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“Maybe Happy Ending,” a South Korean musical adapted for Broadway about two robots who find connection, won big at Sunday’s Tony Awards, scooping up six prizes at the gala celebrating the best in American theater.Stars of the season Cole Escola and Nicole Scherzinger also won their first Tonys, on a night that celebrated Broadway’s revival after a years-long pandemic slump.Cynthia Erivo — the Oscar-nominated “Wicked” star who herself boasts a Tony — hosted the ceremony at Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall honoring this year’s buzzy, diverse competitive slate .It was Broadway’s most financially lucrative year ever, she told the crowd.”Broadway is officially back — provided we don’t run out of cast members from ‘Succession,'” she joked, referring to the decorated TV dramedy about a family’s media empire.Sarah Snook — who scored an Emmy for her role in “Succession” — won the Tony for best leading actress in a play, taking on all 26 roles in the stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray.”A host of new shows and stars drew 14.7 million people to the Broadway performances this season, grossing $1.89 billion at the box office.Some of showbiz’s biggest names graced New York’s stages, including George Clooney, Denzel Washington, Jake Gyllenhaal — and Snook’s “Succession” co-stars Kieran Culkin and Jeremy Strong.”Please go to the theater, whether it’s a Broadway show or a school play,” said Michael Arden, who won a Tony for best direction of a musical for “Maybe Happy Ending.”Darren Criss of “Glee” fame — already an Emmy winner for portraying killer Andrew Cunanan in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” — won the Tony for lead actor in that musical. “I have such immense pride to get to be part of this notably diverse exquisite Broadway season this year,” he told the audience as he accepted his award.Scherzinger bested a packed field including the legendary Audra McDonald — the performer with the most Tonys in history — for best actress in a musical for her role as faded star Norma Desmond in “Sunset Boulevard,” which also won for best revival of a musical.”If there’s anyone out there who feels like they don’t belong or your time hasn’t come, don’t give up,” said an emotional Scherzinger, who once fronted the pop girl group The Pussycat Dolls.”Just keep on giving and giving because the world needs your love and your light now more than ever. This is a testament that love always wins.”- ‘Oh, Mary!’ -Even though Escola’s hit dark comedy “Oh, Mary!” was the favorite for best new play, the award went to intense family portrait “Purpose” by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, which also won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.But Escola still won big for their unhinged performance in the one-act reimagining of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination through the eyes of his wife — a raging alcoholic who dreams of life as a cabaret star.Escola bested a stacked field that included Clooney.”Oh, Mary!” also snagged the prize for best direction, won by Sam Pinkleton.”You have taught me to make what you love and not what you think people want to see,” Pinkleton said in his speech, speaking directly to a tearful Escola.”We can bring joy to people at the end of a crappy day and that feels like a big deal to me,” Pinkleton added to ardent applause.The night’s rollicking performances included a gripping rendition of “Rose’s Turn” from McDonald, and a captivating performance of “As If We Never Said Goodbye” from Scherzinger.The gala also featured a much-touted reunion of the original cast of “Hamilton,” as that groundbreaking smash musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda celebrates its 10th anniversary.A heartfelt segment honored those the theater community lost over the past year, with Erivo and Sara Bareilles delivering the classic “Tomorrow” from “Annie.”The song’s composer, Charles Strouse, died last month.Some acceptance speeches made oblique references to ongoing political turmoil across the United States, as President Donald Trump’s immigration raids trigger protests. But Trump was not explicitly mentioned.

Demonstrators torched cars and scuffled with security forces in Los Angeles on Sunday as police kept protesters away from the National Guard troops President Donald Trump sent to the streets of America’s second-biggest city.Unrest broke out for a third day, with protesters angry at action by immigration officials that has resulted in dozens of arrests of what authorities say are illegal migrants and gang members.The raids — which began in broad daylight on Friday in a city with a large Latino population — were always likely to spark reaction among the public in the liberal city.But opponents say Trump, who has made clamping down on illegal migration a key plank of his second term, was deliberately stoking tensions with his deployment of California’s National Guard, a stand-by military usually controlled by the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom.”We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved,” Newsom wrote on X.”This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed. Rescind the order. Return control to California,” he added.At least three self-driving Waymo cars were burned on Sunday, with two others vandalized as protesters roamed around a limited area in downtown Los Angeles.Traffic was halted on a key freeway for over an hour while scores of people thronged the roadway. They were moved off by California Highway Patrol officers, who used flash-bangs and smoke grenades.But after a limited early confrontation between federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security and a few dozen protesters at a detention center, the clashes all involved local law enforcement.By early afternoon LAPD officers established containment lines some distance from federal buildings, preventing contact between angry demonstrators and the scores of armed National Guardsmen from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, who had gathered in helmets and camouflage gear.As night fell a few dozen people — many wearing masks and hoodies — remained in hotspots, with some lobbing projectiles and fireworks.Law enforcement have arrested at least 56 people over two days, and three officers have suffered minor injuries, LAPD said.- ‘Troops everywhere’ -Trump, asked about the use of troops, was unrepentant, hinting instead at a more widespread deployment in other parts of the country.”You have violent people, and we are not going to let them get away with it,” he told reporters. “I think you’re going to see some very strong law and order.”Responding to a question about invoking the Insurrection Act — which would allow the military to be used as a domestic police force — Trump said: “We’re looking at troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country.”US Northern Command, part of the Department of Defense responsible for national defense, said “approximately 500 Marines… are in a prepared-to-deploy status should they be necessary to augment and support” the ongoing federal operations.The National Guard is frequently used in natural disasters, and occasionally in instances of civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local authorities.Trump’s deployment of the force — the first over the head of a state governor since 1965 at the height of the civil rights movement — was criticized by Democrats, including former vice president Kamala Harris who called it “a dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos.” – ‘Intimidation’ -But Republicans lined up behind Trump to dismiss the pushback.”I have no concern about that at all,” said  House Speaker Mike Johnson, accusing Newsom of “an inability or unwillingness to do what is necessary”.Demonstrators told AFP the purpose of the troops did not appear to be to keep order.”I think it’s an intimidation tactic,” Thomas Henning said.”These protests have been peaceful. There’s no one trying to do any sort of damage right now and yet you have the National Guard with loaded magazines and large guns standing around trying to intimidate Americans from exercising our First Amendment rights.”Marshall Goldberg, 78, told AFP that deploying Guardsmen made him feel “so offended.””We hate what they’ve done with the undocumented workers, but this is moving it to another level of taking away the right to protest and the right to just peaceably assemble,” he said.Raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in other US cities have triggered small-scale protests in recent months, but the Los Angeles unrest is the biggest and most sustained against Trump’s immigration policies so far.A CBS News poll taken before the Los Angeles protests showed a slight majority of Americans still approved of the crackdown.

President Donald Trump’s sweeping new travel ban came into effect early Monday immediately after midnight, barring citizens from a dozen nations from entering the United States and reviving a divisive measure from his first term.The move is expected to disrupt refugee pathways and further restrict immigration as the Trump administration expands its crackdown on illegal entries.Many of the nations covered by the restrictions have adversarial relations with the United States, such as Iran and Afghanistan, while others face severe crises, like Haiti and Libya.In announcing his restrictions last week, Trump said the new measure was spurred by a recent “terrorist attack” on Jews in Colorado.The group had been protesting in solidarity with hostages held in Gaza when they were assaulted by a man the White House said had overstayed his visa.That attack, Trump said, “underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted” or who overstay their visas.The move bans all travel to the United States by nationals of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, according to the White House.Trump also imposed a partial ban on travelers from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Some temporary work visas from those countries will be allowed.New countries could be added, Trump warned, “as threats emerge around the world.”Mehria, a 23-year-old woman from Afghanistan who applied for refugee status, said the new rules have trapped her and many other Afghans in uncertainty.”We gave up thousands of hopes and our entire lives… on a promise from America, but today we are suffering one hell after another,” she told AFP.- World Cup, Olympics, diplomats excluded -The ban will not apply to athletes competing in the 2026 World Cup, which the United States is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, or in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Trump’s order said.Nor will it apply to diplomats from the targeted countries.United Nations rights chief Volker Turk warned that “the broad and sweeping nature of the new travel ban raises concerns from the perspective of international law.” US Democratic lawmakers and elected officials blasted the ban as draconian and unconstitutional.”I know the pain that Trump’s cruel and xenophobic travel bans inflict because my family has felt it firsthand,” congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, who is Iranian-American, posted Sunday on X.”We will fight this ban with everything we have.”Rumors of a new travel ban had circulated following the Colorado attack, with Trump’s administration vowing to pursue “terrorists” living in the United States on visas.US officials said suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national according to court documents, was in the country illegally having overstayed a tourist visa, but that he had applied for asylum in September 2022. Trump’s new travel ban notably does not include Egypt.His proclamation said Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and war-torn Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen lacked “competent” central authorities for processing passports and vetting.Iran was included because it is a “state sponsor of terrorism,” the order said.For the other countries, Trump’s order cited an above-average likelihood that people would overstay their visas.

Security forces clashed with protesters outside a detention center in Los Angeles on Sunday as National Guard troops deployed by President Donald Trump fanned out across the city following two days of unruly protests over raids by immigration agents.Trump on Sunday vowed the troops would ensure “very strong law and order,” while appearing to leave the door open to deploying soldiers in other cities.The US military said 300 soldiers from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team had been sent to three separate locations in the greater Los Angeles area, and were “conducting safety and protection of federal property & personnel.”Helmeted troops in camouflage gear and carrying guns were stationed at a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles, where they joined Department of Homeland Security forces.Pepper spray and tear gas were fired into a small crowd — including journalists — as forces moved protesters back to allow a convoy of vehicles to enter the detention center. Trump, asked about the use of troops, appeared to leave the door open to a more widespread deployment in other parts of the country.”You have violent people, and we are not going to let them get away with it,” he told reporters. “I think you’re going to see some very strong law and order.”Responding to a question about invoking the Insurrection Act — which would allow the military to be used as a domestic police force — Trump said: “We’re looking at troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country.”The deployment in California — the first over the head of a state governor since the Civil Rights era — was “purposefully inflammatory,” Governor Gavin Newsom said.”Trump is sending 2,000 National Guard troops into LA County — not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis,” Newsom posted on X Sunday.”He’s hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control. Stay calm. Never use violence. Stay peaceful.”Newsom’s warning came after Los Angeles was rocked by two days of confrontations that saw federal agents firing flash-bang grenades and tear gas toward crowds angry at the arrests of dozens of migrants.- ‘Intimidation’ -Republicans lined up behind Trump to dismiss the pushback by Newsom and other local officials against the National Guard deployment.”I have no concern about that at all,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told ABC’s “This Week”, accusing Newsom of “an inability or unwillingness to do what is necessary”.As for threats by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday to send in active-duty Marines on top of the Guard troops, Johnson said he did not see that as “heavy-handed.””We have to be prepared to do what is necessary,” he argued. Demonstrators told AFP the purpose of the troops was not necessarily to keep order.”I think it’s an intimidation tactic,” Thomas Henning said.”These protests have been peaceful. There’s no one trying to do any sort of damage right now and yet you have the National Guard with loaded magazines and large guns standing around trying to intimidate Americans from exercising our first amendment rights.”Estrella Corral said demonstrators were angry that hard-working migrants who have done nothing wrong were being snatched by masked immigration agents.”This is our community, and we want to feel safe,” she told AFP.”Trump deploying the National Guard is ridiculous. I think he’s escalating, he’s trying to make a show for his agenda.”Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said the move demonstrated “Trump’s authoritarianism in real time.” “Conduct massive illegal raids. Provoke a counter-response. Declare a state of emergency. Call in the troops,” he wrote on social media, adding: “Unacceptable.”- ‘Good men and women’ -The National Guard — a reserve military — is frequently used in natural disasters, and occasionally in instances of civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local authorities.Trump has delivered on a promise to crack down hard on undocumented migrants — who he has likened to “monsters” and “animals” — since taking office in January. Raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in other US cities have triggered small-scale protests in recent months, but the Los Angeles unrest is the biggest and most sustained against Trump’s immigration policies so far.A CBS News poll taken before the Los Angeles protests showed a slight majority of Americans still approved of the immigration crackdown.Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum on Sunday defended migrants living north of the border.”Mexicans living in the United States are good men and women, honest people who went to the United States to seek a better life for themselves and to support their families. They are not criminals! They are good men and women!” she said.

Donald Trump’s deployment of California’s National Guard marks the first time in decades that a US president openly defied a state governor and sent troops to an emergency zone.By ordering 2,000 guardsmen to Los Angeles to help quell protests against raids by US immigration agents, Trump essentially mounted a takeover of the state’s military regiments to address “lawlessness” on the city’s streets.The National Guard is a reserve military rooted in the 17th century local militias created in the American colonies before the country’s founding.Since then the guard has had multiple responsibilities: domestic disaster relief and security, homeland defense and prevention of civil unrest; and acting as reserve forces for US military deployments overseas.Presidential orders to deploy guardsmen domestically are not uncommon.But clashes between a president and governor over deployments — or the lack thereof, such as during the US Capitol riot by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021 while he was still in office — have been rare. – Los Angeles, 2025 -The White House said Trump relied on a seldom used law, known as Title 10, that permits National Guard federalization in times of “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”California Governor Gavin Newsom called the decision “purposefully inflammatory.” But Trump’s order proceeded, and the guard troops were on LA streets Sunday.”This is the first time since 1965 that a president has deployed the National Guard without a request by a state governor,” Kenneth Roth, a longtime former Human Rights Watch executive director, posted on X.”Then it was (president Lyndon) Johnson protecting civil rights protesters. Now it’s Trump creating a spectacle so he can continue his immigration raids.”Elizabeth Goitein of the Brennan Center for Justice warned of a “shocking abuse of power” by Trump, whose memorandum authorizes federalization of National Guard troops “at locations where protests against (federal immigration) functions are occurring or are likely to occur.””Trump has authorized the deployment of troops anywhere in the country where protests against ICE activity might occur,” Goitein posted on X. “That is a huge red flag.”- Alabama, 1965 -A landmark civil rights moment led to a National Guard clash between a president and a segregationist governor.With demonstrators led by Martin Luther King Jr on a five-day march from Selma to Alabama’s capital Montgomery, governor George Wallace pledged National Guard security — but then reneged.The U-turn incensed Johnson who, in defiance of Wallace, called up the guard. The march was protected by thousands of Army soldiers and federalized guard members.- Arkansas, 1957 -When the Little Rock school system was ordered desegregated, Arkansas’ pro-segregationist governor Orval Faubus deployed the National Guard to surround a high school and prevent nine Black students from entering.President Dwight Eisenhower bristled at the standoff and told Faubus the guard must maintain order so the Black students could attend. Instead, Faubus pulled the guardsmen, leaving security to local forces.Eisenhower issued an executive order federalizing the Arkansas National Guard, and ordered 1,000 US Army troops to join them.- Kent State, 1970 -Perhaps no anti-Vietnam war protest was more pivotal than at Ohio’s Kent State University, where students slammed Richard Nixon’s war expansion.As unrest swelled, the National Guard opened fire, killing four students and wounding nine others.The shootings sparked outrage, but also led to reforms regarding how the guard handles civil unrest and use of force.- Hurricane Katrina, 2005 -The massive hurricane left much of New Orleans underwater, leading to the largest-ever peacetime deployment of the National Guard. But critics accused then-president George W Bush of favoring a militaristic response over humanitarian relief.Louisiana’s governor, Kathleen Blanco, warned that many among the thousands of National Guard and federal troops were battle-tested Iraq war veterans.”These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will,” she reportedly said.- Outside White House, 2020 -June 1, 2020 saw a brutal crackdown on demonstrators following the police murder of African-American George Floyd.With people aggressively protesting near the White House, the National Guard joined police to maintain order. Flash grenades and tear gas were deployed. Unlike in the nation’s 50 states, the DC National Guard is under direct command of the US president, who at the time was Trump.

Hundreds of National Guard troops took up positions in Los Angeles Sunday on the orders of US President Donald Trump, a rare deployment over the head of the state governor, after unruly protests against immigration raids. The US military said 300 soldiers from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team had been sent to three separate locations in the greater Los Angeles area, and were “conducting safety and protection of federal property & personnel.”Helmeted troops in camouflage gear and carrying guns could be seen in front of a federal complex — including a detention center — with the phrase “Our City” spray-painted on it in downtown Los Angeles.The deployment overrode the protests of local officials, an extraordinary move not seen in decades that California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed as “purposefully inflammatory.” It came ahead of more planned protests in the city, which has a large Latino population, including a call by organizers for a “mass mobilization” at City Hall at 2:00 pm local time (2100 GMT).A separate Pride parade in support of LGBTQ rights — also under assault by the Trump administration — also began Sunday in Hollywood, with organizers posting on Instagram that they were working with local law enforcement to keep the celebrations safe. “Trump is sending 2,000 National Guard troops into LA County — not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis,” Newsom posted on X Sunday.”He’s hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control. Stay calm. Never use violence. Stay peaceful.”Newsom’s warning came after Los Angeles was rocked by two days of confrontations that saw federal agents firing flash-bang grenades and tear gas toward crowds angry at the arrests of dozens of migrants.On Sunday pepper spray hung in the air from overnight, AFP reporters said.- ‘Escalation’ -Republicans lined up behind Trump to dismiss the pushback by Newsom and other local officials against the National Guard deployment.”I have no concern about that at all,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told ABC’s “This Week”, accusing Newsom of “an inability or unwillingness to do what is necessary”.As for threats by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday to send in active-duty Marines on top of the Guard troops, Johnson said he did not see that as “heavy-handed.””We have to be prepared to do what is necessary,” he argued. Demonstrators that AFP spoke to said troops were not really being sent in to keep order.”I think it’s an intimidation tactic,” said Thomas Henning.”These protests have been peaceful. There’s no one trying to do any sort of damage right now and yet you have the National Guard with loaded magazines and large guns standing around trying to intimidate Americans from exercising our first amendment rights.”Estrella Corral said demonstrators were angry that hard-working migrants who have done nothing wrong were being snatched by masked immigration agents.”This is our community, and we want to feel safe,” she told AFP.”Trump deploying the National Guard is ridiculous. I think he’s escalating, he’s trying to make a show for his agenda.”Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said the move demonstrated “Trump’s authoritarianism in real time.” “Conduct massive illegal raids. Provoke a counter-response. Declare a state of emergency. Call in the troops,” he wrote on social media, adding: “Unacceptable.”- ‘Unacceptable’ -The National Guard — a reserve military — is frequently used in natural disasters, and occasionally in instances of civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local authorities.It is the first time since 1965 that a president has deployed a National Guard without a request by a state governor, the former head of Human Rights Watch, US activist Kenneth Roth, posted on X.Trump has delivered on a promise to crack down hard on undocumented migrants — who he has likened to “monsters” and “animals” — since taking office in January. Raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in other US cities have triggered small-scale protests in recent months, but the Los Angeles unrest is the biggest and most sustained against Trump’s immigration policies so far.A CBS News poll taken before the Los Angeles protests showed a slight majority of Americans still approved of the immigration crackdown.Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum on Sunday defended migrants living in north of the border.”Mexicans living in the United States are good men and women, honest people who went to the United States to seek a better life for themselves and to support their families. They are not criminals! They are good men and women!” she said.

Disney’s family-friendly “Lilo & Stitch” kept up its dominance of the early summer North American box office, winning for a third week in a row with $32.5 million in ticket sales, industry estimates showed Sunday.The live-action remake of a 2002 animated film of the same name has so far raked in $335.8 million in the United States and Canada, and another $436 million abroad, Exhibitor Relations said.Maia Kealoha (as Lilo), Hannah Waddingham, Courtney B. Vance and Zach Galifianakis star, while Chris Sanders again provides the voice of the chaos-creating blue alien Stitch.Debuting in second place at $25 million was Lionsgate’s “Ballerina,” a “John Wick” spin-off starring Ana de Armas as a dancer turned contract killer, and co-starring Anjelica Huston. Keanu Reeves makes a brief appearance as the hitman Wick.”This is a weak opening for an action thriller spin-off,” said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” — the latest, and ostensibly last, in the hugely successful Tom Cruise spy thriller series based on a 1960s TV show — took third place with $15 million.The Paramount film has now grossed more than $449 million worldwide.In fourth place was Sony’s “Karate Kid: Legends,” a sequel featuring Ralph Macchio — the star of the original 1984 classic — and action flick icon Jackie Chan, along with Ben Wang in the title role. It made $8.7 million at the domestic box office in its second week in theaters.And finishing up the top five was Warner Bros. and New Line’s horror film “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” at $6.5 million. It has grossed $123.6 million so far at the domestic box office.Rounding out the top 10 were:”The Phoenician Scheme” ($6.25 million)”Bring Her Back” ($3.5 million)”Dan Da Dan: Evil Eye” ($3.1 million)”Sinners” ($2.9 million)”Thunderbolts” ($2.5 million)

US President Donald Trump ordered National Guard troops to Los Angeles, a rare deployment expected Sunday against the state governor’s wishes after sometimes-violent protests against immigration enforcement raids. Trump took federal control of California’s state military to push soldiers into the country’s second-biggest city, a decision deemed “purposefully inflammatory” by California Governor Gavin Newsom and of a kind not seen for decades according to US media. The development came after two days of confrontations during which federal agents fired flash-bang grenades and tear gas toward crowds angry at the arrests of dozens of migrants in a city with a large Latino population.”It’s up to us to stand up for our people,” said a Los Angeles resident whose parents are immigrants, declining to give her name.”Whether we get hurt, whether they gas us, whatever they’re throwing at us. They’re never going to stop us. All we have left is our voice,” she told AFP as emergency services lights flashed in the distance.An AFP photographer saw fires and fireworks light up the streets during clashes, while a protester holding a Mexican flag stood in front of a burnt-out car that had been sprayed with a slogan against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.”President Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, blaming what she called California’s “feckless” Democratic leaders.”The Trump Administration has a zero tolerance policy for criminal behavior and violence, especially when that violence is aimed at law enforcement officers trying to do their jobs.”Trump congratulated the National Guard for “a job well done” shortly before midnight on Saturday in a post on Truth Social.However, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said on social media platform X the troops had not yet been deployed, while AFP journalists have so far not seen them on the ground. Trump took a swipe at Bass and Newsom, saying in his post they were “unable to handle the task,” drawing a comparison with deadly fires that hit the city in January.- ‘Purposefully inflammatory’ -The National Guard — a reserve military — is frequently used in natural disasters, such as in the aftermath of the LA fires, and occasionally in instances of civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local politicians.California’s governor objected to the president’s decision, saying it was “purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.”Federal authorities “want a spectacle. Don’t give them one. Never use violence. Speak out peacefully,” Newsom said on X. Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to involve nearby regular military forces.”If violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert,” he wrote on social media.Law professor Jessica Levinson said Hegseth’s intervention appeared symbolic because of the general legal restriction on the use of the US military as a domestic policing force in the absence of an insurrection.”The National Guard will be able to do (no) more than provide logistical (and) personnel support,” she said.- Arrests -Trump has delivered on a promise to crack down hard on the entry and presence of undocumented migrants — who he has likened to “monsters” and “animals” — since taking office in January.The Department for Homeland Security said ICE operations in Los Angeles this week had resulted in the arrest of “118 aliens, including five gang members.”Saturday’s standoff took place in the suburb of Paramount, where demonstrators converged on a reported federal facility that the local mayor said was being used as a staging post by agents.Masked and armed immigration agents carried out high-profile workplace raids in separate parts of Los Angeles on Friday, attracting angry crowds and setting off hours-long standoffs.Fernando Delgado, a 24-year-old resident, said the raids were “injustices” and those detained were “human beings just like any.””We’re Spanish, we help the community, we help by doing the labor that people don’t want to do,” he told AFP.Mayor Bass acknowledged that some city residents were “feeling fear” following the federal immigration enforcement actions.”Everyone has the right to peacefully protest, but let me be clear: violence and destruction are unacceptable, and those responsible will be held accountable,” she said on X.FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said multiple arrests had been made following Friday’s clashes.”Law and order will prevail,” he said on X.

Reality TV stars. Former lawmakers. A sheriff. A nursing home executive. A drug kingpin.What do they have in common?They are among the Americans convicted of crimes who have received pardons from President Donald Trump since he took office in January.And while US presidents have doled out questionable pardons in the past, Trump is doing so “in a bigger, more aggressive way with sort of no sense of shame,” said Kermit Roosevelt, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania.”The pardon power has always been a little bit problematic because it’s this completely unconstrained power that the president has,” Roosevelt told AFP.”Most presidents have issued at least some pardons where people look at them and they say: ‘This seems to be self-serving’ or ‘This seems to be corrupt in some way.'”But Trump is doling out pardons “that look like they’re almost quid pro quo for financial donations,” Roosevelt said.Among those receiving a pardon was Paul Walczak, a nursing home executive convicted of tax crimes and whose mother attended a $1-million-per-plate fund-raising dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in April.Other beneficiaries of Trump pardons include reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were serving lengthy prison sentences for bank fraud and tax evasion.Their daughter, Savannah, is a prominent Trump supporter and gave a speech at last year’s Republican National Convention.More than half a dozen former Republican lawmakers convicted of various crimes have also received pardons along with a Virginia sheriff sentenced to 10 years in prison for taking $75,000 in bribes.On his first day in office, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 supporters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 as they sought to prevent congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.The next day, Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who had been serving a life sentence for running the “Silk Road” online marketplace that facilitated millions of dollars of drug sales.- ‘Just another deal’ -Barbara McQuade, a former prosecutor who now teaches law at the University of Michigan, said Trump is not the first president to be accused of “allowing improper factors to influence their pardon decisions.”Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton’s pardon of a commodities trader whose wife was a major Democratic donor and Biden’s pardon of his son, Hunter, and other family members all drew some criticism.”(But) Trump is in a class by himself in both scope and shamelessness,” McQuade said in a Bloomberg opinion column. “To him, pardons are just another deal.”As long as a defendant can provide something of value in return, no crime seems too serious,” she said.Democratic lawmaker Jamie Raskin, in a letter to Ed Martin, Trump’s pardon attorney at the Justice Department, asked what criteria are being used to recommend pardons.”It at least appears that you are using the Office of the Pardon Attorney to dole out pardons as favors to the President’s loyal political followers and most generous donors,” Raskin wrote.Martin for his part has made no secret of the partisan nature of the pardons recommended by his office.”No MAGA left behind,” Martin said on X after the pardon of the bribe-taking Virginia sheriff, a reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.Lee Kovarsky, a University of Texas law professor, said Trump’s “pardon spree” opens up a “menacing new frontier of presidential power” that he calls “patronage pardoning.”By reducing the penalty for misconduct, Trump is making a “public commitment to protect and reward loyalism, however criminal,” Kovarsky said in a New York Times opinion piece.  

Nadya Tolokonnikova, the co-founder of the feminist art collective Pussy Riot, is back in a prison cell — but this time, she has gone willingly.At the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Russian activist is staging “Police State” — a two-week piece of performance art aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of authoritarianism and oppression.Tolokonnikova — who spent nearly two years in a Russian penal colony for performing a protest song against Vladimir Putin in a Moscow church in 2012 — knows a bit about the topic.Through the installation, which opened Thursday and runs through June 14, she says she hopes to teach visitors about what she believes to be the advent of a new means of control — technology.While she is in the mock cell, during all museum opening hours, she will eat, use the toilet, sew clothes as she once did in her real cell and create “soundscapes.” Visitors can observe her through holes in the cell or on security camera footage. “People don’t treat authoritarianism seriously,” Tolokonnikova told AFP.Seated in a makeshift Russian prison cell, wearing a green tracksuit, the 35-year-old activist says in several countries, the concept of a “police state” is expanding.”As someone who lived under authoritarian rule for over 25 years, I know how real it is and how it starts, step by step, on the arrest of one person. You think, ‘Well, it’s not about me’,” she explained.”And then next thing we know, the entire country is under the military boot.”- ‘We all have to contribute’ -For Tolokonnikova, US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January has sparked an “erosion of the system of checks and balances,” which she deemed “very dangerous.”She says the artistic community, and society in general, should do more to counter governmental abuses of power, wherever they may occur, and stop “outsourcing politics and political action.””I feel like it’s as if there is someone else who’s going to save us from everything. That’s not what works really. We all have to contribute.”Some who visited the installation said they agreed with Tolokonnikova that society had become too passive.”I feel like Americans don’t want to believe that we could be in danger of losing our freedoms,” said Jimmie Akin, a graphic designer who said she was worried about the policy changes since Trump took office.”People need to wake up.”- Sewing machine and Navalny -For 29-year-old Hannah Tyler, “Police State” was a bit of a shock to the system.”We’re living in a country where we aren’t facing the same extreme oppression that she did in Russia, but getting close to it. I felt inspired to take more action than I have been,” Tyler said.Tolokonnikova’s installation has some symbolic features.She has books and artworks made by Russian, US and Belarusian prisoners, as well as a drawing by the brother of late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. A sewing machine recalls the manual labor of her incarceration. Words of protest are carved into the walls.For Alex Sloane, the museum’s associate curator, the installation shows how “increased surveillance and government overreach” are becoming more and more widespread, and “freedoms are at risk.””We should do all that we can to make sure” that such circumstances are kept at bay, Sloane said.