California Dolphin

In this age of partisan rancor, when political rivals often describe each other as enemies, we easily forget that Americans once took a revolutionary pride in being friends. People have always had friendly feelings for certain others. But the modern concept of friendship was unfamiliar in the colonial past. While friends today tend to be peers and equals, the pre-1776 world was built on coercive inequalities. Fathers and masters told their wives, children, servants and slaves what to do. Tenants cowered before landlords. The crown tried to boss the colonies around. In British politics, in fact, a friend was not someone you liked, but an ally at court or in Parliament — a tool for the tiny minority who mattered. For everyone else, there were mostly just superiors and inferiors, neighbors and relatives. It was America’s good fortune to become independent during the Enlightenment, when people dared to imagine what the philosopher Joseph Priestley called “a totally new, and most wonderful and important” era of equality and amity. By breaking free from the “ dark and slavish ” past, declared the revolutionary Thomas Paine in

Just after Thanksgiving 2021, Dr. Anthony Fauci visited a high school in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, D.C. His goal was to promote the safety of COVID-19 vaccines in a primarily Black community, where vaccine rates were lower than in the rest of the capital. Fauci was joined by Barack Obama — the fifth of the seven presidents he would serve during his more than half-century career as a public health official. Together they made the rounds of vaccination booths in the school gym, posing for photos. As they were getting into their cars after the visit, Obama turned to him with a word of encouragement. Fauci had been accused by congressional crackpots such as Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) of having helped to create the COVID virus, unleashing the pandemic, and by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) of having masterminded nationwide pandemic shutdowns. Credible death threats against him had prompted the government to provide him with 24-hour security protection. AIDS had made me a target, but that was largely before social media…. Now my family and I were barraged by emails

Gun rights groups filed a 2nd Amendment challenge Tuesday to a new California law that slapped an extra tax on firearm and ammunition sales in an attempt to reduce gun violence. The Firearms Policy Coalition said it filed the complaint on its members’ behalf in San Diego County Superior Court. Other plaintiffs included the National Rifle Assn., the California Rifle & Pistol Assn. and the Second Amendment Foundation. The new tax law (Assembly Bill 28), which went into effect Monday, imposes an 11% excise tax on the sale of firearms, firearm parts and ammunition. It’s expected to generate $159 million in its first year to help fund state programs for gun violence prevention and gang intervention. The complaint, which seeks to block the new law, said the excise tax is a violation of the 2nd Amendment because it’s a special tax on gun owners. It states that the U.S. Supreme Court “has repeatedly held that constitutional rights cannot be singled out for special taxation.” “Here, California effectively seeks the power to destroy the exercise of a constitutional right by singling it out for special taxation,”

Emma Roberts vividly remembers how she was welcomed to life in Los Angeles 30 years ago. “I was 3, because my first memory of L.A. was of that big [Northridge] earthquake in 1994,” the actor told The Times via Zoom recently from New York City. She was fresh off an appearance on “CBS Mornings” promoting her latest movie, “Space Cadet,” which premieres Thursday on Prime Video. In addition to being the film’s executive producer, Roberts stars as a Florida party girl turned improbable astronaut. But now she’s ready to launch into her ideal Sunday itinerary. Before answering my questions, the fashion-loving co-founder of online book club Belletrist and mother of a 3-year-old son had one of her own. In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends. “Do I have my baby with me or do I not?” she said. “Because my ideal ideal Sunday is to be with him. But to get all this done, I’d probably be doing

Perhaps on this Fourth of July, the Alitos will fly the American flag properly, not upside down, at their Virginia or New Jersey homes. It is after all the 248th anniversary of America’s founders declaring their independence from a king. But I’m guessing Samuel A. Alito Jr. and his flag-loving wife, Martha-Ann, are celebrating that he and his fellow right-wing Supreme Court justices have made a king of our presidents, just when it seems more likely that Donald Trump could be restored to the throne. 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. The court’s ruling Monday in the appropriately titled Trump vs. United States was a gift to the former president. Trump got just about everything he asked for despite the majority’s specious attempts to make it seem otherwise: absolute or presumed immunity for official acts, which the court defined in a way that could encompass much of what the Jan. 6 criminal indictment alleges the former president illegally did to overturn the 2020 election. Also

July 4 travel expected to break records July 4 travel expected to break records 01:25 On July 4, the United States celebrates its independence from Britain with displays of fireworks , barbeques, shopping — and for an estimated 70 million citizens this year, travel.  The United States’ celebration is held on the anniversary of the Second Continental Congress’ adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. But America isn’t the only country that celebrates independence from Britain. Much of the global population —  around one-fifth of the world, according to Guinness World Records — were subjects of Great Britain prior to 1914.  Spectators watch the fireworks show on the National Mall on Independence Day, July 4, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Minh Connors/The Washington Post via Getty Images Some countries don’t celebrate their independence from the United Kingdom, but instead dedicate a day to celebrating their formation. Others celebrate similarly to the United States, on the day the country either declared or formally gained independence from the United Kingdom.  Here’s when and how several former British colonies celebrate their freedoms. Kite flying on India’s Independence Day India celebrates its