November 24, 2025 Statement from Senator Kelly Today, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly released the following statement:
“When I was 22 years old, I commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy and swore an oath to the Constitution. I upheld that oath through flight school, multiple deployments on the USS Midway, 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm, test pilot school, four space shuttle flights at NASA, and every day since I retired – which I did after my wife Gabby was shot in the head while serving her constituents.
“In combat, I had a missile blow up next to my jet and flew through anti-aircraft fire to drop bombs on enemy targets. At NASA, I launched on a rocket, commanded the space shuttle, and was part of the recovery mission that brought home the bodies of my astronaut classmates who died on Columbia. I did all of this in service to this country that I love and has given me so much.
“Secretary Hegseth’s tweet is the first I heard of this. I also saw the President’s posts saying I should be arrested, hanged, and put to death.
“If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won’t work. I’ve given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the Constitution.”
The War Department announced that it is reviewing the federal law that forbids encouraging disloyalty and insubordination in the armed forces, and might recall retired Navy Captain Mark Kelly to active duty for a court-martial.
Department of War
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OFFICIAL STATEMENT: 8:50 AM · Nov 24, 2025
The Department of War has received serious allegations of misconduct against Captain Mark Kelly, USN (Ret.). In accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 688 {Retired Members}, and other applicable regulations, a thorough review of these allegations has been initiated to determine further actions, which may include recall to active duty for court-martial proceedings or administrative measures. This matter will be handled in compliance with military law, ensuring due process and impartiality. Further official comments will be limited, to preserve the integrity of the proceedings.
The Department of War reminds all individuals that military retirees remain subject to the UCMJ for applicable offenses, and federal laws such as 18 U.S.C. § 2387 prohibit actions intended to interfere with the loyalty, morale, or good order and discipline of the armed forces. Any violations will be addressed through appropriate legal channels.
All servicemembers are reminded that they have a legal obligation under the UCMJ to obey lawful orders and that orders are presumed to be lawful. A servicemember’s personal philosophy does not justify or excuse the disobedience of an otherwise lawful order. {Emphasis Added}
Noting that the War Department had received “serious allegations” against Kelly, the department cited:
18 U.S. Code § 2387
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(a)Whoever, with intent to interfere with, impair, or influence the loyalty, morale, or discipline of the military or naval forces of the United States: (1)advises, counsels, urges, or in any manner causes or attempts to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military or naval forces of the United States; or (2)distributes or attempts to distribute any written or printed matter which advises, counsels, or urges insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military or naval forces of the United States— Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction. (b)For the purposes of this section, the term “military or naval forces of the United States” includes the Army of the United States, the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, and Coast Guard Reserve of the United States; and, when any merchant vessel is commissioned in the Navy or is in the service of the Army or the Navy, includes the master, officers, and crew of such vessel.
The penalty can be imprisoned...
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[This message has been edited by Vintage-Nut (edited 11-25-2025).]
Anyone who has served knows that Democrat ad is bad for moral and discipline. It can get anyone who follows the "advice" given in the ad to end up in career ending trouble. Here is a currently serving NCO explaining the issue in a way that civilians can understand.
It tells me (and millions of others) that Kelly is letting Trump and his sad-sack crew of cronies know that they can all go eff themselves.
Thing is, he (and those "millions of others") can, essentially, "sit and spin". There isn't a damned thing that they can do about it until, maybe, 2026. Well, other than b!tch about it, and suck it up. But Kelly might find himself called out of retirement and court-martialed. Either way, I don't care. Well, I didn't - until I heard that he was on Kimmel. Now? Eff 'im.
Here is what I can tell you from facts not some AI. You can disobey an unlawful order, plan on spending your vacation in jail while you wait for a court-martial to clear you. Telling service men and women that they can disobey an unlawful order without spelling out exactly what that order is. This is the problem. Inciting service members to disobey orders without telling them what that order is is just that inciting them to not follow orders. Because some service people, god bless them are stupid. **** you and see you tomorrow.
For what it's worth... the only thing you should take away from Senator Mark Kelly is that he's planning to run for President in 2028.
That's all this is about right now.
Does he really have a problem with us launching strikes on drug boats? Of course not. US SOUTHCOM and JIATF-South already know who's on the boat, where the boat came from, what's on the boat, and where the boat is going. They know all of this the moment the boat leaves the port... this "nonsense talk" from the Democrats right now is just political rhetoric.
Does he really have a problem with us launching strikes on drug boats?
"Drug boats"? There has been no documented proof of anything presented. Can you imagine the uproar if the tables were turned and foreign countries started blowing up US vessels at their government's discretion?
And how about the second strike to kill survivors of the first strike. This goes against everything that civilized countries stand for... even in war time conditions, which this certainly is not.
It's unbelievable and sickening how a small segment of the American population is just turning a blind eye (and/or making up any number of bogus excuses) to accept the illegal deeds of this totally out of control authoritarian regime which is currently destroying what the United States of America used to supposedly stand for.
This isn't a left/right issue... this has to do with what's right, and what's wrong.
[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 12-04-2025).]
Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: Does he really have a problem with us launching strikes on drug boats? Of course not. US SOUTHCOM and JIATF-South already know who's on the boat, where the boat came from, what's on the boat, and where the boat is going. They know all of this the moment the boat leaves the port... this "nonsense talk" from the Democrats right now is just political rhetoric.
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Originally posted by Patrick: "Drug boats"? There has been no documented proof of anything presented.
Right. So we're supposed to "show our hand", and maybe endanger some of our intelligence assets? I don't think so.
This has been discussed elsewhere, as well. You know as well as I that these are drug boats. Any claims to the contrary are just disingenuous. If anyone has any other ideas as to what they're delivering, I'd like to hear them. They're certainly not "water taxis".
A favorite "story" is that they're fishing boats. Seriously? I haven't seen anything in any of the videos that looks like a fishing pole. Not one. Don't forget about the submarines, such that they are. The even had a story about them on Public Television, FFS. (I kind of questioned the whole "submarine" thing, until I saw what they were doing. They're crude as hell. But they work.)
It's what prosecutors do every day in law courts around the civilized world... even in the US (well, up to now anyway).
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Originally posted by Raydar:
You know as well as I that these are drug boats.
I "know" no such thing... and neither do you!
How long would Canada be allowed to blow American "drug boats" out of the water without any warning and/or due process? I suspect after the first one, the American navy would be steaming into Canadian waters pronto.
I find it unbelievable that that you and/or any American citizen would find it acceptable for the US government to decide who lives and dies without any form of lawful procedure.
Do you at least have some reservations about survivors clinging to the wreckage of a bombed boat being finished off by a second attack... or is that now perfectly acceptable as well?
OMG... listen to what those two giggling galoots on Fox News were saying... that the two survivors of the initial attack were still a threat(!) to the safety of the US. What were they going to do... paddle the bombed out "drug boat" almost 2000 miles to Florida?
Just going to put this here to show How far the "leadership" of the democratic party has moved.
The Left's Reaction to Drug Merchants
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Bill O'Reilly / December 5, 2025
It is truly astonishing to hear liberal politicians and anti-Trump pundits bemoan the fate of drug smugglers. Here are people who transport and sell powerful narcotics that kill millions all over the world. Yet, as soon as American power is unleashed on them, the wailing and gnashing of teeth begins.
Everyone’s favorite late-night lefty, Jimmy Kimmel, riffed the other night that ordinary “fishermen” are getting waxed by U.S. air power. Jim raised the possibility of the Trump administration interrupting the pursuit of Chilean Bass!
One problem, many of the boats being blasted to kingdom come are worth about $400,000 each with top speeds of 90 mph. Ahoy there, Jim, care to round up some Halibut?
The always perceptive Rachel Maddow opined that some of the targeted boats “were not even pointed at the United States.”
Pointed? Maybe they veered off to whale watch. That’s the ticket.
The key question is, how do you stop drug merchants from making billions of dollars? Jimmy? Rachel? Bueller? Do you talk them out of it? Provide other forms of employment, perhaps in the AI industry?
What?
Of course, the dissenters have no answers to confronting heinous drug-traffickers. They just don’t like anything Trump does. Problem-solving? Nah.
No sympathy here for the cocaine sailors. They don’t care who they kill. So, amigos, how do you like the new shoe-foot analogy?
But I actually do Patrick. I worked for the NSA for a decade. I was literally stationed at US SOUTHCOM for 3 years, and worked with (and visited multiple times) Guantanamo, JIATF-South, JTF-Bravo, etc. I know every square inch of US SOUTHCOM. My last tour was literally at US SOCOM here in Tampa, where I then, again, worked with US SOCSOUTH located in Homestead.
I've said before, and I'll say it again... when we conduct strikes, we have to know from where, who's involved, what's involved, and where it's going. This is crucial so that we don't kill or harm Americans, because it completely changes the game. The fact that these were drug boats was accidentally re-affirmed by Democrats when they admitted that these are "drug boats," but are now bothered by the fact that we struck them twice.
If that isn't proof enough for you, you can literally see in many of the videos, there are young adults riding on a speedboat with 4+ outboard motors, with the entire back of the boat filled with what look like pillows or large marshmallows. They used to use hidden submersibles, but they were too slow, and now they attempt to do it almost entirely by speedboat... and small planes to private airports in Miami doesn't work anymore either.
They are listed as a terrorist organization, and as such, it's defined differently under the Patriot Act. If the Democrats don't like the Patriot Act, then they should stop renewing it every year (hint, they love it because it gives them additional FISA rights, which they illegally use to spy on reporters and politicians).
I will tell you, the only reason why we used to capture these boats, rather than blow them out of the water all the time (which we still often did), was because we usually try to capture the narcotics ON the boat. We dispose of them, but we use those narcotics to feed our statistics about how much is coming into the country, how much is stopped, etc. Whenever a boat would attempt to fire on a Coast Guard or NAVY vessel (we use both... there's an authorities hand-off that takes place), we would immediately blow them out of the water. It wasn't a formality, it was just something we did. Trump's interest is in actually stopping the boats from getting here.
They view those drug-boats in the same way you should view a missile being launched from abroad into U.S. territory. It's said that every one of those boats leads to about 5,000 narcotics overdose deaths. There were over 100k narcotics overdose deaths in 2023, and slightly lower in 2024. I generally don't like death, but I'll be honest with you... I have a really hard time caring about these drug cartels. Not trying to twist your words here... but I have a hard time understanding why this is a hill you want to die on. I'm going to have to chalk it up to your dislike for Trump, and this is just the "latest thing." It IS OK for you to occasionally disregard your hate for Trump so that logic and reason can prevail.
EDIT: Here you go man... here's a few of the coins I just quickly grabbed from the cup I keep them in. Don't tell me "I don't know." I'm retired from all this stuff, so I have no problem revealing what I did and who I was, as long as I don't share anything I'm not supposed to... which I would never do.
[This message has been edited by 82-T/A [At Work] (edited 12-05-2025).]
Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: But I actually do Patrick. I worked for the NSA for a decade. I was literally stationed at US SOUTHCOM for 3 years, and worked with (and visited multiple times) Guantanamo, JIATF-South, JTF-Bravo, etc. I know every square inch of US SOUTHCOM. My last tour was literally at US SOCOM here in Tampa, where I then, again, worked with US SOCSOUTH located in Homestead. ...
EDIT: ...Don't tell me "I don't know." I'm retired from all this stuff, so I have no problem revealing what I did and who I was, as long as I don't share anything I'm not supposed to... which I would never do.
Thanks, Todd. I started to elaborate in my previous post but didn't, in the name of discretion. I'm glad that you did. I figured you were in a position to know.
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The two "survivors"? They had to have known what they were up against when they took the job. I'm not happy with how it ended, but it was going to happen, one way or the other. They could have been left there to drown. There were no available means of rescue anywhere nearby unless, possibly, another smuggler boat may have been (undetected) in the area. And I can't picture any of those guys running in to effect a rescue - since it seemed to be raining missiles, and all.
Originally posted by Raydar: The two "survivors"? They had to have known what they were up against when they took the job. I'm not happy with how it ended, but it was going to happen, one way or the other. They could have been left there to drown. There were no available means of rescue anywhere nearby unless, possibly, another smuggler boat may have been (undetected) in the area. And I can't picture any of those guys running in to effect a rescue - since it seemed to be raining missiles, and all.
This whole thing about being concerned about whether they live or die is so fake. When we conduct special operations, we literally kill every single person we come in contact with unless they're civilians (like... a woman or child). If you're a grown man, you get shot.
When we killed and captured Bin Laden's body, we stormed the compound and literally shot everyone within sight. We killed one of his sex slaves, two guards, his son, and shot at least 6 other people who apparently survived... and of course Bin Laden before we dumped his body in the middle of the ocean once we confirmed it was him. Did anyone get all pissy about that?
These are enemy combatants... the whole argument about whether some of them lived or died is completely... completely asinine. When we do a drone strike, or a missile strike from an Apache, we kill every single person we possibly can at the target until we are either out of amunition or everyone stops moving. There are 1000s of videos from Afghanistan that have been declassified, which you can watch, that show Taliban enemy combatants running towards a FOB, trying to shoot at it, and then running away when several of them have been shot. Do we let them go? No... we send an MRAP after them and then pick them off, or use an A-10 Warthog / Tank Killer and "bzzzzt" them until they're dead.
This concern is so totally fake. In WW2, the Democrats killed 380 thousand Japanese in an afternoon with the only two nuclear bombs ever used. Sorry... any reasonable person can tell this is totally political.
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Originally posted by jdv:
Todd, do you think the drugs are more of a threat or the terrorist link that Venezuelan has with Iran?
For the most part, yes... the drugs are more of a threat. The modern "axis of evil" consists of Russia, Iran, and China. China and Iran are fairly newcomers to South and Central America, but in the last ~15+ years, they've become much more active. They collectively view the United States as the power that must be toppled, before they (primarily China) can consider itself the leading world power. There are many things that this group collectively does to negatively affect the United States. One of these things is the drug trade. People think that drug lords are doing this because there's money to be made by selling it in the United States. This isn't the 80s anymore... the primary reason the drug trade is so prevalent now, is because it's literally pushed by China to destabilize our communities. Less so Iran, they hate us, same with Russia... but it's mostly from China, and they directly influence and support these communist nations, like Venezuela.
Iran has drone technology, which we bombed earlier in the year. Their drone facility was actually built by China, using technology stolen from us. They actually had fairly advanced drones, and of course... China is all too happy to provide this technology to Iran who will actively use it. China would never use this against us, as it would be a declaration of war. We are already "at war" with Iran... but we all know we could level the entire country in an afternoon... but much of Iran is not fundamentalist, and we hope the regime will eventually collapse. In any case, Iran no longer has the capacity to build this technology, so there is less of a threat from Iran. The drugs that come into our country directly lead to the deaths of U.S. citizens. Oddly enough... drug overdoses are predominantly white lower class, and black U.S. citizens. Illegal immigrants, and Hispanics are the least likely groups to die, along with Asians. For some reason, illegal Hispanics and Asians just don't use heavy drugs like fentanyl or heroine. China knows this, these drugs are directly... directly affecting the lower middle class (manufacturing base) of the United States, while our population is effectively replaced by foreign migrants. The goal / hope is to degrade U.S. society on multiple fronts, while putting pressure on it on the global stage. This is the #1 goal of the Chinese Communist Party... to dethrone the United States.
But I actually do Patrick. I worked for the NSA for a decade.
You know nothing about these current events. You can bang your drum all you want about a job you might've had years ago, but it doesn't give you any pertinent insight on what is now going on in the Caribbean.
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Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]:
...you can literally see in many of the videos, there are young adults riding on a speedboat with 4+ outboard motors, with the entire back of the boat filled with what look like pillows or large marshmallows.
There's no way to determine from simply looking at the videos presented what the hell is going on down there. Even if they're not 100% AI, it's impossible to ascertain what video goes with what event... if any of them are actually what we're being told they are.
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Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]:
Not trying to twist your words here... but I have a hard time understanding why this is a hill you want to die on. I'm going to have to chalk it up to your dislike for Trump, and this is just the "latest thing." It IS OK for you to occasionally disregard your hate for Trump so that logic and reason can prevail.
Of course you're trying to twist my words. It's what you do in P&R. I have no love for drug dealers. Cut the crap about my "hate for Trump" being the reason for my apprehension over this illegal activity by the US administration. I've already clearly expressed the problem I have with these actions. If American citizens were being killed in this same manner by foreign governments, the MAGA zealots here would be among the first to be talking about "nukes" and "glass parking lots".
Seriously Todd, you trying to school me about "logic and reason" is rich!
This goes against everything that civilized countries stand for... even in war time conditions, which this certainly is not.
