Happy Tuesday! We are pleased to share that The Dispatch softball team will remain undefeated for at least one more week! Upon arriving at the designated field for our first game of the season Monday, we were informed the location was unavailable due to preparations for the Army’s upcoming 250th birthday bash. Well, there’s always next week.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- The Defense Department has mobilized 700 U.S. Marines to California in response to protests and riots in parts of Los Angeles, U.S. Northern Command announced Monday. The troops will begin deploying to L.A. as soon as Tuesday in response to clashes that began over the weekend following Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across the city. The deployed soldiers will reportedly be tasked with protecting federal buildings and employees, but will refrain from detaining rioters or performing other duties typically reserved for law enforcement.
- Meanwhile, California sued the Trump administration on Monday over President Donald Trump’s Saturday decision to mobilize 2,000 members of the state’s National Guard in response to the rioting. In a memorandum ordering the deployment, Trump said that the civil unrest in Los Angeles constituted “a form of rebellion” and prevented the U.S. government from enforcing the law, circumstances that, under federal statute, permit him to call in the National Guard. However, California Attorney General Rob Bonta argued the move was unlawful and in violation of California’s “sovereign right to control” the Guard. Bonta further contended that Trump needed the approval of California Gov. Gavin Newsom for the deployment, because the federal law Trump cited requires that the order “be issued through the governors of the States.”
- Russia unleashed its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the war’s start, Ukrainian officials said on Monday, killing one person near the western city of Rivne. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia’s attack included 479 drones and 20 missiles, though Ukrainian air defenses thwarted the majority of the attack. Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine began exchanging prisoners of war on Monday—primarily the wounded and soldiers under the age of 25—though neither side provided precise numbers. Over the weekend, Russia accused Ukraine of stalling the prisoner swap, a claim which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed as baseless.
- NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte called on NATO nations to invest more resources in their military defense capabilities, warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin could attack a NATO country within the next five years. Specifically, he recommended that the alliance increase its spending on air and missile defense capabilities by 400 percent. “Five percent is not some figure plucked from the air, it is grounded in hard facts,” Rutte said from the Chatham House in London. “The fact is, we need a quantum leap in our collective defense.”
- President Trump held a 40-minute phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, later telling reporters that it went “very well,” and that they covered topics including Israeli hostages held in Gaza and ongoing U.S. talks with Iran over its nuclear program. During a press conference, Trump claimed that “Iran actually is involved” in hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas. He also shared that Iran’s terms for a prospective deal—which he did not outline—were “just not acceptable,” and asserted that the U.S. would not allow Iran to maintain its uranium enrichment capabilities. An Iranian spokesperson said Monday that a U.S. proposal was “not acceptable,” and that the Islamic Republic will present a counteroffer to the U.S. in the coming days. The next round of talks between the two countries is reportedly scheduled for either Friday or Sunday.
- Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed all 17 sitting members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) on Monday, an entity within the Department of Health and Human Services that provides recommendations on vaccine safety and efficacy. A press release from the department stated Kennedy was “totally reconstituting” the committee, and that he will soon appoint replacements. Kennedy defended the move by saying it ensures “unbiased science” will guide the government’s vaccine research. All 17 members had been appointed to the position by former President Joe Biden, including 13 who were appointed in 2024.
‘ICE Go Home!’
Paramount, a small city just south of Los Angeles, is typically a quiet working-class suburban community. But on Saturday, it became the site of a clash between protesters and federal law enforcement. Rioters, some of them waving Mexican flags, clashed with federal officers, who fired tear gas and flashbangs in an attempt to disperse the crowds. As L.A. law enforcement rushed to the scene to reinforce the federal forces, they were pelted with bottles and rocks as protesters chanted “ICE go home!”
A series of surprise immigration enforcement raids by federal officials around Los Angeles over the past week sparked ...
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Today’s Must-Read
It wasn’t a fight for equality, or the rights-based argument advanced by major LGBTQ organizations like the Human Rights Campaign, that changed hearts and minds. … Only when the progressive argument began to mirror the conservative case—framing marriage not simply as a legal entitlement, but as a social good that benefits both individuals and society—did public opinion begin to shift. The conservative case, which emphasized the moral seriousness of lifelong, monogamous commitment, succeeded precisely because it wasn’t about autonomy. It was about the longing to participate in something larger than oneself, and to be shaped by it.
Toeing the Company Line
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Liberal Justices, Conservative Outcomes
‘The law knows no heresy and is committed to the support of no dogma.’
Can Anyone Save the Democrats?
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Trust No One
On the battle of Los Angeles.
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