Politics
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Jackie Calmes: There is no opposition leader. The American people are standing against Trump
Early this year, I lamented that the nation's former presidents had not come forward, forcefully and ideally as one bipartisan unit, to condemn the utterly condemnable incumbent.
At the time I wrote, armed and masked federal agents that President Trump had sent into American cities to enforce his immigrant deportations had recently killed two ...Read more
Commentary: RFK Jr. is committing 'statistical murder'; he should be held accountable
Most Americans are probably familiar with homicides from TV shows such as the “Law & Order” franchises, which have run for decades. They know that murder can be accomplished with a variety of weapons, poisons and even with bare hands. Less obvious is that it can be the direct result of government officials inducing people to distrust proven ...Read more
Editorial: The voters' verdict must be respected -- and upheld
The most important outcome in next week’s midterm elections may not be whether Democrats or Republicans come out on top. It may be whether both parties accept the results.
Judging by the most recent polls, Democrats are likely to make gains in Congress and may win control of one or both houses. Unfortunately, when asked whether he’ll abide ...Read more
Editorial: The Statue of Liberty must be free from illegal hawkers
Today is the birthday of the Statue of Liberty, dedicated in New York Harbor 140 years ago, Oct. 28, 1886. Lady Liberty was a gift from the people of France to the United States, but she belongs to the whole world.
Her famous face is not trademarked. Her name is not copyrighted. Anyone can try to make a buck using her image, but the only way to...Read more
Editorial: Pulitzer Prize announcement has to be fully transparent
When the Pulitzer Prize Board has its autumn business meeting on Friday (October 30, 2026) in the World Room in Columbia University’s Pulitzer Hall, the members must put transparency at the top of the agenda and restore the annual live announcement and press conference when the prizes are unveiled every spring.
As this column discovered in ...Read more
Gustavo Arellano: The Dolores Huerta I'll remember
The rambunctious teenagers crammed into a lecture hall suddenly went quiet when a woman old enough to be their great-grandmother, and smaller in stature than many of them, approached the podium.
Dolores Huerta was about to speak.
At the summer conference for Latino high school students at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in the early 2010s...Read more
Commentary: Why I dressed up as Gloria Steinem for a Halloween party
I’m not sure why it took Gloria Steinem’s death for me to really delve into her life. I knew she was a leader of second-wave feminism in the 1960s and a journalist, but I didn’t know much more than that. I was born in 1977, about three years after the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 made it illegal for creditors to discriminate ...Read more
Gustavo Arellano: Nithya Raman is learning Spanish. What that says about her vision for LA
Nithya Raman slowly recited the start of her handwritten message to Angelenos.
Llegué de la India con mi madre a los seis años. Sé lo que cuesta empezar de nuevo.
I came from India with my mother when I was 6. I know what it takes to start over.
The mayoral hopeful was in the green room of Univision's Westchester studios on Thursday, ...Read more
Nolan Finley: GOP hopefuls can't win the race carrying Trump on their backs
John James and Mike Rogers, while both Republicans, are two very different political candidates running markedly different campaigns against two very different opponents. Yet after months of campaigning, James and Rogers find themselves in nearly the exact same place.
James, according to the latest Detroit News-WDIV-TV (Channel 4) poll, trails ...Read more
Commentary: Axis of aggressors -- How 4 US adversaries strengthen each other
The drone that slams into a Ukrainian apartment building may have been designed in Iran, built in Russia with Chinese parts, and launched alongside North Korean artillery shells.
Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery came back from a couple of weeks in Ukraine with a blunt observation: Ukraine “is fighting Russia, North Korea, Iran and China.” ...Read more
Editorial: State police powers don't eclipse the Bill of Rights
The midterm elections have largely overshadowed the U.S. Supreme Court’s most recent term, which began this month. Last week, the justices missed a prime opportunity to invigorate the Fifth Amendment’s taking clause.
The Bill of Rights prohibits governments from taking private property “for public use without just compensation.” Yet ...Read more
Ronald Brownstein: Are educated Republican districts going extinct?
When Democrats rallied for House candidate Cait Conley in Chappaqua, New York, early Saturday morning, the crowd cheered as speakers counted down the minutes until early voting in New York state began at 10 a.m. That fervor is a challenge for Representative Mike Lawler and other Republicans defending House districts like this one — affluent ...Read more
Commentary: Anti-Indian hate came to my family's temple in suburban Chicago
On Oct. 11, the first day of Navaratri, my family and I were worshipping at our Hindu temple in Aurora. My 80-year-old mother and 87-year-old father were singing Hindu prayers to celebrate one of the most important holidays of our faith. Little did we know a 19-year-old white supremacist was waiting outside with an AR-style rifle and roughly 300...Read more
Commentary: The world that awaits girls is a dehumanizing one. How do we change it?
To watch girls play soccer is to see female confidence at its peak. They run the field, hair whipping in the wind and feet dancing around the ball. When they fall, they leap back up.
They cheer their teammates; they celebrate each other. They are fearless.
The future seems limitless. Unfortunately, they don’t know what awaits them.
These 8-...Read more
Commentary: Democrats can use the next two years to hold Trump accountable
Donald Trump could be in the White House for as long as another 26 interminable months, which is beyond depressing. But Democrats are mobilizing to use that time wisely if they win at least one congressional majority in midterm elections next week.
The odds are good that as of January 2027, they will be in charge of the House, and they’re ...Read more
Commentary: Setting guidelines for using AI in the classroom
Teachers are doing their best to guide student use of artificial intelligence, but it’s clear that some boundaries are desperately needed.
Stop signs are common. Before the start of this school year, New York City officials banned the use of generative AI for public preschools through eighth grade, and Los Angeles educators banned access to ...Read more
Andreas Kluth: Trump should do a Helmut Schmidt when he meets Xi and Putin
For reasons that could range from good to atrocious, President Donald Trump wants a three-way summit with his Russian and Chinese counterparts when the three men are in Shenzhen next month for an economic forum.
In the worst scenario, Trump and Xi Jinping would conspire to doom Ukraine to Vladimir Putin’s subjugation. In the best, however, ...Read more
Commentary: The spay-neuter mandate does needless harm to Angelenos
Nearly 20 years ago, the city and county of Los Angeles adopted mandatory spay/neuter ordinances for dogs and cats. As a veterinarian, I believe spaying and neutering are critical tools for reducing pet overpopulation and euthanasia rates. But there is limited evidence that these mandates deliver the intended results, and there are real reasons ...Read more
POINT: The Supreme Court must draw the line on climate litigation
When the Supreme Court heard arguments in the Suncor v. Boulder County climate change case on October 5, it confronted a question that has consequences far beyond Colorado and climate change: Can a state use its laws to make selected companies pay for harms tied to broad societal issues? The answer should be “no.”
Yet that is what the City ...Read more
COUNTERPOINT: The fossil fuel industry follows big tobacco's disinformation
The Supreme Court heard arguments this month in Suncor v. Boulder, a case that marks the fossil fuel industry’s latest bid to dodge accountability for its outsized contribution to climate change.
The City and County of Boulder, Colorado, sued Suncor Energy and ExxonMobil in 2018 for deceiving the public about their products’ role in causing...Read more
















































