Mayor-elect of New York says he will not mince words on Trump, but ‘door open’ to dialogue.
United States President Donald Trump has suggested that he is open to assisting New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, but warned that the trailblazing democratic socialist will need to be “respectful” of Washington to succeed.
Trump made the comments on Wednesday as Mamdani announced his transition team following his historic election as the first Muslim and first South Asian mayor of the US’s largest city.
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Responding to Mamdani’s victory night remarks pledging to stand up to Trump, the US president described the mayor-elect’s comments as a “dangerous statement”.
“He has to be a little bit respectful of Washington, because if he’s not, he doesn’t have a chance of succeeding,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier.
“And I want to make him succeed. I want to make the city succeed,” Trump added, before quickly clarifying that he wanted New York City, not Mamdani, to succeed.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump suggested that his administration would “help” the new mayor, even as he branded him a “communist”.
“The communists, Marxists, and globalists had their chance, and they delivered nothing but disaster, and now let’s see how a communist does in New York. We’re going to see how that works out,” Trump said in a speech to the American Business Forum in Miami, Florida.
“We’ll help him, we’ll help him. We want New York to be successful. We’ll help him a little bit, maybe.”
Trump railed against Mamdani in the run-up to Tuesday’s mayoral election in New York, describing him as a “communist lunatic” and threatening to cut off federal funding to the city if he won the race.
Mamdani, whose platform includes free universal childcare, free buses, and government-run grocery stores, has rejected the communist label, describing himself as a democratic socialist.
While Mamdani will be responsible for governing a city of about 8.5 million people, his election has been widely seen as having implications nationwide amid the Democratic Party’s struggles to reconcile its centrist and progressive factions and effectively counter Trump.
In his victory speech, Mamdani cast his election as a model for how to defeat Trump, addressing the TV-loving president directly by telling him to “turn the volume up”.
In a speech laying out his priorities on Wednesday, Mamdani, who is set to take office on January 1, reiterated his determination to oppose Trump, while also indicating his willingness to engage with the administration.
“I will not mince my words when it comes to President Trump,” the mayor-elect said.
“I will continue to describe his actions as they are, and I will also always do so while leaving a door open to have that conversation.”
Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.
The 13th edition of Beyond Fest at American Cinematheque has already begun but lasts until Oct. 8, so there is still plenty of excitement on the way.
Japanese icon Meiko Kaji will make a series of appearances during her first time visiting the U.S. A double-bill of 1973’s “Lady Snowblood” and 1974’s “Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance” will feature a Q&A with the actor moderated by Jen Yamato, while another Q&A will be moderated by “Anora” Oscar winner Sean Baker.
Other upcoming screenings include “The Testament of Ann Lee” in 70mm, “The Secret Agent” with filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho, “It Was Just an Accident” with filmmaker Jafar Panahi, a Guillermo del Toro retrospective, Mike Nichols’ 1973 sci-fi thriller “The Day of the Dolphin” in 4K and a 10th anniversary screening of “The Invitation” with filmmaker Karyn Kusama, screenwriters Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi and actor Logan Marshall-Green.
Meiko Kaji in the movie “Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion.”
(Arrow Films / Beyond Fest at American Cinematheque)
Saturday will see screenings of “Manhunter” and “To Live and Die in L.A.” with star William Petersen in attendance. I spoke to Petersen this week about going from being a Chicago theater actor to starring in two now-classic ’80s crime thrillers in the span of one year.
“It was never my intention to make any movies, it wasn’t like I was seeking them out,” Petersen said. “They kind of just came and found me.”
I also spoke to some of the team behind the festival about how they manage to harness the energy of L.A’s rep-house scene and point it toward an eclectic mix of new and old titles that increasingly includes legitimate prestige titles, including awards winners from the international festival circuit.
“It’s not just all about the films — it’s about the theatrical experience, seeing it all together,” said Grant Moninger, co-founder of Beyond Fest and artistic director of the American Cinematheque. “This does not happen online. You’re not watching a screener with a watermark at your house. You’re all together, you’re just celebrating cinema and going through all the emotions together. We put on a show every year at all these theaters because we’re thankful that everyone’s coming together and we’re going to try to give them as much as we can give them.”
‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ at 50
Tim Curry, center, as Frank-N-Furter in the movie “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
(20th Century Fox)
Tonight the 50th anniversary of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” will be celebrated at the Academy Museum with a screening of new 4K restoration and an appearance by star Tim Curry. The screening will include “a full-blown audience participation and shadow cast experience,” capturing some the feeling of the riotous fan-fueled midnight shows that made the film a sensation over decades. There will be additional screenings of the film Oct. 4 at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and Oct. 15 at the Grammy Museum.
Directed by Jim Sharman, who also mounted the original stage show, from a story and songs by Richard O’Brien (who also plays Riff-Raff), the film is said to have the longest theatrical release in cinema history, thanks to its ongoing life as a cult object.
Steve Appleford interviewed the film’s star, Tim Curry at the Roxy, where the original stage show was first performed in L.A. In the film, Curry’s character, Dr. Frank-N-Furter, is a singing scientist in fishnets and high heels who introduces a young couple (Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick) to a world of new experiences.
“It was part of the sexual revolution, really,” said Curry. “Experiment was in the air and it was palpable. I gave them permission to be who they discovered they wanted to be. I’m proud of that.”
Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick do “The Time Warp” (again) in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
(John Jay / Disney)
The Times identified the “Rocky Horror” phenomenon from the very start. Gregg Kilday interviewed Curry for an article published in March 1974 as the stage show transferred from London to L.A. The feature follows Curry, then only 27, from the Roxy to Musso & Frank and on to the Chateau Marmont, a pretty enviable tour of the city.
Curry described the character at the time by saying, “He says he’s a transvestite transexual, whatever that means. I don’t play him as a transexual. But he’s a fairly complex guy. He just takes anything he can get. He’s not fussy, really. Though I think he’s something of a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am.”
In his original review of the film from Sept. 26, 1975, critic Kevin Thomas (of course, it was reviewed by Kevin Thomas) said, “All of this plays less depraved than it sounds. … This Richard O’Brien musical is simply too exuberant and too funny to be seriously decadent. Indeed, there’s an underlying quality of tenderness and even innocence in this loving send-up of horror and sci-fi flicks and celebration of post-graduate sexuality.”
The format wars of ‘One Battle After Another’
Teyana Taylor in the movie “One Battle After Another.”
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
The new film from Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another,” features another of the filmmaker’s impressive ensembles, one that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Regina Hall, Alana Haim, Sean Penn, newcomer Chase Infiniti and Benicio del Toro.
The film is playing in a variety of film formats, and Los Angeles is lucky to be one of only four cities in the world to be screening the movie in VistaVision. (Appropriately enough, it will be at the Vista.) The film is also in Imax 70mm at the Universal Citywalk and in Imax at multiple locations including the TCL Chinese and in 70mm at the CGV by Regency in Buena Park. (Plus, it’ll be in more conventional digital formats at many other theaters.)
A politically minded action-comedy based loosely on Thomas Pynchon’s novel “Vineland,” the film stars DiCaprio as a former bomb-making revolutionary who has gone underground to protect his daughter (Infiniti). When a power-mad military man (Penn) comes after them, Bob must spring into action in ways he is not ready for.
Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie “One Battle After Another.”
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
In her review, Amy Nicholson wrote, “Paul Thomas Anderson’s fun and fizzy adaptation views its Molotov cocktail as half-full. Yes, it says, the struggle for liberation continues: ideologues versus toadies, radicals versus conservatives, loyalists versus rats. But isn’t it inspiring that there are still people willing to fight?”
Glenn Whipp spoke to Anderson in his first solo interview for the film. Despite the fact that the movie opens with a raid on a government immigration detention center, Anderson was reluctant to directly connect it to the current political moment.
“The biggest mistake I could make in a story like this is to put politics up in the front,” Anderson said. “That has a short shelf life. To sustain a story over two hours and 40 minutes, you have to care about the characters and take those big swings in terms of the emotional arcs of people and their pursuits and why you love that person and why you hate this person. That’s not a thing that ever goes out of fashion. But neither does fascism and neither does people doing bad s— to other people. Unfortunately, that doesn’t go out of style, either. That’s just how we humans are.”
Points of interest
‘A Scanner Darkly’ in 35mm
Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder in director Richard Linklater’s “A Scanner Darkly,” based on the Philip K. Dick novel.
(Warner Independent Pictures)
On Friday night, Brain Dead Studios will host a 35mm screening of Richard Linklater’s 2006 animated adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s “A Scanner Darkly.” A comic, deeply paranoid tale of identity, the rotoscoped film features a cast that includes Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey Jr.
Reviewing the film, Carino Chocano wrote, “As the saying goes, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that everybody isn’t out to get you. In the dismal near-future of the film, when large-scale government spying has taken the next logical step into thought-surveillance, questioning the effect of shadowy forces no longer requires an overactive imagination. It doesn’t even require a drug habit (though, of course, it helps to have one). The dropouts and burnouts of ‘Scanner’ don’t have to wonder if they’re being watched; they are in every sense part of the program. … The brilliance of ‘A Scanner Darkly’ is how it suggests, without bombast or fanfare, the ways in which the real world has come to resemble the dark world of comic books.”
Much as Linklater has recently made “Blue Moon” and “Nouvelle Vague” in short order, in 2006 he had both “A Scanner Darkly” and “Fast Food Nation,” a fictional adaptation of Eric Schlosser’s nonfiction book.
“I make the joke that I’m like that British bus,” Linklater said at the time. “You wait forever and then two show up at the same time.”
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, “Teorema” captures Stamp’s otherworldly beauty as a mysterious stranger who seduces all the members of a wealthy family in Milan (played by Massimo Girotti, Silvana Mangano, Laura Betti and Anne Wiazemsky) and then disappears from their lives as suddenly as he appeared, leaving them all in spiritual crisis.
“Toby Dammit,” directed by Federico Fellini, was one section of the anthology film “Spirits of the Dead,” with the other sections directed by Roger Vadim and Louis Malle. Stamp plays a fading alcoholic actor who makes a deal to shoot a film in Rome in exchange for a new Ferrari. He begins to suffer from terrifying visions.
Writing about the anthology in 1969, Kevin Thomas noted the film’s “swirling, shimmering worlds of fantasy populated by decadent Roman society,” adding that they only paled in comparison to Fellini’s previous triumphs “La Docle Vita,” “8½” and “Juliet of the Spirits.”
In other news
Henry Jaglom dead at 87
Henry Jaglom, arriving at a premiere in Los Angeles in 2009.
(Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)
An insistently independent filmmaker, Henry Jaglom died this week at age 87. His deep love of actors led him to a loose, improvisatory style that gave freedom to his performers. Often drawing story ideas from his own life (and casts from his wide circle of friends), his films included 1976’s “Tracks,” 1985’s “Always,” 1994’s “Babyfever” and 2007’s “Hollywood Dreams.” A new restoration of Jaglom’s 1983 film “Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?” is premiering this weekend as part of the New York Film Festival.
I visited with Jaglom once at the offices he long kept on Sunset Boulevard, a warren of rooms stuffed with the accumulated memorabilia of a life dedicated to movies. In a corner was an editing machine he said belonged to John Cassavetes.
Jaglom well understood his own privilege in life and equally understood that there were those who would not respond to his work.
“I enjoy, even if I’m being attacked, knowing I’ve had an impact,” Jaglom told me. “People are looking at it, talking about it, thinking about it. And that some people are moved, feel better. It’s reaching out and trying to touch people. It’s what film can do. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
After all the talk of a Bethpage “bearpit” in the build-up to this week’s Ryder Cup, Monday’s opening exchanges between the captains in New York could not have been more cuddly.
While the home fans are expected to bring a spikiness to Bethpage, Europe skipper Luke Donald and his US counterpart Keegan Bradley will deliver the bonhomie.
They live four miles apart in Florida, are members of Jack Nicklaus’ Bear’s Club, and are founding partners in a local restaurant.
Donald talked about their “strong friendship” and a “deep, mutual respect” for each other in his opening remarks.
“Keegan is someone that I’ve rooted for,” said Donald. “If he did well in a tournament, won a tournament, I would text him. We sometimes play practice rounds together, we’ve had dinners together.”
In return, Bradley gushed: “There are not many people I like more in the golf world than Luke Donald.
“I feel lucky to have Luke on the opposite side because we send each other texts, we joke around. I love hanging out and having a drink with Luke Donald.”
Their thoughts echoed a surreal calm at Bethpage’s famed Black Course, with spectators not allowed on to the property until Tuesday.
It is then that Europe’s players will get a first taste of the New York support, with Donald’s dozen set to play all 18 holes of this hilly course on Long Island, about 40 miles east of Manhattan.
And they could be ‘welcomed’ by thousands of fans in the stand that looms over the first tee and the adjacent 18th green. But will it be as intimidating as the cauldron created by the almost 5,000-seat stand that horseshoed the first tee at Rome in 2023?
Donald is taking no chances and has given his players virtual reality headsets which Rory McIlroy explained can be programmed to replicate the “sights and sounds” the away team are expecting.
Speaking this month, he said: “You can get them to say whatever you want them to say. You can go as close to the bone as you like.”
That’s what Rams edge rusher Jared Verse professed Thursday when asked about returning to play the Philadelphia Eagles before their fans at Lincoln Financial Field.
Verse, the Rams’ top pick in the 2024 NFL draft, sent shock waves through the NFL last January when he said before an NFC divisional-round game that he hated Eagles fans and indicated that the team’s green and white uniforms triggered him.
On game day, Verse encouraged and welcomed the colorful verbiage that came his way, and he recorded two of the Rams’ seven sacks in a 28-22 defeat.
Verse’s words might have incited the Eagles faithful, but based on fan reaction a week later before their team played the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship, Verse earned huge respect.
“My feelings are roughly the same,” Verse said, chuckling. “But like it is with everybody, I respect people that not only respect me but that stand on business. They stood on business with the situation. They came with their energy.
“After the game I tipped my hat off to them, they tipped it back. … I have respect for those fans, I have respect for the players, I have respect for all of them, but I stand on everything I’ve ever said.”
For opposing offensive coordinators, Verse is no longer a problem to attempt to solve on the fly. They have had an entire offseason to draw up schemes to neutralize the 6-foot-4, 260-pound Verse, the 2024 NFL defensive rookie of the year.
Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, left, scores on a 62-yard run in front of Rams linebacker Jared Verse during the Rams’ loss in the NFC divisional playoffs in January.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
From a glamour statistics perspective, it appears to be working. But that does not tell the whole story.
In victories over the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans, Verse made a combined five tackles and delivered three quarterback hits for a defense that has surrendered only one touchdown.
Meantime, fellow edge rusher Byron Young has three sacks and a forced fumble. Rookie Josaiah Stewart got his first sack against the Titans.
Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula noted that Verse remains an impact player.
“You talk about a lot of the attention that he gets,” Shula said. “Some of the success of Byron Young and Josaiah Stewart [has happened] because a lot of that attention is paid to Verse.
“He’ll be the first to tell you he can be more consistent, he can play with better effort and be snap in and snap out. But we think Verse is exactly where we want him to be and expect him to play well.”
Verse said it was frustrating “not being able to say, ‘Oh, I’m making this play, I’m making that play,’” especially when watching other top players who demand similar attention convert opportunities.
“But then you gotta realize, not only am I helping the team, I’m helping my whole defense. I’m helping these guys make the plays,” he said.
Verse, however, said he needed to capitalize on his opportunities.
“I’m getting my one-on-ones,” he said, “I’m getting a pure ‘me-him, who’s-the-better-man play, and I’m not taking advantage of those.
“So this whole week, that’s been my main focus.”
Verse and the Rams will once again attempt to neutralize an Eagles offense that features running back Saquon Barkley, quarterback Jalen Hurts and perhaps the top line in the NFL, which features tackles Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata.
Rams linebacker Jared Verse walks on the field before a win over the Houston Texans at SoFi Stadium on Sept. 7.
(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)
Last season, in a November victory over the Rams, Barkley amassed 302 total yards, including 255 rushing. He scored on runs of 72 and 70 yards.
In the divisional round, Barkley rushed for 205 yards and scored on runs of 62 and 78 yards.
“All you have to do is eliminate the explosives,” Verse said. “We take away the explosives, both of those games are very winnable.”
So Verse is eager to play the Eagles again. And to show that like other great players, he can overcome extra attention and make plays.
“The greats get that attention,” he said, “The greats break through it. … I just have to pass this next phase, this next wall, this next mountain.
“That’s the only thing I’m focused on. Once I pass that, we’re cooking with oil again.”
Downing Street later stressed that ‘the UK and Israel are longstanding allies’ despite their differences.
Published On 11 Sep 202511 Sep 2025
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has criticised Israel’s “man-made famine” in Gaza following a controversial meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in London.
“They must stop the man-made famine from worsening further by letting aid in and halting their offensive operations,” a Downing Street spokesperson said following the meeting on Wednesday.
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Starmer “implored Israel to change course” in Gaza, the spokesperson said.
The rare rebuke marks one of Starmer’s strongest criticisms of Israel since taking office in July 2024. It also comes as aid groups warn that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza face catastrophic hunger after nearly two years of bombardment and blockade.
Herzog’s visit to London drew widespread criticism in the United Kingdom, with thousands demonstrating outside Downing Street for a second consecutive day, according to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Protesters also gathered at the London-based think tank Chatham House, banging pots and pans as Herzog delivered a speech.
“There’s a genocide happening and the president of that country is in our country and being welcomed here, when nobody is happy about it,” a protester told Al Jazeera.
“This is not diplomacy,” said another protester.
“You are aiding and abetting a genocide – and this man is not welcome in our country.”
The meeting between Herzog and Starmer came a day after Israel launched an air strike on Qatar, a close ally of the United States and the UK, that targeted a Hamas leadership delegation.
The Downing Street spokesperson said Starmer told Herzog the strike on Doha was “unacceptable” and condemned it as “a flagrant violation of a key partner’s sovereignty”.
Despite the sharp words, the spokesperson added that “the UK and Israel are longstanding allies”.
Speaking after his meeting with Starmer, Herzog confirmed the two leaders had “argued out of respect”.
“Things were said that were tough and strong,” Herzog said, adding, “Clearly, we can argue, because when allies meet, they can argue. We are both democracies.”
Herzog also said that he had invited the UK to send “a fact-finding mission” to Israel “to study the situation in Gaza on the humanitarian level”.
Herzog previously said publicly that the “entire [Palestinian] nation” was responsible for the October 7 attacks on Israel, and two months later, he was witnessed personally signing artillery shells due to be fired into Gaza.
In parliament earlier on Wednesday, Scottish National Party leader Stephen Flynn asked: “What does it say of this prime minister that he will harbour this man whilst children starve?”
Starmer defended his decision to meet Herzog, rejecting calls to cut diplomatic ties. “I will not give up on diplomacy,” he said.
Aug. 18 (UPI) — President Trump, as you sit down with President Lee Jae Myung on Aug. 25, you must not be swayed by his dangerously naive stance on “respect” for North Korea‘s political system. I say this not as a politician or a pundit, but as a soldier and practitioner/strategist who has spent his life confronting the nature of authoritarian regimes and understanding what it takes to resist them. President Lee’s position, that South Korea should affirm “respect” for the North’s totalitarian system and renounce unification by absorption, is not only strategically misguided but also morally bankrupt. It plays directly into Kim Jong Un‘s political warfare playbook, undermines the very purpose of the ROK/U.S. alliance, and sends a chilling message to 25 million oppressed Koreans living under tyranny.
Let’s be crystal clear: North Korea (with its Workers Party of Korea) is not a legitimate political system (which is why many of us write “north” in the lower case, though our editors often correct this). It is not a state that deserves our diplomatic courtesies or rhetorical deference. It is a mafia-like crime family cult masquerading as a government. It is a totalitarian regime that has committed, and continues to commit, crimes against humanity, as documented exhaustively in the 2014 United Nations Commission of Inquiry report. These are not allegations. They are facts backed by satellite images, eyewitness testimony, and escapee accounts. We are talking about gulags, torture chambers, public executions, and enforced starvation. To “respect” such a system is to betray the Korean people in the North who suffer daily under its jackboot.
President Lee’s argument is that by affirming respect and renouncing absorption, he can create space for inter-Korean dialogue and reduce tensions. But this is a fantasy built on hope, not strategy. The Kim family regime does not seek coexistence. It seeks domination. It does not want peace. It wants submission. It does not seek reconciliation. It seeks leverage. Every time a South Korean leader or American president makes conciliatory gestures without demanding reciprocal action, Kim Jong Un sees it not as good faith, but as weakness. He exploits it to gain legitimacy, extract economic concessions, and drive wedges into our alliance.
President Lee says he is not seeking unification by absorption. Fine. But he also says he “respects” the North’s political system. That is where the real danger lies. Because the more we normalize the abnormal, the more we embolden the regime to harden its rule. What the Korean people in the North deserve is not the international community’s respect for their captors, but solidarity with their longing for liberation. They deserve a unified Korea, not by force, but by freedom. That is not absorption. That is self-determination.
President Trump, you know what it means to negotiate from a position of strength. You know how dangerous it is to give away leverage before the other side has made a single concession. Do not allow your personal rapport with Kim Jong Un, or your desire for a legacy-defining deal, to cloud your judgment. You called Kim “rocket man” before you exchanged “love letters.” But love letters won’t free the Korean people, and respect for the regime won’t bring peace.
President Lee’s gestures, halting propaganda broadcasts, telling activists to stop sending leaflets and restoring the 2018 military agreement, may seem like confidence-building measures. But without reciprocity, they are simply appeasement. Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister and a key regime mouthpiece, has already dismissed Lee’s outreach as a “pipe dream.” That should tell us everything we need to know about Pyongyang’s intentions.
The ROK/U.S. alliance must remain grounded in shared values, freedom and liberty, human rights, and the rule of law. Any strategy that begins by legitimizing the enemy’s political system undermines those very values. You would never “respect” ISIS’s caliphate or al-Qaeda’s ideology. Why offer respect to a regime that systematically enslaves its own people and threatens nuclear war?
To be clear, no one is advocating war. We are advocating clarity of purpose and unity of message. Our strategic objective must remain what it has always been: the peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula under a liberal democratic system that guarantees the rights and dignity of all Koreans. That does not require invasion. It requires principled resistance to tyranny and a long-term strategy to support internal change, what some might call a Korean-led, values-based unification.
You have the power to set the tone for this summit. Do not give Kim Jong Un the propaganda victory of seeing the leader of the free world align with a South Korean president who chooses appeasement over accountability. Instead, reaffirm the alliance’s moral foundation. Remember the image of Ji Seung Ho holding up his crutches at your first State of the Union address to inspire all of us with his escape from the North. Speak directly to the Korean people in the North: We have not forgotten you. We will not abandon you. We do not “respect” your oppressors. We believe in your future.
Mr. President, history will remember what you say in that room with President Lee. Will you echo his message of concession? Or will you stand firm on the principles that made America great and the alliance strong?
I urge you, do not be persuaded by words that excuse oppression. Instead, speak truth. And let that truth be a beacon to all Koreans, North and South, who still believe in freedom.
David Maxwell is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel who has spent more than 30 years in the Asia Pacific region. He specializes in Northeast Asian security affairs and irregular, unconventional and political warfare. He is vice president of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy and a senior fellow at the Global Peace Foundation. After he retired, he became associate director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. He is on the board of directors of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and the OSS Society and is the editor at large for the Small Wars Journal.
The Foothill League doesn’t have to take a back seat to any league when it comes to tradition and success, from producing state champions to being the league where Hall of Fame coaches Harry Welch and Mike Herrington once saw huge success.
All seven schools that are part of the William S. Hart Union High School District took part Saturday in the first Foothill League media day at Saugus High. There’s much to admire about the league, including that all seven schools have athletic trainers and six of the seven head coaches are also full-time teachers.
Valencia running back Brian Bonner on why he stayed four years at the same high school: “The coaches showed me a lot of love the past four years. If I’m doing fine at Valencia, there’s no reason to leave and go somewhere else.” pic.twitter.com/mK9rJx9vAQ
Hart, Canyon and Valencia have produced their share of NFL players. And this season, Valencia has the talent to make a run in Southern Section Division 2 or 3 with the return of running back Brian Bonner, a Washington commit, and quarterback Brady Bretthauer.
Coach Larry Muir is entering his 20th season as head coach and still teaching four classes of U.S. history each day. “He’s a lot nicer in the classroom,” Bretthauer joked. “He picks on the football player.”
Bretthauer also revealed how he motivates his linemen to block. “If I get sacked, no In-N-Out,” he said.
Even though Muir is challenged daily to balance his time and commitment from teaching to coaching football, Muir said he wouldn’t want it any other way. “I love being in the classroom,” he said. “I literally don’t feel I go to work. “
The rivalries in the league guarantee the sports-crazed Santa Clarita Valley weekly entertainment. About the only issue is a lack of stadiums. Canyon and Valencia have stadiums and College of the Canyons also hosts games.
“It’s playoffs every week,” Golden Valley coach Dan Kelley said. “There are no slouches.”
Golden Valley will have a four-year starter in lineman Evan Nye, a 6-foot-3, 250-pound senior.
Castaic is turning to junior Aidan Mojica, a former tight end, as its new quarterback. There’s a promising sophomore linebacker in Lucas Duryea, who will be eligible at the end of September after transferring from Chaminade.
West Ranch has a first-year head coach in TJ Yonkers. Its top returning defensive player is Max Piccolino, who had 15 1/2 sacks last season.
Carson Soria, a former receiver, is moving to quarterback for Canyon. He’s also the punter, so beware of trick plays.
Hart quarterback Jacob Paisano will be trying to get the ball to junior Matix Frithsmith in a variety ways, whether Frithsmith is playing running back or slot receiver. Two of Hart’s players are the sons of principal Jason D’Autremont.
Saugus has the son of Valencia principal Kullen Welch playing for them, which should make for an interesting game when those two schools play. Beckham Welch is an offensive lineman for the Centurions.
Saugus coach Jason Bornn, who organized the media day, wondered how many championships would be won if the talent in the area was concentrated at one or two schools rather than seven.
“If we only had one or two high schools, Mater Dei and St. John Bosco wouldn’t have a chance,” he said.
What’s the difference between Harvard and UCLA when it comes to fighting President Trump’s attacks?
It may come down to how much Gavin Newsom wants his shot at the White House.
Harvard appears to be on the brink of caving to the president’s demands around claims of antisemitism and a host of issues that most would describe as policies for inclusiveness and diversity, but which Trump derides as “woke,” whatever that means.
The storied university may pay out a huge settlement — rumored to be about $500 million — to pacify an administration increasingly bent on domination of American institutions. Armed with that success, the president has targeted UCLA by freezing more than $500 million in federal grants and demanding a payout of about $1 billion.
“We will not be complicit in this kind of attack on academic freedom on this extraordinary public institution,” Newsom said recently. “We are not like some of those other institutions that have followed a different path.”
Let’s hope that’s true.
Technically, the University of California is run by the Board of Regents, of which Newsom is a member. But Newsom has so far appointed or reappointed several voting members, and you’re not going to convince me that the rest will go rogue on this decision on how to battle for the soul of UCLA, one of the most important the board will ever make.
And deciding to capitulate not only looks bad, but has terrible consequences that would dog a candidate Newsom. Not to mention crippling California as a whole.
Harvard may hold a place in the American psyche as the best of the best, but when it comes to actual impact, UCLA and the University of California system are in an entirely different league. More than 1 million Californians hold a degree from a UC, with about 200,000 currently enrolled across the system. Each year, UCLA alone contributes more than $2 billion to the local economy, and adds to the body of human knowledge with its unparalleled research in ways that money cannot quantify.
“With all respect to Harvard, the University of California dwarfs Harvard in terms of size and scale and the impact on the country,” state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) told me. “When you look at the UC just in terms of science and healthcare and helping to birth Silicon Valley, helping to birth the pharmaceutical industry, the UC has a cultural, educational and economic relevance unlike any other institution on the planet.”
The stakes are simply higher for California. Harvard, a private university, can not only withstand more financially, but ultimately matters less. UCLA, with great respect to UC Berkeley, is the “people’s university,” as Zev Yaroslavsky puts it. He’s a former L.A. County supervisor and current director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.
“There is a difference between a Harvard and a UCLA, or UC Berkeley or UC San Diego or University of Michigan,” he said, and if the president managed to extract his pound of flesh, “it would bankrupt the No. 1 public university in the United States.”
The problem is this is a lose-lose situation. If the university settles, it is going to be forced to pay a tribute of hundreds of millions of dollars. While it may be able to lower the purposefully debilitating $1 billion Trump is demanding, it will still pay a price that damages it for years to come. But at least it will know the number.
If the university doesn’t settle, it risks years of litigation with no certainty of an eventual win.
On Tuesday, a federal court in a separate lawsuit ordered the administration to unfreeze more than $80 million in funding that is currently being withheld. But even with that win, the entire UC system remains in jeopardy of the president’s agenda, and there is no reason to believe the Supreme Court would side with California if or when the case made it that far.
But even if UCLA were to settle, what’s to stop Trump from coming back next year for another bite? As Yaroslavsky points out, give a bully your lunch money once, and they’ll keep coming back for more.
“There’s always a temptation to negotiate and work it out,” said Wiener, the state senator. “I don’t think that that’s an option here.”
Neither do I, though the business-minded decision would be to cut a deal. But we also have a larger issue to consider.
Education is resistance to authoritarianism, and crushing it has long been a goal of the far right. Point being, educated, free-thinking folks often prefer diversity and democracy.
“We have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities in this country,” he said. And here we are.
If the university of the fourth-largest economy on the planet signals that it can’t stand up to this, what university will risk it?
“California needs to say, ‘No, we’re not going to give him control over the UC, we’re not going to pay him taxpayer dollars as extortion,’” Wiener said. “If California can’t say no, then I don’t see who can.”
So once again, California — and Californians — are a line of defense. It’s up to us to let our leaders know that we don’t want our taxpayer-funded universities to cave to this assault, and that we expect our governor to fight.
Famed Tejano singer-songwriter and master accordionist Leonardo “Flaco” Jiménez has died. He was 86.
Jiménez’s family shared the news of the musician’s death on his official Facebook page Thursday night. A cause of death was not disclosed.
“It is with great sadness that we share tonight the loss of our father, Flaco Jiménez. He was surrounded by his loved ones and will be missed immensely,” his family wrote. “Thank you to all of his fans and friends — those who cherished his music. And a big thank you for all of the memories. His legacy will live on through his music and all of his fans. The family requests privacy during this time of sadness and grievance.”
Over his more than seven decades in the music industry, the San Antonio native garnered six Grammy Awards, received a National Medal of Arts from President Biden and established himself as a pioneering accordion virtuoso who helped nationalize the popularity of Tejano and conjunto music in the U.S.
Jiménez is perhaps best known for his work with the Tejano music supergroup Texas Tornados, which included the talents of Freddy Fender, Doug Sahm and Augie Meyers. Texas Tornados won the Mexican/Mexican-American Performance Grammy in 1990 for their song “Soy de San Luis.” The band’s Spanglish style is on full display in their most popular track “(Hey Baby) Que Pasó?”
In 2022, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, led by Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, included the 1989 hit in its list of nominees to Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry, in an effort to increase Latino representation in the U.S.
Castro, a San Antonio native, shared a statement on Facebook regarding Jiménez’s death.
“I am saddened by the passing of San Antonio music legend Leonardo ‘Flaco’ Jiménez,” he wrote. “He was a pioneer in conjunto music — receiving a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, National Medal of Arts, and a place in the National Recording Registry for his work. Texas is proud of his legacy. May he rest in peace.”
Jiménez’s 1992 album, “Partners,” was inducted into the National Recording Registry in 2020.
“People used to regard my music as cantina music, just no respect,” Jiménez told the Library of Congress. “The accordion was considered something like a party joke … I really give respect to everyone who helped me out on this record, and I’m flattered by this recognition.”
His skills on the “party joke” of an instrument were so well recognized that the famed German musical instrument manufacturer Hohner collaborated with Jiménez in 2009 to create a signature line of accordions.
“The music world has lost a true legend. Flaco Jimenez was a global ambassador for Tex-Mex Conjunto music, bringing its vibrant sound to audiences around the world,” Hohner wrote in a social media post following Jiménez’s death. “His passion and virtuosity on the three-row button accordion inspired generations of musicians across cultures and continents. Since 1976, Flaco was a proud partner of Hohner, a relationship built on mutual respect and a shared love for music. It was an incredible honor to work alongside such a talented, humble, and gracious artist.”
Jiménez was born on March 11, 1939, in San Antonio to a family with a storied musical background. He first began performing at age 7 with his father, Santiago Jiménez, who himself was a pioneering figure in the conjunto movement. At 15, Flaco appeared in his first recording with the musical group Los Caporales.
He went from local fame to modest international recognition on the folk scene when musicologist Chris Strachwitz recorded him for his Arhoolie label, and after being featured in a 1974 Les Blank film on Texas-Mexican border music.
Then in 1976, Ry Cooder tapped him to be a member of his Chicken Skin Revue. Jimenez worked with Cooder on several projects, including the soundtrack to the 1982 film “The Border,” which starred Jack Nicholson.
He won the first of his three Grammy Awards for best Mexican-American performance in 1986 for his album “Ay Te Dejo en San Antonio” and his last in the category in 1999 for his work with the supergroup Los Super Seven. He also won Grammys for his solo albums “Flaco Jiménez” in 1994 and “Said and Done” in 1999, as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.
The list of artists with whom Jiménez collaborated is as long as it is distinguished and includes Bob Dylan, Carlos Santana, Dwight Yoakam and Linda Ronstadt.
Jiménez played the accordion on the Rolling Stones’ “Sweethearts Together,” a Tex-Mex-infused ballad off of their 1994 album, “Voodoo Lounge.”
Jiménez’s success and recognition far surpassed anything he could have imagined for himself, he told The Times in 1994.
“I thought that it was always just going to be a local thing. I’d only hear my dad and other groups in San Antonio, or even here just in the barrio,” he said. “I think that audience started changing when I began to ‘bilingual’ a lot of stuff and started playing rock ‘n’ roll and with a little country to it. Then the reaction of the people, not just the Chicanos but the Anglos, was stronger.”
Speaking with The Times in 1996, Jiménez said he was delighted that crossover with country had helped to bring the distinctive sound of accordion-based Tejano music to a wider audience.
“It’s more respected and more listened to than ever before. I’m satisfied. At the level Tejano or conjunto music is now, we can communicate with the mainstream,” he said.
Reflecting on how far the reach of conjunto had come, Jiménez recalled one of his earliest and most impactful memories introducing the genre across the globe.
“Conjunto or Tex-Mex music was not known at all. We went on tour to Switzerland, and when I got to the concert hall there was just one microphone and one chair. They thought I was going to give a concert with pura acordeon — just the accordion,” he said.
“I said, ‘Hey, where’s the rest of the amps and whatever?’ And they managed to get a drum set so we did our thing. Then the audience noticed, ‘Hey, this is fun!’ And it got really wild. Because when I play, I’m really just having a party with the audience.”
Times staff writer Fidel Martinez contributed to this report.
Darrell Doucette didn’t mean any disrespect. All the U.S. flag football star wanted to do in an interview that went more viral than any of his numerous highlights was to fight for his sport.
So when he told TMZ in 2024 that he is “better than Patrick Mahomes” at flag football for his IQ of the sport, the generally soft-spoken Doucette wasn’t trying to issue any challenges. Watch the two-time world champion throw touchdowns, catch them, snap the ball and play defense all in the same game and it’s clear he prefers to let his game speak.
“It wasn’t about me vs. them,” said Doucette, who is known in the flag football world by his nickname “Housh.” “It was about flag football, putting eyes on this game.”
With preparations ramping up for the 2028 Olympics, flag football just wants its respect.
Respect for the sport that is no longer just a child’s stepping stone to tackle football.
Respect for its established players who have already won every tournament there is and have eyes for more.
U.S. wide receiver Isabella “Izzy” Geraci runs with the ball during a game against Australia at the USA Football Summer Series at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
“It’s not your mom’s flag football anymore,” said Callie Brownson, USA Football’s senior director of high performance and national team operations.
Flag football has graduated out of backyards and into the Olympics, where the sport will debut in L.A. More than 750 athletes from 10 countries from the youth level to senior national teams gathered at Dignity Health Sports Park last weekend to preview the Olympic future at USA Football’s Summer Series, where the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams played friendlies against Canada, Australia, Germany and Japan.
The sport’s growth domestically and internationally came in part through major investment from the NFL, and the league could play a major role in the Olympics: NFL players are allowed to participate in Olympic competition. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was among the NFL stars who immediately took notice as the NFL most valuable player said he would “absolutely love” to play if given the opportunity.
“So it’s not us vs. them or them vs. us. It’s us together as one teaching each other.”
— Darrell Doucette, flag football star, about NFL players potentially competing in the sport at the 2028 L.A. Olympics
Doucette loved hearing the conversation. The New Orleans native grew up playing the sport when seemingly no one else bothered to care. To hear NFL players taking an interest now? It feels like all he ever wanted.
“We’re welcoming those guys,” Doucette said. “We don’t have no issue with it. We just want a fair opportunity. We want those guys to come out and learn because there’s things that we’re going to need to teach them … and there’s things that they can teach us. They can teach us how to run routes and how to cover and do other different things. So it’s not us vs. them or them vs. us. It’s us together as one teaching each other.”
U.S. wide receiver Ja’Deion High evades an Australian defender during the USA Football “Summer Series” at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Olympic flag football is played with five players per side on a 50-by-25-yard field. Teams have four downs to reach midfield and four more to score from inside midfield. The basic tenants of offensive football remain the same from its tackle counterpart: throw, catch, run.
But players don’t juke the same way their tackle counterparts can, wide receiver Ja’Deion High said. When the former Texas Tech receiver was learning the sport, he was stunned when defenders still pulled his flag after what he believed were his best moves. He had to learn flag football’s unique hip dips and flips to keep his flags away from defenders.
The adjustment on defense could be even more difficult. Defenders cannot hinder an opposing player’s forward progress. The NFL’s most mundane hand-check would draw a penalty in flag football.
“The athletic ability [of an NFL player], I’m not questioning,” said defensive back Mike Daniels, a former cornerback at West Virginia. “But the IQ aspect, the speed of the game is completely different.”
USA Football, the governing body of U.S. flag football responsible for selecting the national team, has not outlined how NFL players will fit into the tryout process for the 2028 Olympic cycle. But with the Games scheduled for July 14 to July 30, the one-week flag competition could overlap with the beginning of NFL training camps. Even preparations to learn the new sport and practice its unique schemes would take valuable offseason time away from NFL players.
U.S. wide receiver Laval Davis, left, attempts to catch a pass as an Australian player defends during the USA Football Summer Series on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley was ready to burst into patriotic song at the mention of representing the United States in the Olympics, but when reminded that he might have to miss part of training camp for it, he backed off immediately. He spoke directly into a video camera to assure Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh that the job that pays him $5.4 million on a four-year rookie contract is all he needs.
USA Football has remained in contact with the NFL about how to integrate professionals, said Brownson, who worked for the Cleveland Browns for five seasons, including three as the assistant wide receivers coach. With the Games still three years away, USA Football is focused on keeping doors open to all prospects and offering educational opportunities for potential players to become familiar with flag football.
“The cool thing about our process is when you come out to trials, there is no name on the back of your jersey,” Brownson said. “You get a number and you have the same opportunity to try out as the person next to you. … We’ll just be excited to have the best team that we could but I always do and will always stand up for who we currently field.
“They’re the best flag football players in the world, both men and women, and they deserve their flowers, too.”
The U.S. men’s national team is the five-time defending International Federation of American Football (IFAF) world champions. Since Doucette made his national team debut in 2020, the U.S. men are undefeated in international tournaments with gold medals at two world championships (2021, 2024), the 2022 World Games and the 2023 continental championship.
U.S. wide receiver Amber Clark-Robinson scores a touchdown against Australia at the USA Football Summer Series at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)
Led by quarterback Vanita Krouch, the women’s team is 33-1 in the last six years. The U.S. women have won three consecutive IFAF world championships and the 2023 continental title while finishing second at the 2022 World Games.
Krouch has become an international flag football star after a four-year basketball career at Southern Methodist. Examining talent transfers from other sports has helped strengthen the USA Football athlete pipeline as the organization researches the best qualities for flag football.
Baseball and softball players who can whip passes from odd arm angles can thrive in a game that features multiple quarterbacks. The U.S. national teams have former basketball, soccer and track and field stars.
The sport values agility and elusiveness. While the NFL’s 40-yard dash is the premier test for speed, it may be less valuable in flag football, Brownson said. The perfect flag football player combines that straight-line speed with quickness.
“There’s such an art and a craft and a different style of dance that we do,” Krouch said. “I say tackle football is like hip hop, krump dancing. … We ballet dance. It’s finesse, it’s clean, it’s creative.”
The quarterback served as an offensive coordinator in the 2023 NFL Pro Bowl, the first version of the All-Star game to feature a flag football format. Leading the NFC team to victory, Krouch loved sharing flag football’s unique route combinations. She noticed how the NFL’s best showed their respect for her sport by enthusiastically learning the different nuances.
The Pro Bowl experience was one of many surreal moments for Krouch in her nearly two-decade career of playing flag football. From playing in a local league, the 44-year-old has become a multi-time gold medalist. She never thought this sport she sometimes teaches in her elementary physical education classes could become this big.
U.S. defensive back Laneah Bryan, left, tries to pull a flag off an Australian player during the USA Football Summer Series on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
The announcement that flag football would officially debut in the 2028 Olympics brought it to even greater heights. No question Krouch wants to play in the Games.
But the competition at tryouts every year gets 10 times harder, two-time national team member Ashlea Klam said. The 19-year-old plays flag football on a scholarship for NAIA-level Keiser University and recognizes no one is guaranteed a spot each year as the talent pool grows. It will be even more difficult to make the 10-person Olympic roster.
As each year’s tryouts get more competitive, Doucette sees his hope for the sport coming true. He knows the better prospects are a sign that more people are paying attention to flag football. If in three years at BMO Stadium, the eyes are fixated on another quarterback leading the United States at the Olympics, Doucette will consider that still mission accomplished.
“No matter if I’m a part of the team or not, I will still be around the game,” Doucette said. “That’s my goal is still to be there, in general, no matter if I’m playing or watching.”
WAILUKU, Hawaii — A Rams–Jalen Ramsey reunion might not be in the offing.
Coach Sean McVay on Tuesday reiterated his respect for the star cornerback who helped the Rams win Super Bowl LVI, but for the first time he indicated that there might be too many “obstacles” to making a trade with the Miami Dolphins for the three-time All-Pro.
Ramsey is due to earn $24.3 million this season, and his salary-cap number will increase substantially over the next few seasons, according to Overthecap.com.
“Usually, those are scenarios and situations that you have to have plans in place prior to executing some of the decisions that have occurred,” McVay said, perhaps referencing the contract adjustment quarterback Matthew Stafford received and the signing of free-agent receiver Davante Adams. “Definitely don’t want to rule anything out… but there would be some obstacles that are real that are in the place of maybe preventing that from occurring.”
The Rams are set to open the season with a cornerback group that includes returning starters Darious Williams and Ahkello Witherspoon, with Cobie Durant, Emmanuel Forbes Jr., Josh Wallace and Derion Kendrick also competing for playing time.
The Rams recently waived Kendrick, who was due to earn $3.4 million in the final year of his rookie contract, but re-signed him Tuesday, probably for a one-year veteran minimum contract.
Kendrick is in Maui for the Rams minicamp, which featured a 30-minute jog through Tuesday.
“It was really just kind of a financial business deal,” McVay said, adding that he, general manager Les Snead and defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant had communicated with Kendrick their desire to keep him in the fold before he was waived.
McVay did indicate that talks with running back Kyren Williams’ agent regarding a possible extension were progressing.
“We’re getting closer to hopefully finding a conclusion to this,” McVay said. “Now, until that’s actually agreed upon from both sides, we’re really in the same boat. … So, we’re trying to be able to solve that, and if we’re able to land that we’ll be excited about that.”
Neither left tackle Alaric Jackson nor newly signed tackle D.J. Humphries are with the team in Maui.
The Rams signed Humphries last week because Jackson is dealing with blood-clot issues for the second time in his pro career. In March, Jackson signed a three-year contract that includes $35 million in guarantees.
“He was able to communicate that he was feeling some things in his lower leg, and he ends up going and getting a scan and it revealed that was the case,” McVay said. “You pray for him to be able to have a healthy, safe recovery, and we’re really just taking it a day at a time with him.
“What we did want to be able to do in the meantime was be proactive about a contingency plan. … D.J.’s a guy that we’ve got a lot of respect for. Obviously, familiarity with him just playing against him and he’s a veteran. Felt like that was definitely the right move for our team in the meantime.”
Etc.
The Rams conclude their minicamp Wednesday with a public workout at War Memorial Stadium … Rams veterans on Tuesday helped coach in a flag football camp for high school students. Rookies worked with Habitat for Humanity to rebuild homes in Lahaina that were lost to wildfires in 2023.
Tourists travelling to Belgium are literally picking apart centuries of history in the fairytale-esque city, where authorities have now pleaded with visitors to show some ‘respect’
15:54, 30 May 2025Updated 16:23, 30 May 2025
The illuminated tower of the Church Of Our Lady in Bruges at night (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Most travellers leave a European city break with a fridge magnet or maybe a cute vintage scarf, but it turns out some people are taking much more damaging keepsakes – bits of the actual street.
That’s what’s happening in Bruges, the fairy-tale-like city in Belgium that’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Officials are now begging tourists to stop stealing the city’s historic cobblestones, which date back to the Middle Ages.
Bruges, which attracts over 8 million visitors every year, is best known for its chocolate shops, charming canals, and old-world vibes. But behind the picture-perfect views, locals say the city is literally being picked apart by overbearing tourists who want to take a piece of it home.
The city is literally being picked apart by overkeen tourists who want to take a piece of it home.(Image: Getty Images)
Franky Demon, a city councillor, says Bruges is losing between 50 and 70 cobblestones every month. And while it might seem harmless to lift a loose one from the ground, replacing them costs €200 (£168) per square metre – a price that’s quickly adding up.
“We ask for nothing but respect,” he told The Brussels Times. “Walking in Bruges means treading on centuries of history. Please leave these stones where they belong.”
The lake of love – a romantic beauty spot(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
It’s not just the cost – the theft is damaging some of the city’s most iconic areas, including the Grand Place, Vismarkt, the Gruuthuse Museum and the Lake of Love known as Minnewater – a romantic beauty spot that’s sadly seeing more empty patches than ever.
While heritage plays a huge part in the city’s charm, it’s also a safety issue. With so many of Bruges’ visitors exploring the town on foot, gaps left by missing stones are becoming trip hazards, turning scenic strolls into risky ones.
The conversation has moved to reddit(Image: Getty Images)
Over on Reddit, both tourists and locals have been weighing in with suggestions to fix the problem. Some have called for fines and tougher penalties, while others say replicas should be sold in gift shops to stop people from taking the real deal.
CCTV has also been suggested, but for many users, it’s baffling as to why anyone would want to steal a cobblestone in the first place.
People have even tried to deter tourist (Image: Getty Images)
One local shared: “I once caught a tourist digging a stone out of the street. I told them horses have been s***ting on it for decades. They didn’t listen and took it anyway.”
The cobble chaos is just one example of overtourism hitting major European destinations. Bruges has already slashed cruise ship arrivals to limit footfall. Meanwhile, Venice has doubled its tourist tax and Palma has capped tour group sizes.
So next time you’re on a city break – settle for the fridge magnet, yeah?
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