Mayor Karen Bass Talks Resilience, Recovery, and the Road to the Olympics at the Milken Institute Global Conference
Bass spoke about Los Angeles' road to recovery following recent wildfires. 'We're moving along as fast as we can,' she said, 'but trauma doesn't move along. My job is to make the rebuilding quick and roadblock-free.' Her administration's response included a disaster recovery center serving over 9,000 residents, complete with on-site mental health support.Looking ahead to the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics, Bass outlined efforts to unite the city. Through monthly citywide service events like "Shine LA," and facilitating infrastructure improvements to the city's Metro rail systems and airport, her goal is 'to mirror the spirit we had when we won the World Series, where we saw 200,000 people out in front of City Hall.'Despite political polarization nationally, Bass maintains strong ties to both Democratic and Republican administrations. 'One of the reasons we're ahead in fire recovery is because the Trump administration supported Los Angeles' efforts,' she noted. She also emphasized how her longtime Congressional service and relationships across the aisle have helped facilitate critical federal support. Bass also shared that she's taking her grandchildren to see Annie and reflected on being featured on LA Magazine's 2022 cover: 'It was the first time anyone asked me to be on a cover. I was nervous. I wanted everything to be right.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
a minute ago
- Associated Press
A look at those Trump has targeted in tactic of revoking security clearances
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration's announcement this week that it would rescind the security clearances of 37 current and former national security officials was hardly an isolated act. In ordering the revocation of the clearances, President Donald Trump was turning to a favored retributive tactic that he's wielded — or at least tried to — against high-profile political figures, lawyers and intelligence officials. The latest targets include officials who have served in the government across a range of agencies and positions, including on former President Joe Biden's national security team and at the National Security Agency. Some have been vocal critics of Trump and some have worked directly on matters that infuriated him, including an intelligence community assessment that said Russia interfered on his behalf in the 2016 presidential election. Security clearances are important tools not only for current national security workers but also former ones who may need them to preserve access to sensitive information in their capacity as contractors. The practical impact is unclear because it's not known how many of the 37 people newly singled out by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard still have security clearances. But critics have decried the move as an act of retribution meant to chill dissent or make intelligence officials think twice before reaching conclusions, or engaging in work, that anger the president. A look at some of the other people and industries affected by Trump's security clearance actions: Signers of the letter on Hunter Biden's laptop On his first day in office, Trump moved to revoke the clearances of more than four dozen former intelligence officials who in 2020 had signed on to a letter saying the Hunter Biden laptop saga bore the hallmarks of a 'Russian information operation.' The list includes prominent officials like James Clapper, director of national intelligence under former President Barack Obama; John Brennan and Leon Panetta, who both served as Obama's CIA directors, and John Bolton, who was fired as Trump's national security adviser during his first term. The laptop storyline surfaced after The New York Post in 2020 reported that it had obtained a hard drive of a computer that Hunter Biden had dropped off at a Wilmington, Delaware, repair shop. The newspaper published communications related to the younger Biden's business dealings in Ukraine. A subsequent letter from 51 former intelligence officials raised alarms about the provenance of emails reported by the Post. The signatories wrote that they didn't know whether the emails were authentic but that their emergence has 'all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.' Trump's then-director of national intelligence and current CIA director, John Ratcliffe, contradicted that assessment by saying there was no intelligence to support the idea that Russia had anything to do with Hunter Biden's laptop. The FBI, which was conducting its own criminal investigations into the younger Biden, seemed to back up Ratcliffe's statement by telling Congress in a letter that it had nothing to add to what he had said. Hunter Biden was subsequently convicted of both tax and gun charges but was pardoned by his father. Former President Joe Biden and his key officials Trump followed up with a separate order stripping Biden of his clearance, saying in February there was no need for him to continue receiving access to classified information. He also ended intelligence briefings for Biden in payback for Biden doing the same to him in 2021. Top Biden administration officials saw their security clearances suspended in a March order, including former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Other Trump foes A host of Trump's perceived adversaries also were targeted in that same March order, including: — Andrew Weissmann, a top prosecutor on the Justice Department special counsel team that during Trump's first term investigated ties between Russia and his 2016 presidential campaign. — Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney whose office prosecuted Trump last year in connection with hush money payments in 2016. — Mark Zaid, a prominent Washington national security lawyer whose clients have included an intelligence community whistleblower whose complaint initiated the first of two impeachment cases against Trump. Zaid subsequently sued, calling it an act of 'improper political retribution' that jeopardizes his ability to continue representing clients in sensitive national security cases. Law firms Trump also made the suspension of clearances a key provision in a spate of executive orders this year targeting prominent law firms over legal work he disfavored or for their relationships to attorneys he did not like. The actions also sought to bar firm attorneys from accessing federal buildings and threatened the cancellation of federal contracts. Four firms — Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, Susman Godfrey and Jenner & Block — sued in federal court to block the enforcement of the orders and in each case prevailed in getting them struck down, leaving the clearances intact.
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Laura Coates Uses Trump's Own Words to Shatter ‘Woke' Smithsonian Claims: ‘Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself, Mr. President'
In 2017, Trump called the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture a "beautiful tribute to so many American heroes" CNN's Laura Coates took issue Tuesday night with President Donald Trump's repeated claims that the Smithsonian Institute has gone 'out of control' with woke content and used some of his own words from 2017 to prove him wrong. Trump took to Truth Social Tuesday to announce that he has instructed his attorneys to review the Smithsonian's museums. More from TheWrap Laura Coates Uses Trump's Own Words to Shatter 'Woke' Smithsonian Claims: 'Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself, Mr. President' | Video Trump's White House Lashes Out at Rosie O'Donnell Again in Response to Mark Hamill's Near Emigration 'Morning Joe' Warns Rep. Elise Stefanik's Home District Boos Are a 'Terrible Sign' for Republicans | Video Shonda Rhimes Says Self-Censorship Is Palpable as Networks Cower to Trump 'The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been,' Trump wrote. 'This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE.' Among the museums that Trump has targeted is the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, which Coates was quick to point out Tuesday. The CNN anchor was also quick to note that, contrary to his recent claims, Trump had nothing but good things to say about the museum in question after he toured it in 2017. To prove her point, Coates played a clip of the speech Trump gave following his visit. 'This museum is a beautiful tribute to so many American heroes. It's amazing to see,' Trump said at the time. 'We did a pretty comprehensive tour, but not comprehensive enough. So, [Smithsonian Secretary] Lonnie [Bunch III] I'll be back. I told you that. Because I could stay here for a lot longer, believe me. It's really incredible. This tour was a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance, and hatred in all of its very ugly forms.' You can watch the clip yourself in the video below. For her part, Coates took particular issue with Trump's insistence that the museums his administration is reviewing focus only on suffering and oppression. 'Yes, it goes into the unvarnished truth of slavery in America, the brutal reality that millions endured and the impact that's still felt today,' Coates acknowledge about the National Museum of African American History and Culture. 'But the museum, if you actually go to it rather than just talk about it and see it on paper from a Truth Social post, it doesn't only focus on suffering. It is about resilience and achievement and celebration. Umbrella? History.' The CNN anchor noted that the museum highlights the achievements of Black icons like Muhammad Ali, Louis Armstrong, Jim Brown, Gabby Douglas and Carl Lewis. 'If that's woke, then maybe woke just means telling the whole story because every exhibition that I've just mentioned showcases exactly what Trump says that he wants: success, brightness, a look toward the future,' Coates argued. Responding to Trump's 2017 remark that the museum is a 'reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance, and hatred in all of its very ugly forms,' Coates concluded, '[I] couldn't have said it better myself, Mr. President.' The post Laura Coates Uses Trump's Own Words to Shatter 'Woke' Smithsonian Claims: 'Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself, Mr. President' | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Stablecoins Should Not Be Exempt From New York Crypto Tax, Lawmaker Says
New York State Assemblymember Phil Steck's proposed tax on crypto transactions will not be modified to accommodate stablecoins' use in everyday payments, the lawmaker told Decrypt. 'I don't think that there should be some exemption from a tax on crypto if you buy it for the purpose of using it as a currency,' he said on Tuesday. 'I can't see, frankly, crypto being used to take the place of the dollar bill in everyday transactions.' Last week, Steck estimated that a 0.2% tax on crypto transactions in the Empire State would generate $158 million annually, which could go toward helping schools combat substance abuse in upstate New York by funding the expansion of an existing support program. 'We thought this might be a way to raise the money needed to make this a statewide program,' he said, noting that the state's Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services currently serves communities in New York City and has faced budget constraints. Crypto advocates should support what appears to be a painless way of raising money to help those in need because it would 'show their commitment to doing something positive for the public,' the 66-year-old lawmaker said. Not all cryptocurrencies are the same, but digital assets are mostly speculative and resemble a form of entertainment, Steck said. And when Steck wants to watch professional baseball, he has no problem with paying a 4% sales tax on Mets tickets. Steck's bill would go into effect immediately if passed, and it comes as stablecoin legislation is expected to unlock more competition in the $280 billion sector, from the likes of Bank of America to Citigroup, following the passage of the GENIUS Act last month. But at least one observer has raised concerns that the bill would penalize consumers for transfers between their own accounts that incur no profits. These movements are similar to those an individual would execute between a savings and checking account. Stablecoins are often pegged to the U.S. dollar and backed by a mix of cash and U.S. Treasuries. Some regulators have compared them to poker chips in the past because crypto traders primarily use them primarily as a way to swap out of relatively volatile assets. Visa Adds More Stablecoin Features, Unveiling Avalanche, Stellar Support Steck's bill could make a positive impact upstate, but it's unclear how a 0.2% excise tax would play out in the epicenter of the financial world. Steck said his legislation would not include exemptions for high-frequency traders, who can execute thousands of transactions in a second while using complex computer algorithms to capitalize on the smallest changes in markets. 'I would see taxing high-frequency trading as very advantageous because [many economists] do not consider that to be productive economic activity,' he said. 'It's not for investment purposes. It's essentially a form of gambling.' Steck has meanwhile called for the reinstatement of a state tax on stock transfers. New York collected a 5-cent fee on sales over $20 from 1905 to 1981. It's possible that Steck's $158 million revenue estimate is low. His team tried to get information on the volume of crypto transactions in New York from the state's Department of Financial Services, but a bill memo shared with Decrypt notes those efforts were unsuccessful. Under the bill's plain text, crypto users would be taxed for moving funds between accounts they own, a non-event from the perspective of federal tax, Nick Slettengren, co-founder and CEO of Count on Sheep, a tax preparation service, told Decrypt. 'Unless regulations carve it out, [the bill] would penalize basic security hygiene and bookkeeping,' he said. 'That's a recipe for confusion, over-collection, and disputes.' Steck isn't the only one turning to crypto to help fund schools. Wyoming debuted its Frontier Stable Token (FRNT) on Tuesday, becoming the first state to issue stablecoin, and revenue generated by the token's reserves will go toward the state's school foundation fund. Asked for his thoughts on FRNT, Steck said 'they're going to have to pay a lot of money to create that currency digitally, which is very expensive from the point of view of using energy.' The lawmaker did not appear to know the difference between proof-of-work or proof-of-stake, or that Bitcoin's energy consumption is massive compared to other networks, including the seven blockchains that Wyoming's stablecoin debuted on earlier this week. So far, Steck said he hasn't had the opportunity to gauge assemblymembers' thoughts on the crypto tax. Not only was the bill just introduced, but he said that the New York legislature will not be in session until January.
