I forget; who was it who authorized Trump to kill people in boats near Venezuela? Could it have been nobody?

The US military conducted yet another strike on a boat alleged to be trafficking drugs off the coast of Venezuela, killing six people on board, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday.

Trump said that the vessel was “affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization” but did not name any organization or provide evidence to back up the assertion.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “The strike was conducted in International Waters, and six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike. No U.S. Forces were harmed.”

This is at least the fifth time the US has announced such a strike; the Pentagon announced another one in early October.

Is it open season on people in international waters? Are we all allowed to “conduct a strike” on boats as long as they’re in open waters?

The administration has defended the strikes. In a letter to Congress, the Pentagon said Trump had determined that the US is in an “armed conflict” with the drug cartels his administration has designated as terrorist organizations, and that smugglers for the cartels are “unlawful combatants,” CNN has previously reported.

Yeeeah I think that’s some made-up law right there. Can other countries “strike” US vessels as long as they’re in open water?

Earlier this month, Republican Sen. Rand Paul announced that he was cosponsoring a War Powers resolution that would stop the president from being able to unilaterally conduct such strikes.

“Blowing up boats without due process could risk unintended escalation and trigger regime change efforts — an approach history has repeatedly shown to fail. That’s why I’m co-sponsoring a War Powers resolution to stop it. Congress must reassert its authority,” Paul said on X.

Paul also publicly criticized Vice President JD Vance last month after he celebrated one of the strikes. “What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial,” Paul said in response to the vice president.

Vance is a despicable guy.