Politics

The historic humiliation of Rep. Kevin McCarthy couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy.I’ll refrain, however, from solely piling on the Republican from Bakersfield who’s now, involuntarily, the former speaker of the House, the first in U.S. history to be voted out of the job. Any pile-on for this mess should be Republican Party-wide. Opinion Columnist Jackie Calmes Jackie Calmes brings a critical eye to the national political scene. She has decades of experience covering the White House and Congress. McCarthy’s firing by the House on Tuesday after only nine months, instigated by a mutiny from within his Republican majority, isn’t just the story of a single man’s political downfall. And his nonsensical defenestration — which has thrown Congress into ...

Seventeen times.That’s how many times NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” cut away to shots of Taylor Swift watching rumored boyfriend Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs play the New York Jets with a slew of famous friends in a luxury suite at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.That’s a lot. Too much for some NFL fans, who have started expressing displeasure over the amount of attention the league and its broadcasters have been giving the “ME!” singer this season.Kelce and his older brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, addressed the topic Wednesday on their weekly “New Heights” podcast. And, yes, they agree — the NFL is “overdoing it” with its Swift coverage.Jason initiated the discussion, asking his brother his “honest opinion” on “how the NFL is treating celebrities at ga...

The sun had barely set on Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s historic ouster from the speakership Tuesday when his temporary replacement issued his first orders: boot Rep. Nancy Pelosi out of her honorary Capitol office. A source familiar with Pelosi’s staff confirmed that officials on Tuesday night began moving her things out of the hideaway office — a small secondary office to retire to in between business on the House floor. Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), a close ally of McCarthy, is filling in as speaker and booted Pelosi out of the privileged office space just hours after a House vote that pushed McCarthy, Pelosi’s successor, from his role.Pelosi maintains her large primary office in another building of the Capitol complex. Pelosi is in San Francisco mourning and preparing for the Thursday fune...

Wars are won and lost on battlefields. But public finance plays a critical role in determining what the combatants can afford. This is particularly true for a long war, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already become.In declining to include funding for Ukraine as part of the recent deal to avert a government shutdown, Congress sent a signal of encouragement to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, the increase in global oil prices (now above $90 per barrel) is providing new revenues for Russia’s war effort.Congress needs to restore funding for Ukraine, a move supported by both Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Just as important, the U.S. must take further steps to reduce Russia’s oil revenues.John McCain, the la...

Acting with dispatch, Gov. Gavin Newsom this week appointed Laphonza Butler, a veteran labor organizer and political strategist, to replace the late Dianne Feinstein in the U.S. Senate.The move fulfilled a promise Newsom made to choose a Black woman, filling a notable void. With Vice President Kamala Harris’ exit, there were no Black women among the 100 members of the august chamber. In fact, before Butler, there had been only two Black women senators in the history of the country. Butler, 44, was sworn into office Tuesday by Harris, a friend and former political client. She is the first openly LGBTQ+ person of color to serve in the Senate. Times columnists Erika D. Smith, Anita Chabria and Mark Z. Barabak discussed the history-making selection, speculation about Butler’s future and the p...

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) was ousted as speaker Tuesday night, plunging Congress into confusion over who would lead the GOP in the House of Representatives. It remained unclear Wednesday morning who would fill that role, as multiple Republicans jumped into the candidate pool. Immediately after the vote to push McCarthy out, Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.) ascended to temporarily fill the role as speaker pro tempore. Under House rules, McHenry will serve until the election of the next House speaker or speaker pro tempore. McHenry could make the case to run for the position permanently, though he has previously indicated he would not want to be speaker. He currently serves as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.The House is expected to hold a candidate forum Tuesday...

BAKERSFIELD —  Minutes before the vote that cost California’s Rep. Kevin McCarthy his job as speaker of the House, three Republican voters lunching in his hometown cursed the scorched-earth politics in Washington.The conservative women said McCarthy had been left with two bad choices in the days before his ouster: Risk a revolt from the hard right and cut a deal with Democrats to pass a funding bill, or acquiesce to the hard-liners and shut down the federal government, wrecking the economy.Ultimately, they thought, McCarthy did the right thing — and paid the price on Tuesday.“He was damned if he did, damned if he didn’t,” said Leslie Walters, a real estate agent and registered Republican, as she finished eating with two friends on the patio of the 24th Street Cafe, a 1950s-style joint in d...

Travis Gienger stood on the stage smiling and dressed in an orange jacket as an enormous blob of a pumpkin lay flat on a scale in front of him. Officials had just given the ginormous gourd the greenlight to be weighed Monday at the 50th World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., considered the Super Bowl of competitive pumpkin-growing.“Wow!” an announcer said. “I’ve never seen anything like that. That’s amazing.”Gienger, of Anoka, Minn., shifted on his feet. Two growers had just broken a California record with their 2,497-pound pumpkin, and Gienger remembers hoping he could just squeeze by and win. The announcer began hyping up the crowd.“Oh, my god, here we go!” the announcer said. Gienger’s pumpkin tipped the scales at 2,749 pounds, and utter pandemonium broke out. Gi...

WASHINGTON —  What is Hamas, and what does it want?The radical Palestinian militant organization that has ruled the Gaza Strip for more than 15 years has sustained a bitter, lethal animus toward Israel that goes much deeper than sentiments found inside Palestinians’ other main ruler in the region, the Palestinian Authority.Hamas is a Sunni Islamic group that does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and whose goals from the beginning have been to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation through any means necessary.The group was born in the dire poverty of the Gaza Strip under stifling Israeli military occupation in the 1980s and ’90s, and eventually built an active and well-armed military wing with help from neighbors such as Iran.From early on, Hamas was seen as a challenger to the Pal...

A Saudi dairy company that grows hay in Southern California and Arizona for export to the Middle East is set to lose several leases that allow it to pump unlimited water from government-owned farmlands. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs announced this week that the state has terminated one of the leases held by the company, Fondomonte, and will not renew three other leases when they expire in February. Aggressive and impactful reporting on climate change, the environment, health and science. The action, although partly focused on details of the company’s rental agreements, reflects concerns among some political leaders about the use of water to export alfalfa and other water-intensive crops at a time when chronic shortages are prompting calls to rein in water use along ...