Nxxx,2019-06-09,A,001,Bs-4C,E2
CMYK
Late Edition Today, sunshine and some high clouds, high 76. Tonight, mostly cloudy, showers around late, low 63. Tomorrow, a few showers, high 72. Details, SportsSunday, Page 10.
VOL. CLXVIII . . . No. 58,353
$6.00
NEW YORK, SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019
© 2019 The New York Times Company
Mexico Relented on Border Long Before Trump’s Deal
‘It appealed to me because it made me feel a sense of belonging. I was brainwashed.’ CALEB CAIN, 26, who said he slipped down a ‘rabbit hole’ of alt-right ideology on YouTube.
Conditions in Pact to Self-Made Crisis and Avert Tariffs Were Set Months Ago a Predictable Hero NEWS ANALYSIS
By PETER BAKER
Commentators from across the political spectrum have filled YouTube with a complex stew of emotional content.
The Making of a YouTube Radical How the Site’s Algorithms Played Into the Hands of the Far Right By KEVIN ROOSE
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Caleb Cain pulled a Glock pistol from his waistband, took out the magazine and casually tossed both onto the kitchen counter. “I bought it the day after I got death threats,” he said. The threats, Mr. Cain explained, came from right-wing trolls in response to a video he had posted on YouTube a few days earlier. In the video, he told the story of how, as a liberal college dropout struggling to find his place in the world, he had gotten sucked into a vortex of far-right politics on YouTube. “I fell down the alt-right rabbit hole,” he said in the video. Mr. Cain, 26, recently swore off the alt-right nearly five years after discovering it, and has become a vocal critic of it. He is scarred by his experience of being radicalized by what he calls a “decentralized cult” of far-right YouTube personalities, who convinced him that Western civilization was under threat
JUSTIN T. GELLERSON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Caleb Cain likens the far right on YouTube to a “decentralized cult.” from Muslim immigrants and cultural Marxists, that innate I.Q. differences explained racial disparities and that feminism was a dangerous ideology. “I just kept falling deeper and deeper into this, and it appealed to me because it made me feel a sense of belonging,” he
said. “I was brainwashed.” Over years of reporting on internet culture, I’ve heard countless versions of Mr. Cain’s story: An aimless young man — usually white, frequently interested in video games — visits YouTube looking for direction or distraction and is seduced by a community of far-right creators. Some young men discover far-right videos by accident, while others seek them out. Some travel all the way to neo-Nazism, while others stop at milder forms of bigotry. The common thread in many of these stories is YouTube and its recommendation algorithm, the software that determines which videos appear on users’ home pages and in the “Up Next” sidebar next to a video that is playing. The algorithm is responsible for more than 70 percent of all time spent on the site. The radicalization of young men is driven by a complex stew of emotional, economic and political elements, many having nothing to do with social media. Continued on Page 22
WASHINGTON — For nine days, he had his finger on the trigger and threatened to pull. For nine days, he put two countries, entire multinational industries, vast swaths of consumers and workers and even his own advisers and Republican allies on edge, unsure what would happen with billions of dollars at stake. And then almost as abruptly as it started, it was over. President Trump announced that he was calling off the crippling new tariffs he had vowed to impose on Mexico barely 48 hours before they were to go into effect because he had struck a lastminute immigration agreement — one that mainly just reaffirmed prior agreements. Nine days in spring offered a case study in Mr. Trump’s approach to some of the most daunting issues confronting him and the nation: When the goal seems frustratingly out of reach through traditional means, threaten drastic action, set a deadline, demand concessions, cut a deal — real or imagined — avert the dire outcome and declare victory. If nothing else, he forces attention on the issue at hand. Whether the approach yields sustainable results seem less certain. These are often dramas of his own making, with him naturally the hero. He stakes out maximalist positions and issues brutal ultimatums to compel action, arguing that extreme problems demand extreme tactics. At times, though, it can seem like little more than smoke and mirrors substituting for serious policymaking, a way of pretending to make progress without actually solving the underlying problem. “This is a pattern we’ve seen Continued on Page 10 CHINA WARNING Tech giants are
told to defy a U.S. ban on sales to Huawei, or face a penalty. PAGE 16 WEAPONIZING TRADE President
Trump has set off economic wars on nearly every front. PAGE 8
Crisp Battle Lines on Abortion Blur When Surveys Ask Voters
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and MAGGIE HABERMAN
WASHINGTON — The deal to avert tariffs that President Trump announced with great fanfare on Friday night consists largely of actions that Mexico had already promised to take in prior discussions with the United States over the past several months, according to officials from both countries who are familiar with the negotiations. Friday’s joint declaration says Mexico agreed to the “deployment of its National Guard throughout Mexico, giving priority to its southern border.” But the Mexican government had already pledged to do that in March during secret talks in Miami between Kirstjen Nielsen, then the secretary of homeland security, and Olga Sanchez, the Mexican secretary of the interior, the officials said. The centerpiece of Mr. Trump’s deal was an expansion of a program to allow asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while their legal cases proceed. But that arrangement was reached in December in a pair of painstakingly negotiated diplomatic notes that the two countries exchanged. Ms. Nielsen announced the Migrant Protection Protocols during a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee five days before Christmas. And over the past week, negotiators failed to persuade Mexico to accept a “safe third country” treaty that would have given the United States the legal ability to reject asylum seekers if they had not sought refuge in Mexico first. Mr. Trump hailed the agreement anyway on Saturday, writing on Twitter: “Everyone very excited about the new deal with Mexico!” He thanked the president of Mexico for “working so long and hard” on a plan to reduce the surge of migration into the United States. It was unclear whether Mr. Trump believed that the agreement truly represented new and broader concessions, or whether the president understood the limits of the deal but accepted it as a face-saving way to escape from the political and economic conseContinued on Page 12
NICKY BARNES, 1933-2012
Flamboyant Heroin Kingpin Who Taunted Law Enforcers
By NATE COHN
Abortion is often cast as a clear, crisp issue in Washington and in state governments, with Republican and Democrats clustered in opposite corners. Joe Biden moved nearer to the rest of his party’s presidential contenders on Thursday when he dropped his support of a measure restricting use of federal funds for abortions. But while the Democratic field now looks more uniform, the public’s views are often muddled and complex. They bear little resemblance to those of politicians, or even to those of the activists and ideologically consistent voters who post political content to social media. Mr. Biden’s decision is a reflection of how much the Democratic Party has shifted since the Hyde Amendment was passed in 1976. But even today, a substantial number of both Democrats and Repub-
licans dissent from the consensus of their party, or at least of their party’s politicians, about when or if abortion should be legal and accessible. Over all, 40 percent of Democrats say they oppose legal abortion if the woman wants one for any reason; 29 percent of Republicans say they support legal abortion if the woman wants one for any reason, according to the General Social Survey, a highly regarded survey that has sought Americans’ views for decades. Some Americans might not hold strong, stable views about abortion. Different poll questions yield different, sometimes contradictory answers — even from the same respondents in the same poll. Question wording is always a factor in survey research. But the differences here may also reflect Continued on Page 24
By SAM ROBERTS
ANDREA DICENZO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Bullied for Being Pregnant Erica Takato, one of many day care workers in Japan who faced harassment or lost jobs for having babies of their own. Page 14.
“Nicky Barnes is not around anymore,” said the balding, limping grandfather in the baggy Lee dungarees. “Nicky Barnes’s lifestyle and his value system is extinct,” he went on, speaking of himself in the third person in a restaurant interview with The New York Times in 2007. “I left Nicky Barnes behind.” With that, the man asked the waitress for a doggy bag for his grilled salmon, and left. He was the antithesis of the old Nicky Barnes, a flamboyant Harlem folk hero who had owned as many as 200 suits, 100 pairs of custom-made shoes, 50 full-length leather coats, a fleet of luxury cars, and multiple homes and apartments financed by the fortune he had amassed in the late 1960s and ′70s, first by saturating
TYRONE DUKES/ THE NEW YORK TIMES
Nicky Barnes in 1977. He later entered witness protection, so his death was not disclosed. black neighborhoods with heroin and later by investing the profits in real estate and other assets. Moreover, he was in fact no longer Nicky Barnes even by Continued on Page 28
SUNDAY BUSINESS
SPORTSSUNDAY
THE MAGAZINE
SUNDAY REVIEW
Students #AskForBetter
The N.B.A.’s Money Whisperer
Newest Queen of Clay in Tennis
Madonna at 60
Molly Worthen
Inspired by #MeToo and by one another on social media, college activists across the country have found a shared cause, and tactics to fight for it. PAGE 18
Joe McLean never quite made it to the pros. But now he’s the guy Klay Thompson and other N.B.A. stars trust to manage their wealth. PAGE 1
Ashleigh Barty, who played pro cricket in 2015, won her first Grand Slam singles title, beating Marketa Vondrousova at the French Open, 6-1, 6-3. PAGE 2
An icon of provocation and perpetual reinvention, the original queen of pop talks about aging, family, inspiration and why she refuses to cede control.
NATIONAL 4, 18-27
U(D547FD)v+?!@!/!#!;
PAGE 1
WSJ
The Long Road to The Student Debt Crisis REVIEW
Don’t Cook. Do This Instead. OFF DUTY
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JUNE 8 - 9, 2019 ~ VOL. CCLXXIII NO. 133
* * * * * * * *
WSJ.com
U.S.-Mexico Deal Averts Tariffs
What’s News
Accord comes after Mexican officials vow stronger measures to stem flow of migrants
World-Wide rump dropped his threat of tariffs on billions of dollars of Mexican imports after negotiators reached an agreement on measures to stem the flow of migrants into the U.S. from Mexico. A1
President Trump on Friday night dropped his threat of tariffs on billions of dollars of Mexican imports after negotia-
T
By Josh Zumbrun, Rebecca Ballhaus and Robbie Whelan
Putin accused the U.S. of using tariffs and sanctions to maintain economic dominance, while highlighting warming ties with China. A6
tors reached a deal on measures to stem the flow of migrants pouring into the U.S. from Mexico, averting a potentially devastating trade fight for both countries.
State attorneys general are preparing for their own investigations into big technology platforms such as Google and Facebook. A4
Mr. Trump said the tariffs, which had been set to go into effect Monday, were “indefinitely suspended,” while Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that, thanks to the support of all Mexicans, “the imposition of tariffs on Mexican products exported to the U.S. have been avoided.” Mr. López Obrador said a rally in Tijuana scheduled for Saturday would be held as planned to celebrate the deal. By threatening to apply tariffs on the nearly $350 billion a year in imports from Mexico, Mr. Trump prompted a rushed effort from the U.S.’s southern neighbor to assuage American concerns about the border between the two countries. A
delegation including three members of Mexico’s cabinet, led by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, flew to Washington. A senior White House official said Messrs. Trump and Ebrard spoke by telephone Friday evening, shortly before Mr. Trump announced the deal. A joint statement released by both countries late Friday said that Mexico agreed to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration, including deployment of its newly created National Guard throughout the country, with a focus on its southern border with Guatemala. On Thursday night, Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said it would deploy up to 6,000
National Guard troops. The U.S., meanwhile, said it would immediately expand the implementation of the existing “Migrant Protection Protocols” across its entire southern border, returning asylum seekers to Mexico. “Those crossing the U.S. Southern Border to seek asylum will be rapidly returned to Mexico where they may await the adjudication of their asylum claims,” the statement said, adding that Mexico will authorize the entrance of all of those individuals for humanitarian reasons. Both countries agreed to finalize the terms of additional provisions within 90 days. Speaking to reporters at the
Russia, China Look to Bolster Ties Amid Tensions With the U.S.
The Navy accused Russia’s military of unsafe operation after a Russian destroyer came within 100 feet of an American cruiser. A6 The Pentagon put Turkey on notice over access to F-35 jets if Ankara makes good on plans to buy a Russian antiaircraft system. A9 NASA set out rules to allow affluent adventurers to spend time on the international space station. A3
Britain’s opposition Labour Party fended off the upstart, euroskeptic Brexit Party in a by-election. A9
Business & Finance Employers tapped the brakes on hiring in May, signaling that companies are taking a more cautious approach at a time of cooling global growth and rising trade tensions. A1 The yields on benchmark Treasurys hit new 2019 lows, a sign investors believe economic conditions will spur the Fed to cut rates. A2 The Dow notched its best week in over six months, with the blue chips gaining 1% Friday. B1 Uber’s chief is taking direct oversight of the firm’s operations in a management shakeout that comes after a disappointing IPO. A1 FedEx is ending its airshipping contract with Amazon in the U.S., signaling an escalation of tensions between the longtime partners. B3 Facebook will no longer allow its apps to come preinstalled on mobile devices made by Huawei. B3 Some big miners said over a dozen dams under their authority have at times failed stability assessments. B12 Barnes & Noble agreed to be bought by hedge fund Elliott Management for about $475 million. B3 Kraft Heinz said it had concluded an internal inquiry into issues that triggered a regulatory probe. B3
NOONAN Overthrow the Prince of Facebook A15 Opinion.............. A13-15 Sports........................ A12 Style & Fashion D2-3 Travel...................... D4-5 U.S. News............ A2-4 Weather................... A12 World News....... A6-9
>
s 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
conclusion of the talks in Washington, Mr. Ebrard said his country would take action to dismantle human-smuggling networks and work more closely with the U.S. to share information about migrants. Mexico will accept the return of more migrants to await the resolution of their U.S. asylum cases, and offer them work permits, education and health services during their time in the country, Mr. Ebrard said. In return, Mr. Ebrard added, the U.S. would accelerate several investment and development programs in Central America and Southern Mexico that were agreed to under a Please turn to page A8
Pace of Hiring Slows Across Economy BY SARAH CHANEY AND ERIC MORATH
OLGA MALTSEVA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Colorado school officials are considering demolishing Columbine High School, citing “morbid fascination” with the campus. A3
CONTENTS Books..................... C7-12 Design & Decor.... D8 Food......................... D6-7 Gear & Gadgets... D9 Heard on Street...B14 Obituaries............... A10
HHHH $5.00
SIMPATICO: Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin appeared together Friday at Russia’s flagship economic forum, where Mr. Putin blasted the Trump administration’s use of tariffs while highlighting the Kremlin’s warming ties with China. A6
Agency Silenced Sex-Abuse Claims Indian Health Service managers told employees not to talk to law enforcement BY CHRISTOPHER WEAVER
ment officials and social workers, several employees said an IHS manager told them not to say anything. Months later, the maintenance man, then 47 years old, was told he was fired over the incident—then unfired. He returned to work at the Unity Healing Center, a teens-only residential substance-abuse treatment facility, although by then there was a federal investigation into his conduct. His duties included reviewing safety incident reports, including those about sex abuse. The IHS, which provides health care for 2.6 million Native Americans, has allowed employees accused of sexual misconduct to continue working and has struggled to meet U.S. requirements for reporting such allegations, a Wall Street
CHEROKEE, N.C.—When employees at a U.S. Indian Health Service facility here saw a video of their maintenance man disappearing with a 16-year-old patient into a private bathroom, they strongly suspected he was sexually involved with her. After two staff members questioned the girl, she dragged a chair to the bathroom shower and tried to hang herself from the curtain rod, according to internal documents and people familiar with the September 2016 incident. Although suspected sexual abuse of minors on Indian reservations is supposed to be reported to law-enforce-
Journal investigation found. At Cherokee, no one contacted law enforcement about the maintenance man until about seven months after the incident, and senior agency officials didn’t intervene. In February, the Journal and the PBS series Frontline reported that IHS pediatrician Stanley Patrick Weber had sexually assaulted young male patients, and that the agency ignored warnings and tried to silence whistleblowers over two decades. The day the Journal/Frontline report was published, the IHS announced a written policy to improve its handling of sexual-abuse allegations. Yet in interviews in early April, more than two months after the new policy was enacted, employees of the North Please turn to page A11
Yes, There’s a Fantasy League for That, Too i
i
i
EXCHANGE
Fans create virtual lineups in sumo wrestling, bird-watching, curling BY IRA IOSEBASHVILI Scott Chu prepared for his fantasy sports league’s big event with a bold strategy: Combine a champ with an underdog. He studied the stats and built his lineup with members of a team that won a top contest last year—and members from one with remote chances. But at the big game this spring, his blend of teams failed him—“never quite came together,” says the 30-year-old commercial-loan specialist from Portage, Mich. And Mr. Chu still had to put up with his bewildered buddies.
They were settling into this year’s baseball season, looking toward the World Series. His fantasy sport is curling, and the fateful tournament was Humpty’s Champions Cup in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Hot draft pick
“You mean, that thing with the brooms?” he says friends asked earlier this year. “There’s a fantasy league for that?” Fantasy sports—in which competitors draft virtual teams that rise and fall on points awarded according to the statistics of real-life players—has mushroomed into a national pastime riding on traditional American sports like football and baseball. While millions are preparing to spend the summer adjusting imaginary pitching lineups or scouting an undervalued shortstop, a fantasy fringe will be gauging how Please turn to page A9
BIG PREY Washington is hunting for giants as antitrust fervor reignites B1
Employers tapped the brakes on hiring in May, signaling companies are taking a more cautious approach as trade tensions rise, global growth cools and the decadelong U.S. expansion shows strains. The economy added 75,000 jobs in May, marking the 104th straight month of gains, but also one of the weakest monthly increases since the recession ended in mid-2009, the Labor Department reported Friday. The hiring slowdown was broad-based across industries, and the March and April payroll gains were reduced from previous estimates. A bright spot was the jobless rate, which held steady at 3.6%, a half-century low. The employment figures add to other data depicting an economy that is still growing, Please turn to page A2 Data on jobs push Treasury yields toward 2%..................... A2
Uber’s CEO Takes Wheel In Executive Shake-Up BY ELIOT BROWN Uber Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi is taking direct oversight of the ride-sharing company’s operations in a management shakeout that comes less than a month after a disappointing initial public offering. The CEO told employees on Friday afternoon that he would eliminate the chief operating officer position to have more hands-on control over the company’s main businesses: ride-hailing and fooddelivery. As a result, Mr. Khosrowshahi said one of his longtime colleagues, operating chief Barney Harford, would step down on July 1. The CEO also said he is combining Uber’s marketing, communications and policies team into one group “to have a consistent, unified narrative” to customers, the media and policy makers. With that, marketing chief Rebecca Messina agreed to leave after just nine months at the company. Please turn to page A4
EL PERIÓDICO GLOBAL
www.elpais.com
DOMINGO 9 DE JUNIO DE 2019 | Año XLIV | Número 15.305 | EDICIÓN MADRID | Precio: 2,80 euros
España golea a Sudáfrica P43 44 MUNDIAL FEMENINO
Y
Orwell y la era de los monopolios tecnológicos IDEAS
EL PAÍS SEMANAL
C. Tangana en EE UU
Victoria política de Trump al arrancar a México un acuerdo migratorio
El sudoku de pactos locales condiciona la investidura
AMANDA MARS / DAVID M. PÉREZ Washington / México A pocas horas de que se cumpliera el plazo dado por Donald Trump para activar la guerra comercial con México, el Gobierno de López Obrador ha accedido a endurecer los controles migratorios y a acoger a un número mayor de solicitantes de asilo. El pacto, sellado en Washington tras una semana de negociaciones, es una victoria política para el presidente de EE UU. PÁGINAS 2 Y 3
Las negociaciones a varias bandas entran en su semana decisiva. De ellas dependen los apoyos a Sánchez
EDITORIAL EN LA PÁGINA 14
CARLOS E. CUÉ, Madrid El hecho de que las elecciones generales del 28 de abril y las municipales y autonómicas del 26 de mayo se celebraran tan pegadas ha causado un fenóme-
Colau asume el riesgo de revalidar la alcaldía sin acuerdos CLARA BLANCHAR, Barcelona Ada Colau aseguró ayer que asumirá el riesgo de intentar revalidar la alcaldía de Barcelona aunque no logre el apoyo del PSC o de ERC. El candidato socialista, Jaume Collboni, exige un pacto previo. En su primera comparecencia en 12 días, la candidata defendió un gobierno con ambas fuerzas para romper los bloques del procés: “No voy a ser el trofeo de un bando ni de otro”. P21
‘Liquidadores’ de Chernóbil relatan su labor tras la explosión
“No había ruido, ni niños, ni nada” MARÍA R. SAHUQUILLO, Moscú Una serie de televisión ha devuelto a la actualidad la explosión nuclear de Chernóbil, ocurrida el 26 de abril de 1986 en Ucrania. Algunas de las personas que fueron enviadas a enterrar los residuos radiactivos cuentan su experiencia. PÁGINAS 4 Y 5
no insólito: los acuerdos de la investidura de Pedro Sánchez están condicionados por los pactos locales en Ayuntamientos y comunidades autónomas. Esto hace que las combinaciones sean inagotables. Cada movimiento en un escenario repercute en otro. Por ejemplo: para el PSOE, ganar una comunidad puede implicar perder dos votos para la investidura, como sucede en Navarra. Pero dejar que gobierne la derecha de UPN, que ofrece a cambio dos abstenciones clave en el Congreso, puede hacer perder los seis votos del PNV. La semana que empieza mañana será decisiva para dilucidar el poder municipal. A pesar de los juegos a varias bandas, los dos grandes bloques de derecha e izquierda permanecerán inamovibles, según distintas fuentes. Ciudadanos, que podría ser determinante en muchas plazas, tanto en Ayuntamientos como en comunidades autónomas, permanecerá, casi sin excepciones, en el lado del PP y de Vox, a pesar de las presiones del PSOE. PÁGINAS 18 Y 19
El Pontífice y el líder de la Liga mantienen un vivo enfrentamiento
Salvini, contra el Papa DANIEL VERDÚ, Roma El ministro del Interior de Italia y líder de la Liga, Matteo Salvini, ha decidido aprovechar el malestar de parte de los católicos con el papa Francisco y se muestra abiertamente crítico con el Pontífice como parte de su cruzada antimigratoria. El 27% de los católicos practicantes apoyan a la formación xenófoba. PÁGINA 6
R. G.
Un tesoro romano se abrirá al público El mayor mosaico figurativo del Imperio romano se podrá visitar en breve en Villar de Domingo García, un pequeño pueblo de Cuenca. La villa pertenecía a un noble inmensamente rico del siglo IV y sus tesoros incluyen el mayor conjunto de escultura en mármol de Hispania. Solo se ha excavado el 5% del yacimiento. PÁGINAS 38 Y 39
OPINIÓN
Cambio climático y extinción del pensamiento John Gray
PÁGINA 15
NEGOCIOS
La oferta gastronómica vive un frenesí, pero hay quien teme una mala digestión
¿Hay hambre para tanto restaurante? MARÍA FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid El número de restaurantes en España crece sin parar. Hay ya 273.000 (si se incluyen los bares). El negocio también se incrementa. La buena salud económica del
sector se detecta tanto en restaurantes de menú del día como en locales gastronómicos o en franquicias, que invaden las ciudades. Los expertos se preguntan si el modelo es sostenible.
Una calle de un kilómetro con 72 bares
MADRID
$3.66 DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER
latimes.com
SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019
© 2019 WST
Tariffs are off, but questions still remain Trump claims victory, but deal with Mexico is a compromise, and may be temporary. By Tracy Wilkinson and Noah Bierman
Irfan Khan Los Angeles Times
BIOLOGISTS show how a drone can squirt oil onto the eggs in a raven’s nest, suffocating the embryos.
Coat the ravens evermore? To protect tortoises, officials test spraying oil onto birds’ eggs
WASHINGTON — This is not the first time that President Trump, frustrated by his inability to curb a surge of migration from Central America, has threatened Mexico with drastic punishment only to back down. In March, he vowed to close all or large parts of the southwest border to stop people and drugs heading north, an implausible ultimatum given the nearly 1 million legal crossings and billions of dollars of two-way trade every day. Days later he relented, saying Mexico had stepped up its help. Trump’s plan to impose escalating tariffs on Mexico starting Monday posed a far more credible threat, and his tweet Friday night that the tariffs were “indefinitely sus-
pended” arguably marked a climb down as much as a victory, at least in terms of blocking immigration. The two nations signed an agreement that even Trump acknowledged was based partly on Mexico’s promises to take tougher action, but with few clear requirements. “Mexico will try very hard, and if they do that, this will be a very successful agreement for both the United States and Mexico!” Trump tweeted Saturday. The high drama of the last week, when senior Mexican officials rushed to Washington for three days of intense closed-door talks and then inked a deal hours after Trump returned from Europe, left many in Congress and elsewhere wondering whether the scramble represented Trump bluster or wily deal-making. [See Mexico, A4]
L.A. ports clogged in duel with China Problems ripple through supply chain. BUSINESS, C1
By Louis Sahagun BARSTOW — The sun was rising over the Mojave Desert as crews prepared to demonstrate a devastating new weapon in the war among man, bird and reptile. Standing on a windswept plain, a group of government and utility officials locked their eyes on a drone as it hovered beside a twisted Joshua tree. As the buzzing contraption drew closer to a nest of twigs and furniture stuffing, a controller’s voice cut through the cool morning air. “Five, four, three, two, one — fire!” Instantly, the quadcopter squirted streams of silicone oil into the unoccupied raven’s nest, thoroughly coating a clutch of simulated eggs. Though the attack may have lacked the shock and awe of a Hellfire missile strike, it would have proved lethal to actual raven eggs. The layering of oil would have prevented oxygen from permeating the shells, slowly suffocating the embryos within. After confirming the direct hit via a video feed, the drone’s [See Ravens, A10]
Critical habitat for the Mojave population of the desert tortoise NEVADA KERN COUNTY 5 15
Bakersfield Los Angeles
40
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
Eduardo Verdugo Associated Press
THE ACCORD also comes with a social and econo-
mic price tag for Mexico and its leader. WORLD, A3 10
RIVERSIDE COUNTY
IMPERIAL COUNTY
ARIZONA
Sources: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office Los Angeles Times
Reading lists show region’s character
Online degrees drove rapid growth but may have fed a fiscal crisis. By Harriet Ryan and Matt Hamilton
Library requests and book clubs illuminate community tastes. By Maria L. La Ganga Every Wednesday, a small group of book lovers huddles in a library conference room not far from Sawtelle Japantown. On this afternoon, the group is reading the Latin American classic “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” by Gabriel García Márquez. In Persian. But first there is tea, a nod to Iranian culture and the homeland left behind by these patrons of the West Los Angeles Regional Library. The tea is hot and dark and strong, sipped with a sugar cube held between the teeth. This is Los Angeles County, as seen through the books we read. It encompasses Monrovia, where the works with the longest waiting lists include “Becoming,” Michelle Obama’s wildly popular memoir, and [See Reading, A16]
Times Book Club Join us June 25 for a forum with “The Library Book” author Susan Orlean. ARTS & BOOKS, F2
The bubble bursts at USC’s school for social work
Mark Z. Barabak Los Angeles Times
FAYA TOURÉ , a civil rights activist in Selma, Ala., says: “My pragmatic side says
that the person that can win this election is someone more in the middle.”
Casting a vote for pragmatism As black voters weigh the Democratic field, they have one priority: Beat Trump. By Mark Z. Barabak SELMA, Ala. — Catrena Norris Carter is a bundle of conflicting impulses. As a black woman, she’s delighted with Kamala Harris’ presidential bid. As a liberal activist, she’s thrilled with Elizabeth Warren’s groaning board of progressive policy proposals. But as someone consumed with defeating President Trump, Carter is determined to think with her
head, not her heart, and that cold calculation is pushing her toward Joe Biden among the crowded 2020 Democratic field. The former vice president may not excite her like some candidates. But he boasts one asset that, to Carter’s mind, surpasses all others: As a white male firmly embedded in the political establishment, Biden — more than a female or black candidate — stands the best chance of winning the White House, she thinks. “We really need to be taking the temperature of the entire country,” said Carter, 51, who two years ago helped rally black women across Alabama to put Democrat Doug Jones in the U.S.
Senate. “Not just people who think like us.” Black voters, and black women in particular, are the bedrock of the Democratic Party. Given their large numbers in early-voting states such as South Carolina, Alabama and Louisiana, they will have tremendous sway in choosing the party’s nominee. Some believe that tilts the race away from Biden, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke or other relatively centrist white males in favor of a more progressive candidate or a person of color. But nationwide polling, focus group interviews and conversations with campaign strategists, voters and [See Voters, A12]
A decade ago, USC was looking for a way into online education, which promised a gush of new tuition dollars without the expense of additional dorms and classrooms. Under then-Provost C.L. Max Nikias, USC signed on with an East Coast digital learning start-up, and the university’s well-regarded social work school soon rolled out an online master’s program. Enrollment exploded. The student body grew from about 900 in 2010 to 3,500 in 2016, and the social work
school became the largest in the world. That rapid growth, designed to assure a stable future, has instead left the school reeling. As The Times reported in May, USC’s Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work is facing a budget crisis so severe that nearly half of the staff may lose their jobs. Though USC has yet to detail the full scope and causes of the fiscal emergency, some things are clear: Hiring teachers and administrators for the online program proved costly. Fees for the company that runs the digital learning platform ate up more than half the online tuition revenue. Other, less costly programs came on the market. And the push to fill online classes led to the admission of less-qualified students, a decision many on [See USC, A11]
L.A.’s homeless woes reflect a leadership crisis Mayor Garcetti means well, but the job calls for someone bold, maybe even a little reckless, Steve Lopez writes. CALIFORNIA, B1
Sandro Campardo AP
New Orleans’ Dr. John dies Mac Rebennack, singer, musician and voodoo ambassador, was 77. OBITUARIES, B8
Weather Patchy fog, then sun. L.A. Basin: 86/63. B8 Printed with soy inks on partially recycled paper.