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The battle for Los Angeles
š¤ Amazon robots | š Notting Hill selfies | āļø Captured clouds
In the headlines
Around 300 members of the US National Guard have arrived in Los Angeles as violent protests against immigration raids continued for a third night. Donald Trump says he dispatched the troops to preserve āstrong law and orderā; Californiaās Democratic governor Gavin Newsom says the state will file a lawsuit against the presidentās āpurposefully inflammatoryā decision, calling it āillegal, immoral and unconstitutionalā. Israelās military has intercepted a Gaza-bound yacht carrying Greta Thunberg and 11 other activists. The vessel is now being redirected to an Israeli port, where the IDF has been ordered to show the activists a video of the October 7 attacks before they are deported. Playing classical music to plants could boost their growth. Botany boffins played pak choi plants ā in strictly controlled temperature, humidity and light conditions ā classical music, rock music or no music. Those exposed to Bachās concertos grew larger and leafier than the others, weighing on average 6g more than those that were played rock music.
Comment

Laying down the law in downtown LA. Taurat Hossain/Anadolu/Getty
The battle for Los Angeles
āPut down your matcha lattes and trade in your Birkenstocks for boots, folks,ā says Anita Chabria in the Los Angeles Times. āWe are the revolution.ā That, at least, is the message Donald Trump is sending to LA residents, after overriding the California governorās authority and deploying National Guard troops to the city. Itās true that the protests against federal agents rounding up illegal immigrants have been ugly: rocks and Molotov cocktails thrown; masked protesters attacking federal buildings; cars on fire. But 99% of the city is ābusiness as usualā, and the local police are more than capable of handling a few hundred protesters. For Trump to send in soldiers against the wishes of the stateās governor ā the first time a president has done so since LBJ deployed troops to Selma, Alabama in 1965 ā is a dangerous escalation.
It may be true that the National Guard isnāt needed, says The Wall Street Journal. Our guess is the White House had the little-used legal provision to send them in āteed upā, and that Trump has been āitchingā to use it ā he knows Americans hate public disorder. But Governor Gavin Newsom should have foreseen this. By tolerating obstruction against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, he and the rest of the stateās Democratic leadership have given Trump the perfect excuse to call in the reserves. For now, the National Guard troops are merely there to make sure the ICE teams can do their job. But Trump is no doubt desperate to invoke the Insurrection Act, under which the military would be tasked with regular law enforcement. If Democrats had any sense, theyād do everything in their power to deny him that opportunity.
šŖš³ļø The big worry is that this is all a practice run for next yearās midterm elections, says David Frum in The Atlantic. If Trump can trigger disturbances in Democratic states ahead of Election Day, he can then assert emergency powers to impose federal control over the voting process, or suspend voting until he decides that order has been restored. Many of his āmost ferventā supporters urged him to do this ahead of the 2020 presidential election, but he instead tried ā and failed ā to steer the result using the courts. Heās unlikely to make the same mistake again.
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Photography
Most artists paint clouds, says Moss and Fog. Dutch photographer Berndnaut Smilde makes them. By carefully calibrating humidity and lighting, then letting off a short burst from a fog machine, the 47-year-old can produce pillowy blooms of vapour, turning abandoned churches and sterile corridors into āfleeting dreamscapesā. Each cloud lasts only seconds, but by photographing them in his surreal series, Nimbus, he creates an āemotional weight that lingers much longerā. To see more, click the image above.
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