Today: October 06, 2024
Today: October 06, 2024

Latest From The Los Angeles Post

Political

As BRICS cooperation accelerates, is it time for the US to develop a BRICS policy?

BRICS foreign ministers meet in Cape Town, South Africa, in June 2023. Jaco Marais/Die Burger/Gallo Images via Getty Images When leaders of the BRICS group of large emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – meet in Johannesburg for two days beginning on Aug. 22, 2023, foreign policymakers in Washington will no doubt be listening carefully. The BRICS group has been challenging some key tenets of U.S. global leadership in recent years. On the diplomatic front, it has undermined the White House’s strategy on Ukraine by countering the Western use of sanctions on Russia. Economically, it has

As BRICS cooperation accelerates, is it time for the US to develop a BRICS policy?
Political

How Ukraine's savvy official social media rallied the world and raised the bar for national propaganda

A Ukrainian flag is displayed in front of a destroyed house in eastern Ukraine in October 2022. Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images Just days after the Russian military launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, stories of Ukrainian resistance were already circulating with a ferocity all their own. Part of this was due to the Ukrainian government’s savvy use of social media. On March 7, 2022, for example, the government posted a video on Twitter, the platform now known as X, showing clips of Ukrainian farmers using John Deere tractors to tow away disabled Russian tanks and equipment.

How Ukraine's savvy official social media rallied the world and raised the bar for national propaganda
Political

Nagorno-Karabakh blockade crisis: Choking of disputed region is a consequence of war and geopolitics

A Russian peacekeeper guards the Lachin corridor. TOFIK BABAYEV/AFP via Getty Images Wars have consequences – and they are drastically different for the winners and losers. In the South Caucasus, a region far from most Americans’ attention, the democratic republic of Armenia lost a short but devastating war three years ago to Azerbaijan, its larger, richer neighbor. That defeat is being felt hardest today by the increasingly desperate people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Known by Armenians as Artsakh, or “Black Garden,” the enclave – Armenian in population but within Azerbaijan territory – has been subjected to a devastating monthslong blockade that has

Nagorno-Karabakh blockade crisis: Choking of disputed region is a consequence of war and geopolitics
Political

Georgia indictment and post-Civil War history make it clear: Trump's actions have already disqualified him from the presidency

Donald Trump may be barred from holding public office due to a constitutional amendment disqualifying those who have taken part in ‘insurrection or rebellion.’ Mike Stobe/Getty Images After three indictments of former President Donald Trump, the fourth one in Georgia came not as a surprise but as a powerful exposition of the scope of Trump’s efforts to remain in power despite losing the 2020 presidential election. New conservative legal scholarship spells out how and why those actions – which were observed by the public over many months – disqualify Trump from serving in the presidency ever again. And our read

Georgia indictment and post-Civil War history make it clear: Trump's actions have already disqualified him from the presidency
Political

Trump's 2024 GOP rivals converge on Atlanta just days after his latest indictment

Several Republican White House hopefuls are set to greet a conservative conference with hopes of making up ground against Donald Trump. But his shadow may be especially difficult to escape in the city where he was most recently indicted. Trump won’t speak at The Gathering, an Atlanta event by syndicated radio host Erick Erickson taking place Friday and Saturday about 10 miles from the jail where the former president has to surrender before next Friday on a racketeering indictment related to the 2020 election. Six of his 2024 rivals, meanwhile, are scheduled for onstage interviews with Erickson,

Trump's 2024 GOP rivals converge on Atlanta just days after his latest indictment
Political

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez calls on US to declassify documents on Chile's 1973 coup

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday in Chile that it was imperative for the United States to declassify documents that could shed light on Washington’s involvement in the South American country’s 1973 coup. “The transparency of the United States could present an opportunity for a new phase in our relationship between the United States and Chile,” Ocasio-Cortez said in Spanish in a video posted on Instagram alongside Camila Vallejo, the spokesperson for the left-leaning government of President Gabriel Boric. The Democratic congresswoman from New York is part of a delegation of lawmakers who traveled to the capital

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez calls on US to declassify documents on Chile's 1973 coup
Political

Justice Department seeks 33 years in prison for ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio in Jan. 6 case

The Justice Department is seeking 33 years in prison for Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader convicted of seditious conspiracy in one of the most serious cases to emerge from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to court documents filed Thursday. Tarrio, who once served as national chairman of the far-right extremist group, and three lieutenants were convicted by a Washington jury in May of conspiring to block the transfer of presidential power in the hopes of keeping Republican Donald Trump in the White House after he lost the 2020 election. Prosecutors are also asking

Justice Department seeks 33 years in prison for ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio in Jan. 6 case
Political

Trump cancels press conference on election fraud claims, citing attorneys' advice

Former President Donald Trump now says he won’t be holding a press conference next week to unveil what he claims is new evidence of fraud in the 2020 election in Georgia, citing the advice of lawyers. No compelling evidence of the wide-scale fraud Trump alleges has emerged in the two-and-a-half years since the election. Republican officials in the state — where three recounts confirmed Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden — have long said he lost legitimately. “Rather than releasing the Report on the Rigged & Stolen Georgia 2020 Presidential Election on Monday, my lawyers would

Trump cancels press conference on election fraud claims, citing attorneys' advice
Political

Trump lawyers seek April 2026 trial date in federal election subversion case

Lawyers for Donald Trump asked a federal judge in Washington to push back until years after the election a trial in Washington on charges that the former president conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The suggested April 2026 date is a dramatic counter to the Justice Department’s recommendation last week that the trial should begin Jan. 2, 2024. The question is ultimately up to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is expected to set at least a tentative trial date during an Aug. 28 court hearing. In a filing, Trump’s lawyers say the years-long

Trump lawyers seek April 2026 trial date in federal election subversion case
Political

The fall of Rudy Giuliani: How ‘America’s mayor’ tied his fate to Donald Trump and got indicted

Rudy Giuliani glared across a Washington hearing room as a lawyer seeking his disbarment after the Jan. 6 insurrection asked: How did this man, celebrated as “America’s Mayor” after 9/11, become a leader of an attempt to overturn a national election? “It’s like there are two different people,” Hamilton “Phil” Fox III, the lead prosecuting attorney for the agency that disciplines Washington lawyers, said last December. “I don’t know if something happened to Mr. Giuliani or what.” Giuliani — feted, knighted and named Time magazine’s person of the year for his leadership as New York City

The fall of Rudy Giuliani: How ‘America’s mayor’ tied his fate to Donald Trump and got indicted
Political

Authorities investigating threats to grand jurors who indicted Trump in Georgia

Authorities in Georgia said Thursday they’re investigating threats targeting members of the grand jury that indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 of his allies. Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat’s office said investigators are working to trace the origin of the threats after the names of grand jury members and other personal information were posted online. The sheriff’s office said other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies were assisting. “We take this matter very seriously and are coordinating with our law enforcement partners to respond quickly to any credible threat and to ensure the safety of those individuals who

Authorities investigating threats to grand jurors who indicted Trump in Georgia
Political

US sanctions Russian operatives accused in the poisoning of Putin critic Alexei Navalny

The U.S. on Thursday imposed sanctions and visa restrictions on four Russian intelligence operatives accused of direct involvement in the 2020 poisoning of Alexei Navalny, a Russian politician and corruption investigator who is one of President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Alexei Alexandrov, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, Ivan Osipov and Vladimir Panyaev. All are operatives of the Federal Security Services, known as the FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB. Panyaev is reported to have tailed Navalny prior to his poisoning; the others are operatives of the FSB’s Criminalistics Institute, a secret

US sanctions Russian operatives accused in the poisoning of Putin critic Alexei Navalny
Political

Canadian woman sentenced to nearly 22 years for 2020 ricin letter sent to Trump in White House

A Canadian woman was sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison in Washington Thursday in the mailing of a threatening letter containing the poison ricin to then-President Donald Trump at the White House. Pascale Ferrier, 56, had pleaded guilty to violating biological weapons prohibitions in letters sent to Trump and to police officials in Texas, where she had been jailed in 2019 after refusing to leave a park area as it closed. Her defense attorney Eugene Ohm said Ferrier has no criminal record prior that and is an “inordinately intelligent” French immigrant who had earned a master’s

Canadian woman sentenced to nearly 22 years for 2020 ricin letter sent to Trump in White House
Political

At Camp David, Biden aims to nudge Japan and South Korea toward greater unity in complicated Pacific

President Joe Biden aims to further tighten security and economic ties between Japan and South Korea, two nations that have struggled to stay on speaking terms, as he welcomes their leaders to the rustic Camp David presidential retreat Friday. Historically frosty relations between South Korea and Japan have rapidly thawed over the last year as they share concerns about China’s assertiveness in the Pacific and North Korea’s persistent nuclear threats. Biden is now looking to use the summit in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains to urge South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to

At Camp David, Biden aims to nudge Japan and South Korea toward greater unity in complicated Pacific
Political

Solidarity and symbolism the order of the day as US, Japan and South Korea leaders meet at Camp David

US President Joe Biden, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol hold a side meeting at the G7 summit. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images Camp David is associated with some special moments in diplomacy. In 1978, the presidential retreat in Maryland hosted Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin – leading to the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab state. Although not quite on that level, the trilateral meeting being held at the location on Aug. 18, 2023 – between President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and

Solidarity and symbolism the order of the day as US, Japan and South Korea leaders meet at Camp David
Political

White House lawyer who advised Biden on pandemic and GOP investigations is set to leave next month

The top White House lawyer will leave next month after a nearly three-year run helping President Joe Biden weigh legal considerations as he implemented his pandemic response, battled Republican investigations and crafted major legislation. Stuart Delery joined Biden’s transition legal team after the Democrat defeated then-President Donald Trump in November 2020. Delery served as deputy counsel before he was elevated to the top job last summer after Biden’s first counsel, Dana Remus, left the White House. Delery is the first openly gay person to be White House counsel. Biden, in a statement Thursday, called Delery “a trusted

White House lawyer who advised Biden on pandemic and GOP investigations is set to leave next month
Political

What Florida gets wrong about George Washington and the benefits he received from enslaving Black people

In this 1853 painting, George Washington stands among Black field workers. Buyenlarge/Getty Images If there was anyone who knew the rewards of slavery, it was George Washington. Over a period of about 50 years, the nation’s first president enslaved about 577 Black Americans, starting when he was 11 years old. One of them was a Black man named Morris who was skilled in carpentry and became an overseer of other enslaved men and women working on a farm at Washington’s Mount Vernon estate in Virginia. Though Morris’ skills afforded him a few extra benefits, he was still unable to buy

What Florida gets wrong about George Washington and the benefits he received from enslaving Black people
Political

Ohio voters kept it easy to pass a constitutional amendment protecting abortion − but also for the majority to someday limit other rights

People gather at the Marion County Republican Party headquarters after discussing Issue 1 on July 13, 2023, in Marion, Ohio. Maddie McGarvey/For The Washington Post via Getty Images Issue 1 on the Ohio ballot, which aimed to raise the threshold to change the state constitution from a simple majority – 50% of voters plus one – to 60%, got enormous national attention for a state ballot measure in an off-year special election. No doubt this was because it was linked to the current state battles over abortion rights following the demise of Roe v. Wade. Both advocates and opponents saw

Ohio voters kept it easy to pass a constitutional amendment protecting abortion − but also for the majority to someday limit other rights
Political

Tim Scott will share the spotlight at massive South Carolina campaign event headlined by DeSantis

Just a few days after the first GOP presidential debate of the 2024 cycle, two of the contenders will be hitting the same stage in front of the largest annual gathering of Republicans in early-voting South Carolina. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had already been set as the headliner at the Faith & Freedom BBQ, hosted by Rep. Jeff Duncan on Aug. 28. On Thursday, Duncan told The Associated Press that Sen. Tim Scott — invited in his capacity as a South Carolina senator, not presidential hopeful — had also accepted an opportunity to speak, as he

Tim Scott will share the spotlight at massive South Carolina campaign event headlined by DeSantis
Political

Biden's approval rating on the economy stagnates despite slowing inflation, AP-NORC poll shows

President Joe Biden has devoted the past several weeks to promoting the positive impacts of his policies — but his efforts have yet to meaningfully register with the public. Only 36% of U.S. adults approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, slightly lower than the 42% who approve of his overall performance, according to the new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Both figures are close to where Biden’s approval numbers have stood for about the past year and a half, including just two months ago. Signs of an improving economic outlook have

Biden's approval rating on the economy stagnates despite slowing inflation, AP-NORC poll shows
Political

Biden will use Camp David backdrop hoping to broker a breakthrough in Japan-South Korea relations

Camp David, the rustic presidential retreat in the mountains of Maryland, has been a backdrop for signal moments in U.S. foreign policy, perhaps none more notable than the peace accord President Jimmy Carter brokered between Egypt and Israel in 1978. On Friday, President Joe Biden will reach for his own place in Camp David lore, hoping that walks on leafy trails and necktie-free talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol will encourage the U.S. allies, who have been thawing their frosty relationship, to cooperate more given their shared concerns about

Biden will use Camp David backdrop hoping to broker a breakthrough in Japan-South Korea relations
Political

Election workers who face frequent harassment see accountability in the latest Georgia charges

Tonya Wichman has overseen elections in a rural Ohio county for eight years and hasn’t experienced any significant problems with voting or counting the ballots. But that doesn’t mean no big worries at all. What does concern her is the frequent harassment, intimidation and even physical threats she and her staff have been receiving since the 2020 election. It got so bad ahead of the 2022 midterms that her staff got police protection when leaving or coming to the office. That’s why she paid close attention this week to the indictment of former President Donald Trump

Election workers who face frequent harassment see accountability in the latest Georgia charges
Political

Frank LaRose, GOP Senate candidate in Ohio, fires a top staffer for tweets critical of Donald Trump

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the most prominent Republican in the race to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown next year, has fired one of his top aides after social media posts surfaced in which the staffer criticized Donald Trump. LaRose’s office confirmed press secretary Rob Nichols’s departure on Wednesday. A longtime Republican operative in the state, Nichols held a similar position with then-Republican Gov. John Kasich before he ran for president and became a vocal Trump detractor. The abrupt dismissal followed Trump political allies on X, formerly Twitter, discovering and posting a cache of

Frank LaRose, GOP Senate candidate in Ohio, fires a top staffer for tweets critical of Donald Trump
Political

Plea negotiations could mean no 9/11 defendants face the death penalty, the US tells families

The suspected architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and his fellow defendants may never face the death penalty under plea agreements now under consideration to bring an end to their more than decadelong prosecution, the Pentagon and FBI have advised families of some of the thousands killed. The notice, made in a letter that was sent to several of the families and obtained by The Associated Press, comes 1 1/2 years after military prosecutors and defense lawyers began exploring a negotiated resolution to the case. The prosecution of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others held at

Plea negotiations could mean no 9/11 defendants face the death penalty, the US tells families
Political

Georgia prosecutor seeks March trial date for trial of Trump and 18 others in election case

The Georgia prosecutor who obtained an indictment this week against former President Donald Trump and 18 others wants to take the case to trial in March. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said in a proposed scheduling order filed with the court Wednesday that she wants the trial to start on March 4. She is also proposing that arraignments for the defendants happen the week of Sept. 5. Trump and 18 others were indicted Monday by a Fulton County grand jury. They are accused of committing various crimes as part of a scheme to keep Trump in

Georgia prosecutor seeks March trial date for trial of Trump and 18 others in election case

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