Pete Hegseth

Trump Murder Spree Continues as Hegseth Says 14 Killed in 3 New Boat Bombings

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Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

US forces have conducted over a dozen strikes on alleged drug-running boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean since early September, killing at least 57 people, according to Trump administration figures.

Fourteen more people were killed and one survived three new US bombings of what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday claimed—again without evidence—were four boats transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

“Eight male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessels during the first strike. Four male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the second strike. Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the third strike,” Hegseth said of the Monday attacks, which presumably occurred off the west coast of Mexico.

“A total of 14 narco-terrorists were killed during the three strikes, with one survivor,” he continued. “All strikes were in international waters with no US forces harmed.”

Hegseth said that US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) “immediately initiated search and rescue (SAR) standard protocols; Mexican SAR authorities accepted the case and assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue.”

He added that the Department of Defense “has spent over TWO DECADES defending other homelands. Now, we’re defending our own. These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same. We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them.”

US forces have carried out more than a dozen strikes on alleged drug-running boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean since early September, killing at least 57 people, according to Trump administration figures.

Earlier this month, a bipartisan US Senate war powers resolution aimed at reining in President Donald Trump’s ability to extrajudicially execute alleged drug traffickers in or near Venezuela failed to pass.

The latest boat bombings came amid the Trump administration’s mounting provocations against Venezuela. In addition to his earlier deployment of an armada of US warships and thousands of troops to the southern Caribbean and ongoing military exercises with neighboring Trinidad and Tobago, the Pentagon said last week that the president ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group off the coast of the oil-rich South American nation—a longtime target of US meddling.

“Somehow, the United States of America has found a way to combine two of its greatest foreign policy failures—the Iraq War and the War on Drugs—into a single regime change narrative… and sell it again to the mainstream media. Incredible,” Progressive International co-general coordinator David Adler said Tuesday in response to US saber-rattling against Venezuela.

Venezuela said Sunday that it had “captured a mercenary group” aligned with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and had determined “that a false-flag attack is underway from waters bordering Trinidad and Tobago, or from Trinidad or Venezuelan territory itself.”

The claim comes less than two weeks after Trump publicly acknowledged his authorization of covert CIA action against Venezuela.

Latin American leaders, human rights defenders, and others have condemned the US boat strikes—which Venezuelan and Colombian officials, as well as victims’ relatives, say have killed fishers—as extrajudicial murders and war crimes.

The 93-year-old great-uncle of Chad Joseph, a 26-year-old Trinidadian and Tobagonian killed along with compatriot Rishi Samaroo in an October 14 US strike, called the attack “perfect murder.”

“There is nothing they could prove that they are coming across our waters with drugs,” he said earlier this month. “How could Trump prove the boat was bringing narcotics?”

Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under a 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 ReadingTrump Murder Spree Continues as Hegseth Says 14 Killed in 3 New Boat Bombings

‘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

‘Most Loser Shit I Have Ever Seen’: Pete Hegseth’s Unhinged Speech to Generals Sparks Instant Ridicule

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

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks to senior military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico on September 30, 2025 in Quantico, Virginia. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

One critic expressed astonishment that Hegseth “summoned all the US generals from around the globe at great expense to fat shame them.”

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday sparked instant ridicule among critics for delivering a speech in front of American generals in which he railed against “dudes in dresses,” “climate change worship,” and “fat” soldiers.

During the address, which US military leaders around the world were summoned to attend in Quantico, Virginia, Hegseth rattled off a long list of culture war grievances that he claimed had weakened the American military, which he asserted is forced to follow “stupid rules of engagement” that limit members of the armed forces. Hegseth has spent much of his tenure taking steps to remake the military into what he has said will be a more aggressive force, including by firing top lawyers.

Among many topics, Hegseth, a former Fox News host, took aim at some American soldiers’ physical appearances.

“Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations and see fat troops,” Hegseth fumed at one point. “Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals.”

Hegseth also said that the Trump administration had moved to systematically “to remove the social justice, politically correct, and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department.”

What this means in practice, Hegseth elaborated, was “no more identity months, [diversity, equity, and inclusion] offices, dudes in dresses, no more climate change worship.”

“We are done with that shit!” he emphasized.

Elsewhere in his address, Hegseth announced he was “overhauling” the inspector general process that has been used to investigate allegations of misconduct against military officers. According to Hegseth, the current process has put “complainers, ideologues, and poor performers in the driver’s seat.”

“No more frivolous complaints, no more anonymous complaints, no more repeat complaints, no more smearing reputations, no more endless waiting, no more legal limbo, no more sidetracking careers, no more walking on eggshells!” Hegseth exclaimed.

US President Donald Trump, who spoke at Quantico after Hegseth’s address, called the defense secretary’s speech “great,” even as it was being pilloried as “embarrassing” and “ridiculous” far and wide online.

Watch the complete speeches by both Hegseth and Trump.

New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie described the speech as “some of the most loser shit I have ever seen in my life” and he marveled that Hegseth had hauled in military leaders away from their jobs to watch it.

“Can you imagine sitting in that audience as a three-star flag officer—decades in the service, multiple post-grad degrees, and a virtually unequaled level of command expertise—and being forced to watch this dunderheaded dry drunk give an off-brand Jordan Belfort seminar?” Bouie asked.

Pamela Herd, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, also asserted that senior military personnel likely felt insulted watching Hegseth’s speech.

“I just can’t get over the lack of shame—the unabashed confidence,” she said. “Can you imagine what those generals are thinking being lectured to by someone so inexperienced and incompetent?”

Seth Masket, a political scientist at the University of Denver, expressed astonishment that Hegseth “summoned all the US generals from around the globe at great expense to fat shame them.”

American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick argued that Hegseth would open up US defense policy to significant vulnerabilities if he were to move forward with banning the American military from discussing the impacts of climate change.

“Climate change may be the single greatest geopolitical wild card of the next century—a reshaping of countries’ agricultures, economies, and even literal geography,” he wrote. “And here a guy who never rose above the rank of Major says the U.S. military shouldn’t even consider it. We are screwed.”

Attorney Max Kennerly took aim at Hegseth’s comments on military service members’ physical fitness, which he said showed a deep ignorance of how the modern military fights wars.

“I can’t get over how the right-wing doesn’t understand modern militaries, with the majority serving non-combat roles,” he explained. “You think the best IT security and logistics personnel spends two hours in the gym every day to look like the cast of 300? They’re at furry conventions and model train shows.”

Following Hegseth’s speech, the president’s lengthy address included defenses of his policies, including his decision to deploy federal troops to US cities to fight what he called “the enemy within.” Trump has ordered federal troops to cities including Washington, DC; Chicago; and Portland to remove unhoused people from the streets, arrest immigrants, and fight anti-fascist protesters.

“We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military,” said Trump.

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

Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
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.
Continue Reading‘Most Loser Shit I Have Ever Seen’: Pete Hegseth’s Unhinged Speech to Generals Sparks Instant Ridicule

Oregon Files Suit Against Trump to Stop ‘Unlawful’ National Guard Deployment

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

Protesters march on September 28, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. In a Truth Social post on September 27th, President Trump authorized the deployment of military troops to “protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.”
 (Photo by Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)

“We won’t be cowed, and we can’t let this president normalize military and armed federal policing in our country. This is not how a healthy democracy works.”

Calling a move by President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard soldiers to the city of Portland, Oregon, completely “unlawful,” state and city officials on Sunday filed a lawsuit to block the effort as they accused the Trump White House of overstepping its authority.

The 41-page federal lawsuit challenging the “unlawful deployment” order was filed in the US District Court of Oregon and names Trump as well as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

A statement from the office of Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield says the lawsuit, backed by Gov. Tina Kotek and Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, argues that Trump “lacks authority” under Title 10 of the US code, which only permits federalization of National Guard troops, typically under the command of state governors, “only in circumstance of invasion, rebellion, or when federal laws cannot otherwise be executed. None of those circumstances exist in Oregon.”

The suit, which states that the “heavy-handed deployment of troops threatens to escalate tensions” and foment “new unrest” in the city, asks the court for immediate relief by declaring the Trump administration’s order unlawful and halting any such deployment.

“Oregon communities are stable, and our local officials have been clear: we have the capacity to manage public safety without federal interference,” said Rayfield. “Sending in 200 National Guard troops to guard a single building is not normal.”

“What we’re seeing is not about public safety,” he continued, “it’s about the President flexing political muscle under the guise of law and order, chasing a media hit at the expense of our community.”

The ACLU on Sunday characterized Trump’s claim that Portland was “war-ravaged” as false on its face and condemned the order as illegal and dangerous.

“This major escalation from the President and the federal government has no place in our politics or our communities,” said Sandy Chung, ACLU of Oregon’s executive director. “Oregonians have for months been exercising their constitutional right to criticize cruel federal policies. A forcible deployment of federal troops and armed law enforcement violates our right to govern ourselves and endangers our families and freedoms.”

In a news interview on Sunday, Rayfield denounced the numerous and “absurd” things Trump has both said and done in the name of “public safety” that are wholly counter to what’s needed.

“If you really wanted public safety, you wouldn’t threaten to send the United States military into any city. What you’d do is pick up the phone and work toward collaboration—finding out what resources a community actually needs,” Rayfield said.

“I know for a fact, from talking to cities across Oregon and across the country, that if you pick up the phone and ask, ‘What do you need? What could be helpful?’ The answer would not be the United States military.”

Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, put the situation in Portland in a broader context, as it’s not the first city where Trump has aimed National Guard soldiers, and it’s unlikely to be the last.

“Like for other cities, President Trump’s justification for deploying troops and armed federal agents to Portland is blatantly false and inflammatory, as well as jeopardizes residents’ fundamental liberties,” warned Shamsi.

“After a harrowing week for our First Amendment freedoms, we see the President’s strategy for what it is—an attempt to create conflict where there is none, sow fear in our communities, and intimidate people from exercising their constitutional rights,” she added. “But we won’t be cowed, and we can’t let this president normalize military and armed federal policing in our country. This is not how a healthy democracy works.”

Original article by Jon Queally 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 ReadingOregon Files Suit Against Trump to Stop ‘Unlawful’ National Guard Deployment

‘The Hitler of Our Time!’ Trump Confronted Inside DC Steak House

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

A side-by-side photo shows a CodePink activist (l) as she and her fellow activists chant against President Donald Trump at Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab restaurant in Washington, DC on Tuesday, September 9, 2025. (Photo: Screengrab / CodePink via YouTube)

“They feast while Gaza starves!” said members of the peace group CodePink to the far-right president and his cabinet.

Local peace activists in Washington, DC were swiftly ejected on Tuesday night after confronting President Donald Trump and several members of his cabinet who were dining in a steak and seafood restaurant, but not before they castigated the men for “feasting” in opulence while the people of Gaza “starve” under the brutal humanitarian blockade imposed by the US and Israeli governments.

The small group of CodePink activists chanted “They feast while Gaza starves!” and “Trump is the Hitler of our time!” as Trump looked on just several feet away inside Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab restaurant, alongside Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others.

“He’s terrorizing Gaza and communities all over the world!” one activist in the group shouted at Trump while the president looked on and then shooed them to go away with a point of his finger and then a gesture to his Secret Service detail.

“While Trump, JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, and others feasted at a steakhouse, we stood our ground and told them the truth,” said Olivia DiNucci, the group’s DC organizer, in a statement following the confrontation. “Two years into genocide, Gaza is under evacuation orders, Puerto Rico and Venezuela are in the crosshairs, and the Pentagon proudly calls itself the Department of War. Trump looked us in the eyes, and we made sure he would never dine in peace while communities are under siege.”

CodePink said a Trump administration “prioritizing war and the wealthy over the needs of the American people and human rights abroad” should not be able to dine in luxury when it is causing so much pain and misery both abroad and in communities nationwide in the US, including the capital.

The group specifically condemned ongoing “support for the genocide in Gaza, reckless and illegal military strikes on vessels in the Caribbean, and the deployment of troops and ICE agents within US borders. As well as the growing threat of occupying U.S. cities with the deployment of the National Guard.”

With National Guard troops now deployed in Los Angeles and Washington, DC—and with the Trump administration announcing the launch of what it dubbed operation “Midway Blitz” in Chicago this week—CodePink said there is growing anger nationwide over the president’s authoritarian and fascist tactics that are reminiscent of how Adolf Hitler intensified his violent grip on power in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 40s.

“We hope he sees our faces in his mind, for a long time,” said one group member who confronted Trump in the restaurant. “Because he looked us all in the eyes as we were standing there. We will continue to fight for DC. We will continue to fight for a free Palestine every single day.

The activists received high praise online for their disruptive efforts.

“Pretty gutsy in my opinion. I don’t know how they got so close,” said journalist and writer Tim Shorrock.

“Amazing!” declared writer Polly Sigh. “My hats off to these brave protesters for saying it right to his ugly orange face.”

In its statement, CodePink said that while Trump’s authoritarian march at home and warmongering abroad continues, “the very programs that support struggling Americans—healthcare, education, and addiction treatment—face severe cuts.”

“This agenda, funded by a bill providing massive tax cuts for the super-rich, is being paid for by a working class that cannot afford it,” said the group, who added that their small disruption of a dinner for some of the world’s most powerful men “represents the frustration of a majority of Americans who reject these priorities.”

Original article by Jon Queally 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.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Continue Reading‘The Hitler of Our Time!’ Trump Confronted Inside DC Steak House