https://www.theepochtimes.com/...mpaign=new&utm_term=

US Forces Took Out Drug Boat Facility as Part of Anti-Drug Campaign: Trump

The strike on a staging facility for drug boats along the Venezuelan shore is an escalation in the U.S. campaign in the Caribbean.

President Donald Trump on Dec. 29 said that the United States had knocked out a loading facility linked to Venezuelan drug boats sometime before Dec. 26 as part of Washington’s ongoing campaign against vessels carrying narcotics to the United States.

On Monday, Trump told reporters that strikes had taken place, confirming that they had been carried out as part of U.S. anti-drug trafficking operations in the region.

“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump told reporters from Mar-a-Lago, where he was hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We hit all the boats, and now we hit the area ... it’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement, and that is no longer around.”

Trump added that the site hit was “along the shore,” but didn’t say which U.S. military branch or intelligence agencies had been involved in the airstrike.

Trump had first made mention that U.S. forces had struck “a big facility” involving drug boat operations in a Dec. 26 radio interview, but provided few details at the time.

For days, the comment went unremarked by major media, with the administration not immediately providing any further details on the strike mentioned by Trump. Venezuelan officials also have not commented on the reported strikes or provided additional information.

It’s still unclear when exactly the reported strikes took place.

Asked on Monday whether the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was responsible, Trump demurred.

“I don’t want to say that. I know exactly who it was but I don’t want to say who it was,” Trump said.

Trump has previously stated that the CIA has been authorized to carry out covert operations in Venezuela.

Trump first mentioned the strike—the first of its kind to aim for land targets within Venezuela—during an impromptu interview with John Catsimatidis, a Republican billionaire who owns the WABC radio station in New York.

The president appeared to phone Catsimatidis out of the blue while he was appearing as a guest host on the “Sid and Friends in the Morning” show on the station.

The two men began by discussing the U.S. military Christmas Day strikes on Nigeria, before turning their attention to the Trump administration’s disruption of drug trafficking from South America by striking boats suspected of carrying drugs.

Catsimatidis raised the topic of Venezuela, saying that the country would provide a lot more oil to the United States if Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro were to leave office.

Trump responded by saying that the regime in Caracas “took our oil” and “also sent millions of people in there, from jails into our country, from jail some of the worst people on Earth, Tren de Aragua. They emptied their jails into the United States. As you know, they sell, they send drugs in.”

Trump then went on to say that he had reduced sea-borne drug traffic into the United States by 97.2 percent after introducing the policy of striking the narcotics-laden vessels.

“Every time I knock out a boat, we save 25,000 American lives. It’s very simple,” Trump told Catsimatidis.

“And we just knocked out, I don’t know if you read or you saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where the ships come from. Two nights ago, we knocked that out. We hit them very hard,” Trump added, without specifying the exact location of the facility.

If the facility mentioned by the president is in Venezuela, it would be the first known attack on land since the administration began its military campaign against the country.

The Epoch Times has contacted both the White House and the Pentagon for comment, but neither responded by the time of publication.

Trump’s comments come amid a concerted effort by the administration to destabilize the Maduro government in Caracas.

On Dec. 22, the president said that the United States will keep or sell the oil from tankers it seized off the coast of Venezuela in recent weeks.
When asked what he planned to do with the oil, Trump told reporters: “We’re going to keep it. We’re keeping it.”

“Maybe we’ll sell it, maybe we’ll keep it, maybe we’ll use it in the strategic reserves,” he said during a press conference after announcing plans for a new fleet of large warships. “We’re keeping the ships also.”
The comments follow seizures of vessels and the oil they were carrying while sailing through waters off the coast of Venezuela. Trump has declared Maduro’s regime a foreign terrorist organization.

On Dec. 10, the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, seized the first vessel. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed at the time that the seizure warrant was executed for the crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.
Bondi said in a post on X, “For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.”

HRK’s link:
“What the hell is the point of electing republicans?“
-
You would think that by now, the Repugnants could *maybe* get a clue.
Kind of like, “Trump got all these good folks to vote for him because his policies reflect American values.”
Apparently, that’s too high of a bar.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
^^^^ I’m going to mention this topic only once more, because I don’t want to derail the thread unnecessarily further.

First, “analogy”? There is no analogy. I thought that was pretty clear from my post. But I guess not, to you.

Second, I knew someone would jump in with “We were defeated blah blah blah”. That’s why I specifically wrote the commies failed “during that campaign”. Never did I say anything about the eventuality the of the entire war. But I guess you missed that, too.

Right — Tet was totally an American victory. Just a coincidence that it was the moment the public started seriously questioning why we were in Vietnam and the beginning of the end politically, strategically, and tactically. But sure, victory. I got it, thanks.

And since we’re being precise: an analogy is a comparison between two different things to illustrate a point. VC loss vs. American loss — that’s exactly what’s happening here. I’m explaining it because this appears to be a sticking point.

As for bombing ISIS targets in Nigeria, apparently that’s a brilliant plan. Naturally, we should not stop there. Why not the entire Middle East? No broader implications at all. This isn’t derailing — it’s a basic discussion of U.S. foreign policy being implemented by the current administration. Is that outside your usual frame of reference?

Not everyone who voted for Trump did so because they absolutely agreed with all of his views and actions during the first term. Many people voted for him because of the incredible stupidity of the Democrats in nominating first Clinton and then Harris. Had it not been for those two the results may have been what happened in 2020: Biden was amazingly bad as well, but not bad enough for the usual reelection of a sitting President.*

DJT won’t be the President four years from now and in the unlikely event that it’s still a Republican, he/she won’t be continuing all of his policies, and especially not in the way he carries them out. Most members of Congress and the Senate expect to be in office four years from now and they are, after all, politicians who do what politicians always do.

* None of this is directed at those who believe the only reason he wasn’t reelected in 2020 was because the election was stolen. I expect that everyone who believes that will have already disregarded all of the above.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
DJT won’t be the President four years from now and in the unlikely event that it’s still a Republican.

I have a lot more faith in some of the American public, that yes, Democrats will not get the WH in 2028.

^^^ Yeah, three years away is too early to be predicting the next President unlikely to still be a Republican.

Trump Issues First Vetoes of Second Presidential Term
The vetoes included funding for a water project in eastern Colorado that passed Congress unanimously.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...age&ea_med=section-1

quote:

“We hit all the boats, and now we hit the area ... it’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement, and that is no longer around.”

Kamala's Word Salad Virus has infected him.

quote:

Originally posted by Rawny:

quote:

“We hit all the boats, and now we hit the area ... it’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement, and that is no longer around.”

Kamala's Word Salad Virus has infected him.

Bibi had to bite his lip to keep from laughing when he said it.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
"Patel said the FBI will relocate most of its headquarters workforce to the existing Ronald Reagan Building.;..

The Ronald Reagan Building- I wonder how many agents will burst into flames upon entering?


.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TigerDore,

quote:

Originally posted by Rawny:

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

Tet Offensive: The commies attacked all over South Vietnam, killing indiscriminately but ended up failing during that campaign. If you have any doubts, look up Huế’s mass graves of innocent people killed by the VCs at that time.

How do you even compare us successfully destroying ISIS targets to that?

Not a direct comparison on the nature or the result of the operation. The similarity is the decision in launching a surprise attack when the other side is expecting a lull during a major holiday.

The Battle of Trenton would be another one. That one also took place on Christmas Day.

I can promise you that among the major differences between the Tet Offensive and this one, is that this was huge Christmas gift to the Christians being wholesale slaughtered by those animals, the gift of life to innocent people.


.

The 'Arc de Trump'. More leftist heads will be exploding.

Trump says construction of the ‘Triumphal Arch’ to begin in ‘2 months’
The monument would be a centerpiece of the White House’s plans for America’s 250th birthday

By SOPHIA CAI
12/31/2025 11:53 AM EST




President Donald Trump said in an interview Wednesday that construction of his long-teased Triumphal Arch is expected to begin “sometime in the next two months.”

That would put the start date ahead of July 4, 2026 — as the White House ramps up preparations for the nation’s 250th anniversary next year.

“It hasn’t started yet. It starts sometime in the next two months. It’ll be great. Everyone loves it,” Trump told POLITICO when reached by phone from Mar-a-Lago. “They love the ballroom too. But they love the Triumphal Arch.”

The proposed structure — modeled loosely on European victory monuments — is one of several high-profile projects Trump has personally championed as part of the semiquincentennial celebrations, a sprawling effort expected to include national and local events across the country.

The president has at times displayed a model of the proposed arch in recent months. There have been plans to build it by the Lincoln Monument, on the other end of a bridge leading to Arlington National Ceremony.

Trump has framed the project as a patriotic landmark meant to honor American history and military service, though critics have raised questions about cost, aesthetics and whether the executive branch has the authority to unilaterally move forward with such construction in Washington.

He has also promoted an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on White House grounds on June 14.

Asked who he would want to fight at the White House UFC match, Trump deferred to UFC President Dana White, a longtime ally, to make the selections. “Well, Dana’s picking them. He’s the best fight picker there is, right?” Trump said. “He’s going to pick all of the top fighters. Going to be all championship matches. It’ll be the best ever, I think. Really incredible.”

Trump said there could be “many matches, like 10,” suggesting the event would be a championship-level showcase rather than a single bout.

In a separate interview with POLITICO last week, Trump spoke about the Republican Party’s plans for the midterms, arguing the election will be about “pricing.” He also cast himself as the final decisionmaker for any peace deal in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...SA7Bg7OB4epcgFnNQ%3D

Trump Announces Withdrawal of National Guard From California, Illinois, and Oregon

The president said on social media that the National Guard succeeded in reducing crime in three cities.

President Donald Trump said on Dec. 31 that he will be withdrawing National Guard troops from Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland, Oregon, whom he previously federalized to deal with civil unrest.

Although the federal Posse Comitatus Act restricts the ability of the federal government to use military resources for domestic law enforcement, a president may take over, or federalize, state National Guard troops on an emergency basis in certain circumstances. The president has federalized troops in various cities to deal with violence he said was interfering with the federal government’s ability to enforce immigration law.

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social, saying he would remove the National Guard from the three cities even though crime “has been greatly reduced by having these great Patriots in those cities.”

The president also criticized local leaders who have opposed his deployments.

He wrote in the post that it was “hard to believe that these Democrat Mayors and Governors, all of whom are greatly incompetent, would want us to leave, especially considering the great progress that has been made?”

The federal government’s policy change came after a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Dec. 23 that Trump may not deploy National Guard troops to Chicago to protect federal immigration agents.

“At this preliminary stage, the government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the court said in an unsigned order. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

Illinois and Chicago sued on Oct. 6 after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth invoked Section 12406 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code to federalize up to 300 members of the Illinois National Guard and up to 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployment in Chicago.

In its order, the Supreme Court acknowledged that federal immigration enforcement efforts “have encountered significant resistance, as well as some violence, in Chicago.”

The court said that the term “regular forces” in Section 12406 “likely refers to the regular forces of the United States military.” This means the president may only call the National Guard into active federal service under that section when he is “unable” to execute federal law with the regular military.

The court said the federal government “has not carried its burden to show that [Section] 12406(3) permits the President to federalize the Guard” under his inherent authority as president “to protect federal personnel and property in Illinois.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta welcomed Trump’s announcement.

“For six months, California National Guard troops have been used as political pawns by a President desperate to be king,” Bonta said in a statement.
The deployment to “Los Angeles streets has left lasting scars in Angeleno communities. There is a reason our founders decided military and civilian affairs must be kept separate; a reason that our military is, by design, apolitical,” he said.

After seeing Melania on NYE, I have a strange attraction to my aluminum foil drawer.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
^^^^^^
I wonder what’s currently in the Ronald Reagan Building.
I doubt that it’s vacant.

It used to house the main offices of USAID, so you know there is some empty space.

I used to go there regularly to have lunch in the food court with a buddy who worked at NOAA. I think US CBP was in there at the time as well. I used to always see those guys wearing HK P2000s, IIRC. That was about 20 yrs ago though.

quote:

Originally posted by pbslinger:
After seeing Melania on NYE, I have a strange attraction to my aluminum foil drawer.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^
I wonder what ridiculous, assinine question that reporter was asking.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
^^^^^^
I wonder what’s currently in the Ronald Reagan Building.
I doubt that it’s vacant.

It used to house the main offices of USAID, so you know there is some empty space.

USAID was shut down in February, 2025:
https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...140038315#6140038315

Shortly after that I’m sure that there was lots of vacant space. But maybe not now. More clearing may be needed before the FBI can move in.