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Tag: control

  • Lindsey Vonn crashes early in Olympic downhill as she competes on torn ACL at age 41

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    Lindsey Vonn, racing on a badly injured left knee, crashed early in the Olympic downhill Sunday and was taken off the course in a helicopter after receiving medical attention for several minutes.Previous coverage above: When athletes push through injuries Vonn lost control over the opening traverse after cutting the line too tight and was spun around in the air. She was heard screaming out after the crash as she was surrounded by medical personnel before she was strapped to a gurney and flown away by a helicopter, possibly ending the skier’s storied career. Her condition was not immediately known, with the U.S. Ski Team saying simply she would be evaluated.Video below: Lindsey Vonn talks torn ACL, skiing in CortinaBreezy Johnson, Vonn’s teammate, won gold and became only the second American woman to win the Olympic downhill after Vonn did it 16 years ago. The 30-year-old Johnson held off Emma Aicher of Germany and Italy’s Sofia Goggia on a bittersweet day for Team USA.Vonn had family in the stands, including her father, Alan Kildow, who stared down at the ground while his daughter was being treated. Others in the crowd, including Snoop Dogg, watched quietly as the star skier was finally taken off the course where she had so many fond memories.Video below: U.S. skiers talk about Lindsey Vonn competing in Italy Olympics despite torn ACLVonn’s crash was “tragic, but it’s ski racing,” said Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.“I can only say thank you for what she has done for our sport,” he said, “because this race has been the talk of the games and it’s put our sport in the best possible light.”All eyes were on Vonn, the feel-good story heading into the Olympics. She returned to elite ski racing last season after nearly six years, a remarkable decision at any time, but especially so given her age and that she had a partial titanium knee replacement in her right knee. Many wondered how she would fare.She stunned everyone by being a contender almost immediately. She came to the Olympics as the leader in the World Cup downhill standings and was a gold-medal favorite before her crash in Switzerland nine days ago, when she suffered her latest knee injury. In addition to a ruptured ACL, she also had a bone bruise and meniscus damage.Still, no one counted her out even then. She has skied through injuries for three decades at the top of the sport. In 2006, ahead of the Turin Olympics, Vonn took a bad fall during downhill training and went to the hospital. She competed less than 48 hours later, racing in all four events she’d planned, with a top result of seventh in the super-G.“It’s definitely weird,” she said then, “going from the hospital bed to the start gate.”Cortina has always had many treasured memories for Vonn beyond the record wins. She is called the queen of Cortina, and the Olympia delle Tofana is a course that had always suited Vonn. She tested out the knee twice in downhill training runs over the past three days before the crash on Sunday in clear, sunny conditions.“This would be the best comeback I’ve done so far,” Vonn said before the race. “Definitely the most dramatic.”After the crash, the celebration for the medalists was held and fellow skiers thought about Vonn’s legacy.“She has been my idol since I started watching ski racing,” said Kajsa Vickhoff Lie of Norway. “We still have a World Cup to do after Olympics … I wouldn’t be surprised if she suddenly shows up on the start gate, but the crash didn’t look good.”

    CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy —

    Lindsey Vonn, racing on a badly injured left knee, crashed early in the Olympic downhill Sunday and was taken off the course in a helicopter after receiving medical attention for several minutes.

    Previous coverage above: When athletes push through injuries

    Vonn lost control over the opening traverse after cutting the line too tight and was spun around in the air. She was heard screaming out after the crash as she was surrounded by medical personnel before she was strapped to a gurney and flown away by a helicopter, possibly ending the skier’s storied career. Her condition was not immediately known, with the U.S. Ski Team saying simply she would be evaluated.

    Video below: Lindsey Vonn talks torn ACL, skiing in Cortina

    Breezy Johnson, Vonn’s teammate, won gold and became only the second American woman to win the Olympic downhill after Vonn did it 16 years ago. The 30-year-old Johnson held off Emma Aicher of Germany and Italy’s Sofia Goggia on a bittersweet day for Team USA.

    Vonn had family in the stands, including her father, Alan Kildow, who stared down at the ground while his daughter was being treated. Others in the crowd, including Snoop Dogg, watched quietly as the star skier was finally taken off the course where she had so many fond memories.

    Video below: U.S. skiers talk about Lindsey Vonn competing in Italy Olympics despite torn ACL

    Vonn’s crash was “tragic, but it’s ski racing,” said Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.

    “I can only say thank you for what she has done for our sport,” he said, “because this race has been the talk of the games and it’s put our sport in the best possible light.”

    All eyes were on Vonn, the feel-good story heading into the Olympics. She returned to elite ski racing last season after nearly six years, a remarkable decision at any time, but especially so given her age and that she had a partial titanium knee replacement in her right knee. Many wondered how she would fare.

    She stunned everyone by being a contender almost immediately. She came to the Olympics as the leader in the World Cup downhill standings and was a gold-medal favorite before her crash in Switzerland nine days ago, when she suffered her latest knee injury. In addition to a ruptured ACL, she also had a bone bruise and meniscus damage.

    Still, no one counted her out even then. She has skied through injuries for three decades at the top of the sport. In 2006, ahead of the Turin Olympics, Vonn took a bad fall during downhill training and went to the hospital. She competed less than 48 hours later, racing in all four events she’d planned, with a top result of seventh in the super-G.

    “It’s definitely weird,” she said then, “going from the hospital bed to the start gate.”

    Cortina has always had many treasured memories for Vonn beyond the record wins. She is called the queen of Cortina, and the Olympia delle Tofana is a course that had always suited Vonn. She tested out the knee twice in downhill training runs over the past three days before the crash on Sunday in clear, sunny conditions.

    “This would be the best comeback I’ve done so far,” Vonn said before the race. “Definitely the most dramatic.”

    After the crash, the celebration for the medalists was held and fellow skiers thought about Vonn’s legacy.

    “She has been my idol since I started watching ski racing,” said Kajsa Vickhoff Lie of Norway. “We still have a World Cup to do after Olympics … I wouldn’t be surprised if she suddenly shows up on the start gate, but the crash didn’t look good.”

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  • Project R.I.D.E. offers equine therapy in Elk Grove

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    Project R.I.D.E in Elk Grove has been connecting riders and horses across the greater Sacramento area since 1979, offering equine therapy to people of all ages with special needs. “It’s hard to put in words unless you experience it,” Danny Ford, director of operations at Project R.I.D.E., said of the program’s impact. “I think it’s the happiest place on Earth. It’s better than Disneyland, in my opinion.”The nonprofit and therapeutic riding facility offers recreational riding to individuals with diagnosed physical, emotional and intellectual disabilities. The organization has a list of some of the diagnoses it accepts listed on its website.Five-year-old Rahi Parekh uses a wheelchair. KCRA 3 joined him for his lesson at Project R.I.D.E. late last month. He said he enjoys playing games while horseback riding and visiting with the barn cats, who also call the facility home.“I feel happy. Yeah. Happy. I feel happy,” he said.Ford noted horses have a special ability to connect with their riders.”They know completely how you’re feeling when you’re sitting in the saddle. They can actually sense and feel your heartbeat as well,” he said. “They will kind of match your senses, the way you’re feeling.”Ford began his work with the organization as a volunteer, but he first came through the barn doors as a dad. His son started riding at the facility as a toddler.”He’s now 21, has Down syndrome,” Ford said. “The sense of independence and that sense of control in life, I think, completely changes his life for 30 minutes, at least, every week.”For individuals who are unable to ride, Project R.I.D.E also has a fully interactive simulated horse, fondly named Buster Brady. “It’s hard to put into words exactly everything that we can do here, but it’s easy to see on the faces of our participants, I think, what the outcome of it all is,” Ford said.Project R.I.D.E. instructors are accredited through PATH International, the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship.”Come and sit in the stands, watch a lesson, and it’ll completely change your life to see the joy and the reward that some of these people get from the time that they spend with us,” Ford said.The organization is currently preparing for its annual steak dinner fundraiser on April 18. It relies on donations and a team of dedicated volunteers to keep the program active.As part of our 70 Years of Service initiative, we’re highlighting organizations that are making a difference all year long. See more stories in the series here.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    ELK GROVE, Calif. —

    Project R.I.D.E in Elk Grove has been connecting riders and horses across the greater Sacramento area since 1979, offering equine therapy to people of all ages with special needs.

    “It’s hard to put in words unless you experience it,” Danny Ford, director of operations at Project R.I.D.E., said of the program’s impact. “I think it’s the happiest place on Earth. It’s better than Disneyland, in my opinion.”

    The nonprofit and therapeutic riding facility offers recreational riding to individuals with diagnosed physical, emotional and intellectual disabilities. The organization has a list of some of the diagnoses it accepts listed on its website.

    Five-year-old Rahi Parekh uses a wheelchair. KCRA 3 joined him for his lesson at Project R.I.D.E. late last month.

    He said he enjoys playing games while horseback riding and visiting with the barn cats, who also call the facility home.

    “I feel happy. Yeah. Happy. I feel happy,” he said.

    Ford noted horses have a special ability to connect with their riders.

    “They know completely how you’re feeling when you’re sitting in the saddle. They can actually sense and feel your heartbeat as well,” he said. “They will kind of match your senses, the way you’re feeling.”

    Ford began his work with the organization as a volunteer, but he first came through the barn doors as a dad. His son started riding at the facility as a toddler.

    “He’s now 21, has Down syndrome,” Ford said. “The sense of independence and that sense of control in life, I think, completely changes his life for 30 minutes, at least, every week.”

    For individuals who are unable to ride, Project R.I.D.E also has a fully interactive simulated horse, fondly named Buster Brady.

    “It’s hard to put into words exactly everything that we can do here, but it’s easy to see on the faces of our participants, I think, what the outcome of it all is,” Ford said.

    Project R.I.D.E. instructors are accredited through PATH International, the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship.

    “Come and sit in the stands, watch a lesson, and it’ll completely change your life to see the joy and the reward that some of these people get from the time that they spend with us,” Ford said.

    The organization is currently preparing for its annual steak dinner fundraiser on April 18. It relies on donations and a team of dedicated volunteers to keep the program active.

    As part of our 70 Years of Service initiative, we’re highlighting organizations that are making a difference all year long. See more stories in the series here.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • ‘Abolish ICE’ messaging is back. Is it any more likely this time?

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    WASHINGTON — “Abolish ICE.”

    Democratic lawmakers and candidates for office around the country increasingly are returning to the phrase, popularized during the first Trump administration, as they react to this administration’s forceful immigration enforcement tactics.

    The fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent this month in Minneapolis sparked immediate outrage among Democratic officials, who proposed a variety of oversight demands — including abolishing the agency — to rein in tactics they view as hostile and sometimes illegal.

    Resurrecting the slogan is perhaps the riskiest approach. Republicans pounced on the opportunity to paint Democrats, especially those in vulnerable seats, as extremists.

    An anti-ICE activist in an inflatable costume stands next to a person with a sign during a protest near Legacy Emanuel Hospital on Jan. 10 in Portland, Ore. The demonstration follows the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis as well as the shooting of two individuals in Portland on Jan. 8 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

    (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland / Getty Images)

    “If their response is to dust off ‘defund ICE,’ we’re happy to take that fight any day of the week,” said Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee. The group has published dozens of press statements in recent weeks accusing Democrats of wanting to abolish ICE — even those who haven’t made direct statements using the phrase.

    Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) amplified that message Wednesday, writing on social media that “When Democrats say they want to abolish or defund ICE, what they are really saying is they want to go back to the open borders policies of the Biden administration. The American people soundly rejected that idea in the 2024 election.”

    The next day, Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) introduced the “Abolish ICE Act,” stating that Good’s killing “proved that ICE is out of control and beyond reform.” The bill would rescind the agency’s “unobligated” funding and redirect other assets to its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.

    Many Democrats calling for an outright elimination of ICE come from the party’s progressive wing. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said in a television interview the agency should be abolished because actions taken by its agents are “racist” and “rogue.” Jack Schlossberg, who is running for a House seat in New York, said that “if Trump’s ICE is shooting and kidnapping people, then abolish it.”

    Other prominent progressives have stopped short of saying the agency should be dismantled.

    A pair of protesters set up signs memorializing individuals

    A pair of protesters set up signs memorializing people who have been arrested by ICE, or have died in detention, at a rally in front of the Federal Building in Los Angeles on Friday.

    (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

    Sen. Alex Padilla, (D-Calif.) who last year was forcefully handcuffed and removed from a news conference hosted by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, joined a protest in Washington to demand justice for Good, saying “It’s time to get ICE and CBP out,” referring to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

    “This is a moment where all of us have to be forceful to ensure that we are pushing back on what is an agency right now that is out of control,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said on social media. “We have to be loud and clear that ICE is not welcome in our communities.”

    Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) at a podium.

    Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) said Democrats seeking to abolish ICE “want to go back to the open borders policies of the Biden administration.”

    (Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press)

    Others have eyed negotiations over the yearly Homeland Security budget as a leverage point to incorporate their demands, such as requiring federal agents to remove their masks and to turn on their body-worn cameras when on duty, as well as calling for agents who commit crimes on the job to be prosecuted. Seventy House Democrats, including at least 13 from California, backed a measure to impeach Noem.

    Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Diego), who serves on the House Committee on Appropriations, said his focus is not on eliminating the agency, which he believes has an “important responsibility” but has been led astray by Noem.

    He said Noem should be held to account for her actions through congressional oversight hearings, not impeachment — at least not while Republicans would be in control of the proceedings, since he believes House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) would make a “mockery” of them.

    “I am going to use the appropriations process,” Levin said, adding that he would “continue to focus on the guardrails, regardless of the rhetoric.”

    Chuck Rocha, a Democratic political strategist, said Republicans seized on the abolitionist rhetoric as a scare tactic to distract from the rising cost of living, which remains another top voter concern.

    “They hope to distract [voters] by saying, ‘Sure, we’re going to get better on the economy — but these Democrats are still crazy,’” he said.

    an inflatable doll of Trump in a Russian military outfit

    Dozens of Angelenos and D.C.-area organizers, along with local activists, rally in front of the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. Democrats have for years struggled to put forward a unified vision on immigration — one of the top issues that won President Trump a return to the White House.

    (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

    Democrats have for years struggled to put forward a unified vision on immigration — one of the top issues that won President Trump a return to the White House. Any deal to increase guardrails on Homeland Security faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Congress, leaving many proposals years away from the possibility of fruition. Even if Democrats manage to block the yearly funding bill, the agency still has tens of billions of dollars from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

    Still, the roving raids, violent clashes with protesters and detentions and deaths of U.S. citizens and immigrants alike increased the urgency many lawmakers feel to do something.

    Two centrist groups released memos last week written by former Homeland Security officials under the Biden administration urging Democrats to avoid the polarizing language and instead channel their outrage into specific reforms.

    “Every call to abolish ICE risks squandering one of the clearest opportunities in years to secure meaningful reform of immigration enforcement — while handing Republicans exactly the fight they want,” wrote the authors of one memo, from the Washington-based think tank Third Way.

    “Advocating for abolishing ICE is tantamount to advocating for stopping enforcement of all of our immigration laws in the interior of the United States — a policy position that is both wrong on the merits and at odds with the American public on the issue,” wrote Blas Nuñez-Neto, a senior policy fellow at the new think tank the Searchlight Institute who previously was assistant Homeland Security secretary.

    Roughly 46% of Americans said they support the idea of abolishing ICE, while 43% are opposed, according to a YouGov/Economist poll released last week.

    Sarah Pierce, a former policy analyst at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services who co-wrote the Third Way memo, said future polls might show less support for abolishing the agency, particularly if the question is framed as a choice among options including reforms such as banning agents from wearing masks or requiring use of body cameras.

    “There’s no doubt there will be further tragedies and with each, the effort to take an extreme position like abolishing ICE increases,” she said.

    Laura Hernandez, executive director of Freedom for Immigrants, a California-based organization that advocates for the closure of detention centers, said the increase in lawmakers calling to abolish ICE is long overdue.

    “We need lawmakers to use their power to stop militarized raids, to close detention centers and we need them to shut down ICE and CBP,” she said. “This violence that people are seeing on television is not new, it’s literally built into the DNA of DHS.”

    Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) smiles

    Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) introduced the “Abolish ICE Act.”

    (Paul Sancya / Associated Press)

    Cinthya Martinez, a UC Santa Cruz professor who has studied the movement to abolish ICE, noted that it stems from the movement to abolish prisons. The abolition part, she said, is watered down by mainstream politicians even as some liken immigration agents to modern-day slave patrols.

    Martinez said the goal is about more than simply getting rid of one agency or redirecting its duties to another. She pointed out that alongside ICE agents have been Border Patrol, FBI and ATF agents.

    “A lot of folks forget that prison abolition is to completely abolish carceral systems. It comes from a Black tradition that says prison is a continuation of slavery,” she said.

    But Peter Markowitz, a law professor and co-director of the Immigration Justice Clinic at the Cardozo School of Law, said the movement to abolish ICE around 2018 among mainstream politicians was always about having effective and humane immigration enforcement, not about having none.

    “But it fizzled because it didn’t have an answer to the policy question that follows: If not ICE, then what?” he said. “I hope we’re in a different position today.”

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    Andrea Castillo, Ana Ceballos

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  • WATCH: Paraglider falls into ocean, saved by lifeguards

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    People. What’s that? We’re dying. 00 my gosh, oh my gosh. Oh. Oh my God, I feel OK. Um, yes.

    WATCH: Paraglider falls into ocean, saved by lifeguards

    A paraglider pilot was rescued by lifeguards at a beach in Florida after a wind gust caused his parachute to collapse

    Updated: 11:01 AM EST Jan 14, 2026

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    A man flying a powered paraglider had a scary accident Friday afternoon off Singer Island in Florida.A strong gust of wind made his parachute collapse, and he started spinning out of control. He fell about 500 feet into the ocean. Palm Beach County lifeguards saw what happened and rushed to help. They paddled out on a rescue board and found the man tangled in parachute lines. Amazingly, he was awake and only had minor injuries.The lifeguards cut him free, brought him back to the beach, checked him and got his gear back.

    A man flying a powered paraglider had a scary accident Friday afternoon off Singer Island in Florida.

    A strong gust of wind made his parachute collapse, and he started spinning out of control. He fell about 500 feet into the ocean.

    Palm Beach County lifeguards saw what happened and rushed to help. They paddled out on a rescue board and found the man tangled in parachute lines. Amazingly, he was awake and only had minor injuries.

    The lifeguards cut him free, brought him back to the beach, checked him and got his gear back.

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  • Good Samaritan helps rescue family from near-death crash on California highway

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    A car lost control along California Highway 50 on Christmas morning, leaving its occupants in a life-threatening situation until a U.S. Air Force staff sergeant stepped in to help.SSgt. Ruben Tala, stationed at Travis Air Force Base, was traveling with his family through the Sierra corridor shortly after 8 a.m. when he saw an SUV spin out of control.“During that time, I mean, I think it’s the adrenaline kicking in,” Tala said.The SUV was teetering hundreds of feet above the ground. Video shared with sister station KCRA shows Tala gripping the driver’s side door as the vehicle dangled over the edge.“I thought about my wife and my daughter. What if there’s a family in that car? Somebody has to help,” Tala told KCRA.As Tala worked to stabilize the situation, other good Samaritans stopped and joined the rescue effort. Together, they were able to help the driver and his wife reach safety. The woman was visibly shaken and clutching the couple’s two dogs.Highway 50 is known for hazardous winter driving conditions, particularly during storms, when snow and ice can make the roadway treacherous even for experienced drivers.Tala said the gratitude from the family left a lasting impression. One detail, he added, stood out to him afterward.“It’s funny too, because one of their dog’s names is Luna, which is my daughter’s name,” he said. “I was like, how’s that a coincidence, right?”Tala and his wife, Yvett, share a 22-month-old daughter and were on their way to the snow for the holiday when the crash unfolded.”SSgt Tala and Yvett’s quick action and courage are a direct reflection of our Core Value of Service Before Self,” Lt. Col. Jason Christie, 60th Force Support Squadron commander, said in a statement.”We’re so proud to have them as our teammates and witness them ready to help anyone in need.”

    A car lost control along California Highway 50 on Christmas morning, leaving its occupants in a life-threatening situation until a U.S. Air Force staff sergeant stepped in to help.

    SSgt. Ruben Tala, stationed at Travis Air Force Base, was traveling with his family through the Sierra corridor shortly after 8 a.m. when he saw an SUV spin out of control.

    “During that time, I mean, I think it’s the adrenaline kicking in,” Tala said.

    The SUV was teetering hundreds of feet above the ground. Video shared with sister station KCRA shows Tala gripping the driver’s side door as the vehicle dangled over the edge.

    “I thought about my wife and my daughter. What if there’s a family in that car? Somebody has to help,” Tala told KCRA.

    As Tala worked to stabilize the situation, other good Samaritans stopped and joined the rescue effort. Together, they were able to help the driver and his wife reach safety. The woman was visibly shaken and clutching the couple’s two dogs.

    Highway 50 is known for hazardous winter driving conditions, particularly during storms, when snow and ice can make the roadway treacherous even for experienced drivers.

    Tala said the gratitude from the family left a lasting impression. One detail, he added, stood out to him afterward.

    “It’s funny too, because one of their dog’s names is Luna, which is my daughter’s name,” he said. “I was like, how’s that a coincidence, right?”

    Tala and his wife, Yvett, share a 22-month-old daughter and were on their way to the snow for the holiday when the crash unfolded.

    “SSgt Tala and Yvett’s quick action and courage are a direct reflection of our Core Value of Service Before Self,” Lt. Col. Jason Christie, 60th Force Support Squadron commander, said in a statement.”We’re so proud to have them as our teammates and witness them ready to help anyone in need.”

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  • In Texas case, it’s politics vs. race at the Supreme Court, with control of Congress at stake

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    WASHINGTON — The Texas redistricting case now before the Supreme Court turns on a question that often divides judges: Were the voting districts drawn based on politics, or race?

    The answer, likely to come in a few days, could shift five congressional seats and tip political control of the House of Representatives after next year’s midterm elections.

    Justice Samuel A. Alito, who oversees appeals from Texas, put a temporary hold on a judicial ruling that branded the newly drawn Texas voting map a “racial gerrymander.”

    The state’s lawyers asked for a decision by Monday, noting that candidates have a Dec. 8 deadline to file for election.

    They said the judges violated the so-called Purcell principle by making major changes in the election map “midway through the candidate filing period,” and that alone calls for blocking it.

    Texas Republicans have reason to be confident the court’s conservative majority will side with them.

    “We start with a presumption that the legislature acted in good faith,” Alito wrote for a 6-3 majority last year in a South Carolina case.

    That state’s Republican lawmakers had moved tens of thousands of Black voters in or out of newly drawn congressional districts and said they did so not because of their race but because they were likely to vote as Democrats.

    In 2019, the conservatives upheld partisan gerrymandering by a 5-4 vote, ruling that drawing election districts is a “political question” left to states and their lawmakers, not judges.

    All the justices — conservative and liberal — say drawing districts based on the race of the voters violates the Constitution and its ban on racial discrimination. But the conservatives say it’s hard to separate race from politics.

    They also looked poised to restrict the reach of the Voting Rights Act in a pending case from Louisiana.

    For decades, the civil rights law has sometimes required states to draw one or more districts that would give Black or Latino voters a fair chance to “elect representatives of their choice.”

    The Trump administration joined in support of Louisiana’s Republicans in October and claimed the voting rights law has been “deployed as a form of electoral race-based affirmative action” that should be ended.

    If so, election law experts warned that Republican-led states across the South could erase the districts of more than a dozen Black Democrats who serve in Congress.

    The Texas mid-decade redistricting case did not look to trigger a major legal clash because the partisan motives were so obvious.

    In July, President Trump called for Texas Republicans to redraw the state map of 38 congressional districts in order to flip five seats to oust Democrats and replace them with Republicans.

    At stake was control of the closely divided House after the 2026 midterm elections.

    Gov. Greg Abbott agreed, and by the end of August, he signed into law a map with redrawn districts in and around Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio.

    But last week federal judges, in a 2-1 decision, blocked the new map from taking effect, ruling that it appeared to be unconstitutional.

    “The public perception of this case is that it’s about politics,” wrote U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown in the opening of a 160-page opinion. “To be sure, politics played a role” but “substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map.”

    He said the strongest evidence came from Harmeet Dhillon, the Trump administration’s top civil rights lawyer at the Justice Department. She had sent Abbott a letter on July 7 threatening legal action if the state did not dismantle four “coalition districts.”

    This term, which was unfamiliar to many, referred to districts where no racial or ethnic group had a majority. In one Houston district that was targeted, 45% of the eligible voters were Black and 25% were Latino. In a nearby district, 38% of voters were Black and 30% were Latino.

    She said the Trump administration views these as “unconstitutional racial gerrymanders,” citing a recent ruling by the conservative 5th Circuit Court.

    The Texas governor then cited these “constitutional concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice” when he called for the special session of the Legislature to redraw the state map.

    Voting rights advocates saw a violation.

    “They said their aim was to get rid of the coalition districts. And to do so, they had to draw new districts along racial lines,” said Chad Dunn, a Texas attorney and legal director of UCLA’s Voting Rights Project.

    Brown, a Trump appointee from Galveston, wrote that Dhillon was “clearly wrong” in believing these coalition districts were unconstitutional, and he said the state was wrong to rely on her advice as basis for redrawing its election map.

    He was joined by a second district judge in putting the new map on hold and requiring the state to use the 2021 map that had been drawn by the same Texas Republicans.

    The third judge on the panel was Jerry Smith, a Reagan appointee on the 5th Circuit Court, and he issued an angry 104-page dissent. Much of it was devoted to attacking Brown and liberals such as 95-year-old investor and philanthropist George Soros and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

    “In 37 years as a federal judge, I’ve served on hundreds of three-judge panels. This is the most blatant exercise of judicial activism that I have ever witnessed,” Smith wrote. “The main winners from Judge Brown’s opinion are George Soros and Gavin Newsom. The obvious losers are the People of Texas.”

    The “obvious reason for the 2025 redistricting, of course, is partisan gain,” Smith wrote, adding that “Judge Brown commits grave error in concluding that the Texas Legislature is more bigoted than political.”

    Most federal cases go before a district judge, and they may be appealed first to a U.S. appeals court and then the Supreme Court.
    Election-related cases are different. A three-judge panel weighs the facts and issues a ruling, which then goes directly to the Supreme Court to be affirmed or reversed.

    Late Friday, Texas attorneys filed an emergency appeal and asked the justices to put on hold the decision by Brown.

    The first paragraph of their 40-page appeal noted that Texas is not alone in pursuing a political advantage by redrawing its election maps.

    “California is working to add more Democratic seats to its congressional delegation to offset the new Texas districts, despite Democrats already controlling 43 out of 52 of California’s congressional seats,” they said.

    They argued that the “last-minute disruption to state election procedures — and resulting candidate and voter confusion —demonstrates” the need to block the lower court ruling.

    Election law experts question that claim. “This is a problem of Texas’ own making,” said Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

    The state opted for a fast-track, mid-decade redistricting at the behest of Trump.

    On Monday, Dunn, the Texas voting rights attorney, responded to the state’s appeal and told the justices they should deny it.

    “The election is over a year away. No one will be confused by using the map that has governed Texas’ congressional elections for the past four years,” he said.

    “The governor of Texas called a special session to dismantle districts on account of their racial composition,” he said, and the judges heard clear and detailed evidence that lawmakers did just that.

    In recent election disputes, however, the court’s conservatives have frequently invoked the Purcell principle to free states from new judicial rulings that came too close to the election.

    Granting a stay would allow Texas to use its new GOP friendly map for the 2026 election.

    The justices may then choose to hear arguments on the legal questions early next year.

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    David G. Savage

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  • A fatal crash killed 2 teens over the weekend in Groveland

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    Florida Highway Patrol is investigating a crash that killed 2 teenagers on State Road 33 west of Groveland.FHP said the crash happened around 6 p.m. Saturday on SR-33 near Groveland Farms Road.Troopers say a 16-year-old girl was driving a Toyota Scion southbound and attempted to pass a vehicle in a no passing zone. She had a 17-year-old Clermont boy riding as her passenger.After the teen entered the northbound lane, she saw an oncoming SUV and swerved back into the southbound lane.FHP says the 16-year-old then lost control of her Toyota which rotated and reentered the northbound lane in the direct path of the SUV, causing the SUV to crash into the right side of car which then overturned.The Toyota’s driver and her passenger were pronounced dead at the scene.The 75-year-old driver of the SUV and his 3 passengers were all taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.FHP says the crash remains under investigation.

    LAKE COUNTY, Fla. —

    Florida Highway Patrol is investigating a crash that killed 2 teenagers on State Road 33 west of Groveland.

    FHP said the crash happened around 6 p.m. Saturday on SR-33 near Groveland Farms Road.

    Troopers say a 16-year-old girl was driving a Toyota Scion southbound and attempted to pass a vehicle in a no passing zone. She had a 17-year-old Clermont boy riding as her passenger.

    After the teen entered the northbound lane, she saw an oncoming SUV and swerved back into the southbound lane.

    FHP says the 16-year-old then lost control of her Toyota which rotated and reentered the northbound lane in the direct path of the SUV, causing the SUV to crash into the right side of car which then overturned.

    The Toyota’s driver and her passenger were pronounced dead at the scene.

    The 75-year-old driver of the SUV and his 3 passengers were all taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

    FHP says the crash remains under investigation.

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  • UPS identifies crew in Louisville cargo plane crash

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    SYSTEMS. REENA ROY, ABC NEWS, NEW YORK. AND AGAIN, ONE OF THE PILOTS IS CONFIRMED TO BE FROM ALBUQUERQUE. JULIAN PARAS JOINS US IN STUDIO NOW WITH WHAT HE’S LEARNED. THAT’S RIGHT GUYS. SO THE NAME OF THAT PILOT IS LEE TRUITT. ACCORDING TO OUR TARGET 7 TEAM, TRUITT STARTED WORKING AT UPS FOUR YEARS AGO IN 2021. HE ALSO EARNED A DEGREE AT UNM IN 2006, BUT HAD BECOME PART OF THE AVIATION INDUSTRY BEGINNING IN 1998. WE ALSO RECEIVED A STATEMENT FROM UPS OFFICIALS ABOUT THAT CRASH IN KENTUCKY. THE UPS EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT SAYS WORDS CAN’T EXPRESS THE SORROW WE FEEL OVER THE HEARTBREAKING FLIGHT. 2976 ACCIDENT. IT’S WITH GREAT SORROW THAT WE SHARE THE NAMES OF THE UPS PILOTS ON BOARD UPS FLIGHT 2976 CAPTAIN RICHARD WARTENBERG, FIRST OFFICER LEE TRUITT, AN INTERNATIONAL RELIEF OFFICER, CAPTAIN DANA DIAMOND. WERE OPERATING THAT FLIGHT INVESTIGATION IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW AND IS BEING LED BY THE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD. WE ARE WORKING TO REACH OUT TO MORE PEOPLE WH

    UPS officials confirmed the identities of the crew aboard the cargo plane that crashed in Louisville, Kentucky, this week.The crew operating UPS Flight 2976 was identified as:Captain Richard WartenbergFirst Officer Lee Truitt Relief Officer Dana DiamondFAA records indicate Truitt was from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Wartenberg was from Independence, Kentucky. UPS Flight 2976 crashed moments after takeoff from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. The flight’s destination was Honolulu, HI. At least 13 people, including all three pilots, are confirmed dead, with nine people unaccounted for.Social media video of the crash shows the MD-11 was already in flames as it reached the end of the runway and struggled to take off. Flight data shows the plane rose briefly before dropping into an industrial area just outside the airport property.Investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board confirm the plane’s left-hand engine detached from the aircraft before the crash. Investigators also recovered the airplane’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders, commonly known as the “black boxes.” Investigators say the recorders show signs of heat exposure, something they say the recorders are designed to withstand.Because of the long flight, the plane was fully fueled with about 38,000 gallons of fuel, leading to a large fire. The flames spread easily to nearby facilities, including a large recycling center. It took more than 100 first responders more than six hours to get the fires under control. UPS said the National Transportation Safety Board is in charge of the investigation and will be the primary source of information.

    UPS officials confirmed the identities of the crew aboard the cargo plane that crashed in Louisville, Kentucky, this week.

    The crew operating UPS Flight 2976 was identified as:

    FAA records indicate Truitt was from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Wartenberg was from Independence, Kentucky.

    UPS Flight 2976 crashed moments after takeoff from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. The flight’s destination was Honolulu, HI.

    At least 13 people, including all three pilots, are confirmed dead, with nine people unaccounted for.

    Social media video of the crash shows the MD-11 was already in flames as it reached the end of the runway and struggled to take off. Flight data shows the plane rose briefly before dropping into an industrial area just outside the airport property.

    Investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board confirm the plane’s left-hand engine detached from the aircraft before the crash. Investigators also recovered the airplane’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders, commonly known as the “black boxes.” Investigators say the recorders show signs of heat exposure, something they say the recorders are designed to withstand.

    Because of the long flight, the plane was fully fueled with about 38,000 gallons of fuel, leading to a large fire. The flames spread easily to nearby facilities, including a large recycling center. It took more than 100 first responders more than six hours to get the fires under control.

    UPS said the National Transportation Safety Board is in charge of the investigation and will be the primary source of information.

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  • Wrong-way driver reportedly slams into car on San Pedro bridge; separate crash kills teen

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    A woman reportedly drove the wrong way on the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro late Saturday and crashed into a car carrying five people including a baby.

    The suspect, who was driving a white SUV eastbound in the westbound lanes of the bridge, was arrested at the scene.

    A witness near the incident said the vehicle that was struck carried four adults and a child, according to ABC7, and one person was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

    A woman is arrested late Saturday after a collision on the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro.

    (OnScene.TV)

    Not far from the scene, an unrelated accident turned deadly on Saturday night.

    Around 11 p.m., a driver lost control of their Mustang after driving at high speeds, leading them to crash into a power pole at 22nd Street and Harbor Boulevard in San Pedro, according to Los Angeles police.

    A teen in the passenger seat died from injuries sustained in the crash, police said.

    The driver, a juvenile, sustained minor injuries and was booked on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter.

    A spokesperson with the Los Angeles Police Department said detectives were investigating the crash.

    Mangled wreckage sits alongside a white tent.

    A single-car wreck on Saturday night in San Pedro led to the death of a teenage boy.

    (OnScene.TV)

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    Andrea Flores

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  • Supreme Court might upend Voting Rights Act and help GOP keep control of the House

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    WASHINGTON  — The Supreme Court may help the GOP keep control of the House of Representatives next year by clearing the way for Republican-led states to redraw election districts now held by Black Democrats.

    That prospect formed the backdrop on Wednesday as the justices debated the future of the Voting Rights Act in a case from Louisiana.

    The Trump administration’s top courtroom attorney urged he justices to rule that partisan politics, not racial fairness, should guide the drawing election districts for Congress and state legislatures.

    “This court held that race-based affirmative action in higher education must come to an end,” Solicitor Gen. D. John Sauer wrote in his brief. The same is true, he said, for using the Voting Rights Act to draw legislative districts that are likely to elect a Black or Latino candidate.

    Too often, he said, the civil rights law has been “deployed as a form of electoral race-based affirmative action to undo a state’s constitutional pursuit of political ends.”

    The court’s conservatives lean in that direction and sought to limit the use of race for drawing district boundaries. But the five-member majority has not struck down the use of race for drawing district lines.

    But the Trump administration and Louisiana’s Republican leaders argued that now was the time to do so.

    If the court’s conservatives hand down such a ruling in the months ahead, it would permit Republican-led states across the South to redraw the congressional districts of a dozen or more Black Democrats.

    “There’s reason for alarm,” said Harvard law professor Nicholas Stephanopoulous. “The consequences for minority representation would likely be devastating. In particular, states with unified Republican governments would have a green light to flip as many Democratic minority-opportunity districts as possible.”

    Such a ruling would also upend the Voting Rights Act as it had been understood since the 1980s.

    As originally enacted in 1965, the historic measure put the federal government on the side of Blacks in registering to vote and casting ballots.

    But in 1982, Republicans and Democrats in Congress took note that these new Black voters were often shut out of electing anyone to office. White lawmakers could draw maps that put whites in the majority in all or nearly all the districts.

    Seeking a change, Congress amended the law to allow legal challenges when discrimination results in minority voters having “less opportunity … to elect representatives of their choice.”

    In decades after, the Supreme Court and the Justice Department pressed the states, and the South in particular, to draw at least some electoral districts that were likely to elect a Black candidate. These legal challenges turned on evidence that white voters in the state would not support a Black candidate.

    But since he joined the court in 1991, Justice Clarence Thomas has argued that drawing districts based on race is unconstitutional and should be prohibited. Justices Samuel A. Alito, Neil M. Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett dissented with Thomas two years ago when the court by a 5-4 vote approved a second congressional district in Alabama that elected a Black Democrat.

    Chief Justice John G. Roberts wrote the opinion. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh cast the deciding fifth vote but also said he was open to the argument that “race-based redistricting cannot extend indefinitely into the future.”

    That issue is now before the court in the Louisiana case.

    It has six congressional districts, and about one-third of its population is Black.

    Prior to this decade, the New Orleans area elected a Black representative, and in response to a voting right suit, it was ordered to draw a second district where a Black candidate had a good chance to win.

    But to protect its leading House Republicans — Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise — the state drew a new elongated district that elected Rep. Cleo Fields, a Black Democrat.

    Now the state and the Trump administration argue the court should strike down that district because it was drawn based on race and free the state to replace him with a white Republican.

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    David G. Savage

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  • Our Main Takeaways From How To Be Less Miserable By Lybi Ma

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    For a lot of us, there are seasons when we start to feel stuck and unsure how to move forward. Maybe your work routine becomes monotonous or your job search looks bleak. Maybe your relationship doesn’t feel fulfilling or your family keeps reopening old wounds. Whatever the case, many of us can become victims of our own negativity, trapped in a mind loop that keeps us in a state of stress and despair.

    So we turn to TikTok and YouTube videos to see what can help us out of this rut. Or we’d read advice columns and self-help and self-improvement books like How to Be Less Miserable by Lybi Ma. This book reaffirms much of what we’ve learned so far on our path to becoming the best versions of ourselves.

    We’re stepping out of our comfort zone today, and we hope you’ll come along on this journey with us. Here are some of our main takeaways from Lybi Ma’s How to Be Less Miserable!

    How to Be Less Miserable by Lybi Ma
    Image Source: Blackstone Publishing

    Book Overview: How To Be Less Miserable

    Summary: As human beings, we are all predisposed to a negative mindset. This tendency is a byproduct of the evolution of our species. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors had to stay vigilant at all times—what if a man-eating predator was lurking in their midst? It was more important to be aware of potential danger than to find food. It’s part of our genetic code, and we’ve carried this innate predisposition that something bad is about to happen to us into the twenty-first century. Even the most optimistic among us aren’t immune.

    How to Be Less Miserable offers current research on the human brain’s tendency toward negative thinking, why we do it, why it’s so hard to stop doing it, and how we can use evidence-based methods to overcome the patterns that lead to anxiety, depression, and more. The author covers a wide range of topics, including:

    • healthy ways to pursue happiness
    • how to overcome stress and anxiety
    • tools for dealing with emotions
    • building resiliency and mental flexibility
    • the importance of social groups
    • the perils of social media
    • personal growth and the pursuit of passions
    • being kind and true to yourself

    The strategies found in this book are based in large part on wisdom from the experts and researchers Lybi Ma has worked with throughout her career. They provide helpful and meaningful ways to manage and overcome negative thinking. Ultimately, How to Be Less Miserable is for anyone searching for a different way to think about emotional and mental health.

    Understand That Failures & Mistakes Will Pass

    You know when you go to bed and start replaying every single embarrassing moment or negative interaction that has ever happened to you? (Don’t @ us; we’ve been in the same boat.) This cycle will only continue as long as you let it happen. Instead, try to interrupt these thoughts as soon as you notice them. Accept that these failures and mistakes are bound to happen and that they’re meant to help you grow, not to make you cringe or beat yourself up about them daily.

    Give Yourself Permission To Feel Good

    We know; this seems like a no-brainer. But How to Be Less Miserable reminds us to allow ourselves to be happy. Rather than worrying about how long a happy moment or good feeling will last, let yourself enjoy it just because you can. It doesn’t have to be something earth-shattering like a picturesque proposal in the Swiss Alps. It can be feeling joy from reading one book or clearing out a junk drawer. Celebrate the small wins whenever you can. We promise it’s not a trap.

    Stop Trying To Be In Control 24/7

    We’re going to hold your hands when we say this. You can’t control every aspect of your life. Sorry! Life will not hesitate to throw your carefully planned schedule into disarray. What matters most is your ability to adapt to these unknown factors and manage your emotions. It will seem very scary to let go of your control at first. But once you accept that not everything will go the way you wanted or planned, then you can feel at peace. It may not be pleasant, but it will ultimately turn out okay.

    Lybi Ma’s How to Be Less Miserable serves as a much-needed reminder for us to stop dwelling on the negativity and despairing over every mishap. Instead, we should allow ourselves to feel good and let go of things we can’t control.

    How to Be Less Miserable by Lybi Ma goes on sale October 14th, and you can order a copy of it here!

    What do you think of this new self-help book? Are you interested in reading How to Be Less Miserable? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!

    Want to hear some of our audiobook recommendations? Here’s the latest!

    TO LEARN MORE ABOUT LYBI MA:
    LINKEDIN | TWITTER

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    Julie Dam

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  • 10 Video Games That Feel Like Playing A Movie

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    Do you ever find yourself sitting in the movie theatre, yelling at the screen, annoying everyone around you? You just can’t help yourself! If those movie characters would just make better decisions, then you wouldn’t feel compelled to tell them what to do! Do you ever wish you could control the actions of movie characters? With a little known technology called “video games,” now you can. Picture this: a movie where you get to call all the shots. You want the main character to jump off a cliff? That’s your prerogative. With these 10 video games that feel like playing a movie, you get to be the director, the actor, and the screenwriter all at once!

    Venom Snake sits in a helicopter in "Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain"
    (Konami)

    Created by the incomparable game designer genius Hideo Kojima, the Metal Gear series is easily one of the most cinematic video game franchises ever made. A military alternate history that takes place across decades, each game in the series feels like its own film sub-genre. Metal Gear Solid is a gritty 90’s spy thriller. Metal Gear Solid 3 is a 60’s Cold War flick with its own James Bond-style theme song. Metal Gear Solid 4 is a sci-fi dystopian epic. But when it comes to pure cinema, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is the franchise’s crown jewel. Centered around a mercenary company caught in the middle of the Russia-Afghanistan war, the plot follows a grizzled soldier’s attempt to seek revenge against the man who nearly destroyed everything he and his comrades built. When your main character is motion captured and voice acted by Kiefer Sutherland himself, you know you’re making video game movie magic.

    The Last of Us Series

    Ellie in The Last of Us Part 2
    (Sony Interactive Entertainment)

    The franchise that elevated video game narratives into full blown Oscar bait, The Last of Us series feels like a play-through of a Best Picture winner. The franchise is set in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a fungus, one that has turned human beings into mushroomy zombies. The first game follows grizzled smuggler named Joel on his quest to deliver his most precious cargo yet: a little girl who is immune to the virus. While the brutal gameplay and emotional weight of the game make it feel like post-apocalyptic greats such as Children of Men and 28 Days Later, the true “movie” quality of the games comes from the choices that it forces you to make. Much of the series’ narratives revolve around morally complicated choices that are made for you, that the game expects you to execute on. And when I say “execute,” I mean that in the most homicidal sense of the word. You are not the main character – their choices are their own. You might control the pace of the plot, but you can’t change the script.

    Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

    (Ninja Theory)

    If A24 ever decided to make a game, it would probably look a lot like Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. A mythological folk horror, the plot follows 8th century Pict warrior Senua on a quest into Helheim in order to save the soul of her lover. Carrying her beloved’s severed head with her, Senua navigates the abyss at the cost of her own sanity. Deeply cerebral, the game is essentially a downward spiral into madness – Senua’s mental state becomes more tortured the deeper she goes. The boss fights are close quarters affairs that feel more like nightmare sequences than standard gameplay combat. There’s something deeply troubled about this game – it’s a haunted version of The Northman. A decaying Green Knight. Beowulf dipped in blood.

    Red Dead Redemption 2

    A man rides a horse while carrying a gun in the game 'Red Dead Redemption 2'
    (Rockstar Games)

    While Red Dead Redemption was an epic Western in its own right, the sequel upped the cinematic feel of the series to Sergio Leone levels. Set in the dying days of the Old West, the story follows a group of outlaws on the run from the long arm of the law – and they’re running out of places to hide. As Pinkerton agents close in on all sides, the gang’s charismatic leader Dutch van der Linde slowly begins to lose his composure, while the group’s strongman Arthur Morgan begins to question the morality and sustainability of the outlaw life they lead. Red Dead Redemption 2 is bigger than a movie, it’s an entire HBO series like Deadwood. A larger than life epic about one man’s relationship to honor – honor upheld or left behind.

    Grand Theft Auto V

    The cast of "Grand Theft Auto V" looking ready for business
    (Rockstar)

    The ultimate video game satire, Grand Theft Auto V is a sardonic reflection on the modern age. It feels like if Black Mirror abandoned its sci-fi trappings and decided to take a stab at the world of today – painting L.A. with its dark and cynical brush. Set in the mirror world of Los Santos, the story follows a trio of criminals from separate walks of life, all attempting to get rich quick in a rat race world. It’s got the madcap crime thriller humor of a Guy Ritchie movie combined with the American sleaze of Heat and Scarface. Nasty people in a nasty world who are tired of keeping up nice appearances – not that the sociopathic Trevor was ever concerned about his appearance to begin with, but you get what I mean.

    Okami

    A wolf with a burning shield on her back stands gloriously in "Okami"
    (Capcom)

    One of the most underrated games of all time, Okami feels like a Studio Ghibli film that never was. The plot is set in mythological Japan, and the player takes control of a wolf named Amaterasu who is the reincarnation of the sun goddess. Winding her way through a stunning, brushstroke world, Amaterasu comes face to snout with characters from Japanese folklore. Maiden devouring serpents, drunken samurai warriors, demon-possessed royals, wandering gods, and young girl who was born out of a stalk of bamboo. While it lacks the cinematic cutscenes of more modern games, it makes up for it with is gorgeous brushwork worlds that feels straight out of Princess Mononoke.

    The Uncharted Series

    An adventurer stands in front of smoldering wreckage of a plane in the desert in "Uncharted 3"
    (Naughty Dog)

    The video game version of Indiana Jones, the Uncharted series is a Spielberg-esque globe trotting romp. The franchise follows historian and adrenaline junkie Nathan Drake on his never-ending quest for artifacts lost to time. The game takes the player into classic adventure film worlds: steaming jungle ruins, forgotten mountain temples, lost cities of the desert, and forgotten coves where pirates stashed loot long ago. With its run and gun play style and stunning set pieces, the game feels like you’re flying by the seat of your cargo pants. The train level in Uncharted 2? Perhaps one of the cinematic gaming sequences ever designed.

    Detroit: Become Human

    An android looks inquisitive in "Detroit: Become Human"
    (Quantic Dream)

    Building off of the “playable movie” groundwork of genre pioneer Heavy Rain, Detroit: Become Human is a sci-fi epic that stands alongside Blade Runner. Taking place in 2038, the action is set in a world where androids live alongside humans – though they are (supposedly) deprived of free will and emotion. You cycle between playing as one of three androids – a police investigator, a housekeeper, and a caretaker for an elderly painter. After bearing witness to a morally grey legal system, domestic abuse, and android discrimination respectively, each character embarks on a “choose your own adventure” style journey that will change their city forever. There aren’t traditional combat sequences, rather playable cutscenes with timed dialogue options and the choice between different prescribed actions. It’s the most traditionally “cinematic” game on this list – a movie where instead of yelling at the screen when a character makes a bad decision, you can yell at yourself when you make one.

    God of War

    A man holds a young boy's face in his hands in an image from the game God of War
    (Santa Monica Studio)

    While the God of War franchise made a name for itself with its breathtakingly cinematic combat sequences, the series reached its video game movie apex in the modern era. God of War trades the hack and slash brutality of its predecessors to tell an emotional story based around an older and (somewhat) wiser Kratos – an emotionally stunted man attempting to bond with his young son. The most cinematic aspect of the game is its “one take” cinematography. The “cutscenes” don’t cut at all, but rather the game’s over the shoulder camera simply tracks the characters cinematically during narrative moments. Like Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, the lack of cuts make the game feel as impressive as real one take wonder films like Victoria – made all the more jaw dropping by its mythological magnitude.

    Max Payne 3

    A man with a shaved head jumps through the air in "Max Payne 3"
    (Rockstar)

    An underrated Neo-noire gem, Max Payne 3 plays like a combination mobster movie and gritty crime thriller. The plot follows alcoholic hero Max Payne, whose marksmanship skills are equally as sharp as his one-liners. Hired to serve as a bodyguard to a wealthy South American family, things quickly go awry after the family’s socialite children are kidnapped by criminals. The gameplay is made cinematic as hell through the use of “bullet time” which allows Max to launch himself through the air in slow motion while picking off foes with surgical precision. The plot unfolds with the brutality of crime epics like City of God and Elite Squad, buoyed by Max’s dry humor noir witticisms – “I had a hole in my second favorite drinking arm” is a favorite line to this day.

    Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

    Image of Sarah Fimm

    Sarah Fimm

    Sarah Fimm (they/them) is actually nine choirs of biblically accurate angels crammed into one pair of $10 overalls. They have been writing articles for nerds on the internet for less than a year now. They really like anime. Like… REALLY like it. Like you know those annoying little kids that will only eat hotdogs and chicken fingers? They’re like that… but with anime. It’s starting to get sad.

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    Sarah Fimm

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  • Mexico boosts controls on cattle after new screwworm case found near US border

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    Mexico activated emergency controls Monday after detecting a new case of New World screwworm in cattle in the northern border state of Nuevo Leon state, the closest case to the U.S. border since the outbreak began last year.The animal, found in the town of Sabinas Hidalgo, came from the Gulf state of Veracruz, Mexico’s National Health for Food Safety and Food Quality Service said. The last case was reported July 9 in Veracruz, prompting Washington to suspend imports of live Mexican cattle.The parasite, a larva of the Cochliomyia hominivorax fly, attacks warm-blooded animals, including humans. Mexico has reported more than 500 active cases in cattle across southern states.The block on cattle imports has spelled trouble for Mexico’s government, which has already been busy trying to offset the brunt of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats this year.The government and ranchers have sought to get the ban lifted. If it stays in place through the year, Mexico’s ranching federation estimates losses up to $400 million.Mexico’s Agriculture Secretary Julio Berdegué said in a post on X that Mexico is “controlling the isolated case of screwworm in Nuevo Leon,” under measures to fight the pest agreed with the U.S. in August.U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Washington will take “decisive measures to protect our borders, even in the absence of cooperation” and said imports on Mexican cattle, bison and horses will remain suspended.“We will not rely on Mexico to defend our industry, our food supply or our way of life,” she said.

    Mexico activated emergency controls Monday after detecting a new case of New World screwworm in cattle in the northern border state of Nuevo Leon state, the closest case to the U.S. border since the outbreak began last year.

    The animal, found in the town of Sabinas Hidalgo, came from the Gulf state of Veracruz, Mexico’s National Health for Food Safety and Food Quality Service said. The last case was reported July 9 in Veracruz, prompting Washington to suspend imports of live Mexican cattle.

    The parasite, a larva of the Cochliomyia hominivorax fly, attacks warm-blooded animals, including humans. Mexico has reported more than 500 active cases in cattle across southern states.

    The block on cattle imports has spelled trouble for Mexico’s government, which has already been busy trying to offset the brunt of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats this year.

    The government and ranchers have sought to get the ban lifted. If it stays in place through the year, Mexico’s ranching federation estimates losses up to $400 million.

    Mexico’s Agriculture Secretary Julio Berdegué said in a post on X that Mexico is “controlling the isolated case of screwworm in Nuevo Leon,” under measures to fight the pest agreed with the U.S. in August.

    U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Washington will take “decisive measures to protect our borders, even in the absence of cooperation” and said imports on Mexican cattle, bison and horses will remain suspended.

    “We will not rely on Mexico to defend our industry, our food supply or our way of life,” she said.

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  • Commentary: Here’s why the redistricting fight is raging. And why it may be moot

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    A handful of seats are all that keep Republicans in control of the House, giving President Trump untrammeled sway over, well, pretty much everything, from the economy to the jokes on late-night TV to the design of the Cracker Barrel logo.

    It’s a number that’s both tantalizing and fraught, depending on your political perspective.

    For Democrats, that eyelash-thin margin means they’re thisclose to regaining power and a political toehold in next year’s midterm election. All they need is a gain of three House seats. For Trump and fellow Republicans, it means their hegemony over Washington and life as we know it dangles by a perilously thin thread.

    That tension explains the redistricting wars now blazing throughout our great land.

    It started in Texas, where Trump pressured Republicans to redraw congressional lines in hopes of handing the GOP as many as five additional seats. That led California Democrats to ask voters, in a Nov. 4 special election, to approve an eye-for-an-eye gerrymander that could yield their party five new lawmakers.

    Several other states have waded into the fight, assuming control of the House might be decided next year by just a few seats, one way or the other.

    Which could happen.

    Or not.

    Anyone claiming to know for sure is either lying, trying to frighten you into giving money, or both.

    “History is on Democrats’ side, but it’s too early to know what the national political environment is going to be like,” said Nathan Gonzales, one of the country’s top political handicappers and publisher of the nonpartisan campaign guide Inside Elections. “We don’t know the overall mood of the electorate, how satisfied voters [will be] with Republicans in power in Washington or how open to change they’ll be a year from now.”

    A look back offers some clues, though it should be said no two election cycles are alike and the past is only illuminating insofar as it casts light on certain patterns.

    (Take that as a caveat, weasel words or whatever you care to call it.)

    In the last half century, there have been 13 midterm elections. The out party — that is, the one that doesn’t hold the presidency — has won 13 or more House seats in eight of those elections. Going back even further, since World War II the out party has gained an average of more than two dozen House seats.

    In Trump’s last midterm election, in 2018, Democrats won 40 House seats — including seven in California — to seize control. (That was 17 more than they needed.) A Democratic gain of that magnitude seems unlikely next year, barring a complete and utter GOP collapse. That’s because there are fewer Republicans sitting in districts that Democrats carried in the most recent presidential election, which left them highly vulnerable.

    In 2018, 25 Republicans represented districts won by Hillary Clinton. In 2026, there are just three Republicans in districts Kamala Harris carried. (Thirteen Democrats represent districts that Trump won.)

    Let’s pause before diving into more numbers.

    OK. Ready?

    There are 435 House seats on the ballot next year. Most are a lock for one party or the other.

    Based on the current congressional map, Inside Elections rates 64 House seats nationwide as being at least somewhat competitive, with a dozen considered toss-ups. The Cook Political Report, another gold-plated handicapper, rates 72 seats competitive or having the potential to be so, with 18 toss-ups.

    Both agree that two of those coin-flip races are in California, where Democrats Adam Gray and Derek Tran are fighting to hang onto seats they narrowly won in, respectively, the Central Valley and Orange County. (The Democratic gerrymander seeks to shore up those incumbents.)

    You really can’t assess the 2026 odds without knowing how the redistricting fight comes out.

    Republicans could pick up as many as 16 seats through partisan map-making, Inside Elections forecasts, a number that would be reduced if California voters approve Proposition 50. Erin Covey, who analyzes House races for the Cook Report, puts GOP gains as high as 13, again depending on the November outcome in California.

    Obviously, that would boost the GOP’s chances of hanging onto the House, which is precisely why Trump pushed for the extraordinary mid-decade redistricting.

    But there are many other factors at play.

    One huge element is Trump’s approval rating. Simply put, the less popular a president, the more his party tends to suffer at the polls.

    Right now Trump’s approval rating is a dismal 43%, according to the Cook Report’s PollTracker. That could change, but it’s a danger sign for Republicans. Over the past three decades, every time the president’s net job approval was negative a year from the midterm election, his party lost House seats.

    Another thing Democats have going for them is the passion of their voters, who’ve been flocking to the polls in off-year and special elections. The Downballot, which tracks races nationwide, finds Democratic candidates have far surpassed Kamala Harris’ 2024 performance, a potential harbinger of strong turnout in 2026.

    Those advantages are somewhat offset by a GOP edge in two other measures. Republicans have significantly outraised Democrats and have limited the number of House members retiring. Generally speaking, it’s tougher for a party to defend a seat when it comes open.

    In short, for all the partisan passions, the redistricting wars aren’t likely to decide control of the House.

    “Opinions of the economy and Trump’s handling of it, the popularity (or lack thereof) of Republicans’ signature legislation” — the tax-cutting, Medicaid-slashing bill passed in July — as well as “partisan enthusiasm to vote are going to be more determinative to the 2026 outcome than redistricting alone,” Amy Walter, the Cook Report’s editor-in-chief, wrote in a recent analysis.

    In other words, control of the House will most likely rest in the hands of voters, not scheming politicians.

    Which is exactly where it belongs.

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    Mark Z. Barabak

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  • Millions of dollars of special-election redistricting TV ads scheduled to start airing Tuesday

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    Millions of dollars worth of political TV ads are expected to start airing Tuesday in an effort to sway Californians about a November ballot measure seeking to send more Democrats to Congress and counter President Trump and the GOP agenda, according to television airtime purchases.

    The special-election ballot measure — Prop. 50 — will likely shape control of the U.S. House of Representatives and determine the fate of many of Trump’s far-right policies

    The opposition to the rare California mid-decade redistricting has booked more than $10 million dollars of airtime for ads between Tuesday and Sept. 23 in media markets across the state, according to media buyers who are not affiliated with either campaign. Supporters of the effort have bought at least $2 million in ads starting on Tuesday, a number expected to grow exponentially as they are aggressively trying to secure time in coming weeks on broadcast and cable television.

    “This early start is a bit stealthy on the part of the no side, but has been used as a ploy in past campaigns to try to show strength early and gain advantage by forcing the opposing side to play catch up,” said Sheri Sadler, a veteran Democratic political media operative who is not working for either campaign. “This promises to be an expensive campaign for a special election, especially starting so early.”

    Millions of dollars have already flowed into the nascent campaigns sparring over the Nov. 4 special-election ballot measure that asks voters to set aside the congressional boundaries drawn in 2021 by California’s independent redistricting commission. The panel was created by the state’s voters in 2010 to stop gerrymandering and incumbent protection by both major political parties.

    The campaign will be a sprint — glossy multi-page mailers arrived in Californians’ mailboxes before the state legislature voted in late August to call the special election. Voters will begin receiving mail ballots in early October.

    Redistricting, typically an esoteric process that takes place once a decade following the U.S. Census, is receiving an unusual level of attention because of partisan efforts to tilt control of Congress in next year’s midterm election. Republicans have a narrow edge in the U.S. House of Representatives, but the party that wins control of the White House often loses congressional seats in the following election.

    Earlier this summer, Trump asked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to redraw his state’s congressional districts to add five GOP members to the House, setting off a redistricting arms race across the nation. California Gov. Gavin Newsom launched a campaign to redraw the state’s congressional districts in an effort to boost the number of Democrats in Congress, negating the Texas gains for Republicans, but it must be approved by voters.

    The coalition opposing the effort is an intriguing mix: former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, wealthy Republican donor Charles Munger Jr., former GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, Assemblyman Alex Lee (D-San Jose), the chair of the Legislative Progressive Caucus, and Gloria Chun Hoo, the president of the League of Women Voters of California.

    Many partisans — in both political parties — opposed independent redistricting when it was championed by Schwarzenegger and Munger in 2010.

    Jessica Millan Patterson, the former state GOP chairwoman who is leading McCarthy’s effort to oppose new congressional boundaries, demurred when asked about the dissonance. Voters, she said, made their choice clear at the ballot box about their preference to have an independent commission draw congressional districts rather than Sacramento politicians.

    “The people of California have spoken,” she said, adding that most voters agree that an independent commission is preferable to partisan politicians drawing districts.

    The “Stop Sacramento’s Power Grab” committee that Patterson leads plans on focusing on conservative and right-of-center voters, and will be well funded, she said.

    McCarthy was a prodigious fundraiser while in Congress and his long-time friend, major GOP fundraiser Jeff Miller, is raising money to oppose the ballot measure.

    Schwarzenegger is not part of the McCarthy effort, instead backing the good-government message of the Munger team. Patterson argues that anything the former governor does only brings more attention to their shared goal, even if he isn’t part of their effort.

    “Gov. Schwarzenegger is Gov. Schwarzenegger,” Patterson said, pointing to an X post of the global celebrity wearing a T-shirt that said “Terminate Gerrymandering” while working out on Aug. 15. “He is a celebrity, a box-office guy. He’s going to make sure reasonable people know that we don’t want to put this power back in Sacramento. He will bring the glitz and glamour, like he always does.”

    Schwarzenegger has long championed political reform. During his final year as governor, he prioritized the ballot measure that created independent congressional redistricting. Since leaving office, he made good governance a priority at his institute at the University of Southern California and campaigned for independent redistricting across the nation.

    “Here are some of the things that are more popular than Congress: hemorrhoids, Nickelback, traffic jams, cockroaches, root canals, colonoscopies, herpes,” Schwarzenegger said in a 2017 Facebook video. “Even herpes, they couldn’t beat herpes in the polls,”

    The former governor is reportedly backing the effort by Munger, the son of a billionaire, who bankrolled the ballot measure that created independent congressional redistricting in 2010. Munger has donated more than $10 million to an effort opposing the November ballot measure; the organization he funded has booked more than $10 million in television spots through Sept. 23.

    “These ads are the start of our campaign’s effort to communicate directly with voters about the dangers of allowing politicians to choose their voters and abandoning our gold standard citizen-led redistricting process,” said Amy Thoma, a spokesperson for the Munger-backed Voters First Coalition.

    Supporters of the effort to redraw the districts argued that Republicans are trying to cement GOP control of the nation’s policies.

    “Trump cronies … are spending big to defeat [Prop.] 50 and help Trump rig the 2026 election before a single person [has] voted,” said Hannah Milgrom, a spokesperson for the campaign. “They are spending big — and early — to trick California voters into allowing Trump to keep total control over the federal government for two more years. “

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    Seema Mehta

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  • Trump fires Fed governor Lisa Cook, opening new front in fight for control over central bank

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    President Donald Trump said Monday night that he’s firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, an unprecedented move that would constitute a sharp escalation in his battle to exert greater control over what has long been considered an institution independent from day-to-day politics.Trump said in a letter posted on his Truth Social platform that he is removing Cook effective immediately because of allegations that she committed mortgage fraud.Cook said Monday night that she would not step down. “President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” she said in an emailed statement. “I will not resign.”Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the agency that regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, made the accusations last week. Pulte alleged that Cook had claimed two primary residences — in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Atlanta — in 2021 to get better mortgage terms. Mortgage rates are often higher on second homes or those purchased to rent.Trump’s move is likely to touch off an extensive legal battle that will probably go to the Supreme Court and could disrupt financial markets. Stock futures declined slightly late Monday, as did the dollar against other major currencies.If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the board, it could erode the Fed’s political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables it to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. If bond investors start to lose faith that the Fed will be able to control inflation, they will demand higher rates to own bonds, pushing up borrowing costs for mortgages, car loans and business loans.Cook has retained Abbe Lowell, a prominent Washington attorney. Lowell said Trump’s “reflex to bully is flawed and his demands lack any proper process, basis or legal authority,” adding, “We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent his attempted illegal action.”Cook was appointed to the Fed’s board by then-President Joe Biden in 2022 and is the first Black woman to serve as a governor. She was a Marshall Scholar and received degrees from Oxford University and Spelman College, and she has taught at Michigan State University and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.Her nomination was opposed by most Senate Republicans, and she was approved on a 50-50 vote with the tie broken by then-Vice President Kamala Harris.Questions about ‘for cause’ firingThe law allows a president to fire a Fed governor “for cause,” which typically means for some kind of wrongdoing or dereliction of duty. The president cannot fire a governor simply because of differences over interest rate policy.Establishing a for-cause removal typically requires some type of proceeding that would allow Cook to answer the charges and present evidence, legal experts say, which hasn’t happened in this case.”This is a procedurally invalid removal under the statute,” said Lev Menand, a law professor at Columbia law school and author of “The Fed Unbound,” a book about the Fed’s actions during the COVID-19 pandemic.Menand also said for-cause firings are typically related to misconduct while in office, rather than based on private misconduct from before an official’s appointment.”This is not someone convicted of a crime,” Menand said. “This is not someone who is not carrying out their duties.”Fed governors vote on the central bank’s interest rate decisions and on issues of financial regulation. While they are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, they are not like cabinet secretaries, who serve at the pleasure of the president. They serve 14-year terms that are staggered in an effort to insulate the Fed from political influence.No presidential precedentWhile presidents have clashed with Fed chairs before, no president has sought to fire a Fed governor. In recent decades, presidents of both parties have largely respected Fed independence, though Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson put heavy pressure on the Fed during their presidencies — mostly behind closed doors. Still, that behind-the-scenes pressure to keep interest rates low, the same goal sought by Trump, has widely been blamed for touching off rampant inflation in the late 1960s and ’70s.President Harry Truman pushed Thomas McCabe to step down from his position as Fed chair in 1951, though that occurred behind the scenes.The Supreme Court signaled in a recent decision that Fed officials have greater legal protections from firing than other independent agencies, but it’s not clear if that extends to this case.Menand noted that the Court’s conservative majority has taken a very expansive view of presidential power, saying, “We’re in uncharted waters in a sense that it’s very difficult to predict that if Lisa Cook goes to court what will happen.”Sarah Binder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the president’s use of the “for cause” provision is likely an effort to mask his true intent. “It seems like a fig leaf to get what we wants, which is muscling someone on the board to lower rates,” she said.A fight over interest ratesTrump has said he would only appoint Fed officials who would support lower borrowing costs. He recently named Stephen Miran, a top White House economic adviser, to replace another governor, Adriana Kugler, who stepped down about five months before her term officially ended Aug. 1.Trump appointed two governors in his first term, Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, so replacing Cook would give Trump appointees a 4-3 majority on the Fed’s board.”The American people must have the full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve,” Trump wrote in a letter addressed to Cook, a copy of which he posted online. “In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not have such confidence in your integrity.”Trump argued that firing Cook was constitutional. “I have determined that faithfully enacting the law requires your immediate removal from office,” the president wrote.Cook will have to fight the legal battle herself, as the injured party, rather than the Fed.Trump’s announcement drew swift rebuke from advocates and former Fed officials.Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called Trump’s attempt to fire Cook illegal, “the latest example of a desperate President searching for a scapegoat to cover for his own failure to lower costs for Americans. It’s an authoritarian power grab that blatantly violates the Federal Reserve Act, and must be overturned in court.”Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, for not cutting its short-term interest rate, and even threatened to fire him.Forcing Cook off the Fed’s governing board would provide Trump an opportunity to appoint a loyalist. Trump has said he would only appoint officials who would support cutting rates.Powell signaled last week that the Fed may cut rates soon even as inflation risks remain moderate. Meanwhile, Trump will be able to replace Powell in May 2026, when Powell’s term expires. However, 12 members of the Fed’s interest-rate setting committee have a vote on whether to raise or lower interest rates, so even replacing the chair might not guarantee that Fed policy will shift the way Trump wants.__Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein contributed.

    President Donald Trump said Monday night that he’s firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, an unprecedented move that would constitute a sharp escalation in his battle to exert greater control over what has long been considered an institution independent from day-to-day politics.

    Trump said in a letter posted on his Truth Social platform that he is removing Cook effective immediately because of allegations that she committed mortgage fraud.

    Cook said Monday night that she would not step down. “President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” she said in an emailed statement. “I will not resign.”

    Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the agency that regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, made the accusations last week. Pulte alleged that Cook had claimed two primary residences — in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Atlanta — in 2021 to get better mortgage terms. Mortgage rates are often higher on second homes or those purchased to rent.

    Trump’s move is likely to touch off an extensive legal battle that will probably go to the Supreme Court and could disrupt financial markets. Stock futures declined slightly late Monday, as did the dollar against other major currencies.

    If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the board, it could erode the Fed’s political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables it to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. If bond investors start to lose faith that the Fed will be able to control inflation, they will demand higher rates to own bonds, pushing up borrowing costs for mortgages, car loans and business loans.

    Cook has retained Abbe Lowell, a prominent Washington attorney. Lowell said Trump’s “reflex to bully is flawed and his demands lack any proper process, basis or legal authority,” adding, “We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent his attempted illegal action.”

    Cook was appointed to the Fed’s board by then-President Joe Biden in 2022 and is the first Black woman to serve as a governor. She was a Marshall Scholar and received degrees from Oxford University and Spelman College, and she has taught at Michigan State University and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

    Her nomination was opposed by most Senate Republicans, and she was approved on a 50-50 vote with the tie broken by then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

    Questions about ‘for cause’ firing

    The law allows a president to fire a Fed governor “for cause,” which typically means for some kind of wrongdoing or dereliction of duty. The president cannot fire a governor simply because of differences over interest rate policy.

    Establishing a for-cause removal typically requires some type of proceeding that would allow Cook to answer the charges and present evidence, legal experts say, which hasn’t happened in this case.

    “This is a procedurally invalid removal under the statute,” said Lev Menand, a law professor at Columbia law school and author of “The Fed Unbound,” a book about the Fed’s actions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Menand also said for-cause firings are typically related to misconduct while in office, rather than based on private misconduct from before an official’s appointment.

    “This is not someone convicted of a crime,” Menand said. “This is not someone who is not carrying out their duties.”

    Fed governors vote on the central bank’s interest rate decisions and on issues of financial regulation. While they are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, they are not like cabinet secretaries, who serve at the pleasure of the president. They serve 14-year terms that are staggered in an effort to insulate the Fed from political influence.

    No presidential precedent

    While presidents have clashed with Fed chairs before, no president has sought to fire a Fed governor. In recent decades, presidents of both parties have largely respected Fed independence, though Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson put heavy pressure on the Fed during their presidencies — mostly behind closed doors. Still, that behind-the-scenes pressure to keep interest rates low, the same goal sought by Trump, has widely been blamed for touching off rampant inflation in the late 1960s and ’70s.

    President Harry Truman pushed Thomas McCabe to step down from his position as Fed chair in 1951, though that occurred behind the scenes.

    The Supreme Court signaled in a recent decision that Fed officials have greater legal protections from firing than other independent agencies, but it’s not clear if that extends to this case.

    Menand noted that the Court’s conservative majority has taken a very expansive view of presidential power, saying, “We’re in uncharted waters in a sense that it’s very difficult to predict that if Lisa Cook goes to court what will happen.”

    Sarah Binder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the president’s use of the “for cause” provision is likely an effort to mask his true intent. “It seems like a fig leaf to get what we wants, which is muscling someone on the board to lower rates,” she said.

    A fight over interest rates

    Trump has said he would only appoint Fed officials who would support lower borrowing costs. He recently named Stephen Miran, a top White House economic adviser, to replace another governor, Adriana Kugler, who stepped down about five months before her term officially ended Aug. 1.

    Trump appointed two governors in his first term, Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, so replacing Cook would give Trump appointees a 4-3 majority on the Fed’s board.

    “The American people must have the full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve,” Trump wrote in a letter addressed to Cook, a copy of which he posted online. “In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not have such confidence in your integrity.”

    Trump argued that firing Cook was constitutional. “I have determined that faithfully enacting the law requires your immediate removal from office,” the president wrote.

    Cook will have to fight the legal battle herself, as the injured party, rather than the Fed.

    Trump’s announcement drew swift rebuke from advocates and former Fed officials.

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called Trump’s attempt to fire Cook illegal, “the latest example of a desperate President searching for a scapegoat to cover for his own failure to lower costs for Americans. It’s an authoritarian power grab that blatantly violates the Federal Reserve Act, and must be overturned in court.”

    Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, for not cutting its short-term interest rate, and even threatened to fire him.

    Forcing Cook off the Fed’s governing board would provide Trump an opportunity to appoint a loyalist. Trump has said he would only appoint officials who would support cutting rates.

    Powell signaled last week that the Fed may cut rates soon even as inflation risks remain moderate. Meanwhile, Trump will be able to replace Powell in May 2026, when Powell’s term expires. However, 12 members of the Fed’s interest-rate setting committee have a vote on whether to raise or lower interest rates, so even replacing the chair might not guarantee that Fed policy will shift the way Trump wants.

    __

    Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein contributed.

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  • Obama applauds Newsom’s California redistricting plan as ‘responsible’ as Texas GOP pushes new maps

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    Former President Barack Obama has waded into states’ efforts at rare mid-decade redistricting efforts, saying he agrees with California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s response to alter his state’s congressional maps, in the wake of Texas redistricting efforts promoted by President Donald Trump aimed at shoring up Republicans’ position in next year’s elections. “I believe that Gov. Newsom’s approach is a responsible approach. He said this is going to be responsible. We’re not going to try to completely maximize it,” Obama said at a Tuesday fundraiser on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, according to excerpts obtained by The Associated Press. “We’re only going to do it if and when Texas and/or other Republican states begin to pull these maneuvers. Otherwise, this doesn’t go into effect.”While noting that “political gerrymandering” is not his “preference,” Obama said that, if Democrats “don’t respond effectively, then this White House and Republican-controlled state governments all across the country, they will not stop, because they do not appear to believe in this idea of an inclusive, expansive democracy.”According to organizers, the event raised $2 million for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and its affiliates, one of which has filed and supported litigation in several states over GOP-drawn districts. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Eric Holder, who served as Obama’s attorney general and heads up the group, also appeared.The former president’s comments come as Texas lawmakers return to Austin this week, renewing a heated debate over a new congressional map creating five new potential GOP seats. The plan is the result of prodding by President Donald Trump, eager to stave off a midterm defeat that would deprive his party of control of the House of Representatives. Texas Democratic lawmakers delayed a vote for 15 days by leaving the state in protest, depriving the House of enough members to do business.Spurred on by the Texas situation, Democratic governors, including Newsom, have pondered ways to possibly strengthen their party’s position by way of redrawing U.S. House district lines, five years out from the Census count that typically leads into such procedures.In California — where voters in 2010 gave the power to draw congressional maps to an independent commission, with the goal of making the process less partisan — Democrats have unveiled a proposal that could give that state’s dominant political party an additional five U.S. House seats in a bid to win the fight for control of Congress next year. If approved by voters in November, the blueprint could nearly erase Republican House members in the nation’s most populous state, with Democrats intending to win the party 48 of its 52 U.S. House seats, up from 43.A hearing over that measure devolved into a shouting match Tuesday as a Republican lawmaker clashed with Democrats, and a committee voted along party lines to advance the new congressional map. California Democrats do not need any Republican votes to move ahead, and legislators are expected to approve a proposed congressional map and declare a Nov. 4 special election by Thursday to get required voter approval.Newsom and Democratic leaders say they’ll ask voters to approve their new maps only for the next few elections, returning map-drawing power to the commission following the 2030 census — and only if a Republican state moves forward with new maps. Obama applauded that temporary timeline.”And we’re going to do it in a temporary basis because we’re keeping our eye on where we want to be long term,” Obama said, referencing Newsom’s take on the California plan. “I think that approach is a smart, measured approach, designed to address a very particular problem in a very particular moment in time.”___Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAPSee more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

    Former President Barack Obama has waded into states’ efforts at rare mid-decade redistricting efforts, saying he agrees with California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s response to alter his state’s congressional maps, in the wake of Texas redistricting efforts promoted by President Donald Trump aimed at shoring up Republicans’ position in next year’s elections.

    “I believe that Gov. Newsom’s approach is a responsible approach. He said this is going to be responsible. We’re not going to try to completely maximize it,” Obama said at a Tuesday fundraiser on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, according to excerpts obtained by The Associated Press. “We’re only going to do it if and when Texas and/or other Republican states begin to pull these maneuvers. Otherwise, this doesn’t go into effect.”

    While noting that “political gerrymandering” is not his “preference,” Obama said that, if Democrats “don’t respond effectively, then this White House and Republican-controlled state governments all across the country, they will not stop, because they do not appear to believe in this idea of an inclusive, expansive democracy.”

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    According to organizers, the event raised $2 million for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and its affiliates, one of which has filed and supported litigation in several states over GOP-drawn districts. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Eric Holder, who served as Obama’s attorney general and heads up the group, also appeared.

    The former president’s comments come as Texas lawmakers return to Austin this week, renewing a heated debate over a new congressional map creating five new potential GOP seats. The plan is the result of prodding by President Donald Trump, eager to stave off a midterm defeat that would deprive his party of control of the House of Representatives. Texas Democratic lawmakers delayed a vote for 15 days by leaving the state in protest, depriving the House of enough members to do business.

    Spurred on by the Texas situation, Democratic governors, including Newsom, have pondered ways to possibly strengthen their party’s position by way of redrawing U.S. House district lines, five years out from the Census count that typically leads into such procedures.

    In California — where voters in 2010 gave the power to draw congressional maps to an independent commission, with the goal of making the process less partisan — Democrats have unveiled a proposal that could give that state’s dominant political party an additional five U.S. House seats in a bid to win the fight for control of Congress next year. If approved by voters in November, the blueprint could nearly erase Republican House members in the nation’s most populous state, with Democrats intending to win the party 48 of its 52 U.S. House seats, up from 43.

    A hearing over that measure devolved into a shouting match Tuesday as a Republican lawmaker clashed with Democrats, and a committee voted along party lines to advance the new congressional map. California Democrats do not need any Republican votes to move ahead, and legislators are expected to approve a proposed congressional map and declare a Nov. 4 special election by Thursday to get required voter approval.

    Newsom and Democratic leaders say they’ll ask voters to approve their new maps only for the next few elections, returning map-drawing power to the commission following the 2030 census — and only if a Republican state moves forward with new maps. Obama applauded that temporary timeline.

    “And we’re going to do it in a temporary basis because we’re keeping our eye on where we want to be long term,” Obama said, referencing Newsom’s take on the California plan. “I think that approach is a smart, measured approach, designed to address a very particular problem in a very particular moment in time.”

    ___

    Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Contributor: Trump’s Russia and Ukraine summits show he can push for peace

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    By hosting an unprecedented short-notice summit with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and key European leaders on Monday, President Trump significantly raised the prospects for ending Russia’s three-and-a-half-year-long war against Ukraine. The vibe at the opening was affable and positive. The participants genuinely looked determined to work out compromises that only a few weeks ago appeared illusory. It was a good sign for long-term Euro-Atlantic security cooperation in the face of challenges that, in Trump’s words, we have not faced since World War II. Toward the end, Trump’s call to Moscow brought a follow-up U.S.-Ukraine-Russia summit within reach.

    But the rising expectations also reveal formidable obstacles on the path to peace. As the world’s leaders were heading to Washington, Putin’s forces unleashed 182 infantry assaults, 152 massive glide bombs, more than 5,100 artillery rounds and 5,000 kamikaze drones on Ukraine’s defenses and 140 long-range drones and four Iskander ballistic missiles on Ukraine’s cities. The attacks claimed at least 10 civilian lives, including a small child. This is how Russia attacks Ukraine daily, signaling disrespect for Trump’s diplomacy.

    The Monday summit also revealed that Putin’s ostensible concession at the Alaska summit to agree to international security guarantees for Ukraine is a poisoned chalice. On the surface, it seemed like a breakthrough toward compromise. The White House summit participants jumped on it and put the guarantees at the center of discussions.

    And yet there has been no agreement, and the world has more questions than answers. How could the Ukrainian armed forces be strengthened to deter Russia? Who would pay? How could Russia be prevented from rebuilding its Black Sea Fleet and blocking Ukrainian grain exports? What troop deployments would be needed? Who would put boots on the ground in Ukraine? What kind of guarantees should match what kind of territorial concessions?

    Such questions are fraught with complex debates. Between the U.S. and Europe. Within Europe. Within the Trump administration. Within Ukraine. And all of that even before having to negotiate the issue with the Kremlin. The net outcome of the past week’s diplomatic huddles will be Putin buying time for his aggression as Washington abstains from sanctions hoping for peace.

    Disingenuously, in exchange for this poisoned chalice of a concession, Putin demanded that Ukraine should cede not only lands currently under Russia’s illegal military occupation but also a large piece of the Donetsk province still under Kyiv’s control. That area is home to 300,000 people and is a major defense stronghold. Controlling it would give Russia a springboard to deeper attacks targeting big cities and threatening to bring Ukraine to its knees.

    Putin’s offer also threatens to tear apart Ukraine’s society. In my tracking poll with Ukraine’s Academy of Sciences Institute of Sociology completed in early August, close to half of 567 respondents want Ukraine to reassert control over all of its internationally recognized territories, including the Crimean peninsula illegally annexed in 2014. Only 20% would be content with freezing the conflict along the current front lines. The option of ceding territories to Russia still under Kyiv control is so outrageous that it was not included in the survey. Eighty percent of Ukrainians continue to have faith in Ukraine’s victory and to see democracy and free speech — core values Putin would take away — as vital for Ukraine’s future.

    Getting Ukrainian society right is important for Trump’s peace effort to succeed. Discounting Ukrainians’ commitment to freedom and independence has a lot to do with where we are now. Putin launched the all-out invasion in February 2022 expecting Ukrainians to embrace Russian rule. Then-President Biden assessed that Ukrainians would fold quickly and delayed major military assistance to Kyiv.

    Misjudging Ukrainians now would most likely result in a rejection of peace proposals and possibly a political crisis there, inviting more aggression from Moscow while empowering more dogged resistance to the invasion, with a long, bloody war grinding on.

    Thankfully, Trump has the capacity to keep the peace process on track. First, he can amplify two critically important messages he articulated at the Monday summit: U.S. willingness to back up Ukraine’s security guarantees and to continue to sell weapons to Ukraine if no peace deal is reached. Second, he can use his superb skills at strategic ambiguity and pivot back to threats of leveraging our submarine power and of imposing secondary sanctions on countries trading with Russia. Third, he can drop a hint he’d back up the Senate’s bipartisan Supporting Ukraine Act of 2025, which would provide military assistance to Ukraine over two years from confiscated Russian assets, the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal proceeds and investment in America’s military modernization.

    The Monday summit makes the urgency of these and similar moves glaringly clear.

    Mikhail Alexseev, a professor of international relations at San Diego State University, is the author of “Without Warning: Threat Assessment, Intelligence, and Global Struggle” and principal investigator of the multiyear “War, Democracy and Society” survey in Ukraine.

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    Ideas expressed in the piece

    • The recent summit between Trump, Zelenskyy, and European leaders represents a significant breakthrough that has substantially raised the prospects for ending Russia’s prolonged war against Ukraine. The author emphasizes that participants appeared genuinely determined to work out compromises that seemed impossible just weeks earlier, marking a positive development for Euro-Atlantic security cooperation in the face of challenges not seen since World War II.

    • Putin’s offer of international security guarantees for Ukraine constitutes a deceptive “poisoned chalice” that appears promising on the surface but creates more problems than solutions. The author argues that this ostensible concession has generated complex debates about military strengthening, funding, territorial deployments, and guarantee structures without providing clear answers, ultimately allowing Putin to buy time for continued aggression while Washington abstains from sanctions.

    • Putin’s territorial demands are fundamentally outrageous and threaten Ukraine’s social fabric, as the author notes that surveys show nearly half of Ukrainians want complete territorial restoration while only 20% would accept freezing current front lines. The author contends that ceding additional territories currently under Kyiv’s control would provide Russia with strategic springboards for deeper attacks and potentially bring Ukraine to its knees.

    • Trump possesses the strategic capacity to maintain momentum in the peace process through amplifying U.S. commitments to Ukraine’s security guarantees, utilizing strategic ambiguity regarding military threats, and supporting bipartisan legislation that would provide sustained military assistance through confiscated Russian assets and defense modernization investments.

    Different views on the topic

    • Trump’s approach to Putin diplomacy has been criticized as counterproductive, with concerns that his warm reception of the Russian leader constituted a major public relations victory for the Kremlin dictator that was particularly painful for Ukrainians to witness[1]. Critics argue that Trump’s treatment gave Putin undeserved legitimacy on the international stage during ongoing aggression.

    • Analysis suggests that Trump’s negotiation strategy fundamentally misunderstands Putin’s objectives, with observers noting that while Trump appears to view peace negotiations as a geopolitical real estate transaction, Putin is not merely fighting for Ukrainian land but for Ukraine itself[1]. This perspective challenges the assumption that territorial concessions could satisfy Russian ambitions.

    • Military and diplomatic experts advocate for increased pressure on Russia rather than accommodation, arguing that Russian rejection of NATO troop deployments in Ukraine and resistance to agreed policy steps demonstrates the need to make Putin’s war more costly through additional sanctions on the Russian economy and advanced weapons supplies to Ukraine[1]. These voices contend that Putin’s opposition to current proposals underscores the necessity of making continued warfare harder for Russia to sustain.

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    Mikhail Alexseev

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  • To counter Texas, California lawmakers take up plan to redraw congressional districts

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    SACRAMENTO — California Democrats on Monday kicked off the process to redraw the state’s congressional districts, an extraordinary action they said was necessary to neutralize efforts by President Trump and Texas Republicans to increase the number of GOP lawmakers in Congress.

    If approved by state lawmakers this week, Californians will vote on the ballot measure, labeled Proposition 50, in a special election in November.

    At a news conference unveiling the legislation, Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) said they agreed with Gov. Gavin Newsom that California must respond to Trump’s efforts to “rig” the 2026 midterms by working to reduced by half the number of Republicans in the state’s 52-member congressional delegation.

    They said doing so is essential to stymieing the president’s far-right agenda.

    “I want to make one thing very clear, I’m not happy to be here. We didn’t choose this fight. We don’t want this fight,” said Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park). “But with our democracy on the line, we cannot run away from this fight, and when the dust settles on election day, we will win.”

    Republicans accused Democrats of trying to subvert the will of the voters, who passed independent redistricting 15 years ago, for their own partisan goals.

    “The citizens seized back control of the power from the politicians in 2010,” said Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego), flanked by GOP legislators and signs in the Capitol rotunda that said, “Rigged map” and “Defend fair elections.”

    “Let me be very clear,” DeMaio said. “Gavin Newsom and other politicians have been lying in wait, with emphasis on lying … to seize back control.”

    After Trump urged Texas to redraw its congressional districts to add five new GOP members to Congress, Newsom and California Democrats began calling to temporarily reconfigure the current congressional district boundaries, which were drawn by the voter-approved independent redistricting commission in 2021.

    Other states are also now considering redrawing their congressional districts, escalating the political battle over control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressional districts are typically reconfigured once every decade after the U.S. census.

    Newsom, other Democratic lawmakers and labor leaders launched a campaign supporting the redrawing of California’s congressional districts on Thursday, and proposed maps were sent to state legislative leaders on Friday.

    The measures that lawmakers will take up this week would:

    • Give Californians the power to amend the state Constitution and approve new maps, drawn by Democrats, that would be in place for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 congressional elections, if any GOP-led states approve their own maps.
    • Provide funding for the November special election.
    • Return the state to a voter-approved independent redistricting commission to redraw congressional districts after the 2030 census.

    Whereas Texas and several other GOP-led states are considering an unusual mid-decade redistricting to keep the Republican Party’s hold on Congress, Ohio is an anomaly. If its congressional districts are not approved on a bipartisan basis, they are valid for only two general elections and can then be redrawn.

    McGuire said California would go forward if Ohio does.

    “The state of Ohio has made it clear that they are wanting to be able to proceed. They’re one of the few states in the United States of America that actually allow for … mid-decade redistricting,” he said. “We firmly believe that they should cool it, pull back, because if they do, so will California.”

    Republicans responded by calling for a federal investigation into the California Democratic redistricting plan, and vowed to file multiple lawsuits in state and federal court, including two this week.

    “We’re going to litigate this every step of the way, but we believe that this will also be rejected at the ballot box, in the court of public opinion,” DeMaio said.

    He also called for a 10-year ban on holding elected office for state legislators who vote in support of calling the special election, although he did not say how he would try to do that.

    McGuire dismissed the criticism and threats of legal action, saying the Republicans were more concerned about political self-preservation than the will of California voters or the rule of law.

    “California Republicans are now clutching their pearls because of self-interest. Not one California Republican spoke up in the Legislature, in the House, when Texas made the decision to be able to eliminate five historically Black and brown congressional districts. Not one,” he said. “What I would say: Spend more time on the problem. The problem is Donald Trump.”

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    Seema Mehta, Laura J. Nelson

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  • Trump expands L.A. military tactics by sending National Guard to Washington, D.C.

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    WASHINGTON — In an expansion of tactics started in June during immigration raids in Los Angeles, President Trump on Monday announced he would take federal control of Washington’s police department and activate 800 National Guard troops in the nation’s capital to help “reestablish law and order.”

    “Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people,” Trump said at the White House.

    “This is liberation day in D.C.,” he declared.

    Trump, who sent roughly 5,000 Marines and National Guard troops to L.A. in June in a move that was opposed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, issued an executive order declaring a public safety emergency in D.C. The order invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act that places the Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control.

    The California governor decried Trump’s move in D.C., warning that what happened in L.A. was now taking place across the country.

    “He was just getting warmed up in Los Angeles,” Newsom said on X. “He will gaslight his way into militarizing any city he wants in America. This is what dictators do.”

    In his briefing, Trump painted D.C. in dark, apocalyptic terms as a grimy hellhole “of crime, bloodshed, bedlam, squalor and worse.” He said he planned to get tough, citing his administration’s stringent enforcement on the nation’s southern border.

    Already, Trump said, his administration has begun to remove homeless people from encampments across the city, and he said he planned to target undocumented immigrants, too. He vowed to “restore the city back to the gleaming capital that everybody wants it to be.”

    As the White House noted in a fact sheet Monday, D.C. had a 2024 homicide rate of 27 per 100,000 residents, the nation’s fourth-highest homicide rate. By comparison, Los Angeles’ homicide rate is 7.1 per 100,000 residents.

    But data also show violent crime has declined significantly in D.C. in recent years.

    Just a few weeks before Trump took office, the Justice Department announced that violent crime in the city was at a 30-year low. Homicides were down 32%, robberies down 39% and armed carjackings down 53% when compared with 2023 levels, according to data collected by the Metropolitan Police Department.

    In a press conference Monday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser called Trump’s deployment of troops “unsettling and unprecedented.” But she also tried to strike a conciliatory tone with the president, acknowledging he was operating within the letter of the law in her district.

    “We’re not a state. We don’t control the D.C. National Guard,” she told reporters. “… Limited home rule gives the federal government the ability to intrude on our autonomy in many ways.”

    Bowser suggested the president was misinformed about crime in the district, advancing the idea that his views of D.C. were largely shaped by his COVID-era experience.

    “It is true that those were more challenging times,” Bowser told reporters. “It is also true that we experienced a crime spike post-COVID. But we worked quickly to put laws in place and tactics that got violent offenders off our streets and gave our police officers more tools, which is why we have seen a huge decrease in crime.”

    Accountability for gun-related crimes in the district remains an issue of concern, Bowser said, again offering an olive branch to Trump. But she noted that crime in the capital is down to pre-pandemic levels and that violent crime statistics are at 30-year lows.

    Brian Schwalb, the elected attorney general of the District of Columbia, said in a statement that “there is no crime emergency” in D.C. and the administration’s deployment of troops was “unprecedented, unnecessary and unlawful.”

    His office refuted the claims of Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, who said juveniles, or as she put it, “young punks,” were too often granted probation or other lenient sentences

    In D.C., the U.S. attorney’s office handles all adult felonies and the majority of adult misdemeanors, while Schwalb’s office exercises jurisdiction over crimes committed by juveniles and some adult misdemeanors.

    Since Schwalb took office in January 2023, the office has prosecuted so many juveniles at higher rates that the mayor has had to issue an emergency order creating more space at juvenile detention facilities, according to his office. Last year, the office prosecuted over 90% of homicide and attempted homicide cases, 88% of violent assault cases and 87% of carjacking cases, according to the statement.

    Ken Lang, a veteran of the Baltimore Police Department and an expert on law enforcement, said that Trump’s actions in D.C. could be an effort “to model a new national law enforcement strategy by having federal, state and local agencies better partner together.”

    But because it is a federal district and not a state, he said, D.C. occupies a “unique legal position” under the Home Rule Act.

    Oklahoma Mayor David Holt, who is also president of the United States Conference of Mayors, condemned Trump’s move as a “takeover,” and said “local control is always best.”

    Holt noted that the Trump administration’s data — specifically, the FBI’s national crime rate report released last week — shows crime rates dropping in cities across the nation.

    Trump said the deployment of troops in D.C. should serve as a warning to cities across the nation — including Los Angeles.

    “Hopefully L.A.’s watching,” Trump said as he berated Bass and Newsom for their handling of the firestorm that swept through the region in January, destroying thousands of homes.

    “The mayor’s incompetent and so is Gov. Newscum,” Trump said. “He’s got a good line of bull—, but that’s about it.”

    Trump’s announcement that he was deploying troops to D.C. comes more than two months after he sparked a major legal battle with California when he sent thousands of troops to Los Angeles. He argued they were necessary to combat what he described as “violent, insurrectionist mobs” as protests broke out in the city against federal immigration raids.

    But the protests calmed relatively quickly and local officials said they were primarily kept in check by police. The National Guard troops and Marines wound up sparsely deployed in Los Angeles, with some protecting federal buildings and some assisting federal agents as they conducted immigration enforcement operations. Military officials said the troops were restricted to security and crowd control and had no law enforcement authority.

    Trump’s deployment of troops to D.C. immediately found its way into the pitched court battle in California over whether his administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars federalized military from civilian law enforcement.

    As top U.S. military officials testified before Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in federal court in San Francisco on Monday, California lawyers quickly maneuvered to get Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s statement into evidence, hoping to bolster their argument that the government had not only knowingly violated the law, but was likely to do so again.

    “That’s one of the tests for injunctive relief, right?” Breyer said. “Present conduct may be relevant on that issue.”

    In June, Breyer ruled that Trump broke the law when he mobilized thousands of California National Guard members against the state’s wishes.

    In a 36-page decision, Breyer wrote that Trump’s actions “were illegal — both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

    But the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals paused that court order, allowing the troops to remain in Los Angeles while the case plays out in federal court. The appellate court found the president had broad, though not “unreviewable,” authority to deploy the military in American cities.

    That decision is set to be reviewed by a larger “en banc” panel of the appellate court. Meanwhile, California continues to fight what it says are illegal uses of the military for civilian law enforcement in Judge Breyer’s court in San Francisco.

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    Jenny Jarvie, Michael Wilner, Sonja Sharp

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