Colombian President Gustavo Petro

‘Another Unlawful Extrajudicial Killing’ as Trump Expands Boat-Bombing Spree to Pacific

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Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

A boat in the Pacific Ocean targeted for military strike by the Trump administration on October 21, 2025. (Image: Screen shot via Pete Hegseth/X)

“This is illegal and endangers America,” said one critic of Trump’s boat-bombing campaign.

The Trump administration launched another military strike on a purported drug trafficking boat on Tuesday night, and for the first time expanded its campaign of extrajudicial killing to the Pacific Ocean.

In a social media post, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that President Donald Trump had authorized “a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a designated terrorist organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.” Hegseth also said that the strike killed two passengers who were aboard the vessel.

This marks at least the eighth time the US military has attacked a purported drug-trafficking boat, although the previous seven strikes took place in the Caribbean. Collectively, the strikes have killed at least 34 people.

In the wake of the latest boat attack, many Trump critics once again slammed the administration for carrying out what they described as acts of murder.

Conor Friedersdorf, a staff writer at The Atlantic, described the attack as “another unlawful extrajudicial killing of a boat our military could have stopped and investigated.”

Friedersdorf also emphasized that these killings would be unlawful even if the people on the boats were involved in narcotics trafficking.

“Even when convicted drug smugglers go to court, they don’t get the death penalty,” he wrote. “This is immoral.”

Kenneth Roth, former executive director for Human Rights Watch, tore apart the administration’s legal argument for treating alleged drug smuggling as an act of war by a hostile foreign power.

“Trump’s rationale for his repeated murders at sea don’t hold water,” he wrote in a post on X. “There is no ‘self-defense’ because no one is attacking the United States. There is no ’armed conflict’ because there are no hostilities approaching a war.”

Jill Wine-Banks, former Watergate prosecutor and US general counsel of the Army, warned in a post on Bluesky about the dangers of further widening Trump’s bombing campaign.

“He must be stopped,” she wrote. “This is illegal and endangers America.”

Journalist Mark Jacob said he was highly skeptical that the administration was carrying out these attacks to stop the flow of drugs into the US.

“The Trump regime lies all the time,” he wrote on Bluesky. “A more likely explanation for these attacks is US imperialism: Trump wants to overthrow Maduro in Venezuela (with vast oil reserves) and intimidate Colombia (which criticized previous attacks).”

Colombian President Gustavo Petro this past weekend said that the Trump administration had “committed a murder” after one of its boat attacks killed a Colombian citizen named Alejandro Carranza, who had been out on a fishing trip when the US military attacked his boat.

Trump responded by baselessly calling Petro “an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs,” while also levying new tariffs against Colombia.

Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Continue Reading‘Another Unlawful Extrajudicial Killing’ as Trump Expands Boat-Bombing Spree to Pacific

‘No War Crimes Are Off Limits’ as Trump Reportedly Mulling Bombing Targets in Venezuela

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Original article by Olivia Rosane republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (R) looks on as US President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

NBC reported Friday that the US military is considering options including drone strikes against drug cartel members within the South American country, prompting fears of escalation.

The Trump administration may strike alleged drug targets inside Venezuela’s borders within weeks, sources familiar with the situation told NBC News on Friday.

Two US officials and two other sources with knowledge of the conversations that had taken place said that the US military was considering plans that could include drone strikes against members and leaders of drug trafficking groups as well as drug laboratories. If approved, the strikes would be a further escalation following three Trump administration attacks on alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean that have killed at least 17 people, even though the administration has provided no evidence that those killed were actually smuggling drugs.

“More mass murder on the cards?” the news outlet Venezeulanaysis wrote in response. “NBC reports that the Trump administration is weighing strikes against ‘drug targets’ (emphasis on the air quotes) inside Venezuelan territory. Lots of speculation and anonymous sources, but it shows that no war crimes are off limits.”

US President Donald Trump has already come under heavy criticism for authorizing boat strikes that many decry as illegal. Democratic lawmakers have moved to bar the president from authorizing further attacks, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro called for the United Nations to take criminal proceedings against the US president in a speech on Tuesday.

“This is the most egregious instance of disinformation against our nation, intended to justify an escalation to armed conflict that would inflict catastrophic damage across the entire continent.”

Now, observers are responding with alarm to the news that the administration might go even further.

El Pais correspondent Juan Diego Quesada wrote on social media that strikes within Venezuelan territory “would escalate the conflict to a level whose consequences I dare not measure.”

“How would this not be considered an act of war?” asked poster Cindy Gossett. “Trump can’t just claim Venezuelan citizens are drug lords therefore he’s going to fly a drone over and destroy them. If Venezuela did the same in our country it wouldn’t be accepted.”

Speaking at the UN General Assembly on Friday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto said that the US had an “illegal and completely immoral military threat hanging over our heads.”

Pinto also cast doubt on the notion that the Trump administration’s true aim was to combat the drug trade.

He accused the US of trying to permit “external powers to rob Venezuela’s immeasurable oil and gas wealth” and said that the administration was using “vulgar and perverse lies” to “justify an atrocious, extravagant, and immoral multibillion-dollar military threat.”

Trump has yet to authorize any particular plan, according to NBC. The Pentagon declined to comment on their report, and the White House referred the outlet to a previous statement from Trump: “We’ll see what happens. Venezuela is sending us their gang members, their drug dealers, and drugs. It’s not acceptable.”

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has denied that his administration has not done enough to prevent drug trafficking through the South American country, as Trump has accused.

Maduro sent a letter to the White House on September 6 calling for peace and dialogue and defending his record, noting that, according to a UN report, only 5% of the drugs that leave Colombia do so via Venezuela.

He wrote of the trafficking claims, “This is the most egregious instance of disinformation against our nation, intended to justify an escalation to armed conflict that would inflict catastrophic damage across the entire continent.”

Toward the end of the letter, he appealed to Trump to work with him to reduce tensions.

“President, I hope that together we can defeat the falsehoods that have sullied our relationship, which must be historic and peaceful,” Maduro wrote.

Original article by Olivia Rosane republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Continue Reading‘No War Crimes Are Off Limits’ as Trump Reportedly Mulling Bombing Targets in Venezuela

Thousands march to denounce Netanyahu at UNGA: “Everywhere you go, you will be met with empty rooms”

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Original article by Natalia Marques republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Thousands march in New York City (Photo: Midia Ninja)

Protesters marched to the UN headquarters in New York, where they were joined by Colombia President Gustavo Petro

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly, thousands of pro-Palestine protesters marched only a few blocks away to demand his arrest. Demonstrators first rallied in Times Square, hearing from a variety of speakers from organizations across the pro-Palestine and anti-war movement, then the crowd marched west to the UN headquarters.

Netanyahu gave his second UNGA address since the beginning of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza on the morning of September 26.

“Netanyahu is inside the UN right now. Having just spoken to a mostly empty room about Israel’s war on Gaza,” said Palestinian Youth Movement organizer Nidaa Lafi. “Rest assured Netanyahu, everywhere you go, you will be met with empty rooms.”

(Photo: Midia Ninja)

Over 100 diplomats from over 50 countries walked out of the UN General Assembly while Netanyahu spoke. The Israeli Prime Minister vowed to “finish the job” in Gaza, where over – including over – Palestinians have already been killed by Israeli forces.

Netanyahu also said the recognition of a Palestinian state would be “insane”, and akin to “giving al-Qaeda a state one mile from New York City after September 11. At the present moment, 157 out of 193 UN member states recognize Palestine as an independent state. 

In an unprecedented operation, Israeli forces broadcast Netanyahu’s speech via loudspeakers within the Gaza Strip. In a step further, Netanyahu’s office claimed that the Israeli military had taken control of the phones of Gaza residents “and Hamas members” to broadcast the speech – though no evidence has thus far supported this claim.

“It’s clear more than ever that the interests of the Palestinian people are one and the same with American workers,” Nadya Tannous of the Palestinian Youth Movement told Peoples Dispatch. “Everyday human beings who want to see our tax dollars sent towards our infrastructure, our education, our healthcare, our children, rather than being sent in the billions to weapons for the state of Israel.”

“Our fates are all tied together as a global working class,” Navruz, a member of the United Auto Workers, told Peoples Dispatch while he was marching in New York City. “We’re all morally compelled. We’re seeing unions in Europe threaten to sh ut down ports, we see the power that workers have, and we need to be organizing in our workplaces, organizing with our coworkers to stop the genocide.”

Gustavo Petro addresses pro-Palestine demonstrators at UN (Photo via Palestinian Youth Movement)

When the crowd of thousands of demonstrators arrived at the United Nations headquarters, they were joined by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, days after delivering a scathing rebuke of Israel’s actions in Gaza at the UNGA. 

“What is happening in Gaza is genocide. There is no other way to put it: it is an attempt to wipe out the Palestinian people,” Petro declared before the assembled crowd of protesters, standing alongside Pink Floyd musician and activist Roger Waters. Petro urged the people of the US to “disobey the order of Trump” and to instead “obey the order of humanity.”

Original article by Natalia Marques republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Continue ReadingThousands march to denounce Netanyahu at UNGA: “Everywhere you go, you will be met with empty rooms”