LA Times Today: Tony Lam was an original influencer in Little Saigon — and he's still got it
L.A. Times reporter Ahn Do has written about the political force the community has become in Southern California.
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Buzz Feed
15 minutes ago
- Buzz Feed
Noem Announces Trump's Plan To Paint Border Wall Black
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem recently announced the Trump administration's latest genius plan: painting the entire southern border wall black to deter immigration. At a Tuesday press conference in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, she praised the wall, saying "It's tall, which makes it very, very difficult to climb, almost impossible. It also goes deep into the ground, which would make it very difficult, if not impossible, to dig under. And today we are also going to be painting it black." Unsurprisingly, Kristi credited Donald Trump for the bright idea. "That is specifically at the request of the president, who understands that in the hot temperatures down here, when something is painted black, it gets even warmer, and it will make it even harder for people to climb." According to USA Today, she was asked if critics might find that cruel. Her response? "Don't touch it." For a few moments, she even painted the wall with a roller. Look how hard she works, everyone! Definitely worth her salary of $235,100 per year! Notably, she failed to mention the cost of this project, though CNN reported that the "Big, Beautiful Bill" dedicated about $46.5 billion to modernizing the border. The outlet also noted that this isn't the first time Trump has shown interest in painting the wall black. During his first term, he brought it up numerous times and ordered sections test-painted, with officials reportedly saying it was "largely being done to placate the president." In 2020, the cost was estimated at $1.2 million per mile — who knows what it would cost now with prices these days. Naturally, people have a lot to say about all this: One person wrote, "They know there is no sun at night, right?" Another said, "Tracks with this administration. Everything is just paint metaphorically. Hair, makeup, policy, troop deployment domestically, history, education, religion. All they do is attempt to paint over the awful people that they are." "Trump wants to paint 1300 miles of border wall black.. so it will be too hot to touch. Estimated to cost $2.7 billion. The estimated cost of gloves for illegals: $5.00 a pair. History will record this time as the Dumbest of All Ages.." "The crazy thing is that despite this costing literally billions of dollars; they have the money for it! That's right, Congress decided to cut funding for benefits for Americans and instead give CBP billions for the border wall, which they'll now use to paint the thing black." "The clown car of idiots never fails to impress with the level of stupid they show every single day." "Noem forgot to say Trump will make Mexico pay for the paint." "Fun Fact: Painting the entire 1,300-mile U.S.-Mexico border wall black could cost $2.72 BILLION. We are governed by the dumbest people in America." "This is sure to make grocery prices go down. Release the Trump Epstein files." And finally, "They really are just taking tips from Wile E. Coyote." What do you think about all this? LMK in the comments below!
New York Post
15 minutes ago
- New York Post
Jasmine Crockett calls Trump and MAGA voters the ‘most unpatriotic people'
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, sharply criticized President Donald Trump and his supporters on Wednesday, calling them unpatriotic during an interview on California Gov. Gavin Newsom's podcast. Crockett said during the interview that Trump tried to use Congress, his administration and the courts to his advantage any time he disagreed with something. 'Whether we're talking about those in his administration or whether we're talking about the courts or whether we're talking about the Congress, that is one of the reasons he is so desperate to make sure that he can win in the midterms, because he knows that Democrats, it's not even about partisanship. It's about doing what's right. It's about doing the American thing,' Crockett said. 'And to be clear, you can wave all the flags you want to, but I am telling you right now that the most unpatriotic people that we have in this country are MAGA and this president. We are the real patriots. And it is time for us to take our flag back and show people what America is about,' the Texas lawmaker added. 3 Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, sharply criticized President Donald Trump and his supporters on Wednesday, calling them unpatriotic during an interview on California Gov. Gavin Newsom's podcast. AP She accused the president of 'decimating' the Constitution and taking freedoms away. 'You can't say that you love the Constitution while decimating it with every single stroke of a pen for an executive order while you are disrespecting our troops who have signed up to protect our freedoms, not just here but abroad, and then taking people's freedoms away using those exact same troops. I just don't understand,' she told Newsom. 'President Trump is the leader of the greatest and most patriotic political movement in history,' White House assistant press secretary Liz Huston told Fox News Digital in a statement. 3 Rep. Jasmine Crockett accused President Trump of 'decimating' the Constitution and taking freedoms away. REUTERS Crockett and Trump have traded barbs in recent months, with the Democratic lawmaker even calling the president a 'piece of s—.' Trump in turn has said Crockett is a 'low-IQ person.' Crockett said anyone who supported Trump is 'sick' during a podcast interview with Katie Couric in June. 3 Crockett and Trump have traded barbs in recent months, with the Democratic lawmaker even calling the president 'a piece of s—.' Trump in turn referred to Crockett as a 'low-IQ person.' Getty Images The Texas congresswoman claimed that no matter what political affiliations Americans identify with, they 'should be against Trump.' When asked by Couric what she thinks of Trump deploying National Guardsmen and Marines to Los Angeles to quell the anti-ICE protests, Crockett slammed Trump for seeking 'retribution' and having his own 'special little army' to carry it out. 'It is sick. It is really sick, and anybody that supports it is also sick,' she told Couric. 'We've got a mental health crisis in this country because everyone, no matter how you affiliate yourself, should be against Trump. Period.' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to these remarks during a press conference in June. 'The last time I checked, Jasmine Crockett couldn't dream of winning such a majority of the public as President Trump did,' she said.
Atlantic
16 minutes ago
- Atlantic
A MAHA Progress Report
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spent the past six months working fast to embed his Make America Healthy Again creed into American life. Over the summer alone, he has struck deals with some food companies to phase out some petroleum-based food dyes, waged a war against pediatricians over COVID-19 vaccines for young children, seemingly toyed with the idea of shipping fresh food to Americans in ' MAHA boxes,' and pledged to reboot the nation's dietary guidelines from scratch. I spoke with the Atlantic staff writer Nicholas Florko, who reports on health policy, about how the MAHA-fication of the country is coming along. Nicholas Florko: We've seen Robert F. Kennedy Jr. take actions that will weaken our vaccination system in the United States, confirming some of public health's worst fears. But there have also been some surprising successes in his term. RFK Jr. has embraced the role of a dealmaker, and we've seen him leaning on food companies in particular to change their offerings and get rid of synthetic dyes. He's been able to do that simply by asking and by making handshake agreements, as opposed to what we would normally expect from a health secretary—for him to use his regulatory power to force these changes. Stephanie: Why are these handshake agreements proving successful? Nicholas: Food companies likely realize that it's in their best interest to get on the good side of the Trump administration. We see this throughout all sectors of business, but for the food sector, these changes are small enough that companies can make them without dramatically hurting their bottom line, while also earning a lot of brownie points with the administration. Stephanie: That reminds me of President Donald Trump's announcement in July that Coca-Cola, famously his favorite drink, had agreed to make their soda with cane sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup. To what extent is Trump influencing health policy? Does RFK Jr. have a lot of latitude? Nicholas: The Coca-Cola issue is an interesting one because while it's true that RFK Jr. is very anti–high-fructose corn syrup, he's also publicly called sugar a 'poison.' So this is one of those instances where you wonder what is behind RFK Jr. supporting this change. He must know that this isn't actually going to significantly improve public health, but also probably realizes that this is important to his boss. That being said, I think that RFK Jr. does have some latitude. If you left Trump to his own devices, you probably wouldn't see the same level of aggression toward food companies overall, unless he had a personal stake in the situation. Stephanie: With back-to-school season under way, many students are getting up-to-date on their shots. How does this year's vaccination season compare to years past? Nicholas: We haven't seen huge changes, but we are seeing some hints of what might come. Much of the action thus far is around COVID vaccines. In February the president issued a largely symbolic executive order barring schools from enforcing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, but by the time that was issued, virtually no schools actually had such a policy. RFK Jr. also softened the CDC's recommendation for kids to get the COVID-19 vaccine. That's probably been one of his most controversial decisions, prompting a high-profile clash with pediatricians; a leading pediatrics group put out its own suggestions saying that children should be getting vaccinated. But we haven't seen major changes to the other vaccines typically required for returning to school. Stephanie: That disagreement must make it confusing for parents to know who to listen to. Nicholas: It's reasonable to assume that a good portion of people will listen to RFK Jr., but those people may be already skeptical of vaccines and see him as a trustworthy messenger, versus folks who are on the fence. I think that's really the question: Where do those people who are on the fence go? Do they take RFK Jr.'s suggestion, or do they trust their doctor? Stephanie: In May, you wrote a story that was alarming for salad lovers, specifically about how bagged lettuce should be avoided. What's happening with America's food-safety system? Nicholas: One of the earliest, most concerning changes for food safety happened when DOGE came into the federal agencies. Advisory committees focused on food-safety questions were shut down. People were being laid off—such as the administrative staff in charge of making sure that inspectors can go out to farms. Some layoffs seem to have been rescinded, but there's a broad worry about what will happen to the day-to-day operations that we all depend on to keep us safe. Stephanie: A recent story about the recall of frozen shrimp with potential radioactive contamination has caused a bit of a panic about where America's food safety is headed. How did you take that news? Nicholas: One thing that gives me some hope is the fact that this is the sort of thing that we caught, and there have been recalls by Walmart. That's really the big fear when it comes to food safety: that if we attack these federal programs, they're not going to be able to actually find the food that might get us sick before a lot of people get sick. So I think this is actually a good sign that things are working relatively well. Stephanie: Out of all the stories you've written this past summer about the MAHA movement, is there one that keeps you up at night? And is there one that makes you feel hopeful for where American health and safety is going? Nicholas: Honestly, the stories that keep me up at night are by our colleague Katie Wu. Her recent one on RFK Jr.'s COVID revenge campaign has really stuck with me. My own story that both keeps me up at night and that makes me hopeful is related to states, which are taking up the MAHA charge in a very quick fashion. It's felt like Republican governors and legislatures are all trying to out-MAHA one another to ingratiate themselves to Trump and to RFK Jr. Some of these ideas are good from a public-health perspective, but these states are doing a lot of things really fast, which is what worries me. For example, some states are blocking people from using food stamps to buy soda and other junk food. There's a question of how that policy will be implemented, how the attempts to enact these restrictions could affect the entire food-stamp system. Other states have passed laws banning artificial dyes in their school meals. Again, it's one of those ideas that's a good step, but the devil is in the details of how it's executed. How does this flurry of activity in the states actually affect people in the coming months? Does this ultimately make America healthier, or does it send our food system into chaos? Here are three new stories from The Atlantic: Today's News A New York appeals court voided the roughly $500 million civil-fraud penalty against President Donald Trump, calling it 'excessive,' but upheld the finding that Trump and his company committed long-running business fraud. Business restrictions on Trump in New York remain, and the state plans to appeal. More immigrants are leaving the U.S. than arriving, according to the Pew Research Center. The shift, affected by Trump's strict immigration policies, is the first of its kind since the 1960s. California lawmakers passed the first of three bills on a redistricting plan backed by Governor Gavin Newsom that would shift as many as five Republican-held U.S. House seats toward Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterms. The move comes a day after Texas state House Republicans passed a new congressional map that could add five U.S. House seats for the GOP. Evening Read What We Gain When We Stop Caring By Anna Holmes Sometime in the early aughts, the comedian Amy Poehler made a vulgar joke while sitting in the Saturday Night Live writers' room waiting for a midweek read-through to begin. As detailed in Tina Fey's 2011 memoir, Bossypants, Jimmy Fallon, who was also in the show's cast at the time, jokingly recoiled and told Poehler to stop it. 'It's not cute!' Fallon exclaimed. 'I don't like it.' 'Amy dropped what she was doing, went black in the eyes for a second, and wheeled around on him,' Fey writes. ''I don't fucking care if you like it.'' Read the full article. More From The Atlantic Read. In 2022, The Atlantic 's Culture writers recommended the books that they read too late —but that you should read now. Take a look. This is how the 17th-century painter Rachel Ruysch became one of the greatest still-life painters in the history of art, Zachary Fine writes. When you buy a book using a link in this newsletter, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.
