,000;
Each of those 10,000 know 100 people = 1,000,000
So... if any of those one million people is a drug trafficker, (which I couldn't possibly know about), it's OK to fire a missile at me if I'm out on a boat in the Caribbean.
That is seriously, fucking, insane!
They could fire a missile at your residence.
It may be time to move to a US military base along with several other US government officials and their families.
You may only know 100 people. I have several thousand contacts in my personal phone book. I may be three hops away from 1/3 of the population of the USA. However, due to my professional career, many of my contacts, coworkers, relatives, etc., are located in various countries around the world. So, thanks for the warning.
On the other hand, some of my associates are merely one or two hops away from government officials, military officers at the Pentagon, etc.
Trump does this thing where he’ll try to get a response through the media to see what the response will be. He did that with this third term. Like I’m doing a great job the economy is doing so good. And if he doesn’t hear a pushback than it’s like game on. And just deflect and say well I think the people like it. And he threw it out there. And the 2028 Trump caps in the meeting with Jeffries and Shuemer just didn’t happen. It wasn’t just a coincidence. Now that becomes a talking point and now it’s out there. So no one is surprised when he explores it. He’ll try the question is will the media allow this and talk about it and push back? Will the lawmakers push back?? At this point who knows???? He feels emboldened so I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried it. Great journalism on this. This is why I say you’re the best. Because you talk about this stuff.
If you have off-year municipal elections on Tuesday like Ohio and Pennsylvania do, please don’t forget to go vote. Those elections are still just as important as the ones in even-numbered years. I’ve been helping a lady with her run for the local school board and I hope she wins her election.
Where is the US Congress on this?
I could be totally offer my rocker here, but I think the illegal boat attacks in the Caribbean and Pacific are the beginning of an effort to foment regime change in Colombia and Venezuela. In a quid pro quo, we would back rebel forces and they would consent to form the southern edge of our new sphere of influence (which would eventually extend through Canada to Greenland if all goes as planned), and allow us to put naval bases in their countries.
With the ability to execute military operations from Colombia and Venezuela, it would be a matter of time before the U.S. blockades the Panama Canal from both sides and claims Panama as another country in our sphere.
"Our army is weak; country is falling apart" - shocking appeal to Putin from Kremlin propagandists--@ 4:10 UN: [US boat strikes] "Unacceptable and must stop." Kanal13
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DPtO8yLzJbo
Its so clear trump is banking on the idea that his mass followers did not attend the basic US Law and Society junior high school classes where the teacher engages the students with what seems a simple scenario and asks “should the person be punished even if law enforcement did not read the perp his rights…” or “even if the search was found to be illegal…” and all us kids would be saying “yeah punish the guy”, and then the teacher explains that in England, the King could have anybody locked up and there were no “illegal search and seizure” rights of the accused, and then it sinks in that what may seem right and proper and obviously correct may look very different by adding a few real life examples of terrible injustices done either because police were not as sharp as others or, the police may have an improper reason for making up false accusations. Trump is reading middle America and thinking the masses will come down on his side or he simply doesn’t care. He has a plan and he’s moving forward on it with or without any people’s assent. Asha you make the absolutely right point when you say this is coming to a neighborhood near you. It already is occurring in large cities and small towns across America. Attorney Ben Crump if he was writing my comment would likely say “its been happening to Black people in inner cities and small town America the whole time that the U.S. existed but glad its now a concern to White and other shades of Americans too.” Just how far has this concern spread across the rest of America? Revealing just what a nerd I am, early this morning I was getting ready to go out and do some errands and while making my breakfast I was watching a youtube video made Thursday called The Directors. It was a thoughtful discussion on intelligence agencies under trump these last 9 months as compared to pre trump intell agency processes & policies, filmed at George Mason University and the former NSA & ODNI Director Retired Air Force General Michael Hayden was one of the participants and former CIA Director John Brennan was a discussant, and at a certain point in the discussion there was agreement that individual rights and freedoms were under attack by the trump administration. It’s enough to drive one back to bed and under the covers waiting to wake up from this nightmare. But alas we are awake. It’s no dream. We must fight them. We must. But Intelligently.
Thanks Asha: I won't be going on a Caribbean. cruise anytime soon. Can the US coast guard board any boat in international waters legally. Why don't they just board the vessels and arrest the dealers. They are basically just murdering folks , after a drone strike on a small boat, would leave very little evidence of a crime. It seem that if you have more than one outboard engine on your boat its a slam dunk . Do they recover any of the dead dealers or fishermen after the strike?? they did at one strike locate two living souls and sent them home, now if they were drug dealers , why not prosecute them. The whole government seem to be operating in a haphazard way. The DOJ just assumes you are guilty and there assumption is proof. The military just assumes a boat is loaded with drugs and blows them sky high on an assumption. Some of the folks think Trump is a great business man.
Why did the Pentagon claim *3* degrees for valid targets? Why not 2, or 4? Is 3 a standard thing, or something else they’re basing this on?
Asha, I apologize for being a calendar nag, but is the Class Guest Speaker session with John Witt on Tuesday, Nov. 11, or on Wednesday, Nov. 12? You listed Wednesday, Nov. 11, which is ambiguous.
So sorry about that! It's Tuesday, November 11th (and you're not being a nag -- I appreciate your flagging it! I corrected it)
Now that Trump/Patel are firing FBI agents and AUSAs for the crime of following leads on the Trump/Russia investigation, anything to say about that?
Now that Trump/Patel are threatening FBI agents and AUSAs into outing their colleagues and fellow travelers for the crime of working assigned leads, what say you?
Now that Trump/Patel are only promoting FBI agents to senior positions if they are not eligible for retirement, so they can be threatened and compromised with career-ending firings, anything to say about that?
Now that the FBI is becoming “copified” with police applicants, camo, face masks, long guns, civilian-abusive tactics, now a rubber stamp with long-lost credibility everything Patel, the DOJ and Trump say, anything to say about that?
Anything to say about the Society and the FBIAA (an association I helped start) keeping quiet in the face of attacks on FBI credibility and reliability? It’s amazing how administrative types that never actually worked cases tend to capitalize on the work of thousands of agents that went before them, the people in the trenches, the people in court to put shine on their apple.
Always appreciate your retrospectives for context, information and perspective. Speaking of retro, may I return to the initial phase of our class on mis- and disinformation? Was reading about Operation Gladio, and ended stuck in the conundrum of trying to decide whether the acts carried out in Western Europe as part of this operation were really false flags being run by the CIA and western intelligence agencies or actual operations by the KGB. When faced with this kind of conflicting evidence, how does one parse the fog to see the reality?