The term “presidential” has long referred to a way a person carries himself and the significance of the office. It also can refer to the people the president surrounds himself with.

After the rapid evolution of public discourse in recent years — some might convincingly call it devolution — we wonder whether the term will survive another...Read more

Regardless of the presidential election results, the clean energy transition is still a major priority for the nation’s electric utilities. Perhaps nowhere in the world is the pressure more intense than in Southern California, where the demands on the power grid are high and many residents are well acquainted with the consequences of aging, ...Read more

Donald Trump was hardly a steward of responsible global governance in his first term. His withdrawal from multilateral agreements, including the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accords, showcased an unusual disdain for international institutions and cooperation. He has little evident regard for the “rules-based international order” ...Read more

One bill or two? That’s the question currently obsessing Washington as President-elect Donald Trump fails to decisively resolve a tactical disagreement between House and Senate Republicans.

John Thune, the new Senate majority leader, wants the party to pass two bills through the filibuster-dodging budget reconciliation process: The first ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- The sprawling geography of Los Angeles is hard to envision for those who live outside the region. Friends and family members in New York, gripped by apocalyptic images of the fires in 24/7 news reports, have had difficulty accepting that I live far enough away from the hills and the coast to be relatively safe.

"Still OK?" is the...Read more

Harvard University recently made headlines because its number of Black students has decreased following the U.S. Supreme Court decision that determined Harvard’s affirmative action program had to come to an end.

Harvard also made news when it announced that it was returning to standardized testing. More recently: Some of Harvard’s ...Read more

There is a reason that President-elect Donald Trump has tapped so many Floridians to fill his administration. Part of it is proximity — Trump has a mansion in Palm Beach — but more than that, Florida is the breeding ground for the kind of government Trump envisions for his second term: A souped-up executive branch that has contempt for ...Read more

It was date night for me and my husband, the first since our daughter was born. When we returned to my mom’s house for the baby — hurriedly, being first-time parents — I heard a strange but familiar voice.

It was that of Raffi Cavoukian, known simply as “Raffi,” who rose to fame in the 1970s with such folksy, reassuring numbers as “...Read more

The young pitcher's on his way to the majors, but the old catcher who will never get there knows the tricks to pull. He tells him to bean the mascot, in the great baseball movie "Bull Durham." He does.

The batter says, "This guys crazy," and the catcher agrees, adding, "I wouldn't dig in there if I was you. The next one might be at your head." ...Read more

Mark Zuckerberg can do with his social media giant Meta as he pleases and he aims to please the prevailing views of the federal government. The return of Donald Trump to the White House coincides with the naming of key Trump ally and UFC CEO Dana White to its board and abruptly deciding to move away from using fact-checking partners to combat ...Read more

Based on the questioning of the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, the justices sound inclined to uphold a law requiring the Chinese owner of TikTok to either sell the widely popular app or be banned from this country. It seems the correct reading of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.

As we’ve said before,...Read more

I meant to write a column about key global flashpoints to watch out for in 2025.

But I soon realized there are two main things you need to observe closely in the new year to assess whether this chaotic world will grow more stable: what Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin each want from the world (hint: it seems to be the same thing), and where that...Read more

In 2016, the American Bar Association couldn't say enough good things about Merrick Garland, then the chief judge of the powerful U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, when it sent the Senate a report giving him its highest rating. So at Garland's confirmation hearing, a bar ...Read more

Los Angeles is a topographical wonderland. Mountains loom in the distance. Hillsides and canyons are the refuge of hikers and dog-walkers. Beaches and bluffs above the coastline beckon. Into this wilderness we have threaded our neighborhoods and streets, not to mention freeways, making it a mix of the wild and the urban. We are the only megacity...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump’s Jan. 7 press conference in Mar-a-Lago got me thinking about his upcoming inaugural speech, on Jan. 20. What should we watch for?

To begin, consider Trump’s first inaugural address, delivered on Jan. 20, 2017. This is the speech that’s sometimes characterized as the “American carnage” address, during ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump's campaign excursions into foreign policy were few and far between. He promised to build a stronger military and keep the country out of war. He said he would bring peace to Gaza and end the war in Ukraine on "day one," never offering details.

Last week, Trump waded boldly into global affairs — but he barely ...Read more

Donald Trump, felon, will remain exactly that. A felon. He also will remain a free man, ready to take the oath of office Jan. 20 to be the duly elected 47th president of the United States, able to do the will of the people without concern for his personal legal travails.

That was the upshot of New York Justice Juan Merchan’s deft handling, ...Read more

Education reform has long been a contentious issue in American politics, and the debate over school choice is especially divisive. Ironically, President-elect Donald Trump’s support of efforts to provide families with educational options presents Democrats with a critical first opportunity to embrace bipartisanship and pivot toward the ...Read more

During most of the 100 years of his life, and even in these first two weeks of his death, former President Jimmy Carter has been gifting us with the enduring example of how he chose to live his life.

We have heard eulogists – the famous, the friends, the family – reflect upon the examples most Americans sort of knew but mostly forgot. Now, ...Read more

That wagging tail and those hopeful eyes that keep glancing toward the door are telling you something: January is Walk Your Dog Month. Even if wet, dreary, chilly weather has you tempted to stay indoors, your canine companion is counting on you to get out there and give them a chance to stretch their legs, see the sights and sniff the hydrants. ...Read more