Is this the end for those drug-lovin' hippies?
Strange days in South America as cartels get rebranded as “narco-terrorists” and fill the space most recently occupied by Islamic radicals. On Monday, the United States continued its spree of blowing what the government describes as drug running boats out of the water off Venezuela and Colombia. “Eight male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessels during the first strike,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declared on X, sharing a video of a boat going up in flames in the Pacific. “Four male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the second strike. Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the third strike. A total of 14 narco-terrorists were killed during the three strikes, with one survivor. All strikes were in international waters with no U.S. forces harmed.”
It was the single most deadly day since the first hit on a boat in the Caribbean on Sept. 2. Thus far, over 50 people have died with more certainly to come as Hegseth added, “These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than Al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same. We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them.”
Down in Rio de Janeiro, yesterday, a complimentary action as over 2,500 police and special forces stormed favelas near the airport killing 64 and marking the most violent day in the city’s history. The target, Red Command, considered Brazil’s most powerful organized crime group. The state’s governor rightwing Cláudio Castro said the city was “at war” with the justification, “This is no longer common crime, it’s narco-terrorism.”
The action drew sharp criticism from human rights activists and Rio de Janeiro opposition parties, a state congress member for the leftwing Worker’s party opining, “What is happening in Alemão and in Penha (the favelas) isn’t an operation – it’s a state-sponsored massacre.”
The “war on drugs” has been raging for decades and decades, now, but almost entirely as a poorly-executed junk show. Could it be with the new “narco-terrorist” labeling and full-throated attacks, that seem too coordinated to be simple happenstance, the political right has finally gotten serious about taking out the damned hippies and their reefers, powders and potions?
Like, serious serious?
If you are a hippie, do you have fear that the War on Drugs might actually be won this time? Only booze and ZYN on offer during “cocktail hour?
Strange days, indeed.