Debate over sharia, or Islamic law, has suddenly seized California in the midst of an election year. In Beverly Hills, Hollywood A-listers are boycotting the Beverly Hills Hotel to rebuke the owner, the Sultan of Brunei, for harsh anti-gay laws
South Africa’s leading opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) made historic strides in that country’s national and provincial elections this week, reaching record high of 22% support nationally and nearly 60% in the Western Cape province, where it governs. However,
President Barack Obama’s fundraising pilgrimage to California included all the liberal stations: Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and La Jolla. Two patterns stood out: first, that Obama continues to be heckled even by friendly audiences; and second, that America’s richest political donors
The Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, is consistently ranked among the richest men in the world. When he last visited Los Angeles in December 2011, police halted traffic on the 405 freeway–normally one of the busiest roads in the U.S.–during
President Barack Obama told donors at an exclusive Hollywood fundraiser for the Democratic Party that he needed their help to undo the “frustration” of politics in Washington. There is “an anxiety, and a sense of frustration,” the president–now in his
In accepting the “Ambassador for Humanity” award from Steven Spielberg and the USC Shoah Foundation in Los Angeles Wednesday evening, President Barack Obama recounted his 2009 trip to the concentration camp of Buchenwald–the camp his maternal grandfather helped liberate–with Nobel
Hollywood mogul Steven Spielberg praised President Barack Obama’s creation of the Atrocities Prevention Board in 2012 in awarding Obama the “Ambassador for Humanity” prize, the highest honor of the USC Shoah Foundation, in Los Angeles Wednesday evening. The Atrocities Prevention
Hollywood superstar and power broker Steven Spielberg has recognized President Barack Obama with the USC Shoah [Holocaust] Foundation’s highest award, the “Ambassador for Humanity.” It is an odd award to present to a president who has been called “dangerously silent
The bandwagon for professional football cheerleaders suing their teams just got another member. According to an NBC Bay Area report, New York Jets cheerleader “Krystal C.” has filed a class-action lawsuit against the team “seeking damages for unpaid wages and
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Was Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson fired for his Christian views on gay marriage? That’s what Ann Killion is asking at sfgate.com, noting that Jackson’s lukewarm reaction to the coming-out of Jason Collins last year was something of
President Barack Obama is visiting California this week–and that promises to make traffic even worse than usual in Los Angeles. Drivers are being urged to avoid Century City and Bel Air, as the president’s visit will see portions of West
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to explore regulations that would screen ice cream vendors for criminal records for violations “such as molestation, sex offenses, pornography or abuse,” the Los Angeles Times reports. Because ice cream
Democrat Wendy Greuel, running to succeed 20-term Democrat Rep. Henry Waxman (D), has released her first campaign ad of the 2014 primary as early voting starts ahead of the June 3 primary. The ad, according to the Greuel campaign, “highlights
The majority of UCLA students running for undergraduate student government officer positions–though none from the inclusive, centrist “Bruins United” coalition–have signed a pledge drafted by radical groups and several ethnic organizations promising never to travel to Israel on student trips sponsored
A controversial assignment given to eighth-grade students in the Rialto Unified School District in San Bernadino County that asked them to evaluate whether the Holocaust actually happened or was a myth created for “political and monetary gain was designed in a
The California State Assembly passed a bill Monday nearly unanimously that would prevent state agencies from selling the Confederate flag “or any similar image.” The bill, AB 2444, was sponsored by Assemblyman Isadore Hall (D-Compton), who was offended to learn from
Republican gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari is slamming GOP rival Tim Donnelly for his inconsistent position on “redevelopment,” a policy the California state legislature ended in 2011 with strong Republican support. “Tim Donnelly says he’s for redevelopment projects. Then he says
On the heels of 2013’s highly successful “Thanksgivukkah,” and following the drunken revelry of “St. Purim’s Day” this past March, comes the latest in Jewish holiday mashups: “Cinco de Iyar,” which is a combination of Mexican-American “Cinco de Mayo” and
Attorneys for “John Doe No. 117,” a British teenager who is filing a lawsuit claiming sexual abuse by X-Men director Brian Singer and Broadway producer Gary Goddard, will present their client’s case Monday in Los Angeles. Singer is facing another suit
Sunday saw several brush fires break out near homes southern California, from San Diego to Los Angeles, in drought conditions that have local authorities bracing for potentially devastating fires in the months ahead. One fire, which burned across five acres
Some of the many non-profit organizations to which L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling gave money over the years have returned it–most famously, UCLA, which announced last week that it would give back the portion of a $3 million donation that Sterling and
In the past few days, as new evidence emerged that the White House was directly involved in misleading the public with the lie that the Benghazi terror attack of Sep. 11, 2012 was motivated by outrage at a YouTube video,
The National Park Service has issued a warning to amateur pilots that drone aircraft are not permitted in Yosemite National Park. Drones, some of which are available on the civilian consumer technology market, have reportedly been used by hobbyists to
A U-2 spy plane, one of the key weapons of the Cold War, is apparently responsible for a computer failure in Los Angeles that disrupted air traffic control operations in California and across the nation, NBC news reports. Sources quoted by
Secretary of State John Kerry opened his remarks to African Union leaders gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this weekend by asking whether some had traveled by donkey. “Thank you, Mr. President, for being here. And thank you, all of you,
“Illinois, you put me in a happy state.” That was the tagline from Illinois tourism ads in the mid-1980s, which were near-ubiquitous in an era when John Hughes was filming Chicago hits like Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and, of course,
Former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor attempted to deflect Bret Baier’s questions on Fox News’ Special Report Thursday by arguing that what was important about what happened in Benghazi “two years ago” [sic] was less important than what happens in the
There were many rich moments in former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor’s interview Thursday on Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier about the Benghazi scandal. Certainly his exasperated protest–“Dude, this was like two years ago”–summarizes the callow nature of
California’s new “jungle” primary system does not boost turnout, but does raise participation by independent voters, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) reported Thursday. According to the PPIC’s Eric McGhee, the new system, in which all candidates compete together and
Federal prosecutors are probing yet another Illinois governor, incumbent Democrat Pat Quinn, as reports emerged Thursday that the Department of Justice had asked state officials about his Neighborhood Recovery Initiative Program, which has also been probed by state and local investigations.
“What was causing the protests in Cairo that the CIA mentions? The video.” That’s how Slate’s John Dickerson pushes back against the idea that the new White House emails on (sorry, Jay Carney) Benghazi, obtained via a FOIA request by
In Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s celebrated book on the Watergate scandal, All the President’s Men, the figure of Hugh Sloan, Jr. stands out. Sloan was a staffer for President Richard Nixon and an official on his re-election campaign. He
The happy news that J Street had been denied membership in the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations was something of a surprise. Some liberal Jewish organizations that disagree with J Street vehemently on Israel, including the Anti-Defamation League,
The California Latino Legislative Caucus is one of several ethnic caucuses in the California state legislature. However, according to investigative journalist Steven Greenhut, it is the only one that is closed to Republicans. Greenhut notes in the San Diego Union-Tribune that
Several Democrats running to succeed veteran Rep. Henry Waxman (D) in California’s 33rd congressional district have released their first television advertisements. First among the ten Democrats to take to the airwaves was Matt Miller, the Clinton administration official-turned-public radio host
