BLOWUP: US forces blew up another four suspected drug boats, this time in the Pacific off South America, raising the number of deaths in the attacks to 57. One man was reported to have survived and was taken into custody by Mexican authorities.

  Two boats side by side carrying eight men were blown up together. A third boat had four men on board and the fourth had three. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a social media post that, “The four vessels were known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and carrying narcotics.”

  The destroyed boats are believed to have been carrying cocaine. Hegseth said in his social media post, “These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than Al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same.” 

  Much of this effort is ultimately focused on President Nicholas Maduro’s dictatorial control of Venezuela and President Trump is moving toward more direct force. The Pentagon has deployed about 10,000 troops to the Caribbean for what the administration says is a counterterrorism and counternarcotics mission. Add to that the Navy’s biggest aircraft carrier, The Gerald R. Ford, which carries more than 75 attack, surveillance, and support aircraft. 

  It is rare that the US deploys such a force and doesn’t use it.

CATEGORY 5: Hurricane Melissa hit Cuba overnight after ripping through Jamaica as a category 5 storm with bursts of wind up to 200 mph.

  It’s too early to assess the damage, but power is out for many Jamaicans, fragile homes have been blown apart, and cars trapped in floodwaters and debris. When it hit, Melissa was one of the strongest Category 5 storms recorded.

  In Cuba, 750,000 people were evacuated in advance of landfall as a Category 3. As much as 20 inches of rain are expected.

THE REGIME:

— The White House yesterday fired all six members of the Commission of Fine Arts, the independent federal agency that was expected to review President Trump’s construction projects, including his East Wing ballroom and a triumphal arch on the National Mall.  

  An email leaked to The Washington Post told commission members that, “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as a member of the Commission of Fine Arts is terminated, effective immediately.” 

  The commission established by Congress more than a century ago usually includes architects and urban planners who advise the president, Congress, and local government on building projects in the capital region. That includes government buildings, monuments, and memorials. 

  A White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity told the Post, “We are preparing to appoint a new slate of members to the commission that are more aligned with President Trump’s ‘America First’ policies.” 

— A federal judge in Chicago exasperated with the violent actions of the Border Patrol ordered senior official Gregory Bovino to report to her every day about the actions of his officers. Bovino likes to get out there and mix it up, even personally throwing a teargas canister. He’s become the face of force in the immigration roundups.

  Judge Sara Ellis spent more than an hour reading to Bovino the restrictions she had previously set as the result of a lawsuit over tactics agents are using, and cited examples of occasions when agents appeared to violate those restrictions.

They used tear gas in a neighborhood where children were about to march in a Halloween parade, Judge Ellis said. They failed to warn residents before tossing tear gas canisters at them, she said, and mentioned an incident in which an agent threw a canister out of a car as it drove away.

  Setting the daily meeting with Bovino, Ellis said, “I’ll see you tomorrow at 6.” 

— A handful of Republicans defected yesterday and voted with Democrats to end President Trump’s tariffs on imports from Brazil. Must be a lot of dedicated coffee drinkers.

  Although the bill faces long odds in the House, it’s one of the first signs of legislative resistance to Trump’s trade war. In the case of Brazil, the US has a comfortable trade surplus. We sell much more to them than they do to us.

— South Korean President Lee Jae Myung gave President Trump a foot-tall golden crown declaring a “golden age” of relations between the two countries.

THE WAR ROOM: In a move that could destabilize the ceasefire, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza in retaliation for what he said was Hamas sniping on Israeli troops. One missile hit a hospital compound where refugees were camped out.

  A spokesman for Netanyahu said Tuesday night that “Hamas have violated the framework by not returning hostages and attacking our forces.”

HOME PLATE:  The Toronto Blue Jays withstood the human howitzer Shohei Ohtani last night in Los Angeles to win game four of the World Series 6-2 and even it up at two games each. Toronto pitcher Shane Bieber precisely pitched so Ohtani couldn’t hit and held the Dodgers to one run in the first five innings.

  They play again tonight.

THE SPIN RACK: The federal reserve is expected to cut interest rates by a quarter point today. — As many as 60 gang members are dead after a shootout and four officers also killed in a massive police raid on a drug-trafficking gang in Rio de Janeiro. A force of 2500 cops and soldiers captured 81 suspects.

BELOW THE FOLD: The following social media post purportedly by Donald Trump about the World Series went viral: 

  “No matter who wins, I will refuse to invite either baseball team to my ball room as they are both run by highly inept officials from California and Ontario, Canada. I don’t host losers. We are actively investigating MLB. This World Series is rigged, probably by the Dems & the Mafia.”

  The only way you can tell it’s a fake post is that the ballroom has not been built yet.

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