A panel of judges on an appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump can legally send National Guard troops to Portland in order to secure the area around a besieged federal facility.

Far-left anti-deportation activists have been protesting against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the city’s South Waterfront district, oftentimes with violence. The president has argued that military troops are necessary to quell the attacks and secure the facility.

‘The law, US Constitution, and supremacy clause back the President’s action to protect the public and law enforcement, and today this ruling has vindicated us.’

On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the president was justified in the Oregon National Guard troop deployment.

On Thursday, the three-judge panel heard arguments from the Department of Justice to allow the deployment and also from Oregon officials against the order.

Local and state officials have argued that the troops are unnecessary and that the administration is exaggerating the violence at the facility.

Some lawmakers have gone so far as to accuse the administration of faking the violence out of political motivation.

“This is the first time I know of, at least in my lifetime, that the federal government has faked a riot in order to try to justify the Insurrection Act being invoked,” said Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon in a statement to CNN.

“Having illegitimately attempted to federalize the Oregon National Guard and being blocked because there is no ‘invasion’ or ‘rebellion’ in Portland, Trump continues to try to incite riots and violence,” he added in a Facebook post.

Others on the left have accused the president of using the troop mobilization in order to seize control of the streets and intimidate his political opponents.

This isn’t about public safety; it’s about power,” said Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California to the New York Times. “The commander in chief is using the U.S. military as a political weapon against American citizens. We will take this fight to court, but the public cannot stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct by the president of the United States.”

Two of the judges on the panel were appointed by Trump, while the third was appointed by President Bill Clinton.

RELATED: Hilarious video shows Portland officers enraging anti-ICE protesters by blaring out order in Trump’s voice

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem applauded the ruling in a post on social media.

“Another VICTORY for President Trump and the safety and security of the American people,” she wrote.

“The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that @POTUS is rightfully using his Constitutional authority to direct the National Guard to protect federal assets, personnel and public safety in Portland, Oregon,” Noem added. “The law, U.S. Constitution, and supremacy clause back the President’s action to protect the public and law enforcement, and today this ruling has vindicated us.”

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​Appeals court sides with trump, Portland ice rioting, National guard deployment, Political violence, Politics 

As the government shutdown barrels toward a fourth week, Republicans and Democrats are pointing at each other, but a CNN analyst says one side has a clear advantage.

CNN analyst Harry Enten says that President Donald Trump is taking less blame for the current shutdown than a previous shutdown during Trump’s first term.

‘There’s no real reason Donald Trump might say, at least when it comes to popular support, “I want to get out of this shutdown.”‘

“This shutdown is a different world for Trump than the 2018-19 shutdown. He’s in a much better spot,” Enten wrote on social media.

“His net approval is up slightly during this shutdown vs. dropping during 2018-19. Why?” he added. “The [percentage] who blame him a great deal for the shutdown is down significantly now vs. 2018-19.”

Enten posted a video of his polling analysis from CNN, which showed that the approval rating for Trump dropped during the first shutdown by about 3 points after 20 days of the shutdown. This time around, his approval is actually up by 1% after 20 days of the shutdown.

“The bottom line is this: The first shutdown during Trump’s first term, 2018-2019, was hurting Donald Trump. This one is not hurting him at all,” he said during the segment. “There’s no real reason Donald Trump might say, at least when it comes to popular support, ‘I want to get out of this shutdown.'”

When it comes down to how many people blame Trump for the shutdown, far fewer do so than they did in the past shutdown.

RELATED: CNN analyst says Americans do not trust Democrats on crime: It’s ‘one of Trump’s best issues’

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Seven years ago, 61% of those polled blamed Trump a great deal for the government shutdown, while only 48% said the same of the current shutdown.

“It’s a different world. … It’s no real wonder that Donald Trump at this point, looking at the shutdown, says, ‘You know what? It’s not actually harming me politically,” in large part because he’s getting less of the blame,” Enten said.

Enten also pointed out that Trump bypassed the legislative paralysis in Congress to push his agenda by signing far more executive orders than in his previous term. So far, he has signed 210 executive orders in his first year, the most signed by any president going back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

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The Islamic Center of Mason has a charter school that requires students to memorize the Koran, and its organizers have plans for a large expansion for a mosque.

A WCPO-TV report included interviews from a student and a mother who co-founded the Learning Center in Ohio as well as an imam from the mosque next door to the school.

‘The hardest part is actually retaining what you memorized.’

“I did not want to do it at all,” said Aadam Zindani.

“Memorizing it is the easy part,” he added. “The hardest part is actually retaining what you memorized.”

Zindani said that memorizing the 600 pages took him about three years.

“It takes years. For some people, it takes decades,” said imam Fawzan Hansbhai.

Aadam’s mother, Anila Zindani, told WCPO that she helped found the school in Mason because she couldn’t find a place in the area to help teach her son the Koran. She began memorizing the Koran in a trailer in downtown Mason.

The learning center’s website says the school has classes from kindergarten to the second grade and that it is a non-public charter school. The center is affiliated with the Department of Education with the state of Ohio.

“The best among you are those who learn the Qu’ran and teach it,” the website reads.

The school organizers are also raising money to build a community center that includes a $12 million mosque, a prayer hall, and classrooms for the learning center.

“It was a huge dream,” said Anila Zindani of the school. “And when I see those students, and when I see those teachers, it’s like a dream come true.”

RELATED: Florida teen murdered 13-year-old for mocking Islam — family is suing the grocery store that sold him the knife

The school’s website says it has 38 students for the current season.

“Save yourself before it’s too late,” read a post from the learning center on its official social media account. It added a verse from the Koran: “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should speak good or remain silent.”

Video of WCPO’s visit to the Islamic Center was disabled to play on other websites by the owner, but it can be viewed on the station’s channel on YouTube.

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​Islam in america, Islamic center of mason, Koran memorization, Muslims, Politics 

A yet-unnamed male reportedly broke the glass front door of a Baltimore jewelry store with a brick in the middle of the night last week — and it proved to be a fateful choice, as the store owner was inside at the time.

A friend of the store owner shared the following account of Thursday’s incident with WJZ-TV on his behalf. The station said:

The store owner was watching a movie around 2 a.m.The store owner said someone broke through his glass front door with a brick, so he fired a warning shot and said, “Freeze!” The intruder ducked, then popped back up, and the store owner shot him.

Baltimore police described it as a commercial burglary at the intersection of Fleet and Madeira Streets that resulted in the fatal shooting of a 39-year-old man, WJZ said.

‘There are very much viable defenses for someone in the business owner’s — the jewelry store owner’s — shoes right now.’

The station added that the shooting was caught on video and shared with a WJZ reporter. While the camera owner declined to allow WJZ to publish the images, the camera owner did share them with police. The station said the silent video shows a man at the store’s entrance who appears to enter the business — and seconds later, he falls to the pavement.

WJZ noted in its Friday story that “bullet holes remained in two windows at the store” and that the broken glass in the store’s front door “has since been covered.” The station added that the store’s owner reportedly lived above his shop.

RELATED: Video: Armed thugs who rush into jewelry store have fast change of heart when worker with gun sends them some smoke

In a follow-up story, WJZ reported that the shooting has raised questions regarding when — and where — lethal force is allowed when you believe you are in danger.

The station said the standards differ in Maryland depending on if you are in your home or in public. WJZ said the law gives you more latitude to use deadly force if you’re at home and have a “reasonable” fear that your life is in danger — a.k.a. the Castle Doctrine.

But the station said if you are in public, you have a “duty to retreat” and only can use deadly force as a last resort — and the force should be proportional to the threat.

Attorney Warren Alperstein — who is not affiliated with the jewelry store case — noted to WJZ that “if you’re in an alley up against a brick wall at a dead end, and there’s no way to get out … there’s no way to retreat — that would be an exception to the requirement.”

RELATED: Smash-and-grab robbers turn tail and run when jewelry store employee pulls out gun, starts shooting

The station said in the case of Thursday’s fatal shooting at the jewelry store, the store owner lived in the same building as his business. Alperstein added to WJZ that “if it’s determined it was in his home, then he does not have to first prove that he retreated before he used the deadly force.”

The attorney also told the station that “there are very much viable defenses for someone in the business owner’s — the jewelry store owner’s — shoes right now.”

WJZ said Baltimore police and the state’s attorney’s office declined interview requests.

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​Crime thwarted, Guns, Gun rights, 2nd amend., Self-defense, Castle doctrine, Maryland, Baltimore, Fatal shooting, Break-in, Jewelry store, Duty to retreat, Crime 

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Treinen is putting his Christianity front and center yet again.

Treinen is part of a pitching staff that, along with star Clayton Kershaw, has stood up for religious freedoms in the face of disturbing times in California.

‘Every single one of us have been given a gift …’

When a transgender-promoting, anti-Christian activist group was invited to Dodger Stadium in 2023, Treinen accused the group of “mocking the religious habits of nuns” and “mocking what [Catholics] hold most deeply.”

Now, ahead of the Dodgers’ second straight trip to the World Series, Treinen made it clear how important his Christian faith is in his life.

“I think my family’s name is great in the eyes of God, but in the eyes of the world, nobody really knew the Treinens,” the pitcher told CBN Sports.

“I don’t really care if they do,” he continued. “I want them to see Christ’s greatness and what he’s accomplished in my career.”

Treinen said he wanted to see everyone go to heaven while also expressing care for others, saying, “I don’t want to see any of my teammates or anybody in the stands or anybody in this world face the alternative.”

“How do we make heaven crowded?” Treinen asked. “That’s really my goal.”

“Every single one of us have been given a gift, and our way of repaying it to the Lord is how do we honor Him with that gift?” he concluded. “When I am welcomed into the gates of heaven, I want to hear ‘job well done, good and faithful servant.'”

RELATED: Christian LA Dodgers pitcher defies Pride Night with subtle in-game protest

Teammate Kershaw, meanwhile, stood out for his own religious fervor earlier this season when the Dodgers celebrated gay Pride Night.

While Kershaw took issue with the same event as Treinen in 2023, on Pride Night this June, the pitcher participated in wearing his team’s rainbow-themed cap — but added a caveat.

“Gen 9:12-16,” Kershaw’s hat read. The player had written a Bible passage next to the Pride logo.

In the King James Bible, the passage states the following:

And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

The Dodgers have been mired in controversy all year as the team seemingly battles the ethics of a far-left California setting with its generally conservative baseball fan base.

Also in June, an activist singer purposely sang the national anthem in Spanish at a Dodgers game to protest against the deportation of illegal immigrants who are Hispanic.

RELATED: Make-A-Wish exec resigns and loses job after threatening to call ICE on Dodgers fan at Brewers baseball game

Photo by Josie Lepe/MLB Photos via Getty Images

There were also reports in June of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents using Dodgers property as a staging area; the team and ICE gave conflicting reports on the matter.

Furthermore, in July, the Dodgers were hit with an anti-discrimination lawsuit over alleged diversity hiring initiatives.

Lastly, a Make-A-Wish foundation executive resigned in October after being caught on camera threatening to call ICE on a Dodgers fan at a playoff game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

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​Fearless, Faith, Christianity, Catholic, California, Los angeles, Dodgers, Baseball, Mlb, Sports 

The Sept. 10 assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk failed to scare the conservative group off college campuses. The fact that students across the country have stood their ground and continue to hold events has evidently enraged leftists.

On Friday, a 27-year-old teaching assistant at Illinois State University allegedly attacked a TPUSA booth where students were advertising their group as well as their Oct. 20 event featuring BlazeTV host Alex Stein.

‘The left has no impulse control.’

Footage of the incident seems to show the man-bunned teaching assistant Derek Lopez of El Paso, Illinois, confront student members of the conservative group — one of whom appears to have been smashed in the face with a pie — and motion toward their table stating, “Jesus did it. So you know I gotta do it, right?”

A pinned tweet on an X page that appears to belong to Lopez states, “A reminder to students who see TPUSA chapters on their campus: those are Nazis.”

Lopez can be seen in the footage apparently yanking the table, then turning it over, then later yanking down flyers for the event. Lopez apparently admitted to flipping over the table in an Instagram post.

RELATED: ‘Grandpa was Antifa’ may be the dumbest meme of the decade

Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images

Hours after the incident, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon noted, “This is outrageous anti-speech conduct by a state employee. What’s up @IllinoisStateU?!”

The following day, the university told Dhillon that the institution “recognizes the diverse perspectives represented on our campus,” and indicated that Lopez, confirmed to be a graduate student and teaching assistant at the university, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property.

Chief Aaron Woodruff of the Illinois State University Police Department said in a statement, “We are committed to protecting the First Amendment rights as well as [the] safety of everyone in our campus community. We encourage all members of our community to learn more about free speech rights and responsibilities at Illinois State University, including constructive ways to respond when encountering speech they may disagree with.”

According to campus police, Lopez could face additional charges and university disciplinary action over the incident.

Blaze News has reached out to Lopez for comment.

Alex Stein, who was himself viciously attacked over the weekend by unhinged liberals at a No Kings protest, told Blaze News, “It’s sad that it’s not even surprising anymore when something like this happens.”

“Radical leftists have made sure to infiltrate the education system so they can try and radicalize more students, and then want to get violent/physical when they see something they don’t agree with,” continued Stein. “It’s obvious at this point the left has no impulse control. I’m looking forward to my event tonight at Illinois State and am proud of the students who stood their ground against the student teacher.”

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​Turning point usa, Tpusa, Alex stein, Illinois state, Illinois state university, Derek lopez, Leftist, Leftism, Liberal, Charlie kirk, Kirk, Attack, Politics 

The president answered with important details on Monday about the possibility of U.S. troops on the ground to “eradicate” the Hamas terror group if it continues to threaten the peace deal negotiated with Israel.

President Donald Trump took questions from the press while seated next to the prime minister of Australia at the White House.

‘They have to be good, and if they’re not good, they will be eradicated.’

The president gave a fierce warning to the Hamas terror group for continuing attacks on Israelis.

“They’re going to behave. They’re going to be nice. And if they’re not, we’re going to go and we’re going to eradicate them if we have to. They’ll be eradicated. And they know that,” said Trump.

“They got very rambunctious, and they did things that they shouldn’t be doing,” he added. “And if they keep doing it, then we’re going to go in and straighten it out. And it’ll happen very quickly and pretty violently, unfortunately.”

Rebeka Zeljko of Blaze News asked him to clarify whether that action might include the U.S. military.

“When you say, ‘We are going to eradicate Hamas,’ who is ‘we’?” Zeljko asked. “Does that include American boots on the ground?”

“No. It won’t be on the ground at all,” Trump replied unequivocally.

“We don’t need to because we have many countries, as you know, signed on to this deal. The way I view it, 59 countries … that four months ago didn’t like each other and now they’re all aligned together,” he added.

“I mean, we’ve had countries calling me when they saw some of the killing with Hamas, saying, ‘We’d love to go in and take care of the situation ourselves,'” Trump continued. “In addition you have Israel would go in in two minutes if I asked them to go in. I could tell them, ‘Go in and take care of it.’ But right now we haven’t said that. We’re gonna give it a little chance, and hopefully there will be a little less violence, but right now, you know, they’re violent people. Hamas has been very violent.”

He went on to point out that Hamas had lost the backing of Iran and anyone else.

“They have to be good, and if they’re not good, they will be eradicated,” he added.

RELATED: Trump praises Blaze News reporting during Antifa roundtable at White House — and slaps down MSNBC, CNN

The peace deal negotiated by Trump has already led to the release of the remaining hostages and the remains of hostages to Israel from the terror group.

Critics of the U.S. backing Israel in the conflict have strenuously objected to the possibility of U.S. military troops being sent to help the U.S. ally in the fight against Hamas.

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​Us troops on the ground, Israel peace deal, Hamas vs israel, Eradicate hamas, Politics