ENEMIES: In response to the assassination of right wing influencer Charlie Kirk, the Trump administration is talking about a crackdown on what they believe to be a left-wing network that funds and incites violence, seizing on the killing to make unsubstantiated claims about their political opponents, The NY Times reports.

  Investigators have announced no motive by the suspect, Tyler Robinson, who was raised Mormon by two registered Republicans. 

  The White House and President Trump’s allies suggested that he was part of a coordinated movement that was fomenting violence against conservatives — without presenting evidence that such a network existed, the Times reports.  Two anonymous senior administration officials told the newspaper that cabinet secretaries and federal department heads were working to identify organizations that funded or supported violence against conservatives. The goal, the paper reports, is to categorize left-wing activity that leads to violence as domestic terrorism.

  Totalitarian movements require having enemies, real and sometimes imagined. Appearing on the late Kirk’s podcast yesterday with Vice President JD Vance hosting, White House aide Stephen Miller claimed the existence of a “vast domestic terrorist network.” He said, “With God as my witness, 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.” 

OPEN WATERS: US forces yesterday destroyed a second boat in international waters in the Caribbean that President Trump claims was carrying a drug shipment from Venezuela headed for the US. Three people were killed.

  Trump said in a social media post that the people in the boat were “terrorists” and that, “BE WARNED — IF YOU ARE TRANSPORTING DRUGS THAT CAN KILL AMERICANS, WE ARE HUNTING YOU!”

  Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Twitter/X, “Narco-terrorists are enemies of the United States — actively bringing death to our shores. We will stop at nothing to defend our homeland and our citizens.”

  After the US destroyed a first boat on September 2^nd,Venezuelan President Nicolás Madurodescribed the attack as a “heinous crime” and “a military attack on civilians who were not at war and were not militarily threatening any country.” 

  The attacks are legally questionable, to say the least. Trump calls the boat operators “terrorists” as cover for killing them. The Pentagon has not provided proof that the two boats were carrying drugs or evidence of their destination.

  After the first boat was blown up, Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the defense department “offered no positive identification that the boat was Venezuelan, nor that its crew were members of Tren de Aragua or any other cartel.” 

THE REGIME: 

— The Senate yesterday voted to approve Stephen Miran, one of President Trump’s top economic advisers, to serve as Federal Reserve governor while a federal appeals court blocked the president from firing board member Lisa Cook before the next Fed meeting at which the board is expected to consider cutting interest rates.

  Trump is attempting to remove Cook while installing political loyalists at the Fed to do his bidding. The administration has accused Cook of declaring two properties her primary home on mortgage documents, prompting a move to fire her, while reporters have dug up evidence that she clearly declared a condominium to be her second home.

— President Trump filed a $15 billion defamation suit yesterday against the New York Times and several of its reporters, accusing the newspaper of libeling him in several articles before last year’s presidential election. He said in a social media post, “The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!”

  The lawsuit claims that  articles were crafted “with actual malice, calculated to inflict maximum damage” on him.

THE WAR ROOM: Israel overnight launched its ground invasion into Gaza City in a push to wipe out what it believes to be the last traces of the Hamas militant organization.

  Israel’s defense minister posted that, “Gaza is burning. The IDF strikes with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”

  Families of those roughly 20 remaining hostages say this operation will endanger the lives of those held since the October 7^th, 2023, massacre.

THE OBIT PAGE: Eddie Giacomin, the Hall of Fame goalie with the New York Rangers who stopped the puck in the days before goalies wore a face mask, died Sunday at home in Birmingham, Michigan at age 86.

  The Canadian Giacomin joined the Rangers in 1965 and the team went on to the NHL playoffs every year from 1967 to 1974 with him in the net. He led the NHL in shutouts and single-season victories three times.

  The Rangers made the Stanley Cup finals in 1972 but lost to the Boston Bruins. Of all the glories Giacomin earned, the Stanley Cup eluded him.

  Giacomin and Ranger fans were shocked in October 1975 when he was abruptly traded to the Detroit Red Wings. Two nights later he stood in the Red Wing goal at Madison Square Garden as they beat his old team.

THE SPIN RACK: Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of killing right wing influencer Charlie Kirk has his first court appearance today. — Searchers have finally found the wreck of the FJ King, the so-called “ghost schooner” lost in a storm on Lake Michigan in 1886. The schooner sank off Baileys Harbor, Wisconson, on September 15th, 1886, after taking on a load of iron ore bound for Chicago. The crew was rescued.

BELOW THE FOLD:  Former NFL great quarterback Tom Brady has signed up to play flag football in Saudi Arabia next March with other NFL veterans. Donald Trump has yet to denounce it as a “sissy” sport.

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