The press has often labeled Mon Laferte a “femme fatale” — a seductive woman who inflicts distress upon her love interests.
Nearly two decades into her singing career, the Chilean singer-songwriter has learned to embrace the old-fashioned trope of the wizened seductress in “Femme Fatale,” her ninth studio album, which she released in October.
“I came to the conclusion that there’s a perception of me as a woman who is really liberated — that’s why it’s dangerous. [She’s] a person who is sure of herself and that generates a lot of insecurity in other people,” said Laferte in a Zoom call, just after she attended the 2025 Fashion Awards with designer Willy Chavarria in London. (“I went to Camden and took a photo next to [Amy Winehouse’s] statue,” she noted, citing inspiration in the late R&B star.)
Laferte reckons with her dangerous womanhood on “Femme Fatale:” a compilation of jazzy, cabaret pop ballads, elevated by the roaring theatrical vocals she made famous in such past hits as “Tu Falta de Querer” and “Mi Buen Amor.” Prior to releasing the album, Laferte notably starred as Sally Bowles in a Mexico City production of the famous American musical “Cabaret.” It was a crash course on theater — which heavily influenced Laferte’s now most penetrating record to date.
Each song in “Femme Fatale” feels like a descent into a speakeasy. It tells stories of loves past — which at times feel nauseating for the 42-year-old singer, born Norma Monserrat Bustamante Laferte in Viña del Mar, Chile.
Among them is “Otra Noche de Llorar,” in which she mourns an unrequited love; then there’s “El Gran Señor,” in which she scorns a cowardly abuser of women. The record climaxes with “1:30,” a briskly improvised tune, in which Laferte balances stories of abuse, self-pleasuring and fake orgasms with historical themes — like the global industrial revolution, as well as Pinochet’s Caravan of Death in 1973.
“The song is really political and everything is my own story,” said Laferte, who admits that even she finds her song difficult to listen to. “The last part is the hardest — where I talk about a conquest — to the point where I can’t listen to that song. It’s really uncomfortable. It’s hard to talk about something so shamelessly.”
“Femme Fatale” is a deeply personal journey that leads to Laferte making peace with her past. The record concludes with the lively orchestral number “Vida Normal,” in which she grapples with the revelation that she’s turning into her mother — especially after giving birth to her first child in 2022 with husband Joel Orta, guitarist for Mexican band Celofán.
“It was a really honest way of saying that, after everything, I just want a normal life,” said the five-time Latin Grammy winner.
But before the Chilean femme fatale can settle into a vida normal, she will first embark on the 2026 Femme Fatale tour, which includes dates in Latin America and later the United States. Laferte’s first stop will be in her hometown of Viña del Mar for the International Song Festival. “It’s like returning home,” she said.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Mon Laferte is a five-time Latin Grammy winner.
(Mayra Ortiz)
You were just in London for the Fashion Awards with Willy Chavarria, who was nominated for designer of the year. How was that experience? I came as a guest of Willy’s. We had dinner and saw a lot of super fashionable people, many artists with their super cool looks. Fashion has always been interesting to me ever since I was a little girl, outside of singing, dancing and playing the guitar. I liked to draw women and their outfits, dresses, things like that… Perhaps that’s where my dreams began to be a designer. Aesthetically in my last album, “Autopoiética,” it was all baroque — I was a bit like Marie Antoinette, I wore large dresses in my shows. This time in “Femme Fatale,” [the style is] bohemian, with sequins and makeup running.
“Femme Fatale” is intense and sexy. Why did you decide to go with that phrase for the album title? ”Femme fatale has a bit of a negative weight to it. You think of a scornful woman that always brings misfortune and does evil things. And it’s a name that the press has given me: La Femme Fatale Chilena.
And I liked it. I like this title because I like to play with the concepts of a dangerous woman. I like that it’s dramatic, because I like music that is theatrical and dark. It doesn’t mean that I am that woman who is secure and free — I have been in various moments in my life, not all the time. But I like that people label me in that way.
How would you describe the musical style? I wanted to take [the album] into the world of jazz so that it could sound nocturnal, so it could sound melancholic. In the last couple of years I’ve been listening to a lot of jazz, so why not make an album that I like to listen to? When I was a little girl, I listened to jazz in my home because of my mom, but I felt like it was boring. Later when I was in my teens I was like: “This is elevator music.”
But as I kept growing, I got rid of that prejudice. When I began to listen to jazz without any judgment, I began to find poetry and a lot of madness as well. I think it’s the improvisation aspect; you have to be very daring to enter the void, because your improv is coming and it’s to the death. That’s something that I’m passionate about. I think it’s demented and poetic at the same time.
This fall you were in a production of the musical “Cabaret” in Mexico City. How was that experience and did it inspire your music for “Femme Fatale”? Yes! I feel like they complemented each other. I feel that my role as Sally Bowles in the theater fed that universe of “Femme Fatale.” There’s a song in the album, “Vida Normal,” that is a song that could go in a musical and that was the intention. My experience with theater was wonderful and I had a lot of fun and learned a lot in the intensive process.
I wanted to talk about the song, “Vida Normal.” You hint at becoming more like your mother and living a normal life, which feels a bit at odds with the “Femme Fatale” theme. Was that intentional? Totally. Because the first song, “Femme Fatale,” describes me up to the present: I always bring chaos, I always destroy what I love, I’m an expert in self-sabotage. But I have been letting those things go with time, thankfully. With the songs in “Femme Fatale” I went deeper into my past, in order to kill that persona.
[“Vida Normal”] is really honest and represents me in the present. I look in the mirror and I don’t recognize myself when I’m barefaced or before getting in the shower — my body changed, especially after motherhood. It’s true that I see my mother’s face and it’s hard to recognize that. I’m getting old. I’m at that age where I don’t recognize myself as either young, or old, in my 40s. It appeared beautiful to close that album that way. It was a really honest way of saying that after everything, I just want a normal life.
One song that caught my attention was the jazz song “1:30.” You talk about fantasies that women don’t often talk about. What was the thought process behind this song? I think those have been the hardest lyrics I’ve ever written. I touch on a lot of microtopics — masturbation, fake orgasms — I think many of us have gone through that. I talk about abuse, sexual abuse, the Caravan of Death that occurred during the dictatorship of Pinochet in Chile. The song is really political and everything is my own story. The last part is the hardest, where I talk about a conquest, to the point where I can’t listen to that song. It’s really uncomfortable. It’s hard to talk about something so shamelessly.
I talked with my musicians and told them that I wanted this to be fast, almost desperate, almost like the bass being the protagonist so that it gives you a sense of urgency, like [we’re] fleeing in a way. We played together like 8 times and I liked that take.
The album also features Natalia Lafourcade and Silvana Estrada on “My One and Only Love.” What was it like to work with these different voices that are often compared to each other? As all three of us sang, I realized that we are so different, each our own universe. I guess we relate to being singer-songwriters but we are distinct universes. I think that [comparison] has to do with us being women; there’s so many male-led bands that one can say are similar too.
We’re all good friends. I’ve known Natalia for many years now and we love each other and they’re all talented women. All three voices sound very beautiful together and I love harmonizing. It was precious to sing together in a song that I find to be the most beautiful in the album. It’s sweet and honest. It talks about the difficulties between partners — and it describes me and my husband. At the end of the day we love each other and continue to be present.
WASHINGTON — As he shook President Obama’s hand and pulled him in for what he thought was a private aside, Vice President Joe Biden delivered an explicit message: “This is a big f——— deal.” The remark, overheard on live microphones at a 2010 ceremony for the Affordable Care Act, caused a sensation because open profanity from a national leader was unusual at the time.
More than 15 years later, vulgarity is now in vogue.
During a political rally Tuesday night in Pennsylvania that was intended to focus on tackling inflation, President Trump used profanity at least four times. At one point, he even admitted to disparaging Haiti and African nations as “ shithole countries ” during a private 2018 meeting, a comment he denied at the time. And before a bank of cameras during a lengthy Cabinet meeting last week, the Republican president referred to alleged drug smugglers as “sons of b——-s.”
While the Biden incident was accidental, the frequency, sharpness and public nature of Trump’s comments are intentional. They build on his project to combat what he sees as pervasive political correctness. Leaders in both parties are seemingly in a race now to the verbal gutter.
Vice President JD Vance called a podcast host a “dips—t” in September. In Thanksgiving remarks before troops, Vance joked that anyone who said they liked turkey was “full of s—-.” After one National Guard member was killed in a shooting in Washington last month and a second was critically injured, top Trump aide Steven Cheung told a reporter on social media to “shut the f—- up” when she wrote that the deployment of troops in the nation’s capital was “for political show.”
Among Democrats, former Vice President Kamala Harris earned a roar of approval from her audience in September when she condemned the Trump administration by saying “these mother———- are crazy.” After Trump called for the execution of several Democratic members of Congress last month, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said it was time for people with influence to “pick a f——— side.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the administration cannot “f—- around” with the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who on Monday announced her Senate campaign in Texas, did not hold back earlier this year when asked what she would tell Elon Musk if given the chance: “F—- off.”
The volley of vulgarities underscore an ever-coarsening political environment that often plays out on social media or other digital platforms where the posts or video clips that evoke the strongest emotions are rewarded with the most engagement.
“If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at the social media companies,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said Tuesday night at Washington National Cathedral, where he spoke at an event focused on political civility. “It’s not a fair fight. They’ve hijacked our brains. They understand these dopamine hits. Outrage sells.”
Cox, whose national profile rose after calling for civility in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination in his state, approved an overhaul of social media laws meant to protect children. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the state law.
Tough political talk is nothing new
Tough talk is nothing new in politics, but leaders long avoided flaunting it.
Recordings from Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration, for instance, revealed a crude, profane side of his personality that was largely kept private. Republican Richard Nixon bemoaned the fact that the foul language he used in the Oval Office was captured on tape. “Since neither I nor most other Presidents had ever used profanity in public, millions were shocked,” Nixon wrote in his book “In the Arena.”
“Politicians have always sworn, just behind closed doors,” said Benjamin Bergen, a professor at the University of California-San Diego’s Department of Cognitive Science and the author of “What the F: What swearing reveals about our language, our brains, and ourselves.” “The big change is in the past 10 years or so, it’s been much more public.”
As both parties prepare for the 2026 midterm elections and the 2028 presidential campaign, the question is whether this language will become increasingly mainstream. Republicans who simply try to imitate Trump’s brash style do not always succeed with voters. Democrats who turn to vulgarities risk appearing inauthentic if their words feel forced.
For some, it is just a distraction.
“It’s not necessary,” said GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who is retiring next year after winning five elections in one of the most competitive House districts. “If that’s what it takes to get your point across, you’re not a good communicator.”
There are risks of overusing profanity
There also is a risk that if such language becomes overused, its utility as a way to shock and connect with audiences could be dulled. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has talked about this problem, noting that he used swear words in his early routines but dropped them as his career progressed because he felt profanity yielded only cheap laughs.
“I felt like well I just got a laugh because I said f—- in there,” he said in a 2020 interview on the WTF podcast with fellow comedian Marc Maron. “You didn’t find the gold.”
White House spokesperson Liz Huston said Trump “doesn’t care about being politically correct, he cares about Making America Great Again. The American people love how authentic, transparent, and effective the President is.”
But for Trump, the words that have generated the most controversy are often less centered in traditional profanity than slurs that can be interpreted as hurtful. The final weeks of his 2016 campaign were rocked when a tape emerged of him discussing grabbing women by their genitals, language he minimized as “locker room talk.” His “shithole” remark in 2018 was widely condemned as racist.
More recently, Trump called a female journalist “piggy,” comments that his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, defended as evidence of a president who is “very frank and honest.” Trump’s use of a slur about disabled people prompted an Indiana Republican whose child has Down syndrome to come out in opposition to the president’s push to redraw the state’s congressional districts.
On rare occasions, politicians express contrition for their choice of words. In an interview with The Atlantic published last week, Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., dismissed Harris’ depiction of him in her book about last year’s presidential campaign by saying she was “trying to sell books and cover her a—.”
He seemed to catch himself quickly.
“I shouldn’t say ‘cover her a—,” he said. “I think that’s not appropriate.”
MIAMI — Democrat Eileen Higgins won the Miami mayor’s race on Tuesday, defeating a Republican endorsed by President Trump to end her party’s nearly three-decade losing streak and give Democrats a boost in one of the last electoral battles ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Higgins, 61, will be the first woman to lead the city of Miami. She spoke frequently in the Hispanic-majority city about Trump’s immigration crackdown, saying she has heard of many people in Miami who were worried about family members being detained. She campaigned as a proud Democrat despite the race being officially nonpartisan and beat Trump-backed candidate Emilio Gonzalez, a former city manager, who said he called Higgins to congratulate her.
“We are facing rhetoric from elected officials that is so dehumanizing and cruel, especially against immigrant populations,” Higgins told The Associated Press after her victory speech. “The residents of Miami were ready to be done with that.”
With nearly all votes counted Tuesday, Higgins led the Republican by about 19 percentage points.
The local race is not predictive of what may happen at the polls next year. But it drew attention from the two major national political parties and their leaders. The victory provides Democrats with some momentum heading into a high-stakes midterm election when the GOP is looking to keep its grip in Florida, including in a Hispanic-majority district in Miami-Dade County. The area has shifted increasingly rightward politically in recent years, and the city may become the home of Trump’s presidential library.
“Tonight’s result is yet another warning sign to Republicans that voters are fed up with their out-of-touch agenda that is raising costs,” said Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, in a statement.
Some nationally recognized Democrats supported Higgins, including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel traveled to Miami on Sunday and Monday to rally voters for the Democrat who served as a Miami-Dade county commissioner for seven years.
Higgins, who speaks Spanish, represented a district that leans conservative and includes the Cuban neighborhood of Little Havana. When she first entered politics in 2018, she chose to present herself to voters as “La Gringa,” a term Spanish speakers use for white Americans, because many people did not known how to pronounce her name.
“It just helps people understand who I am, and you know what? I am a ‘gringa,’ so, what am I going to do, deny it?” she told the AP.
Republicans’ anxiety grows
Republicans in Florida have found strong support from voters with heritage from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, because they likened some members of the Democratic party’s progressive wing with politicians from the governments they fled. Trump and other GOP members have tapped into those sentiments over the past eight years.
However, some local Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated since November’s elections when Democrats scored wins in New Jersey and Virginia, where both winning gubernatorial candidates performed strongly with nonwhite voters.
The results from those races were perceived as a reflection of concerns over rising prices and the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies.
U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican whose district is being targeted by Democrats and includes the city of Miami, called the elections elsewhere a “wake-up call.” She said Hispanics also want a secure border and a healthy economy but some relief for “those who have been here for years and do not have a criminal record.”
“The Hispanic vote is not guaranteed,” Salazar said in a video posted on X last month. “Hispanics married President Trump, but they are only dating the GOP.”
David Jolly, who is running to represent Democrats in the Florida governor’s race next year, said the mayoral election was good news for Democrats in what used to be a battleground state.
“Change is here. It’s sweeping the nation, and it’s sweeping Florida,” Jolly said.
Miami mayor-elect gains national platform
The mayoral position in Miami is more ceremonial, but Higgins promised to execute it like a full-time job.
The city is part of Miami-Dade County, which Trump flipped last year, a dramatic improvement from his 30 percentage point loss to Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
As Florida’s second-largest city, Miami is considered the gateway to Latin America and attracts millions of tourists. Its global prominence gives Higgins a significant stage as mayor.
Her pitch to voters included finding city-owned land that could be turned into affordable housing and cutting unnecessary spending.
This year marks a critical juncture for the global realisation of the right to education.
In just three weeks, we will start the final four-year countdown to 2030, when the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should have been achieved. That includes SDG 4, which calls for inclusive, equitable, and quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all.
At the heart of the commitment to lifelong learning was the recognition that free primary education alone is insufficient to prepare children to succeed in today’s world.
Early learning opportunities create vital foundations
Early childhood learning has profound long-term benefits for children’s cognitive and social development, educational attainment, health, and employment prospects. It’s also a powerful equaliser. It can narrow early achievement gaps for children from disadvantaged households and place them on a more equal footing with better-off peers.
Giving children access to quality early childhood care and pre-primary education can help get them ready to learn in primary school, supporting them to acquire vital early literacy and numeracy skills.
Despite these benefits, nearly half of all children miss out on early childhood education. In low-income countries, just one in five children has access to preschool.
Secondary education is the key to unlocking more and better human capital
Secondary education is also increasingly important for success in today’s world. Children with secondary education are more likely to find work as adults, earn more, and escape or avoid poverty.
The inclusion in the SDGs of both early childhood and secondary education reflects a broad international consensus that they are essential to children’s development and national progress.
Unfortunately, this consensus is not adequately reflected in international human rights law.
Strengthening children’s right to education
Existing international law guarantees children free and compulsory primary education. However, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) says nothing explicit about early childhood education. Nor does it require states to guarantee every child free secondary education.
While the SDGs are significant political commitments, they do not have the force of law. Countries report on their progress through voluntary national reviews, with no formal mechanism for children to claim redress if governments fail to deliver, nor a plan for ensuring progress beyond the year 2030.
Better legal protection, monitoring and realisation
A strong and clear legal standard in a human rights instrument would have the force of law, be subject to independent monitoring mechanisms, and need not be limited to a specific time period.
This is why Sierra Leone, Luxembourg, and the Dominican Republic moved a resoultion at the UN Human Rights Council calling for the development of a new human rights treaty that makes early years, pre-primary, and secondary education an undeniable part of the right to education.
I am delighted that the resolution was co-sponsored by 49 additional states and that significant progress was achieved during consultations on the initiative in Geneva earlier this year.
The power of international law to effect change
I am under no illusion that a new human rights instrument will offer a panacea to the challenges many states face in delivering a quality education to children. In fact, some people argue that international law in general—and international human rights law in particular—has had its day.
It’s true that the international human rights regime faces significant challenges and serious threats. But universal human rights laws and practices still have a central part to play in defending and advancing human dignity.
International human rights law has shaped legal and public understandings of human dignity and non-discrimination, resulting in improved rights for individuals, including women, children, persons with disabilities, minorities, and other vulnerable groups. Billions of people now possess rights that protect them from practices that had long been common in many societies.
For example, in the decade following the adoption of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, nearly twenty countries, including Sierra Leone, adopted or amended national legislation to raise their minimum age of voluntary recruitment to at least 18.
Human rights treaties can and do influence policy and practice. They also help build political will to ensure that the rights they set out can be enjoyed in practice.
Affirming our commitment to education
As the due date of the SDGs approaches, there is still a wide gap between what we committed to and what we have achieved.
Supporting this new human rights treaty, which will make it clear that the right to education includes learning both before and beyond primary school, is an important way to commit to closing that gap.
It will also provide a much-needed signal that international cooperation to advance human rights is still viable.
So on International Human Rights Day, I urge other UN member states to join Sierra Leone and the other countries supporting an Optional Protocol on the right to education, to ensure that every child has the opportunity to receive a quality, free pre-primary and secondary education.
Travel experts say it’s not too late to book a Christmas getaway and save money as you can cut costs by up to 24% on flights
Nicola Roy Spare Time writer and Mia O’Hare Senior Spare Time Reporter
15:33, 09 Dec 2025
Going on a trip at Christmas could be cheaper than you think(Image: onurdongel via Getty Images)
With Christmas on the horizon, families and solo travellers might fancy ditching the shopping and planning to jet off on a festive break instead. While the countdown is well and truly on and holiday costs are starting to climb, travel experts reckon there’s still an opportunity to snap up a bargain getaway whilst keeping costs down.
Stacey Hamilton, a travel expert at Private Tours England, reckons a brief window in early December presents the prime opportunity for securing an affordable Christmas escape. Even better news – that golden window is now open.
It’s a widespread rumour that December flights come with eye-watering price tags, but fresh research reveals a surprising price drop in the weeks leading up to the festive period, reports the Express.
According to Stacey, the most budget-friendly booking period for Christmas 2025 falls between December 2 and December 17 – a timeframe she claims most holidaymakers completely ignore.
She explained: “People tend to check prices very early or extremely last-minute, but they overlook this eight-to-23-day window where airlines often reduce fares to fill remaining seats. If you want Christmas savings, this is the period you need to keep your eye on.”
What’s the most cost-effective day to secure a Christmas holiday?
Within this sweet spot, Stacey highlighted two particular standout dates: Sunday, December 7 and 14, 2025. She revealed that Sundays consistently deliver below-average prices for both UK and overseas travel, with this pattern being particularly pronounced during the fortnight preceding Christmas.
She said: “Booking on a Sunday is one of the simplest ways to save. In many cases, travellers can cut costs by up to 24% without changing their destination or travel dates.”
Once you’ve secured your booking, Stacey suggests the next move is to pick the right day to jet off. For Christmas 2025, she recommends considering Friday December 12 and 19, two dates that consistently fall within a lower-demand period.
She said: “Flying on a Friday just before the peak Christmas travel week can cut your fare significantly. The 12th and 19th sit at that ideal point where demand hasn’t yet hit its highest level. They’re brilliant for keeping costs down without compromising on dates.”
However, she cautioned that the price rapidly shifts after December 17. She warned: “Once you get inside the final week before Christmas, most airlines increase fares in line with demand.
“Christmas 2025 falls on a Thursday, so that final weekend is going to be extremely busy. If you wait until then, you’ll almost certainly pay more.”
Welcome back to The Times’ Lakers newsletter, where everyone needs to catch up on sleep.
Despite arriving in Boston and Philadelphia at 2:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, respectively, and with some players not falling asleep until 4 a.m., the Lakers salvaged a 2-1 record during their difficult three-game, four-day Eastern Conference road trip. With wins over Toronto and the 76ers, the Lakers (17-6) maintained second place in the West entering the knockout stage of NBA Cup action.
When your job requires so much travel, everyone develops their own hacks. Travel-sized skin-care products hate to see me coming. For Jaxson Hayes, it’s a meticulously planned two-and-a-half-hour nap before every game.
Luka Doncic, for one, could have used one of those this week.
All things Lakers, all the time.
He’s a girl(s) dad
Doncic rubbed his weary eyes, ran his hands through his hair and blinked hard as he tried to piece together the details of the last week. New parents know the feeling.
After missing two games while in his native Slovenia for the birth of his second daughter, Doncic rejoined the team Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia. Doncic posted a photo on social media of new baby Olivia wearing a pink sweater with a heart emoji covering her face.
In his typically reserved way, Doncic is private about his family life, but he carries constant reminders with him. He designed a pink colorway of his signature sneaker in honor of his first daughter, Gabriela. When he presented his autobiographical slideshow to the team earlier this year, he named Gabriela, born in 2023, as the person who changed his life. From writing “Gabriela” on his shoes for games, Doncic inscribed a small G and O with a heart on his shoes Sunday.
“Two girls, they’re going to make my life hell for sure, I know that,” Doncic half-joked. “I’m going to be their security after I retire. All jokes aside, it’s the best thing in the world. I’m just blessed.”
Doncic thanked the Lakers for allowing him to spend time with his family during a major life milestone during the season and his manager Lara Beth Seger for helping him set up the travel. He left L.A. on Monday after the Lakers finished back-to-back games against the Phoenix Suns, flying 12 hours to Slovenia, which is nine hours ahead of L.A.
It was a roller coaster, Doncic said. With a relieved smile, he added: “But it was worth it.”
As a father of two boys, coach JJ Redick understands. When his youngest son Kai was born, Redick handled night duty, feeding and changing the baby for almost two months before the season began. He called it “one of the coolest experiences of my life.”
“[I] somehow came to the gym every day with more energy than I thought was possible despite sleeping in two-hour segments for five or six hours,” Redick said before the game. “So hopefully it would be [the same] with Luka.”
Doncic didn’t miss a beat. He recorded his second triple-double of the season with 31 points, 11 assists and 15 rebounds.
Clutch gene
After LeBron James’ fourth-quarter heroics on Sunday, the Lakers are 8-0 in clutch games, which the NBA defines as within five points inside the final five minutes. They’re the only undefeated team in clutch games, besting even the juggernaut Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Lakers have also played the third fewest clutch minutes in the league and are tied for the second fewest clutch games. When they’re good, they’re really good, blowing out the struggling New Orleans Pelicans or the Dallas Mavericks. When they’re bad, they’re also really bad. Don’t forget the losses to Atlanta, Oklahoma City or Phoenix.
The Lakers have just a plus-2.2 point differential per game, the smallest margin of victory of any team in the top six of either conference. It’s a precarious way to live for a team that hopes to win a championship. The luck may run out soon. Or maybe the Lakers will show that it’s truly a sustainable skill they possess as a group.
But the ability to thrive among chaos is still valuable for the second-place team in the West.
“Most of those games, there have been moments where we could break,” Redick said. “We talk about bending but not breaking all the time.”
The Lakers won both of their games during this road trip in clutch fashion. James was at the center of both wins, firing the game-winning assist to Rui Hachimura against Toronto, then scoring 12 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter against Philadelphia. As James racked up 10 consecutive points in the fourth, center Deandre Ayton, sensing the superstar’s powers rising, stopped celebrating the big shots because he wanted to make sure he could enjoy the show.
“Clutch gene,” Ayton said. “Felt like a movie.”
Ayton could earn a nomination for best supporting actor for his work. Not only was he a perfect seven-for-seven from the field for 14 points, but he had 12 rebounds (10 defensive) with a steal and a block. Redick, who cited defense as the team’s biggest concern entering the three-game trip, praised Ayton for being disruptive in drop coverage, his hustle for loose balls and his willingness to switch onto 76ers star guard Tyrese Maxey.
“Whatever we needed him to do on that end of the floor in the second half, he was great,” Redick said.
The Lakers are first in defensive rating in clutch minutes. The team that Redick said was “basically average to slightly below average” on defense has an 85.7 defensive rating in clutch minutes compared with the overall 116.2 rating that ranks 20th in the league.
After giving up 60 points in the first half, the Lakers held Philadelphia to 48 in the second, and Maxey, who entered the game ranked third in the NBA in scoring, had just five points on two-for-six shooting in the fourth quarter.
On tap
Dec. 10 vs. Spurs (16-7), 7 p.m. PDT, NBA Cup quarterfinals
The Spurs won the most competitive Cup group with an impressive 139-136 win over the Denver Nuggets without Victor Wembanyama, who has been out for three weeks with a calf injury. The star Frenchman could return in time for the knockout round game.
If the Lakers win, they will play the winner of the quarterfinal matchup between Oklahoma City and Phoenix in the West semifinals in Las Vegas at 6 p.m. on Dec. 13. The final is at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 16.
If the Lakers lose, they will play the loser of Oklahoma City-Phoenix in a regular season game on Dec. 11, 12, 14 or 15.
Status report
By popular demand, we’ll start including a brief update on the Lakers’ current injury status.
Marcus Smart: back
The guard’s back issue has lingered for two weeks, but he could return in time for Wednesday’s NBA Cup game, Redick said. The injury progressed from back spasms after the game against the Clippers to “lower back injury management” to “left lumbar muscle strain.”
LeBron James: “old”
James missed the game against Boston because of right sciatica and left foot joint arthritis. The soon-to-be 41-year-old has yet to play in back-to-back games this season, but Redick said the hope is that he will eventually. After missing the first 14 games because of right sciatica, the left foot injury designation cropped up after the Lakers’ NBA Cup win over the Dallas Mavericks. When asked about it, James didn’t seem particularly worried: “It’s called old,” he deadpanned.
Favorite thing I ate this week
The momo platter from Momo Ghar in Toronto. From left to right, the chili momo tossed in a spicy, savory sauce; the tandoori momo; the kurkure (breaded) momo; and the steamed momo.
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
I understand the Toronto hype. The city that everyone told me was the best in the NBA delivered despite bitter cold and snow flurries. Walking 25 minutes in below-freezing temperatures to Momo Ghar in Cabbagetown was well worth it for the momo sampler. The platter featured these Tibetan dumplings tossed in a sweet and savory chili sauce, a tandoori sauce, breaded and deep fried and steamed.
And because I love a sweet treat, I ordered mango creme brulee for dessert. The cardamom spiced cream had me wanting to start an alternative life in Toronto.
On a nippy Monday night at the Zebulon in Frogtown, a man wearing a Jason Voorhees T-shirt steps onto a purple-lighted stage and stands next to a drum set. Audience members, seated in neat rows and cradling cocktails, enthusiastically applaud.
Then they look toward a glowing projector screen. Some clutch their pens, ready to take notes.
“In cinema, three elements can move: objects, the camera itself and the audience’s point of attention,” Drew McClellan says to the crowd before showing an example on the projector screen. The clip is a memorable scene from Jordan’s Peele’s 2017 film, “Get Out,” when the protagonist (Daniel Kaluuya) goes out for a late-night smoke and sees the groundskeeper sprinting toward him — in the direction of the camera and the viewer — before abruptly changing direction at the last second.
During his talk, McClellan screened several movie clips to illustrate key points.
(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)
“Someone running at you full speed with perfect track form, you can’t tell me that’s not terrifying,” McClellan says laughing with the audience.
McClellan is an adjunct professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the cinematic arts department chair at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA). He’s presenting on two of the seven core visual components of cinema — tone and movement — as part of Lectures on Tap, an event series that turns neighborhood bars and venues into makeshift classrooms. Attendees hear thought-provoking talks from experts on wide-ranging topics such as Taylor Swift’s use of storytelling in her music, how AI technology is being used to detect cardiovascular diseases, the psychology of deception and the quest for alien megastructures — all in a fun, low-stakes environment. And rest assured: No grades are given. It’s a formula that’s been working.
“I hunted for these tickets,” says Noa Kretchmer, 30, who’s attended multiple Lectures on Tap events since it debuted in Los Angeles in August. “They sell out within less than an hour.”
Wife-and-husband duo Felecia and Ty Freely dreamed up Lectures on Tap last summer after moving to New York City where Ty was studying psychology at Columbia University. Hungry to find a community of people who were just as “nerdy” as they are, they decided to create a laidback space where people could enjoy engaging lectures typically reserved for college lecture halls and conferences.
Founders Felecia and Ty Freely pose for a photo with Drew McClellan (center) after his presentation.
(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)
“At the end of every lecture, people always come up to us and [say] “I hated college when I was in it, but now that I’m not, I would love to come to a lecture and have access to these experts without having to feel pressured to get a good grade,’” says Felecia, who makes “brainy content” on social media, like explaining the phenomenon of closed-eye visualizations.
Lectures on Tap, which also hosts events in San Francisco, Boston and Chicago, is the latest iteration of gatherings that pair alcoholic beverages with academic talks. Other similar events include Profs and Pints, which launched in 2017 in Washington, D.C., and Nerd Nite, which came to L.A. in 2011 and takes place at a brewery in Glendale. At a time when the federal government is moving closer to dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, AI is impacting people’s ability to think critically, attention spans are shrinking and literacy rates are down, events like Lectures on Tap are becoming more than just a place to learn about an interesting new topic.
“I think folks are passionate about keeping intellectualism alive especially in this age that is kind of demonizing that,” Felecia says. “We’re in the age of people not trusting experts so everyone out there who still does wants to be in a room with their people.”
“And there are a lot of them,” adds Ty. “It is actually alive and well, just maybe not mainstream.”
“In a weird way, this is kind of counterculture,” Felecia chimes in.
Wensu Ng introduces the speaker for the night.
(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)
During his presentation, McClellan broke down key film concepts in layman’s terms for the diverse audience who were mostly composed of film lovers and people who were simply interested in the topic. (Though there were some writers in the crowd as well.) To illustrate his points, he played several movie clips including the 1931 version of “Frankenstein” and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s “28 Weeks Later,” both of which made several people in the audience, including myself, jump in fear.
“This is how you scare the crap out of people,” he said while explaining why seeing a lighted-up character staring into an abyss of darkness is impactful.
Though some patrons like to go to Lectures on Tap events for specific topics they find interesting, others say they would attend regardless of the subject matter.
“I felt really comfortable and I loved the social aspect of it,” says Andrew Guerrero, 26, in between sips of wine. “It felt more like a communal vibe, but at the same time, I miss learning.”
Attendees mingle at the bar.
(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)
He adds, “I can absorb [the information] more because I’m not pressured to really retain it and because of that, I actually do retain it.”
After weeks of trying to secure tickets, which cost $35, Ieva Vizgirdaite took her fiancé, Drake Garber, to the event to celebrate his birthday.
“I didn’t go to college so I don’t have any prior experience with lecturing,” says Garber, 29, adding that he’s interested in film production and is a “big horror fan.” But the fact that “I get to sit and learn about something that I love doing with a pint? Like, that’s amazing.”
The relaxed environment allows the speakers to let their guard down as well.
“I can play with certain elements that I maybe haven’t used in the classroom,” says McClellan, who made jokes throughout his presentation. “It’s definitely looser and getting around people who’ve been drinking, they’ll ask more questions and different types of questions.”
“It’s kind of like mushing up the education into your applesauce — mushing it up in the beer,” says Drew McClellan.
(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)
After the talk is over, bar staff quickly remove the rows of chairs and clear the stage for a concert that’s happening next. Several Lectures on Tap attendees, including the founders, transition to the back patio to mingle. McClellan stays after to answer more questions over drinks.
“This is a nontraditional environment to be enjoying yourself but also learning at the same time,” he says. “It’s kind of like mushing up the education into your applesauce — mushing it up in the beer.”
We were well into our journey from Los Angeles to Chicago, surrounded by cornfields and grain elevators, when the train halted and a voice rang out.
“All right, folks,” said a man on the PA system. “We’ve come to a stop in what appears to be the middle of nowhere.”
To a traveler in a hurry, this is the stuff of nightmares. To a seasoned passenger on the L.A.-Chicago train known as Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, it’s just another day.
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When you board an American long-distance train in 2025, you are trading the airport routine for entry into a locomotive-driven realm where there is neither TSA nor WiFi. And AI might as well stand for aged infrastructure.
There will be delays, often because of passing freight trains. But in the bargain, you are freeing yourself from worry about aerodynamics or the chronic shortage of U.S. air traffic controllers and gaining access to ground-level scenery and idle hours.
You’re also joining a modest trend. Even before this fall’s bout of flight cancellations during the government shutdown, Amtrak had set records for passengers and revenue in fiscal 2024, then again in 2025. Ridership on the Southwest Chief rose 12.6% in the last year. Amtrak’s long-distance trains haven’t caught up with their pre-pandemic numbers yet, but we seem to like them a little more lately.
Passengers board the Southwest Chief at Los Angeles Union Station.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
To learn why, I boarded the Southwest Chief at Los Angeles Union Station on a recent Monday afternoon. I was ready to see a few desert sunsets from the Sightseer Lounge and hear what people say when they have the time to chat with a stranger IRL.
Before long, I had been party to conversations about fear of flying, doctors in Tijuana, how to make beef jerky and how to sleep in a moving metal box. I’d also heard these sentences:
“I like watching the country go by. I draw and I paint,” said passenger Nancy Roeder.
“I’m a fourth-generation model railroader,” said William Angus.
“I’m not going to lie to you. I took his life.”
This last comment came from a fellow traveler, ruefully disclosing an act of self-defense many years ago. No proof was offered, but I believed it. I also found the teller of the story (whom I won’t name) to be good company, thoughtful and generous.
In other words, on a two-day train, you meet people and hear things that you might not on a four-hour flight.
What Paul Theroux wrote 50 years ago in “The Great Railway Bazaar” is still true: “Anything is possible on a train: a great meal, a binge, a visit from card players, an intrigue, a good night’s sleep, and strangers’ monologues framed like Russian short stories.”
Flagstaff by dawn
Passengers relax in the Sightseer Lounge on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
There’s one Southwest Chief departure from Los Angeles every day (and one from Chicago). If everything goes right, the 2,265-mile, 32-stop trip takes about 43 hours.
But only a rookie would count on that. About 60% of the time, the Southwest Chief arrives at least 15 minutes late.
For much of its route through Arizona, the route is flanked by old Route 66 and other lonely desert roads.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Back in 1936, when the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway introduced Southwest Super Chief service between Los Angeles and Chicago, this was a roughly 40-hour journey. The passenger list included plenty of show-biz people and the first stop was in Pasadena.
Nowadays, the Southwest Chief is run by Amtrak (which gets government funding but operates independently enough to be unaffected by recent government shutdowns). There are not so many show-biz people now, not as many frills. Instead of Pasadena, its first stop after Los Angeles is Fullerton, followed by a bend to the northeast. By the time I arrived in the dining car for my first dinner aboard, we were nearing Barstow.
“This way, young man,” lied the server winningly as he steered me to a table. (I am 65. In the dining car, every traveler, no matter how aged, gets greeted as a young man or young lady.)
Since booths hold four people, dining car stewards like Chuck Jones manage the delicate task of putting travelers together. Through PA announcements and whispers in the aisles, he encouraged us to introduce ourselves and keep phones off tables.
He also suggested we steer clear of politics — a tall order when traveling through a government shutdown from a city the president had just called “lawless” to one he had just called “the worst and most dangerous city in the world.”
Surprise: Almost everyone complied.
Over the course of six dining car meals as a solo traveler, I heard no political disagreements and met travelers from their 20s to their 80s.
Claudette Toth, a senior from Massachusetts, estimated that she’d only flown three or four times in her life. William Angus, a 24-year-old returning to Chicago from a pilgrimage to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum told of how much he loved running a 1/87 scale model of the Bakersfield-Mojave rail system, re-enacting operations from February 1953.
Ernie Haecker, of Sante Fe and New York, is a regular on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief train between Los Angeles and Chicago.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
As Angus spoke, Ernie Haecker, a longtime train lover, nodded in understanding, grinning beneath a handlebar mustache. Haecker, 77, an audiologist, told us he takes the train every six weeks, splitting time between Santa Fe and New York. After so many trips, he knows the crew, knows where the train will pause long enough for him to shave, knows he can count on chatting with “a whole panoply of folks every time.” He even knew the spot in Illinois where the train would switch from one old company’s tracks to another’s.
“We just left the old Santa Fe,” he would say when the moment came. “Now we’re on Burlington.”
My dinner on the first night was another happy surprise — a fairly tender and flavorful flat iron steak. There was a vase holding flowers at every table, along with white tablecloth.
A meal is served in the dining car.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Still, nobody should expect a Michelin-star meal in an Amtrak dining car. It’s common for servers to bring out dessert before the main dish (to avoid running behind later) and at one meal, someone forgot my order and I had to start over half an hour later.
By the time we crossed into Arizona that first night, I was back in my roomette nodding off, lulled like a baby atop a washing machine.
We were near Flagstaff when I blinked awake, glad to catch sight of the sunrise and grateful to have a sleeping area of my own.
Arizona sprawl and the Amtrak class system
Roomettes measure about 23 square feet.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Of the three ways you can travel long-distance on Amtrak, the fanciest option is a private room that’s about 50 square feet (including private bath). The cost — about $3,200 for a couple, one way, when I booked — includes meals in the dining cars. (Family rooms, which hold four people but share bathrooms, cost about the same. All rates fluctuate by season and demand.)
That was too pricey for me and my expense account, so I booked a roomette. The roomettes are about half the size of a private room, with dining-car access and upper and lower berths that allow two travelers to lie flat (or one to spread out). These share toilets and showers. This cost me $809. (For a couple, the tab would have been $1,112.)
The third option was coach class, which means sleeping in your seat. It’s a sensible choice if you’re traveling only a portion of the route, and it’s what I did when traveling this route as a college student 45 years ago.
I was intrigued to see that coach fares start at $198 — only a bit more than the starting price for a flight. But no, not intrigued enough.
As a coach passenger, you don’t get access to the dining car (unless there’s room and you’re willing to pay $20-$45 for a meal). Instead, you bring food, buy snacks in the cafe car below the Sightseer Lounge or, if truly desperate, try to arrange a restaurant delivery to an upcoming fresh-air stop.
Fortunately, all classes get access to the Sightseer Lounge, where armchairs and couches face big windows. I’ve heard of lounges getting pretty crowded and ripe on heavily booked trips, but our trained seemed less than half-full. A few coach passengers dozed in the lounge overnight (which is officially forbidden) and nobody seemed bothered.
That first morning, with coffee in hand, I tiptoed into the lounge, sank into an armchair and watched the desert sprawl while wispy clouds clung to the horizon under a brightening sky.
This postcard (or rather Instagram) moment came somewhere between Winslow and Holbrook. I’m told the scenery is more dramatic on the Coast Starlight (from Los Angeles to Seattle) and the California Zephyr (from Emeryville through the Rockies to Chicago). But this comes down to taste. If you like deserts, the Chief is hard to beat. (Though no matter the route, if you like photography, the train is a challenge: no open windows, so you’re always shooting exteriors through glass.)
As Arizona yielded to New Mexico, the dirt seemed to get redder and the ridges rose to form buttes. Along rivers and creeks, bright yellow cottonwood trees congregated in bursts of yellow. Occasionally we’d glimpse small towns and timeworn roadside attractions — a reminder that Old Route 66 basically follows Southwest Chief’s path between the West Coast and Albuquerque, N.M.
Amish in transit, elk at sunset
Travelers head toward seats at Chicago Union Station.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
“Living in L.A., you forget all this space,” said Kim Rinauro, a nurse from Los Feliz. “When you come out and see how vast this is, it really gives you a different perspective.”
“America is so ginormous,” said Jeanine Bass, a softball coach from Costa Mesa who was on her way to see family in upstate New York.
Meanwhile, one end of the observation car had been filled by several women in white bonnets, joined by men with straw hats, footlong beards and no mustaches. Occasionally I’d hear a sort of clapping sound. Amish families. Playing dominoes.
Amish travelers have been using this route for decades, one of the men told me, on their way to and from doctors in Tijuana. Seeking medical treatment that’s more affordable and easier to schedule than in the U.S., they take trains to Southern California, then continue overland across the border.
Just before we made a 45-minute stop at the station, which is surrounded by a grim neighborhood, an Amtrak staffer took the microphone to sternly address the coach-class travelers.
“Coaches: No alcohol,” she said. “If you bring alcohol, you can stay and spend all night here with the transients.” For those in rooms and roomettes, she continued, booze in private rooms is OK, but not in public spaces.
Farther into New Mexico, we passed the other Southwest Chief train, carrying passengers west.
Between Raton, N.M., and Trinidad, Colo., amid a gaudy sunset, we crept past a herd of elk, then plunged into a tunnel. Emerging, we caught a last bit of sunset, some of the most gorgeous miles of the trip.
Yet this, I learned later, is the part of the trip that Amtrak’s chief executive tried to replace with bus service in 2018. The effort failed and that executive is no longer in the job. But the battles in Washington over Amtrak funding and mission never end, which is why so many cars, like the Superliners on the Southwest Chief, were built between 1979 and 1996. Amtrak leaders have set a goal of replacing their older long-distance cars by 2032.
Speaking of hardware: Eventually I tried the shower. It didn’t go well. First, I saw that someone had stolen the shampoo dispenser. Then I couldn’t find a way to cool the scalding-hot water. I stood as far back as I could in the snug compartment and grimaced my way through it.
Missouri, Iowa and Illinois: The final miles
The concourse at Chicago Union Station is grand but quiet.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
On arrival day, I woke just as we reached the station in Kansas City, another gritty neighborhood along the tracks. Our news feeds were filled with fresh reports of nationwide flight delays because of the government shutdown.
Soon we were crossing the Missouri River, roaring through forest and skirting naked farmland where this year’s corn crop had just been cut. Then came Fort Madison, Iowa; the Mississippi River and the beginnings of Illinois. Water towers and grain elevators.
I zipped my bags shut, tipped the roomette attendant and dining car team. Soon I’d be stretching my legs at the Art Institute of Chicago, walking Millennium Park and along the Chicago River, checking out the skyline from Navy Pier.
We pulled into Union Station within an hour of our target time.
Was it a perfect trip? No. But it was full of humanity, scenery and comforting clangs and rumbles. I even liked the lurching way you had to walk down the corridors, adjusting balance as the train shifts. And then, to step off the train after two days into a brisk Chicago afternoon, 2,265 miles from home, having never left the ground? That’s almost magic.
Tracks dominate the view from the last car on the train.
All that talk about the left hand of Justin Herbert, and it’s the right foot of Cameron Dicker that made the difference.
Dicker kicked five field goals Monday night to lift the Chargers to a 22-19 overtime victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in a wild, turnover-filled game at SoFi Stadium.
On a night when the teams combined for eight turnovers — including a career-high four interceptions by Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts — the game fittingly ended with an interception. Tony Jefferson latched onto a pass that was tipped by fellow Chargers defensive back Cam Hart, snuffing out the Eagles’ last chance.
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Sam Farmer breaks down what went right for the Chargers in their 22-19 overtime win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night at SoFi Stadium.
So Dicker’s 54-yard field goal with 6:24 remaining in the extra period provided the margin of victory, just as it was Dicker who forced overtime with a 46-yarder in the waning moments of regulation.
“What a team we have,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said, practically shouting at the postgame podium. “That’s my reaction — what a team we have. They refuse to lose.”
It was practically do or die for a banged-up team that needed to win at least two of its final five games for a realistic chance at the playoffs. Now, the Chargers (9-4) need to win at least one of a brutal four-game stretch — at Kansas City and Dallas, at home against Houston, and a finale at AFC West-leading Denver, which has won 10 in a row.
Opportunity awaits, but it’s among the NFL’s toughest stretch runs.
That said, the Chargers are a tough team. They proved that throughout the near-constant reshuffling of their offensive line, the loss of their top two running backs — one of whom returned Monday night — and the injury to Herbert, who underwent surgery last Monday to repair a fracture in his non-throwing hand.
Harbaugh deemed the performance, “Great with a capital G.”
Despite a week of outside speculation about his availability, Herbert conceded after Monday’s game that he knew even before surgery that he wasn’t going to miss a game. He played with a small cast on his left hand and was even using that bandaged appendage to stiff-arm defenders. He was his team’s leading rusher with 10 carries for 66 yards.
“It felt like we were in a movie where the quarterback is doing these things and you get to the point where you go, ‘OK, this is getting a little unrealistic,’” Harbaugh said. “That’s what it felt like to me.”
Nonetheless, Herbert absorbed a beating. He was sacked a career-high seven times and hit 11 more, and didn’t have a healthy left arm to break his fall, so more than once he was violently slammed to the turf.
“He definitely sets the standard,” Chargers guard Mekhi Becton said of the quarterback. “For him to get surgery a week ago and be back on the field today, it’s contagious, for sure. It makes you want to go hard for him.”
Philadelphia was in prime position to forge another tie in overtime. The Eagles (8-5) answered Dicker’s fifth field goal by driving to the Chargers’ 41, the outer edge of kicker Jake Elliott’s range. They wanted to get a little closer, however, so the offense stayed on the field for a fourth and four.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert tries to get rid of the ball while being sacked during the first half Monday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
That’s when Chargers defensive lineman Odafe Oweh was flagged for a neutral-zone infraction, giving the visitors a first down. A couple of completed passes and the Eagles had a first down on the 17 — and that’s when Hurts was intercepted for a fourth and final time.
Hurts had just two interceptions in his first 12 games this season. At one point in the second quarter, he had both an interception and a fumble on the same play. His pass over the middle was picked off by Da’Shawn Hand, who subsequently fumbled. Hurts got the ball back but he too fumbled, and the Chargers wound up with it.
“This was a Super Bowl QB, so we have a lot of respect for what he’s done,” Jefferson said of Hurts, who was Most Valuable Player in the victory over Kansas City last February. “But we wanted to come out and showcase our brand of football.”
All the Chargers defenders were awarded a game ball, as was defensive coordinator Jesse Minter.
Herbert got one as well.
“I just think about the guys in that locker room,” he said. “They do it for us. So many guys fight through things worse than what I’m going through. It’s the least I can do to show up and give my best.
“I draw a lot of inspiration from those guys, and hopefully I can have an impact on them too.”
The quarterback showed his grit — decidedly not a left-handed compliment.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert grimaces in pain after being tackled by Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell in the second half Monday night.
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Sunday hosted the Kennedy Center Honors and praised Sylvester Stallone, Kiss, Gloria Gaynor, Michael Crawford and George Strait, the slate of honorees he helped choose, as being “legendary in so many ways.”
“Billions and billions of people have watched them over the years,” Trump, the first president to command the stage, said to open the show.
The Republican president said the artists, recognized with tribute performances during the show, are “among the greatest artists and actors, performers, musicians, singers, songwriters ever to walk the face of the Earth.”
Since returning to office in January, Trump has made the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which is named after a Democratic predecessor, a touchstone in a broader attack against what he has lambasted as “woke” anti-American culture.
Trump said Saturday that he was hosting “at the request of a certain television network.” He predicted the broadcast scheduled for Dec. 23 on CBS and Paramount+ would have its best ratings ever.
Before Trump, presidents watched the show alongside the honorees. Trump skipped the honors altogether during his first term.
Asked how he got ready for the gig, Trump said as he moved along the red carpet with his wife, first lady Melania Trump, that he “didn’t really prepare very much.”
“I have a good memory, so I can remember things, which is very fortunate,” the president said. “But just, I wanted to just be myself. You have to be yourself.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, one of several Cabinet secretaries attending the ceremony, said his boss “is so relaxed in front of these cameras, as you know, and so funny, I can’t wait for tonight.” Lutnick arrived with his wife, a member of the Kennedy Center’s board.
Trump appeared on stage three times to open and close the show, and after intermission. He also talked up each artist in prerecorded videos that played before their tributes.
Trump was both gracious and critical in the comments he delivered from the stage, lavishing the honorees with effusive praise but at times showing a mean streak. After returning from intermission, he said he’d toured some of the construction projects he has launched to renovate the performing arts center. And he said it was a “fantastic” night.
“Well, we’re really having a good time tonight,” Trump said. “So many people I know in this audience. Some good. Some bad. Some I truly love and respect. Some I just hate.”
Since 1978, the honors have recognized stars for their influence on American culture and the arts. Members of this year’s class are pop-culture standouts, including Stallone for his “Rocky” and “Rambo” movies, Gaynor for her “I Will Survive” feminist anthem and Kiss for its flashy, cartoonish makeup and onstage displays of smoke and pyrotechnics.
Strait is a leader in the world of country music and Crawford, a Tony Award-winning actor, is best known for starring in “Phantom of the Opera,” the longest-running show in Broadway history.
Trump said persistence is a trait shared by the honorees, several of whom had humble beginnings.
“Some of them have had legendary setbacks, setbacks that you have to read in the papers because of their level of fame,” he said from the stage. “But in the words of Rocky Balboa, they showed us that you keep moving forward, just keep moving forward.”
He said many of the politicians, celebrities and others in the audience shared the trait, too.
“I know so many of you are persistent,” Trump said in his opening. “Many of you are miserable, horrible people. You are persistent. You never give up. Sometimes I wish you’d give up, but you don’t.”
The ceremony was expected to be emotional for the members of Kiss. The band’s original lead guitarist, Ace Frehley, died in October after he was injured during a fall. During the tribute to Kiss, a lone red guitar that emitted smoke was placed on stage in remembrance of Frehley, who was known for having a smoke bomb in his instrument.
The program closed with a rousing performance by Cheap Trick of Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Nite” that brought the audience to its feet.
Stallone said receiving the honor was like being in the “eye of a hurricane.”
“This is an amazing event,” he said on the red carpet. “But you’re caught up in the middle of it. It’s hard to take it in until the next day. … but I’m incredibly humbled by it.”
Crawford also said it was “humbling, especially at the end of a career.”
Gaynor said it “feels like a dream” to be honored. “To be recognized in this way is the pinnacle,” she said after arriving.
Mike Farris, an award-winning gospel singer who performed for Gaynor, called her a dear friend. “She truly did survive,” Farris said. “What an iconic song.”
Trump has taken over the Kennedy Center
Trump upended decades of bipartisan support for the center by ousting its leadership and stacking the board of trustees with Republican supporters, who elected him chair. He has criticized the center’s programming and the building’s appearance — and has said, perhaps jokingly, that he would rename it as the “Trump Kennedy Center.” He secured more than $250 million from Congress for renovations of the building.
Asked Sunday night about a possible renaming, Trump said it would be up to the board. Still, he joked at one point about the “Trump Kennedy Center.”
Presidents of each political party have at times found themselves face to face with artists of opposing political views. Republican Ronald Reagan was there for honoree Arthur Miller, a playwright who championed liberal causes. Democrat Bill Clinton, who had signed an assault weapons ban into law, marked the honors for Charlton Heston, an actor and gun rights advocate.
During Trump’s first term, multiple honorees were openly critical of the president. In 2017, Trump’s first year in office, honors recipient and film producer Norman Lear threatened to boycott his own ceremony if Trump attended. Trump stayed away during that entire term.
Trump has said he was deeply involved in choosing the 2025 honorees and turned down some recommendations because they were “too woke.” He said Sunday that about 50 names were whittled down to five. While Stallone is one of Trump’s Hollywood ”special ambassadors” and has likened Trump to George Washington, the political views of Sunday’s other guests are less clear.
Honorees’ views about Trump
Strait and Gaynor have said little about their politics, although Federal Election Commission records show that Gaynor has given money to Republican organizations in recent years.
Simmons spoke favorably of Trump when Trump ran for president in 2016. But in 2022, Simmons told Spin magazine that Trump was “out for himself” and criticized Trump for encouraging conspiracy theories and public expressions of racism.
Fellow Kiss member Paul Stanley denounced Trump’s effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, and said Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were “terrorists.” But after Trump won in 2024, Stanley urged unity.
“If your candidate lost, it’s time to learn from it, accept it and try to understand why,” Stanley wrote on X. “If your candidate won, it’s time to understand that those who don’t share your views also believe they are right and love this country as much as you do.”
Superville and Italie write for the Associated Press. Italie reported from New York.
Welcome back to the Times of Troy newsletter, where we’re left wondering if anyone will remember the Alamo (Bowl) after this bowl season.
USC will face Texas Christian in its first trip to the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 30, the night before the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff kick off. Throw in the fact that the Horned Frogs finished in seventh place in the Big 12, and you don’t exactly have a marquee, made-for-TV matchup.
But for USC’s coach, the Alamo Bowl should carry a certain significance — if only for the fact that it’s where his reputation as a budding offensive mastermind was born.
Fight on! Are you a true Trojans fan?
Sixteen years ago this December, Lincoln Riley was on his way to a team meeting ahead of Texas Tech’s bowl game, when defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill pulled him aside. Mike Leach, the Red Raiders’ head coach had been suspended for the bowl for allegations of player mistreatment — and would be fired days later. McNeill, the interim coach, wanted Riley to call plays for him.
Riley was 26, and reeling from the news about his mentor.
“An opportunity arose out of a not-very-positive situation,” Riley said Sunday.
It turned out to be a life-changing one for the Red Raiders’ receivers coach. McNeill already knew that Riley was a savvy young coach. But right away, McNeill told me in 2022, his sense of how to lead in such an adverse situation was special.
“I just remember him very confidently taking over the duties,” McNeill said. “He was the youngest guy on the staff, and he had to galvanize the staff immediately. He was the youngest guy on staff, and he did it with no hesitation.”
Then came the game. It was the first time Riley had been on the sideline for a game, having spent most of his time for Texas Tech in the booth. But his confidence came across right away, McNeill said.
After a chaotic few weeks in which Texas Tech could have unraveled, the Red Raiders instead put up 571 yards, its second-highest output of the entire season. Trailing midway through the fourth quarter, Texas Tech mounted two touchdown drives in the final eight minutes. On the second, Riley convinced McNeill to go for it twice on fourth down to ice the game. They converted both.
Years later, McNeill was still in awe of Riley’s performance that night.
“I wish I would’ve recorded the play-calling he did that night,” McNeill said. “I’ve heard him call a lot of games. But that night was amazing to me.”
Years later, with Riley set to return to the scene of his special night, it wasn’t lost on him how every step he’s taken since as a coach started in San Antonio.
“If you’re fortunate enough to get some pretty cool opportunities in this business,” Riley said Sunday, “you have to have some nights like that where you look back and say, you know, if this didn’t happen, would we have gotten these opportunities? Would we have coached at some of these places or experienced what we have?
“That’s definitely one for me that I still remember, like it was just yesterday.”
Texas Christian … by the numbers
TCU quarterback Josh Hoover.
(Eric Christian Smith / Associated Press)
Weeks of bowl projections went out the window when the Alamo Bowl picked TCU with its Big 12 selection. So what should you know about the Horned Frogs?
242.8. The number of passing yards allowed per game by TCU this season.
3,472. The number of passing yards from TCU quarterback Josh Hoover this season, sixth-most in the nation.
This game is shaping up to be a barnburner through the air. The Horned Frogs have been even worse defending the pass down the stretch, having allowed at least 280 passing yards in four of their past six games. Of those six teams only one (Baylor) has a passing attack anywhere near as dynamic as USC.
Both quarterbacks could put up huge numbers. Jayden Maiava threw for 41 fewer yards than Hoover this season, but also five fewer interceptions.
3.93. TCU’s yards per rush attempt this season, which ranks 97th nationally. USC’s biggest vulnerability has been defending the run, but that shouldn’t be a problem in the bowl game. TCU bookended its season with two big games on the ground — 258 yards against North Carolina and 238 against Cincinnati. But during the 10 games in between, the Horned Frogs averaged just 109.5 yards rushing per game, which would rank in the bottom 15 in college football.
9. The number of rushing touchdowns allowed by TCU this season. While the Horned Frogs have struggled to defend the pass, they’ve been stout against the run. Only 10 teams in college football have allowed fewer rushing scores.
The Biletnikoff case for Lemon
Makai Lemon makes a catch while under pressure from Iowa defensive back Zach Lutmer.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
The nation’s top receiver will be named next Friday, and while I wouldn’t begrudge anyone for suggesting fellow finalist Jeremiah Smith of Ohio State is the better pro prospect — objectively, he is — I think it’s quite clear Makai Lemon has had a better overall season than any pass-catcher in college football.
Let’s start with the basic numbers, even though those only tell part of the story: Lemon had 79 catches to lead the Big Ten, seven more than Smith and 15 more than any other conference wideout before the Big Ten championship game. He had 1,156 yards — 214 more than Smith, who was third in the Big Ten, and 11 receiving touchdowns, which tied with Smith for the conference lead.
The deeper you go into the details, the more the numbers favor Lemon. No one is more dangerous with the ball in his hands as he averaged 6.4 yards after the catch per reception this season. That’s almost two full yards more than Smith.
Lemon outperformed Smith on contested catches, pulling down 66% compared to just 46% for Smith. He was also harder to bring down, forcing 20 missed tackles to Smith’s 13.
It’s no disrespect to Smith, who will be a top-10 NFL draft pick soon enough. But Lemon has been the better receiver on the field this season. And he should get the hardware to prove it.
Bishop Fitzgerald scores a touchdown after intercepting a pass against the Missouri State Bears.
(Luke Hales/Getty Images)
—Notre Dame was left out of the Playoff. So now what? Before we consider what this means for the rivalry, I should note that I think it was the wrong decision for the committee to keep the Irish out of the field after Alabama had just been trounced in the SEC title game. But now that it has happened, you can imagine the feelings of schadenfreude around USC. The snub of the Irish only proves how much they need a non-conference opponent like USC, as my colleague Bill Plaschke pointed out before the final CFP rankings. If only there was a collective of similar teams that Notre Dame could have joined to help boost its strength of schedule. Oh well.
—The Big Ten media voted five Trojans onto the all-conference team. Lemon was obviously on the first team, as was safety Bishop Fitzgerald. Tight end Lake McRee made the second team after his best season yet at USC, and wideout Ja’Kobi Lane made the third team despite dealing with injuries through a large chunk of the year. Kicker Ryon Sayeri also made the third team after coming out of nowhere as a walk-on. Any one of USC’s running backs would’ve made the top three teams, if they’d started the full season. Maybe there was a case, at one point, for Maiava; though, the top three of Julian Sayin, Fernando Mendoza and Dante Moore are pretty competitive at quarterback. Otherwise, it seems like no Trojans had much of a case that they were left out.
—After the Miller brothers, King and Kaylon, were standouts of the 2025 season, USC is adding a third brother to the mix. Kayne Miller, a running back at Calabasas High, signed last week with USC as a preferred walk-on, starting from the bottom just like his brothers did. King and Kaylon should be getting scholarships come January, and Kayne will have the perfect blueprint to follow in their footsteps.
—Penn State hired Iowa State’s Matt Campbell as its head football coach after a roller coaster search process that tiptoed along the edge of disaster. But after all that, the Nittany Lions actually ended up with the guy who likely would’ve been USC’s coach, had Riley turned the job down in 2022. Now we’ll get to see how Campbell translates to the Big Ten after all.
Olympic sports spotlight
Aside from a loss to No. 1 Nebraska last month, USC women’s volleyball hadn’t lost a match since Oct. 11 — nearly two full months — when the fourth-seeded Trojans welcomed Cal Poly to Galen Center in the second round of the NCAA tournament last week.
But the Trojans immediately dropped their first two sets Friday. And despite winning the next two, the hole they’d dug proved to be too deep.
The upset defeat put a damper on what was an otherwise strong season for the Trojans, who finished 25-7 and 15-5 in the Big Ten.
Portal polling
Transfer portal season is fast approaching, and while USC is planning to be more selective in this cycle, there are still spots to fill with portal players.
With those needs in mind, I want you to tell me what you think: Which of these five options would you put at the top of USC’s transfer portal wish list?
Sarah Snook, left, and Dakota Fanning, who star in the Peacock miniseries “All Her Fault.”
(Victoria Will / For The Times)
If you’re looking for twists and turns this holiday season, look no further than Peacock’s “All Her Fault,” a show whose plot you could not possibly have seen coming from the pilot episode. The show, which stars Sarah Snook of “Succession,” follows a wealthy family in the wake of their young son being kidnapped. But nothing, as you might imagine, is exactly as it seems.
Credit goes to my wife, who first recommended it and nudged me at every mention of the mental load mothers deal with on a daily basis, which the show points to often.
Until next time …
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at ryan.kartje@latimes.com, and follow me on X at @Ryan_Kartje. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Chinese exports climb as exporters reroute shipments to other markets amid slump in shipments to the US.
Published On 8 Dec 20258 Dec 2025
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China’s annual trade surplus in goods has topped $1 trillion for the first time, with plunging exports to the United States amid a tariff war more than compensated for by shipments to other markets, new data shows.
Figures released by China’s General Administration of Customs on Monday showed the trade surplus for the first 11 months of the year hit $1.08 trillion in November, as exports climbed 5.9 percent year-on-year that month, reversing a 1.1 percent decline the month prior.
The leap came despite a continued slump in exports to the US, which fell 28.6 percent to $33.8bn last month, the data showed.
Beijing and Washington have been locked in a bitter trade war involving hefty tariffs during the second administration of US President Donald Trump, forcing Chinese exporters to pivot to other markets – although the leaders of the world’s two largest economies agreed to pause the hostilities during a meeting in South Korea in October.
“China’s trade surplus this year has already surpassed last year’s level, and we expect it to widen further next year,” Zichun Huang of Capital Economics wrote in a note.
Huang said the weakness in exports to the US was “more than offset by shipments to other markets”.
Exports were “likely to remain resilient”, Huang added, due to trade rerouting and rising price competitiveness for Chinese goods, as deflation pushed down its real effective exchange rate.
French warnings over surplus
Exports have proven critical to China’s economy as it grapples with a debt crisis in the property sector and sluggish domestic spending, impacting its growth.
But China’s towering trade surplus has rankled leading Western trading partners, with French President Emmanuel Macron the latest to threaten action if the imbalance is not addressed.
Macron, fresh from a state visit to China, in an interview with the French newspaper Les Echos on Sunday, warned that Europe could follow the US in imposing tariffs on Beijing if the surplus were not reduced in the coming months.
Exports to the European Union grew by an annual 14.8 percent last month, while shipments to Australia rose 35.8 percent. Meanwhile, the fast-growing Southeast Asian economies took in 8.2 percent more goods over the same period.
That boosted China’s trade surplus to $111.68bn in November, the highest since June, from $90.07bn recorded the previous month, and above a forecast of $100.2bn.
Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, wrote in a note that November’s rebound of export growth had helped to “mitigate the weak domestic demand”, amid a slowdown in economic momentum being partly driven by weakness in the property sector.
In an indication of China’s weak domestic consumption, new customs data showed that imports rose 1.9 percent on-year in November, less than had been predicted.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame is peppered with players who finished long, distinguished careers by donning a Dodgers uniform, their performance dwindling as their age increased. Greg Maddux, Rickey Henderson, Juan Marichal and Eddie Murray are among those who leap to mind.
An exception was Jeff Kent, who Sunday received 14 of 16 possible votes by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee, the only player among eight on the ballot with enough for induction into Cooperstown.
With unmatched power as a second baseman and an unrelenting approach to his craft, Kent was a Dodger for the last four seasons of his 17-year career, solidifying his Hall of Fame credentials statistically while also serving as a curmudgeonly leader on a roster crowded with young stars such as Matt Kemp, Russell Martin, Andre Ethier and James Loney.
“It’s a moment of satisfaction of the things I did right in my career, the things I consistently stuck to,” he told MLB Network. “The hard work, the gratification of playing the game the right way. I love the game.”
The son of a motorcycle police officer and a product of Huntington Beach Edison High, Kent became emotional during a news conference at the 2005 MLB Winter Meetings when it was announced that he’d signed a two-year, $17 million contract with the Dodgers.
“This is the third time I’ve tried to get with the Dodgers,” he said at the time. “I want to be on a team with the potential to win because I’m running out of time. This team has that mentality.”
The Dodgers never won a World Series during Kent’s tenure, but he quickly fell into the role of a veteran leader, making himself available to the media after tough losses to shield younger players from the glare.
He said what was on his mind, sometimes to a fault, once suggesting that legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully “talks too much.”
Maybe that’s why Kent getting the Hall of Fame nod from a list of candidates that included all-time home run leader Barry Bonds, 354-game winner Roger Clemens, 509-home run slugger Gary Sheffield, 1980s stars Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy, and Dodgers icon Fernando Valenzuela was unexpected.
Even Kent was surprised.
“The emotions are overwhelming — unbelievable,” Kent said. “I didn’t even expect it. For me, there were so many quality guys that the committee had to argue through and vote for. I’m grateful that they considered me and gave it a shot at putting me in.”
Valenzuela, Bonds, Clemens and Sheffield each had fewer than five votes, meaning they will not be eligible the next time their era is considered in 2031. They can be nominated once more at that time, but will not be eligible for consideration if they again fall short of five votes.
All of the candidates already had been spurned by the Baseball Writers Assn. of America. Seventy-five percent of the votes are necessary for induction, and Kent never received even 50% during his 10 years on the BBWAA ballot that ended in 2023.
“The time had gone by, and you just leave it alone, and I left it alone,” Kent said. “I loved the game, and everything I gave to the game I left there on the field. This moment today, over the last few days, I was absolutely unprepared. Emotionally unstable.”
Kent was named National League most valuable player in 2000 with the San Francisco Giants, the team with which his career is most associated. He batted a career-best .334 with 33 homers and 125 runs batted in that season and drove in more than 100 runs in each of his six seasons batting behind Bonds.
He said he plans to enter the Hall of Fame wearing a Giants cap.
“The turning point in my career was with Dusty Baker, the manager I got with in San Francisco,” said Kent, who played in college at California. “He motivated me to get the peak performance out of me.”
Kent finished with 377 career homers, 351 as a second baseman, the most ever for the position. He also is the only second baseman to collect more than 100 RBIs in eight seasons.
As a Dodger, he hit 75 homers and batted .290 in more than 2,000 plate appearances. His last manager with the Dodgers was Joe Torre, who described Kent’s impact on the franchise.
“He’s one of those players whose actions are supposed to make you understand what he thinks,” Torre said. “It’s the old pro thing.”
