Democrats vs. ICE

The “eternal peace in the Middle East” President Trump has promised is already threatening to unravel. Hamas has handed over only nine of the 28 bodies of dead hostages so far, claiming it needs specialized equipment to recover the remaining 19; Israel is accusing the group of deliberate delays. Hamas fighters have retaken Gaza’s streets and are publicly executing alleged dissidents and collaborators; they are uninterested in disarming or ceding power as the peace deal requires. Trump said if they don’t disarm, they will be disarmed violently if necessary. The next phase of negotiation, including decisions over postwar Gaza administration, will stall until these issues are resolved, which seems unlikely.

Truly, as the Prophet Jeremiah said, people are loudly proclaiming peace, peace, when there is no peace.

[BRIEF]

Democrats vs. ICE: As the Trump administration cracks down on immigration, several Democratic cities are intensifying their resistance, limiting local cooperation with federal forces, launching lawsuits, and publicly protesting in sometimes violent ways. Tension is soaring as ice agents use heavier-handed tactics and leftists, using the modern megaphone of social media, respond as though law enforcement is a modern gestapo.

• Yesterday, Los Angeles County declared a state of emergency in response to ice’s aggressive arrest operations. Mayor Karen Bass has criticized raids for “destabilizing” the community and the economy and has rallied with protesters.

• Chicago has had several turbulent clashes between ice agents and residents in recent days. Chief judge Timothy Evans barred civil ice arrests at Cook County courts yesterday. Protests disrupted O’Hare Airport.

• New York City councilmember Tiffany Cabán doubled down on her October 9 bill to bar ice from city jails, prompting the Trump administration to threaten funding cuts if Zohran Mamdani, who wants to “abolish ice,” wins upcoming elections.

• Yesterday, the city council in Portland, Oregon, advanced the Protect Portland Initiative, empowering police to document and sue ice agents for violations. Portland has experienced over 100 days of protests with rocks and incendiaries.

America is experiencing the collision of two opposing approaches to law: one that feels responsible to enforce it, the other that is fundamentally lawless.

• For years, the latter approach has been dominant, so officials looked the other way as illegal immigrants flowed into the country, streets filled with drugged-out zombies, and mobs destroyed public property in supposed pursuit of “social justice.”

• With an administration now in power that upholds law, it faces an uphill battle, fighting not only increased criminality but also increased defiance to legitimate policing.

The Bible is clear that people should be subject to authorities (e.g. Romans 13:1-5; 1 Peter 2:13-14). The surge in “sanctuary cities,” violent civil disobedience and other resistance is a curse on America. Beyond that, it is a sign of the growing influence of the author of lawlessness (John 8:44; 1 John 3:8).

IN OTHER NEWS

Anti-Israel protests turned violent in Spain: Yesterday a protest of about 15,000 people set fires and attacked businesses like Starbucks and McDonald’s accused of supporting Israel, according to the Barcelona police. Fifteen people were arrested. In Valencia, Israeli basketball players visiting for a tournament were moved to another hotel amid fears that a crowd 1,000-strong would surround the hotel and riot. These protests assembled even as Israel and Hamas had supposedly just ended their war. Such anti-Israel actions in a country with such a checkered anti-Semitic past as Spain are another sign that Europe’s old ghosts haven’t gone away.

Germany will provide at least €200 million in immediate aid to reconstruct the Gaza Strip, Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan announced yesterday. “That is the amount that is already available in the budget,” Radovan said in the Table Today podcast. Watch for Germany to become more involved in the region.

More Korean support for Russia: Russia’s armed forces have deployed additional North Korean units to support Russian operations in Ukraine’s Sumy region, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported Thursday. The North Koreans are helping Russia with uav reconnaissance, identifying Ukrainian positions, and carrying out strikes with multiple-launch rocket systems. The Bible prophesies of a massive Asian alliance, headed by Russia and China, which will include smaller Asian nations such as North Korea. These countries will unite to face a growing European superpower. That is why the Trumpet closely watches the deepening military relationship between Russia and North Korea.

Good news: Transgenderism dwindles among youth. Generation Z students are moving away from gender confusion and returning to sanity, a recent analysis of survey data from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (fire) involving over 60,000 U.S. undergraduates shows. The rate of transgenderism halved from 6.8 percent in 2022–2023 to just 3.6 percent in 2025. The surge in nonbinary and queer self-identification peaked around 2023 after rising steadily since the early 2010s. The past two years have seen a near 10-point return to conventional norms in sexual orientation. This is a blow to “gender reassignment” surgeons, whose demented interventions had been projected to become a $5 billion industry by 2030.