Though he has been in the public eye in California for nearly three decades, Laurence Allen Elder has never experienced anything like the tsunami of attention he has received in recent weeks.
The Times read books & columns by Elder, reviewed radio commentaries and interviewed more than two dozen of his friends & associates to learn more about the man currently positioned to replace Gov. Newsom, should he be recalled in the Sept. 14 election.
Wilson Huhn was Larry Elder’s best man, Elder the godfather to one of Huhn’s children.
For nearly 40 years, they had been like brothers: two young attorneys who bonded over shared cases, growing closer with the blossoming of their families and careers.
Huhn, the father of a son with disabilities, felt deeply offended when the GOP presidential candidate appeared to openly mock the physical disability of a New York Times reporter.
Though they had different political views, Huhn expected that Elder would share his feeling that Trump had displayed “absolute contempt” for people like his child, a young man the radio host had known and loved throughout his challenging life.
But during an acrimonious 2016 conversation, Elder refused to admit Trump had been wrong. “Larry could not tell the truth,” Huhn said in his first interview about the rift.
The dispute devolved over email and ultimately ended their 37-year friendship.
To friends & his new legion of supporters across California, Elder is unafraid to buck conventional wisdom, standing up to a battalion of feckless politicians, politically correct liberals and entrenched special interests, especially the left-wing media.
“In many ways, the recall election of 2003 was a battle between the state’s more moderate and conservative factions. Schwarzenegger, who was then a member of the Kennedy family, became the standard bearer for the moderates...”
“In 2003, Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield was the Assembly Republican leader who attached himself to Schwarzenegger and helped lead the fight for the 'moderates' in the party.”
Just when you think you've seen it all, here's something that happened this week:
Dr. Anthony Fauci weighed in on that Nicki Minaj's cousin's friend's testicles vaccine story. latimes.com/entertainment-…
ICYMI: The “Super Bass” rapper took to Twitter earlier this week announcing that she would miss the Met Gala due to the event's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, and shared a very... intimate anecdote about how the vaccine allegedly affected a cousin's friend. latimes.com/entertainment-…
The tweets sparked swift response, including one from the leading U.S. coronavirus expert himself, who debunked the notion that the vaccine affects the reproductive system. latimes.com/entertainment-…
“After going weeks without speaking to each other because I yelled at my mom about not getting vaccinated, she finally calls me from her home in Texas. The news: She has just tested positive for COVID-19.”
“More bad news. I find out from my sister that four family members in Texas, including my 79-year-old grandmother, are unvaccinated and have all contracted the virus.”
“We wanted to celebrate these fans,” Gilligan said. “It just blew my mind when I really started to understand the depth of [their art.]”
Along with some other TV colleagues, Gilligan sifted through works from artists all over the world to produce “99.1% Pure: Breaking Bad Art.”
To many artists, the opportunity was one filled with gratitude.
“‘Breaking Bad’ [fan art] was such a launching platform for me. It was one of the first things that got me noticed online,” said Chicago-based artist @bethevansart. latimes.com/entertainment-…
Those same techniques may not work as well in a less Democratic state, and they hardly negate the problems that Democrats face, both in California and Washington, in turning their ideas into governing policy.
Spurred by the pandemic, Democrats are proposing a foundational shift in how the nation pays for childcare — placing responsibility largely on taxpayers rather than parents.
It’s a transition dozens of wealthy countries already have made.
Advocates and Democrats in Congress see this moment as a chance to reframe infant and toddler childcare as a duty of the entire society, similar to K-12 education.