Take that, Oslo!

As I sit down to write this week's drivel, it is Sunday, December 7th. You know, that "infamy" date declared by a Democratic President that the current one would call some sort of "lunatic, leftist." It also marked the beginning of the last congressionally declared war the US fought. In fact, here is the list of officially declared wars ...

Declared wars and countries 

• War of 1812: Great Britain
• Mexican-American War: Mexico (1846)
• Spanish-American War: Spain (1898)
• World War I: Germany (1917) and Austria-Hungary (1917)
• World War II: Japan (1941), Germany (1941), Italy (1941), Bulgaria (1942), Hungary (1942), and Rumania (1942) 

We don't really do that anymore. We have congressional resolutions like the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that LBJ tucked under his arm and ran for daylight leading to ten years in Viet Nam. The U.S. entered the Korean War under a United Nations resolution, with President Truman framing it as an "international police action" to avoid a broader conflict.

The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) (Public Law 107-40), passed by the U.S. Congress on September 14, 2001, granted the President broad authority to use force against those behind the 9/11 attacks, which launched the global War on Terror. That, of course, led to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But now, we are sending an aircraft carrier battle group with subs and everything to blow up speedboats in the Caribbean. Looking back, the way we once dealt with drug runners now seems quaint.

And before my MAGA friends and relatives get their collective knickers in a twist, drug runners and drug peddlers are uniquely bad people. They are criminals and deserve punishment. There, happy?

But what is the punishment for drug smugglers? I consulted the Google machine...

Federal law imposes stiff mandatory minimum sentences and high fines, particularly for large quantities or repeat offenses. 

• Mandatory Minimums: Many federal trafficking convictions carry mandatory minimum sentences of 5, 10, or 20 years, or even life imprisonment, depending on the drug amount and prior record.
• Fines: Individual fines can range from $1 million to tens of millions of dollars.
• Aggravating Factors:
  • If the offense results in death or serious bodily injury, the mandatory minimum sentence increases significantly, often to 20 years or life imprisonment.
  • Crimes committed near schools, playgrounds, or youth centers also incur enhanced penalties.

Nowhere on the list is the punishment death. So let's put it simply, and there's no one better qualified than me to put things simply.

You're a regular, old-fashioned police officer walking an old-fashioned beat. You round the corner and see a guy obviously selling drugs in small baggies. Weed, meth, coke, fentanyl, you name it, he has it right out in the open. OK, he's a particularly dumb dealer, but an obvious one nonetheless.

So you walk up and shoot him. What happens then?

You go on trial for murder. If he didn't shoot at you first or show a gun, you go on trial for murder. If he did have a gun, but didn't shoot at you, you go on trial for manslaughter.

But, according to the folks who are somehow through some galactic-level cock-up now ludicrously in charge of this country, if you call them Narco-Terrorists, you can blow them up anywhere. And our self-titled Secretary of War and ostentatiously alpha male cosplayer, Pete Hegseth, says he will have your back. Really, right behind you, buddy. OK, pointing at you, but still right behind.

And the latest Navy Admiral getting the "I got your back" treatment is Admiral Frank Bradley, who told a congressional hearing that he was the one who decided that after blowing up a suspected drug boat, and seeing two survivors clinging to the wreckage, he needed to bomb them again. That is clearly the equivalent of shooting prisoners.

We do have a picture of the two survivors who were reportedly waving for help.

Anyway, after watching the drone footage of the two strike incident, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and that last part is explanatory, talked to the press, his neck swelling with pride, and said...

No doubt, because that boat was heading straight for Little Rock. He also said that from the video he saw, the survivors were trying to "get back in the fight." Of course, there had been no fight to get back into, but no matter, they could have paddled away, I guess, if left there.

There is some incredible footage of a remarkable US Coast Guard sniper in a helicopter bringing a smuggling boat to a halt by hitting the engines, allowing a cutter to pull alongside and arrest the men on board.

So, the cost of a Carrier Battle Group and 2 $150,000 Hellfire missiles to take out a speedboat, versus a .50 caliber rifle round from a Coast Guard chopper? And the Coast Guard guys get to question the smugglers, find out locations, chain of command, and such. I can't make the math, math here. But then again, there is the entertainment factor...

Turns out, though, not everyone is on board with Pistol Pete's strategy. This guy is Admiral Alvin Holsey...

A 37-year veteran of the Navy, he was in charge of the Southern Command when this idea was cooked up, and he didn't like it. He is said to have argued with Patriot Pete that it isn't Kosher and quite illegal. 15 minutes after that contentious Pentagon meeting, the Admiral submitted his resignation and is retiring 3 years early.

Now, he's going to testify to the Senate as well.

But this operation, as questionable as it is, seems to be the opening bell of our new 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) of the United States of America, revealed this week. Political writer Heather Cox Richardson put it this way..

The document reorients the U.S. away from traditional European allies toward Russia. The authors reject Europe’s current course, suggesting that Europe is in danger of “civilizational erasure” and calling for the U.S. to “help Europe correct its current trajectory” by “restoring Europe’s civilizational self-confidence and Western identity.” Allowing continued migration will render Europe “unrecognizable” within twenty years, the authors say, and they back away from NATO by suggesting that as they become more multicultural, Europe’s societies might have a different relationship to NATO than “those who signed the NATO charter.”

In contrast to their complaints about the liberal democracies in Europe, the document’s authors do not suggest that Russia is a country of concern to the U.S., a dramatic change from past NSS documents. Instead, they complain that “European officials…hold unrealistic expectations” for an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine, and that European governments are suppressing far-right political parties.

So, NATO is yesterday's news, Ukraine may as well give up, we'll just look after this hemisphere, and China can have the Pacific. Oh, and Europe is getting too brown for our liking. Well, that and not right-wing enough.

And while Europe is getting too brown, the rest of the world is waiting for the US to get less orange.

And as for Russia, that relationship goes back to his first visit in 1987, according to the book "Collusion" by Luke Harding. You can read a chapter about Russia grooming Trump at Politico by clicking here. Trump even mentioned it in his book The Art of the Deal.

So, this week, a correspondent from CNN, female of course, is stupid and nasty, Somalis and indeed the whole country are garbage, and the Governor he ran against in 2024 is retarded.

Did Nick Fuentes write this? He would certainly approve of the President's comments about Somalia.

Nah, probably just Stephen Miller.

And as for the economy, you just get a noun, a verb, and Joe Biden sucks.

But he did get a peace prize finally. OK, it was a made-up one from the international soccer governing body, but hey, peace is peace, right?

I have one as well, saluting my baseball achievements. Here is a photo...

OK, it's about 3 inches high and every kid who turned 12 that year got one, but, hey, it's a trophy, right? And like the new Peace Prize, it just makes me feel better that it's on my bookshelf. And you can tell by the dust how often I take it down to gaze admiringly.

I just tell everyone it was for Most Valuable Player. No one will check, and they'll all compliment me.

Like a Trump cabinet meeting.