You Go to Jail, You Go to Jail! 10.8.25 Ally Sammarco Oct 8 Happy Wednesday and welcome back to today’s edition of Common Sense with Ally Sammarco—your daily briefing on U.S. politics. Let’s break it down. National Guard Deployment to Chicago Moves Forward….Despite legal challenges, the Trump administration is pressing ahead with deploying Texas National Guard troops to the Chicago area under ICE operations. Illinois and Chicago sued, arguing the move violates the Constitution, the Posse Comitatus Act, and state sovereignty. The Posse Comitatus Act is a 1878 U.S. law that prohibits the use of federal military forces for civilian law enforcement purposes, except under circumstances explicitly authorized by the Constitution or an act of Congress. A federal judge declined to immediately block the deployment, giving the government until Wednesday night to respond. Common Sense takeaway: The fact that the administration is pushing ahead despite constitutional concerns shows just how little they care and how far they’re willing to go. It’s not about safety, it’s about authoritarianism and normalizing the military in our streets. Democrats Propose Childcare Relief for Furloughed Workers….House Democrats introduced the Federal Worker Childcare Protection Act of 2025, which would reimburse federal employees for childcare costs during the shutdown—aiming to mitigate the financial pain inflicted on working families. It would allow the General Services Administration to receive official documentation for childcare costs and process reimbursements for federal employees. Common Sense takeaway: As usual, Democrats are the pro-family party, thinking about those who are affected in more ways than one. They’re trying to put a bandage on a wound Republicans are causing, and Republicans are thinking about ways to avoid paying furloughed workers backpay. Common Sense with Ally Sammarco is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Comey Pleads Not Guilty in Heated Courtroom Drama…Former FBI Director James Comey appeared today in a federal courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia, and entered a not guilty plea to charges of making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding. Presiding Judge Michael Nachmanoff—himself a former public defender—will oversee the case. The prosecution asserts Comey misled lawmakers in a 2020 Senate hearing about authorizing anonymous leaks; Comey’s defense insists the charges are politically motivated. The trial date is set for January 5, 2026. Common Sense takeaway: Like I’ve said before: this is a case of the DOJ coordinating with the White House to pick a defendant and then pick the crime. Frankly, this is all a big distraction from the multiple cover-ups going on right now regarding Epstein, Tom Homan’s bribe, and more. Trump Demands Jail for Pritzker, Johnson in Latest Escalation….President Trump went further than rhetorical attacks today, publicly calling for Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to be jailed—accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents amid his aggressive immigration crackdowns. Neither official has been charged with a crime. Democrats have responded with intense backlash, denouncing the comments as authoritarian threats and evidence of Trump’s escalating war on Democratic states. Common Sense takeaway: Want to know where Trump draws his line? Well he doesn’t and there isn’t one. When he’s losing, he targets people, beginning with “lock her up” in 2015. Unfortunately, he has the DOJ in a chokehold, so we have to take his threats seriously. That’s it for today. Thanks for reading Common Sense with Ally Sammarco. Check back tomorrow for more.

 

BREAKING: Trump Appointed Oregon Judge Delivers Second Stunning Rebuke Of Trump's Effort To Use ICE Agents/National Guard Against To People Of Portland As DHS Turned Chicago Into A War Zone Trump’s Cross-State Guard Gambit, ICE’s Chicago Crackdown, and the Project 2025 Blueprint—Happening Now Dean Blundell Oct 6 October 6, 2025 TL;DR: A federal judge blocked National Guard deployments to Oregon—so the White House tried an end-run by shifting California Guard troops toward Portland. The court slammed the door with a broader order that halts any Guard deployments into Oregon (for now). Meanwhile, in Illinois, Guard federalization and ICE’s militarized raids in Chicago escalated fast—helicopters, flashbangs, mass detentions, kids zip-tied—exactly the concentrated-power playbook we’ve been warned about. You’re support for this community has been INCREDIBLE. Don’t forget, we extended the half-price annual subscription deal for the month of October. Get 50% off yearly plans and unlimited access, and never pay more. Redeem the offer by October 31, and feel free to share or gift a subscription to support fearless, independent journalism wherever you find it. The Weekend the Blueprint Went Live Sometime between late Sunday and dawn on Monday, the gears started turning. Oregon got a court order—signed by a Trump-appointed judge—saying, essentially: No National Guard in Portland. The administration’s response wasn’t to pause and reassess. It was to route around the roadblock. SO, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut issued a broader TRO (late last night) halting the relocation, federalization, or deployment of Guard troops to Oregon from any state—for 14 days while she hears more arguments. California called it a court win against an “illegal” cross-state deployment. Stephen Miller called it “Judicial Tyranny”. LOL. Why this is extraordinary: Cross-state federalization to intervene over protests—especially after a judge intervenes—is not routine; it’s a live test of judicial limits on domestic force. The TRO’s broad language signals the court sees a serious legal problem. This was the same (Trump Appointed) judge who last week warned Americans in her first decision that Trump was gaslighting Americans into warming you up to Martial Law. California Guard troops were suddenly in motion for “federal missions” tied to Portland. That wasn’t a paperwork glitch; it was a test: If you block Oregon’s Guard, can we use another state’s Guard to do the same job? For a few tense hours it looked like the answer might be yes—until the judge widened the order to ban any Guard deployments to Oregon from any state. A hard legal stop, at least for the next two weeks. But while the west coast door slammed shut, another door opened in the Midwest. Illinois Guard units were pulled into federal service as ICE ramped up operations across the Chicago area. Separate track, same song: centralize control, move quickly, normalize federal muscle in blue jurisdictions. What Chicago Lived Through If you were anywhere near the South Shore and Brighton Park corridors this weekend, you didn’t need a think tank to tell you what’s happening. You heard it and felt it. Helicopters thumped overhead as teams stacked on doors. Flashbangs rattled windows at midnight. Families were pulled from bed, kids zip-tied, some separated from parents as agents worked the hallways. Chemical agents—tear gas and pepper balls—spilled into residential blocks, drifting toward retail strips and, in at least one case, near a hospital. In Brighton Park, amid vehicle clashes and chaos, a woman was shot by federal personnel. She made it to a hospital on her own. ICE lied and said they were boxed in by ten vehicles and they shot a woman they thought had guns in their car. Local officials say ICE agents placed bogus 911 calls during critical windows—calls that seemed designed to pull police resources away from ICE facilities and hot spots. One incident flagged a “tampering” suspect who turned out to be a news photographer. There are also viral clips from Portland showing a detained protester hogtied and strapped to a flatbed cart and wheeled away—an ugly tableau from a different city, but a revealing snapshot of tactics shaping the national mood. Zip tying 2 year olds, Americans, helicopters, flashbangs, chemical agents, mass detentions, and shooting are already more than enough to map the stakes. This isn’t routine immigration enforcement. It’s a domestic show of force meant to train the public to accept federalized muscle as the backdrop of civic life—and to punish any city that won’t play ball. And here’s the thing, these cities were 15x safer prior to these ICE raids. The only domestic terror being committed in any of these cities across America is being engneered by Trump and these ICE agents who are now shooting Americans who cut them off in Traffic. And Trump wants this to be the norm. It’s the blueprint for project 2025 and it’s HERE. Right now. How the Legal Lines Are Being Bent Let’s keep this simple and plain-English: Title 32 vs. Title 10: Governors control Guard units under Title 32. When the feds federalize them under Title 10, the President and DoD take the wheel. That shift matters because it narrows what those troops can legally do in civilian law enforcement—and it strips local oversight. The Court’s Move: Oregon’s judge didn’t just say “don’t do this with Oregon’s Guard.” She said don’t do this with anyone’s Guard—no cross-state shell games—until the court can fully assess the legality. Posse Comitatus / Insurrection Act: Active-duty military and federalized Guard face strict limits in policing civilians. To break that wall, you need an Insurrection Act invocation. Absent that, trying to launder domestic policing through out-of-state, federally controlled Guard is exactly the kind of workaround courts are built to stop. Why This IS Project 2025 You’ve seen the white papers and heard the speeches: centralize executive power, weaken checks, supercharge domestic enforcement, and choke off “sanctuary” jurisdictions. That isn’t theory anymore. It’s operational guidance. The personnel behind the curtain are familiar: Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, and a cadre of loyalists who’ve spent years gaming out how to bend the machinery of government toward a single end—obedience. The sudden appetite for cross-state Guard and aggressive ICE surge operations is the natural outcome of that design. The message to the public is simple: Courts and governors can’t save you. We can go around them. Just ask Stephen “PeeWee German” Miller. There was hope in Portland this weekend this weekend, as a federal judge proved that’s not entirely true. But the test balloons are up. And they’re going to keep sending them. What This Means—Right Now The court’s block in Oregon is a win, not the finish line. TROs expire. The administration will search for a new seam—another jurisdiction, another pretext, another acronym. Chicago is a warning shot. If dramatic “support to federal operations” becomes the norm, cities become training grounds, and public fear becomes policy fuel. Documentation beats denial. The tactics are clearest when the footage and paperwork stack up: body-cam releases, warrant logs, after-action reports, medical records, incident reports, and sworn complaints. The Bottom Line None of this is normal. Normal is how the public gets walked from “temporary surge” to semi-permanent occupation without noticing where the line got crossed. The Oregon judge drew a bright line. Chicago showed why that line matters. The last defense—besides a handful of Generals and a few brave judges—is us. There are more of us than there are of them. Your camera, your call, your presence, your vote, your insistence on receipts—that’s the leverage that makes blueprints fail. Thanks for reading! This post is public so feel free to share it far and wide. You drive this Substack. Subscribe and get 50% OFF for unlimited access for annual plans. 🔒 Lock in the half-price rate forever. Ends October 31, 2025.

 

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NEWS: Trump Judge Defies Trump Again, Warns Military Moves Are Pushing America Toward Martial Law

Trump appointed Judge blocks deployment of National Guard from all 50 states to Portland, South Carolina Judge's home burns down, Millions on the verge of losing WIC benefits, and more

Aaron Parnas Oct 6

Good morning, everyone, and Happy Monday. We’re now entering Day Six of the government shutdown — one day closer to military families missing paychecks and mothers across America losing access to life-sustaining nutrition for their children through the WIC program. And still, no end in sight.

This is a critical crossroads in Trump’s second term. Federal judges, including those appointed by Trump himself, are now pushing back against this administration’s moves. Judges have warned that with each new military deployment on U.S. soil, we inch closer to martial law, even as the White House brands its own Trump-appointed judges as “insurrectionists.”

This is not normal. It cannot be normalized.

That’s why I remain independent: free to tell you the truth, without censorship, without spin, and without fear. I don’t have a network boss to please or a political narrative to serve. I’m here to call it as it is. If you value independent journalism that refuses to look away, please subscribe and support this work. Your support keeps the truth alive — and the lights on.

With that, here’s what you missed:

• Overnight, a Trump appointed federal judge in Oregon again blocked the Trump administration from deploying federalized National Guard troops to Portland, siding with California and Oregon officials who called the move an unconstitutional overreach; the rulings escalated clashes between Trump and Democratic governors as multiple states condemned the president’s use of state troops for federal law enforcement operations.

• The U.S. government shutdown entered its sixth day with no resolution, as Democrats and Republicans remain deadlocked over extending Obamacare subsidies, President Trump avoids taking a clear stance, and political tensions escalate amid accusations, canceled House sessions, and partisan blame over health care and spending priorities.

• Nearly 7 million pregnant women, mothers, and young children risk losing WIC food assistance within weeks as the U.S. government shutdown drags on, with federal funding halted and states warning of imminent shortfalls that could cut off access to vital nutrition benefits like milk, eggs, and produce for low-income families.

• Meanwhile, Trump is celebrating that prices are allegedly falling in time for the upcoming holiday season.

• Donald Trump is either trying to take credit for knowing that Osama Bin Laden was going to do 9/11 or take credit for killing Bin Laden.

• A South Carolina judge’s $1.1 million home burned down in a suspected arson attack that injured her husband and son, prompting backlash against MAGA figures accused of inciting violence toward judges who ruled against Trump; Stephen Miller lashed out at critics after being tagged by Rep. Daniel Goldman, who demanded he condemn the attack.

• Donald Trump announced plans to celebrate his 80th birthday with a UFC fight event on the White House lawn, tying the spectacle to festivities for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

• Three scientists — Americans Mary E. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell, and Japan’s Shimon Sakaguchi — won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering how the body prevents its immune system from attacking itself through peripheral immune tolerance, pioneering research that has advanced treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and organ transplants.

• An unseasonable snowstorm during China’s Golden Week stranded about 200 hikers on Mount Everest’s Tibetan side, forcing a massive rescue effort after “extreme” weather buried campsites and cut power, with at least 350 trekkers already rescued and nearby Nepal also hit by deadly landslides and floods.

• Dozens of activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla, including Greta Thunberg and several New Zealanders, alleged harsh and degrading conditions while detained in Israel after the flotilla was intercepted en route to Gaza; Israel denied the accusations as deportations of foreign nationals continued amid diplomatic tensions and calls for government action in New Zealand.

• Israel deported 171 activists, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, to Greece and Slovakia after detaining them during the interception of an aid flotilla last week carrying about 450 participants.

• French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu abruptly resigned just two weeks after taking office and a day after naming his cabinet, deepening France’s political crisis and triggering sharp declines in French stocks and the euro amid backlash over his government lineup and continued parliamentary gridlock.

• At least 49 students were killed and 14 remain missing after a prayer hall at Indonesia’s Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school collapsed due to illegal construction of additional floors without a permit, sparking national outrage and a criminal investigation into negligence and unsafe building practices.

• As Texas prepares to execute Robert Roberson for the 2002 death of his daughter, experts are questioning the courtroom use of the 1970s-era “psychopath test,” which helped secure his death sentence despite growing evidence it can bias juries; critics say the test is often misused in capital cases and may have wrongly influenced Roberson’s conviction amid disputes over shaken baby syndrome and his claims of innocence.

Good news:

• In Australia, a man was stunned to find his Golden Retriever giving a baby koala a piggyback ride after it fell from a tree, a heartwarming moment of cross-species kindness that ended with the joey safely reunited with its mother.

• After suffering a devastating spinal cord injury that doctors said would leave him paralyzed, Minnesota teen hockey player Jackson Drum defied the odds—regaining movement, breathing on his own, and returning to the rink just nine months later in what his family calls a “one-in-a-trillion” recovery.

• In a historic medical breakthrough, scientists have successfully slowed the progression of Huntington’s disease for the first time using a one-time gene therapy called AMT-130 — reducing disease advancement by 75% over three years and offering hope that the fatal brain disorder may finally be treatable.

See you this evening.

— Aaron

News Alert | Governors Warn of ‘Martial Law’ and Trump ‘Invasion’

 

Governors Warn of ‘Martial Law’ and Trump ‘Invasion’ as US Judge Halts Troop Order—for Now A federal judge in Oregon issued a new and broader order Sunday night to halt President Donald Trump from deploying any National Guard troops—regardless of state of origin—to Oregon, Illinois, or elsewhere as Democratic governors resisting the president warned of a frightening escalation in his authoritarian tendencies. “This is a moment where every American must speak up and help stop this madness,” declared Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. READ FULL STORY Read all the latest news from Common Dreams

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