ICE conducted some kind of sweep through MacArthur Park in Los Angeles yesterday. It was at the least a show of force in a hotbed of illegal immigrant crime. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass did not approve of the operation and managed to be filmed expressing her disapproval to others. At NR, Noah Rothman quotes Bass: “What I saw in the park today looked like a city under siege, under armed occupation.” The comments on Bass’s X post are not amused by her or her theatrics.
This is footage from today in MacArthur Park.
Minutes before, there were more than 20 kids playing — then, the MILITARY comes through.
The SECOND I heard about this, I went to the park to speak to the person in charge to tell them it needed to end NOW.
Absolutely outrageous. pic.twitter.com/sxGzjGlYlr
— Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) July 7, 2025
I thought I would seize the opportunity to recall the good old “MacArthur Park” of Jimmy Webb’s shlock epic. Where, oh, where are the old men playing checker by the trees? They are long gone. That much I can tell you. Read all about it and much more in Webb’s memoir The Cake and the Rain.