Newsletter: Today: Londoners Say, ‘You Won’t Break Us, Ever.’ But Trump ...

Londoners say, “You won’t break us, ever.” 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

London Keeps Calm, Trump Carries On … and On

Londoners struck a defiant tone amid Saturday’s van and knife attack that killed seven people and injured dozens more, even fending off the assailants with beer mugs and chairs before police intervened. Grieving for those lost, they also pledged resilience, harking back to previous generations’ fortitude in facing the Blitz and the Troubles. Most world leaders gave their support, but President Trump took things a step further with his tweets slamming London Mayor Sadiq Khan, bringing in the gun debate and travel ban, and saying, “We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people.” Meanwhile in Manchester, Ariana Grande led an all-star benefit Sunday for those affected by the bombing attack after her May 22 concert. “The kind of love and unity you’re displaying is the kind of medicine the world needs right now,” she told a crowd of 50,000.

Trump Has ‘You’re Fired!’ Down Pat. As for ‘You’re Hired’ …

When it comes to staffing his administration, Trump is finding it hard to say, “You’re hired!” The president has nominees for only 110 of 1,242 positions that require Senate approval, and of those only 40 have been confirmed. The sluggish start, along with hiring freezes, has rippled across the federal government; the Department of Veterans Affairs alone has 45,000 vacancies. The reasons are many, including Trump’s emphasis on loyalty. As one former White House staffer put it: “People want that kind of job. They’re just a little leery of all the wackiness.”

Forget @realDonaldTrump, @JerryBrownGov Takes On #climatechange

Now that the president is pulling the U.S. out of the Paris accord, California Gov. Jerry Brown is looking for a broader role in shaping the world’s climate change policies. Brown is in China this week for a series of meetings on the topic, a trip that was planned some time ago but now shows the greater role regional leaders can play regardless of what Washington does.

Video: A Big Fight Over the Small Porpoise Nearing Extinction

In all the world, there are fewer than 30 of the small porpoise known as the vaquita marina remaining. Two decades ago, there were 600. The prospect of its extinction has turned a small area off the coast of Baja California into a battleground: International conservationists with a “pirate-punk” attitude are drawing the ire of Mexican fishermen while fighting the illegal use of nets to catch another creature, the totoaba, a fish whose bladder is so prized in China that sales of it are more lucrative than cocaine trafficking.

The Sea Shepherd activists embrace an attitude that could be called “pirate-punk.”

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

An L.A. Story: High Rents, Flat Wages and Low Feelings

The median rental price for a one-bedroom apartment in L.A. County: $1,995. The median per-capita income: less than $30,000 a year. Do the math, and there’s not much left over. After last week’s reports about a big increase in homelessness, columnist Steve Lopez checked in with some people who are making do with living on the brink.

In Search of Cinema Paradiso

Do you still go to the movies? The film industry is pulling out all kinds of technological stops to get you off your small screen and into a hall with a big screen — but that also means higher prices. The L.A. Times’ entertainment staff looked at the state of moviegoing, including the return of teen audiences, the architecture of the multiplex and the horrors of cellphones. As arts and entertainment editor Mary McNamara writes, “ ‘Going to the movies’ is a personal and cultural through-line, an ever-shifting ritual by which we mark our own changing lives.”

OUR MUST-READS FROM THE WEEKEND

-- As the Bill Cosby trial begins today, an O.J. Simpson-like constellation of race, celebrity, power and gender converges.

-- The 2018 governor’s race is going to be big. Find out who’s in and what’s next.

-- What would California’s proposed single-payer healthcare system mean for you?

-- The “gangster mayor” versus the next Brooklyn: Generations collide in Compton’s mayoral race.

-- The tragedy in Venezuela: Fifteen images capture a nation’s sorrow and turmoil.

MUST-WATCH VIDEO

-- The political theater of right-wing activist Arthur Schaper, who attends events clad in his red Make American Great Again cap and wearing a Trump flag.

-- Gov. Brown shares his views on the Paris accord.

-- Here’s what Kathy Griffin said at her Trump news conference.

-- Have another doughnut? Sure, at a doughnut-eating competition in Santa Monica.

CALIFORNIA

-- Lawyers for a father detained by immigration officials after dropping off his child at school are trying new legal tactics in hopes of winning his release.

-- Muslims and Latinos are uniting during Ramadan, breaking fast with tacos at mosques.

-- California’s court leaders plan to send the Legislature a proposal to make traffic violations a civil offense, removing them from the criminal arena.

-- Most private colleges take very few transfer students, but at USC, about 1,500 get a spot each year, with many of them from community colleges.

-- At $75,560, housing a prisoner in California costs more than a year at USC … or Harvard.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- First person: “Why I cried through all the fight scenes in ‘Wonder Woman.’ ”

-- It packs a box-office punch too: “Wonder Woman” can now claim the title as the first female-fronted superhero blockbuster.

-- The verdict on “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly”? TV critic Lorraine Ali says Kelly still isn’t comfortable in the interviewer’s chair.

-- Bill Maher has apologized after using a racial slur on his HBO show. That hasn’t stopped the calls for him to be fired.

CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

“Khannnnnnnnn!” Thirty-five years ago this week, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” opened in theaters. Some say it was the best “Star Trek” film.

NATION-WORLD

-- Speaking with Megyn Kelly, Vladimir Putin dismissed the idea that Russia has damaging information on Trump and denied having any relationship with him.

-- Clashes broke out between pro- and anti-Trump protesters in Portland, Ore., after a white supremacist killed two men in stabbings on a train more than a week ago.

-- Portland police revealed that as one of the victims lay dying on the train, a man sneaked up to him, took his backpack and slipped his wedding ring off his finger.

-- Four Arab nations cut diplomatic ties to Qatar, further deepening a rift among Gulf Arab nations.

-- Accusations of election fraud have marred the voting in key Mexican state races.

BUSINESS

-- PACE loans were created to help homeowners, but for some they did the opposite.

-- This billionaire once thanked two of his employees with $1-million checks.

SPORTS

-- The Golden State Warriors made it two routs in a row over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.

-- The Stanley Cup Finals go from bad blood to taunts of “bad breath.”

OPINION

-- A proud neoliberal defends the cause.

-- You may love Amazon, but it is a 21st century deal with the devil.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- A viral symbol of London’s spirit: a man fleeing the area under attack with his pint of beer in hand. (Metro)

-- After 28 years, these photos of Tiananmen Square, just before the bloody crackdown, see the light of day. (New York Times)

-- How “The Most Interesting Man in the World” says he got the job and a pair of cufflinks from President Obama. (Politico)

ONLY IN L.A.

The 1920s-era building at 7165 Beverly Blvd. once housed a vaudeville theater, a candy factory, a triple-X porn house, and a nightclub that drew big stars in the 1940s. In 1978, it became the New Beverly Cinema, and when owner Sherman Torgan died in 2007, none other than Quentin Tarantino saved it from becoming a Supercuts. Now Tarantino picks the films on Friday nights at one of the few places left that keeps all its screening “reel.”

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