Spencer Platt/Getty Images

🎧 Trump said that if he wanted to use the Insurrection Act, which gives a president the authority to use federal troops to calm civil unrest in a crisis and engage in law enforcement-like activities, he would. Instead of invoking the Act, the White House is using Section 12-406 of Title 10, an obscure provision of federal law, to claim authority to bring in National Guard troops, NPR’s Jaclyn Diaz tells Up First. The law allows the president to call up the Guard if there’s “a rebellion” or danger of one happening against the federal government or the possibility of a foreign invasion. The use of this law has yielded mixed results, as seen in Portland, where a judge rejected the Trump administration's claim that federal intervention was needed to manage anti-ICE protests.

🎧 Every major medical association has repudiated conversion therapy, finding that it doesn’t work and leads to depression and suicidal thoughts in minors, according to NPR’s Nina Totenberg. Due to the findings, half of states have banned the practice for those under 18 years old. The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group, is challenging the ban, saying it violates the free speech rights of therapists in talk therapy. Lawyer James Campbell, a plaintiff in the case, says the state can determine if a therapist has the right education, but cannot dictate the perspective a therapist takes when they talk about a certain subject.

🎧 Yesterday, NPR’s Emily Feng, who is in Tel Aviv, went to a commemoration event in the Kibbutz of Nir Oz, one of the communities hardest hit by the impacts of Oct. 7. She says people there are still grieving and angry about the Israeli military leaving them undefended on that day. Rotam Cooper, the son of a man who was kidnapped by Hamas and died in captivity, says his community feels like the government abandoned them not once but twice. Feng expressed how the community feels Israel has not done enough to get the hostages back, and this has left the country divided when it comes to the war. NPR’s Anas Baba, who is in Gaza, spoke to Ahmed Abu Saif, who says that within the last two years, his life went from going to university to being displaced and worrying about his family’s lives.

➡️ Since the Oct. 7 attack, at least 220 journalists have been killed in Gaza. War reporters play a crucial role in documenting history, but reaching the front lines to report the truth is challenging. Listen to this Throughline episode about what’s at stake if they can't perform their jobs.