column

WASHINGTON —  Donald Trump is running against California — again.In his campaign to win a second term, the former president frequently excoriates the state as a terrifying dystopia — the inevitable product, he claims, of Democratic policies.“The place is failing,” he told a conservative conference last month. “It has become a symbol of our nation’s decline,” he told California Republicans last year. “They don’t have water,” he said. “Rich people in Beverly Hills … only allowed a small amount of water when they take a…

Every once in a while, Shardreata Moore gets a Subway coupon in the mail, and she knows she won’t have to worry about her next three meals. “I get a $7.99 footlong and have them cut it in threes,” the retiree told me.Moore, who was having lunch at the Sherman Oaks East Valley Senior Center, says she goes to Subway to order a chicken sandwich on whole grain bread, with spinach, cucumbers and tomatoes. That way, she gets some protein and at least a few fresh vegetables without a trip to the grocery store, where inflation…

A woman’s place is in the kitchen, even if she is a U.S. senator delivering the most important speech of her career.Intended or not, that was the message conveyed by the GOP’s opposition response to President Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday, when Alabama‘s Sen. Katie Britt spoke for Republicans from a setting associated with centuries of female servitude.Sharing the shot with a refrigerator and a fruit basket, the rising GOP star spoke in dramatic, hushed tones about the nightmarish condition of the…

WASHINGTON —  President Biden should hope he gets heckled by Republicans when he gives his State of the Union address on Thursday, just as he was last year.Here’s why.Biden’s campaign for a second term is in trouble. His job approval rating, normally a reliable indicator of an incumbent’s chances, is mired below 40%. So the stakes for the State of the Union address, usually a forgettable event, are unusually high. The president and his aides have been getting a tsunami of public advice from other Democrats, including…

WASHINGTON —  If Donald Trump becomes president again, one of his first moves will take money out of your pocket just as a tax hike would.Trump hasn’t outlined much of an economic program, but he has promised to impose a massive increase in tariffs on imports from almost all foreign countries — everything from bananas and baby formula to computer chips and machine parts.And that’s the equivalent of a tax hike, because the costs of tariffs are paid almost entirely by the buyers of imported goods, whether they are…

Eric Schmidt was the CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011 and executive chairman of Google and its successor company, Alphabet, from 2011 to 2017. America’s infrastructure needs a serious upgrade. That includes the nation’s digital infrastructure — the critical networks underpinning commerce, defense, transport, and public safety. It sustains innovation power — the ability to invent, adapt, and adopt new technologies — integral to our competitiveness and national security in the 21st century. This nation…

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan issued a warning on scam tactics in the wake of a viral column from New York Magazine’s The Cut. “Being the victim of a scam can be devastating,” Khan said in her thread. “A reminder that nobody from @FTC will ever give you a badge number, ask you to confirm your Social Security number, ask how much money you have in your bank account, transfer you to a CIA agent, or send you texts out of the blue.” Khan’s thread followed a Thursday column from The Cut that…

I wouldn’t call it an atmospheric river, because those come and go. DMV mail falls in a never-ending rain, without regard to seasons.Not that it’s all bad news from readers who, like good soldiers, dutifully report every development from the front lines of the battle to renew their driver’s licenses.Rosa Maria Juarez, 94, shared a success story. The Montebello resident, who assured me she’s a safe and conscientious driver, passed easily and offered to coach me when I take the test later this year.Here’s a pro tip from…

There’s no escaping it now.We are a deeply divided country in the midst of a presidential campaign in which the mental acuity of an 81-year-old sitting president will be one of the central issues through November, possibly eclipsing the economy, climate change, immigration and reproductive rights.This is happening in the middle of an unprecedented demographic shift, just several years out from the first time in human history in which people 65 and older outnumber people 18 and under, with many millions of people…

Jorge Calderon Contributor Jorge Calderon is managing director at San Francisco–based Inicio Ventures, an initiative of Hispanics in Philanthropy. Over the last 25 years, I’ve been a tech investor, founder, organizer, strategist and academic. I’m proud to be part of a growing group of diverse leaders shaping an innovation system that represents and benefits us all. But in recent months, I’ve become increasingly troubled by the absence of Latinx/e founders and leaders in today’s…