… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Tag: Pete Hegseth

  • ‘Do Not Become Inured’: Death Toll From Trump Boat Strikes Tops 100 After Latest Murders

    Spread the love

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

    A screenshot of a video from the US Southern Command shows the targeting of a boat in the eastern Pacific on December 18, 2025. (Photo: US Southern Command)

    “This is premeditated killing outside of armed conflict. We call that murder,” said one expert.

    The US military on Thursday bombed two vessels in the eastern Pacific, killing at least five people and pushing the death toll from the Trump administration’s lawless military campaign in international waters above 100.

    Thursday’s strikes marked the third time this week that the US military has bombed boats operated by people accused, without evidence, of smuggling drugs. None of the dozens of strikes that have now killed at least 105 people since early September have been authorized by Congress, and legal experts at home and abroad have said the attacks clearly constitute murder.

    RECOMMENDED…

    Bombed boat

    ‘All of Them Constitute Murder,’ Amnesty Says of Trump Boat Bombings

    grainy US footage of alleged drug boat

    Princeton Experts Speak Out Against Trump Boat Strikes as ‘Illegal’ and Destabilizing ‘Murders’

    Brian Finucane, a senior adviser with the US Program at the International Crisis Group, warned against allowing the Trump administration to normalize and escape accountability for its extrajudicial killings.

    “The lawless killing spree continues. Do not become inured,” Finucane wrote on social media. “This is premeditated killing outside of armed conflict. We call that murder.”

    As with previous attacks, the Trump administration attached a short video clip to its announcement of the Thursday strikes, which came amid mounting fears that President Donald Trump is dragging the US into an illegal war with Venezuela and possibly other South American countries.

    But US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is refusing to release footage of at least one of the deadly strikes that he authorized with a verbal order to “kill everybody” onboard the targeted vessel.

    “We’re not going to release a top secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters earlier this week, referring to footage of a September 2 attack in the Caribbean that killed the survivors clinging to wreckage from an initial strike.

    The ACLU’s Jeffrey Stein and Christopher Anders wrote Thursday that “if a president can murder civilians at sea and keep the legal justifications secret, we should all be concerned.”

    “The harm is even worse when basic factual evidence, such as full videos and orders, is also hidden from the American people,” they continued. “Transparency can’t wait while the government murders more people. That’s why we’re asking everyone to send a message to their representatives in Congress urging them to act now. Demanding answers, insisting on public hearings, and refusing to accept secret law as a license to kill, is how we can all help stop these unlawful strikes and defend the basic principle that no one—not even the president—is above the law.”

    The latest bombings came a day after House Republicans blocked a pair of resolutions aimed at stopping the Trump administration’s unauthorized boat strikes and march to war with Venezuela.

    In the Senate, Ruben Gallego is pushing a new resolution that “orders the US Armed Forces to immediately cease hostilities against vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean unless authorized by Congress.”

    “If the president believes the use of military force is necessary, he needs to come talk to Congress first and make that case. The decision to use military force is one that requires serious debate, and the power to declare war unambiguously belongs to Congress under the Constitution,” said Gallego. “As an Iraq war veteran, I know the costs of rushing into an unnecessary war and that the American people will not stand for it.”

    But Trump insisted Thursday that he doesn’t “have to” go to Congress before taking military action.

    Asked if war with Venezuela is a possibility, Trump said, “I don’t rule it out.”

    Original article by Jake Johnson republished from 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 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.

  • Resistance builds within the United States against Trump’s drive to war with Venezuela

    Spread the love

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

    Billboard up in New York City against the US threats against Venezuela. Photo: The People’s Forum

    As Trump continues to lodge threats against the Bolivarian Republic, US Congress and grassroots movements mobilize to stop a new war.

    The US government has continued to accelerate its drive to war with Venezuela. While rumors circulate about phone calls and possible talks between US President Donald Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, in tandem, the US head of state has continued to launch bizarre and illegal threats and accusations against the South American nation. On Saturday, November 29, Trump unilaterally declared that Venezuelan airspace was closed, despite international law stipulating that only Venezuela has authority over the airspace above its territory and that air traffic above Venezuela has since continued.

    While Trump, his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have claimed land strikes and “action” against Venezuela could begin imminently and that the country should be on alert, as of now, only the aerial attacks on vessels in the Caribbean have continued. To date, the US missile strikes on boats in the Caribbean have killed at least 83 people. Washington claims they were trafficking drugs, without providing evidence.

    The unprecedented military buildup in the region now consists of aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), F-35 fighter jets, at least eight war ships, and 15,000 US troops, as well as coordinated US military activity in Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Dominican Republic.

    Despite Trump’s brazen appetite for war, it appears that public opinion in the United States is against Trump’s escalation against Venezuela. A recent poll conducted by CBS News/YouGOV found that 70% of people in the US would oppose the US taking military action in Venezuela. At the same time, some, albeit limited, bipartisan initiatives have been taken in Congress to attempt to use congressional authority to block Trump from taking military action. From the legislature down to the grassroots movements, opposition to a US war on the Caribbean nation is growing.

    Pressure mounts in Congress against Trump’s threats of war

    As the Trump cabinet prepares for fresh international law violations, they are already feeling the backlash of ones already committed. Committees in US Congress have reportedly launched investigations into US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for crimes related to missile strikes on boats in the Caribbean, in which the order was reportedly to “kill everybody”.

    “These are serious charges, and that’s the reason we’re going to have special oversight,” said Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, as reported by PBS.

    The mounting scrutiny follows a Washington Post report that details Hegseth’s direction to strike a bombed boat a second time, called a “double tap” strike, even as survivors clung to the edge of the burning vessel. In addition to the investigation, several congressional democrats are calling for Hegseth’s resignation.

    When questioned about the targeting of boat strike survivors in an interview with The Hill on December 2, Trump distanced himself from the order and Hegseth blamed Admiral Mitch Bradley for the second strike.

    “I moved on to my next meeting. A couple hours later I learned that that commander had made the … correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat,” said Hegseth.

    Adding to the pressure on Hegseth in particular, the Pentagon’s inspector general released a report on Thursday, December 4, concluding that the defense secretary violated department rules and put US forces at risk when he used a signal chat to share details of airstrikes on Yemen back in April.

    The renewed scrutiny comes after a bipartisan coalition in both the Senate and the House attempted to check the US president’s ability to carry out deadly strikes in the Caribbean through the War Powers Act.

    As opposition continues to build in the legislature, grassroots movements are also mobilizing against the US war drive on Venezuela.

    As threat of war grows, so does the people’s resistance

    In the same CBS/YouGov poll, 75% of people in the US said that the government needs to show evidence that the boats it is bombing are carrying drugs. Only 13% of Americans believe that Venezuela is a “major threat” to US national security.

    “The Trump administration is wildly out of step with public opinion as he threatens to initiate a new forever war with the aim of looting Venezuela’s vast oil resources,” said Brian Becker, National Director of the ANSWER coalition.

    After Trump declared Venezuelan airspace to be “closed”, claiming that land strikes would begin “very soon”, a coalition of organizations, including the ANSWER coalition, The Peoples Forum, the Palestinian Youth Movement, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and others, announced a national day of action on December 6. According to a press release by the coalition, over 50 cities will host protest actions under the slogan “No war on Venezuela – Stop the war before it starts”.

    “The Trump Administration’s repeated strikes in the Caribbean have shocked the world as brazen violations of international law,” the coalition asserts.

    “Now, Trump is openly threatening to escalate his aggression to land strikes on Venezuelan territory – an unmistakable act of war. This could easily spiral into a ‘boots on the ground’ invasion, and lead to catastrophic death and destruction.”

    Organizers expect the day of action to be a “powerful display of the mass opposition” to the US war drive against the Bolivarian nation.

    In the wake of decades-long US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the growing resistance in Congress and the streets shows that the people of the United States refuse to be dragged into yet another imperialist disaster.

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

    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.

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

    Spread the love

    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.

    https://twitter.com/davidrkadler/status/1983166871672418472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1983166871672418472%7Ctwgr%5Ea57e98709526aee23d7cea6bf87884a728816e75%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fanother-us-boat-bombing

    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.

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

    Spread the love

    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.

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

    Spread the love

    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.