Two significant developments in California yesterday.

First, during a press briefing being given by DHS Secretary Noem inside the federal building in L.A. that is being protected by the federalized National Guard and Marines, Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) stood up to interject immediately after Noem said that federal troops would be staying in L.A. “to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city.”

One of my favorite political movies is the 1962’s The Manchurian Candidate. There is a scene in that movie where the Defense Secretary is giving a press briefing, and in the middle of it Senator Iselin (the movie’s surrogate for Senator Joseph McCarthy) stands up and interrupts to announce that he is holding a (non-existent) list of card-carrying Communists employed by the Department of Defense. What doesn’t happen in that scene is Senator Iselin immediately being confronted by bodyguards, shooed from the room, forced to his knees, and handcuffed.

But that’s what happened to Senator Padilla yesterday, all captured very clearly on video. Naturally many Democrats are apoplectic and have called for Secretary Noem’s resignation, while Republicans seem to be denying any wrongdoing and blaming the incident on Padilla. This coming from an administration that recently indicted one Congressperson, Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ), over a skirmish last month outside an ICE facility in Newark. (The Newark Mayor was originally arrested but has not been charged; he went on to finish 2nd in this week’s Democratic primary for this year’s New Jersey gubernatorial election.)

Second, a federal judge in California took swift action in Newsom v. Trump, ruling yesterday that Trump’s federalization of the California National Guard was unlawful, but declining to address Newsom’s concerns about potential use of the Marines in immigration actions until such time as there has been an alleged violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. (“Crime. Boy, I don’t know.”) The ruling was stayed until midday today to give the 9th Circuit time to act, and they have stayed the ruling further pending a hearing scheduled for June 17th.

In other news, the House voted 214-212 in favor of Trump’s recission request relating to $9.4 billion of previously appropriated funding for federal aid and public broadcasting. The Senate has 45 days to act, and it only requires a majority vote.

Finally, I should mention that tomorrow is not only Trump’s 79th birthday, but also the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Continental Army. To commemorate the occasion Trump has arranged for a military parade in D.C., the first one since 1991. As fate would have it, I will be on a flight leaving the country while the parade is taking place; the symbolism was unintentional, but apt. Earlier that day, so-called “No Kings Day” protests have been scheduled for hundreds of communities throughout the country.