Politics

Bernard Shaw has a reputation for bluntness. He lived up to it last fall in the second presidential campaign debate when he popped “the Kitty question.” It was his opening question to Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis: Would the Massachusetts governor, who opposes the death penalty, change his mind if his wife, Kitty, had been raped … Read more

Before the tempest erupted over Ervin Lent and his two-decade-old family secret, elections were pretty staid affairs for voters in the eastern Sierra’s Inyo County. Political excitement? Sure, there was the incumbent sheriff who was upset by an underling a couple of years back. And a few League of Women Voters’ debates have gotten a … Read more

David Rasmussen of Victorville waves an upside-down American flag while participating in a march to the Wilshire Federal Building, in one of the largest protests in Los Angeles since Trump took office almost two months ago, on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times) When Jesse Ugalde, who served in the Vietnam War, entered … Read more

Valerie Plame, a former undercover CIA operative, is running for a House seat in New Mexico. (Associated Press) Valerie Plame, whose role as an undercover CIA operative was famously blown in an act of political retribution in 2003, has some advice for the still-anonymous whistleblower who sparked the Trump impeachment investigation: Be prepared to see … Read more

As the haze of anesthesia receded, Bob Kerrey could make out the anxious faces of his parents against the bleak walls of the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. He summoned Elinor Kerrey to his side, and muttered: “How much is left?” Military doctors had struggled to undo the mess that a crude North Vietnamese grenade had made … Read more

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 16, 2024. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) One after another, Republican leaders painted a dire picture of America from the Republican National Convention stage in Milwaukee on Tuesday, suggesting the nation is awash in violent crime driven by an “invasion” … Read more

Former President Richard Nixon said Wednesday that the United States will at some point face a choice between Russia and Ukraine as a focus for its support in Eastern Europe. Nixon, speaking during a one-day visit to Ukraine, said he was aware of concern in former Soviet republics over the rise of ultranationalist Vladimir V. … Read more

The Pentagon is seen in an aerial view through an airplane window in February. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) The Pentagon’s intelligence and law enforcement arms are investigating what it says are leaks of national security information. Defense Department personnel could face polygraphs in the latest such inquiry by the Trump administration. A memo … Read more

California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to know why the state’s gas prices are higher than the rest of the country. He’s not the first governor to respond to outrage from the state’s drivers, but the odds aren’t good for cracking the mystery at the pump. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The governor of California was … Read more

Judge John G. Roberts Jr., President Bush’s choice for chief justice of the United States, said Monday that he aspired to a humble and limited role as leader of the Supreme Court, more akin to an umpire who calls the balls and strikes rather than the star player who is the center of attention. “Justices … Read more