PHILADELPHIA — Outraged critics accused President Trump of “whitewashing history” on Friday after the National Park Service removed an exhibit on slavery at Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park in response to his executive order “restoring truth and sanity to American history” at the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks.
Empty bolt holes and shadows are all that remains on the brick walls where explanatory panels were displayed at the President’s House Site, where George and Martha Washington lived with the people they owned as property when Philadelphia was the nation’s capital. One woman cried silently at their absence. Someone left a bouquet of flowers. A hand-lettered sign said “Slavery was real.”
Workers on Thursday removed the exhibit, which included biographical details about the nine people enslaved by the Washingtons at the presidential mansion. Just their names — Austin, Paris, Hercules, Christopher Sheels, Richmond, Giles, Oney Judge, Moll and Joe — remain engraved into a cement wall.
Seeking to stop the display’s permanent removal, the city of Philadelphia on Thursday sued Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron.
“Let me affirm, for the residents of the city of Philadelphia, that there is a cooperative agreement between the city and the federal government that dates back to 2006,” Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said during a press conference Friday. “That agreement requires parties to meet and confer if there are to be any changes made to an exhibit.”
Slavery is central to the site’s story, Philadelphia’s lawsuit argues: The people enslaved at the mansion included Oney Judge, who famously ran away and remained free despite Washington’s attempts to return her to bondage.
The panels came down because Trump’s order requires federal agencies to review interpretive materials to “ensure accuracy, honesty, and alignment with shared national values,” an Interior Department statement said. It called the city’s lawsuit frivolous, aimed at “demeaning our brave Founding Fathers who set the brilliant road map for the greatest country in the world.”
The department did not answer questions about what will replace the exhibits that were removed.
Critics condemned the removals as confirmation the Trump administration seeks to erase unflattering aspects of American history.
“Their shameful desecration of this exhibit raises broader, disturbing questions about this administration’s continued abuse of power and commitment to whitewashing history,” said Rep. Dwight Evans, a Democrat whose district includes the city.
“America’s history, as painful as some chapters are, isn’t disparaged by telling the whole truth. Trying to whitewash American history, however, disparages who we are. This is yet another egregious example of revisionist history that will be reviled for generations,” said Philadelphia state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta.
Taking pride in American independence shouldn’t mean hiding its mistakes, said Ed Stierli, a regional director for the National Parks Conservation Assn. Historic sites should help Americans grapple with our difficult truths and historical contradictions, he said. Removing the exhibit insults the memory of the enslaved people who lived there, reverses years of collaborative work and “sets a dangerous precedent of prioritizing nostalgia over the truth,” Stierli said.
“It shows that the United States is still unwilling to reckon with the horrors of its past and would rather prefer to sanitize the history that it has and try to present a convenient lie,” said Timothy Welbeck, director of the Center for Anti-Racism at Temple University.
As the Trump administration prepares to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary, it has focused on a more positive telling of the American story and put pressure on federal institutions including the Smithsonian to tell a version of history less focused on race.
The executive order Trump signed in March accused the Biden administration of advancing a “corrosive ideology.”
“At Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — where our Nation declared that all men are created equal — the prior administration sponsored training by an organization that advocates dismantling ‘Western foundations’ and ‘interrogating institutional racism’ and pressured National Historical Park rangers that their racial identity should dictate how they convey history to visiting Americans because America is purportedly racist,” the order states.
Vejpongsa and Brewer write for the Associated Press. Brewer reported from Norman, Okla. AP writer Dorany Pineda contributed to this report from Los Angeles.
Did you learn it in school, read it in a newspaper? Did you get your information on social media or though chatter with friends?
Even in an age of misinformation and disinformation — which we really need to start clearly calling propaganda — we continue to rely on old ways of knowing. We take it for granted that if we really need to get to the truth, there’s a way to do it, even if it means cracking the pages of one of those ancient conveyors of wisdom, a book.
But we are entering an era in America when knowledge is about to be hard to come by. It would be easy to shrug off this escalation of the war on truth as just more Trump nonsense, but it is much more than that. Authoritarians take power in the short term by fear and maybe force. In the long term, they rely on ignorance — an erasure of knowledge to leave people believing that there was ever anything different than what is.
This is how our kids, future generations, come to be controlled. They simply don’t know what was, and therefore are at a great disadvantage in imagining what could be.
The original photo shows Armstrong in handcuffs being led away by a federal officer with his face blurred out. Armstrong is composed and steady in this image. A veteran of social justice movements and a trained attorney, she appears as one might expect, her expression troubled but calm.
In the photo released by the White House, Armstrong is sobbing, her mouth hanging open in despair. In what is clearly nothing more than overt racism, it appears her skin has been darkened. Her braided hair, neatly styled in the original picture, is disheveled in the Trump image.
On the left, a photograph from the X (formerly Twitter) account of U.S. Secretary Kristi Noem, showing Nekima Levy Armstrong being arrested. On the right, the photo has been altered before being posted to the White House’s X (formerly Twitter) account.
(@Sec_Noem via X/@WhiteHouse via X)
A strong, composed resister is turned into a weeping, weak failure.
“YET AGAIN to the people who feel the need to reflexively defend perpetrators of heinous crimes in our country I share with you this message: Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue. Thank you for your attention to this matter,”
The same week, the Trump administration began ripping down exhibits at the President’s House in Philadelphia that told the story of the nine Black people held in bondage there by George Washington. I’ve been to that exhibit and had planned to take my kids this summer to learn about Joe Richardson, Christopher Sheels, Austin, Hercules, Giles, Moll, Oney Judge, Paris and Richmond.
They are names that barely made it into American history. Many have never heard of them. Now, this administration is attempting to erase them.
How do you know what you know? I learned most of what I knew about these folks from that signage, which is probably in a dump somewhere by now.
The information we once took for granted on government websites such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is gone. Climate change information; LGBTQ+ information; even agricultural information. Gone (though courts have ordered some restored).
The Smithsonian is undergoing an ideological review.
And now, our government is telling us it will alter in real time images of dissenters to create its own narrative, demand we believe not our own eyes, our own knowledge, but the narrative they create.
He was speaking specifically about an incident in his town in which a corrections officer recruit was detained by ICE this week. In video taken by a bystander, about five agents pull the man from his car as he drives home after work. They then leave the car running in the street as they take him away.
Joyce told reporters the man had a clean background check before being hired, had no criminal record, and was working legally in the country. The sheriff has no idea where the man is being held.
Joyce’s sentiment, that what we are being told isn’t what’s happening, applies to nearly everything we are seeing with our own eyes.
A woman shot through her temple, through the side window of her car? You don’t understand what you are seeing. It was justified, our vice president has told us, without even the need for an investigation.
Goodbye Renee Good. They are attempting in real time to erase her reality and instead morph her into a domestic terrorist committing “heinous” crimes, and maybe even worse.
“You have a small band of very far left people who are doing everything they can … to try to make ICE out to be the ultimate enemy, and engage in this weird, small-scale civil war,” Vice President JD Vance said this week.
Protesting turned into civil war.
Next up, artificial intelligence is getting into the erasure game. Scientists are warning that those who wish to destroy truth will soon unleash AI-run operations in which thousands if not millions of social media posts will offer up whatever alternative reality those in control of it wish. Under the pressure of that avalanche of lies, many will believe.
The message the White House is sending with Armstrong’s photo is that they control the truth, they decide what it is.
Our job is to fight for truth, know it when we see it, and demand it not be erased.
NUUK, Greenland — One year ago, days before Donald Trump reclaimed power, the head of Denmark’s People’s Party took a trip to Mar-a-Lago. Morten Messerschmidt thought he and Trump shared a common view on the perils of European integration. Together, he told local media at the time, they could make the West great again.
In Europe, just as in the United States, Messerschmidt thought it was “nationale suverænitet” — national sovereignty — that had over centuries given countries large and small the tools to build their culture, traditions and institutions. Those were the values that conservative movements across the European continent are fighting to protect.
But Messerschmidt now finds himself on the defensive. The far-right politician is suddenly distancing himself from an American president who, off and on over the last year, has made aggressive plays to annex Greenland, targeting Danish borders that have existed for roughly 300 years.
Trump pulled back from military threats against the island this week. “It’s total access — there’s no end,” he said in an interview on Thursday with Fox Business. Asked whether he still intended on acquiring the island, Trump replied, “It’s possible. Anything is possible.”
Despite Trump’s fixation on Greenland since his first term, he declined to meet with Messerschmidt at Mar-a-Lago last January. Instead, the Danish politician found himself discussing the matter with Marla Maples, the president’s ex-wife.
“Portraying me as someone who serves a cause other than Denmark, and who would sympathize with threats to our kingdom, is unhealthy,” Messerschmidt wrote on Facebook this weekend. “It is slander.”
The Danish People’s Party is one of many far-right groups across Europe, which aligned with Trump’s MAGA movement in their fervent opposition to immigration and related issues, suddenly in rebellion against an administration it once thought of as an ideological ally.
The president’s moves are now compelling them to reconcile their alliance with Trump with a core tenet on the political right, that nationalism is largely defined by people and place over historic stretches of time — or as Trump often said on the campaign trail, “without a border, you don’t have a country.”
“Donald Trump has violated a fundamental campaign promise — namely, not to interfere in other countries,” Alice Weidel, co-leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany Party, or AfD, said in Berlin. Her colleague added: “It is clear that Wild West methods must be rejected.”
The rupture could jeopardize the Trump administration’s own stated goals for a future Europe that is more conservative and aligned with the Republican Party — a plan that relied on boosting the very same parties now questioning their ties to the president.
In its national security strategy, published in November, the White House said it would “cultivate resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations,” hoping to restore “Europe’s civilizational self-confidence and Western identity.”
And it is not clear whether the president’s decision to walk back his most aggressive threats is enough to contain the diplomatic damage. “The process of getting to this agreement has clearly damaged trust amongst allies,” Rishi Sunak, former prime minister of the United Kingdom and leader of its Conservative Party, told Bloomberg on Thursday.
Trump’s pressure campaign urging Ukraine to accept borders redrawn by a revanchist Russia had already strained relations between his inner circle and Europe’s far-right movements. But several prominent right-wing leaders say his aggressive posture toward Greenland amounted to a bridge too far.
On Wednesday in Switzerland, addressing growing concerns over the plan, Trump still left threats lingering in the air, warning European leaders that he would “remember” if they blocked a U.S. takeover.
“Friends can disagree in private, and that’s fine — that’s part of life, part of politics,” Nigel Farage, leader of the far-right Reform UK party in Britain, told House Speaker Mike Johnson in London earlier this week. “But to have a U.S. president threatening tariffs unless we agree that he can take over Greenland by some means, without it seeming to even get the consent of the people of Greenland — I mean, this is a very hostile act.”
In France, the head of Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, National Rally, said the United States had presented Europe “with a choice: Accept dependency disguised as partnership or act as sovereign powers capable of defending our interests.”
With overseas territories across the Pacific, Caribbean and Indian oceans, France has the second-largest maritime exclusive economic zone in the world after the United States. If Trump can seize Greenland by force, what is stopping him, or any other great power, from conquering France’s islands?
“When a U.S. president threatens a European territory while using trade pressure, it is not dialogue — it is coercion. And our credibility is at stake,” said the party’s young leader, Jordan Bardella.
“Greenland has become a strategic pivot in a world returning to imperial logic,” he added. “Yielding today would set a dangerous precedent.”
Spring in Southern California has a certain rhythm: Dodgers fans return to Chavez Ravine, the jacarandas start to bloom, and L.A.’s mayor gives a speech — usually a long one — about how the city is doing.
Mayor Karen Bass, running for a second term in the June 2 election, is shaking up that routine, by delivering two different State of the City addresses nearly three months apart.
Bass said the first State of the City address, scheduled for Feb. 2, will serve as a countdown to the 2026 World Cup, which will feature eight matches at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium later this year. That speech is aimed at unifying the city, honoring its “people, neighborhoods and cultures,” according to an invitation that went out this week.
“It’s a day to really celebrate our city,” Bass said in an interview. “I mean, last year was very, very tough, and now we’re ready to get things together to welcome the world.”
The Feb. 2 address, planned at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, will spell out the city’s efforts to ensure that everyone in L.A., not just the buyers of expensive World Cup tickets, will have a chance to participate in the global soccer event, Bass said.
The second speech, planned for mid-April, will be more of a traditional State of the City address, focusing heavily on the mayor’s spending priorities and the release of her budget on April 20.
L.A. mayors usually deliver the State of the City address during the third week in April, using them to list their accomplishments and highlight new policy initiatives. In recent decades, they have been staged in the ornate City Council chamber, outside Griffith Park Observatory and even at an electric truck factory in Harbor City.
The speech planned by Bass for Feb. 2 falls on the first day that L.A. mayoral candidates are allowed to file paperwork with the City Clerk declaring their intention to run for that office.
Bass, who launched her campaign in December, is expected to face several challengers, including former schools Supt. Austin Beutner, community organizer Rae Huang and reality television star Spencer Pratt.
Beutner and Huang had no comment on the upcoming speeches. But Pratt questioned whether Bass is using the extra city speech to bolster her campaign.
“It’s no surprise that Karen Bass is using her position as the incumbent mayor to promote her re-election,” Pratt said in a statement, “but two state of the city speeches does seem excessive given that each event will cost taxpayers resources which could better serve the community elsewhere.”
Bass pushed back on that idea, saying the extra speech is not connected to her campaign, which already had its public kickoff.
“Every press conference — anything I do right now — could easily be attached to that, and it’s not true,” she said.
In recent weeks, Bass stayed mostly behind the scenes as the city marked the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 7, 2025, Palisades fire, which destroyed thousands of homes and left 12 people dead. Although she did attend some events marking the anniversary, those were not part of her public schedule.
As an incumbent, Bass will always have the advantage of her City Hall bully pulpit, said Fernando Guerra, political science professor at Loyola Marymount University.
“People will say she’s using her position, and the speech, to get more attention and publicity,” he said. “That’s her job, to be out there. She should be talking to the city.”
Sure, President Trump’s erratic foreign policy has alienated allies, shredded the U.S.-led rules-based global order, nudged Canada closer to China and turned NATO into something resembling your uncle’s Facebook page after someone brings up politics.
Other than that? Everything’s terrific.
Just kidding. It might be even worse than we think.
The problem isn’t just that we’re losing friends, it’s that we’re creating potential enemies. And not just the kind who boo the national anthem at sporting events, but the kind who someday might decide that America is the villain in their personal origin story, right before the montage where ominous music starts playing.
If this sounds abstract or alarmist, it’s worth noting that it has already happened.
Osama bin Laden — who was once, awkwardly, sort of an informal ally against the Soviets — was radicalized largely by the Gulf War and the stationing of American troops in Saudi Arabia.
This is notable because the Gulf War — unlike the subsequent Iraq War — had international approval, a clear mission and an exit strategy. By war standards, it was practically a model U.N. bake sale. And yet it still produced consequences that reshaped America’s future, resulting in 9/11 and a couple of not-so-tidy wars.
There’s another uncomfortable part people tend to forget: the timing. The Gulf War ended in 1991. Sept. 11, 2001, happened 10 years later. The shoe did not drop immediately. It sat there. Quietly. Waiting.
The lesson is not just that military interventions can cause backlash, but that even the ones we conduct “by the book” can still leave people angry years later. Which brings us to the present.
Trump has claimed there is a “framework of a deal” with NATO in regard to Greenland, which — if it holds — is good news because you should never underestimate people who can ski and shoot at the same time.
During a recent visit to Greenland, U.S. lawmakers reportedly encountered “a level of anti-Americanism that stunned and depressed them.” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) warned this could lead to “retaliatory measures” against the U.S., which probably means boycotts. Or harsh looks. Or maybe more.
Now, if the idea of U.S. troops getting bogged down in the snow outside of Nuuk sounds ridiculous — or if the idea of radicalizing stoic Danes seems too fanciful — keep in mind that Greenland is merely one of the fights we’ve decided to pick.
We could just as easily be creating enemies much closer to home — or even at home.
Some may be natural-born U.S. citizens swept up in a fiery politics of permanent resistance. Others may be Somali Americans in Minnesota whose families are mistreated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or the relatives of a Cuban immigrant whose death at an El Paso detention facility was ruled a homicide, or a hypothetical Venezuelan kid whose father was killed in the operation to exfiltrate Nicolas Maduro.
These are not people who will submit formal complaints. These are people who will hold grudges.
This doesn’t mean America should curl up into a ball and never do anything again. But it probably means we should pause before assuming that today’s rhetorical flex or tough-guy sound bite magically disappears once the news cycle moves on.
Because if even the best-laid plans (like the Gulf War) evoke backlash, imagine dealing with the fallout from policies that are impulsive, performative and seemingly designed to irritate as many people as possible.
Just put yourself in the other guy’s shoes.
How would Americans react if another country kidnapped a political leader from our capital, or even threatened to invade the United States?
There would be outrage, the emergency return of Lee Greenwood and “freedom fries.” And that would be before things get all “kinetic.”
This is not how you win hearts and minds. This is how you manufacture righteous indignation and anger.
In this regard, it doesn’t matter if Trump decides to walk down from his provocative rhetoric; much of the damage is already done.
Rhetoric that treats other nations as roughly equivalent to hotel properties is not free of charge. It sends a message that trust is optional and sovereignty is revocable. Sooner or later, someone is going to decide that the United States is less a partner than a recurring antagonist in their national storyline.
Here in the real world, you don’t have to go looking for trouble — and you sure as heck don’t have to go in search of monsters to destroy.
Some of the most dangerous threats have a way of finding you.
Some films linger in our minds because of their sharp plots, quotable one-liners and unforgettable characters. Others stay with us because of the music.
That distinction was unmistakable at a recent screening of Forest Whitaker’s 1995 romantic dramedy “Waiting to Exhale” as part of a Cult Classics Cinema event at Inglewood’s Miracle Theater. As the film played, roughly 80 attendees swayed their bodies and sang along to songs from the Grammy-winning soundtrack, including “Sittin’ Up in my Room” by Brandy, Mary J. Blige’s “Not Gon’ Cry,” and Toni Braxton’s “Let It Flow.”
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When Whitney Houston’s title track, “Exhale (Shoop Shoop),” played during a scene in which her character, Savannah, reconnects with a man with whom she’s been having an on-and-off again affair, the audience crooned the lyrics in unison like a choir: “Everyone falls in love sometime / Sometimes it’s wrong, and sometimes it’s right.”
“It’s really a time capsule of ‘90s R&B,” says attendee Deonna Tillman, 33, of Miracle Mile, who listened to the Babyface-produced album during her drive to the event as a way to prepare herself for the screening. “It also has our greats on there, Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin. … It’s iconic.”
Each month Cult Classics Cinema screens a movie event, hosted by Diamora Hunt, then theatergoers can attend a casual listening party, where the film soundtrack is played from start to finish.
Part movie screening, part listening party, Cult Classics Cinema is an event series that celebrates beloved Black films and the music that helps bring them to life. Each month, founder Diamora Hunt, who also goes by DJ Rosegawd, screens a movie — titles have included “The Wiz,” “The Wood,” “Set It Off” and “Love Jones” — and then invites attendees to stick around for a more casual listening party, where the soundtrack is played from start to finish. The recent screening of “Waiting to Exhale,” the film adaptation of Terry McMillian’s 1992 novel starring Houston, Angela Bassett, Lela Rochon and Loretta Devine, celebrated the film’s 30th anniversary.
In Los Angeles, where screenings happen just about every night of the week at venues like Quentin Tarantino’s Vista Theater and the New Beverly, and the TCL Chinese Theatre as well as at special events like Rooftop Cinema and Cinespia, Cult Classics Cinema stands out because of its communal atmosphere that gives people the space to not only geek out on films and their soundtracks, but also commemorate Black stories.
“I want it to feel like when I’m in the living room with my friends,” says Hunt, 36, adding that its become a ritual for her to watch music videos from the soundtrack after finishing a movie. “I feel like they go hand in hand in world building.”
For Hunt, who’s been DJing for nearly a decade, everything always comes back to the music.
As a lover of film soundtracks, Cult Classics Cinema founder Diamora Hunt (a.k.a. DJ Rosegawd) wanted to create an experience where people could enjoy the film and the music.
During the COVID lockdown, she spent her only day off from her insurance and call center jobs doing hourslong live DJ sets on Twitch from her bedroom. Each Saturday, she would pick a different artist, primarily female performers, and run through their entire discography and share interesting facts about them. Among the artists she spotlighted were Missy Elliott, Britney Spears, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey and Drake.
In 2022, Hunt began hosting Club Renaissance, a dance party where she’d play Beyoncé’s seminal “Renaissance” album in order from top to bottom at various venues in L.A. The function immediately took off, and she had to upgrade to a larger venue to accommodate a 1,200-person crowd. At one party, Grammy-winning rapper Doechii performed “Heated” with her DJ Miss Milan. Also, Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, posted about the event on Instagram, saying that Jay Z sent her a recap video.
After hosting the event for several months in L.A. and taking it to New York, Hunt wondered whether she could do the same thing with other beloved albums. To test out that theory, she debuted the Cult Classics party under her event company Ladera Hearts in February 2023. The first album she highlighted was Brandy’s third studio album, “Full Moon,” on the night of a full moon at the Blind Barber in Highland Park.
She kept it up, throwing dedication nights in honor of Usher’s “Confessions,” Janet Jackson’s “The Velvet Rope,” 50 Cent’s “Get Rich or Die Tryin,’ ” “One in a Million” by Aaliyah and Mariah Carey’s “The Emancipation of Mimi.” After seeing a lively fan recap video from the party, Carey commented “invite me next time” with two kissy face emojis.
Hunt says she thinks people were receptive to the party, even if they weren’t familiar with the album, because you are “surrounded by people who love it and they’re going to tell you why they love it.” She adds, “It helps people connect with [the music] in a different way.”
She wondered whether she could create that same feeling with her favorite movies and their soundtracks.
Hunt hosted the first Cult Classics Cinema event in November 2024 and screened the 1992 film “Boomerang” starring Eddie Murphy, Halle Berry, Chris Rock and Robin Givens at a local bar. During the function, she shared trivia about the soundtrack such as the fact that Toni Braxton’s song “Love Shoulda Brought You Home” was her introduction into the music industry.
Singer Tyger Lily and producer Knoqlist debuted a trailer for their “Waiting to Exhale”-inspired music video at the Miracle Theater.
Since January 2025, she’s been hosting her movie nights at the Miracle Theater in Inglewood. Just days before Thanksgiving, Hunt showed “Soul Food” and invited stars Vivica A. Fox, Brandon Hammond and Morgan Méchelle to participate in a panel discussion hosted by Randy C. Bonds. Afterward, attendees were welcomed to attend a family-style dinner with the cast members.
At the recent “Waiting to Exhale” screening, patrons walked down a red carpet to get to the theater entrance. After picking a customized button that depicted popular scenes from the movie, many guests grabbed a themed cocktail (named after the four main characters) and a snack (popcorn, empanadas or box candy) at the bar. As people waited to order, they could read fun facts about the film and soundtrack.
During the film, attendees laughed out loud, shouted at the characters on the screen as if they could hear them (“Don’t do it!”) and recited their lines back to them (“Get yo s— and get out!”).
As someone who attends movie screenings regularly, Tillman says it’s hard to find ones dedicated Black storytellers, which is why she appreciates Cult Classics Cinema.
“I feel like we have a lot of Black cinephiles in L.A., but we don’t have a lot of access to watch our classics,” says Tillman, adding that many of these films aren’t available on streaming platforms — “which is really frustrating.”
Felisha Fowlkes, 34, has attended multiple Cult Classics Cinema events solo. “When you hear these songs, you’re thinking about the scenes in the movie,” she says. “You’re thinking about what happened emotionally and I feel like [the music] allows you to really sit in that place.”
When the two-hour movie ended, one attendee won the big raffle prize, which included “Waiting to Exhale” on DVD — and a DVD player to play it.
“Waiting to Exhale” attendees react during a screening. “I want it to feel like when I’m in the living room with my friends,” says Cult Classics Cinema founder and host Diamora Hunt.
As the music video for Houston’s “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” played on the big screen with the song lyrics running along the bottom, Hunt moved the mic to the center of the stage in case anyone felt called to sing.
No one took her up on the offer. Who would want to compete with a powerful songstress like Houston? Still, the energy in the room remained high as the crowd sang, bobbed their heads and grooved to the music from the comfort of their plush seats.
It felt, just as Hunt envisioned, like being in a living room with all your friends.
Cult Classics Cinema will screen “Boomerang” on Saturday, “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate” on Feb. 15 and “B.A.P.S.” on March 14 at the Miracle Theater in Inglewood. Tickets start at $15 (not including taxes and fees).
Ethan Hawke has been nominated for an Oscar for lead actor for his role in “Blue Moon,” directed by Richard Linklater from a screenplay by Robert Kaplow. In the film, Hawke plays lyricist Lorenz Hart, who wrote the sharp, witty words to such standards as “My Funny Valentine” and “Blue Moon.”
The drama captures one night with Hart near the end of his life as he waits at Sardi’s for his former songwriting partner Richard Rogers (played by Andrew Scott) to arrive for a party celebrating the premiere of “Oklahoma!” By turns funny and self-pitying, full of regrets, disappointments and thwarted ambitions, Hart is portrayed by Hawke as a man who has often been his own biggest obstacle and is coming to realize his time has passed him by.
Hawke had been previously Oscar-nominated for supporting actor in 2001’s “Training Day” and 2014’s “Boyhood” — and for co-writing “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight.” He has been acting professionally since he was a teenager, with an extensive list of credits that includes “Dead Poets Society,” “Reality Bites,” “Gattaca,” “Hamlet,” “Before the Devil Knows You‘re Dead,” “First Reformed” and many more.
Speaking on the phone during the morning of the Oscar nominations from his home in Brooklyn, the 55-year-old Hawke showed no signs of slowing down, as he was heading to Park City, Utah, the next day for the Sundance Film Festival. His new project, “The Weight,” starring Hawke and produced by his wife Ryan Hawke, would be premiering there and Hawke would also be speaking at a tribute to Robert Redford.
“It is true that this last year is one of the hardest working years of my life,” said Hawke. “I went from ‘Blue Moon’ straight to ‘The Lowdown’ straight to ‘The Weight.’ Somehow figured ‘Black Phone 2’ in there. I worked my ass off the last year. Ask my kids; they’re not happy about it.”
You recently did an interview where you said you thought you were maybe doing too many interviews. So I guess I apologize in advance.
Ethan Hawke: It’s just funny, the amount of energy it takes to kind of penetrate the zeitgeist today is a lot more than it used to be. I hate to sound like an old man, but it used to be you go on “Letterman” and everybody knew about your movie. And now it’s like, wow. It’s just a lot different.
Congratulations on your nomination today. Were you watching the announcements? How did you find out?
Hawke: I don’t do that to myself. I found out because my wife woke me up and told me. I let myself try to sleep in so that I could try to avoid the stress.
This is your fifth Oscar nomination, but the first for best actor. What does that mean to you?
Hawke: Embarrassingly enough, it means a lot. I’ve dedicated my life to this profession and our culture places a high value on that. And it means a lot to me. Frankly, I don’t think I would’ve thought when I did “Training Day” that it would take me so long to get there. It’s been a long road.
Margaret Qualley and Ethan Hawke in the movie “Blue Moon.”
(Sabrina Lantos / Sony Pictures Classics)
It’s such a great year for movies and you talk with such passion and conviction — almost as an ambassador of movies — about how important they are to you. You seem like you’re like cheerleading for everybody else as much as promoting your own work.
Hawke: I feel that way, sincerely. I appreciate you saying that because I do think that’s kind of the job of these award shows and things. We are ambassadors for our profession. Everybody knows that competition and the arts — it’s a game and a lot of great things go unnoticed in their time. And time is the great curator, of course. But movies need a boost and it’s part of our job to create substantive, meaningful entertainment for people to have serious conversations and interesting things to think about and talk about and push the consciousness forward. And so I feel really proud of all these movies that were nominated and tons of them that weren’t, that are all doing their job.
The fact that this nomination comes from a film you’ve made with Richard Linklater, who you’ve worked so closely with over the years — does that make it even more special?
Hawke: I couldn’t articulate that clear enough. It feels so wonderful to get this for a movie that was made so organically and rose up through not through the prism of business, but through the prism of friendship. Robert Kaplow is a brilliant screenwriter and Rick’s his friend, and we’ve been talking about this for a decade. And that’s the way all of the projects that I’ve done with Rick have happened, is they kind of are born out of friendship. And so to get to ring the bell with a film that really feels so connected to my life is particularly meaningful.
What does that relationship with Richard mean to you?
Hawke: Words fail. I think that friendship is the substance of our life. When friendships or love affairs or collaborations happen the right way, they’re kind of effortless. And your life is richer because of them, not your work. Your life, your character is improved. I always like to tell my kids, you spend your life with your friends, so your friends are your life, so choose them wisely. They really shape you. And I’ve been really lucky to have a great friend who happens to be one of the definitive filmmakers of our era.
And I don’t take that lightly. Think about it, Rick has two — I know he doesn’t care, so it kind of makes it even more funny — but he had two of the best movies made this year [“Blue Moon” and “Nouvelle Vague”]. And he doesn’t win any prizes but it’s kind of a testament to what’s special about his filmmaking is that he disappears and lets the project appear and he doesn’t put his signature all over it. I was fortunate enough to work with Sidney Lumet and they’re reminiscent of each other in a way. They’re just completely dedicated to the work. And it’s wonderful to have a partner like that.
What did you connect to about the character of Lorenz Hart?
Hawke: It’s deeper than just the character. It has to do with what the film’s kind of about. My love of the theater and my love of the people who dedicate their life to creativity and the kind of highs and lows of that life, and the silliness and stupidity of that life, and the moments of elegiac grace. I love what the film is about. It’s kind of a howl into the night of an artist being left behind. And indifference is kind of the feeling most of us in this profession feel most of the time, obviously not today, but most of our lives are met with absolute indifference.
And it also had the good fortune of the way Rick works. He’s so patient — we worked on it and dreamed about it for 10 years. And we knew it was fragile. We knew it was delicate. We knew the bull’s-eye was extremely small. It’d be an easy movie to make badly. So it was entirely execution-dependent. And that’s the fun of Rick is he loves to think about it.
You shaved your head for this. Were you confident it was going to grow back?
Hawke: No. At my age you’re like, “Wait a second, is this just a giant mistake?” But we knew we had to get the look right. So we were all in.
You just seem like you’re in such an incredible position right now in your career, you’re making projects like “Blue Moon” and “The Black Phone” movies, you’re doing TV work, you can direct your own projects like “Wildcat” or “The Last Movie Stars,” about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. How do you see where you are right now?
Hawke: It feels really good because I have a lot more I want to do. I’ve started to feel like one lifetime’s not enough for this profession and that there keeps being so much to learn. I get more excited about the possibilities of how storytelling can impact our culture and what the responsibilities are with that and how much fun I’ve had. I’ve really had a ball — my whole career I’ve gotten to do things the way that I wanted to do them.
And it’s kind of thrilling for me to watch Stellan [Skarsgård] this year and like get inspired. I mean, he’s a proper grown-up and he’s humble and so gifted and had such an amazing career. And it makes me really excited about the future. I’ve always had these huge actors I’ve admired, Christopher Plummer, Jason Robards, people who’ve learned how to grow up and be an adult in this profession. That’s what I’m trying to do. So I feel like that’s the moment you’re finding me in.
Because it seems at this point that you’re always working. Do you ever think about just taking a break?
Hawke: I’ve been always working since ’89. The thing is, I just love it. My wife and I have this little production company and we both just love to work and make things and try to sneak things into the atmosphere that might not exist otherwise. And it’s how you define work, right? Most of the time it’s not work for me. I loved making “Blue Moon.” When I’m on a set with Richard Linklater, I am exactly where I want to be. My relationship with my work is one where I wouldn’t want to take a year off because I wouldn’t know what to do.
I’ve noticed a lot of people, when they talk about you, they say they used to find you annoying — who does that guy think he is, writing a novel or directing a movie? — but that they’ve come to really respect and admire you for the fact that you try to do so many different things and you’ve really kept at it. How do you feel about it when you hear people talk about you in that way?
Hawke: I think they’re right too. It’s a general suspicion and if you can’t withstand that suspicion, then you should stop. Like you have to pass through that if you’re serious and you have to be willing to be criticized, to be made fun of. It’s a small luxury tax for getting to do it. You really want to be doing it because you want to offer something. And so if you’re offering it, then people can do with it whatever they want. They can throw it away. They don’t have to take it.
I think some of the stuff that was happening to me when I was younger, facing that attitude was really actually good for me. I mean, I hated it. We all want to be liked and understood and for people to understand our intentions and know that our aim is true and we’re coming from a good place. All of us crave that. But you just can’t give it too much credit. And you’ve just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
With her nomination for the cinematography of “Sinners,” Autumn Durald Arkapaw becomes the first woman of color — and only the fourth woman ever — to be recognized in the category. The recipient of a record-setting 16 nominations, Ryan Coogler’s vampire film set in the 1930s was advanced in every category for which it was eligible. Arkapaw previously collaborated with Coogler on 2022’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
Arkapaw got on the phone on Thursday morning from her home in Altadena — thankfully spared from last year’s fires — that she shares with her husband, Adam Arkapaw, also a cinematographer.
“It’s nice to have an understanding of what each other does because it’s a hard job and making films isn’t easy,” said Durald Arkapaw of having two cinematographers under one roof. “But we also have a family, so usually when I’m working, he’s watching our son and vice versa. So it’s kind of a team effort. But there is an understanding. I wouldn’t say we talk about it all the time because it gets exhausting. You get enough of that when you’re at work.”
Autumn Durald Arkapaw, photographed in Los Angeles in November.
(Bexx Francois / For The Times)
What do these historic firsts mean to you?
Autumn Durald Arkapaw: I’m trying to take a moment to kind of let it sink in. I’m just so honored every time I get to stand next to Ryan and make a film with him, because what I think he does and says is very unique. And we’re always doing something for the first time and with a very unique group of people. Like having all heads of departments be women of color and these are women that inspire me every day. I think now to be a part of that because [production designer] Hannah [Beachler] and [costume designer] Ruth [E. Carter] have also been able to do some work that’s been recognized. Now being a part of that group, I feel very honored, especially for a film like this. That it’s for this film, means a lot to me.
What is it about this film in particular that makes it even more special?
Arkapaw: I think for myself and most of the team members, we have a lot of history and culture rooted in this story. My family’s from New Orleans. My father was born there, my great-grandmother was born in Mississippi. So when I read the story, it felt very close to home. And I think that allows you to be able to pour yourself into it. And there’s a lot of meaning in it and you want to make your ancestors proud. This film has so much love that was poured into it on set and I think it really connected with a lot of people. And I think that’s how you do really great films. You pour as much as you can of yourself into it.
The film was such a success when it came out earlier this year. What is it that you think audiences were responding to?
Arkapaw: I’m an operator so I love to have my eyepiece to the camera and Ryan sits right next to me. So a lot of the stuff that we photographed, I was there in the moment. It was very felt. And I always said, “If I don’t feel it, then I don’t feel the audience can.” So I’m very much someone who shoots from the heart and wants to make sure that emotion is being conveyed. Ryan is the same way. There was a lot of that going on on set, where there were moments where you felt like you actually weren’t making a movie. Things were unfolding in front of you in a very unique way. Like it felt like a real space at times. That matters. If you feel that way on set, it is, it does feel communicated all the way up until the audience sees it in this dark room. And then they don’t feel like they’re watching a movie anymore. And it’s nice when that translates. It doesn’t always happen. And with this film it did, on an insane level.
Michael B. Jordan as Smoke and Stack in the movie “Sinners.”
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
When did you and Ryan start talking about shooting in 65-millimeter Imax?
Arkapaw: He had envisioned it to be 16-millimeter. So originally, I made some lenses with Panavision that I shot “The Last Showgirl” with before this. And so I was kind of testing those in hopes that it would be something we would use. And then the studio called Ryan and said, “Have you guys thought about large format?” And he called me immediately after and he was like, “Let’s talk about it.” And we got a bunch of different formats together and when you’re talking about large format in a film context, it means 65-[millimeter]. So we tested all these different formats. And obviously we fell in love with the [Imax formats] 15-perf and the 5-perf. And putting them together for the first time was unique. That was fun to do because we tested it and then we kind of put an edit together and looked at it as a team and it all felt very right. So it’s nice to do something historic like that and have it work and have the audience enjoy that big shift of ratios.
Just from a workflow aspect, what was it like having to adjust to these new technologies?
Arkapaw: I always feel like with Ryan, he always gives me a big challenge. He likes to think big and outside the box. We did that on “Wakanda Forever.” We shot a bunch of our scenes underwater with actors, for real. And in this film, there were a lot of different sequences, moving the Imax camera around in the studio, treating it like it wasn’t necessarily a large-format film, but shooting like we would if it was a smaller camera and being true to how we like to move the camera. It’s a lot of logistics involved. You have to have an amazing team. My team personally is fantastic and they did a great job. Focus-pulling is not easy on a film like this.
So it was a challenge. But I think because everyone’s so inspired by Ryan, he’s a great leader on set and everyone really likes him, so they want to do a good job for him. I see that every time we do a film, I have the same crew that I use. It’s like a family. And they respect him. So when you give us a challenge, we really want to make sure that we do it well so that it’s a good experience for the moviegoers. Because he’s always reminding us on set about that: “Big movie, big movie.” We’re making a movie for the theaters.
When the movie was coming out, people really liked that the explainer video that Ryan made about all the different formats. How did you feel about that video and that, for something that felt so technical and nerdy, it got really popular.
Arkapaw: I remember the moment that he brought it up, we were at the Playa Vista Imax headquarters and we had just done a screening to look at the prints. And he was like, “I want to talk to you guys.” And so myself and Zinzi [Coogler], our producer, and our post-producer Tina Anderson, we went and talked for a second and Ryan said, “I want to shoot a video that explains all the formats so that people can understand what we did and what it means and all that stuff.” And his eyes lit up and I thought it was such a cool idea. Fast-forward to it coming out and everyone really embracing it because it was so thoughtful. It was really cool.
If you see it in Dolby, it’s special, but if you go see it this way, it’s even more special because the screen opens up. So I think putting that in the hands of audiences is very thoughtful. And that’s how Ryan is. He wants them to have this information because when he was a kid and going to theaters, we all felt that same way, where that one night you walked to the theater or you drove and you waited an hour to see it and it was a whole experience. And so I think that’s why it went viral because people wanted to be a part of that.
Do you have a preferred format?
Arkapaw: My preferred format is the origination format, because I’m framing the movie for Imax 1.43:1 and then also with the 2.76:1 Ultra Panavision format. So my best way of seeing the film would be the Imax 70mm full-frame print. And obviously, there are only about 40 theaters in the world that project that. I don’t think we had it in all 40, maybe we only had 11, I think, across the world. But I was very much telling everyone that if you can get a ticket, please go see it in the 70-[millimeter] projection of Imax, full-frame. It’s so beautiful.
WASHINGTON — Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by the Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal of longstanding guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches.
The memo authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides with 4th Amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities.
The shift comes as the Trump administration dramatically expands immigration arrests nationwide, deploying thousands of officers under a mass deportation campaign that is already reshaping enforcement tactics in cities such as Minneapolis.
For years, immigrant advocates, legal aid groups and local governments have urged people not to open their doors to immigration agents unless they are shown a warrant signed by a judge. That guidance is rooted in Supreme Court rulings that generally prohibit law enforcement from entering a home without judicial approval. The ICE directive directly undercuts that advice at a time when arrests are accelerating under the administration’s immigration crackdown.
The memo itself has not been widely shared within the agency, according to a whistleblower complaint, but its contents have been used to train new ICE officers who are being deployed into cities and towns to implement the president’s immigration crackdown. New ICE hires and those still in training are being told to follow the memo’s guidance instead of written training materials that actually contradict the memo, according to the whistleblower disclosure.
It is unclear how broadly the directive has been applied in immigration enforcement operations. The Associated Press witnessed ICE officers ramming through the front door of the home of a Liberian man, Garrison Gibson, with a deportation order from 2023 in Minneapolis on Jan. 11, wearing heavy tactical gear and with their rifles drawn.
Documents reviewed by the AP revealed that the agents only had an administrative warrant — meaning there was no judge who authorized the raid on private property.
The change is almost certain to meet legal challenges and stiff criticism from advocacy groups and immigrant-friendly state and local governments that have spent years successfully urging people not to open their doors unless ICE shows them a warrant signed by a judge.
The Associated Press obtained the memo and whistleblower complaint from an official in Congress, who shared it on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive documents. The AP verified the authenticity of the accounts in the complaint.
The memo, signed by the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, and dated May 12, 2025, says: “Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of the General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose.”
The memo does not detail how that determination was made nor what its legal repercussions might be.
Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement to the AP that everyone the department serves with an administrative warrant has already had “full due process and a final order of removal.”
She said the officers issuing those warrants have also found probable cause for the person’s arrest. She said the Supreme Court and Congress have “recognized the propriety of administrative warrants in cases of immigration enforcement,” without elaborating. McLaughlin did not respond to questions about whether ICE officers entered a person’s home since the memo was issued, relying solely on an administrative warrant and if so, how often.
Recent arrests shine a light on tactics
Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit legal organization that assists workers exposing wrongdoings, said in the whistleblower complaint obtained by the Associated Press that it represents two anonymous U.S. government officials “disclosing a secretive — and seemingly unconstitutional — policy directive.”
A wave of recent high-profile arrests, many unfolding at private homes and businesses and captured on video, has placed a spotlight on immigration arrest tactics, including officers’ use of proper warrants.
Most immigration arrests are carried out under administrative warrants, internal documents issued by immigration authorities that authorize the arrest of a specific individual but do not permit officers to forcibly enter private homes or other non-public spaces without consent. Only warrants signed by judges carry that authority.
All law enforcement operations — including those conducted by ICE and Customs and Border Protection — are governed by the 4th Amendment of the Constitution, which protects all people in the country from unreasonable searches and seizures.
People can legally refuse federal immigration agents entry into private property if the agents only have an administrative warrant, with some limited exceptions.
Memo shown to ‘select’ officials
The memo says ICE officers can forcibly enter homes and arrest immigrants using just a signed administrative warrant known as an I-205 if they have a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge, the Board of Immigration Appeals or a district judge or magistrate judge.
The memo says officers must first knock on the door and share who they are and why they’re at the residence. They’re limited in the hours they can go into the home — after 6 a.m. and before 10 p.m. The people inside must be given a “reasonable chance to act lawfully.” But if that doesn’t work, the memo says, they can use force to go in.
“Should the alien refuse admittance, ICE officers and agents should use only a necessary and reasonable amount of force to enter the alien’s residence, following proper notification of the officer or agent’s authority and intent to enter,” the memo reads.
The memo is addressed to all ICE personnel. But it has been shown only to “select DHS officials” who then shared it with some employees who were told to read it and return it, Whistleblower Aid wrote in the disclosure.
One of the two whistleblowers was allowed to view the memo only in the presence of a supervisor and then had to give it back. That person was not allowed to take notes. A whistleblower was able to access the document and lawfully disclose it to Congress, Whistleblower Aid said.
Although the memo was issued in May, David Kligerman, senior vice president and special counsel at Whistleblower Aid, said it took time for its clients to find a “safe and legal path to disclose it to lawmakers and the American people.”
People lie on the sidewalk or stand hunched over and motionless. Others lounge on spotty lawns near overflowing trash cans. Graffiti besmirch trees. Police and firefighter sirens wail in the distance.
So much to see, so much to consider in a place that has transformed into a Rorschach test for how some people see the challenges of Los Angeles. And what Hernandez initially wanted me to pay attention to were … faded red curbs.
“We redid all of them in this area,” the first-term council member proudly said. “And you’re probably thinking, like, ‘Girl, like, that does not look like it’s redone.’ But the amount of labor and resources that we had to put in to get this done, even if it’s not pretty anymore, that’s just a little tiny bit of the work you do around MacArthur Park.”
What I was thinking, in fact, was that I was quite underwhelmed by the faded red curbs as a signpost for progress.
For decades, dispatches from here — in mainstream and social media — have depicted an out-of-control park two steps away from “The Walking Dead.” The area is so nationally notorious that the Border Patrol chose it to stage an invasion here in July, complete with a literal cavalry of agents trotting down a soccer field where kids usually play while National Guard troops sat inside armored Humvees on Wilshire Boulevard.
It’s a shame, because MacArthur Park is the backyard for one of the densest neighborhoods in the United States, a modern-day Lower East Side of immigrants and their children. A succession of council members have worked for generations to keep these 35 acres free from troubles only to see it crash down on their political reputation.
The latest one is Hernandez, who’s running for a second term against a slew of opponents trying to hang MacArthur Park like an albatross around the neck of the 35-year-old politician.
Old-line liberals have blasted the democratic socialist for de-emphasizing a police presence in favor of volunteers and contract workers armed with little more than overdose kits, notepads and phone numbers. The New York Post, scheduled to launch a California edition next week, has printed at least seven anti-Hernandez stories since December, including one that described MacArthur Park as a “zombie drug den.”
She accepted my invite to take me around it for an hour and show what she has done to improve it, what still needs work and whether voters should judge her performance solely on this sliver of the 1st District, which goes from Pico-Union all the way to Glassell Park.
“MacArthur Park is experiencing” problems, Hernandez acknowledged shortly after we met at its community center on 6th Street. “Is it everything? Absolutely not. And it’s a shame. With that hyperfocus, you throw that neighborhood away instead of seeing its potential and value.”
Los Angeles City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, center, talks with homelessness outreach workers Katharine Murphy, left, and Karen Bracamonte at MacArthur Park on Jan. 15, 2026.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
MacArthur Park is L.A.’s Norma Desmond — a place long lionized as a former jewel supposedly ruined by waves of newcomers and apathetic politicians. Throughout my life, I’ve known the place as gritty on its best days. I saw the worst in February, when I walked to Langer’s after a visit to the Mexican Consulate and saw groups of people smoking God-knows-what while bored law enforcement officers stood around.
I repeatedly asked Hernandez what she was seeing as we strolled past scenes of human misery. Past fenced-off sections of Alvarado Street, where vendors once sold their wares. Near a soccer match where the players brought in their own goalposts because the city can’t provide any.
“I see a lot of people, see a lot of potential, a lot of green space, a lot of spaces to activate,” Hernandez said.
The scent of urine wafted around us.
“It’s beautiful for everybody to care so much about it.”
She then threw the same question back at me.
“I see beauty,” I responded. “I also see a lot of people that need help.”
I see progress.
Over her three years in office, $28 million has been spent on MacArthur Park through city, county, state, federal and private funds. People reliant on social media reels might think it all a waste.
But the more we walked, the more I was seeing — dare I say — a change for the better.
Near a statue of St. Oscar Romero, Karen Bracamonte and Katharine Murphy helped a man fold his clothes and place it in a laundry cart. They’re members of the city’s so-called Circle team, mental health professionals tasked with checking in on unhoused people.
“We cover a lot of ground, but, you know, we can’t get everything,” said Murphy, 40. She started at MacArthur Park last summer. “There was a bad batch of tranq last week, so we had to deal with that instead of helping people with regular stuff.”
Bracamonte has worked at MacArthur Park for three years. Her son is unhoused. “Some aspects are better,” the 54-year-old said. “Because there’s more teams out here that can assist. But is it really better? Because now where do we put people up? There’s not enough beds. There’s not enough food. There’s not enough everything.”
Across the corner from us was Langer’s, whose owner made national news in 2024 when he vowed to close his famed delicatessen if MacArthur Park didn’t improve. Workers power-washed the sidewalk as Hernandez and I ambled on. Nearby, people huddled around a car handing out groceries.
What about critics who say the self-described police abolitionist should work closer with law enforcement to clean up the park, I told her.
“The heaviest hands have been representing this area before me, and what did they have to show for it? Nothing,” she responded as we made our way down to the lake. Hernandez brought up “The Rent Collectors,” a 2024 book by former Times reporter Jesse Katz that covers the history of MacArthur Park through a gang murder.
“It’s easy to blame me for the dereliction of duty that has been going on here for many, many years before I came into office,” she continued. “And part of my time in City Hall is trying to get the city to do things differently because for so long, they’ve been doing things the same way and expecting different results. And what do we have? A crumbling city…This neighborhood, these people, they deserve nice things.”
We now by the edge of MacArthur Park’s lake, which Hernandez hopes to improve its water quality so people can use pedal boats on it for the first time in two decades. For a good three minutes, the scene around us looked like a slice of Irvine.
Hernandez walks past artwork painted on planters surrounding the lake at MacArthur Park.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Canada geese honked and waddled across stretches of grass where I saw condoms and broken glass pipes last year. Birds relaxed on the water. Senior citizens did their morning circuits. There wasn’t a single distressed person to see. It was still grimy, but MacArthur Park’s famed beauty was there, a beauty unmatched by newer parks — if only Hernandez and others could burnish it.
“See that playground?” Hernandez said, gesturing toward a jungle gym near Park View Street.
The one damaged by an arsonist in the fall of 2024 shortly after a multimillion-dollar refurbishment?
“We fought hard for that to be fixed ASAP, and now there’s a little bit of protection around it,” pointing at a small fence. She then looked at streetlights. “They’re solarized. We put them up late last year. It’s twofold. It gets us closer to our sustainability goals. And it also is far more resilient to copper wire theft.”
Hernandez plans more improvements for MacArthur Park and its surrounding streets. Trees. Spots for food vendors. Programming with local nonprofits beyond the Levitt Pavilion bandstand that hosts summer concerts. A $2.3-million fence proposed by the Los Angeles Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners last fall that would encircle it and which Hernandez supports because “the park does deserve what state historic park gets, which is to close down and refurbish.”
We crossed Wilshire Boulevard and ran into David Rodriguez and Diego Santana, who serve as so-called peace ambassadors, an Hernandez initiative that contracts nonprofits to help patrol the district. Both grew up in the neighborhood and have lived through MacArthur Park’s travails. Below us was the soccer field that the Border Patrol trampled over half a year ago.
“You see a lot of kids nowadays,” said Santana, 35. “And it wasn’t like that in recent years.”
Rodriguez waved toward a gated pathway. “There was a 5K run that it was opened for,” said the 42-year-old. “You didn’t see that before.”
“It’s much cleaner,” Santana added. “There’s still issues, but it’s getting better.”
Peace ambassadors Diego Santana, left, and David Rodriguez explain to Hernandez and Times columnist Gustavo Arellano, not pictured, how they believe the park has improved.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
A man named David approached us.
“You live around here?” Hernandez said.
“I’m homeless,” he responded.
“Do you need any help?”
“I need a job.”
Santana and Rodriguez walked away with him to take down his information and direct him to resources. Hernandez beamed.
“I think people and conservative media — and oftentimes even, you know, not conservative media — they paint MacArthur Park as if the sky is falling,” she said. “I hope people also see beyond the crises that this is a jewel. There’s so much life. But people shrink it down to problematic substances.”
We walked back to the community center but not before Hernandez stopped me from stepping on fresh dog poop as she said, “I’ve had to fight for every single penny and investment and resources that are in this neighborhood in my term. And I will continue to do so because they deserve it.”
An overdose team was checking in for the day. I asked the council member whether she was willing to stand by MacArthur Park under her watch as she campaigns for four more years.
“Every day with my whole chest, 10 toes down,” Hernandez replied. “And that’s why I keep coming back. I don’t run away from problems. I could have easily forgotten about MacArthur Park because, you know, that’s what traditionally has been done. But no, I ran to it.”
There’s still a long way to go, I thought — but Hernandez is getting there. She certainly seems to be trying, despite what her haters insist. The council member got in her SUV and drove off, but not before rolling down the window to shout out one more message:
“You can tell everyone that the sky isn’t falling here and we’re just getting started.”
Today Disneyland is so fully formed that it‘s taken for granted. We debate ticket prices and crowd calendars, strategizing the optimal time to visit.
The new documentary “Disneyland Handcrafted” hits pause on all of that.
Culled from about 200 hours of mostly unseen footage, director Leslie Iwerks’ film takes viewers back to the near beginning, tracing the largely impossible creation of the park from a year before its opening.
“Can you imagine L.A. without Disneyland?” Iwerks asks me during an interview.
To begin to answer that question cuts to the importance of “Disneyland Handcrafted,” which premieres Thursday on Disney+. For while Disneyland is corporately owned and managed, the park has become a cultural institution, a reflection of the stories and myths that have shaped America. Disneyland shifts with the times, but Iwerks’ film shows us the Walt Disney template, one that by the time the park opened on July 17, 1955, was so set in place that it would soon become a place of pilgrimage, a former Anaheim orange grove in which generations of people would visit as a rite of passage.
Walt Disney surveying the Anaheim land that would become Disneyland, as seen in Leslie Iwerks’ film “Disneyland Handcrafted.”
(Disney+)
Iwerks comes from a family of Disney royalty. Her grandfather, Ub, was a legendary animator instrumental in the development of Mickey Mouse. Her father, Don, was a cinematic and special effects wizard who worked on numerous Disney attractions, including the Michael Jackson-starring film “Captain EO.” As a documentarian, Iwerks has explored Disney before as the director of “The Imagineering Story” and has a long career of films that touch on not just Hollywood but also politics and environmental issues.
Here, Iwerks reveals just how fragile the creation of Disneyland was.
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1.A worker applies gold detailing to the ornate spires of Sleeping Beauty Castle, showcasing the elegance and precision that defined the centerpiece of Disneyland Park.2.A craftsperson applies paint to the stone facade of Sleeping Beauty Castle.3.A glimpse of Sleeping Beauty Castle under construction.(Disney+)
Having watched the film now numerous times, there are many small moments that stick with me. A worker, for instance, carefully sculpting the concrete on Sleeping Beauty Castle just months before opening while a narrator speaks of the park’s rising cost. A construction vehicle toppling, with its driver escaping a life-changing accident by jumping out just in the nick of time as Disney himself talks up how there have been very few accidents. And the mistakes, such as frantically learning — and failing — at how to build a river.
That Disneyland is as popular today as it was in 1955 — the film reveals that more than 900 million people have visited the park — is no accident. We live in stressful, divisive times, and Disneyland was not only born of such a moment but built for them, arriving in 1955 in a post-World War II America that was adjusting to more internalized, less-overtly-visible fears. The specter of nuclear annihilation was now forever a reality, and the Cold War heightened the sense of uncertainty.
A fake world inspired by a real one that never existed, don’t mistake Disneyland for nostalgia. Disneyland seeks to reorient, to show a better, more optimistic world that only exists if we continue to dream — to imagine a walkable street, for instance, in which a fairy tale castle sits at its end. Disneyland isn’t so much an escape from our world as it is a place where we go to make sense of it, a work of live theater where we, the guests, are on a stage and can play at idealized versions of ourselves.
“Why do we care? Why does it matter?” asks Iwerks. “I think what matters, for Disneyland, is that Walt set out to create the happiest place on Earth. Right there, putting that stake in the ground. That’s so impressive. That’s so risky. And yet he did it by sheer belief that he wanted families to come together and experience a place they could come back to time and again, a place that would continue to grow and always be evolving through cultures, through time, through generations.”
The front gates of Disneyland under construction.
(Disney+)
What makes the film so poignant is that Iwerks essentially gets out of the way. The footage was initially commissioned by Disney and shot for use in the company’s then weekly ABC series, which was funding the park. Some of the clips have appeared in episodes of “Walt Disney’s Disneyland,” but very few. For that show, Disney was selling the public on the park. With the public having long been sold, Iwerks can show us the park in shambles, a dirt path entering a wood-strewn Frontierland while Harper Goff, then Disneyland’s art director, speaks of a frustrated Disney lamenting that half the park’s money is gone and it remains nothing but a pile of muck.
“This is what worry is,” Goff says in the narration.
“What rose to the surface was how much pressure there was during this one year,” Iwerks says. “It was impossible. It was building what ultimately was a mini city in less than a year, pulling together all those construction workers, all those people who handcrafted this whole park in record time using their own skills, artistry and storytelling.”
Adds Iwerks, “You can’t remodel your kitchen right now in a year.”
Since the film is a light cinéma vérité style, Iwerks doesn’t editorialize as to how it all did get done. But we see workers, for instance, straddling beams in Tomorrowland with no support, making it clear this was an era with fewer regulations. Iwerks herself points to the ABC funding, acknowledging that the arrangement simply necessitated the park being completed in a year. But when it opened, it was far from finished. Disneyland’s struggles on opening day have long been mythologized, be it stories of weak asphalt or plumbing disasters.
A craftsperson works on the yellow decorative trim of King Arthur Carousel in Fantasyland.
(Disney+)
Iwekrs is more interested in showing us the race against time, especially for a park that deviated from the light theming and simple rides of amusement parks of the era. Throughout the film’s hour and a half running time, Iwerks is making the argument that Disneyland simply wasn’t practical. Two months before opening we see a concrete-less Main Street while we’re told of a debate as to whether Disneyland should delay its planned July date. The decision was made not to, as the park was running out of money and there was a fear any push would ultimately kill it.
And in some ways it’s a surprise we’re seeing any of this. Iwerks notes the film was completed years ago, but sat on the shelf. She credits Disney executive Jason Recher with pushing it through. “I showed him a link, and he said, ‘This has to be seen.’ It takes someone with a vision to see that this could get out there and be appreciated by audiences,” Iwerks says. “I was thinking this would never see the light of day.”
The end result is a film that will likely be cherished by Disney fans but also admired by anyone interested in the making of an American classic. One of the most striking moments in the film is that of the cars of the Disneyland Railroad being ferried on trucks past downtown’s City Hall, a reminder that Disneyland, no matter its influences, its stewards or its changes, is a Southern California original.
A “brujo,” a “magician,” “a social arsonist” and the “father of Chicano Theater” — these are just a few of the monikers that have been bestowed upon Luis Valdez over the course of his decades-long career. The 85-year-old filmmaker and playwright is responsible for “La Bamba” and “Zoot Suit,” films that raised a generation of Latinos and are now upheld as classics — both were inducted to the National Film Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress.
Valdez awakened a movement, bringing Chicanos from the California fields he grew up working in to stages and screens all over the world. His stories shifted the frame, placing us at the forefront of the American story, allowing us to see our dreams, anxieties and struggles reflected back at us. In David Alvarado’s upcoming documentary, “American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez,” it’s the celebrated storyteller’s turn to be on the other side of the lens.
The film traces Valdez’s beginnings as the son of migrant farmworkers in Delano, Calif., to his early days in theater helming El Teatro Campesino — a traveling performance troupe who worked alongside Cesar Chavez to mobilize farmworking communities, raising awareness about strikes and unions through skits and plays. Incorporating folk humor, satire and Mexican history, their work later evolved to include commentary on the Vietnam War, racism, inequality and Chicano culture more broadly.
Narrated by Edward James Olmos, who broke out as the enigmatic pachuco with killer style and a silver tongue in 1981’s “Zoot Suit,” the documentary was awarded the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film last year.
De Los spoke with Olmos and Alvarado ahead of the film’s world premiere on Thursday at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
David, what was your introduction to Luis’ work? And how did it influence you as a filmmaker?
David Alvarado: I grew up watching things like “La Bamba” with my dad, and it made a huge impression on me, but at the time, as a kid, I didn’t really know the name Luis Valdez. Then in 2006, I was an undergrad at the University of North Texas, and I got a Hispanic Scholarship Award. At the celebration, Luis gave a speech and I was just blown away. I was a young wannabe filmmaker trying to learn how to make movies, and somebody like me was up there onstage telling a story about how he got there. I felt really inspired and I always carried that with me. Then in 2021, I was at a juncture in my career where I had told these science and technology stories, and I loved it, but I wanted to do something more personal. I thought back to Luis Valdez. Where was his story? So I reached out to him and that’s where this all started.
Mr. Olmos, your breakthrough came from playing El Pachuco in “Zoot Suit,” first in the play and then the film. What was your first impression of the story?
Edward James Olmos: I remember I had been doing theater for years, and I was walking out of an audition for another play at the Mark Taper Forum when I heard someone say, “Hey, do you want to try out for a play?” And I said, “Excuse me?” And she said, “Well, do you or don’t you?” And I said, “OK, what do you want me to do?” I didn’t know who she was, or what the play was about, but the next day, I was standing there with 300 other guys getting handed a little piece of paper with the opening monologue [for “Zoot Suit.”] I knew from reading it that this was serious, really serious, so I just became the character immediately.
I remember when they called me and asked me to do the role, it was on a Friday night, around 8 o’clock, and they were going to start rehearsals on Monday morning. I hadn’t gotten any phone calls, so I thought [the part] was gone. Then all of a sudden, the phone rang and they asked me if I wanted the role of El Pachuco. I said it would be my honor, my privilege. I hung up the phone and I slid down the side of the wall crying. I just completely lost it.
DA: Eddie really stole the show. I mean, it’s just undeniable. What he brought [to the production] was exactly what Luis was looking for, and I think it’s what Chicanos wanted to see and hear at the time. He really struck a nerve, and that was a huge part of the success of “Zoot Suit.” What Luis tapped into with this collaboration with Eddie, with the Teatro Campesino, or later with “La Bamba,” that was his gift: finding people who could represent the true nature of what it means to be Chicano.
(Elizabeth Sunflower / Retro Photo Archive / Sundance Institute )
There’s so much incredible archival footage here from the Teatro Campesino. What was your reaction to seeing some of that early work?
EJO: That footage is priceless, and that’s one of the reasons this movie is really important, because Luis is truly someone that has given our culture a voice. He gave me my voice. When you want to learn about a culture, you try to study what’s been written about them, any documentation or books, but nothing compares to their art. Right now, I’m working on a piece with Luis called “Valley of the Heart,” a play that he wrote over the last 12 years. It’s a never-been-told love story between a Mexican American and a Japanese American in an internment camp during World War II. It’s been difficult to make, but once people see it, they’re going to be thankful because it doesn’t matter what culture you are, the humanity of it comes through. That’s how people will feel after seeing David’s documentary, too. It’s inspiring.
DA: I think people are ready for the real story of America. I mean, the documentary and “Valley of the Heart” are part of American history, they talk about a real American experience, and it’s not the kind that people hear anymore. People are thirsty for that kind of authenticity, and to re-evaluate what the American story really is.
One of the core themes within the documentary is how we as Chicanos view the American Dream: Can we achieve it by being ourselves, or do we have to assimilate? We see that identity struggle play out as Luis and his brother, Frank, take different approaches in their lives, and it’s later paralleled in the story of “La Bamba.”
DA: That’s such a core pillar of the film. We all want the American Dream, but what that dream is confusing to a lot of people. The quest to get there through assimilation is something that Chicanos, Latinos and other immigrants have tried at the expense of their own heritage and identity. They give it all up and lay it at the altar of the American Dream. They try to fit in, and be this other thing, and so often, that doesn’t work. In his own life, Luis’ answer to that was if America is supposed to be this multicultural beacon of democracy, then let’s have a space for Chicanos to play a role there. I’ll retain my culture and be an American.
He and his brother tried to make it together, but they weren’t taking the same approach. In Frank’s story, that caused him a lot of pain, and he never quite made it that way. Luis, in very important ways, did make it. The fact that his work speaks to those themes, and was part of his personal life, I couldn’t leave that on the editing room floor.
In the documentary, we see the triumph of “Zoot Suit” being the first Chicano production on Broadway, and then the crush of it being panned by critics who didn’t seem to get it. Mr. Olmos, you say that the reaction wasn’t a loss for you all, it was a loss for America. What did you mean by that?
EJO: Well, because it wasn’t going to be spread around the country and understood. To me, the theater is magic. When it really works, it’s amazing. But [those negative reviews] stopped us from that growth process. There was one critic from the New York Times, Richard Eder, who said it was street theater on the wrong street.
I have to tell you, though, the people who were given the opportunity to see that play in New York, even after the critics panned it, always gave us a cheering standing ovation at the end. They burned the house down every single night. Even in L.A., that play was monumental. But that criticism hurt Luis badly, it hurt us all. I think if we’d gone through Arizona, Texas, Chicago, Miami before hitting New York, we would’ve been a powerhouse that would still be running today. It’s one of those stories that deserves to be revived over and over again.
The story of “Zoot Suit” is set in the 1940s, during a time of intense scrutiny and discrimination for Mexican Americans. How did the story resonate in the 1980s, and what do you think it has to tell us now?
EJO: People came from all over the world to watch the play, but Latinos kept coming back. Some of them had never been to a theater before in their lives, and they were bringing in family, friends to come and see it every weekend. It was a beautiful experience, one that was like giving a glass of water to somebody in the middle of the desert. They cherished us for giving them the opportunity. Now, we’re needed more today than we were even then. Today’s time is uglier than almost any time.
DA: It’s ugly, and it’s crass. We’ve had so long to try to figure out racism and get the American experiment back on track, and yet it just feels so depressing. Like when is the cycle going to end? At the same time, I hope that there’s a little bit of optimism in the film that the community can come together, and that we can find a way through this.
The documentary does a great job of showcasing the power of art. The performances from the Teatro de Campesinos allowed the farmworkers to really see themselves in a way that helped build a movement and made for a successful collective action. What do you hope this documentary can teach a new generation of Latinos today?
DA: For me, it’s to understand who you are, and to do what it takes to make it work here in America. When Luis spoke to me from that lectern, the thing that really got me going was that he said, “Whatever it is that you’re trying to do, whatever your project is, just stop doubting yourself and do it.” I remember thinking, “Oh my God. Maybe I can be a filmmaker. Maybe I could tell stories for a living.” So I hope that that’s clear in the film: that if you believe in yourself, you can fit into America, you can make a place for yourself.
But also, know that creation is an act of joy, and that the whole point of life is to find happiness and share it with other people. Despite all the heavy things we’ve talked about so far, I do want to point out the film is a joyful one of exploration. Luis has his moments when the world pushes back on him so hard, and it’s painful, but he just has so much love to give, and that’s the point of making art. I want people to walk away thinking that they can do it too.
WASHINGTON — President Trump delivered a sharp critique of U.S. allies and rivals alike during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Wednesday, questioning Europe’s political direction, casting down on NATO’s reliability and reiterating his intent to push to acquire Greenland.
Speaking before an audience of global political and business leaders, Trump said European countries are “not headed in the right direction” in part because of what he described as bad immigration policies while asserting that the United States is a “great power” that needs to have outright ownership of Greenland in order to properly defend itself.
The remarks echoed his long-standing complaints that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has taken advantage of the United States, and questioned whether the allied countries would support the U.S. if the country needed them.
Here are some of Trump’s most notable remarks:
Renewing demands for Greenland: “It’s the United States alone that can protect this giant mass of land, this giant piece of ice, develop it and improve it and make it so that it’s good for Europe and safe for Europe and good for us. And that’s the reason I’m seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States. Just as we have acquired many other territories throughout our history.”
Military invasion ruled out: “We never asked for anything, and we never got anything, we probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force where we would be, frankly, unstoppable, but I won’t do that, OK? That’s probably the biggest statement I make because people thought I would use force. I don’t want to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.”
Outright ownership sought: “All we are asking for is to get Greenland, including right, title and ownership because you need the ownership to defend it. You can’t defend it on a lease. No. 1, legally it is not defensible that way, totally. And No. 2, psychologically.”
On European immigration: “Certain places in Europe are unrecognizable. Frankly, they are not recognizable. We could argue, but there’s no argument. Friends come back from different places — I don’t want to insult anybody — and they say, ‘I don’t recognize it.’ And that is not in a positive way. That’s in a very negative way. And I want to see Europe go good, but it’s not heading in the right direction.”
U.S. power: “The United States is keeping the whole world afloat. Without us, most of the countries don’t even work. And then you have the protection factor. Without our military — which is the greatest in the world by far — without our military, you’d have threats that you wouldn’t believe. You don’t have threats because of us and that’s because of NATO.”
On World War II impact: “After the war, which we won — we won it big. Without us, right now you’d all be speaking German and a little Japanese, perhaps.”
On NATO reliance: “The problem with NATO is that we’ll be there for them 100%. But I’m not sure that they’d be there for us if we gave them the call. … I’m not sure that they’d be there. I know we’d be there for them. I don’t know that they’d be there for us. With all the money we expend, with all of the blood, sweat and tears, I don’t know that they’d be there for us.”
Confusing Greenland for Iceland: “They are not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland has already cost us a lot of money.”
A nod to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (who was at the forum): “We’re going to help the people in California. We want to have no crime. I know Gavin was here. I used to get along so great with Gavin when I was president. Gavin is a good guy. And if you needed it, I would do it in a heartbeat. We did help them a lot in Los Angeles, a lot early in my term when they had some problems. But we would love to do it. I would say this, if I was a Democrat governor, I would call up Trump. I would say come on in, make us look good, because we are cutting crime down to nothing and we are taking people out — career criminals — who are only going to do bad things and we are bringing them back to their countries.”
My favorite thing in “The Beauty,” a body-horror procedural adventure from Ryan Murphy and Matthew Hodgson premiering Wednesday on FX and Hulu, is a Chad and Jeremy joke buried in a line of dialogue that will mean nothing to anyone who doesn’t know the ‘60s singing duo responsible for “Distant Shores” and “A Summer Song,” or remember their appearance as the Redcoats on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” I can almost feel the satisfaction, the inward chuckle that must have accompanied the writing of it. The rest of the series’ 11-episode first season I found somewhat less delightful — but then, delight is the last thing on its mind.
To begin. A supermodel (played by real-life supermodel Bella Hadid) goes berserk on a Paris runway, grabbing water bottles from spectators, draining the contents, throwing bodies around like … empty water bottles. Stealing a motorcycle, she rides recklessly through the streets of Paris as the Prodigy’s “Firestarter” thumps on the soundtrack until she’s knocked flying by a car. Pulling herself almost together, she enters a cafe, grabs and guzzles more water, causes even more grievous bodily harm, is shot, keeps going and, exiting to the street, is confronted by a phalanx of gendarmes with guns drawn. Then she explodes. Cue opening credits.
The show develops information slowly and out of chronological order, so if you’re averse to knowing even the basics of the premise, you may want to stop reading now — though I wouldn’t consider any of what follows a spoiler. At the center of the fun is a drug called the Beauty, which can transform the ugliest duckling into the loveliest swan but after a while develops the unfortunate side effect described above, making hotness literal. (This is why we have the FDA, people.) Even more unfortunate, in respect to global health, once a dose is administered — “One shot and you’re hot” is the series’ log line — it becomes a virus capable of being transmitted sexually, and, given how people are, you know how that’ll go.
This alarms the incomparably wealthy character behind the drug — whom press materials identify only as the Corporation (Ashton Kutcher, Hollywood hunk) in order to keep a secret — not because people might die, but because it threatens his plans to market the Beauty, which has crept out of his control and into the world. (It’s not a great business plan, anyway.) Indeed, his way of cleaning up problems is murder, to which end he employs a sinister figure called the Assassin (Anthony Ramos), though he will do the job himself if convenient. (Anthony will acquire an assistant assassin, Jeremy, played by Jeremy Pope.)
Ashton Kutcher as the Corporation, the wealthy character behind the Beauty.
(Eric Liebowitz / FX)
The case of the exploding supermodel brings into the picture a pair of Paris-based FBI agents, Cooper Madsen (Evan Peters) and Jordan Bennett (Rebecca Hall), and their dry Mulder and Scully banter and tailored-suits panache is my second-favorite thing about “The Beauty.” (Unlike Mulder and Scully, we don’t have to wait around for them to sleep together; we meet them in bed.) As beautiful people keep blowing up in beautiful places, they’ll chase the bug to Venice and Rome and New York, with famous sights highlighted to demonstrate that the production is not doubling locations in Prague or Vancouver. Like nearly everything else in this production and milieu, it smells of money (and vacations written into the budget, maybe), but it still might be my third-favorite thing about the series. That the agents speak French and Italian is a nice, elevating touch.
From “The Picture of Dorian Gray” to “The Substance,” and most every vampire movie ever made, the search for everlasting youth and beauty never ends well. In the world we still manage to call real, one only has to turn on the news to see the self-inflicted carnage this obsession has wrought. (Notably, Murphy first got hot back in 2003 with “Nip/Tuck,” a well-regarded, unpleasant show about cosmetic surgeons.) There is some satirical intent here, I’d wager, regarding the shallow aspirations of this age of Ozempic. That the Corporation has a couple of lunk-headed sons might be meant to call President Trump to mind, though the character stands in for vile billionaires everywhere.
Of course, beauty is subject to taste and culture and all sorts of indefinable things. As Franny Forst, unaccountably married to the Corporation, Isabella Rosselini provides in her person the argument for aging gracefully. (She’ll get a speech about it too.) At the same time, Murphy and Hodgson, adapting a comic by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley, do not hesitate to make a fat person a sad person. The remodeled … patients, I guess you’d call them, though certainly good-looking, are hot in a generic, almost dull way — the women trim, the men muscled — which feels more sad than exciting. A Nobel-winning scientist will be trotted out to offer an “explanation” of how the drug works and what it can do, but it’s really just magic beans.
There’s plenty of gore and goo — the transformation process is not pretty. Some storylines are meant to be poignant but are overwhelmed by the weirdness or feel exploitative, or the characters aren’t dimensional enough to move you. There are plot twists, of course, and rejiggerings, but it’s too obvious to be really terrifying; the game is given away early. (That doesn’t rule out some icky second-season invention; this one ends on a cliffhanger.)
At the same time, there’s enough nonsense, edging into ridiculousness, that the series might best be approached as a black action-comedy — at the end of the opening scene, the gendarmes are splattered with pieces of supermodel — or a very fancy B (maybe C) picture. “Star Wars” built an empire on the latter.
People are urged to brush up on the rules and regulations for the country they’re going to before heading to the airport
11:16, 21 Jan 2026Updated 12:23, 21 Jan 2026
Travel expert warns of ID law catching Brits out in Portugal(Image: Getty)
Anyone planning a stay at a European hotspot this year has been reminded of an important rule that experts say has been catching Brits out. Travel specialist Simon Hood has warned of a ‘little-known’ law that could leave holidaymakers in a spot of bother when heading to a popular Mediterranean destination.
Located on the western reaches of the European Union, Portugal has become a favourite with British holidaymakers since the late 1950s. The rise of the budget airline, resorts along the Algarve, and affordable cost-of-living has made it a mainstay among Brits, transforming the nation into a European favourite.
According to Portugal’s National Institute of Statistics (INE), approximately two to three million British nationals visit the country’s cities and resorts each year. Ranking the UK behind Spain, but ahead of the United States, as Portugal’s largest tourism markets.
However, one ID law many may not be aware of could end people’s stay on the coast, according to travel expert Simon Hood, executive director of relocation firm John Mason International Movers. Simon warns that failure to comply with a single piece of local legislation could result in detention by police, a fine, or even the seizure of property.
Simon explains: “Over the years, I’ve heard countless stories from friends and relatives running into a spot of local trouble in Portugal by failing to follow one simple rule. Portuguese law clearly states you need to carry your national ID card, or passport, at all times.
“While the UK doesn’t have a national ID card, at least not yet, a UK driver’s licence alone is not sufficient, meaning you’ll be expected to always carry your passport. Many British holidaymakers believe a UK driver’s licence is enough, but it isn’t.
“The UK Foreign Office and US State Department both advise that a scanned copy of your passport should be enough if asked to produce ID by police. But they could still ask you for the hard copy.”
Simon says the consequences of failing to produce ID when asked by police could be serious, including the potential to derail your Portuguese holiday. He said: “The consequences include an unspecified fine assumed to be somewhere in the region of a few hundred euros, possible detention, and being escorted to your hotel or Airbnb to produce ID.
“It could even lead to the seizure of property. So, if you’re bringing back a bottle of bubbly to the hotel and then suddenly stop without ID, your evening plans could be a tad delayed.”
The legislation mandates that citizens and residents aged 16 or older must carry identification in public, such as an identity card, passport, or residence permit. Accepted documents include:
Portuguese Citizens: Citizen Card (Cartão de Cidadão) or passport.
EU/EEA/Swiss Nationals: Residence permit, valid national identity card, or passport.
Third-Country Nationals (Non-EU): Residence permit or valid passport.
Enabled to modernise Portugal’s bureaucracy upon joining the European Union in the mid-1980s, the move was in part designed to align the country with policing standards across the bloc and has since become an ingrained daily habit across Portugal. People must produce these documents upon the request of authorised law enforcement or immigration officers.
By law, all paid accommodation providers (hotels, rentals) must collect and record these identification details for all foreign guests. For more information, you can view official guidance on the Portuguese Government Portal.
Simon explains why Brits in particular fall afoul of these rules. “Carrying ID and having national ID cards is commonplace across the EU, it’s something people don’t think twice about out of habit, but not so much in the UK. It’s not cultural here to carry ID, in fact, the opposite, most Brits when asked would opt not to,” he said.
“The recent uproar over the government’s ‘BritCard’ plans is a testament to this weird quirk in our national identity. Even going back to the early 2000s, we didn’t want them. I suppose it’s a difference between us and the continent.
“However, when in Portugal, carry your passport; a scan alone might not be sufficient, and you’d really hate to be escorted by the police back to your hotel room on holiday. On balance, I’d take my passport with me; it’s not worth the risk.”
Kyle Cooke and Amanda Batula’s marriage is over, the “Summer House” reality stars announced Monday on social media, validating rumors of a split that have been circulating for a while.
“After much reflection, we have mutually and amicably decided to part ways as a couple,” the couple said in a joint statement posted on both of their Instagram stories. “We share this with a heavy heart and kindly ask for your grace and support while we focus on our personal growth and healing.
“It feels ironic to ask for privacy during this time since we’ve always tried to be open and honest about our relationship, but your kindness and respect will go a long way as we try to navigate our next chapter.”
It’s unclear exactly when that “next chapter” began, as rumors that the relationship was on the rocks have been circulating for more than a year.
“We are not perfect. We’ve never tried to portray a perfect couple. We wear it all on our sleeve. Yeah, 10 years in, 4 years in a marriage, all on camera, it hasn’t been easy,” Cooke told Access Hollywood in an interview at BravoCon 2025 in November. “Particularly when you have people offering up some, um, trolling info.”
Around the same time, an “insider” told Page Six that the two had been “going through a challenging time” but were still committed to working things out. Celebrity rumor account Deuxmoi said it got a message in December that the marriage was done, and commenters on that post noted that Cooke had been missing from several significant events that Batula documented on social media.
“We’ve gone to therapy. We’ve worked on ourselves,” Batula told Us Weekly a year before that. “It’s very eye-opening getting to watch yourself back [on TV] and see how you handle different situations. So, we’ve learned a lot and have grown from it. … We’re still working on it.”
Batula and Cooke began dating during the first season of “Summer House,” which premiered in 2017 but was filmed in 2016. He proposed to her in the final episode of Season 3, which was filmed in 2018, then the couple saw their wedding postponed until September 2021 — it aired during the Season 6 finale — because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both Bravo stars will appear in “Summer House” Season 10, which premieres Feb. 3 and streams the next day on Peacock. Bravo said viewers will see “tension” between the two during the season.
“Summer House” debuted in 2017 with a cast that included Cooke and featured Batula in recurring role. The show follows a group of people sharing a Hamptons beach house on weekends for a summer, and the cast has shifted over the life of the show.
“Having these experiences is not something that people get to do or would do,” Batula said at BravoCon 2024. “I mean, again, we’re in our 30s and 40s, and you wouldn’t really share a house together like this. Being able to have these moments to look back on and these experiences is something that’s really special.”
MINNEAPOLIS — Federal prosecutors served six grand jury subpoenas Tuesday to Minnesota officials as part of an investigation into whether they obstructed or impeded federal law enforcement during a sweeping immigration operation in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, a person familiar with the matter said.
The subpoenas, which seek records, were sent to the offices of Gov. Tim Walz, Atty. Gen. Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her and officials in Ramsey and Hennepin counties, the person said.
The person was not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
An investigation is underway into whether Minnesota officials obstructed federal immigration enforcement through public statements they made, two people familiar with the matter said Friday. They said then it was focused on the potential violation of a conspiracy statute.
Mayor says subpoenas are to stoke fear
Walz and Frey, both Democrats, have called the probe a bullying tactic meant to quell political opposition. Frey’s office was ordered to produce a long list of records to a grand jury on Feb. 3, including “cooperation or lack of cooperation with federal law enforcement” and “any records tending to show a refusal to come to the aid of immigration officials.”
“We shouldn’t have to live in a country where people fear that federal law enforcement will be used to play politics or crack down on local voices they disagree with,” Frey said.
Her, a Hmong immigrant and a Democrat, said she’s “unfazed by these tactics” and will stand up for her community.
The subpoenas came as the Trump administration urged a judge to reject efforts by Minnesota and its largest cities to stop the immigration enforcement surge that has roiled Minneapolis and St. Paul for weeks.
The Justice Department called the lawsuit, filed soon after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an immigration officer, “legally frivolous.” Lawyers argued that the Department of Homeland Security is acting within its legal powers to enforce immigration laws.
Operation Metro Surge has made the state safer with the arrests of more than 3,000 people who were in the country illegally, the government said Monday in a court filing.
“Put simply, Minnesota wants a veto over federal law enforcement,” Justice Department attorneys wrote.
Ellison said the government is violating free speech and other constitutional rights with its unprecedented sweeps. He described the armed officers as poorly trained and said the “invasion” must cease.
The lawsuit filed Jan. 12 seeks an order to halt or limit the enforcement action. More filings are expected, and it’s not known when U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez will make a decision.
Hard to track arrests
Ilan Wurman, who teaches constitutional law at University of Minnesota Law School, doubts the state’s arguments will be successful.
“There’s no question that federal law is supreme over state law, that immigration enforcement is within the power of the federal government, and the president, within statutory bounds, can allocate more federal enforcement resources to states who’ve been less cooperative in that enforcement space than other states have been,” Wurman told the Associated Press.
Julia Decker, policy director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, expressed frustration that advocates have no way of knowing whether the government’s arrest numbers and descriptions of the people in custody are accurate. U.S. citizens have been dragged from their homes and vehicles during the Minnesota surge.
“These are real people we’re talking about, that we potentially have no idea what is happening to them,” Decker said.
Police say ICE is targeting off-duty officers
In a separate lawsuit, Menendez said Friday that federal officers can’t detain or tear gas peaceful protesters who aren’t obstructing authorities.
Good, 37, was killed on Jan. 7 as she was moving her vehicle, which had been blocking a Minneapolis street where Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were operating. Trump administration officials say the officer, Jonathan Ross, shot her in self-defense, although videos of the encounter show the Honda Pilot slowly turning away from him.
Since then, the public has repeatedly confronted officers, blowing whistles and yelling insults at ICE and U.S. Border Patrol. They, in turn, have used tear gas and chemical irritants against protesters. Bystanders have recorded video of officers using a battering ram to get into a house as well as smashing vehicle windows and dragging people out of cars.
Police in the region, meanwhile, said off-duty law enforcement officers have been racially profiled by federal officers and stopped without cause. Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said he has received complaints from residents who are U.S. citizens, including his own officers.
“Every one of these individuals is a person of color who has had this happening,” Bruley said during a news conference.
President Trump last week threatened to invoke an 1807 law and send troops to Minnesota, though he has backed off, at least in his public remarks.
Karnowski and Richerwrite for the Associated Press. Richer reported from Washington. AP reporters Ed White in Detroit and Sarah Raza in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — A ballooning Immigration and Customs Enforcement budget. Hiring bonuses of $50,000. Swelling ranks of ICE officers, to 22,000, in an expanding national force bigger than most police departments in America.
President Trump promised the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, but achieving his goal wouldn’t have been possible without funding from the big tax and spending cuts bill passed by Republicans in Congress, and it’s fueling unprecedented immigration enforcement actions in cities such as Minneapolis and beyond.
The GOP’s big bill is “supercharging ICE,” one budget expert said, in ways that Americans may not fully realize — and that have only just begun.
“I just don’t think people have a sense of the scale,” said Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress and a former advisor to the Biden administration’s Office of Management and Budget.
“We’re looking at ICE in a way we’ve never seen before,” he said.
Trump’s big bill creates massive law enforcement force
As the Republican president marks the first year of his second term, the immigration enforcement and removal operation that has been a cornerstone of his domestic and foreign policy agenda is rapidly transforming into something else — a national law enforcement presence with billions upon billions of dollars in new spending from U.S. taxpayers.
The shooting death of Renee Good in Minneapolis showed the alarming reach of the new federalized force, sparking unrelenting protests against the military-styled officers seen going door to door to find and detain immigrants. Amid the outpouring of opposition, Trump revived threats to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell the demonstrations and the Army has 1,500 soldiers ready to deploy.
But Trump’s own public approval rating on immigration, one of his signature issues, has slipped since he took office, according to an AP-NORC poll.
“Public sentiment is everything,” Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-N.Y.) said at a news conference at the Capitol with lawmakers supporting legislation to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Americans, she said, are upset at what they are seeing. “They didn’t sign on for this,” she said.
Border crossings down, but Americans confront new ICE enforcements
To be sure, illegal crossings into the U.S. at the Mexico border have fallen to historic lows under Trump, a remarkable shift from just a few years ago when President Biden’s Democratic administration allowed millions of people to temporarily enter the U.S. as they adjudicated their claims to stay.
Yet as enforcement moves away from the border, the newly hired army of immigration officers swarming city streets with aggressive tactics — in Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere — is something not normally seen in the United States.
Armed and masked law enforcement officers are being witnessed smashing car windows, yanking people from vehicles and chasing and wrestling others to the ground and hauling them away — images playing out in endless loops on TVs and other screens.
And it’s not just ICE. A long list of supporting agencies, including federal, state and local police and sheriff’s offices, are entering into contract partnerships with Homeland Security to conduct immigration enforcement operations in communities around the nation.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has warned Democrats that this is “no time to be playing games” by stirring up the opposition to immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis and other places.
“They need to get out of the way and allow federal law enforcement to do its duty,” Johnson said at the Capitol.
Noem has said the immigration enforcement officers are acting lawfully. The department insists it is targeting criminals in the actions, what officials call the worst of the worst immigrants.
However, reports show that noncriminals and U.S. citizens are also being forcibly detained by immigration officers. The Supreme Court last year lifted a ban on using race alone in the immigration stops.
Trump last month called Somali immigrants “garbage,” comments that echoed his past objections to immigrants from certain countries.
The Trump administration has set a goal of 100,000 detentions a day, about three times what’s typical, with 1 million deportations a year.
Money from the big bill flows with few restraints
With Republican control of Congress, the impeachment of Noem or any other Trump official is not a viable political option for Democrats, who would not appear to have the vote tally even among their own ranks.
In fact, even if Congress wanted to curtail Trump’s immigration operations — by threatening to shut down the government, for example — it would be difficult to stop the spending.
What Trump called the “Big, Beautiful Bill” is essentially on autopilot through 2029, the year he’s scheduled to finish his term and leave office.
The legislation essentially doubled annual Homeland Security funding, adding $170 billion to be used over four years. Of that, ICE, which typically receives about $10 billion a year, was provided $30 billion for operations and $45 billion for detention facilities.
“The first thing that comes to mind is spending on this level is typically done on the military,” said Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. “Trump is militarizing immigration enforcement.”
Ahead, Congress will consider a routine annual funding package for Homeland Security unveiled Tuesday, or risk a partial shutdown Jan. 30. A growing group of Democratic senators and the Congressional Progressive Caucus have had enough. They say they won’t support additional funds without significant changes.
Lawmakers are considering various restrictions on ICE operations, including limiting arrests around hospitals, courthouses, churches and other sensitive locations and ensuring that officers display proper identification and refrain from wearing masks.
“I think ICE needs to be totally torn down,” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said on CNN over the weekend.
“People want immigration enforcement that goes after criminals,” he said. And not what he called this “goon squad.”
Big spending underway, but Trump falls short of goals
Meanwhile, Homeland Security has begun tapping the new money at its disposal. The department informed Congress it has obligated roughly $58 billion — most of that, some $37 billion, for border wall construction, according to a person familiar with the private assessment but unauthorized to discuss it.
The Department of Homeland Security said its massive recruitment campaign blew past its 10,000-person target to bring in 12,000 new hires, more than doubling the force to 22,000 officers, in a matter of months.
“The good news is that thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill that President Trump signed, we have an additional 12,000 ICE officers and agents on the ground across the country,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a December statement.
The department also announced it had arrested and deported about 600,000 people. It also said 1.9 million other people had “voluntarily self-deported” since January 2025, when Trump took office.
As the official celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence culminate on July 4, a well-financed, privately funded initiative will kick off to try to connect hundreds of millions of Americans with efforts to solve local problems.
The “Be The People” campaign aspires to change the perception that the U.S. is hopelessly divided and that individuals have little power to overcome problems like poverty, addiction, violence and stalled economic mobility. It also wants to move people take action to solve those problems.
Brian Hooks, chairman and CEO of the nonprofit network Stand Together, said the 250th anniversary is a unique moment “to show people that they matter, that they have a part to play, and that the future is unwritten, but it depends on each one of us stepping up to play our part.”
Funded by a mix of 50 philanthropic foundations and individual donors, Be The People builds on research that indicates many people want to contribute to their communities but don’t know how. The initiative is targeting more than $200 million for its first year’s budget.
Founding members include nonprofits GivingTuesday, Goodwill Industries, Habitat for Humanity and More Perfect, businesses such as Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment and the National Basketball Assn., and funders like the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Hooks said this is a 10-year commitment toward trying to achieve what would be a profound shift in behavior and culture. He referenced a 2024 Pew Research Center survey that found most Americans in 2023 and 2024 did not believe that the U.S. could solve its most important problems, saying it was a “red alert” for the country.
Hooks said the initiative envisions actions far beyond volunteering or service that people could do in their free time. He pointed to a role for businesses and schools and said the initiative would launch a major data collection effort to track whether people are actually more engaged and whether problems are actually getting solved.
Stand Together, which was founded by the billionaire Charles Koch, works across a broad range of issues and communities in the U.S. and has carved out a role for itself as a convener that can bring coalitions together across ideological lines.
“Be The People,” will not incorporate as a new nonprofit, but act more like a banner for groups to organize under and use to connect to resources. As an example, at the Atlanta Hawks game on Monday, Martin Luther King III and his wife, Arndrea Waters King, linked a program they launched last year, Realize the Dream, which aims to increase acts of service, to the new campaign.
“Our vision is that ‘Be The People’ helps lift up what is already happening in communities across the country and reminds people that service and shared responsibility are defining parts of the American story,” the Kings said in a written statement.
Asha Curran, the CEO of the nonprofit GivingTuesday, said small actions can build on each other like exercising a muscle.
“Our experience with GivingTuesday is that when people volunteer together, when people work together on something to do with positive social impact, they find it harder and harder to demonize each other,” said Curran.
The initiative comes against a backdrop of deep polarization, economic inequality and the degradation of democratic norms and institutions in the U.S.
Hahrie Han, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University, has studied civic engagement and said people need more opportunities to authentically participate as problem solvers when connecting with local organizations.
“They’re more likely to be invited into things where people are asked to let professional staff do most of the problem solving and they show up and give their time or their money,” she said.
The result is that people feel less committed and don’t see their participation as helping to achieve their interests or goals.
A growing number of private foundations have started funding issues related to the health of U.S. democracy, said Kristin Goss, a professor who directs the Center for the Study of Philanthropy and Voluntarism at Duke University. While foundations cannot participate in elections, Goss said they can influence policy or public opinion in other ways.
“Funders are getting more concerned about of the health of American democracy, the future of the democratic experiment and pluralism and inclusion,” Goss said.
Another group of funders, including the Freedom Together Foundation, launched a project last year to recognize people and groups who stand up for their communities, which they called a “civic bravery” award. In a November report, they issued a similar call for funders to invest in helping individuals organize together in response to a rise in authoritarianism.
Hooks and the other leaders of “Be The People” have also convened major communications teams to help tell these stories, which they think are lost in the current information ecosystem.
“What we’re doing is we’re helping to lift up the story of Americans that is unfolding at the local level, but is not breaking through,” Hooks said. “So we’re holding up a mirror and a microphone to Americans to reveal to each other who we truly are.”
During his first term, President Trump was both praised and condemned for being wildly unpredictable, pushing boundaries and disregarding long-standing norms in Washington.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, then-Vice President Kamala Harris — Trump’s opponent — spoke directly to his volatile leadership style in her final pitch to voters, saying their choice would determine “whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or ruled by chaos and division.”
Of course, Americans returned Trump to the White House. And in the year since, they have watched Trump once again take stunning and unprecedented action — sometimes in line with his campaign promises, other times in direct conflict with them.
Deploying immigration forces, troops
Residents and protesters clash with federal agents in Chicago on Oct. 14.
(Joshua Lott / Washington Post via Getty Images)
During his campaign, Trump promised to launch the “largest deportation operation in American history.” The rollout has been tense as masked agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other agencies have swarmed into American cities and detained large numbers of people — including many with no criminal convictions and some who are U.S. citizens.
The agents’ use of aggressive tactics and deadly force, including in the recent fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minnesota, has sparked protests and concern among local leaders and members of Congress.
Trump has responded to some protests by ordering National Guard troops into cities, including Los Angeles. He also sent U.S. Marines into L.A. Those deployments were challenged in court, and — after a loss in the Supreme Court — Trump ended them. However, he has since threatened to send troops into Minnesota by invoking the Insurrection Act.
Threatening to take Greenland
Vice President JD Vance arrives in Pituffik, Greenland, in March.
(Jim Watson / Pool / Getty Images)
Trump has repeatedly threatened to seize Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally, and the White House has declined to rule out military force.
Despite an existing agreement allowing the U.S. to maintain a strong military presence there, Trump has said full U.S. control of Greenland is necessary for regional security and to prevent Russia or China from taking control. “Anything less than that is unacceptable,” he said.
A U.S. seizure of the island would mark a stunning abandonment of NATO, which has linked the security of the U.S. and Europe for more than 75 years. European leaders have staunchly opposed any such move and called on the Trump administration to back off. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said a U.S. takeover of Greenland would end the NATO alliance.
Demolishing the East Wing
Architect Shalom Baranes shows a site plan for a new $400-million White House ballroom during a meeting this month of the National Capital Planning Commission.
(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
In October, Trump surprised historic preservationists and other political leaders by demolishing the East Wing of the White House, which was built in 1902 under President Theodore Roosevelt and rebuilt in the 1940s under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Trump argued the historic building — which housed the first lady’s offices for half a century — needed to be cleared to make way for a $300-million ballroom for state dinners and other large events, which in the past have been hosted in tents on the White House lawn. Some defended the choice, saying a larger hosting space was long overdue.
Still, the demolition of the iconic site riled many, not least because Trump carried it out without adhering to established processes for altering historic federal buildings — including by failing to submit his ballroom plans to the National Capital Planning Commission, which oversees renovations and additions to federal buildings in Washington.
Deposing Maduro of Venezuela
President Trump and CIA Director John Ratcliffe monitor U.S. military operations in Venezuela, from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club on Jan. 3.
(Molly Riley / White House via Getty Images)
On Jan. 3, Trump announced that U.S. special forces had captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife during an overnight military operation involving more than 150 U.S. aircraft entering Venezuelan airspace. Venezuelan authorities said 100 people were killed, including Venezuelan and Cuban security forces, and denounced the operation as a violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty.
Trump administration officials said the operation was to bring Maduro to justice on drug, weapons and conspiracy charges, to which Maduro has pleaded not guilty. Several foreign allies and adversaries, and many Democratic leaders in Congress, denounced the operation as a violation of international law that would embolden Russia and China to act with similar regional aggression.
Trump cited the legal case against Maduro but also Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, which he said would be tapped to uplift Venezuelans, repay debts to American oil companies and fund U.S. oversight of the country. Some critics were surprised Trump was so forthright about his interest in Venezuela’s oil.
Pardoning Jan. 6 rioters
Ben Pollock awaits the possible release of his children outside of the DC Central Detention Facility on Jan. 20, the day President Trump was sworn in for his second term.
(Bryan Woolston / Getty Images)
One of Trump’s first actions in office was to pardon or commute the sentences of those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, in which his supporters beat U.S. Capitol police officers in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Biden’s 2020 election.
Trump had telegraphed that he might pardon some of those charged in the assault, after downplaying the attack and calling them “hostages.” However, he surprised many when he pardoned or commuted the sentences of everyone involved — more than 1,500 people, including those charged and convicted of the most violent attacks on officers.
Among those freed by Trump was David Dempsey, a Van Nuys man who had been described by federal prosecutors as “one of the most violent rioters.” Dempsey had been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting a law enforcement officer with a dangerous weapon and breaching the seat of Congress.
Berating Zelensky of Ukraine
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Feb. 28. Vance said Zelensky was being “disrespectful” and had failed to thank Trump for his support, even though Zelensky had thanked him.
(Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)
In February, Trump and Vice President JD Vance raised diplomatic eyebrows around the globe when they publicly berated Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in an unprecedented exchange in the Oval Office, accusing the U.S. ally of being ungrateful for American help in combating Russian attacks.
Vance said Zelensky was being “disrespectful” and had failed to thank Trump for his support, even though Zelensky had thanked him.
Then, after Zelensky said Ukraine would require security guarantees as part of any deal to end the war, and that a ceasefire was untenable because Russia would use it to regroup, Trump laid into him, saying, “The problem is, I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy. And I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States.”
He said Zelensky would make a deal with Russia or the U.S. would “be out,” which he said wouldn’t be “pretty” for Ukraine. “You don’t have the cards,” Trump said, before accusing Zelensky of “gambling with World War III.”
Investigating political opponents
Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi departs after testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in October.
(Alex Wong / Getty Images)
One after another, Trump’s political opponents have been targeted with investigations led by political appointees in the Justice Department, often despite career prosecutors raising concerns.
Several have been pursued by Bill Pulte, the Trump-appointed director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, for allegedly committing fraud when securing home mortgages years ago, including by claiming multiple homes as their primary residence. Mortgage allegations have been made against Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
In addition, former FBI Director James Comey was charged with allegedly lying to Congress and obstruction. And just this month, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the Justice Department had threatened the central bank with a criminal indictment over Powell’s testimony about Fed building renovations — which he said was a pretext for the administration to undermine the Fed’s independence in setting interest rates.
Trump has defended the investigations as legitimate efforts to hold powerful people accountable for alleged crimes. However, many experts have argued the cases smack of political persecution. Charges against James and Comey were tossed.
Instigating tariff wars
President Trump displays a list of tariffs he announced at a White House event in April.
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Trump has repeatedly destabilized global markets by instituting, lifting and reimposing sweeping tariffs on foreign nations. On April 2, Trump held a “Liberation Day” event at the White House where he announced “reciprocal tariffs” against nations around the world — which he said were in response to the U.S. for decades being “looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike.”
Trump help up a poster board with new tariff rates, including a 67% tariff on China and a 39% tariff on the European Union. He said the latter, a close U.S. ally, is seen as “friendly,” but “they rip us off.”
Experts immediately questioned the methodology Trump used for calculating the figures, said the tariffs were not reciprocal and raised concerns they would destabilize markets and increase costs for American consumers — which they did.
President Trump addresses the nation in June following the announcement that the U.S. had bombed nuclear sites in Iran.
(Carlos Barria / AFP via Getty Images)
In June, the U.S. joined Israel in attacking Iran, sending American stealth bombers to drop “bunker-buster” bombs on three sites associated with Tehran’s nuclear program. The attack followed Israeli strikes to destroy Iran’s air defenses and offensive missile capabilities.
In an address to the nation, Trump said Iran’s key nuclear facilities were “completely and fully obliterated.” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned the attacks, saying the bombings “showed that the United States is the primary instigator of the Zionist regime’s hostile actions.”
Many worried the attack would be the precursor to a larger conflict, but Tehran’s response was muted.
Waffling on the Epstein files
Donald Trump in shown in 2000 at Mar-a-Lago with his then-girlfriend and future wife, Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
(Davidoff Studios Photography / Getty Images)
During his campaign, Trump promised to release the Epstein files — a trove of records from investigations into disgraced billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a one-time friend of Trump’s who died in federal prison in 2019. Many Americans, including Trump’s supporters, have long demanded the records, in part to assess whether other powerful men were complicit or involved in the abuse.
However, after taking office, Trump — who has long denied any wrongdoing — worked to prevent the release, pressuring members of Congress not to back a bill mandating it. Not until Congress appeared poised to pass the bill anyway did Trump relent, reverse course and sign the measure into law.
Trump has signed a wave of executive orders radically altering U.S. policy and the federal government. One that stands out is his order purporting to end birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of many immigrants — which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of 1868, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and the state wherein they reside.”
The Trump administration has argued that language applies to freed slaves, not the children of immigrants in the country temporarily or illegally. California, other states and private groups challenged the order in court, and federal judges have put it on hold.
Last month, the Supreme Court said it would hear arguments on Trump’s order — teeing up a major test of Trump’s power.
MINNEAPOLIS — The mayor of Minneapolis said Sunday that sending active-duty soldiers into Minnesota to help with an immigration crackdown is a ridiculous and unconstitutional idea as he urged protesters to remain peaceful so the president won’t see a need to send in the U.S. military.
Daily protests have been ongoing throughout January since the Department of Homeland Security ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers.
In a diverse neighborhood where Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have been frequently seen, U.S. postal workers marched through on Sunday, chanting: “Protect our routes. Get ICE out.”
The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers based in Alaska who specialize in operating in arctic conditions to be ready in case of a possible deployment to Minnesota, two Defense officials said Sunday.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans, said two infantry battalions of the Army’s 11th Airborne Division have been given prepare-to-deploy orders.
One Pentagon official said the troops are standing by to deploy to Minnesota should President Trump invoke the Insurrection Act, as he has threatened.
The rarely used 19th century law would allow him to send military troops into Minnesota, where protesters have been confronting federal immigration agents for weeks. He has since backed off the threat, at least for now.
“It’s ridiculous, but we will not be intimidated by the actions of this federal government,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “It is not fair, it’s not just, and it’s completely unconstitutional.”
Thousands of Minneapolis citizens are exercising their 1st Amendment rights and the protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful, Frey said.
“We are not going to take the bait. We will not counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own brand of chaos here,” Frey said.
Gov. Tim Walz has mobilized the Minnesota National Guard, although no units have been deployed to the streets.
Peter Noble joined dozens of other U.S. Postal Service workers Sunday on their only day off from their mail routes to march against the immigration crackdown. They passed by the place where an immigration officer shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, during a Jan. 7 confrontation.
“I’ve seen them driving recklessly around the streets while I am on my route, putting lives in danger,” Noble said.
Letter carrier Susan Becker said she came out to march on the coldest day since the crackdown started because it’s important to keep telling the federal government she thinks what it is doing is wrong. She said people on her route have reported ICE breaking into apartment buildings and tackling people in the parking lots of shopping centers.
“These people are by and large citizens and immigrants. But they’re citizens, and they deserve to be here; they’ve earned their place and they are good people,” Becker said.
A Republican U.S. House member from Minnesota called for Walz to tone down his comments about fighting the federal government and help the federal law enforcement efforts.
Many of the ICE officers in Minnesota are neighbors just doing the jobs they were sent to do, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer told WCCO-AM in Minneapolis.
“These are not mean-spirited people. But right now, they feel like they’re under attack. They don’t know where the next attack is going to come from and who it is. So people need to keep in mind this starts at the top,” Emmer said.
Across social media, videos have been posted of federal officers spraying protesters with pepper spray, knocking down doors and forcibly taking people into custody. On Friday, a federal judge ruled that immigration officers can’t detain or tear-gas peaceful protesters who aren’t obstructing authorities, including when they’re observing the officers during the Minnesota crackdown.
Brook writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington, Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.
It’s the middle of January, which means the holidays are well and truly over and whatever fanciful shine the prospect of a “new” year held as it approached has already dimmed into grim reality.
Of course I want to face this year determined to be a happier, kinder, more empathetic and more just person. But just as it’s tough to honorably pay one’s taxes knowing millionaires and billionaires are weaseling out of theirs, it’s hard to gin up personal-improvement energy when every news cycle brings proof that an alarming number of people are perfectly willing to believe that black is white, science is fake, we should all be cooking with beef tallow and failure to stop when an unidentified ICE agent tells you to is, apparently, punishable by death.
Also all that water everyone has been telling us to drink may be full of microplastics.
See, now I’m just getting upset again. Which is just too 2025 to bear. Mercifully, I have just discovered a cache of surviving holiday mint M&M’s (which may or may not contain beef tallow) and, equally important, I have a plan to make life better for everyone.
(At least until the midterms, when we will discover once and for all if this democratic experiment has any hope of lasting another year.)
It’s very simple, really: We need to demand the resurrection of customer service and put large numbers of well-paid and trained employees back in charge.
Seriously. I know it’s fun, and purportedly “convenient,” to be able to accomplish our banking/shopping/travel/bill paying/ticket buying/food ordering/health monitoring/everything else through a series of apps, websites and self-checkout kiosks.
But the lack of trained and helpful humans is getting out of control.
How many of us have stood, casting wild-eyed glances for help, when the grocery checkout sensors failed to register a carton of eggs that is clearly in the bagging area and there is only one store attendant tasked with aiding 20 or more finicky machines?
Or searched, panic-stricken, for the payment confirmation email that we may or may not have received because we forgot to screenshot an online transaction that is now being called into question via some upsetting email with a DO NOT RESPOND return address?
A friend of mine recently went to her doctor for ongoing treatment of her arthritic hands only to be told that she needed to fill out all her personal information, including her medical history, again because the office had switched systems. Apparently, the job of transferring file information was too difficult (read: expensive) to be accomplished by software, so it was being handed to … the patients. “Don’t worry,” said the guy sitting directly in front of the office computer. “You can just do it now on your phone.”
Yeah, that won’t take time and effort, and did I mention she was there for treatment of her arthritic hands?
The abandonment of any notion of customer service — now often called “customer assistance” or, even better, “customer support” (as in we will supportively assist you by directing you to our website or app, which may or may not be helpful/functioning) — is never clearer than when one travels.
Hideous delays and last-minute cancellations of flights have become so commonplace that airlines now advise building in a cushion of an extra day or two on each end of one’s journey. In other words, in addition to the cost of your actual flight, you should be prepared to pay even more in time or money because the airlines certainly are not.
On a long-planned holiday trip to London and Antwerp, Belgium, in December, our flight from LAX was abruptly moved to the next day — no warning, no explanation, no American Airlines personnel at the gate. Just a series of alerts that those who had the AA app received, along with the reassurance that those who qualified would be issued vouchers via email for lodging and food. Since we lived in the L.A. area (albeit a 90-minute drive from LAX at that time of day), we were out of luck — we could either pay hundreds of dollars for back and forth cab fare or book our own hotel near the airport.
(Other family members, leaving via Charlotte, N.C., had it even worse — a malfunction trapped a plane full of people, including my son and his girlfriend, on the runway for five hours before they were released, after midnight. When they finally tracked down an actual staff member, they were given vouchers to a motel that appeared, as Melissa McCarthy’s character says in “Spy,” “so murdery” that they decided to book their own.)
As if that were not enough to prevent us from ever traveling again, we were victims of the great Dec. 30 Eurostar shutdown, during which all trains into, and out of, the U.K. were abruptly canceled for more than 24 hours due to a power-grid failure in the English Channel Tunnel.
We had just been assured that we would soon be boarding our train from Brussels when the news came down over a loudspeaker, in four languages.
Picture, if you will, hundreds of now-stranded travelers, clamoring in panic-stricken English, French, Dutch and German as they streamed into the Brussels-Midi station where one Eurostar agent, one, stood, not suggesting alternate means of reaching our destination but handing out Xeroxed pages directing everyone to the Eurostar app and website.
Where no tickets were available for days and the process of claiming a refund or compensation for lodging and other expenses was an endless maze of questions that needed to be answered when all anyone wanted to know was how in the hell do we get to London now.
With no flights available until Jan. 3, days after we were scheduled to fly out of Heathrow Airport, we finally rented a car, at hideous cost, and fled Europe, with some historical poignancy, via midnight-landing ferry from Dunkirk. (If it sounds fun, I am not telling it right.)
My point is not that travel should always go smoothly — things break, weather turns, accidents happen. My point is that if you are a company that is paid to get people from one place to another, you should have enough personnel to help those people reach their destinations as quickly and seamlessly as possible should things go wrong.
Instead of, you know, casting them literally onto the street and forcing them to conjure up their own imperfect, and very expensive, DIY solutions.
Because that’s what the digital age has made us — a DIY economy in which millions of jobs no longer exist not because computers do the work, but because the work has been shifted, via computers, directly onto the consumer.
Who increasingly has little or no choice in the matter. Try to get a car at an auto rental agency without booking it online first; you might as well attempt to barter your watch and three chickens as payment.
It would be one thing if, by scheduling your own appointments, keeping track of your own medical tests, bagging your own groceries and filling out all the information needed to book your own reservations for planes, trains and automobiles, you got a discount.
But no; half the time, corporations have the audacity to charge a service fee on top of the money they have saved by not hiring someone to do the work you, the consumer, just did.
Is it any wonder why people are so testy these days?
Especially when, having done all the work only to be informed by alert that it was all in vain; they have to wait in line for the one teller/manager/gate agent available to explain to them that they “just” need to manage their booking/transaction online.
How much better it would be if there were actual people, trained and experienced, in numbers large enough to prevent endless queues, to make customers feel like customers again, instead of isolated pioneers quietly losing their minds in an effort to buy whatever goods and services companies are selling.
I’m not saying it would solve all of our problems, but it would go a long way to lowering the national temperature. It is amazing what a genial, helpful interaction can do to lift everyone’s spirits and make people feel like they are respected and valued, as individuals with reasonable needs, and not just faceless bundles of credit card information and regrettable meltdown moments.
Not to mention all the jobs, and career paths, at all levels, restoring customer service could provide.
Because being unemployed tends to make people quite aggravated and unhappy too.
