Politics

A gunman opened fire at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday, killing 18 people in the deadliest mass shooting in state history. In a statement Friday, Gov. Janet Mills called the victims “our family, friends, colleagues and neighbors,” and said she knew some of the victims personally. One — Joshua Seal, whom Mills called a friend — had provided American Sign Language interpretation during the governor’s COVID-19 briefings. “It is often said that our state is ‘one big, small town’ because Maine is such a close-knit community,” Mills said. “Tonight, I ask Maine people to join me in reading their stories, learning who they were, celebrating them as beloved people and mourning them as irreplaceable.” Here’s what we know so far about the victims: Tricia Asselin, 53 Tricia A...

Two United Airlines flight attendants claim in a lawsuit that they were passed over for the plum assignment of working on charter flights for the Dodgers because the players prefer a “certain look” of “white, young, thin women who are predominately blond and blue-eyed.”In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Dawn Todd and Darby Quezada alleged harassment and/or discrimination based on race, national origin, religion and age in regard to the staffing of United’s charter flights for the Dodgers and their treatment by coworkers on those flights. Todd, 50, is Black, and Quezada, 44, is of Mexican, Black and Jewish descent.The Dodgers are not named as defendants in the lawsuit. A team spokesperson told The Times that the Dodgers do not comment on any pending litigatio...

In less than 15 months, Congress will count and certify the votes from the electoral college. It is truly frightening that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), from the far right of the Republican Party, might have a prominent role in the process.If Republicans keep control of the House in the November 2024 elections, it seems likely they will keep Johnson as speaker given their bitter divisions and difficulty in selecting someone for the position after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster. Johnson was the primary proponent in the House of a way to overturn the 2020 election and keep Donald Trump in the presidency. He can be expected to do the same in 2024 if Trump is the Republican nominee and loses to President Biden.Johnson, a lawyer, led the House Republicans in promoting a baseless legal theory tha...

A Palestinian laborer awoke at 4 a.m. He stepped past his wife and sleeping children and joined thousands of other men hurrying on foot through the streets of Gaza to an Israeli border checkpoint. They moved like a desperate parade — carrying lunch bags and borrowed tools — into the glare of searchlights, guard dogs and barricades.Adnan Masri was herded through a barbed wire maze on that morning in 1997. An Israeli soldier called him over and patted him down. Masri cleared the checkpoint and hopped a ride north to construction sites near Tel Aviv where another indignity awaited: Palestinians had been replaced on many jobs by immigrants from other countries. The laborer cursed and pleaded. But with tears in his eyes, Masri, trailing other angry men who shared his fate, surrendered himself a...

WASHINGTON —  Rep. Mike Johnson, a relatively inexperienced Louisiana Republican who fought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, was elected speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, ending weeks of leaderless chaos that followed the Oct. 3 ouster of Bakersfield Rep. Kevin McCarthy.Johnson’s ascension to the speaker’s chair cements a fiercely pro-Trump, hard-line faction as the face of the national GOP. The speaker of the House is second in line, after the vice president, to fill any presidential vacancy.The vote was 220-209, with House Republicans voting unanimously for Johnson and all Democrats present backing Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. The outcome thrusts Johnson, a 51-year-old former conservative talk radio host now in his fourth...

WASHINGTON —  The Biden administration is facing mounting criticism that its support of Israel is ignoring massive civilian casualties, a potential war crime, while it also confronts ripples of dissent within its own governing ranks.After days of pointed complaints from King Abdullah II of Jordan, the United Nations and international humanitarian agencies, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Tuesday made his deepest plea to date for the safety of Palestinian civilians living under steady Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip.“Every civilian life is equally valuable,” Blinken told the U.N. Security Council. “We know Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people, and Palestinian civilians are not to blame for the carnage committed by Hamas. Palestinian civilians must be protected.”Tha...

The political fight over whether workers on strike should be allowed to collect unemployment benefits is reigniting in Washington.U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who is running for Senate, is planning to introduce legislation on Tuesday that would provide unemployment benefits nationwide to workers on strike. Most states don’t allow striking workers to collect unemployment with the exception of New York and New Jersey. Eligibility requirements and the amount of weekly unemployment pay also varies by state.Under the Empowering Striking Workers Act of 2023, workers would be able to collect unemployment pay after two weeks on strike, according to a draft of the bill viewed by The Times. Workers would also be eligible for unemployment benefits starting on the date a lockout begin...

Israeli diplomat Abba Eben famously said that the Palestinians “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” Watching events in the Middle East over the last two weeks, that quote might seem newly relevant.But it seems even more fitting for the House GOP.At a time of international and domestic turmoil, with an unpopular incumbent Democratic president languishing in the polls, and the Republican presidential primary dominated by a many times-indicted election denier, it doesn’t take a Solon to realize it would be a good idea for the Republican House majority to strike a collective pose of reassuring competence.But they chose to go another way.As of Monday, nine House Republicans had announced they would seek the job of House speaker. This came after weeks of turmoil launched by Rep. M...

WASHINGTON —  He built his brand on being a roaring archconservative unafraid to take on liberals. He was a pioneer of this new right-wing faction that has become the face of the Republican Party. He was former President Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. House of Representatives. And now, he’s put California Republicans in a tough spot.Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan ended his bid to lead the lower chamber Friday after facing stiff opposition from moderates and other lawmakers in key districts.But all five California Republicans from districts President Biden won in 2020 — Young Kim of La Habra, David Valadao of Hanford, Mike Garcia of Santa Clarita, Michelle Steel of Seal Beach and John Duarte of Modesto — stood firmly behind Jordan throughout his three failed attempts to secure the gavel.The five Calif...

WASHINGTON —  Joe Biden didn’t set out to be a wartime president, but he made himself one.Last week, the president staked his place in history on the outcomes of two conflicts: Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Ukraine’s war against an invading Russia.When Biden came to the White House in 2021, his foreign policy goals were more modest. He wanted to rebuild alliances that had frayed under his predecessor, Donald Trump. He wanted to refocus on great-power competition with China. And he wanted to withdraw the last U.S. troops from Afghanistan — a mission he accomplished in chaos.Two events have changed the landscape.Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, seeking to turn an independent country into a colony. Last week, Israel prepared to launch a ground of...