Free Republic

In the 1980s, the U.S. negotiated the exile of world leaders like Haiti’s Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier to France and Ferdinand Marcos from the Philippines to Hawaii.Now, President Donald Trump wants Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro out of power. Maduro’s “days are numbered,” Trump told Politico in an interview released on Dec. 9. His Administration considers Maduro the head of a government-sponsored cocaine smuggling syndicate. Since September, he’s blown up 22 alleged drug boats off Venezuela’s coastline, parked a carrier strike group in the Caribbean, and flown F/A-18 attack jets near Venezuela’s border. On Wednesday, the U.S. seized an oil tanker...

Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, Iryna Zarutska, Jocelyn Nungaray, Ruby Garcia, and Kayla Hamilton. They are just some of the American women who have been murdered in this country in the last few years. All of their deaths, arguably, could have been avoided if Democrats prioritized protecting citizens instead of illegal immigrants. Despite their tragic deaths, you’d be hard-pressed to find any Democrat who expressed as much sympathy, empathy, and concern for their lives as they have about suspected Venezuelan cartel drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Monday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the second, follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean in September following a bombshell Washington Post report that claimed he ordered the military to “kill everybody.” Leavitt told reporters at the White House press briefing that Hegseth authorized Adm. Frank Bradley to carry out the second strike, which reportedly killed two people who were hanging onto the burning vessel after an initial strike. “President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narco-terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting...

Summary U.S. hopes to ramp up pressure on Maduro government Covert operations expected to be first step, sources say U.S. options include overthrowing Maduro Human rights groups condemn U.S. strikes as illegal extrajudicial killings WASHINGTON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The United States is poised to launch a new phase of Venezuela-related operations in the coming days, four U.S. officials told Reuters, as the Trump administration escalates pressure on President Nicolas Maduro's government. Reuters was not able to establish the exact timing or scope of the new operations, nor whether U.S. President Donald Trump had made a final decision to act....

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. military carried out three strikes Monday in the waters of the Eastern Pacific against boats suspected of carrying drugs, killing 14 and leaving one survivor. The announcement made on social media Tuesday, marks a continued escalation in the pace of the strikes, which began in early September spaced weeks apart. This was the first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day

Foreign media are now required to obtain prior military censorship approval before filming missile impact and crash sites. Foreign photographers will no longer be allowed to film at the scenes of missile strikes in Israel without prior written approval from military censors, under new directives issued by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi. ...

Natanz Initial assessments indicate that Israel’s strikes on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility were extremely effective, going far beyond superficial damage to exterior structures and knocking out the electricity on the lower levels where the centrifuges used to enrich uranium are stored, two US officials told CNN. “This was a full-spectrum blitz,” said another source familiar with the assessments. The strikes destroyed the above-ground part of Natanz’s Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant, a sprawling site that has been operating since 2003 and where Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity Satellite images, taken before and after the strikes, give a...