Newsletter: Today: Trump’s Tax Plan: Fill in the Blanks
President Trump’s tax proposal, at least the Cliffs Notes version, is out. I’m Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I don’t want you to miss today.
TOP STORIES
Trump’s Tax Plan: Fill in the Blanks
President Trump’s tax plan is a lot like Form 1040EZ: It’s one page, and it’s up to you to fill in the blanks. The proposal would slash corporate taxes, reduce the number of personal brackets from seven to three, double the standard deduction, eliminate deductions for state and local taxes (a big hit to Californians), drop the inheritance tax and so on. But with so little detail, few economists or tax policy analysts are buying the White House line that it will pay for itself — and as columnist Michael Hiltzik writes, we’ve seen these ideas before. Add in a Congress wary of increasing the deficit, and this tax plan will probably need an extension.
GOP Tells Trump, ‘We’ll Always Have Paris’
Trump will meet with his top advisors today to see what direction to take on the Paris climate accord. During the campaign, it was a frequent Trump target, but the president is coming under increasing pressure not just from daughter Ivanka but also from fellow Republicans to stick with it. They say: Why walk away from one of the most influential forums for steering global energy policy?
More Politics
— Trump has told the leaders of Mexico and Canada that he will not pull out of NAFTA “at this time.”
— Senators went to the White House for a briefing on North Korea, but not all were impressed with what they heard.
— The head of the FCC unveiled a plan to dismantle net neutrality rules. In his own words, here’s why.
— On Edge in Trump’s America: our best stories on immigration.
Video: Children of the L.A. Riots Have Stories to Tell
They were just kids when the unrest in Los Angeles broke out on April 29, 1992. Their parents owned businesses that became the targets of rage. Now, the children of thousands of Korean Americans are grown, and some are telling their own versions of the stories their parents don’t want to talk about. Also part of our continuing coverage of the riots: How would the LAPD handle a riot today? More officers. More arrests. Better strategy, police say.
Time to Rewrite the Archeology Textbooks?
It began, as so many discoveries in Southern California do, with a freeway. In late 1992, a freeway expansion project in southern San Diego unearthed some mastodon bones that a team of scientists now says bear the scars of human activity from more than 130,000 years ago. If it checks out, that would mean humans settled North America much earlier than is now generally accepted.
How a Hollywood Strike Would Hit Below the Line
Nearly a decade has passed since the last Hollywood writers strike, and the prospect of another one potentially starting next week has rattled plenty of people who don’t make their living at a keyboard. Small businesses that cater to the entertainment industry in L.A. are on edge too, and some have taken preventive measures. “If I hadn’t been through it before, I think ignorance might be a little bit of bliss,” says one florist, who renegotiated her lease. “But I’ve been through it, and it is really scaring me right now, honestly.”
CALIFORNIA
— Documents show officials at University of California campuses changed their responses on surveys requested by state auditors and dropped criticism of the UC Office of the President after it contacted them.
— Officials say a big drug bust in Boyle Heights could lead to more deportations of those living in the country illegally.
— The on-again, off-again speech by conservative pundit Ann Coulter at UC Berkeley is off again. “It’s a sad day for free speech,” she wrote.
— It looks as if Nancy Pelosi will have a Democratic challenger for her seat in Congress, and he’s a “pretty hard-core” Bernie Sanders supporter.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
— Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme, best-known for “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Philadelphia,” has died at age 73. He had an affinity for featuring strong, complicated women in his films.
— Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News host who left the network after allegedly being sexually harassed by its founding CEO, is writing a book about sexual harassment and female empowerment.
— Do you remember the animation in the A-ha video “Take On Me”? The artists who did it are still going strong.
— Who are some of the best young American novelists?
CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD
How close were Jack Klugman and Tony Randall in real life to their roles in “The Odd Couple” on TV? Randall claimed he was “very little like” Felix, but Klugman said in a 1996 interview with The Times that he was “pretty close” to Oscar. So much so that the wardrobe department “paid me $360 for everything in my closet” to style the slovenly sportswriter character. Klugman was born on this date in 1922 and died at age 90 in 2012.
NATION-WORLD
— Here are the national monuments being reconsidered under Trump.
— South Korea has announced the installation of key parts of a contentious U.S. missile defense system meant to counter the North.
— Relatives of U.S. citizens jailed in Iran are trying to press the Trump administration to secure their release.
— Turkey’s main opposition party says it will challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s referendum victory to expand his powers. Will Europe try to step in?
— France’s foreign ministry said the deadly sarin gas used in a chemical attack in Syria this month “bears the signature” of President Bashar Assad’s government.
BUSINESS
— United Airlines will offer up to $10,000 when a traveler voluntarily gives up a seat on an oversold flight, part of a policy overhaul after the passenger-dragging incident.
— Venture capitalists are looking beyond tech to the dietary supplements market, but scientists are worried about some of the health claims being made.
SPORTS
— ESPN has laid off Jayson Stark, Ed Werder and about 100 other on-air personalities and writers.
— After a wild finish, the Anaheim Ducks dropped Game 1 in their playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers, a team that didn’t look intimidated, columnist Helene Elliott writes.
OPINION
— The violence of 1992 and the acrimony of today were born with the videotaped police beating of Rodney King.
— Why are leftists targeting troll columnists like Ann Coulter instead of institutions?
WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING
— Dan Rather 2.0: After his fall from grace more than a decade ago, the newsman has a huge following on Facebook as he speaks his mind on Trump. (Politico)
— Are terms like “mansplaining” and “girlboss” reinforcing gendered language? (The Guardian)
— The agony and ecstasy of being Pat Riley. (ESPN)
ONLY IN L.A.
What does a chef from England who made a name for herself (and earned a Michelin star) for serving a burger at a New York gastro pub do when in Los Angeles? Go on a five-hour burger crawl, of course. Watch the video as she survives an onslaught of meat, cheese and sauce that left her “ready to go for a big, long walk.”
Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.
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