President Barack Obama outlined a “new” foreign policy in an address to the graduating cadets at West Point. As with a previous address at West Point, in which Obama unwisely announced a deadline for withdrawal from Afghanistan, effectively handing victory
Voters in California’s 33rd congressional district head will decide Tuesday which of an enormous field of 18 contenders will succeed retiring Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) after 40 years in the House. Poll data is scarce, but all signs point to
Voters in California’s 33rd congressional district head will decide Tuesday which of an enormous field of 18 contenders will succeed retiring Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) after 40 years in the House. Poll data is scarce, but all signs point to
Several candidates in the race to replace retiring Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) in California’s 33rd congressional district are currently polling voters, but none are willing to release their results–at least not on the record. Sources in several campaigns said that
Vietnam War veteran John Medlin planned to protest on Memorial Day against the inclusion of the Confederate flag at Veterans Affairs ceremonies–his fourth annual protest, he said in a recent letter to a local newspaper. Medlin, who is originally from
On Monday Secretary of State John Kerry congratulated Ukrainians on their weekend presidential election, in which chocolate tycoon Petro Poroshenko won an overwhelming victory. Though he offered general statements of support for the Ukraine, and reiterated U.S. opposition to Russian claims
Last week’s announcement that China and Russia had signed a 30-year, $400 billion gas deal posed a striking contrast to the Obama administration’s dithering on the Keystone XL pipeline. If two rival, backward powers are able to agree to share
Meet Navy Operations Specialist Seaman Anief Haughton, a Los Angeles native and 2011 graduate of Verbum Dei High School. Haughton is one of only four master helmsmen on the U.S.S. George Washington, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier operating from Yokusuka, Japan. Seaman
Santa Barbara mass murderer Elliot Rodger left a 141-page manifesto in which he revealed a hatred of women–and an obsession with the California State Lottery. Several times throughout the text, the disturbed 22-year-old recalls playing the Mega Millions and Powerball
It seems almost impossible to think that retiring Rep. Henry Waxman, a one-man liberal institution who has represented the west side of Los Angeles for forty years, could fail to be succeeded by a fellow Democrat. Yet that is precisely
Santa Barbara mass murderer Elliot Rodgers claimed that he had acted out of retribution for his rejection by women. Yet even a cursory examination of the videos and the 141-page manifesto left by the 22-year-old suggest the opposite: that he,
Retired Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley is still fondly remembered by many in the Windy City, but he left three giant messes for his successors: a failing pension system that rivals Detroit’s for insolvency; a bad parking meter deal that
A California man was sentenced this week to eight years in federal prison for transporting two minor girls from Oakland to Nevada for the purpose of working as prostitutes, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced. According to court documents, one
Republican moderate Neel Kashkari has closed the gap with Tea Party favorite Tim Donnelly in the race for California governor, while both trail incumbent Democrat Jerry Brown by a wide margin, a new poll reveals. The Public Policy Institute of
LOS ANGELES, CA — Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, one of the most prominent contributors to Republican candidates in recent elections, will host a fundraiser for Elan Carr in Los Angeles on May 29 in his race to succeed Rep.
LOS ANGELES, CA — Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, one of the most prominent contributors to Republican candidates in recent elections, will host a fundraiser for Elan Carr in Los Angeles on May 29 in his race to succeed Rep.
The mainstream media are all agog and aghast in feigned outrage at Porterville, California mayor Cameron Hamilton’s advice to victims of bullying: that they should “grow a pair and stick up for them damn selves.” This is timeless and eminently sensible
The worst thing about Macklemore’s antisemitic performance in Seattle last Friday is not that he dressed up as a hook-nosed, black-bearded Jewish caricature (in a non-ironic fashion). Nor is it that he performed his song “Thrift Shop,” driving home the
Gay and lesbian activist groups are working hard to defeat an experienced candidate who is running for District Attorney in Sacramento–despite the fact that she herself is a lesbian with a stack of law enforcement endorsements. The reason: they want
Unemployment in the San Jose metro area fell dramatically last month, by nearly 1%, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reports. The drop was driven largely by hiring in government and health care, and brings the area’s unemployment rate down to 5.4%–“close to
Gov. Jerry Brown defended his record in a meeting with the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board last week. In addition to touting his record on job creation, defending the troubled high-speed rail project, and claiming that Toyota’s departure from the state
Willie Brown, the charismatic former mayor of San Francisco, has penned a column for the San Francisco Chronicle in which he expressed his fervent wish that the city would be destroyed. “This weekend moviegoing America will watch Godzilla stomp the daylights out
The race for governor in California has become a joke–one told by the local media at the expense of the GOP. On the one side is Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a Tea Party conservative whose enthusiasm for the Second Amendment is
State Senate candidate and free-birth-control activist Sandra Fluke lost a key endorsement this week, as the Santa Monica Democratic Club endorsed local school board president and Harvard graduate Ben Allen instead as its candidate for the 26th district in the
Dean Baquet, the new executive editor of the New York Times following the ouster of Jill Abramson, was himself ousted as editor of the Los Angeles Times in 2006–on Election Day. Baquet was reportedly removed because of his strong–and public–stance against cuts to
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — Hundreds of professional dominatrices began arriving in Los Angeles Wednesday for the eleventh annual DomCon, one of the largest conferences of bondage professionals in the United States. Held every year since 2004, DomCon is less about
A cat has saved a young boy from a vicious dog attack in a spectacular fight caught on surveillance video. The boy is making his way up a driveway on a toddler’s balance bicycle, struggling with each step, when a
On Tuesday, legislators, business groups and tax reformers reached a compromise to change part of California’s Proposition 13, the legendary restriction on property taxes passed by referendum in 1978. At the time, Prop 13 heralded the beginning of an economic
Republican gubernatorial candidate and Tea Party favorite Tim Donnelly was in second place in the latest poll, with a net favorable rating. California’s newspapers, however, seem determined to change that. The Los Angeles Times has focused on comments Donnelly made
Shelly Sterling, the wife of controversial Los Angeles Clipper owner Donald Sterling, has found a new ally in her bid to retain control of the team, in the event that the National Basketball Association ousts her husband as the owner:
The California State Bar is not commenting on whether it would discipline a California attorney who gave an electric shock to a witness during testimony in a Utah state court. The attorney, Don Howarth, gave an expert witness a trick
Politifact Texas hit Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott May 6 with its worst rating–“pants on fire”–for claiming that Democrat rival Wendy Davis raised money for a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. That member was Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL),
Retiring congressman George Miller, a Bay Area Democrat and lieutenant to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, told a local NBC News reporter May 9 that his roommate, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), “has not made his bed in 30 years.” Miller
The extended drought in California–one of the worst in the state’s history–is hitting the Central Valley farming region, and several key crops in particular. The Sacramento Bee reports that almonds, the state’s largest farm export in dollar terms, are in danger
Brent Roske, a television producer and director who was running as an independent, has dropped out of the race for the congressional seat held by retiring Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and endorsed fellow independent Marianne Williamson. The Williamson campaign released
Republican Neel Kashkari is still blasting rival Assemblyman Tim Donnelly’s claim that he was involved in encouraging sharia-compliant finance–that is, banking in accordance with Islamic law–in his role overseeing the Wall Street bailout at the U.S. Treasury, and specifically through