Morning Brief: Judge Blocks Trump's Plan to Send Troops to Portland, Bombings Continue in Gaza, Billionaire Elected in Czech Republic

Judge Puts the Brakes on Trump’s Portland Troop Plan

Portland is back in the national crosshairs, but this time the court got there first. On October 4, U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut issued a temporary restraining order stopping President Trump from federalizing and deploying roughly 200 Oregon National Guard troops to the city. The order holds through mid-October, with another hearing set to decide whether it stands.

The White House framed the move as protection of federal assets amid renewed protests near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. Oregon’s leaders said the facts on the ground did not justify a military style response and argued the president cannot sidestep the state’s authority over its Guard. The judge agreed for now, finding Oregon is likely to succeed on the merits and pointing out that the described threat level does not match the requested remedy.

This is not 2020 replayed. Then, unmarked officers and hard-charging tactics around the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse ignited a pileup of legal fights and public fury. That history informs today’s ruling, but the legal fulcrum is different. The question is whether Washington can seize control of a state’s Guard over the state’s objection absent a clear legal basis or extraordinary conditions. Oregon says no. The court, for the moment, says pause.

Supporters of deployment argue that law and order demands swift action. Critics call it political theater that would inflame a city where protests have been mostly contained. The judge cut through the noise and focused on the Constitution. Federal power is real. State sovereignty is real. Neither is limitless. That is the lane marker Oregon asked for, and the court painted it bright enough to see.

What now. The administration plans to appeal. Oregon and Portland will press to extend the order past its expiration. Protest activity will continue to be a pressure gauge for public patience and official restraint. If the facts stay closer to small-scale demonstrations than urban combat, expect the court to keep its foot on the brake. If violence spikes, the legal calculus could change. For leaders in other cities watching this fight, the message is simple. Bring receipts, not rhetoric. The judge will be looking for facts, law, and a plan that fits both.

Federal judge blocks Trump admin from sending troops to Portland https://t.co/apGRp3Hx74 pic.twitter.com/PRxLNfWJLJ

— New York Post (@nypost) October 5, 2025

Trump’s Gaza Peace Push Meets Relentless Fire in Gaza City

The clock is ticking on President Trump’s Gaza peace plan, and the guns have not gone quiet. In the last two days, Israeli aircraft and armor have hit targets across the strip with a pace that would exhaust most units. Gaza City has taken the brunt, which Israeli officials still call a central Hamas stronghold. Drones dropped rooftop explosives. Troops blew vehicles suspected of being rigged to kill. Whole blocks in Sabra and Sheikh Radwan now look like a training diagram for urban rubbling rather than neighborhoods where families once argued about weekend meals.

Trump took the mic and told both sides to stand down so hostages could come home and a ceasefire could take root. He rolled out a twenty point plan and said Hamas was ready to talk. That is the political promise. On the ground the noise stayed loud. Israeli strikes on Saturday killed six people by local counts. Four died in a Gaza City home. Two more in Khan Younis. By Sunday the casualty numbers ticked up as tanks and jets kept working their target lists.

Two ways to continue to read this article.

Inside the Israel Defense Forces IDF there was a moment of hesitation. Commanders shifted to protective postures at times, but kept pressure on until political orders caught up. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a dead man’s switch of competing demands. End the bloodshed now. Finish the job completely. His coalition has hardliners who want the fight to continue until Hamas is broken in ways everyone can see. He answered with a limited pause to some offensive moves while staff prepared for the hostage release piece of the Trump proposal. Hamas called the plan a basis for negotiation, then added caveats. Disarmament remains a sticking point. The timeline for Israeli withdrawal is another. Meanwhile civilians keep paying. Reports put the Palestinian death toll above sixty seven thousand since 2023. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced. Officials call Gaza City a dangerous combat zone. That label is accurate. It is also cold comfort to anyone sprinting through a street that might be laced with booby traps. Here is the military read. Momentum is hard to stop once a machine like this is rolling. It is like trying to park a tank on ice. You can issue the order. You still need distance to slow down. If the plan truly flips to a hostage exchange and ceasefire, commanders will need precise rules, tight comms, and political backing that does not wobble. Until then, expect the guns to keep talking while negotiators trade paragraphs. The first side that matches words with verifiable action will set the tone for what comes next. Israel has ignored Trump’s call to halt its bombing of Gaza and carried out a drone strike on a tent in Al-Mawasi, southern Gaza, killing two children and wounding several others. Follow: @TheNewDawnNews pic.twitter.com/TENRwZKdI1 — The New Dawn (@TheNewDawnNews) October 5, 2025 Babiš Blitz: ANO Tops Czech Vote, Coalition Math Gets Ugly Fast Andrej Babiš just muscled his way back to the top of Czech politics. With nearly all ballots counted, his ANO movement cleared roughly thirty-five percent and about eighty seats in the two-hundred-seat Chamber of Deputies. It is a clean win and a long road at the same time since a governing majority still sits out of reach. Turnout surged to a level the country has not seen in decades, close to sixty-nine percent, which tells you voters showed up with a purpose. Spolu, the center-right alliance led by outgoing Prime Minister Petr Fiala, landed around twenty-three percent and a distant second. Smaller players moved the needle as well. Tomio Okamura’s SPD posted about eight percent, and the Motorists party cleared seven percent, enough to matter in a hung parliament. Babiš ran a pocketbook campaign with sharp edges. Higher pensions, lower taxes, domestic priorities first. He wrapped that with a harder line on Brussels and a cooler posture on arming Ukraine. The branding felt familiar. Strong Czechia hats, a warmer tone toward Viktor Orbán, and a public kinship with President Trump. The mix worked at the ballot box, but it complicates the map in Prague and in NATO capitals that count on Prague. Here is the coalition math that matters. ANO plus SPD plus Motorists would clear a working majority on paper. In practice, those partners come with asks and red lines. SPD wants seats and leverage. Motorists want a mandate to fight EU climate rules. President Petr Pavel has the constitutional pen on ministerial appointments and has already signaled he will resist names that pull the country away from a pro-EU and pro-NATO course. That is a guardrail Babiš cannot ignore while he tries to turn a win into a government. Expect Babiš to probe for a one-party cabinet with outside support while keeping formal coalition talks alive. The most likely end state is a hybrid deal that trades program planks for confidence votes and committee control. Every concession at home will carry a foreign policy echo. Less appetite for Ukraine aid. Slower alignment with EU climate policy. Warmer ties with Budapest and Bratislava. None of that flips Czechia out of NATO, but it will change the country’s tone in the room. Bottom line. The comeback is real. The hard part starts now. If Babiš locks down a majority without lighting up the president’s veto power on ministers, he sets the tempo for Prague and sends a signal across the EU that the populist tide still has pull. If he misses, prepare for a long season of trench politics. Truth has prevailed! @AndrejBabis has won the Czech parliamentary elections with a convincing lead. A big step for the Czech Republic, good news for Europe. Congratulations, Andrej! pic.twitter.com/jyqU5EVqc6 — Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) October 4, 2025