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Congress is to blame for this. On January 20, mere moments after getting sworn in to office, Trump started the ball rolling by an executive order citing the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq. and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA),50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq., laws passed by Congresses and not vetoed by the reigning POTERA within the last 75 or so years. Those laws, as written by Congress, allow POTUS to get away with murder. Congress did this under 8 USC 1189 and 50 USC 1702 by saying that “The Secretary is authorized to designate an organization as a foreign terrorist organization…”. The leaders of Congress are to be notified by classified communication of the intent to call some organization “terrorist”. The drug cartel, Tren de Aragua presumed to be operating the boat that was attacked, was so identified in February, and CBS does not dispute that notification, nor does Rand Paul. 50 USC 1702 authorized POTUS to “do stuff”, who through The Secretary can prohibit drug smuggling because “the President may, under such regulations as he may prescribe, by means of instructions, licenses, or otherwise – investigate, regulate, or prohibit – any transactions in foreign exchange…” and can “prevent or prohibit any …dealing…by any person”, plus, can do so per § 1701 “to deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States, if the President declares a national emergency with respect to such threat”. All this was done. So what is the big deal?
The big deal is that Congress passed a wide-open law saying “in an emergency, you can do whatever is necessary to keep us safe”. Open-ended emergency laws were the backbone of the covid tyranny. Congress passed no provision requiring approval by Congress or specifically limiting POTUS power to “strongly worded Tweets”. Congress said “You can do what you gotta do”. In hindsight, this abdication of Congressional law-making duty is slovenly, reprehensible, lazy, and a clear sign of end times. When you make your bed, you really should be expected to lie in it. This is not a problem with no remedy. The remedy is simple: amend the law. The question is, exactly what should that power be. For example, should it be “force is prohibited without 30 days of prior Congressional hearings and a majority vote of the two houses of Congress”? Should the scope of the “emergency” be better defined? The claim is that drug cartels are dangerous, but maybe the laws should be refined to only apply to an organization that is super dangerous, however that is to be defined. It starts with the Commerce Clause which allows Congress to pass laws that restrict business, and drugs are a business, so Congress can outlaw whatever drugs it wants. Then of course since Congress by definition doesn’t actually do anything, it is left to the Implementer-in-Chief to figure out how to enforce the law that Congress passed.
Congress has been presented with many opportunities to block these POTUS power-grabs, and they persistently refuse to do anything about it. I think the reason is that this is a democracy, which means that whoever yells the loudest for the longest time, they get their wishes because Congress is reactionary and bows to the will of the people, to the extent that the people have “a will” (or at least, they do not strongly counter the will of the people). So it is the American people who probably are responsible for this action. In another year, there will be yet another an opportunity for The American People to put an end to this nonsense. If we end up with the same old same old, we will have definitive proof that The American People really don’t have a problem with blowing up a boat full of drug smugglers.
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The Interceptor ? Pearl clutching a little ?
If I recall, Obama did an extra-judicial killing, of an American citizen on foreign soil, with a drone.
So this is not exactly new.
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On 9/11/2025 at 9:44 PM, necrovore said:
If I recall, Obama did an extra-judicial killing, of an American citizen on foreign soil, with a drone.
So this is not exactly new.
I recalled that also. The alleged crimes were different, and in the Obama case, the targeted man had the opportunity earlier to return to the US for a trial. Anyway, delighted that someone besides me recalled that parallel Obama act.