Politics

Despite thousands of contested ballots in Florida’s Palm Beach County, a lot of people are calling on Al Gore to act like a mensch and concede the election to George W. Bush–as they contend Richard M. Nixon did in 1960 when he lost to John F. Kennedy amid rumors of fraud. Even the veteran New … Read more

Misoprostol is typically used with mifepristone, which the FDA approved in 2000 for abortion and further loosened restrictions on in 2016 and 2021. (Soumyabrata Roy / NurPhoto/Getty Images) U.S. Supreme Court justices sounded skeptical Tuesday about imposing new limits on the dispensing of abortion medication through pharmacies or by mail. The justices, both conservatives and … Read more

President Clinton, hoping to plug a gap in one of the most successful sectors of his Administration, turned to Wall Street veteran Robert E. Rubin Tuesday to replace Lloyd Bentsen as Treasury secretary. Clinton announced Bentsen’s resignation, effective Dec. 22, and the selection of Rubin at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. Clinton … Read more

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, shown in January, is leading an effort to allow thousands of people to be removed from California’s sex offender registry. (Mike Balsamo / Associated Press) It’s been nearly four decades since a 25-year-old Frank Lindsay landed on California’s sex offender registry after he pleaded no contest to improperly … Read more

Is a constitutional convention in California’s future? With the state’s fiscal woes mounting and Sacramento seemingly frozen in place, a group of California leaders has proposed a constitutional convention as a way to fix the Golden State’s deeply entrenched structural problems. Perhaps the most important question about a constitutional convention is: Who would be the … Read more

It is one of the many oddities of California law that in order to pass a state budget or raise taxes, the Legislature must win two-thirds approval in both houses. This unusual “supermajority” rule is a big part of the reason the Legislature has missed the legal deadline for a new state budget in 16 … Read more

For three years, John Huang loomed as the central figure in the 1996 Democratic campaign fund-raising controversy triggered by millions of dollars in tainted contributions to help reelect President Clinton. And for three years, Huang has had virtually nothing to say in public. That changed Wednesday when a low-key and respectful Huang appeared before a … Read more

Negative campaigning isn’t working any more, at least not for George Bush. Four years ago, he questioned his opponent’s character and patriotism, hammered at the trust issue and said virtually nothing about what he’d do as President. And it worked. Now, running the same campaign, the President is miserably far behind. The difference isn’t just … Read more

President Biden speaks to allies from the East Room of the White House on Friday during a virtual Munich Security Conference. (Associated Press) President Biden tried to reassure U.S. allies Friday that he is turning the page on his predecessor’s “America first” approach, and restoring a foreign policy that values cooperation with the world’s major … Read more

U.S. Marines in southern Iraq in March 2003. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) Matthew Hoh was a 28-year-old Marine captain assigned to the Pentagon in late 2002, just as President George W. Bush was laying the groundwork for war in Iraq. Like many of his generation, Hoh was steeled in his patriotism by the … Read more