Why is the U.S. military in L.A.?
The use of military force on domestic soil in the U.S. is rare, and it is usually reserved only for the most extreme situations. In deploying 4,000 members of the National Guard and 700 Marines in response to protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles, President Trump is pushing his powers to the limit.
California officials asked a court yesterday for an emergency order that would restrict the deployment of the Marines and Guard troops in Los Angeles to protecting federal property. “Trump is turning the U.S. military against American citizens,” California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, wrote on social media. “The courts must immediately block these illegal actions.”
Trump defended his response, saying: “If we didn’t get involved, right now Los Angeles would be burning.” We have live updates.
I asked my colleague Helene Cooper, who covers the Pentagon, about the troop deployments. “While National Guard troops often deploy to help local authorities contend with wildfires, national disasters or even protests, it is usually done in conjunction with governors,” she said. “As with many other things in this administration, President Trump is pushing the boundaries of the law.”
Active duty forces are barred from domestic law enforcement, unless the president invokes the Insurrection Act, which allows for the use of federal troops on U.S. soil. “It is hard to see how the Los Angeles protests, which are scattered and not really affecting life in the city in a widespread way, can be seen as an insurrection,” Helene said.
My colleague Jesus Jiménez, who is reporting on the ground in L.A., said the protests were not widespread. “They aren’t happening across all of L.A. They aren’t even happening across all of downtown L.A.,” he said. “They’re happening in a pocket of downtown, mostly around federal buildings.”
Watch my colleague Livia Albeck-Ripka describe the “pretty intense, instant pain” she felt when she was hit by crowd-control munitions fired by officers.
A school shooting in Austria was among Europe’s worst
A former student at a high school in Austria opened fire on the campus yesterday, killing at least 10 people before apparently killing himself. The attack in Graz, Austria’s second-largest city, was among the worst European school shootings in years.
State police said the gunman was a 21-year-old, carrying a pistol and long gun that had been legally purchased. He killed seven women and three men, and was found dead in a school bathroom.
The killings shocked Austria. Chancellor Christian Stocker declared three days of national mourning.
In France, a teaching assistant died after being stabbed several times during a bag search at a middle school. Police arrested a 14-year-old student.
Abbas said Hamas must exit Gaza
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, called for Hamas to “hand over its weapons,” free all hostages and cease ruling Gaza, in a letter to the French presidency.
The letter was delivered ahead of a U.N. conference in New York next week to explore the creation of a Palestinian state. President Emmanuel Macron of France has set a number of conditions for French recognition of such a state, including the disarmament of Hamas.
Other Middle East news:
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Lydia Wood is on a mission to draw every pub in London. So far, she has completed about 300 — meaning she has about 2,500 left.
The drawings have given Wood a front seat to fears about the future of the city’s pubs, which face skyrocketing rents, noise complaints and other pressures. Some wonder whether her project is an ode, an archive or a requiem.
Lives lived: Valmik Thapar, a conservationist and leading activist in efforts to save tigers in India, died. He was 72 or 73.
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The travel writer’s dilemma
The moment a travel writer shares a “hidden treasure,” it becomes a lot less hidden and less of a treasure.
Pico Iyer has grappled with this travel writer’s paradox for decades, particularly in the Japanese city of Kyoto, where he has been based for 37 years and which has recently become packed with tourists. Long lines form outside a gyoza joint that used to be the haunt of locals. Now, those same locals can’t get into the place that has been their second home for decades, Iyer writes.
But “the abiding hope of travel is that beauty is resilient,” he adds. Iyer recaptured Kyoto’s beauty by walking the deserted streets early in the morning: “I felt myself wandering alone through a Hiroshige print.” Read more of Iyer’s article.
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