Of Note: August 11, 2025
The Trump Olympics and saying no to TROs.
The summer heat in LA held off for as long as it could this year. I thought we'd get lucky and escape the seasonal reminder of our current climate crisis, but now we're stuck with it until at least October. I've begun to notice the heat creep into the season on my walks through the neighborhood. It's unavoidable. There's no consistent shade for blocks around me. It's one of the reasons why I lament living in the city I love so much—a fixable problem that has been neglected for decades but continues to go unaddressed.
Once I notice it on my walk, I look around and see the other issues the city struggles to address adequately. My nearby unhoused neighbors are still unhoused. It turns out the solution to homelessness isn't banishment or making where they sleep illegal. I can't walk through a crosswalk without nearly getting run over by a car once a week. Looking out at the San Gabriel Mountains on the horizon, I'm reminded of the burned-out neighborhoods in Altadena that are barely rebuilt. The LAPD, with its $3 billion budget, perpetually flies its helicopters over my head. It's an audible reminder of their complicity for why the city is going broke.
It's baffling to me, then, to see that Mayor Karen Bass remains dead set on holding the 2028 Olympics here in LA. Her tone-deaf boosterism of the games is wearing thin as the city's ongoing challenges grow. Even if you ignore the budget issues or the impacts of the wildfires, you're still left with the main reason for cancelling the games: the Trump administration.
His presence has hung in the background, with the mayor giving little attention to the impact he would have on the games. But it's harder to ignore now after President Trump signed an executive order naming himself chair of the newly created 2028 Olympics Task Force. He’ll oversee the event's security, visa processing, and help showcase "America's greatness." Other administration lackeys, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Vice President JD Vance, are also involved in the task force.
Standing next to LA28 chairman, Casey Wasserman, Trump shared his vision for the upcoming games, which includes ostracizing transgender athletes and the possibility of sending the military back into the city.
"We'll do anything necessary to keep the Olympics safe − including using our National Guard, or military," Trump said at the press conference following signing the executive order.
By continuing with the Olympics, Mayor Bass is “locking arms” with the administration that's inflicting massive harm on the country. The mayor is talking out of both sides of her mouth when she condemns Trump's threats of another military occupation while also coordinating with the DHS and other federal law enforcement agencies for event security. Agencies that are still posing a genuine and ongoing threat to people in the city.
ICE and Customs and Border Protection are back to abducting people in LA despite a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that held the temporary restraining order forbidding it.
Last week, agents spilled out of the back of a Penske truck and chased people through a Home Depot parking lot. A tactic they cribbed from other mask fascist goons who like to show up unwelcome in a city.
MEREDITH DELISO
The administration's current legal workaround for the TRO is that if you run, it is reasonable to detain and arrest someone. It’s a shaky legal justification, and it's unclear whether it will hold up in court.
At a press conference last Wednesday, Mayor Bass spoke out about the administration's sidestepping of the TRO by saying, "We are not going to accept this situation, which was why we had a court decision and a temporary restraining order, and now that needs to be enforced and that needs to be upheld."
She hasn't demanded the same from her police department, which likely violated a TRO after they arrested, detained, and assaulted journalists at last Saturday's protest. Videos and photos from the night show both DHS and LAPD getting their licks in until eventually putting people up against the wall for arrest. The department cuffed journalists with their press passes hanging around their necks before releasing them.
It comes a few days after the city settled a lawsuit with two journalists who were arrested at a 2021 protest in Echo Park. The $500,000 settlement is the closest we'll get to accountability from the department because the mayor and the Los Angeles Police Commissioners refuse to rein them in.
I've written about it before, but journalists are targeted because we are the eyes and ears of what's going on at protests.
This piece from Will Bunch sums it up pretty well:
"That’s made street-level journalists like Stern, Buer, and the others who’ve been assaulted or arrested — freelancers or reporters for small independent sites — more important than ever. They are arguably the truth’s last line of defense, keeping tabs on community activism right at the moment when legacy newsrooms are increasingly walking away from that function. They can’t be bought, so they are bloodied."
It's hard to imagine that in three years we'll have a functioning democracy in this country, let alone the Olympics. The city has put a welcome mat out for the Trump administration, and look at the mess they've made so far. ICE abductions, National Guard occupations, and the destruction of social programs Angelenos depend on every day. At this point, it isn't a minority opinion to call off the games–it's a moral and financial obligation.
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I recommend subscribing to Alyssa Walker's Torched for a deeper, regular analysis of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Her most recent write-up following Trump's executive order is a must-read.
Alissa Walker
A piece I worked on with an incarcerated writer at San Quentin was published last week in 48hills. It's a rewarding experience working with incarcerated journalists. Timothy's writing has improved since working with him last year. Here's a snippet
The California justice system is well known for extensive sentencing, with enhancements like the Three Strikes Law and 10-20-year-to-life gun enhancement, sending people to prison to serve decades on life sentences. Less known is the so-called “one-year-to-life sentence,” reserved for people who served their time in prison and returned on a parole violation, only to find themselves trapped in what feels like a second life sentence.
Timothy Peoples
I also got a shoutout in LA Taco, about an LAPD officer who got a DUI after crashing and injuring someone on the freeway. The police report I obtained in a public records request accompanied the story, revealing how drunk Lt. Matthew Ensley was:
Asked if he hit his head during the collision, LAPD Lt. Matthew Ensley responded, “Absolutely not, I didn’t even know I got into a crash until you guys showed up.”
He got to keep his job.
Lexis-Olivier Ray
Israel killed five journalists in Gaza City on Sunday. The victims in the targeted airstrike included Al Jazeera's Anas Al Sharif. Since October 2023, Israel has killed over 200 journalists while reporting in Gaza.
The journalists inside Gaza are the reason why we know the truth about what's happening in the city, and it's why they're being killed.
I am sharing Anas Al Sharif's testament in its entirety below. Sit with it.
This is my will and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.
First, peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings. Allah knows I gave every effort and all my strength to be a support and a voice for my people, ever since I opened my eyes to life in the alleys and streets of the Jabalia refugee camp. My hope was that Allah would extend my life so I could return with my family and loved ones to our original town of occupied Asqalan (Al-Majdal). But Allah’s will came first, and His decree is final.
I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification - so that Allah may bear witness against those who stayed silent, those who accepted our killing, those who choked our breath, and whose hearts were unmoved by the scattered remains of our children and women, doing nothing to stop the massacre that our people have faced for more than a year and a half.
I entrust you with Palestine - the jewel in the crown of the Muslim world, the heartbeat of every free person in this world.
I entrust you with its people, with its wronged and innocent children who never had the time to dream or live in safety and peace. Their pure bodies were crushed under thousands of tons of Israeli bombs and missiles, torn apart and scattered across the walls.
I urge you not to let chains silence you, nor borders restrain you. Be bridges toward the liberation of the land and its people, until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our stolen homeland.
I entrust you to take care of my family. I entrust you with my beloved daughter Sham, the light of my eyes, whom I never got the chance to watch grow up as I had dreamed. I entrust you with my dear son Salah, whom I had wished to support and accompany through life until he grew strong enough to carry my burden and continue the mission.
I entrust you with my beloved mother, whose blessed prayers brought me to where I am, whose supplications were my fortress and whose light guided my path. I pray that Allah grants her strength and rewards her on my behalf with the best of rewards.
I also entrust you with my lifelong companion, my beloved wife, Umm Salah (Bayan), from whom the war separated me for many long days and months. Yet she remained faithful to our bond, steadfast as the trunk of an olive tree that does not bend - patient, trusting in Allah, and carrying the responsibility in my absence with all her strength and faith.
I urge you to stand by them, to be their support after Allah Almighty.
If I die, I die steadfast upon my principles. I testify before Allah that I am content with His decree, certain of meeting Him, and assured that what is with Allah is better and everlasting.
O Allah, accept me among the martyrs, forgive my past and future sins, and make my blood a light that illuminates the path of freedom for my people and my family. Forgive me if I have fallen short, and pray for me with mercy, for I kept my promise and never changed or betrayed it.
Do not forget Gaza… And do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance.
Anas Jamal Al-Sharif 06.04.2025
