Mighty_Zuk

Believe it or not but POWs are still taken even if you don't exactly want to have sex with the prisoner. Even if he killed some of your friends. But there's a caveat in the LOAC about POWs and that is that one must only take surrendering personnel hostage if it is viable. If it's not viable, one may just kill them.

Perhaps. I'm a strong believer in personal responsibility. So if someone is taking drugs and fucks up their own life - that's their choice and they'll live with the consequences. But if we see something like the cartels - a big juicy target that behaves violently, doesn't pay taxes, and sells a product that's net very harmful, then why not just kill them?

Executing POWs is almost always a very stupid thing to do.

The meme is real.

Hamas admit some very interesting statistics about the war. 32,152 children lost their fathers. 4,417 children lost their mothers. 1,918 children lost both. So that's a ratio of 34,070 men to 6,335 women. Or an excess of 27,735 men compared to women. Combine that with a report I linked further below that says 44,600 total deaths were recorded until now (excludes 7,000 natural deaths). That means that even if we exclude any child soldiers, the ratio of combatants to civilians is at least 1.6 : 1. Among the adult population, there are 27,735 excess vs 12,670 evenly distributed men & women. The ratio of combatants to civilians is ~2.2 : 1, which is an insane feat for any modern armed force. Source: Hamas Telegram channel. https://x.com/Aizenberg55/status/1879905170856829179

Israel is in talks with Ukraine about the supply of trophy weapons to Ukraine. Although Israel captured a lot of war materiel across all 1st circle fronts, the vast majority comes from Hezbollah, and that also happens to be proper serially manufactured, high quality weapons. Often directly sourced from Russia.

If you're talking about weed, that's irrelevant and I do support decriminalizing its use. Weed is not the type of drug that'll get you killed or threaten your surroundings.

Combat medics are combat soldiers first and foremost. Although those in the videos carried no firearms, they were part of an invasion force, i.e. a military force, and as such are a military target. Marking also does not grant automatic immunity. It is more of a privilege, granted to a minority of the world's nations. Actors with an extensive track record of perfidy as the Palestinians, do not have such privilege and any adversary to them may, in some cases, choose to ignore markings and consider them combatants. Press is also often protected but not military press, i.e. uniformed soldiers roaming with cameras and firearms. Only civilian press is protected. But the vast majority of Palestinian press is military press, not civilian one. This is evident in the absurdly high press-to-population ratio.

Minister of National Security is Ben Gvir. The chubby ultra right wing radical with mustard stains on his stomach who makes idiotic statements and does nothing productive. Netanyahu knew he gave power to a pyromaniacal man-child so he limited his ministry's authority, but it still has significant authority. This includes gun related regulation. His voter base are settlers. Not the normal kind living in cities. No. The living-in-caravans-and-throwing-rocks-at-IDF-soldiers type. Generally people we should be rounding up and sending to prisons, not arming. And he made sure to formulate the reformed regulations, which look logical on paper, specifically so his voters would get guns. Concurrently the government also boosted civilian rapid response teams, and Ben Gvir is the one responsible for that task. He holds authority on prioritizing equipment, and arms go to response teams that frankly shouldn't even exist in the first place. It's not exactly a secret that he wants his own militia, and his policies have only created a significant uptick in crime across most categories.

Medics are protected unless they take part in military activities. Case in point: combat medics are not legally protected. Gun ownership laws are quite strict, even if illogical at times. But gun violence is low so I guess that works. There are basically 2 main ways to get a gun: Be veteran with at least 05 rifleman training (most basic infantry training - 4 months). Live in a "dangerous" area. What's a dangerous area? Any area with above average likelihood of terror attacks. Specifically terror attacks and not crime. These are usually areas along the borders with Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, J&S, and settlements in J&S. Tel Aviv most certainly does not qualify. Israel being small, and almost everyone doing some form of military service, means that there are a lot of guns on the streets. When you get a license, you have to renew it periodically by paying a fee and qualifying at a range. You're only allowed to buy a pistol. You can't buy a rifle. Surprisingly, almost none at all. The government just expanded criteria #2 a bit to include slightly more territory and that's it. Enough to arm tens of thousands more people though. Unfortunately, not the very good kind of people. As you can infer from mine.

Glenn upset Europe thinks the US is an empire. Glenn upset Israel thinks the US is an empire. Glenn upset Ukraine thinks the US is an empire. Glenn upset drug Mexicans don't think the US is an empire.

It is known that incarceration and punishment are less effective than rehabilitation and prevention. But all of these are long term processes that take decades to yield meaningful results. It's also a no-brainer that people are more likely to start doing drugs if they're more accessible. A lot will be drawn in just to see what it's like, and addiction will take a hold on many of these. Criminalizing drug use has a big effect, but price and supply go hand in hand, and if something is banned but readily available, law enforcement will inevitably lag behind. A high price is a much bigger obstacle. So tackling drug trade with lethal force, which as I explained above, will drive up drug costs significantly, and that in turn will work not only on preventing first time usage, but also on continued usage - which is the longest term effect and for which there is no real strategy right now.

It's understandable why the IDF didn't bomb UNRWA strongholds. It would endanger hostages. But the IDF's refrain from targeting UNRWA like a terrorist organization is a stain on the government's already tarred conduct record. Also since we had a few people whining here about medics being targeted. Of course. Medics are legitimate targets as well during war.

Chief TN appeaser calling another appeaser.

I can only speculate, so here's my 5 cents. Cent 1: 1. Use lethal force. While arrests are often valuable for collection of intel, the general rule should be that lethal force is permissible. This would immediately deter smugglers thus reducing the flow of drugs, and massively increase risk payments to smugglers. These compounding factors will cause smuggled drug prices to spike, which in turn would reduce the drug output in terms of product quantity (if not also in total profit). 2. Prosecute as you would terrorists. Heavier punishments further contribute to the point above. This also includes administrative arrests. I cannot stress just how important administrative arrests are to combating organized crime. Yes I suggested lethal force but you can't always create a battlefield in your own cities. It's also okay to kill rookies but the bigger fish you may need to interrogate. 3. Outside US borders: Conduct airstrikes coordinated with Mexico, on production facilities and troop concentrations. Cent 2: Make agreements with Mexico. Politicians there are scared. But with US assistance, safety can be provided. Coordinate intelligence and military strikes in Mexico. Flying recon above hotspots over Mexican airspace is much easier than searching the very long border. Cent 3: Anything you do will work if you're serious enough about it. Cent 4: Organized crime is faster than red tape so I'm guessing just a slow grinding mostly legal war, where members are recruited faster than they can be prosecuted and the only hope is preventing instead of stopping crime. Cent 5: Define a strike. If you're in your own soil, you don't need airstrikes. Train personnel and give them the gear they need, and let them start hunting. Regardless of the intensity of your action, as long as it's lethal, the consequence is a dead Hector and a drug free Michael.