How Do You Solve A Problem Like Padilla? Tabs, Fri., June 13, 2025

Morning news roundup and things to read!

Tabs gif by your friend Martini Glambassador!

Is it cool when the secretary of Homeland Security handcuffs California’s senior Senator at her (the secretary’s) Los Angeles press conference? Probably no! (Orange County Register) “In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said Padilla ‘chose disrespectful political theater and interrupted a live news conference.’ They claimed erroneously that Padilla did not identify himself and said Secret Service believed him to be an attacker.” Which is why before they handcuffed him, they tackled him to the ground. (AP)

Here is Mayor Karen Bass’s press conference. I’m going to put the transcript at the end of these tabs, because it is very worth reading. (Facebook)

House Speaker Mike Johnson wants to censure Noem … just kidding. He wants to censure Sen. Alex Padilla for getting handcuffed and tackled to the ground. (Bluesky)

Judge Charles Breyer says give Gavin back his National Guard, you fucking POS. (Stayed till noon.) (Ruling)

Martial law? Probably yes! (Cassidy Steele Dale)

And as a matter of fact, they’ve indicted Rep. LaMonica McIver too, and Our Liz says there’s no sane world in which she committed felonies while doing her legally prescribed oversight of ICE. (Public Notice)

Get ready to be fired, Trump’s top general! (CNN)

Marine and National Guard morale in the shitter. (The Guardian) Maybe they’ll feel better when 5000 of them are deployed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ahead of No Kings protests. (NBC News)

LA knows chaos. This isn’t it. But democracy is on the line! (Paul Krugman)

A couple good Supreme Court rulings yestertoday: This one making it easier for students with disabilities to sue their schools (AP) and this Robyn-bait that actually diminishes immunity for police misconduct (ruling). Of course that only makes me nervous about what kind of King Trump shit they’ll pull next.

Republicans LYING about their Big Beautiful Deficit Bill? I mean! (Ryan Cooper at The American Prospect)

Florida school superintendent threatened with criminal prosecution for not removing Judy Blume book permanently enough. (He asked the district’s librarians to determine young-adult novel suitability instead of throwing them all in a bonfire we guess.) This is terrifying. (Popular Info)

Trumper sad. (Daily Beast)

RFK Jr.’s new vaccine advisory panel full of CRACKPOTS? But how could … ah fuck it. (The Bulwark)

The shame of Fort Bragg. (David Pepper)

Afrikaner “refugees” discover the American refugee program sucks shit. (The South African)

If I had the great good fortune to be wedded to Gisele Fetterman, I would probably choose to celebrate our marriage anniversary instead of having a hot night out with Steve Bannon. But I am weird that way! (Mediaite)

The 25 prettiest Airbnb’s in Italy? I will click you! (Matador Network)

I have missed Caity Weaver, where has she been recently? Oh, Paris?

I fear this is not going to sound very intelligent: Once inside, I discover that the Louvre is good, actually. You know what is the extremely most good? The Mona Lisa room. That’s my insider tip: Traveling to Paris? Consider visiting the Louvre—and be sure to check out a picture called the Mona Lisa.

(New Yorker)

How to protest safely. (Wired) NO KINGS NO KINGS, FIND YOUR PROTEST SITE FOR NO KINGS. (No Kings)

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s transcript, very worth reading in full:

Thank you everyone for being here. We put a call out about an hour ago. And with this call, you came on a moment’s notice because every single person here understands the gravity of the situation. You want to know Los Angeles? This is Los Angeles.

Last Thursday, Los Angeles was peaceful. There was nothing here that warranted what began to take place on Friday. So, today, I wanted to present a visual – one that Angelenos know – but I wanted to make sure that the state, the country, and the world knows that this is Los Angeles. We are a city of labor, we are a city of businesses, we are a city of faith, we are a city of believers and we are a city of dreamers.

Let's just remember why we are here today. Last Thursday, ICE entered our city and provoked the city by chasing people through Home Depot’s and car washes and showing up at schools and, today, showing up at emergency rooms and homeless shelters. ICE intervened as a pretext to federalize the National Guard, and then, in the White House, the National Guard was complimented for the work that they did to keep peace in the city Saturday night. But I will tell you, the Guard didn't even arrive here until Sunday. They used this as a pretext to send the U.S. Marines into an American city, which will target our own citizens.

They've been threatening elected officials with arrests, and they just shoved and cuffed a sitting U.S. Senator. How could you say that you did not know who he was? We see the videotape. We see him saying who he was. But how do you not recognize one of two Senators in our state? And he is not just any Senator. He is the first Latino citizen Senator to ever represent our state.

The images we have seen of our city over the past week – the raids, the vandalism, the looting – none of that is L.A. Los Angeles is who you see behind me: representatives of the faith community, the business community, community organizations. Yesterday, I stood at this podium with over 30 mayors from Los Angeles County who are all concerned about what is going on. Los Angeles is a Jewish community, a Muslim community, a Christian community and many other faiths. Los Angeles is Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Filipinotown, Koreatown, Thai Town, the South L.A. African American community, the Chamber of Commerce, the Central City Association. This is L.A., and we are united.

I was listening to the words of the Secretary at the press conference describing L.A. as a war zone. It is my understanding that she arrived here late last night, was here for a few hours today, and came to that conclusion. There is no one up here that sees Los Angeles like that, and I know, as the press, you know this is not all of Los Angeles. This is isolated to a few blocks in a city that is over 500 square miles, and out of those 500 miles, the protests – and especially the protests that were devolved into vandalism – represents about half a square mile.

So the notion that this is happening all over our city, the notion that this city is not governable, the notion that we need the military to intervene – we have the capacity to address these problems, and I know there's not a person up here that supports vandalism, that supports violence, and they understand, if you support the immigrant community, you know how to do it in a peaceful manner. We are proud to say that we have well-established, well-respected immigrant rights organizations that have been holding protests for years and years that have never devolved into violence.

To characterize what is going on as our city is a city of mayhem is just an outright lie. I'm not going to call it an untruth. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I'm going to call it for what it is, which is a lie.

I served with the Secretary. I served with the Secretary for probably about ten years in Congress. Madam Secretary, I do not recognize you anymore. I do not know Kristi Noem that I served with for ten years.

No matter what happens out of the White House, we will always uphold and reflect what Los Angeles and the United States of America are truly about: freedom, tolerance, and – for God's sake – our Constitution.

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