Newsletter: Today: Travel Ban 3.0: This Time It’s Indefinite
President Trump has signed a new version of the travel ban, after a weekend filled with a dozen tweets aimed at athletes that resulted in a day of silent protest in the NFL.
TOP STORIES
Travel Ban 3.0: This Time It’s Indefinite
Just as the much-disputed travel ban from March expired on Sunday, President Trump signed a new one that goes into full effect Oct. 18, and this time it’s indefinite. The order covers most of the same countries, with Chad and North Korea joining Iran, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Libya on the list and Sudan moving off it. The restrictions also differ in severity among countries and place sharper scrutiny on some nationals from Somalia, Iraq and Venezuela. How this affects the Supreme Court case involving the temporary ban isn’t clear, but legal challenges to the new one are sure to follow.
The Battle on Bended Knee
They knelt. They linked arms. They stayed in the locker room. Across the NFL, as the national anthem was sung on Sunday, players and some owners had a message for President Trump: You can’t tell us what to do. This unusual 1st Amendment discussion started Friday night at a political rally, when Trump said, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you’d say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired.’ ” Then, on Twitter, the president took the ball and ran with it, including lashing out at NBA star Stephen Curry for saying he didn’t want to visit the White House. But just as many business leaders backed off Trump because of his response to a white-supremacist march in Charlottesville, Va., so too did many NFL owners this time, including two who donated $1 million each to his inauguration. In the parking lot of StubHub Center in Carson, fans had some things to say on both sides of the debate.
More Politics
-- Analysis: At Trump’s bully pulpit, it’s “us” versus “them,” with race often used as a device to polarize.
-- Trump said the White House has “totally finalized” a tax plan, but there’s skepticism about the figures he said he’s hoping for: a 15% rate for corporations and 10% to 12% for individuals.
On Healthcare, Are They Legislating in the Dark?
Senate Republicans’ latest attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act would fundamentally restructure the nation’s half-century-old healthcare safety net. That much is clear about the so-called Graham-Cassidy bill. But there’s been virtually no analysis or public scrutiny. There’s disagreement over a key point, with cosponsor Sen. Bill Cassidy saying it protects those with preexisting conditions — and a long list of healthcare groups saying it doesn’t. With a vote as early as Wednesday and key senators expressing doubts about the bill, billions of dollars have been added in the hope it will sway them.
Thinking the Unthinkable: What a New Korean War Would Look Like
As the world watches the insults and threats fly between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, military strategists are pondering what was once unthinkable after 64 years of armistice: all-out war. They say a conflict, even if restricted to conventional weapons, would differ greatly from the Korean War of the 1950s and what we’ve seen more recently in Iraq or Libya. “There is only one way that this war ends: with North Korea’s defeat — but at what cost?” says one retired Air Force brigadier general.
Puerto Rico’s Mettle Is Tested
Across Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory of 3.4 million, communities were struggling to survive without even the most basic necessities after deadly Hurricane Maria. A failing dam in the island’s northwest forced evacuations. But amid the devastation, neighbors found a way to come together, whether trying to salvage what they could, playing basketball without electric lighting or breaking into prayer to celebrate their survival — and wonder what comes next.
Not Everyone in Anaheim Feels That Disney Magic
As Anaheim’s largest employer and taxpayer, the Walt Disney Co. has been central to what the city is today. But some local politicians and residents wonder why they aren’t seeing more benefits to living in Disneyland’s shadow. Case in point: a big parking structure, which the city owns and spent $108.2 million to build as part of a deal for the Disney Resort’s expansion. The city gets just $1 a year, while Disney collects millions in parking fees.
OUR MUST-READS FROM THE WEEKEND
-- Senior aides to President Trump repeatedly warned him not to deliver a personal attack on North Korea’s leader at the United Nations, but he didn’t heed their advice.
-- The University of California is handing out generous pensions, and students are paying the price with higher tuition.
-- Raids in a New Jersey town are targeting ultra-Orthodox Jews accused of welfare fraud. The charges have tapped into a well of festering hostility toward them.
-- “This is the stuff the movie-makers dream of”: In Lake Michigan, a graveyard of long-lost ships is captivating historians.
-- L.A.’s palm trees are dying, and it’s changing the city’s famous skyline.
MUST-WATCH VIDEO
-- In the mountain town of Utuado, Puerto Rico, residents struggle to recover from Hurricane Maria.
-- Film critic Justin Chang reviews “Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” which was No. 1 at the box office this weekend.
-- The Dodgers celebrated their fifth consecutive NL West title with a lot of Champagne.
CALIFORNIA
-- L.A. could be one of the hottest markets for marijuana in the country next year, but don’t expect it to be the next Amsterdam: Pot cafes and lounges aren’t part of the city’s plan, and some marijuana advocates aren’t happy about that.
-- How Milo Yiannopoulos’ “Coachella of Conservatism” fizzled into an “expensive photo op” at UC Berkeley.
-- Police say that video showing a Huntington Beach officer fatally shooting a suspect outside a 7-Eleven doesn’t tell the whole story.
-- California now has its own official state dinosaur.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
-- CBS is exploring the digital frontier with its new series “Star Trek: Discovery.” But is it any good? Times TV critic Robert Lloyd hopes it lives long and prospers.
-- Herb Alpert wants to “make uplifting music at a time when the whole world feels like it could use some.” He wishes Trump and the political system would support the arts.
-- Pedro Pascal is a sex symbol on “Game of Thrones.” Now he’s having a moment with the Netflix drama “Narcos” and the film “Kingsman: The Golden Circle.”
-- Jerry Lewis’ six sons were purposely excluded from the late comic’s will.
CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD
“Mad About You,” the NBC sitcom about newlyweds played by Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt, began its seven-season run 25 years ago this week. It would become one of television’s most durable series through the 1990s.
NATION-WORLD
-- Police say a masked gunman who killed one person and wounded six others at a church in Antioch, Tenn., is a native of Sudan who once attended the church. The FBI has opened a civil rights investigation.
-- The Supreme Court opens its new term Oct. 2. Here are the major questions before the court this fall.
-- #FuerzaMexico: The aftermath of last week’s earthquake has generated an extraordinary outpouring of pride and nationalistic passion.
-- Chancellor Angela Merkel declared victory after Germans voted Sunday, but the stunning rise of a far-right, anti-immigrant party cast a pall over her reelection to a fourth term.
BUSINESS
-- Hurricane season has forced the cancellation of thousands of flights in the U.S. and Caribbean, but airlines are weathering the storms just fine.
-- Saving for retirement also means planning for the tax hit.
SPORTS
-- It’s “uh-oh” and three for the Chargers, who haven’t won a game since their move to L.A.
-- In Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, the L.A. Sparks gave up a 26-point lead but scored with two seconds on the clock to defeat the Minnesota Lynx 85-84.
OPINION
-- Everyone hates tolls, but drastic times may call for drastic measures to fix L.A.’s traffic.
-- No, the gender gap in technology and science isn’t set in stone.
WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING
-- Sound familiar? Jared Kushner has used private email to conduct some White House business, as have some other aides. (Politico)
-- Sixty years after nine black teenagers were escorted by federal troops into a Little Rock high school, a lack of classroom integration is still a fact of life in America. (Associated Press)
-- Is HGTV paving the way to ruin? (Vulture)
ONLY IN L.A.
With a name like Nathan Raider Moreno, this outside linebacker on Loyola High School’s freshman team clearly has a favorite franchise if he ever gets drafted into the NFL. Not surprisingly, his parents are big Raiders fans. But as he tells it, his name originally “was supposed to be my first name, followed by Nathan. Raider Nathan, Raider Nation.” Then Mom threw a flag on the field.
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