Throughout our nation’s history, civil rights movements across the country have had to fight to achieve victories for the disenfranchised. And one of the most important civil rights issues of our time is the battle for District of Columbia statehood.

As a Washington, D.C., resident, I do not see this as being about politics. It’s about ...Read more

Can the federal government ban evictions? Seems like a pretty straightforward question. But the answer touches on a deeper one, as yet unsettled: Will life after COVID-19 be normal?

Consider what a federal judge said recently when he struck down a Centers for Disease Control ban on evictions, which the Trump administration instituted last year ...Read more

If a Republican cause can't win big in Orange County, it's probably doomed statewide in Democrat-dominated California.

It's just a matter of math: Democrats hold a nearly 2-to-1 advantage over Republicans in voter registration statewide. And independent voters — registered as "no party preference" — lean toward Democrats.

The apparent lack...Read more

Three women have accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of making lewd sexual advances. If the allegations are true, it makes him a disgusting human being.

But like most sexual misconduct scandals involving prominent men, the actual harassment ends up taking a back seat to partisan politics. The loathsome act often is relegated to a supporting role...Read more

The huge blizzard that knocked out electricity for several days for 10 million Texans in mid-February is a scary preview of what life would be like on a regular basis if President Joe Biden’s blackout agenda is implemented. The storm revealed that Texas’ power grid has become unreliable because of federal and state policies pursued in a ...Read more

They can’t live with him, and they can’t live without him. That about sums up the Republican Party’s Donald Trump problem.

After losing a presidential election, the usual next step for a political party is to pause, take stock of its problems and begin looking to a new generation of leaders without the same liabilities.

Republicans haven...Read more

It was Valentine’s Day when the snow really began. It’s rare we get snow like this, so my partner and I bundled up and celebrated the holiday walking through the quiet, freshly snow-covered streets. As we walked, the snow continued to fall and by night nearly 6 inches accumulated across the neighborhood.

The first blackout hit my community ...Read more

In January, Caltech announced that the names of six men with historical ties to the university would be removed from all "campus buildings, assets, and honors." This unnaming came as the institution renounced its historical connections to the Human Betterment Foundation, a zealous pro-eugenics organization that influenced and admired Nazi ...Read more

Last month I wrote about how former Vice President Mike Pence, while he may have been a potential target of the Jan 6. Capitol insurrectionists, was no hero.

Pence abetted then-President Donald Trump's efforts to delegitimize the 2020 election, praising an ill-fated lawsuit filed by Texas in the Supreme Court seeking to overturn election ...Read more

Neera Tanden became President Joe Biden’s first Cabinet casualty on Tuesday when she withdrew her nomination to be budget director. The Republicans who sank her have not accomplished much. Biden’s next nominee will be a little more or less progressive, and a little more or less competent, but not significantly different in any way that ...Read more

Republicans are determined to blame Black Lives Matter and antifa for the Capitol Hill riot. But after Tuesday’s Senate hearing on the insurrection, there’s no doubt that white supremacy was the real culprit.

FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed what many of us already knew — that white supremacy is thriving in America. The sentiment ...Read more

When musician John Roderick's 9-year-old daughter asked him how to use a can opener, he saw it as a teaching moment. He refused to show her and vowed that they wouldn't eat until she had puzzled it out. It took her six hours, during which Roderick provided hints, cajoled, philosophized and occasionally teased her.

Roderick documented the event ...Read more

Tuesday's Supreme Court arguments in a major voting rights case portend what appears to be the future of election law: The continuing withdrawal of the court from the role of policing elections for racial fairness. Call this the Roberts Doctrine.

The chief justice has been pushing the agenda of judicial disengagement from voting rights issues ...Read more

Agriculture has never been a principal focus of efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. But farm emissions — which make up about 10% of the U.S. total — are coming under increasing scrutiny as Democrats take the reins of agricultural policy and farmers themselves awaken to the threats of climate change. One strategy in particular is getting ...Read more

Official Washington, D.C., just got another early warning. The Congressional Budget Office recently confirmed the Medicare trustees’ 2020 report that the Medicare trust fund — the Part A account that funds the hospitalization and related services — faces insolvency in 2026.

Insolvency means that Medicare wouldn’t be able to fully ...Read more

A 91-year-old man shoved to the ground in Oakland's Chinatown. A dead cat left at a family-run butcher shop in Sacramento. A 51-year-old teacher's aide beaten with his own cane in Rosemead. A fire and vandalism at a Buddhist temple in Little Tokyo. The harassment of an immigrant family in Ladera Ranch. A Sacramento high-school teacher making ...Read more

One year ago, California and Hawaii were the first states to announce emergency declarations to fight COVID-19. In doing so, they activated preexisting price gouging regulations. The reasoning, California Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed, was so that “consumers (will be) able to purchase what they need, at a fair price.” Unfortunately, for some of ...Read more

With more people vaccinated against COVID-19 every day and case numbers just a fraction of what they were at the beginning of the year, it seems as if — finally — we are are beating the pandemic.

But remember what happened last time we thought that? It feels like a million years have passed since May, so I will refresh your memory. After a...Read more

On Tuesday, "cancel culture" was officially promoted to "outlaw culture," which definitely would sound way cooler if it weren't so maddeningly ridiculous and offensively dangerous.

The upgrade came courtesy of California's own Rep. Kevin McCarthy. Arguing against a Democratic measure to expand voting rights, the House minority leader was in the...Read more

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo quickly emerged as one of the nation’s heroes.

Pitching himself as the antithesis to the chaos and ignorance of the Trump administration, Cuomo seemed determined to use this crisis as a way to cement his legacy. He held live daily briefings to update New Yorkers on the status of the...Read more