IS PARIS BURNING?: Days of protests over the cost of living and quality of schools in France turned violent over the weekend with smashed storefronts, burned cars, torched government buildings, and clashes with phalanxes of riot police.

  As many as 2,400 people were arrested.

  Rioters attacked city halls all over the country. The historic 19^th century town hall in Limoges, a town in central France renowned for its porcelain, was largely destroyed by arson. Video showed the building’s burning spire crashing into its classical mansard roof.

  Fire also destroyed a tourist office in Lyon, and by one estimate 1,500 shops nationwide were damaged or looted. Shop owners were seen hopelessly trying to defend their businesses against often masked rioters.

  Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu blamed the far-left party, France Unbowed, for inspiring the chaos. He said, “Either you are in the camp of the Republic, and therefore of law enforcement — and of those who protect people and property and enforce the laws — or you are on the side of the rioters.”

  Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of France Unbowed, retorted that, Lecornu was responsible for the chaos because of his  “incompetence or a worst-case strategy to create a party of order that would make people forget his failure in public finances.”

  Here in the US, President Trump blamed the unrest on immigration, writing on his social media that; “The migrants have taken over France. They must CLOSE THE BORDERS, FAST!”

THE WAR ROOM: Ukraine overnight Saturday launched one of its biggest drone attacks this year hitting a vital oil terminal in defiance of Donald Trump’s demands that they stop hitting Russian energy infrastructure.

  One target was the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal, according to Russian authorities. The terminal can handle up to 12.5 million tons per year. 

  President Trump appears to have turned his back on Ukraine to obtain diesel fuel from Russia in a short term effort to lower fuel prices in the US before the mid-term elections. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that the US siding with Russia would be a “historic mistake.”

  A week ago Trump said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop attacking each other’s energy infrastructure, but neither side acknowledged such an agreement. “Since the American President announced the energy ceasefire a week ​ago, Russia has ​deliberately ‌attacked ​Ukraine’s energy and oil and gas sectors ⁠76 times,” Zelensky ​wrote on Twitter/X yesterday.

OH, CANADA: Four people were killed and dozens injured Saturday in Alberta, Canada when a live fire exercise at a military base ruptured a gas line also setting off a wildfire. Thirty-nine people were taken to the hospital.

  Prime Minister Mark Carney said those affected included reservists and soldiers from Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, one of Canada’s most storied military regiments. Local hospitals were immediately overwhelmed and some of the injured were taken to hospitals hundreds of miles away.

INFINITE SCROLL: 

— Just two weeks before election day, President Trump’s approval rating has fallen to a record low of 33 percent according to a new Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll.

  The poll says 66 percent of responders disapprove of Trump’s job performance with 52 percent disapproving “strongly.”

  The poll also finds that, for the first time in more than 10 years, Democrats are more trusted to deal with the economy.

— Trump issued an endorsement of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu less than a week before Israel’s elections to determine a prime minister.

  He wrote on his social media that, “Bibi Netanyahu has been a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combatting the Islamic Republic of Iran, with its 51 year old chant, “Death to Israel, Death to America!” He said, “If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so.”

— President Trump announced that he has named a prominent golf course architect to remake DC’s East Potomac Golf Links into a championship quality facility. This comes as no surprise as work has already begun with the cutting of hundreds of trees in defiance of a court order.

  Although people play golf there every day, Trump wrote on his Truth Social that, “The current Course is old, broken, dilapidated, and of no further use or effect. It is in very poor condition, with falling, dangerous, and disease infested trees and, importantly, a collapsing and hazardous seawall.” He pretty much claimed everything except that it’s a matter of national security.

THE OBIT PAGE: Noah Adams, a familiar voice but not a face for millions of listeners of National Public Radio who hosted All Things Considered  for 18 years, has died at his home in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He was 84.

THE SPIN RACK: Ten militant Israeli settlers were arrested today in the West Bank in connection with the severe beating of a Washington Post photographer and an assault on European diplomats, Israeli authorities said. — A healthy looking and smiling Pope Leo XIV yesterday delivered his weekly prayer and blessing just one day after leaving the hospital having had a portion of his cancerous right lung removed. “This experience has made me feel a special closeness to all those who are battling illness and infirmity,” Leo said. — An Air Force commando who fell dozens of feet while rappelling from a ceiling at the Alamodome in a demonstration of military might before the UT San Antonio-Navy  football game on Saturday died of his injuries. The airman appeared to lose control of his descent about a third of the way down his 170-foot drop. 

BELOW THE FOLD: Cornell University hosted its homecoming weekend with no frat parties causing students to wonder what’s the point of going to college.