L.A. Times - Commentary

Contributor: Banning Cornell's frat parties isn't a real solution to campus sexual assaults

Sarah Lyon — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 10:00:00 GMT

No one believes social bans will change student behavior and create a safe haven from sexual assault and disorderly conduct.

Contributor: How much would Becerra's healthcare promises cost the state? Not even he knows

Sally C. Pipes — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 10:00:00 GMT

The Democratic candidate is campaigning on making California affordable. That's why the missing numbers matter.

Contributor: If you get kids off their devices, where are they going to go?

Lenore Skenazy — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 10:09:00 GMT

A majority of parents of high school freshmen will not let them leave the block.

Granderson: Mel's Drive-In is more than a building or a business

LZ Granderson — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 10:02:00 GMT

Mel's Drive-In is too essential to the identity of Route 66 to be torn down for the creation of 138 apartments.

Contributor: Enormous budget deficits are the new normal

Veronique de Rugy — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 19:40:22 GMT

And our interest payments are already consuming an alarming share of resources.

Contributor: After a woman is harassed, male allies can make all the difference

Lindsay LaFarge Rosston — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 10:01:00 GMT

When I was groped by a co-worker, two other men saw something wrong and spoke up. My boss listened — and acted.

Contributor: Despite having the playbook, L.A. still failed to command the 2025 fires

Kelly McKinney — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 10:00:00 GMT

High winds explain why the fires moved so quickly. A new report explains how the city's response came apart.

Contributor: Celebrities who shill for sports betting are the modern Marlboro Men

Myron Levin — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 10:01:00 GMT

LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Sydney Sweeney and others present gambling as cool and exciting entertainment without a whiff of danger, an echo of the health claims for cigarettes decades ago.

Contributor: To defeat the AI oligarchs, follow the artists

Andrea Bartz — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 10:00:00 GMT

No one is better at showing up, looking villains in the eye and speaking truth to power than the folks who use storytelling to shape culture.

Contributor: Why chaos on election day is highly unlikely

Justin Levitt — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:08:05 GMT

Election officials have a long and growing list of threats to ward off. But they've got this.

Goldberg: Politicians can't just 'give the people what they want'

Jonah Goldberg — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 17:00:00 GMT

When those in power tell fans only what they want to hear, they risk becoming entertainers rather than true thinkers.

Contributor: Restaurants that blossom without putting down roots

Karen Stabiner — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:14:00 GMT

The 'moveable feast' has become a business model for restaurateurs who rent space in others' kitchens and serve wherever they can.

Contributor: Data centers consume like cities. They should contribute like cities as well

Dean Florez — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:01:00 GMT

Each major project should fund at least one substantial technology program tied to an identified public need. Residents and public agencies would help choose the priority.

Contributor: Public execution? This really is who we are

Jon Duffy — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:00:00 GMT

The spectacle is meant to teach us something about power. If we choose to watch, it will also teach us something about ourselves.

Contributor: The U.S. and China created a new 'Trade Board' built on buzz words

David Hebert — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 10:07:00 GMT

The governing document for the coalition to haggle over tariffs spans just two pages and lists no authors.

Contributor: Why we'll keep arguing about the meaning of Columbus Day

Jason Schlosberg — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 10:08:00 GMT

Does the day celebrate Italian Americans or insult Indigenous peoples? Yes. Both sides are correct, so neither can convince the other.

Contributor: My brother's last joke changed how I understand grief

John Kenney — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 10:01:00 GMT

Daily, in small, gorgeous ways, life dares us to live again and to laugh at the absurdity.

Contributor: Why we shouldn't expect rape survivors to report

Alison Murphy — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 10:13:00 GMT

At every stage of the reporting process, there are opportunities for people and systems to fail you. Just look at Cornell's Jane Doe.

Contributor: The real problem with populist price controls

Veronique de Rugy — Fri, 9 Oct 2026 15:18:21 GMT

If you create laws to cap prices, scarcity doesn't go away. It just shows up as empty shelves.

Granderson: The fates of Jane Doe and Nolan Wells leave us longing for the Golden Rule

LZ Granderson — Fri, 9 Oct 2026 10:01:00 GMT

'Do unto others' is universal, and yet did the people partying with Wells care for him? Did the members of a Cornell fraternity stand up for their sister?

Contributor: It's on all of us to protect trust in our elections

Antonio Villaraigosa and Miguel A. Santana — Thu, 8 Oct 2026 10:00:00 GMT

We can disagree on candidates, parties or policies, but we cannot allow mistrust to suppress the voices of Angelenos.

Contributor: Charge wildfire arsonists with cruelty to animals

Ryan Huling — Thu, 8 Oct 2026 10:00:00 GMT

As the fire roared to life, mountain lion cubs were seen scrambling down Topanga Canyon Boulevard and deer were spotted sprinting through ash clouds.

Contributor: Raise a family, then pursue a career? The math doesn't work

Jennifer Glass — Thu, 8 Oct 2026 10:00:00 GMT

More than 70% of mothers become the chief household breadwinner before their first child reaches 18. Families can't afford to go without women's earning power.

Contributor: It's too late to restore the ocean. Now all we can do is triage

David Helvarg — Wed, 7 Oct 2026 10:06:00 GMT

We need to think like emergency-room and battlefield physicians, saving what we can while we can.

Goldberg: Who wins when a state execution fails?

Jonah Goldberg — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 18:30:00 GMT

The "botched" capital punishment of Christa Pike gives abolitionists a new narrative to fight their bad faith crusade.

Contributor: Cornell case shows #MeToo is still changing the world

Katy Butler — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 17:27:17 GMT

Sometimes it seems that no matter what women say or do, nothing changes. But something significant in the culture has shifted.

Contributor: Those who become U.S. citizens have a special relationship to voting

Juan Escalante — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 10:02:00 GMT

There are 46 million naturalized citizens in the country, 6.5 million of them eligible to vote but not yet registered.

Contributor: What America's naval power bought the world

Jon Duffy — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 10:00:00 GMT

The Iran war has failed to protect one of America's most consequential interests: keeping global commerce moving.

The Supreme Court's most consequential cases of the new term

Erwin Chemerinsky — Mon, 5 Oct 2026 10:00:00 GMT

The right to possess an AR-15 is just one of nearly 60 cases the court will hear in the new term.

Contributor: Democrats can become the party of business

Kurt Bardella — Sun, 4 Oct 2026 10:01:00 GMT

Republicans are not standing up for the small U.S. companies that suffer in trade wars. Doing so would be good business and good politics.

Contributor: Arts hubs like the Kennedy Center sustain the nation

Marc Bamuthi Joseph — Sat, 3 Oct 2026 10:04:00 GMT

What could possibly be gained by shuttering a national citadel for creative excellence? Thankfully, America's creative labor force tirelessly stewards a sense of creative provocation and patriotic inquiry.

Contributor: There's federal progress on women's health. No joke

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf — Sat, 3 Oct 2026 10:03:00 GMT

States have been the laboratory for policy changes on menopause care and hormone access, and the feds are now following leaders such as California.

Granderson: Trump's fits of pique explain his lifetime of failure

LZ Granderson — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 10:03:00 GMT

He rages like a toddler, which does not yield results at home or abroad.

When will markets react to rising debt? That's the wrong question

Veronique de Rugy — Thu, 1 Oct 2026 19:00:00 GMT

Investors expect Congress to reform entitlements by raising taxes or reducing benefits. If not, the reckoning will come.

Calmes: A visit to Greenspan's Washington and the era of getting things done

Jackie Calmes — Thu, 1 Oct 2026 10:01:00 GMT

The former Fed chair, 'a devout Republican,' was famous for consulting smart Democrats and obscure experts. The antithesis of modern policymaking.

Contributor: There's a reason people are still talking about Julie Andrews as she turns 91

Shams-il Arefin Islam — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 10:01:00 GMT

As she enters her 10th decade, there are calls online to bubble wrap her, just in case. She is indeed a global treasure.

Contributor: What Trump's 'triumphal arch' really means for America

Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

Building the arch under the pretext of "national security" raises questions about just what sort of threat the president envisions.

Goldberg: GOP candidates are rushing to rebrand before November's midterms

Jonah Goldberg — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 18:00:00 GMT

President Trump's endorsement just isn't what it used to be.

Contributor: Prop. 40 lacks spending safeguards to ensure it improves care

Jennifer Kent — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 10:03:00 GMT

This initiative would send billions to health insurance companies with no accountability, no oversight and no guarantee to lower costs.

Contributor: Let each culture decide which languages to save, and how

Sarah Bunin Benor — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 10:02:00 GMT

Some activists insist on creating new fluent speakers when an old tongue is dying out. But for certain communities, success may look different.

Contributor: California's billionaire tax is imperfect but a necessary step

Richard McGahey — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 10:01:00 GMT

Although the most important reason for Proposition 40 is the looming healthcare crisis, it also offers the state a chance to once again lead the nation on policy.

Contributor: Trump and Rubio fight to sway Brazil's election and control the hemisphere

Mark Weisbrot — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 20:12:03 GMT

The decisive issue for voters in Brazil might be sovereignty, because U.S. attempts to meddle are raising ire.

Contributor: The tragic fates of three women due to the same failure

Jeffrey A. Lieberman and Nyna Giles — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

Every woman of childbearing age carries the risk of postpartum psychosis that Lindsay Clancy, Pamela Cisneros and Carolyn Scott faced.

Contributor: How many Americans have died in the Iran war? The Pentagon won't say

Jon Duffy — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

The administration is waging war without congressional authorization while controlling what the public learns about its costs.

Contributor: Women deserve a different kind of 'happily ever after'

Nicole Ackermann — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

We've spent generations giving little girls fairy tales about running toward love. Perhaps romantic love doesn't need to be the final destination of every woman's story.

Granderson: Republican candidates can't escape the stink of Trumpism

LZ Granderson — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:02:00 GMT

Americans are suffering because of Trump's war and Trump's inflation. Voters know which candidates would rubber-stamp more of the same.

Contributor: Can we get some clarity on the latest U.S. trade policy?

Veronique de Rugy — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 17:30:00 GMT

President Trump's furious attack on Canada has alienated our closest neighbor and sent it running into the arms of China.

Calmes: Trump's lost his star power, at home and abroad

Jackie Calmes — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 10:04:00 GMT

His appearance at the U.N. only underscored how far he has retreated from global leadership.

Contributor: Young people aren't voting. Sacramento knows how to change that

Conner Huey — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 10:02:00 GMT

Many states and the Trump administration have rushed to restrict ballot access. California should do the opposite.

Contributor: California needs common-sense ID law to ensure votes count

Bill Jones — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 10:01:00 GMT

Some observers suspect the real goal is voter suppression, but Proposition 39 addresses that by requiring the state to issue a free ID to any voter who requests one.

Contributor: There's precedent for regulating AI. Look to nuclear power

David G. Victor — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 10:02:00 GMT

After Three Mile Island, leading nuclear firms started regulating themselves, just as some AI firms are urging today.

Goldberg: While the world is on fire, the media are still obsessed with Israel

Jonah Goldberg — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Israel was mentioned more than twice as often as Iran, Russia, Ukraine or China on American news networks in 2024.

Contributor: The AI deal only Trump and Xi Jinping could make

Josh Lederman — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 17:30:00 GMT

The convergence of powerful leaders and urgent circumstances presents a rare opportunity Thursday in the Oval Office.

Contributor: We need more of the hopeful sci-fi that 'Star Trek' gave us 60 years ago

Rod Roddenberry — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 10:02:00 GMT

Today's dystopic warnings have value, but we also need inspiration and a vision to work toward.

Contributor: The 'super' El Niño is here. Trump chose to be unprepared

Ivan Ehlers — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 10:01:00 GMT

The federal government should be doing a lot more to prepare for what's coming.

Contributor: A Paramount-Warner merger will hurt Hollywood and people of color

Juan Proaño — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 20:59:06 GMT

Latino and Black spending represents the profit margin for the industry, and yet those voices will be the first silenced.

Contributor: California leads the way in bringing menopause care to prisons

Alex Busansky and Aishatu Yusuf — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 10:02:00 GMT

Menopause isn't just the next frontier in women's health: It's our chance to finally build a healthcare movement that reaches everyone.

Contributor: Some of Bob Mackie's tiniest dresses, for 11.5-inch Barbie, made the biggest splash

Bill Greening — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 10:01:00 GMT

Mackie, the designer who died Monday at 87, said Barbie was his favorite client because she didn't complain if he accidentally stuck a pin in her.

Contributor: Sydney Sweeney isn't bringing back sexist advertising — women are

Andrea Javor — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 20:00:00 GMT

Like it or not, Novig's campaign has been a runaway success.

Granderson: The cruel politics that pit struggling Americans against each other

LZ Granderson — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 10:02:00 GMT

Whether it's race, geography, neighborhood … it doesn't really matter what divides, so long as the poor lack compassion for one another.

Contributor: The Fed is doing its part to fight inflation. Now Congress needs to act

Veronique de Rugy — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 20:30:00 GMT

Nearly six years after our generation's "Great Inflation" began, prices still continue to rise much faster than they should.

Op-comic: When friendship is a long-distance affair

Joy Alicia Raines — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

Romantic partners will give up everything to forge a life together. Why won't we do that for friends?

Contributor: David Ellison won Washington. He's losing Hollywood

Chris Yogerst — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

If the billionaire's son wants to carve out his own story, he should be courting Hollywood talent and not Washington bureaucrats.

Calmes: Trump loves to throw around taxpayers' money

Jackie Calmes — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

Even without his reckless promise to buy off every American adult with $5,000, he was on track to break his first-term record for adding to the unsustainable U.S. debt.

Contributor: AI models are the good, the bad and the ugly, all at once

Jim Weinstein — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 10:03:00 GMT

There's no clean cut where the Good outdraws the Bad and rides off; all three traits ship in the same system.

Contributor: Raise taxes on billionaires federally, not state by state

Enrico Moretti — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 10:02:00 GMT

Proposition 40, California's proposed wealth tax, takes aim at the ultra-rich, but critics warn it could erode the state's innovation edge and push entrepreneurs to lower-tax states.

Goldberg: The war in Ukraine is becoming very inconvenient for Trump

Jonah Goldberg — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 17:30:00 GMT

It is utterly dishonorable to watch the president excoriate and victim-blame Ukrainians on a geopolitical scale.

Contributor: Hispanic Heritage Month was a worthy but doomed idea

Raul A. Reyes — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 10:18:00 GMT

People rarely say, 'I'm Hispanic.' That's just a box we check on forms. Most of us identify by our family's country of origin.

Contributor: The one question to ask anyone running for office

Patti Davis — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 10:02:00 GMT

My father, Ronald Reagan, said he served because he earnestly felt that he could help make the world a more peaceful place, a more civil place.

Contributor: Los Angeles is a great literary city (no matter what New Yorkers say)

Kate Gale — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

The city's iconic bookstores remain essential third places for Angelenos — sanctuaries that pull us away from screen-surfing and back into our minds.

Contributor: Learning to coexist with Southern California's white sharks

David Wayne McGuire — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

Although the number of juvenile white sharks has increased near shore, we're not experiencing a sudden invasion of man-eaters.

Contributor: Why the U.S. should pay families of civilians killed by the military

Jerel Ezell — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 10:02:00 GMT

More people are more willing to acknowledge civilian death tolls. What moral obligations do we have to the grieving families left behind?

Abcarian: Shed no tears for Milo Yiannopoulos, the deported right-wing provocateur

Robin Abcarian — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

In an interview with Piers Morgan, the "flaming misogynist" was unrepentant about his hatred for women.

Contributor: The administration's growing arrogance is not patriotism

Anthony Lake and Steven Andreasen — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

The pursuit of power, untethered from our values, distorts the country's pride and fuels an un-American nationalism.

Granderson: A tough loss is when character shines through

LZ Granderson — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 10:02:00 GMT

All of us are pressured, constantly, into revealing who we are. It's different in sports, though. There are spectators.

Contributor: JD Vance's convoluted scheme to pay stay-at-home parents

Veronique de Rugy — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 19:00:00 GMT

If the administration wants to help families, it should remove the barriers that make raising children so expensive.

Calmes: Instead of learning, Trump doubles down on Bush's post-9/11 mistakes

Jackie Calmes — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 10:09:00 GMT

Like President George W. Bush did, President Trump wages war ahead of midterm elections and makes false claims of success to win voters. The trouble is, Trump does so against Americans' memories of Bush's record.

Contributor: Legal legacy of 9/11 is a lack of accountability for the government

Ben Wizner — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 10:03:00 GMT

The litany of grave abuses committed under the banner of a "war on terrorism" is grim and familiar. It need not continue.

Contributor: What if we stopped trying to be right?

Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

Rosh Hashanah arrives each year with an unfashionable proposition, asking us not merely to examine those who have disappointed us, but to examine ourselves.

Goldberg: 'Trumpapalooza' is a sad, unnecessary spectacle that achieves nothing

Jonah Goldberg — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 18:15:00 GMT

Political conventions are one of the best examples — among way too many — of American institutional decay.

Contributor: America is at war in … Ecuador?

Jon Duffy — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

Trump has initiated and expanded another unconstitutional, open-ended combat campaign without congressional authorization.

Contributor: Trump is waging an illegal, costly war in Iran and no one is stopping him

Erwin Chemerinsky — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

How are we a nation under the rule of law if there is nothing to stop the president from violating the Constitution?

Contributor: The Great Barrier Reef refuses to die on schedule

Bjorn Lomborg — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

It takes nerve to spend decades forecasting an ecosystem's death and then claim credit for its historic resilience.

Contributor: Combating Islamophobia and antisemitism is a shared responsibility

David N. Myers and Salam Al-Marayati — Sat, 5 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

The recent Jewish American Summit in Los Angeles was Exhibit A for the rise of uninhibited and insidious hate speech.

Granderson: Who would want the U.S. to be run like a business?

LZ Granderson — Fri, 4 Sep 2026 10:01:00 GMT

Americans are already being ground down by actual businesses: those pinching wages and raising prices to the pain point.

Abcarian: Women can thank Gloria Steinem for so much we take for granted now

Robin Abcarian — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 20:35:00 GMT

The feminist icon, who died Wednesday at 92, never stopped advocating for equal rights.

Contributor: Will Americans get price relief or a Canadian trade war?

Veronique de Rugy — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 17:24:07 GMT

New research estimates that a 10% tariff on all imports will raise U.S. consumer prices by about 2.6%.

Contributor: Teen-safety settlement is Meta's shrewd move to hurt competitors

Ian Ayres — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 10:03:00 GMT

Why would a company offer to pay billions to see its competitors shackled alongside it? Because uniform restraints are rarely uniform in their effect.

Calmes: Trump is turning off voters while trying to skew the election for the GOP

Jackie Calmes — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 10:01:00 GMT

Just one thing is certain: chaos on some level. That's Trump's trademark and yet another reason voters increasingly dislike him.

Contributor: Sacramento's micromanaging of a single lane in the Hollywood Hills

Michael Schneider — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 16:06:30 GMT

Imagine what this precedent buys next. A billionaire who dislikes the housing project down the block. A millionaire who wants a bus lane gone, a park redesigned, a public street bent to private will.

Contributor: Corporations with big pay disparities have been silent as ICE detains their workers

Sarah Anderson — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 10:02:00 GMT

The 'Low-Wage 100' companies are also acquiescing as the Trump administration strips workers' healthcare and food stamps to pay for handouts to CEOs and other wealthy people.

Contributor: Let livestock clear hard-to-reach shrubs and grasses before the next wildfire

Briana Swette and Kelly Hopping — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 10:01:00 GMT

Using targeted grazing at the scale needed to address widespread wildfire risk across federal lands would be difficult, but it should be part of the solution.

Goldberg: Americans should be concerned about the fine print on Trump's new oil deal

Jonah Goldberg — Tue, 1 Sep 2026 17:00:00 GMT

The president's agreement with Venezuela raises plenty of legal and moral questions — and doesn't solve the escalating prices.

Contributor: Of course Flock cameras are being attacked. Congress has failed to regulate them

Catherine Crump — Tue, 1 Sep 2026 10:07:00 GMT

If Congress doesn't act, privacy vigilantes will keep sawing down license plate readers — and they'll have some justification to say they had no other option.

Contributor: To stop Trump's pillaging, 'vote the ocean' this fall

David Helvarg — Tue, 1 Sep 2026 10:02:00 GMT

Research which lawmakers have been consistent ocean and climate champions and which candidates plausibly promise better policies for our public seas.

Contributor: Millions face court alone. California can change that

Nora Freeman Engstrom and David Freeman Engstrom — Tue, 1 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT

The state Supreme Court is weighing whether to allow community justice workers to assist those who would otherwise go without help in court.

Contributor: Trump is spending billions to reverse American progress

Jon Duffy — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 10:00:00 GMT

The Navy spent decades developing a technological leap to aircraft carrier launch systems. Now the president wants to revert to the equipment it replaced.

Abcarian: When I was a new mother like Lindsay Clancy, I had a terrifying thought

Robin Abcarian — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 10:00:00 GMT

The former labor and delivery nurse sought help for severe postpartum psychiatric issues, but no one saw she was about to break.

Contributor: All I wanted was an empty house. Now I want my kids back.

Sona Movsesian — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 10:00:00 GMT

By the time kindergarten was about to start, I was ready. I felt guilty at how ready I was.

Granderson: Michigan race tests whether voters care more about issues or identity

LZ Granderson — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:01:00 GMT

This is a year of red lines: Some people won't vote for someone who has supported Israel's war on Gaza. Others won't vote for a Muslim.