#us-military-strikes

#us-military-strikes

On September 2, United States President Donald Trump released grainy footage of a missile obliterating a fishing boat off Venezuela's coast. Eleven people died instantly. The administration called them narcoterrorists. Venezuelan sources identified them as fishermen. Since then, the US military has conducted at least 22 strikes, killing 87 people, with investigations revealing that the first attack included a second strike to kill two survivors clinging to wreckage a potential war crime under international law.

The paper reported that US forces hit the targeted boat once, then hit it again the second strike killing two survivors clinging to the wreckage. According to the Post, the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, had issued a verbal command to kill them all. Now that incident is under congressional scrutiny, with even some Republicans uneasy about what appears to be a clearcut case of a war crime.

Franklin the Turtle is a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy and inclusivity, the publishing house Kids Can Press said in a statement Monday night. We strongly condemn any denigrating, violent or unauthorized use of Franklin's name or image, which directly contradicts these values. The statement comes after Hegseth posted a doctored book cover on X showing Franklin dressed for war and firing rocket-propelled grenades from a helicopter at boats below.

This month saw another deadly U.S. military strike on a civilian vessel, suspected of drug trafficking, in international waters. As these strikes have escalated, questions have only increased around their lawfulness. At the same time, President Donald Trump last week accused Democratic lawmakers of "treason" for producing a viral video noting that members of the military must remain vigilant in the face of potentially unlawful orders from the commander in chief.

United States President Donald Trump's administration has drafted a legal opinion stating that US military personnel involved in military strikes off the coast of Latin America are immune from prosecution, The Washington Post and the Reuters news agency have reported. The Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel provided the White House with the opinion on the issue of criminal liability for the strikes on vessels in the Caribbean, the outlets reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The Republican-led House of Representatives is expected to approve a funding bill today that will bring an end to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Most Democrats denounced it because it doesn't address health care subsidies that are expiring at the end of the year. Some Democrats have called for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to be ousted from his leadership role, even though he voted against the plan.

The U.S. bombed two boats in the Pacific Ocean in two days, the Trump administration announced this week, in a major escalation of the U.S.'s aggression as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has vowed that the "strikes will continue, day after day." Hegseth announced both strikes in nearly identical posts on X on Wednesday, bringing the total number of publicly announced attacks to nine. They are the first that officials have acknowledged took place in the Pacific Ocean.

Fishermen in Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago reported being afraid to return to work after the Trump Administration conducted the seventh of its lethal air strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats since September, eighty-three year-old senator Mitch McConnell fell to the floor while answering a question from two volunteers about whether he supported ICE's practice of abducting people off the streets, and a team of four thieves dropped a Napoleonic empress's crown as they fled the scene of a seven-minute daytime

"I authorized for two reasons, really," Trump replied. "No. 1, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America," he said. "And the other thing, the drugs, we have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea." Trump added the administration "is looking at land" as it considers further strikes in the region.