Semi-submersibles? Probably not fishermen.

Boats with four outboard engines? Sure, lots of them, I see those all the time when I'm at the coast.

The coast of Venezuela, loaded full of unknown packages? Jesus, there's video. Do you think they're loaded with dozens of rectangular bundles of tuna?

Why don't you argue that arbitrarily shooting missiles at random drug smugglers is bad instead of arguing that they're not actually drug smugglers?

Why don't they argue boats loaded with strange cargo hauling ass in the middle of the ocean is probably a drug boat instead of suggesting all boats with four outboard engines can't possibly be a fishing boat? Go to any docks on the Gulf Coast, you'll find tons of four-engine fishing boats. Or are those all used for narcotics smuggling?

I'm not arguing they're definitely not drug boats. They likely are! But the person I replied to suggested all boats with four outboard engines are likely drug boats, which is absurd.

The idea is that you board and capture, and assert in court they were smuggling drugs. Blowing them up makes that difficult or impossible to prove.

There’s VIDEO? Has the Trump administration been caught lying? Using AI or doctored videos? (Yes.)

$200k USD worth of outboard engines on a speedboat. Tell me you know nothing about fishing without telling me that.

I spent half my life on the coast. I've seen a lot of boats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dpvFzlmW0Y

Guess these are all purpose built drug smuggling boats. Shit, some have 5 engines.

Shit, I live near some crappy lakes in Texas and I still see a few four-engine boats by people with more money than sense. Guess they're trafficking that fentanyl from Lewisville to Little Elm.

Are these $500K boats in a country with a GDP per capita of $5000? Are these boats taking off from areas that are known origin points for drug trafficking? Are these boats making sketchy long distance one way trips or just cruising around for the day and returning to the same marina? Have you surveilled these boats with insane OP state of the art military surveillance tech and concluded that they are running drugs?

Please share the evidence that the boats being targeted cost $500K, that they took off from an origin point of known drug trafficking, that they were on a one way trip, or that they were surveilled with advanced military tech.

I haven't been to Venezuela, so I couldn't tell you specifically about Venezuela. While there has been a lot of poverty the last couple of decades in Venezuela, there used to be a ton of prosperity. It wouldn't surprise me if there were still a good number of wealthy people with fancy fishing boats in Venezuela despite there being so much poverty.

And while I haven't been to Venezuela, I have been to a number of pretty poor Caribbean countries. I still find some pretty decked out fishing boats, often for hire/rent to international tourists. Or they just are owned by foreigners/tourists. Or as mentioned, they're some of the wealthy people in the otherwise poor country. Rich people are pretty much all over the place, especially in otherwise desirable places to live (some extremely beautiful beaches and coastlines).

Fisherman? No. But you could go to any marina on a US coast and find endless amounts of boats with 4+ motors on them. You are an idiot if you go out on the open sea with some little boat with just 1 motor, having extra engine power is the only thing keeping you alive out on the open ocean.

> But you could go to any marina on a US coast and find endless amounts of boats with 4+ motors on them.

I live on the coast, in an area of the country where the local culture is, shall we say, fond of excess horsepower in all areas of life, including on boats. My next-door neighbor is a member at the local yacht club. I spend a lot of time walking by boats of many shapes and sizes. I don't recall the last time I saw one with four outboard motors.