L.A. Burns
Plus: Israel seizes Greta, the Pope reads Hayek, and more...
Riots in Los Angeles: President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles following three days of clashes between protesters and police. The riots were set off when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided workplaces in pursuit of immigrants here illegally.
Most of the violence has so far been contained to downtown L.A. There, rioters have set self-driving Waymo taxis on fire and vandalized buildings. Protests are also happening some 15 miles south in Paramount, to the east of Compton and north of Long Beach.
Jim McDonnell, the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), implied the protests were not occurring organically and that the violence should be attributed to "anarchists" and "people who do this all the time." More than 150 people have been arrested in the L.A. protests since Friday, with 60 arrested in San Francisco (where similar protests are happening, but with less damage so far).
Got this the other side of the Waymo fires pic.twitter.com/HVOXKZtI3V
— Los Angeles Scanner (@LosAngeles_Scan) June 9, 2025
At one point, it looks like the LAPD shot a journalist with a rubber bullet:
LAPD aims and fires at female Aussie reporter whose back was turned. @LAPDPoliceChief, WTF ARE YOU DOING OVER THERE pic.twitter.com/FAEu98u3BH
— Hear in LA (@hearinladotcom) June 9, 2025
"Trump's order for the troops was the first time since 1965 that a president had activated a state's National Guard force for a domestic operation without a state governor's request for the purposes of quelling unrest or enforcing the law," reports The New York Times. The paper quoted California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, saying Trump's move "is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions"; he added that "this is the wrong mission and will erode public trust." (As for what he thinks the right mission is, I guess I just haven't listened to enough of his podcasts to be able to say.)
It's hard to know where this goes: Whether it escalates further, whether the National Guard's presence will actually quell the unrest, whether public sentiment toward deportations changes based on the conduct of the rioters, and how much property damage Angelenos are willing to tolerate. One thing is clear: The Trump administration appears to relish the opportunity to send in the National Guard. And another: The senseless property destruction that has become commonplace at such events since the summer of George Floyd means normal, uninvolved people sometimes lose their livelihoods when cities descend into chaos.
Shouldn't she be at school right now? Greta Thunberg and a group of 11 other activists—including Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham and Rima Hassan, a French-Palestinian member of the European Parliament—set sail from Sicily about a week ago and have made their way to Gaza in an attempt to deliver aid to people there. Along the way they picked up four Libyan migrants whose own boat was sinking and who reportedly feared being nabbed by the Libyan coast guard.
When the crew were about 120 miles off the coast of Gaza, the Israeli military apprehended the ship. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the organizers of the trip, declared in a statement that the activists were "kidnapped by Israeli forces."
"The ship was unlawfully boarded, its unarmed civilian crew abducted, and its life-saving cargo—including baby formula, food and medical supplies—confiscated," said the group. Israel's foreign ministry disagrees, derogatorily calling the boat a "selfie yacht" full of "celebrities."
"I urge all my friends, family and comrades to put pressure on the Swedish government to release me and the others as soon as possible," said Thunberg in a recorded message. (Presumably she means to get the Swedish government to pressure the Israeli government to release her.) Human rights groups in Israel say the country has "no legal authority" to seize the boat, since it was in international waters.
All the passengers of the 'selfie yacht' are safe and unharmed. They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over. pic.twitter.com/tLZZYcspJO
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) June 9, 2025
"An attempt last month by Freedom Flotilla to reach Gaza by sea failed after another of the group's vessels was attacked by two drones while sailing in international waters off Malta, organizers said," reports the Associated Press.
Israel argues that these "aid shipments" don't amount to significant help for Gazans. "While Greta and others attempted to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity—and which included less than a single truckload of aid—more than 1,200 aid trucks have entered Gaza from Israel within the past two weeks, and in addition, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed close to 11 million meals directly to civilians in Gaza," the foreign ministry claimed.
Scenes from New York: The state Senate is expected to vote today on a bill that would legalize assisted suicide for all New Yorkers. The Medical Aid in Dying Act would be available to patients whose doctors say they have incurable conditions with less than six months left to live.
The state Assembly has already passed the bill. So if it passes the Senate, it will head to Gov. Kathy Hochul's desk for either a signature or a veto.
Two separate doctors might sign off on a ruling that a patient has just six months to live in order for the patient to legally gain access to these drugs. "If either determines the patient 'may lack decision-making capacity' for any reason, they are required to refer them to a mental health professional for further evaluation," reports Gothamist. "Otherwise, a mental health check is not required."
" I think my colleagues have come to the conclusion that medical aid in dying isn't so much about ending a person's life but shortening their deaths," state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Manhattan Democrat, told Gothamist. As I've said before, we're barreling toward Ättestupa, toward a world in which humans design when and how others come into this world as well as when and how they leave it. I worry important things are lost when we try to supplant our creator, but your mileage may vary.
QUICK HITS
- HERE FOR THIS!
.@JMilei presents @Pontifex with a copy of Friedrich Hayek's *The Fatal Conceit* pic.twitter.com/wYv3kzdytN
— TakingHayekSeriously (@FriedrichHayek) June 7, 2025
- In many ways, consumer goods have improved over time and we can afford basic household supplies much more easily than we used to. But in other areas, there has been a degradation of quality. Nancy French has a nice thread illustrating this:
I was at my dad's house this week and he said, 'Let me show you the difference between now and then in two objects.' He brought out this clothespin that was made in the 1960s - I probably played with it as a kid in the 70s. The other, in 2025. /1 ???? pic.twitter.com/egeaBHPIoz
— Nancy French (@NancyAFrench) June 8, 2025
- "The wildly popular Nutella competitor El Mordjene has been banned by the European Union," reports The New Yorker in "How a Hazelnut Spread Became a Sticking Point in Franco-Algerian Relations."
- "Senate Republicans intend to propose revised tax and health-care provisions to President Donald Trump's $3 trillion signature economic package this week, shrugging off condemnations of the legislation by Elon Musk as they rush to enact it before July 4," reports Bloomberg.
