Politics

In the years following 9/11, the FBI paid an informant to infiltrate the Islamic Center of Irvine, above, and spy on Muslim Americans. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a setback Friday to three Muslim men in Orange County who have sued the FBI for spying on their mosques in … Read more

Here is the text of President Bush’s address to Congress on Tuesday night, as released in advance by the White House: Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, members of the Congress, distinguished guests, fellow Americans, thank you. We gather tonight, witness to events in the Persian Gulf as significant as they are tragic. In the early morning … Read more

When the LA Weekly wrote a lengthy story last September about how little Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa attended to his official duties, it wasn’t plowing fresh soil. The mayor’s exuberant fundraising and his frenetic campaigning on behalf of presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton had already received plenty of attention, in this paper and elsewhere. … Read more

Say a prayer for Texas’ public schools Dozens of public school students spend their lunchtime with a guitar-playing Baptist minister, bowing their heads in prayer under a tree by the playground. English classes read Shakespeare and Steinbeck, avoiding works that might draw them into contemporary controversies. Most parents consent to corporal punishment for misbehaving students, … Read more

The fates, political and otherwise, have not been particularly kind to Assemblywoman Carol Bentley recently in her special state Senate campaign. Several weeks ago, her father died after a long illness. Even as Bentley coped with that personal loss, her political life was thrown into disarray when her opponent, Assemblywoman Lucy Killea, became a national … Read more

For all its toughness in eliminating many public services for illegal immigrants, Proposition 187 says absolutely nothing about taking away their jobs. Yet at workplaces around Southern California, signs were already emerging Wednesday that the code of conduct in a labor market that has long welcomed low-paid undocumented workers is changing–at least in some quarters. … Read more

A bill that would require that employees be given time off to observe the Sabbath and other holy days unless doing so would mean an undue hardship for employers was approved by the Assembly on Tuesday and sent to Gov. George Deukmejian. The bill should dispel some of the confusion and reaffirm the rights of … Read more

President Biden at the White House on Wednesday. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) The White House said Thursday that it would dedicate another $10 billion to try to drive up COVID-19 vaccination rates in low-income, minority and rural enclaves throughout the country. The effort, which is funded through the $1.9-trillion coronavirus relief package passed earlier … Read more

President Trump at the Suresnes American Cemetery and memorial outside Paris on Sunday. (Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press) For weeks this fall, an ebullient President Trump traveled relentlessly to hold raise-the-rafters campaign rallies — sometimes three a day — in states where his presence was likely to help Republicans on the ballot. But his mood apparently has … Read more

Alongside the claim that Nancy Reagan ran the White House, we have new muscle in the assertion that the Reagans stole the election that put them there. The allegation has been around since 1987, but got fresh exposure earlier this week. The central premise, surely correct, is that back in the fall of 1980 an … Read more