DOMESTIC WARFARE: A federal judge in Oregon issued an order yesterday blocking the Trump administration from deploying troops from anywhere  in the country to Portland while in Illinois a federal judge chose not to stop National Guardsmen from Texas from being sent into Chicago.

  It’s shaping up as yet another constitutional battle under the Trump administration.

  President Trump again yesterday described Chicago as a crime-ridden war zone. He has called Portland a city “burning to the ground” with “insurrectionists all over the place,” which has officials and residents in Portland wondering what he’s seen that they have not.

  Protesters in both cities have been outside ICE facilities in opposition to immigration roundups.

  President Trump said Judge Karin Immergut, the female judge who blocked troops from Portland “ought to be ashamed of himself.”  White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said, “Her opinion is untethered in reality and the law.”

  The president has the power to deploy troops within the country when there is a foreign attack, to put down an insurrection, and when local officials refuse or fail to enforce federal law as happened during the 1960s civil rights era.

  The President yesterday said he is considering invoking the insurrection act to make it legal for him to send troops. 

 The Posse Comitatus Act, which governs this issue, says, “Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, or the Space Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”

  The National Guard, which answers to state laws, is covered by the Posse Comitatus act when it is federalized. 

SHUTDOWN, DAY SEVEN: President Trump said yesterday that his administration is talking to Democratic leaders and he’s open to a a deal to end the government shutdown … then hours later reversed himself and said the Democrats must allow the government to open before he’ll make a deal. 

  The Democrats blocked government funding to force a deal on renewing Obamacare insurance subsidies for millions of Americans who might otherwise have to give up health insurance at the turn of the year.

  Trump said that with the right deal great things could happen for healthcare while calling Obamacare a “disaster” despite its increasing enrollment and popularity.

THE REGIME:

— President Trump has named Frank Bisignano, the administrator of Social Security, to be the seventh head of the Internal Revenue Service since the start of his second term.  Bisignano will now hold down both jobs, IRS and Social Security.

  One IRS commissioner retired, the next resigned, a third lasted three days and was replaced, a fifth left, and the sixth served 53 days then quit amid disagreements with the Treasury Department.

— The Burbank airport tower in California was unmanned for a while yesterday because of the government shutdown while jets continued to take off and land. Passengers were not told.

  Flight delays have set in across the country because of a shortage of controllers.

— The director of the Eisenhower presidential library in Abilene, Kansas, was forced out after he refused to release a sword from the library’s collection for President Trump to give to King Charles. The king was instead given a replica.

  Todd Arrington, who did not work for the Trump administration, told The NY Times that when he was let go he was told he “could no longer be trusted with confidential information.” 

  Arrington had refused to turn over the sword because it was US Government property and you can’t just give away items from the library’s collection. He served the government almost 30 years.

— The US Treasury is planning to release a $1 coin with the face of Donald Trump on it for the 250^thanniversary of the country. The current design has Trump’s profile on the “heads” side and the “tails” side is an image of him standing before the American flag, pumping his fist under the words “Fight, Fight, Fight.” 

  An 1886 law says living people cannot be featured on currency, but the Trump administration is skirting that calling the coin “commemorative,” even though it will be legal tender.  

THE WATCHFUL EYE: Paramount sealed the deal buying Bari Weiss’s digital Free Press for $150 million and appointing the 41-year-old as editor in chief for all of CBS News.

  Weiss was a disenchanted columnist who resigned from the NY Times and co-founded The Free Press just four years ago. She has never produced a television show or run a television operation, but she will reign over hundreds of CBS producers, anchors and reporters around the world. 

  Weiss is a big supporter of Israel while being a critic of the “woke” left. She insultingly issued a 10-point memo to the staff setting out journalistic standards like “Journalism that reports on the world as it actually is.” And “Journalism that explains things clearly, without pretension or jargon.”

  It was like Pete Hegseth lecturing the generals.

THE SPIN RACK:  Former NFL quarterback and Fox Sports football analyst Mark Sanchez, now faces felony assault charges following a Saturday night incident in which both he and a 69-year old truckdriver suffered slashes with a knife. Sanchez, 38, originally was charged with misdemeanors. The dispute was over a parking space and evidently there’s security video. — The Supreme Court declined to hear the case of right wing conspiracy monger Laura Loomer who sued social media companies for banning her. Twitter had banned her for “hateful conduct” in 2018 but she got back on the platform when Elon Musk bought it.

BELOW THE FOLD: Vogue Magazine announced that it will no longer feature fur in its editorial content. “Mob Wives” has gone out of style.

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