Murder on the High Seas

Glenn Kirschner
Sep 20, 2025

Donald Trump has been ordering deadly strikes in international waters on Venezuelans who he claims are suspected drug runners. These killings are illegal. These killings are murder.

I recently sat down for an extended conversation with a Dan Mauer. Dan is a former Army JAG officer who retired as Lieutenant Colonel. He is also a law professor who teaches at Ohio Northern University's Claude W. Pettit College of Law. Dan is a military law and law of war expert, who has also taught constitutional law and criminal law at both West Point and at the Army's Judge Advocate General's School in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Dan and I discussed primarily three subjects. First, the murders being ordered by Donald Trump and carried out by the United States military. Second, the militarization of the streets of America. And third, the recent practice of military leadership scrutinizing the social media posts of military members in a transparent attempt to find some pretext to remove or demote military members who say things that people like Trump and Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth may find objectionable.