SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Some California political jockeying last week reminded me of a classic scene from the first Indiana Jones movie.

In 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark," a scary, robed swordsman whirls his shiny machete-like weapon, preparing to duel the seemingly defenseless Indiana, played by Harrison Ford. Instead, Indiana calmly draws a ...Read more

President Joe Biden's Republican critics charge that he has foisted a "bait and switch" on voters — that he campaigned as a moderate but veered abruptly to the left after he arrived at the White House.

"The bait was he was going to govern as bipartisan, but the switch is he's governed as a socialist," House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of ...Read more

On May 12, 113 days into his presidency, Joe Biden finally sat down with leaders of the House and Senate — Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy. It’s surprising and disappointing that this took so long to happen. Here’s hoping many more such meetings follow.

Biden invited the leaders of both parties to the Oval ...Read more

When much of the world is still desperate for COVID-19 vaccinations, a handful of wealthy places are beginning to have the opposite problem. Hong Kong is one. Despite a free and easily accessible program open to all adults since April, only just over 10% of the population of 7.5 million has had both injections, with low rates even among the ...Read more

Transitional kindergarten — a year that prepares children who aren't quite old enough or mature enough for kindergarten — boosts school readiness and achievement in the spots around California where it's now offered. Los Angeles Unified is among them.

A 2015 study found that the children coming from these programs in California started ...Read more

During the Trump administration, even as the federal Environmental Protection Agency claimed to care about, you know, protecting the environment, officials sat on an alarming scientific report with vivid new details about our warming planet while the White House called for burning coal, gas and other fossil fuels like there’s no tomorrow.

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In 2019, after 89 years, Miami Shores elected the first Black woman to sit on its Village Council. In fact, Crystal Wagar automatically became mayor because she was the top vote-getter. Two years, later, two more Black women — one who now is the new mayor — have joined her on the five-member council, along with a gay white man. This is a ...Read more

President Joe Biden wants educators to teach students that racism is endemic in America. He and his “woke” allies think students should learn that our nation was born of the desire to enslave other humans, not as a struggle for freedom. They also believe that the government should racially discriminate, today and in the future.

The ...Read more

Across the nation this spring, thousands of aspiring physicians are receiving acceptance letters to medical schools. I remember the arrival of mine nearly two decades ago, especially as there was only one, (a relief after being wait-listed elsewhere). Unfortunately, this spring will also witness a greater number of applicants to American medical...Read more

In 2013, National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre and his wife went elephant hunting in Botswana. They both bagged impressive bulls. The safari was videotaped for the television series “Under Wild Skies,” which is sponsored by the NRA. But the hunting program never aired the footage.

The video was suppressed for eight years until a ...Read more

At first blush, the minimum-wage crowd manning the drive-thru at a Wendy’s in the small town of Wadesboro, N.C., wouldn’t seem to have much in common with the cosmopolitan staffers of Washingtonian, a magazine that serves the D.C. area. But for a time earlier this month, workers at the two joints inadvertently found a kind of solidarity: ...Read more

Unless you were hiding under a rock you heard that Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming was pushed out of her Republican leadership position in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Receiving a bit less media attention was the news that 100 members of the Republican Party threatened to disaffiliate from it.

In both instances, the cause of the schisms is ...Read more

Self-proclaimed “First Amendment auditor” SeanPaul Reyes found himself in handcuffs and sitting on the curb when he tried to film the traffic stop of another man in Harford County, Maryland, over the weekend. Body camera video posted to the Harford Sheriff’s Office Facebook page shows an encounter that escalated probably far more than it ...Read more

Racism has saturated U.S. society for so long that some people — including representatives in public office — continue to deny its existence.

“Hear me clearly: America is not a racist country,” said Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., in response to President Joe Biden’s address to the nation on April 29. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., recently ...Read more

In the spring of 1961, a group of Black and white civil rights activists set off on a trip through the American South, aiming to test recent federal court rulings banning racial discrimination in interstate travel.

They sat where they pleased on the buses they rode. They entered the waiting rooms in the terminals, sought service in the depot ...Read more

ATLANTA — During a House hearing about the attack on the U.S. Capitol, U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde read from a prepared statement to take issue with people calling the assault "an insurrection."

"There was no insurrection," the freshman Republican from Athens, Georgia, said. "And to call it an insurrection, in my opinion, is a bold-faced lie."

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MIAMI — Of all the cities in the United States, in Miami — populated by people who stood up to dictatorship, some risking their lives, all paying the price of being exiled — the throngs should be standing up for and applauding Congresswoman Liz Cheney.

She stood on the side of democracy. She told the truth and, for this, the Wyoming ...Read more

The phrases "we are closed" and "nobody wants to work anymore" were trending briefly Thursday as the Twitterverse grappled with the paradoxical news that job openings had set a record in March — more than 8 million positions unfilled — even as unemployment and underemployment remained far higher than they were before the pandemic. The news ...Read more

Reading the political tea leaves 18 months in advance is as tricky as making a weather forecast for the same time frame. But every so often, circumstances combine to increase the odds in the forecaster’s favor. Looking ahead to next year’s midterms is one of them. Because if things continue on their current course, Nov. 8, 2022, will be a ...Read more