The Economist hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist.
I'm your host, Jason Palmer.
Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.
Donald Trump's position critic for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has some strong opinions when it comes to women in the military.
Our correspondent argues that in many ways he is, in a word, wrong.
And we take a look at children's literature and the merits and demerits of sugarcoating stories through the centuries.
After all, the classic ending.
And they lived happily ever after, often used to be.
And if they haven't died, they're still alive.
First up, though.
It'S been sort of nightmarish here in Los Angeles.
Erin Braun is the Economist's west coast correspondent.
Everyone's constantly checking an app to make sure they don't have to evacuate, looking at the sky to see how much smoke there is and where the wind is blowing.
This weekend I went out to Altadena, which is one of the neighborhoods that has been destroyed by one of the fires.
And I went out there with Henry Tricks, one of my colleagues at the Economist.
We had to ask the California National Guard to even let us into the neighborhood because they've got it all roped off.
This entire neighborhood, parts of it are just wiped off the map.
It's absolutely devastated.
It's right in the shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains.
So embers from the main fire burning up there blew in those really strong winds down here into a very populated area.