Saturday, December 20, 2025

Venezuela Boat Strikes Did Not Need Congressional Approval

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday insisted that the Trump administration has not needed Congressional approval for the strikes on several boats in the Caribbean that were allegedly smuggling drugs into the U.S.

Posted by lamplighter at 02:32 PM | 34 COMMENTS | permalink

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The is a declaration and act of war without congressional approval, and imperialistic jingoism.

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-- Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) Dec 16, 2025 at 6:56 PM

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More from the article ...

... "We are presenting every single one of these as justified," Rubio told reporters at his year-end press conference. "We know who is on those boats, we've been tracking them from the very beginning. We know everything about them, okay?"

"There are boat strikes that we don't take because they don't meet the legal criteria," Rubio explained. "We have everything we need, and it's one of the reasons you've seen this massive deployment in the region, is to be able to gather intelligence and paint a picture that we can justify to lawyers, based on the law. I'm very confident about that effort, it's been very successful."

Rubio earlier in the press conference said that he would not speculate "about things that haven't happened and may never happen," but that "to this point, nothing has happened that requires us to notify Congress or get congressional approval or cross the threshold into war." ...


#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-19 03:09 PM

Show your work -------.

If you know who they are say so. If you know where they were going explain how.

Accountability isn't just a word.

We need more than just, "Trust us, it's all Kosher"

Sheesh.

#2 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2025-12-19 03:21 PM

Wow, that sure was unconvincing , Marco.
Are you even really trying?
Now, how about the written legal justification, relevant intel, repressed video, etc., etc., etc.?
No?
Coverup intact.

#3 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2025-12-19 03:22 PM

Kings don't need no stinking Congressional Approval for ANYTHING!

Not when they own the SC.

#4 | Posted by Corky at 2025-12-19 03:35 PM

@#3 ... Wow, that sure was unconvincing , Marco.
Are you even really trying? ...

It looks like he was told to justify something that he thinks could not be justified.

#5 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-19 03:37 PM

Empty Suit Marco Rubio may run for POTUS in 2028. His mega-oligarch backer is Larry Ellison.

Hillbilly hypocrite VPOTUS JD Vance may run for POTUS in 2028. His mega-oligarch backer is Peter Thiel.

Dummkopf Trumpf wants a third term. His mega oligarch-backers are Miriam Adelson and Felon Musk.

Who will mega-oligarchs Mark Zuckerberg or David Bezos support?

"How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, that has such people in't."

(The Tempest, Miranda, Act V Scene I).

#6 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-12-19 03:40 PM

#4
It's weird, but when the American Revolution rolled into town 250 years ago George III exerted less real power than Trump plays with today.
Of course Parliament was having none of this unlimited monarchy.nonsense.

#7 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2025-12-19 03:41 PM

It's weird, ....

Not this weird....

In 1986, Chuck Schumer voted for the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act; The Act authorizes the U.S. government to use force, including sinking vessels, against stateless drug-smuggling boats on the high seas.

#8 | Posted by oneironaut at 2025-12-19 03:43 PM

#8
Could you just possibly goose yourself up to current speed? Sheesh.

#9 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2025-12-19 03:47 PM

You still have to prove the boats had drugs on them. And you can't double tap the survivors if they're not shooting at you.

Forgot that part?

#10 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2025-12-19 03:48 PM

More on that law on which you need to brush up (at least): en.wikipedia.org

#11 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2025-12-19 03:50 PM

#8

I never knew China had Bozo clowns!

Here's what was in the Bill that Schumer vote for; this was just one provision:

"The Act itself did not explicitly authorize "sinking vessels," but it provided broad enforcement powers to the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy on the high seas against vessels without nationality or those from nations that consent to U.S. enforcement. T

his expanded authority included the use of force to stop and seize vessels when legally justified, which could involve "disabling fire"."
www.google.com

It did not include the mass murdering with no apparent evidence that 1Nut prefers.

#12 | Posted by Corky at 2025-12-19 04:23 PM

-I never knew China had Bozo clowns!

What is the obsession with this particular insult?

Has Oneiron disclosed his nationality? Is he Chinese? born and raised in China?

#13 | Posted by eberly at 2025-12-19 04:26 PM

#13

He claims to be a Visa holder in CA that is planning to retire back in China, where he will be forced to give his DNA to the Security Police.

Freedoms!

Currently he is busy here on the Retort teaching everything from ESL (which he obviously deserves a Refund on his own classes!) to US law and history.

#14 | Posted by Corky at 2025-12-19 04:32 PM

I never knew China had Bozo clowns!

#12 | Posted by Corky at 2025-12-19 04:23 PM | Reply | Flag: They do indeed.



#15 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-12-19 04:48 PM

They also have other obvious Chinese Trump Impersonators:

www.youtube.com

short

#16 | Posted by Corky at 2025-12-19 05:14 PM

They also have other obvious Chinese Trump Impersonators:

www.youtube.com

short

#17 | Posted by Corky at 2025-12-19 05:14 PM

I never knew China had Bozo clowns!

Oh, they've got them.
They just don't put them into positions of leadership.
That's probably why he's beclowning himself on the DR and not warming a seat on the Central Committee.

#18 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2025-12-20 06:23 AM

@#3 ... Wow, that sure was unconvincing , Marco. ...

Yup.

One thing I notice about the Trump admin's rationale for these boat strikes...

They say that the boats are bring drugs to the US.

But, are they?

They seem to be a long way away from the US (1000 miles or more?), in boats that could not carry enough fuel to reach the US.

So, why is "the most transparent Administration ever" apparently lying?

#19 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-20 06:29 PM

They don't require congressional approval because we said so!!

The logic is infallible! lol

#20 | Posted by donnerboy at 2025-12-21 10:20 AM

Rubio is just straight-up lying. Any discussion past this is pointless.

#21 | Posted by Angrydad at 2025-12-21 02:26 PM

Rubio comes out of the South FL Cuban milieu, which is a pretty complex mix. Not everyone got out of Cuba soon after New Hear's Day 1959 because they quickly figured out what the Castro brothers and their crew were up to and skeedaddled. Victimhood is part of a strong narrative within the politically influential community; it's a badge of honor. And it's one Marco Rubio misappropriated for ages, claiming his parents escaped Castro's tyranny. Complete nonsense. Anyone who can be cool with using that lie to advantage, whine about hating the Senate and not wanting to be in it anymore and then clinging to his seat, and allow Trump to emasculate him may have serious responsibilities yet is not a serious person. Disseminating lies is certainly not beyond him.

#22 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2025-12-21 03:03 PM

"We know who is on those boats, we've been tracking them from the very beginning. We know everything about them, okay?"

Then you ought to be able to share that information with us, Little Marco.

Who did we kill, what were their roles in the drug trade?

#23 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-12-21 03:10 PM

The information the government has supplied to the public on these strikes consists of statements and video. These are disseminated without offering persuasive supporting evidence; the video lacks context. With that before us, an administration addicted to regularly spreading falsehoods expects us to nod and stfu. During the Vietnam War, LBJ's government fell victim to the "credibility gap." People just stopped believing what they had been told, and they wouldn't believe anything the government said after it lost their trust. Another lesson unlearned.

#24 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2025-12-21 03:20 PM

These are disseminated without offering persuasive supporting evidence; the video lacks context.

What do you expect? The smugglers to be registered as drug boats? Drug boats have looked like that for 30 years.

provided broad enforcement powers to the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy on the high seas against vessels without nationality

Are these boats registered? Are they waving a flag of a nation?

Are you really this stupid Doc?

Do you really think we don't have secret intelligence following these "boats" from when they are loaded? You don't think we have people on the inside?

#25 | Posted by boaz at 2025-12-22 07:56 AM

"What do you expect?"

Persuasive evidence, Boaz, persuasive evidence.
Were you this moronic when you hoiked around in Pharaoh's Army?

#26 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2025-12-22 08:14 AM

Do you really think we don't have secret intelligence following these "boats"

#25 | Posted by boaz

It's Trump's intel services.

They tell him what they think he wants to hear.

#27 | Posted by Zed at 2025-12-22 08:49 AM

Congress has pre-approved presidential violence since the advent of the nuclear tipped ICBM, and double downed on it with the AUMF.

#28 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2025-12-22 09:58 AM

Congress has pre-approved presidential violence

#28 | POSTED BY SITZKRIEG

The Constitutional order now demands some contraction of that.

#29 | Posted by Zed at 2025-12-22 10:10 AM

But Obama could drone-strike funerals and weddings in a country we weren't at war with.

#30 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2025-12-22 10:42 AM

But Obama could drone-strike funerals and weddings in a country we weren't at war with.
#30 | Posted by lfthndthrds

Correct.

Bush and Obama and Biden and Trump get to do that, thanks to the 9/11 era AUMFs.

But Trump's strikes in Vegezuela arent authorized by any AUMF, hence these strikes are illegal under United States law.

But you already know this, and your entire post is just a knee-jerk deflection.

#31 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-12-22 11:13 AM

Do you really think we don't have secret intelligence following these "boats"
#25 | Posted by boaz

I'll believe we have "secret" intelligence on these boats when Congress is briefed on it.

#32 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-12-22 11:59 AM

"Congress has been receiving classified briefings on the Trump administration's military strikes targeting suspected drug boats off Venezuela"

Congresspersons briefed do not argue they are not drug boats. They argue the drug boats are not a threat to the US.

#33 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2025-12-22 01:01 PM

Not really wrong about that either. Departures from that area go to Portugal, etc.

The other half of the airstrikes have been in the Pacific, where the boats actually come this way.

#34 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2025-12-22 01:31 PM

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