Today: October 07, 2024
Today: October 07, 2024

Latest From The Los Angeles Post

Political

Critics blast Georgia's plan to delay software updates on its voting machines

Critics of Georgia’s plan to wait until after next year’s presidential election to install a software update to address security flaws on the state’s voting equipment called that irresponsible, saying the machines would be left open to attack. The vulnerabilities in the Dominion Voting Systems equipment were identified by an expert witness in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Georgia’s election system. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, last year published an advisory based on those findings that urges election officials to take steps to mitigate the risks “as soon as possible.” Georgia election

Critics blast Georgia's plan to delay software updates on its voting machines
Political

Republicans in Oregon Senate end six-week walkout that blocked bills on abortion, trans health care

Enough Republican members showed up in the Oregon Senate on Thursday to end a six-week walkout that halted the work of the Legislature and blocked hundreds of bills, including some on abortion, transgender health care and gun safety. The boycott, which prevented the Senate from reaching a two-thirds quorum needed to pass bills, was prompted by a sweeping measure on abortion and gender-affirming care that Republicans said was too extreme. The walkout also blocked the approval of the two-year state budget and a gun-safety measure opposed by the GOP that would increase the purchasing age to

Republicans in Oregon Senate end six-week walkout that blocked bills on abortion, trans health care
Political

US sanctions North Korean couple accused of helping to procure equipment for ballistic missiles

The U.S. on Thursday imposed sanctions on a North Korean husband and wife living in Beijing accused of helping to procure equipment for ballistic missiles that ended up in the hands of North Korean and Iranian customers. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said Choe Chol Min and his wife Choe Un Jong work through North Korea’s Second Academy of Natural Sciences, a state organization that conducts research for the nation’s ballistics missiles program, to help procure equipment for buyers. Treasury says Choe Chol Min worked with North Korean weapons trading officials to buy equipment for Iranian

US sanctions North Korean couple accused of helping to procure equipment for ballistic missiles
Political

How much prison time could Trump face? Past cases brought steep punishment for document hoarders

The FBI investigators who searched Harold Martin’s Maryland property in the fall of 2016 found classified documents — including material at the top secret level — strewn about his home, car and storage shed. Unlike former President Donald Trump, the former National Security Agency contractor didn’t contest the allegations, ultimately pleading guilty in 2019 and admitting his actions were “wrong, illegal and highly questionable.” But his expressions of contrition and guilty plea to a single count of willful retention of national defense information didn’t spare him the harsh punishment of nine years in prison. The resolution of

How much prison time could Trump face? Past cases brought steep punishment for document hoarders
Political

Diverse Republican presidential primary field sees an opening in 2024 with voters of color

Race has emerged as a central issue — and a delicate one — in the 2024 presidential contest as the GOP’s primary field features five candidates of color, making it the party’s most racially diverse ever. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who is of Cuban descent, announced his candidacy on Thursday, vowing to create a new brand of politics. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the first Black senator in the South since Reconstruction, entered the contest last month. He joined Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador who is of Indian descent, as is Vivek

Diverse Republican presidential primary field sees an opening in 2024 with voters of color
Political

Supreme Court rejects challenge to Native American child welfare law

The Supreme Court on Thursday preserved the system that gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings of Native children, rejecting a broad attack from Republican-led states and white families who argued it is based on race. The court left in place the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which was enacted to address concerns that Native children were being separated from their families and, too frequently, placed in non-Native homes. Tribal leaders have backed the law as a means of preserving their families, traditions and cultures. The “issues are complicated” Justice Amy Coney

Supreme Court rejects challenge to Native American child welfare law
Political

Who's running for president? See a rundown of the 2024 candidates

With roughly a year and a half until the 2024 presidential contest, the field of candidates is largely set. Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have dominated the early Republican race as the other candidates look for an opening to take them on. President Joe Biden faces a couple of Democratic challengers but is expected to secure his party’s nomination. Here’s a look at the candidates competing for the Republican and Democratic nominations: REPUBLICAN PRIMARY FIELD DONALD TRUMP The former president announced his third campaign for the White House on Nov. 15 at his Mar-a-Lago resort, forcing

Who's running for president? See a rundown of the 2024 candidates
Political

Russians are using age-old military tactic of flooding to combat Ukraine’s counteroffensive

A screen grab shows the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant after a blast on June 6, 2023. Zelenskyy Social Media Account / via Getty Images On the morning of June 6, 2023, thousands of Ukrainians awoke to the sounds of rushing water following an explosion at the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River. Initially, there were questions on how the dam collapsed or who was to blame, but mounting evidence indicates that the dam was deliberately breached by Russia. In my view, as a career U.S. special forces officer, the simplest answer is most often correct and provides the most likely

Russians are using age-old military tactic of flooding to combat Ukraine’s counteroffensive
Political

Despite threats of violence, Trump's federal indictment happened with little fanfare -- but that doesn't mean the far-right movement is fading, an extremism scholar explains

Trump supporters and protesters gather peacefully outside the Miami federal courthouse on June 13, 2023. Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty at a federal courthouse in Miami on June 13, 2023, to 37 felony counts related to withholding – and refusing to return – classified government documents after his presidency ended. But the court appearance had little of the fanfare Trump typically attracts at his events. The former president entered and left the building through an underground garage, and no photographs were taken of him inside the courtroom. News channels, broadcasting the unprecedented arrest

Despite threats of violence, Trump's federal indictment happened with little fanfare -- but that doesn't mean the far-right movement is fading, an extremism scholar explains
Political

Biden targets junk fees with executives from Live Nation, SeatGeek and Airbnb

President Joe Biden is hosting executives from Live Nation, Airbnb and other companies at the White House on Thursday to highlight his administration’s push to end so-called junk fees that surprise consumers. Biden prioritized the effort to combat surprise or undisclosed fees in his State of the Union address and has called for legislation, regulation and private sector action to end them. Biden, at Thursday’s event, was set to announce actions by companies that have eliminated or plan to eliminate those surprise fees. The consumer advocacy push is part of the Democratic president’s pitch to voters ahead

Biden targets junk fees with executives from Live Nation, SeatGeek and Airbnb
Political

'Stand with Trump' becomes rallying cry as Republicans amplify attacks on US justice system

Moments after Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he hoarded classified documents and then conspired to obstruct an investigation about it, the Republicans in Congress had his back. Speaker Kevin McCarthy dashed off a fundraising email decrying the “witch hunt” against the former president and urging donors to sign up and “stand with Trump.” The Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell steered clear of criticizing the former president or assuring the nation justice will be impartial, refusing to engage in questions about the unprecedented indictment. And at a public meeting in the Capitol basement, Rep.

'Stand with Trump' becomes rallying cry as Republicans amplify attacks on US justice system
Political

Biden endorsed by 4 environmental and conservation groups for efforts to fight global warming

President Joe Biden told an audience of conservation and environmental groups Wednesday that their work has never been more important at a time when they are battling the greatest threat facing future generations. Speaking at the annual Capital Dinner of the League of Conservation Voters, Biden told the supportive audience there are “a lot of threats to our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren” but climate change “is the only truly existential threat.” He said the audience members and his administration had done good work in combatting the threat but everyone needed to “finish the job.” Biden and Vice

Biden endorsed by 4 environmental and conservation groups for efforts to fight global warming
Political

Political compromises – like the debt-limit deal – have never been substitutes for lasting solutions

Will the debt ceiling bill negotiated by President Joe Biden, left, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy be a lasting solution? AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite The compromise to avoid default on the U.S. debt passed muster, eventually. President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy pulled it off. The nation can breathe, at least for the next two years. And yet, the far right is unhappy, many Democrats from the progressive wing are similarly annoyed, and the gnawing problem – the ballooning national debt – that is at the bottom of this compromise hasn’t gone away. But isn’t this

Political compromises – like the debt-limit deal – have never been substitutes for lasting solutions
Political

US, Chinese warships' near miss in Taiwan Strait hints at ongoing troubled diplomatic waters, despite chatter about talks

The USS Chung-Hoon observes a Chinese navy ship cross into its path. Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Andre T. Richard/U.S. Navy via AP An encounter in which a Chinese naval ship cut across the path of a U.S. destroyer in the Taiwan Strait on June 3, 2023, has both Beijing and Washington pointing fingers at each other. It was the second near miss in the space of just a few weeks; in late May a Chinese plane crossed in front of an American surveillance aircraft above the South China Sea. Meredith Oyen, an expert on China-U.S. relations at the University

US, Chinese warships' near miss in Taiwan Strait hints at ongoing troubled diplomatic waters, despite chatter about talks
Political

Kakhovka dam breach: 3 essential reads on what it means for Ukraine's infrastructure, beleaguered nuclear plant and future war plans

The breach of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine could have lasting ecological and health impacts. Ukrainian Presidential Office via AP A dam that supplies drinking water to thousands of Ukrainians as well as cooling water for reactors at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station was ruptured on June 6, 2023. Kyiv blamed the destruction on Moscow, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slamming “Russian terrorists” for destroying the Kakhovka dam and the adjacent hydroelectric power station on the Dnieper River. Meanwhile, the Kremlin accused Ukraine of “deliberate sabotage,” noting that the reservoir is a crucial resource for the people of Crimea, a Ukrainian

Kakhovka dam breach: 3 essential reads on what it means for Ukraine's infrastructure, beleaguered nuclear plant and future war plans
Political

Mike Pence is jockeying against Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination – joining the ranks of just one vice president who, in 1800, also ran against a former boss

Former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence appear together in November 2020. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images Former Vice President Mike Pence filed paperwork to declare his candidacy for president on June 5, 2023 – placing him in unusual ranks. While 18 of the 49 former vice presidents have gone on to run for president, it’s rare for vice presidents to run against their former bosses. Six of these former vice presidents, including President Joe Biden, were ultimately elected president. Pence, alongside other candidates, officially announced his bid on June 7. Pence and former President Donald Trump have had

Mike Pence is jockeying against Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination – joining the ranks of just one vice president who, in 1800, also ran against a former boss
Political

Title 42 didn't result in a surge of migration, after all – but border communities are still facing record-breaking migration

In an aerial image taken on May 12, 2023, a border wall and concertina wire barriers stand along the Rio Grande river between Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, left, and El Paso, Texas. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images U.S. government officials and media alike made widespread predictions that there would be a surge of migration across the U.S.-Mexico border in May 2023. That’s when the U.S. lifted an emergency health policy called Title 42 that allowed the government to turn away migrants at the border to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Title 42 ended in May 2023, but the number of

Title 42 didn't result in a surge of migration, after all – but border communities are still facing record-breaking migration
Political

Four strategies to make your neighborhood safer

By getting to know your neighbors and investing in your community, you can make your neighborhood safer. Vladimir Vladimirov/E+/Getty Images A series of gunshots fired late at night in East Atlanta recently prompted my neighbor to post on our local Facebook group, asking what we can do as a community to make it less dangerous to live and work in the area. You may be asking yourself the same question. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, cities across the country have seen an increase in gun violence and homicides. Around the country, crime seems to be rising, and that

Four strategies to make your neighborhood safer
Political

Why a federal judge found Tennessee’s anti-drag law unconstitutional

A drag show in Nashville, Tenn., during Day One of Nashville Pride 2022. Mickey Bernal/Getty Images The drag shows will go on. At least for now. On June 2, 2023, Judge Thomas Parker, a Trump-appointed federal district court judge in western Tennessee, ruled that Tennessee’s “Adult Entertainment Act” violated the First Amendment’s free speech protection. The act had been passed by the Tennessee Legislature and signed into law by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee in March 2023. The law gained national attention because it appeared designed to limit drag performances through regulation of “male and female impersonators.” Parker provided several grounds

Why a federal judge found Tennessee’s anti-drag law unconstitutional
Political

Do federal or state prosecutors get to go first in trying Trump? A law professor untangles the conflict

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in New Hampshire on April 27, 2023. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images A federal grand jury in Florida indicted former President Donald Trump on June 8, 2023, on multiple criminal charges related to classified documents he took from the White House to his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, according to multiple sources cited in The New York Times and The Associated Press. Trump himself said on his social media outlet, Truth Social, that he had been indicted. The seven counts against Trump – the first president to face federal charges

Do federal or state prosecutors get to go first in trying Trump? A law professor untangles the conflict
Political

Supreme Court rules in favor of Black voters in Alabama and protects landmark Voting Rights Act

Black marchers in Selma, Ala., demonstrate for voting rights protections on March 6, 2022. Brandon Bell/Getty Images In a surprising ruling on June 8, 2023, the conservative leaning U.S. Supreme Court threw out Republican-drawn congressional districts in Alabama that a lower court had ruled discriminated against Black voters and violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. At issue in the case that was before the court, Allen v. Milligan, was whether the power of Black voters in Alabama was diluted by dividing them into districts where white voters dominate. After the 2020 census, the Republican-controlled Alabama legislature

Supreme Court rules in favor of Black voters in Alabama and protects landmark Voting Rights Act
Political

House rejects effort to censure and fine Democrat Adam Schiff over Trump-Russia investigations

The House has rejected an effort to censure California Rep. Adam Schiff, voting to turn aside a Republican attempt to fine the Democrat over his comments about former President Donald Trump and investigations into his ties to Russia. Schiff, the former Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and the lead prosecutor in Trump’s first impeachment trial, has long been a top Republican political target. Soon after taking back the majority this year, Republicans blocked him from sitting on the intelligence panel. But Schiff was helped Wednesday by more than 20 Republicans who voted with Democrats to

House rejects effort to censure and fine Democrat Adam Schiff over Trump-Russia investigations
Political

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez enters crowded GOP presidential race days after Trump's indictment

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez filed paperwork Wednesday to launch his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, jumping into the crowded race just a day after GOP front-runner Donald Trump appeared in court on federal charges in Suarez’s city. The 45-year-old mayor, the only Hispanic candidate in the race, declared his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission. He had teased an announcement, noting that he would be making a “big speech” Thursday at the Reagan Library in California. “If I do decide to run,” he said Tuesday before Trump’s court appearance, “it’s starting a new chapter, a new

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez enters crowded GOP presidential race days after Trump's indictment
Political

Trump indictment unsealed – a criminal law scholar explains what the charges mean, and what prosecutors will now need to prove

Special counsel Jack Smith prepares to talk to reporters on June 9, 2023, after the indictment of former President Donald Trump. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Federal prosecutors on June 9, 2023, unsealed the indictment that spells out the government’s case against former President Donald J. Trump, who is accused of violating national security laws and obstructing justice. The 49-page document details how Trump kept classified government documents – including papers concerning U.S. nuclear capabilities – scattered in boxes across his home at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, long after his presidency ended in 2021 and the government tried to reclaim them.

Trump indictment unsealed – a criminal law scholar explains what the charges mean, and what prosecutors will now need to prove
Political

'If you want to die in jail, keep talking' – two national security law experts discuss the special treatment for Trump and offer him some advice

Former President Donald Trump on his airplane on June 10, 2023, two days after his federal indictment. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images Lawyer Thomas A. Durkin has spent much of his career working in national security law, representing clients in a variety of national security and domestic terrorism matters. Joseph Ferguson was a national security prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, where Durkin was also a prosecutor. Both teach national security law at Loyola University, Chicago. The Conversation U.S.‘s democracy editor, Naomi Schalit, spoke with the two attorneys about the federal indictment

'If you want to die in jail, keep talking' – two national security law experts discuss the special treatment for Trump and offer him some advice

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