Can Women ‘Turn Protest Into Power’?

L.A.’s Women Are Rising, but Too Many Communities Are Being Left Behind

Last month, Kamala Harris made U.S. history, becoming the first woman to be elected vice president. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the November elections resulted in the first all-women Board of Supervisors. While women today are assuming unprecedented positions of power, at the same time, there are many battles left to fight. What are those battles, and how can they be won? This was the question at the heart of “What Are Today’s L.A. Women Fighting For?,” part of the Zócalo/Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County When Women Vote series.

After …

by Sarah Rothbard | December 4, 2020

Make Me California’s Next Senator

The Senate Is an Absurd Institution, so Let's Put an Even More Absurd Californian in the Office

by Joe Mathews | November 17, 2020

Dear Governor Newsom,

You’ve complained publicly that you’re overwhelmed with texts and calls, and I understand why. With the election of Kamala Harris as vice president, you must appoint someone to …

An Election Observer in El Salvador Looks Back

Fall 2020 Reminds Me of 1994, When I Watched for Fraud and Intimidation as a War-Torn Nation Voted

by Elaine Elinson | November 2, 2020

In downtown San Miguel, long lines of voters snaked around the block in the pre-dawn darkness. It was still an hour before the open-air election booths on the sidewalks lining …

This Election Season, Ask WWMD—‘What Would Machiavelli Do?’

Finding Hope in the Writings of a Renaissance Writer Who Knew the Minds of Tyrants and Charlatans

by Oliver Mayer | October 30, 2020

I have a mousepad on my office desk adorned with the Renaissance image of Niccolò Machiavelli and, beneath it in Italian, a very good question: Cosa farebbe Machiavelli? What would …

Antonio Villaraigosa Sees Opportunity in Crisis

L.A.’s 41st Mayor Has Advice for Elected Officials Right Now, Some of It Hard-Won

October 28, 2020

“In every crisis there’s an opportunity,” Antonio Villaraigosa said yesterday.

The 41st mayor of Los Angeles was responding to a question asked by moderator Saul Gonzalez, KQED correspondent and co-host of …

Two Would-Be Supreme Court Justices and Me

How Do You Cope When Two of Your High School Newspaper Friends Show Up on the Short Lists for the Nation's Highest Court?

by Joe Mathews | October 27, 2020

The stakes of the presidential election are huge and global. The results may determine the future of public health, the republic, even the planet.

The stakes of the presidential election …

American politics