Thursday 11th of December 2025
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no evidence that these boats are smuggling fentanyl.....

Last week the Pentagon, under “War Secretary” Pete Hegseth, carried out yet another military attack on a boat in the high seas that the Administration claims is smuggling drugs. That makes 23 boats blown up by the US military in the waters off Latin America – most near Venezuela – and nearly 100 persons killed.

 

The Hegseth Killings Must Stop

by  

 

To date the US government has provided no evidence to back up its claim that these boats are smuggling fentanyl and other dangerous drugs into the United States. The US Drug Enforcement Administration has reported that Venezuela neither manufactures nor transports fentanyl to the US. In fact, the DEA still concludes that Venezuela is barely a minor player in the drug game.

Is this really about drugs? Or is it about “regime change” for Venezuela?

When Adm. Alvin Holsey, the commander of US Southern Command, raised concerns about the legality of bombing boats on the high seas and extrajudicial killing, he was pushed out by Hegseth. His concerns were ignored.

When lawyers at the National Security Council, Pentagon, and Justice Department raised objections to the boat attacks they were reassigned or fired, according to press reports. Finally, President Trump’s own appointed lawyers at the Justice Department came up with a justification for killings. But it’s classified.

Last week the media reported on an incident from September where two survivors of the US strike were left clinging to the wreckage of their boat when the orders came to kill them too. It was clearly an illegal order, even according to the Pentagon’s own Laws of War manual.

Many Americans will not want to hear this, but this entire operation is illegal and immoral – from blowing up survivors to blowing up the boats in the first place. There is no legal justification to use military force against boats on the high sea that pose no imminent military threat to the United States.

Many supporters of this policy argue that the killings are “self-defense” because “narco-terrorists” are using narcotics as weapons against the American people. That is certainly what the Administration is claiming, having invented “narco-terrorist” as a new term to justify the killings.

Sadly, this shows how effective government war propaganda still is. It was used when both Republican and Democratic Administrations wanted to launch wars against Saddam Hussein, against Gaddafi, against Assad, and so on. New slogans are invented and a good deal of the public happily adopts them as their own. Anyone who challenges the new slogans is deemed unpatriotic or weak. When the war goes badly they pretend they were never fooled by government lies. Then it happens again and they repeat the new war slogans.

The “war on drugs” was launched by President Nixon a half century ago. It is obviously another failed government policy. Raising the stakes in a failed war is foolish and counterproductive. The solution to smuggling during alcohol prohibition was not to start bombing the bootleggers. It was to come to terms with basic economics: you cannot kill demand by killing supply.

More Americans die each year from alcohol use than from fentanyl use. Will strikes soon be launched against “alco-terrorists” who are killing Americans? Of course not…we hope. That is the danger of throwing away the laws of war: anything can happen next.

Congress has the authority to stop Secretary Hegseth from killing people on the high seas. It should do so without delay.

https://ronpaulinstitute.org/the-hegseth-killings-must-stop/

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

warmonger....

 

New “Awards industry” Honors Politicians Who Favor War Over Diplomacy

By Alfred de Zayas -

 

It has become a cliché that award ceremonies serve the award givers more than the laureates.

Admittedly, there are many worthy laureates who genuinely care to make sure the prize recipients get merit Recognition, and who could make good use of research and development’s financing.

Nonetheless, it is manifest that most award festivities have become public-relations spectacles, useful occasions for governments, organizations and foundations to get free media attention to advance their geopolitical agendas, confirm skewed narratives, and double-down on “necessary” dogmas.

These celebrations offer platforms to certain political players, legitimize dubious achievements, and provide congenial photo opportunities.

This reality does not negate the fact that many potential laureates deserve recognition from society. Still, there is poetry in anonymity. And it is good so. While we take many “discoveries” for granted, we should also realize that every invention is the brainchild of an individual or group of individuals, and that there is a “before” and “after” the discovery. No one received an award for inventing the wheelbarrow[1] or the sailing boat,[2]manufacturing soap[3] or porcelain,[4] developing algebra and geometry, telescopes, microscopes, dialysis apparatus, the bathroom shower, etc.

Creators do not invent to garner applause, but for the sheer joy of producing something new. Just think of Guido of Arezzo (991-1033),[5] author of the Micrologus,[6] who devised the musical notation system, thereby allowing composers to note down precisely a melody, and the duration and intensity of every note on a staff scale that could then be copied and distributed to chorists and orchestra musicians. Without Guido no Mozart, no Beethoven, no Mahler. What is important is Guido’s revolutionary achievement itself.

There is justification to confer honors and awards when the purpose is to encourage young and old to create things that will benefit society at large.

Creators do not create to generate short-term profit or to obtain an award. That would be a combination of utilitarianism with narcissism, just vanity, as we know from Ecclesiastes 1:2, vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas.

The genuine draftsman and architect does it for free.

Probably many inventors would prefer anonymity, knowing that their contributions have helped humanity.

For instance, an author would like to see his/her books disseminated and read. A scientist would draw satisfaction from the positive results of his/her discovery or invention.

A medical doctor takes solace in the awareness that, notwithstanding death and disease, he has contributed to alleviating pain, saving lives. An artist does not need an Oscar to prove that he/she is a good performer. An Olympic runner does not need a gold medal.

All the Greek Olympians received was a crown of bay laurels.[7] A singer does not need a hand-made trophy of the Eurovision Song contest, but he/she would surely appreciate the thunderous applause.

Some worthy recipients of awards have declined to receive them, or refused to attend the award ceremony, because they do not want to be “used” by the organizers, do not want to endorse the media noise and the utilitarian, materialistic atmosphere surrounding such spectacles.

We remember that, in 1964, Jean-Paul Sartre declined the Nobel Prize for Literature because, as he explained, he never accepted official honors and did not want the category of “writers” to be placed on a pedestal and become an institution.[8]

READ MORE: https://covertactionmagazine.com/2025/12/04/new-awards-industry-honors-politicians-who-favor-war-over-diplomacy/

 

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Nobel winner Machado: 'We must fight for freedom'

Jon Shelton | Richard Connor with AFP, AP, Reuters

Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado surprised Nobel Committee members by announcing that she was on her way to Oslo. Machado's daughter accepted the award on her mother's behalf.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado missed Wednesday's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, but provided a last-minute surprise by announcing that she is in fact on her way to Oslo despite threats from the ruling Socialist government in Caracas warning that she would make herself a fugitive if she "fled" Venezuela.

"Although she will not be able to reach the ceremony and today's events, we are profoundly happy to confirm that she is safe and that she will be with us in Oslo," the Norwegian Nobel Institute said.

Machado's daughter Ana Corina Sosa Machado accepted the award on her behalf and delivered remarks that her mother had written for the occasion.

"It reminds the world that democracy is essential to peace," read the remarks. "And the most important lesson Venezuelans can share with the world, is a lesson forged on a long and difficult path: If we want democracy, we must be prepared to fight for freedom."

"Freedom," she said, "is conquered every day as long as we are ready to fight for her. This is the reason why the cause of Venezuela transcends our borders. A people that chooses to be free not only liberates itself, it contributes to the whole of humanity."

Why is Machado not attending the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony?

Machado has appeared in public only once since going underground in August last year during a tense standoff with President Nicolas Maduro. 

Venezuela's attorney general warned that the 58-year-old would be considered a fugitive if she left the country to pick up the award.

Uncertainty lingered over Machado's plans, until the Nobel Institute said she was due in Oslo but would not attend the ceremony, scheduled for 1 p.m. CET (1200 GMT)

Machado won an opposition primary in 2024 and intended to challenge Maduro, but the government barred her from running for office. Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia became the opposition candidate after Machado was disqualified from running. Machado said Maduro stole the election from Urrutia.

Machado has not appeared in public for 11 months, and was last seen during a protest in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, against Maduro. 

 Why was Machado awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?

Machado was chosen as this year's winner of the prize for her efforts toward "a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy" in Venezuela.

She went into hiding after elections that granted Maduro a third term — results not recognized by the United States, the European Union or several Latin American governments [THE ELECTIONS WERE FAIR, EVEN FAIRER THAN MOST — BUTwarmonger THE WEST HATES SOCIALISM].

The Nobel Institute had said over the weekend that Machado would receive the award in person — which includes a gold medal, diploma and $1.2 million (€1 million) — and had scheduled a press conference and media interviews, all later cancelled.

Exiled Venezuelans, including Urrutia, and the presidents of Argentina, Panama, Ecuador and Paraguay had already arrived in Oslo for the ceremony.

Speaking of the demise of rights in her country, Machado's Nobel Prize remarks referenced the course of Venezuelan history since the 1999 election of socialist Hugo Chavez: "When the ringleader of a military coup against democracy was elected president, many thought that charisma could substitute the rule of law."

"When we understood how fragile our institutions had become," she added, "it was already too late."

Edited by: Louis Oelofse

https://www.dw.com/en/nobel-winner-machado-we-must-fight-for-freedom/a-75084234

 

MACHATO IS A WARMONGER... HER CAMPAIGN HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RIGHTS BUT WITH THE ELITES WANTING TO BE IN CHARGE — AND ROB THE POOR. THE US WAR MACHINE IS ON HER SIDE AND PIG EXCESS [PETE HEGSETH] FROTH AT THE MOUTH LIKE RABID DOG.... 

 

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.