SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
");background-position:center;background-size:19px 19px;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-color:#222;padding:0;width:var(--form-elem-height);height:var(--form-elem-height);font-size:0;}:is(.js-newsletter-wrapper, .newsletter_bar.newsletter-wrapper) .widget__body:has(.response:not(:empty)) :is(.widget__headline, .widget__subheadline, #mc_embed_signup .mc-field-group, #mc_embed_signup input[type="submit"]){display:none;}:is(.grey_newsblock .newsletter-wrapper, .newsletter-wrapper) #mce-responses:has(.response:not(:empty)){grid-row:1 / -1;grid-column:1 / -1;}.newsletter-wrapper .widget__body > .snark-line:has(.response:not(:empty)){grid-column:1 / -1;}:is(.grey_newsblock .newsletter-wrapper, .newsletter-wrapper) :is(.newsletter-campaign:has(.response:not(:empty)), .newsletter-and-social:has(.response:not(:empty))){width:100%;}.newsletter-wrapper .newsletter_bar_col{display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;justify-content:center;align-items:center;gap:8px 20px;margin:0 auto;}.newsletter-wrapper .newsletter_bar_col .text-element{display:flex;color:var(--shares-color);margin:0 !important;font-weight:400 !important;font-size:16px !important;}.newsletter-wrapper .newsletter_bar_col .whitebar_social{display:flex;gap:12px;width:auto;}.newsletter-wrapper .newsletter_bar_col a{margin:0;background-color:#0000;padding:0;width:32px;height:32px;}.newsletter-wrapper .social_icon:after{display:none;}.newsletter-wrapper .widget article:before, .newsletter-wrapper .widget article:after{display:none;}#sFollow_Block_0_0_3_0_0_0_1{margin:0;}#sSHARED_-_Social_Desktop_0_0_13_0_0_1.row-wrapper{margin:40px auto;}#sBoost_post_0_0_1_0_0_0_1_0{background-color:#000;color:#fff;}.boost-post{--article-direction:column;--min-height:none;--height:auto;--padding:24px;--titles-width:100%;--image-fit:cover;--image-pos:right;--photo-caption-size:12px;--photo-caption-space:20px;--headline-size:23px;--headline-space:18px;--subheadline-size:13px;--text-size:12px;--oswald-font:"Oswald", Impact, "Franklin Gothic Bold", sans-serif;--cta-position:center;overflow:hidden;margin-bottom:0;--lora-font:"Lora", sans-serif !important;}.boost-post:not(:empty):has(.boost-post-article:not(:empty)){min-height:var(--min-height);}.boost-post *{box-sizing:border-box;float:none;}.boost-post .posts-custom .posts-wrapper:after{display:none !important;}.boost-post article:before, .boost-post article:after{display:none !important;}.boost-post article .row:before, .boost-post article .row:after{display:none !important;}.boost-post article .row .col:before, .boost-post article .row .col:after{display:none !important;}.boost-post .widget__body:before, .boost-post .widget__body:after{display:none !important;}.boost-post .photo-caption:after{content:"";width:100%;height:1px;background-color:#fff;}.boost-post .body:before, .boost-post .body:after{display:none !important;}.boost-post .body :before, .boost-post .body :after{display:none !important;}.boost-post__bottom{--article-direction:row;--titles-width:350px;--min-height:346px;--height:315px;--padding:24px 86px 24px 24px;--image-fit:contain;--image-pos:right;--headline-size:36px;--subheadline-size:15px;--text-size:12px;--cta-position:left;}.boost-post__sidebar:not(:empty):has(.boost-post-article:not(:empty)){margin-bottom:10px;}.boost-post__in-content:not(:empty):has(.boost-post-article:not(:empty)){margin-bottom:40px;}.boost-post__bottom:not(:empty):has(.boost-post-article:not(:empty)){margin-bottom:20px;}@media (min-width: 1024px){#sSHARED_-_Social_Desktop_0_0_13_0_0_1_1{padding-left:40px;}}.donation_banner{position:relative;background:#000;}.donation_banner .posts-custom *, .donation_banner .posts-custom :after, .donation_banner .posts-custom :before{margin:0;}.donation_banner .posts-custom .widget{position:absolute;inset:0;}.donation_banner__wrapper{position:relative;z-index:2;pointer-events:none;}.donation_banner .donate_btn{position:relative;z-index:2;}#sSHARED_-_Support_Block_0_0_16_0_0_3_1_0{color:#fff;}#sSHARED_-_Support_Block_0_0_16_0_0_3_1_1{font-weight:normal;}.sticky-sidebar{margin:auto;}@media (min-width: 980px){.main:has(.sticky-sidebar){overflow:visible;}}@media (min-width: 980px){.row:has(.sticky-sidebar){display:flex;overflow:visible;}}@media (min-width: 980px){.sticky-sidebar{position:-webkit-sticky;position:sticky;top:100px;transition:top .3s ease-in-out, position .3s ease-in-out;}}#sElement_Post_Layout_Press_Release__0_0_2_0_0_11{margin:100px 0;}.grey_newsblock .newsletter-wrapper, .newsletter-wrapper, .newsletter-wrapper.sidebar{background:linear-gradient(91deg, #005dc7 28%, #1d63b2 65%, #0353ae 85%);}.black_newsletter{background:linear-gradient(91deg, #005dc7 28%, #1d63b2 65%, #0353ae 85%);}.black_newsletter .newsletter_bar.newsletter-wrapper{background:none;}
To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
Jamie Henn, press@stopthemoneypipeline.com, 415-890-3350
Stop the Money Pipeline, a coalition of over 90 organizations working to end the financing of climate destruction, are warning that an upcoming visit of oil CEOs to the White House on Friday cannot lead to a public bailout of the fossil fuel industry.
See quote sheet below.
Stop the Money Pipeline, a coalition of over 90 organizations working to end the financing of climate destruction, are warning that an upcoming visit of oil CEOs to the White House on Friday cannot lead to a public bailout of the fossil fuel industry.
See quote sheet below.
Republican senators are also lobbying for direct aid to the oil and gas industry. A group of senators issued a letter earlier this week asking the Trump administration to exempt oil and gas companies from paying royalties during the pandemic (even though everyday Americans have to continue to pay their rent). On Thursday, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) sent a letter to Secretary Mnuchin requesting a direct bailout of oil and gas companies.
Economists and experts are in widespread agreement that the economic collapse of the oil and gas sector is due to long term structural problems that have only been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and oil price war. Over the last decade the industry has taken on enormous debt while spending billions on massive stock buybacks and dividend payments, and continued to pour money into new production, despite clear warnings that their trajectory endangers the planet, economy, and their own viability.
Since the outset of the coronavirus, the fossil fuel industry has attempted to profiteer off the crisis, lobbying the Trump administration for bailouts and the rollback of environmental protections, while pushing forward with the construction of dangerous pipeline projects like Keystone XL, Line 3, and the Coastal Gas Link in Canada. These actions not only exacerbate the ongoing climate crisis, and infringe on Indigenous rights, but endanger public health by increasing air pollution and contributing to the spread of the virus in rural communities and on tribal lands.
Stop the Money Pipeline is particularly focused on the role that Wall Street could play in a potential bailout of the industry. Last week, the coalition sounded the alarm when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) bailed out Capital One for a series of risky commodities swaps the bank had made in the oil and gas sector. The coalition is also closely watching the role that BlackRock will be playing in managing the Fed's corporate debt buying program. Despite BlackRock's rhetoric on climate change, the asset manager is still the world's largest investor in fossil fuels and a key target for the Stop the Money Pipeline campaign.
This April 23, Stop the Money Pipeline is organizing a major online day of action as part of Earth Day Live, three-days of climate action being led by the Youth Climate Strike Coalition around the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day. The April 23 day will focus on ending the flow of money to climate destruction and will include a livestream that features activists, celebrities, community leaders, politicians and more.
Quote Sheet:
"Here in our territory, tiny communities brace for deadly impacts of a pandemic on our limited healthcare infrastructure as Enbridge continues prepping worksites to send Line 3 tar sands through our watersheds," said Tara Houska (Couchiching First Nation Anishinaabe), Giniw Collective. "North American economic priorities are so out of balance -- where is the investment in people and environmental sustainability, not corporate profits and fossil fuel destruction? We're being confronted with our reliance on consumerism and extraction, change is here. Enough of the status quo."
"This meeting is nothing short of wolves in the hen house, and our communities will be left to deal with the bloody aftermath. This crisis demands a response that speaks to the failures of our economic system, not one that doubles down on its ability to diminish our lives. Native communities are rising up and demanding a just transition, now!" said Dallas Goldtooth, Keep it in the Ground Campaigner for the Indigenous Environmental Network
"Superstorm Sandy cost my family everything. Now, Trump and the oil and gas CEOs are plotting bailouts so they can keep profiting while destroying our collective future," said Rachel Rivera, a Sandy survivor and member of New York Communities for Change. "Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer failed us on the coronavirus package. They can even the score in the next big stimulus bill by preventing bailouts for oil and gas CEOs, and helping people instead!"
"When America decided illness and death from smoking was intolerable, we provided tobacco farmers with support to protect their livelihoods while letting the public know about the dangers of smoking," said Robin Schneider, Executive Director of Texas Campaign for the Environment. "Now, we need to support workers who have worked hard through the boom and bust eras of the fossil fuel sector. We need to retool the energy economy and transition their jobs to a more stable, more resilient clean energy economy. We cannot continue with the polluting practices that create climate disasters by bailing out the oil companies."
"Nurses are getting sick and dying because they don't have the protection they need, millions of people lost their jobs in the last two weeks and don't know how they're going to feed their families," said Sunrise Movement Executive Director Varshini Prakash. "Trump should be spending his time helping working people, not meeting up with his corporate cronies. We have a choice to make: will we let the Trump administration spend hundreds of billions bailing out just the financial industry and massive corporations, or will we put millions of people to work tackling the dual crises of COVID and climate change?"
"Sending a financial liferaft to failing fossil fuel corporations while so many are losing jobs and hope for recovery is a slap in the face to hardworking American families. While many are struggling to breathe, oil fat cats are looking for yet another handout for their businesses that pump pollution into our finally clearing air and - lungs. With EPA pollution enforcement sidelined during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Trump administration's rollback of health-based fuel efficiency standards during a climate crisis, now is the time to put the brake - not the gas - on oil company handouts. Let's invest in renewable, safe energy jobs," said Seeding Sovereignty Executive Director Janet MacGillivay
"The U.S. government must not enable the fossil fuel industry to exploit the COVID-19 crisis to line their pockets as the American people face increasing impacts of dire health issues, shortages in medical equipment and protection, loss of jobs and loved ones. Now more than ever we need to address the double crises of the coronavirus pandemic and climate chaos by centering the needs of people and planet. It is reprehensible to offer fossil fuel company bailouts and allow for continued infrastructure development- we cannot continue as we were. Bold economic transformation is necessary, and an immediate managed decline off of fossil fuels and a just transition for workers and care for the people," said Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN)
"America is in dire need of continued support for health professionals, workers and vulnerable communities. Instead of reviewing a wish list from big oil, the president should focus on medical staff working without sufficient protective supplies, on families struggling to pay rent, and on people facing water shut-offs, even as they're being told to wash their hands. Public health and well-being must come first," said Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune. "The decisions made in the coming weeks will shape our country for decades. We must start now to provide immediate relief and build a recovery that works for working people, and that avoids exacerbating inequity and the ongoing global climate crisis."
"Let's not be fooled by these CEOs' claims that they don't want bailout money: if they're going to the White House, it's either to ask for yet another spigot of federal government money for corporations or for yet another relaxation of environmental protection rules. It's unacceptable that Trump is more focused on serving corporate interests that are destroying our climate than responding to the urgent needs of workers, the unemployed, and the sick. We need a people's bailout, not a polluter's bailout!" said Moira Birss, Amazon Watch Climate & Finance Director.
"Oil industry execs will no doubt cry big greasy tears at their meeting with the President, but they don't deserve a shred of sympathy. For those huge salaries they get paid, you'd think these CEOs could have figured out that their industry has no future and begun to wind it down. Their workers deserve a break, but their companies don't," said Glenn Fieldman, with Fossil Free California.
"Between base salaries, bonuses, stock options, and other compensation, these seven oil CEOs earned at least a combined $100 million in 2018 alone. But this week -- after oil prices plummeted to around $20 per barrel -- they're heading to the White House to ask President Trump to pull strings in their favor. Now is the time to provide economic relief for workers and families, not a dying industry. When it comes to the oil and gas sector, that means supplying immediate help and long-term security for communities impacted by the fossil fuel industry in the transition to a sustainable energy economy. Not one cent should be given to the billionaires who created and benefited from the climate crisis," said Caroline Henderson, Senior Climate Campaigner at Greenpeace USA.
"Social distancing protocol requires that oil company CEOs avoid the White House until tough climate measures flatten the curve. Alas, this White House does not respect science," said RL Miller of Climate Hawks Vote.
"At a time when not enough is being spent on protective gear for medical professionals, or to help families who are not able to pay their rent, it is disgusting that anyone would even consider propping up the dying industry that is responsible for the other existential threat to our existence: the climate crisis. Now is the time to invest in a just and green recovery, one that invests in health, security, and sustainability," said Cynthia Kaufman of Fossil Free California.
"Oil markets are volatile and the experience of COVID-19 proves that. Oil industry representatives are publicly denying the need for a "bailout," pushing free market ideals instead. To protect itself from oil and gas volatility the U.S. must continue to invest in alternative clean energy sources, instead of trying to beat OPEC+ at their own game. There is an opportunity worth seizing to help secure the U.S.' energy future and help in the fight against climate change," said Mary Cerulli of Climate Finance Action.
"This crisis of corruption is exposing how unsupported our frontline workers are: the nurses, the doctors, the teachers, the grocery clerks, and the sanitation workers. Their care is sustaining the country and they are essential to our communities. As they get sicker, the corporations causing the climate crisis are just getting richer," said Mara Dolan of Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)
"As people of faith, every one of our religious traditions demands us to care for the most vulnerable amongst us; our neighbors; the stranger at our door. It is a moral imperative that bailout funds go directly to those most impacted by this unprecedented health and economic crisis. It is an affront to all of our moral teachings that even in a global pandemic, the world's richest and most powerful CEOs are trying to capitalize off of a crisis at the expense of vulnerable communities. These are the same fossil fuel CEOs whose industries cause climate-induced disasters that force innocent people around the world to become climate refugees. Now, they are asking for corporate handouts. We, as the millions of people of faith in this country, demand better. We demand a just and equitable bailout," said Reverend Fletcher Harper, Executive Director of GreenFaith.
"Trump should be meeting with the 10 million Americans who have filed for unemployment due to the pandemic. He should be reaching out to the nurses and doctors who are non stop caring for sick patients, without enough protective gear or equipment. It's disrespectful and shameless that instead he's chosen to roll out the red carpet for Big Oil executives," said Tamara Toles O'Laughlin, North America Director at 350.org. "We will not stand for the consistent disregard that endangers millions of lives for the profit of a filthy few. Now is the time to change politics-as-usual. With no leadership in the White House, we demand that Congress hold the line and ensure no more bailouts or regulatory rollbacks of Big Oil. We are rising up as a movement to demand our dignity and rights for people, not polluters."
"Major U.S. banks are playing a dominant and unconscionable role in financing the climate emergency we are facing as a global community. U.S. leadership is needed to lead the transition to a clean energy economy and a healthy future and our policymakers are failing. Banks need to halt their investments in fossil fuels, and fossil fuel expansion, and to respect human and environmental rights," said Fran Teplitz, Executive Co-director of Green America.
"This meeting demonstrates all too starkly how poorly Donald Trump understands leadership, and just how well the oil industry understands Donald Trump. The American people deserve better," said Carroll Muffett, President at Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
"As we triage pandemic and financial wreckage, there is a clear fork in the road of recovery: funding ever larger health and market disasters of climate change, or investing in safe and sustainable energy economies. It's time to choose the road less traveled," said Cheryl Barnds, Climate First!
"If corporations are people, they shouldn't be getting more financial assistance then the American people," say Mary Gutierrez, Executive Director of Earth Ethics, "this isn't the time for bailouts, it's the time for transitioning. We need to be transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. However, this also includes transitioning of the fossil fuel industry workers. Let's be smart on how we move forward; we have the opportunity to shape a better future for us and the earth."
"The government can and should help oil and gas workers and their communities suffering from both the COVID-19 crisis and oil price collapse, but writing a blank check to fossil fuel executives is not the way to do it," said Kathy Mulvey, fossil fuel accountability campaign director at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Fossil fuel companies have sought to take advantage of the crisis at the expense of workers' and communities' health and financial wellbeing. Just last week, the industry used the COVID-19 crisis to lobby the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to roll back air pollution protections, which will only increase the risks of fenceline communities already especially vulnerable to respiratory illness."
The Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International is a solutions-based organization established to engage women worldwide in policy advocacy, on-the-ground projects, direct action, trainings, and movement building for global climate justice.
"We must end any form of political violence—and reject those who try to exploit it," one Democratic congresswoman asserted.
Senior Trump administration officials on Monday made fresh threats to crack down on a non-existent left-wing "domestic terror movement" in the wake of last week's assassination of Charlie Kirk—a move that critics called an attempt to exploit the far-right firebrand's murder to advance an authoritarian agenda targeting nonviolent opposition.
Even as investigators work to determine the motive of Kirk's killer, members of Trump's inner circle and supporters have amplified an unfounded narrative of a coordinated leftist movement targeting conservatives.
According to The New York Times:
On Monday, two senior administration officials, who spoke anonymously to describe the internal planning, said that Cabinet secretaries and federal department heads were working to identify organizations that funded or supported violence against conservatives. The goal, they said, was to categorize left-wing activity that led to violence as domestic terrorism, an escalation that critics said could lay the groundwork for crushing anti-conservative dissent more broadly.
Appearing on the latest episode of "The Charlie Kirk Show" podcast—which was guest hosted by US Vice President JD Vance—White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said that "we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle, and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people."
"It will happen, and we will do it in Charlie’s name," Miller vowed.
Vance said during the podcast that he wanted to explore “all of the ways that we’re trying to figure out how to prevent this festering violence that you see on the far left from becoming even more and more mainstream."
“You have the crazies on the far left who are saying, ‘Oh, Stephen Miller and JD Vance, they’re going to go after constitutionally protected speech,'” the vice president said. “We’re going to go after the network that foments, facilitates, and engages in violence."
Vance, who like Trump and numerous supporters claim to champion free speech, also took aim at "people who are celebrating" Kirk's killing.
Another unnamed administration official told The New York Times Monday that government officials would be investigating people, including those accused of vandalizing Tesla electric vehicles and dealerships and allegedly assaulting federal immigration agents, in an effort to implicate US leftists in political violence.
Vance and Miller's threats ignored right-wing violence—which statistically outpaces left-wing attacks—including the recent assassinations of Democratic Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman, who were murdered in June by by a right-wing masked gunman disguised as a police officer.
Investigative reporter Jason Paladino reported last week that the US Department of Justice apparently removed an academic study previously published on the National Institute for Justice's online library showing that "since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists, including 227 events that took more than 520 lives" versus "42 ideologically motivated attacks that took 78 lives" committed by "far-left extremists."
“Militant, nationalistic, white supremacist violent extremism has increased in the United States. In fact, the number of far-right attacks continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism.”The Trump DOJ scrubbed this study from their website.
[image or embed]
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) September 12, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Responding to Miller's remarks, New Republic staff writer Greg Sargent noted on social media that "Stephen Miller was directly involved in one of the largest acts of organized domestic political violence the United States has seen in modern times, the January 6 [2021] insurrection."
Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) weighed in Monday on Miller's attempt to exploit Kirk's murder, writing on the social media site Bluesky that "it's never acceptable to kill someone for their political beliefs. But the Trump [administration] exploiting the shooting of Charlie Kirk to follow their authoritarian instincts and crack down on the left is incredibly disturbing."
"We must end any form of political violence—and reject those who try to exploit it," she added.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom noted Monday on social media that Miller "has already publicly labeled the Democratic Party as a terrorist organization."
"This isn’t about crime and safety," Newsom added. "It’s about dismantling our democratic institutions. We cannot allow acts of political violence to be weaponized and used to threaten tens of millions of Americans."
The progressive Working Families Party (WFP) said Monday on social media that "JD Vance and Stephen Miller want to use the horrifying murder of Charlie Kirk to target and dismantle pro-democracy groups."
"Their comments call to mind some of the darkest periods in US history," WFP continued. "They're dividing people based on what box we ticked on our voter registration."
Vance and Miller "want to stoke fear and resentment to justify their un-American crackdowns on free speech, mass abductions of working people, and military takeovers of our cities," WFP added. "This isn't going to fly. We’ve survived crises like this before as a country, and we can choose to live in a place where our political freedoms are protected, where we settle disagreements with words not weapons, and where no one has to fear losing a loved one to gun violence."
"There is no legal justification for this military strike," said one Amnesty International campaigner. "The US must be held accountable."
President Donald Trump said Monday that the US carried out a fresh strike on what he said was a boat used by Venezuelan drug gangs, killing three people in what one human rights campaigner called another "extrajudicial execution."
"This morning, on my Orders, US Military Forces conducted a SECOND Kinetic Strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists in the [US Southern Command] area of responsibility," Trump said on his Truth Social network. "The Strike occurred while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics (A DEADLY WEAPON POISONING AMERICANS!) headed to the US."
"These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to US National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital US Interests," the Republican president continued. "The Strike resulted in three male terrorists killed in action. No US Forces were harmed in this Strike."
"BE WARNED—IF YOU ARE TRANSPORTING DRUGS THAT CAN KILL AMERICANS, WE ARE HUNTING YOU!" Trump added. "The illicit activities by these cartels have wrought DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES ON AMERICAN COMMUNITIES FOR DECADES, killing millions of American Citizens. NO LONGER. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!"
US President Trump just announced that a second drug smuggling boat from Venezuela was hit by a US airstrike in the Caribbean, killing 3 people on board the boat.#Venezuela pic.twitter.com/dO34gYr9GZ
— CNW (@ConflictsW) September 15, 2025
Responding to arguments by legal experts and Venezuelan officials that the September 2 strike was illegal, Trump said Sunday that "what's illegal are the drugs that were on the boat... and the fact that 300 million people died last year from drugs."
Only 62 million people died in the entire world of all causes last year, making Trump's claim impossibly false.
Monday's attack followed the September 2 bombing of a vessel allegedly transporting cocaine off the Venezuelan coast, a strike that killed 11 people. Venezuelan officials say none of the 11 men were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, as claimed by Trump.
On his first day back in the White House, Trump signed an executive order designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Last month, the president reportedly signed a secret order directing the Pentagon to use military force to combat drug cartels abroad, sparking fears of renewed US aggression in a region that has endured well over 100 US attacks, invasions, occupations, and other interventions since the issuance of the dubious Monroe Doctrine in 1823.
The Intercept's Nick Turse reported Monday that the Trump administration's recently rebranded Department of War "is thwarting congressional oversight" of the September 2 attack.
“I’m incredibly disturbed by this new reporting that the Trump administration launched multiple strikes on the boat off Venezuela,” Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) said in response to Turse's reporting. “They didn’t even bother to seek congressional authorization, bragged about these killings—and teased more to come.”
Common Dreams reported last week that Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) introduced a war powers resolution seeking to restrain Trump from conducting attacks in the Caribbean.
Also last week, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) led a letter signed by two dozen Democratic colleagues and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) asserting that the Trump administration offered "no legitimate justification" for the first boat strike.
It's not just congressional Democrats who have decried Trump's September 2 attack. Last week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said that "the recent drone attack on a small speedboat over 2,000 miles from our shore without identification of the occupants or the content of the boat is in no way part of a declared war, and defies our longstanding Coast Guard rules of engagement."
“What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial," Paul later added.
Paul also mirrored Democratic lawmakers' questioning of Trump's narrative that the boat bombed on September 2 was heading to the United States.
Echoing congressional critics, Daphne Eviatar, director of Amnesty International's Security With Human Rights program, said of Monday's attack, "Today, President Trump claimed his administration carried out another lethal strike against a boat in the Caribbean."
"This is an extrajudicial execution, which is murder," Eviatar added. "There is no legal justification for this military strike. The US must be held accountable."
"Cluster munitions are banned for a reason: Civilians, including children, account for the vast majority of casualties," said one rights advocate.
Human rights leaders on Monday called on the 112 countries that are party to a treaty banning cluster munitions to reinforce the ban and demand that other governments sign on to the agreement, as they released an annual report showing that the bombs only serve to cause civilian suffering—sometimes long after conflicts have ended.
The governance board of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) released the 16th annual Cluster Munition Monitor on Monday, compiling data on the impact of cluster munitions for 2024 and revealing that all reported cluster bomb casualties last year were civilians—and close to half, 42%, were children.
Cluster bombs are particularly dangerous to civilians because after being dropped from aircraft or fired by rockets or other weapon, they open in the air and send multiple submunitions over wide areas—often leaving unexploded bomblets that are sometimes mistaken by children for harmless toys, and can kill and injure people in populated areas for years or even decades after the initial bombing.
The report, which was released as officials prepare to convene in Geneva for the Cluster Munitions Conference, says at least 314 global casualties from cluster munitions were recorded in 202, with 193 civilians killed in attacks in Ukraine—plus 15 who were killed by unexploded munitions.
Since the Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted in 2008, none of the 112 signatories have used cluster bombs—but countries that are not party to the convention, including Russia and Ukraine, used the munitions throughout 2024 and into this year, and the US has said it transferred cluster bombs to Ukraine at least seven times between July 2023-October 2024.
The report details recent uses of cluster bombs, the impact of which may not be known for years as civilians remain at risk from the unexploded bombs, including by Thailand—by its own apparent admission—in its border conflict with Cambodia and allegedly by Iran, which Israel claimed used cluster munitions in its attack in June. Cluster munitions have also reportedly been used in recent years in Myanmar—including at schools—and Syria.
"Governments should now act to reinforce the stigma against these indiscriminate weapons and condemn their continued use."
This year, the withdrawal of Lithuania from the Convention on Cluster Munitions—an unprecedented step—garnered condemnation from at least 47 countries. While it had never previously used or stockpiled cluster bombs, the country said it was necessary to have the option of using the munitions "to face increased regional security threats."
The casualties that continued throughout 2024 and into 2025 "demonstrate the need to clear more contaminated land and to provide more assistance to victims," said Human Rights Watch, a co-founder of CMC.
"The Convention on Cluster Munitions has over many years made significant progress in reducing the human suffering caused by cluster munitions," said Mark Hiznay, associate crisis, conflict, and arms director for HRW. "Governments should now act to reinforce the stigma against these indiscriminate weapons and condemn their continued use."
The report notes that funding cuts by donor states including the US, which under the second term of President Donald Trump has cut funding for landmine and cluster bomb clearance and aid, have left many affected countries struggling to provide services to survivors.
Children, the report notes, are often particularly in need of aid after suffering the effects of cluster munitions, as they are "more vulnerable to injury and frequently require repeated surgeries, regular prosthetic replacements as they grow, and long-term opportunities to access physical rehabilitation and psychological support."
"Without adequate care for children, complications can worsen, affecting their schooling, social interactions, mental health, and overall well-being," explained IBCL and CMC.
At the Cluster Munitions Conference taking place from September 16-19, said Anne Héry, advocacy director for the group Humanity and Inclusion, states must "reaffirm their commitment to this vital treaty."
"Cluster munitions are banned for a reason: Civilians, including children, account for the vast majority of casualties," said Héry. "Questioning the convention is unacceptable. States convening at the annual Cluster Munition Conference must reaffirm their strong attachment to the treaty and their condemnation of any use by any party."