Trump Troops Belt Pastor in the Head as Trump Pushes for Nobel Peace Prize
While seeking the peace prize for the emerging deal in Gaza, Trump opens a new front against the strategically important outpost of Chicago
Oct. 9: Behold, America, as Trump knocks a reverend to the ground for nonviolent protest … Johnson rules out shutdown exemption for the troops but thanks them for their service … Peace in Gaza likely to inspire Trump war against Norway when he doesn’t get Nobel Peace Prize Friday … Senate refuses to block Trump’s war crimes against Venezuelan boats …
On Sept. 19, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on the roof of a suburban Chicago ICE facility opened fire with pepper rounds on protesters below.
One of the pepper rounds, which may be derived from peppers but are chemical irritants that cause heat and stinging, struck the Rev. David Black in the head, knocking him to the ground. Black says agents on the street then sprayed him with tear gas, presumably to finish the job. He says he still suffers respiratory issues.
Amazingly, and in a real show of the limitations of even social media, the video was first posted the day it happened, but didn’t go viral until recently when a much larger account reposted it. And the Department of Homeland (sic) Security (DHS) has now responded with lying. Oh, and Black sued their sanity-forsaken asses.
The ICE agents had no way of knowing Black was clergy, as he was wearing the all-black style fashionable among goth kids and a broad white collar popular in the bondage scene.
But the fact that Black is clergy shouldn’t matter. In fact, when he was shot he wasn’t even doing protest stuff, he was proselytizing, trying to convert the armed, masked men on the roof. “I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming,” Black told Religion News Service about the fairy tale that has inspired violence throughout history.
Still, video of an unarmed reverend not molesting a child but getting shot in the head with a non-lethal but still no-joke projectile is precisely the kind of thing that activates the fence-sitters and the apathists. Especially when it’s done by the department that’s supposed to be securing the homeland (sic) instead of knocking it on its ass.
And especially when the DHS lies about it.
Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLoughlin claimed that Black and other protesters were “blocking an ICE vehicle from leaving the federal facility—impeding operations.”
Inconveniently for McLoughlin and her McLyin’, the video shows that the ICE facility gate was closed and Black was not blocking it, he was standing in front of a section of fence next to the gate. But also, even that doesn’t matter.
The whole point of civil disobedience is to impede operations. It’s to put “order” in tension with state violence. Like this guy seen here impeding operations:
The point is to make the public choose: Is an ICE vehicle going out to sow terror in Chicago worth shooting a reverend in the head with a non-lethal projectile?
Already, a federal judge is judging that probably nope.
Judge Sarah Ellis on Wednesday indicated she’s planning a temporary restraining order to temporarily restrain Trump’s lust for order, putting limits on what ICE can and can’t do in the Chicago area, with specifics of the order expected at a hearing today.
The order is expected to include specific guidance for what ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can and can’t do in the face, masked or unmasked, of “actively resisting” and “assaultively resisting” protesters.
Ellis cited the attack on Black and said it’s likely that the journalists and activists seeking her protection will successfully prove “unreasonable and excessive” force by Trump’s goons (my word, not hers) against peaceful protest.
Black belongs to a fringe Christian sect representing only about one percent of the population and referring to themselves as “Presbyterians,” which will probably join Antifa on the list of terror groups.
To defend ICE and CBP from roving gangs of unarmed Presbyterians, U.S. Northern Command on Wednesday night announced it had sent in armed troops:
“Approximately 200 soldiers from various units of the Texas National Guard and approximately 300 soldiers from various units of the Illinois National Guard were activated into a Title 10 status and have arrived in the greater Chicago area. The National Guardsmen were mobilized for an initial period of 60 days and will be under the command and control of the Commander of U.S. Northern Command.
“These forces will protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. Government personnel who are performing federal functions, including the enforcement of federal law, and to protect federal property.”
It’s illegal and Democrats long ago should have put the military on notice that there will be consequences for complying with unlawful orders. But, amazingly, the Department of Defense apparently believes it will take just 500 National Guard soldiers to liberate a city of 2.7 million people from Antifa and the Presbyterians. What’s not clear is whether the Justice Department has enough lawyers to defend the troops defending ICE.
A hearing is set for today on the city’s and state’s legal efforts to block the National Guard invasion.
TRUMP-RAVAGED PORTLAND The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals also has a hearing set for today, on Trump’s attempt to invade Portland, OR. The panel consists of one judge appointed by Pres. Bill Clinton and two appointed by Trump.
On Sunday, another Trump-appointed judge in a lower court blocked Trump’s Portland invasion, ruling that get the fuck outta here.
And front-line dispatches from the Portland war zone show that the city was at peace before Trump ordered a cease-cease-fire there. The New York Times obtained internal battlefield reports from the Federal Protection Service, which exists to protect federal buildings so that even if somebody elects a stupid-face malignant clown as president they won’t have to protect federal buildings using troops.
The reports describe the scene at Portland’s ICE facility as pretty fucking chill. Right up until Trump ordered troops to unchill the place.
Trump declared Portland as “War ravaged” when he ordered the Portland deployment on Sept. 27. The previous day’s report described the scene at the ICE building as “low energy.” The day before that: “Low energy.”
“Low energy” is a technical term that Trump himself has used as a synonym for placid, virtually inactive things such as then-Pres. Joe Biden. It was only after Trump’s Sept. 27 order that protests grew in size and intensity, leading to more arrests.
Just Wait Til Trump Can’t Pay Those Already Low-Morale Troops
In Wednesday’s TFN, we told you all about the GOP civil war between Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD).
Asked on Tuesday about legislation to pay the troops and air-traffic controllers — despite the federal shutdown — Johnson responded, “I’m certainly open to that,” adding, “We wanna make sure that our troops are paid. [Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA) has] already filed legislation to pay our troops.”
Johnson’s statement was followed immediately by the nut getting punched in the nuts by Thune, who said no, ignore this nut, no exemptions.
So, on Wednesday, Johnson announced he’s certainly not open to that thing he was certainly open to on Tuesday that left his nuts certainly open to Thune’s fist. “The job in the House is done,” Johnson said.
As Pres. Abraham Lincoln told us, of course, a House done against itself cannot finish. And, sure enough, a bipartisan bill to pay the troops already has 122 sponsors and author Kiggans continues to push it, demonstrating persistent GOP disunity on the whole shutdown thing.
Also disunifying, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), who’s now talking about a way for Republicans to cave by saying Democrats are caving. Cramer told the Wall Street Journal that “The solution is going to be about what off ramp we provide [Democrats] that they can save some face [and] be assured that for the first year1 there’s not going to be a reduction in the premium tax credit.”
Got that? Cramer’s plan is for Republicans to lose, give in, give Democrats what they want, but describe it as winning because they’re letting Democrats save face by winning. Which is a knee-slapper on its saved face.
And it will leave Republicans having to explain why they shut down the government for more than a week, costing the country billions to realize savings of only Democratic face.
Still No Mass Layoffs?
Remember those spooky mass layoffs that Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought was supposedly champing at the bit to enact on day one of the shutdown? And then maybe a day or two after it started? And then not in the first week of the shutdown?
The Wall Street Journal reports that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and other top GOP lawmakers have privately told the White House they’re voting against it. The Republicans have told Trump’s team that non-Vought voters will blame Republicans the way they already do.
Trump is already caving on various aspects of the shutdown. He walked back his threat to withhold back pay. And the White House says it will use tariff funds, in the absence of funding appropriated by Congress, to keep food relief coming for women, infants, and kids, which sounds like it might be illegal but we’ve got other illegally funded fish to fry.
The battle, again, is over whether Republicans will agree to extend Obamacare subsidies for some 20 million people whose premiums will double or triple at the end of this year. So none of this would be happening if we had government-paid health care like a sane country.
AMERICA ALREADY BLAMES REPUBLICANS New polling by a Democratic political action committee finds most of the country blames Trump for the shutdown.
52% blame Trump.
40% blame Democrats.
Perhaps more importantly, 62% of voters consider preventing those premium hikes more important than ending the shutdown.
Nobel Peace Prize To Be Awarded Friday But Probably Not To Trump
Pres. Donald Trump appears to be on the cusp of achieving what so many presidents have sought for decades in the war-torn Middle East: A Nobel Peace Prize.
There were celebrations Thursday in both Israel and Gaza with news that officials on both sides have agreed to the first stage of a peace deal, meaning the remaining hostages could start coming home Monday or as soon as this weekend.
The first stage also includes a cease-fire on both sides, which was already halfway done since only one side was firing. And believe it or not, Friday’s scheduled announcement of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize reportedly was a factor in pushing Israel to make a deal.
The commander last year of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) negotiation team told the Washington Post that Friday’s Nobel “is shaping the timeline” of the peace talks.
But Trump isn’t even one of the reported frontrunners. In fact, frontrunners include Trump enemies such as the International Criminal Court and the Committee to Protect Journalists.
And there are other reasons for Trump not to get his hopes too high.
The deadline for nominations was Jan. 31. Trump supporters, of course, could still storm the Oslo, Norway, offices of the peace prize committee in an attempt to seize the peace prize through violence.
The committee spends months evaluating nominees, so presumably they already had someone in mind prior to this week’s Gaza breakthrough.
The prize rarely goes to anyone who campaigns for it, as Trump has incessantly, moving on it like a bitch.
Trump has lied about his peacing. Trump claims he’s ended seven wars:
Iran-Israel, the bombing back-and-forth that culminated in the U.S. bombing of three nuclear facilities.
Serbia-Kosovo, which ended a quarter century ago but Kosovo’s president says definitely would have started again if not for Trump.
Armenia-Azerbaijan, which agreed to a peace framework that was part of a predominantly economic deal that obviously gave the U.S. some oil-related business there for some reason oh right money.
Democratic Republic of Congo-Rwanda, which ended in a June White House treaty-signing that didn’t include all the combatants, so, um, more like “ended,” since fighting continues, but more importantly included economic benefits for the U.S. for some reason oh right money.
Egypt-Ethiopia, which involves disputes over Ethiopia’s control of water through a Nile tributary and eased this year based not on the zero (0) peace deals negotiated by Trump but on heavy rainfall.
India-Pakistan, which have been at odds for decades, leading to a spate of attacks earlier this year that India says Trump had nothing to do with ending.
Thailand-Cambodia, which have been at also odds for decades, with occasional flareups, after one of which Trump told Thailand to knock it off so he could claim it as ending a war.
It doesn’t help if you’re waging wars on your own people (even if said wars mostly consist of picking up litter), as Trump has sought to do in Washington, Portland, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Memphis.
It also doesn’t help if you’re committing war crimes, even if your Senate won’t stop you.
Senate Won’t Stop Trump from Not Just War, But War Crimes
Bad enough that Pres. Donald Trump is waging war against his own people. He’s also committing war crimes. Think about that for a second — war is just about the worst thing most people can imagine, but it’s not worst enough for Trump, who has to resort to the crime variety.
But the Senate on Wednesday voted down legislation that would have restricted Trump’s ability to illegally and criminally continue blowing boats with people in them out of the water in the Caribbean. TFN would like to note that there are already laws against that, but, y’know, it’s the thought that counts.
A handful of senators broke party lines on whether Trump can break the law. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Rand Paul (R-TN) voted to restrict Trump’s illegal breaking of the law.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voted to let Trump continue illegally breaking the law.
LIVE CHAT Veteran national-security reporter Seth Hettenna joins me on Monday at 4:30pm eastern for a live chat about his reporting on Trump’s Venezuela intelligence and mine (which you made possible!) Mark your calendars with this link now so you can join us!
Bolton Expected To Be Charged Within Days
Pres. Donald Trump is expected to get his second political revenge-prosecution in the next few days, the Wall Street Journal reports.
While the impetus for the prosecution of former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton appears to be political, that doesn’t mean the alleged crime is fictional. And it appears that Bolton might indeed have violated laws about document handling.
Of course, the Supreme Court could rule that former national security advisers are above the law like Republican presidents. But even if they don’t, remember that just because Trump accuses someone of something doesn’t mean they didn’t do it. Even a corrupt clock is right once a day.
And if Democrats want to rally around something in the Bolton case, maybe they can focus on legislation de-secret-ifying everydamnthing the government does, so we can stop prosecuting everyone for taking “top secret” documents out of their high-security, ultra-safe, secret locations shielded by Protego Maxima spells.
Media Watch
Hey, The Fucking News, how come you’re not talking more about the billionaire takeover of CBS News and other outlets?
Fair question!
Mostly because there’s lots of other stuff going on. But also because, um, almost no one watches that stuff? I mean, it’s true that toxic illionaires are warping our legacy media, but it’s also true that they’re in sharp decline (illionaires and legacy media both). If toxic illionaires want to own media’s graveyards, I’m not sure how much that really changes things.
To my mind, the focus belongs on the rise of independent media; demanding rigorous standards and not settling for mindless tribalism. And, of course, supporting whichever media meet your standards, instead of giving your money or eyeballs to corporate media lagging farther behind every day.
So far behind, in fact, that when right-wing propagandist Bari Weiss had her first staff meeting as CBS News editor-in-chief, she reportedly closed with, “Let’s do the fucking news.”
That’s how far behind they are.
Taking Action
You can get info about and sign up for the general strike at GeneralStrikeUS.com.
The next round of No Kings rallies is October 18. You can find events at NoKings.org, and keep checking, because new events will get added.
Protest rock group Triple is on Bandcamp here and on Instagram here.
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Here’s how Karrie McCoy just explained upgrading to a paid TFN subscription:
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Go get ‘em, kids! Remember, we’re on the verge of a possible war with Norway. Keep calm and carry Oslo.
TFN creator and writer Jonathan Larsen co-created Up w/ Chris Hayes and wrote for Countdown with Keith Olbermann at MSNBC, helped launch CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° and Air America Radio, and has also worked at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Young Turks.
Spoiler: He’s signaling Republicans will let premiums go up after the 2026 elections.
Gosh, whenever any serious matter arises which requires my focus and attention, turning to crime is my first thought! And that’s what makes this clueless convict tick. He thinks we all strive to be as dishonest as he is.
You Rock, Jonathan 🎸 Many thanks!
Love love love the oh so clever prose and unique style of telling us what is happening! Thank you for giving me a great start to my day ❤️