David Sterman

I’d suggest something on the irony of him seemingly having a transnational vision of a religious homeland tied to war.

But given doesn’t apply to Latin America, seems more a case of there being no substantial grounding to the stances.

Seems just days ago Hegseth was defending the drug boat strikes on the basis of a shift away from wars for others’ homelands.

Does that as standard prevent the drug strikes - no. The Yemen strike campaign - no. The Iran strikes - not really. Drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia - not really.

Worth noting avoiding harm to infantry / experience of early Iraq war type war experiences for infantry is not a particularly strong grounding for opposition to many of the kinds of wars/military actions the U.S. is/has involved itself in in recent years.

Big questions about rhetoric like this and how it serves to support Hegseth style warrior ethos from the left.

Not coincidental in my view how that connects with the way defenses of the tattoo happen to line up here as well.

Trump Administration Admits It Doesn’t Know Who Exactly It’s Killing in Boat Strikes Officials acknowledged they don’t know the identities of the people they’re killing and can’t meet the evidentiary burden to prosecute survivors.

Signature strikes for activity that’s not part of an armed conflict or enough on its own to make you a combatant.

Very not good.

theintercept.com/2025/10/31/t...

it's good that he can still be forced to do this. it's very bad that this was not the position from the start.

In other words own your wars. That they were often fought for regional interests is not reason to falsely put your choices on others.

The idea that the U.S. was just defending others’ homelands is deeply objectionable.

Those wars were/are often driven by regional security interests but those are tied to American interests.

Meanwhile, others have little to no input into our wars and have been subject to sudden withdrawals.

U.S. military strikes four alleged drug boats in eastern Pacific, killing 14 The U.S. military has struck four alleged drug boats in the eastern Pacific, killing 14 and leaving one survivor.

Quite a killing spree. Execution without trial. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Opinion | Real Battles and Empty Metaphors (Published 2002)

www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/o...

Donald Trump has turned the war on drugs into a real war And Congress needs to block the metaphor before it kills again

Sontag’s critique of metaphor and endlessness in the war on terror for me captured a key point but far from all dynamics behind endlessness.

But current visions of the drug strikes hew even more closely to what she was noting imo than much of the war on terror.

www.economist.com/united-state...

Rand Paul on Trump's strikes on boats: "I would call them extrajudicial killings. This is akin to what China does, what Iran does with drug dealers -- they summarily execute people without presenting evidence to the public. So it's wrong."

Really think if folks did some digging on the defenders of this, it would be very revealing that many probably have long trails showing substantial evidence of their own lying and dissembling in order to downplay this.

The combo of 2010s far right online, Azov symbols etc just makes not credible

Cenk Uygur accuses PBS of staying 'neutral' on Trump fan's racist tattoos to appease donors Young Turks host Cenk Uygur accused PBS Newshour on Thursday of failing to mention that an interview subject wore white supremacist-related tattoos out of a false sense of "neutrality.""They are despe...

Gotta say, I think there’s also about a zero percent chance he didn’t know what it was. Not like he previously aired a piece on Nazi tattoos in which it is extremely visible in a series of photos he used to illustrate the white supremacist context of other tattoos. www.rawstory.com/2016/03/cenk...

Big update on Somalia strike data.

Per AFRICOM, 84 airstrikes in 2025. Also 1 ground op (and two alleged strikes in our tally)

There was a 9/24 strike w/o a press release that didn’t kill anyone.

Dates for 7 of 9 strikes reported as multi-day op ending 8/23.

www.newamerica.org/future-secur...

Graham Platner’s claims that he didn’t know tattoo was Nazi-linked undercut by new evidence | CNN Politics A KFile investigation has uncovered mounting evidence that Platner — a Marine veteran— was aware of and defended the use of Nazi symbolism that had come to be embraced by some members of the military.

If the tattoo itself wasn’t an issue for so many folks how about the pretty strong evidence of lying. www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...

CC @bcfinucane.bsky.social @wesleymorgan.bsky.social

Big update on Somalia strike data.

Per AFRICOM, 84 airstrikes in 2025. Also 1 ground op (and two alleged strikes in our tally)

There was a 9/24 strike w/o a press release that didn’t kill anyone.

Dates for 7 of 9 strikes reported as multi-day op ending 8/23.

www.newamerica.org/future-secur...

To be clear I asked about the linked Garowe report on the strike not Antiwar’s write up.

Civilian Casualties Reported in Suspected US Drone Strike in Somalia's Lower Shabelle Region - News From Antiwar.com A drone strike that hit southern Somalia on Tuesday may have caused civilian casualties, according to Somali media reports. Garowe Online reported that the strike hit the Lower Shabelle Region, which ...

For what it’s worth when I asked about this report, AFRICOM said their latest strike was on October 20 the day prior. news.antiwar.com/2025/10/23/c...

Lot of folks including many who portrayed themselves as critical of America’s endless wars helped get us to this point by not taking process and authorization issues seriously and not mobilizing on those issues.

A Mystery in Trinidad as Bodies Wash Ashore After U.S. Strikes

Not great when the U.S. government is a suspect in a murder mystery.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/w...

Good thing a portion of the restraint movement including parts of its left flank dismissed the question of process/war powers as important or relevant.

I’m sure that didn’t play a role in developing the incentive structure that could allow this.

(Not a critique of the whole but a specific trend)

These comparisons are bad.

But my nitpick is if you’re going to do them you have to choose either AQ or ISIS. They’re quite different and using either but especially both suggests a lack of care/experts involved in the review/construction of these arguments.

People saying things like "oh come on, why do you care about a little Nazi symbol?" is, in the very question, a sign of decline.

The answer "because Nazi symbol," with no further explanation needed, was assumed.

When we had that consensus, it was better.

One thing that hasn't been much discussed so far is that, in addition to putting enormous pressure on very fragile regional states, the US military campaign risks turning drug-trafficking cartels into the kinds of political terrorist insurgencies Trump II is for now falsely portraying them as.

Point is reliant on this being stills of the video of the strike in question but all the reporting I’ve seen supports that.

Don’t confuse the no crime “in Ecuadorean territory” line with the idea that the vessel - seemingly this semisubmersible was just some fishing boat.

In my view it actually undermines the core point that drug trafficking is not cause for being a military target and is not a capital offense.

And why did the White House stop sharing such info on select Somalia strikes around May?

And why are details on the Caribbean strikes coming straight from the White House and not the combatant command?