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Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Its Friday, Sept. 17. Im Laura J. Nelson, filling in for Justin Ray.

After years as the political underdogs in California, Republicans thought theyd found a winning campaign in their push to oust Gov. Gavin Newsom. Instead, the recall effort backfired badly, delivering Newsom and the Democratic Party a major victory and highlighting the fault lines in the state GOP.

As my colleagues Seema Mehta and Melanie Mason explain in this deep dive, the tug-of-war between ruby-red conservatives and moderate Republicans has made it hard for the party to make progress. Conservatives want to lean into the culture wars, focusing on such issues as abortion, gun control and illegal immigration, and moderates try to downplay those social issues and emphasize business-friendly policies.

Theres deep distrust among the grass roots of the professional political class of consultants, lobbyists and many elected officials. And no clear leader has emerged to unite those factions and mount a serious challenge to Newsom in 2022.

Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, long seen as the Republican with the best shot at winning statewide office, finished a distant third in the recall. Larry Elder, who captivated the conservative base, has cast doubt on whether he will run again, saying that even with a bigger war chest, the thing is daunting. And a new UC Berkeley poll, co-sponsored by the L.A. Times, has found that Newsom would win easily against any of the top four Republicans who ran in the recall election.

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the last Republican to win statewide office, said the partys behavior doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.

The one thing Republicans seem to agree on is that the party needs to change. But how? You can read more here.

And now, heres whats happening across California.

Note: Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing.

Wait, what is that? Times real estate reporter Roger Vincent has the scoop on the design for a bold new office tower on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. The architects call the $500-million, 28-story building the Star, but the Twitterati say the renderings look more like a chancla, a toe or an enormous see-through parking meter. Los Angeles Times

Our daily news podcast

If youre a fan of this newsletter, youll probably love our new daily podcast, The Times, hosted by columnist Gustavo Arellano, along with reporters from across our newsroom. Every weekday, it takes you beyond the headlines. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and follow on Spotify.

Does anyone want to be mayor of L.A.? One of Southern Californias most powerful politicians told Times City Hall reporter David Zahniser on Thursday that she wont run to replace Mayor Eric Garcetti. Known for her blunt public statements and focus on working-class issues, City Council President Nury Martinez would have upended the race, which features only two major political figures: City Atty. Mike Feuer and City Councilman Joe Buscaino. Los Angeles Times

Housing laws: Two zoning bills that Newsom signed Thursday are designed to make it easier to add small apartment buildings in existing neighborhoods. The first, SB9, aims to streamline the process to split lots and convert houses into duplexes, potentially creating up to four units on a property. The other, SB10, will allow cities to rezone some parcels in urban areas, including near public transit, for up to 10 units. San Francisco Chronicle

Sheriff gangs: Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has argued that theres little he can do to rein in gang-like groups among his deputies, saying that an attempt to stop them from joining would violate their constitutional rights. But in a confidential memo obtained by the L.A. Times, county lawyers say he does have the power to crack down on the groups, which have been accused of glorifying violence and have cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in legal payouts. Los Angeles Times

Impound controversy: A federal appeals court found four years ago that its unconstitutional for police officers to impound vehicles for 30 days if the drivers do not have valid licenses. The California Highway Patrol still seizes thousands of vehicles per year, often leaving the driver to pay more than $1,000 in towing and storage fees. Cal Matters

Take two: The effort to recall George Gascn, the progressive district attorney in Los Angeles County, has fizzled out. Organizers say they have fewer than half the 580,000 signatures needed to trigger an election but will try again. Los Angeles Times

The battle to protect the worlds largest trees: A wildfire is burning about a mile away from the most prominent grove of giant sequoias at Sequoia National Park, which includes the General Sherman Tree, thought to be the largest tree in the world. Firefighters are preparing to make a stand there, raking brush and wrapping the trees in fireproof blankets. The Mercury News

Snow in Death Valley? The blanket of white in the worlds hottest area is actually a phenomenon called salt flowers, caused by recent rainfall. Los Angeles Times

Bighorn sheep vs. high-speed rail: Plans for a high-speed rail line between Southern California and Las Vegas call for a 6-foot barrier in the middle of Interstate 15 that would separate cars from trains. Naturalists are now pushing for a wildlife bridge to be included in the project, saying it would help bighorn sheep cross the freeway. Los Angeles Times

He and Shonda were at each others throats. A juicy excerpt from a new book about Greys Anatomy sheds light on why showrunner Shonda Rhimes killed off television heartthrob Dr. Derek McDreamy Shephard after 11 seasons. The Hollywood Reporter

Manifesting weight loss: Marianne Williamson is best known for her woo-woo spiritualism and her debate performances during the 2020 election, but shes also the author of a diet book. (Who isnt, really.) Michael Hobbes and Aubrey Gordon take a deep dive into her advice, and her history with AIDS nonprofits in Los Angeles, on their podcast that debunks junk science in the worlds of wellness and nutrition. Maintenance Phase

Its pistachio season go nuts! Sure, you can buy them in the bulk bins whenever you want, but theyre fresh for only a few weeks per year in early fall. Our colleagues in the Food section suggest four ways to use them in recipes, including in the Middle Eastern dessert Knafeh Nabulseyeh. Los Angeles Times

Free online games

Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games in our new game center at latimes.com/games.

Wearing sunscreen is always a good idea in California, but especially today. Los Angeles: 78, sunny. San Diego: 74, sunny. San Francisco: 64, sunny. San Jose: 81, sunny. Fresno: 94, sunny. Sacramento: 87, sunny.

Todays California memory is from Mike Spencer:

In 1990 the senior police reporter at the Contra Costa Times sold me his Honda 400 motorcycle. It was just after covering Loma Prieta earthquake at UC-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. I taught myself to ride, poorly, at Wildcat Canyon in Berkeley. In 1991 on a hot dry windy day, as a reporter, I followed firefighters on the motorcycle to a fire in the Oakland hills. A wall of flame came up over all of us. We ran. I found the bike three days later, burn marks on the seat but I rode it home.

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

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California Republicans agree they need to change. But how? - Los Angeles Times

Americas vaccination campaign has made slow, steady progress since its summer lulland is likely to accelerate as new public and private sector mandates take effect. At the same time, right-wing political and media figures, who have already held back the countrys pandemic response, are finding more moronic battles to fight in the COVID culture war. In recent weeks alone, MAGA conservatives have opted to take a horse dewormer over the safe vaccines; elected officials have likened Joe Biden to a violent dictator for instituting shot requirements a majority of Americans support; and Tucker Carlson has devoted time on his program to talk about what may or more likely may not have happened to Nicki Minajs cousins friends testicles after taking his jabs. As the ailing country struggles to get better, the anti-vax right seems even more determined to get worse.

Just how much worse could they get? Is it possible their attacks on common sense and the societal good get somehow more absurd? Will the rise of requirements give rise to a search for loopholes? Could their performative, but by now reflexive, opposition to COVID vaccine mandates extend to other vaccine requirements, including those already necessary for many kids to attend school?

So far, there hasnt seemed to be a new popular movement against the polio or measles vaccines already mandated for many school children; Ron Johnson hasnt been going on Fox News to promote a feline tick medication to treat tetanus or anything like that. But the sweeping manner in which prominent Republicans have denounced the new White House plan to combat the pandemic has led to concerns about opposition to other existing and future vaccine requirements. The 20th century was a century of incredible progress against leading killers, and much of that progress was because of vaccinations, Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, told the Washington Post on Monday. If we turn our back on vaccines at this moment where vaccines are really having a scientific heyday...I think that would be tragic, and it would cause a lot of unnecessary suffering and death, particularly among children.

As the Post noted, while the right has been freaking out over Bidens COVID-specific public health precautions for a while now, some prominent GOP figures, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and some of his top allies, have made statements recently that imply more general opposition to public health mandates.

While there has been no immediate indication that McCarthy and his ilk have plans to include the mumps vaccine in their pitched battle against Biden, their wildly irresponsible political rhetoric around inoculations has public health officials worried that it is only a matter of time before other vaccines are swept up in the culture wars, whether intentional or not. My worry is that there will be a spillover effect from all of this anti-vaccine aggression, Peter Hotez,a professor of pediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, told the Post.

Even if these weird, anti-vaccine politics stay contained to the COVID shots, there is still, of course, plenty of damage to be done. While the United States has had access to COVID vaccines that most of the world remains in desperate need of, it is beginning to lag behind other similar nations, as former Biden adviser Andy Slavitt noted Monday. New mandates could help turn that around. (Dr. Anthony Fauci in a recent podcast interview said he would be in favor of a vaccine mandate for airline travel, which White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients on Monday suggested could be a possibility.) But there are concerns that anti-vaxxers are already seeking out ways to get around the requirements, including through religious exemptions. The consequences of these forced edicts are enormous, Mat Staver, founder of the conservative Christian Liberty Council, told the New York Times, describing a surge in interest in religious exemptions to the COVID shots.

See more here:
The Rights War on COVID Vaccine Mandates Is About to Get Scary - Vanity Fair

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter

On the verge of a new term in which the Supreme Court will wade back into the culture wars, Justice Clarence Thomas reflected Thursday on the role of the judiciary and warned against judges weighing in on controversial issues that he said are better left to other areas of government.

When we begin to venture into the legislative or executive branch lanes, those of us, particularly in the federal judiciary with lifetime appointments, are asking for trouble, he said during a sweeping lecture at the University of Notre Dame that also touched on themes of equality, race and the state of the country.

The problem, the justice said, has bled into the nomination and confirmation process.

I think that is problematic and hence the craziness during my confirmation was one of the results of that, Thomas said, adding that it was absolutely about abortion a matter I had not thought deeply about at the time.

Thomas remarks come as the newly solidified conservative majority will consider a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade in the term that begins in October as well as a major Second Amendment case and possibly a dispute centering on affirmative action. In addition, the court earlier this month sparked outrage among supporters of abortion rights when a 5-4 majority allowed a controversial six-week abortion ban in Texas to take effect pending appeal.

Of all the members of the high court, Thomas has made his views on Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that legalized abortion across the US, crystal clear. In 2007, he said that he believed that Roe and the follow-up decision called Planned Parenthood v. Casey had no basis in the Constitution. And in 2020, he said that Roe is grievously wrong for many reasons, but the most fundamental is that its core holding that the Constitution protects a womans right to abort her unborn child finds no support in the text of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Some of those in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party see adding seats to the court as the only way to protect landmark decisions like Roe.

Although he did not directly address the issue of so-called court packing, Thomas seemed to nod to the controversy.

We have lost the capacity as leaders to not allow others to manipulate our institutions when we dont get the outcomes that we like, he said.

Thomas, appointed by then-President George H.W. Bush in 1991, is currently the longest-serving justice. Noting his 30 years on the bench, Thomas said Thursday that while the institution may be flawed, it works.

I think we should be careful destroying our institutions because they dont give us what we want when we want it, he said. I think we should be really, really careful.

The 73-year-old justice dedicated the bulk of his lecture to the Declaration of Independence, weaving in his own personal story of growing up in the segregated South. Despite the pervasive racism, he said, he was taught about the value of equality.

I am a product of the state of Georgia, he said, adding that he had grown up in a world that was quite different than the world of today. In the 1950s and 1960s, he said, there was quotidian and pervasive segregation and race-based laws, which were repulsive and at odds with the principles of the country.

But despite that, Thomas said, in his community there was also a focus on a deep and abiding love for the country and a firm desire to have the rights and the responsibilities of full citizenship regardless of how society treated us.

Having grown up knowing he was a child of God, Thomas said, there is no force on this Earth that can make me any less than a man of equal dignity and equal worth.

This accepted truth reinforced our proper roles as equal citizens, not the perversely distorted and reduced role offered us by Jim Crow a role that is not unlike the reduced but apparently more palatable image of Blacks that is bandied about or assigned to us today, he said.

Thomas lecture follows public appearances from other justices ahead of the courts new term, including Justice Stephen Breyer, who has been promoting a new book, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who recently delivered a speech at the University of Louisville.

The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

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Justice Clarence Thomas says judges are 'asking for trouble' when they wade into politics - KTVZ

The Chair on Netflix: Comedy is the tonic needed to de-escalate culture wars Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. Linked In An icon of the Linked In logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. All SectionsDarryl Peers: Relatable comedy is the tonic needed to de-escalate culture wars

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Darryl Peers: Relatable comedy is the tonic needed to de-escalate culture wars - Press and Journal

The United States has ended its 20-year war in Afghanistan, and the Taliban is back in charge. What does that mean for the future? Will the Taliban preserve any of the advances in civil liberties and womens rights made under the democratic government? Will the Afghan people fight for democracy independent of a U.S. occupation? What does the end of the war mean for American foreign policy?

Perry World House (PWH) held a hybrid panel this week to address these questions and more, featuring in-person speakers and about 50 audience members, as well as about 150 virtual attendees watching online.

Speakers included Meg K. Guliford, a Penn Vice-Provost Postdoctoral Fellow-in-residence at PWH, whose research agenda reflects an interest in political violence, conflict processes, and U.S. foreign policy; John Gans, director of communications and research at PWH, worked at the Department of Defense before coming to Penn; and Wazhmah Osman, an Afghan-American academic and filmmaker and an assistant professor in media studies and production at Temple University. The panel was moderated by Trudy Rubin, foreign affairs columnist and a member of the editorial board at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

They discussed the myth of American competence to the myth of Afghanistan as a blank slate and the idea that, whatever the U.S. does or doesnt do in Afghanistans future, there are plenty of other nations ready to fill the void.

Asked about the internal consequences of the U.S. withdrawal and the Talibans resurgence, Osman noted that Afghanistan has long been characterized as backward, and after 9/11 these racist stereotypes worsened.

I was born in Kabul, so both personally and with my academic training, I know theres actually a long history of social activism in Afghanistan, she said.

Its a colonial myth that some countries are a blank canvas and can be recreated as invading forces wish, Osman said.

She says one of the conclusions of her book Television and the Afghan Culture Wars: Brought to You by Foreigners, Warlords, and Activists is that its time to start centering the voices of Afghan human rights workers, professionals, journalists, and intellectuals.

They have been risking their lives continuously on a daily basis to fight for social justice and also to lay the foundations of democracy, she said.

As for what to expect from the U.S. government in regard to Afghanistans future, Gans said its important to distill all the anger and frustration expressed during the withdrawal from Afghanistan and listen to credible voices.

I think youll find broad acceptance that America needed to change course in Afghanistan and needed to end its engagement there in some way, but I think those people were profoundly upset with the incompetent withdrawal, he said, noting that many embrace an American myth of competence.

The reality of American foreign policy is that it tries to do big, hard things sometimes and it doesnt have the worlds greatest track record of doing those things, he said. It was very disheartening for many people, who perhaps had great hopes for what America was going to do in the post-Trump era.

With the State Department gutted under the Trump administration, the Biden team has a lot of work ahead in a time of real challenges, he said.

Guliford focused on what the Taliban leaders will do now that theyve seized control of power.

This government gets to decide what type of international relationship it wants to engage in with its potential international partners, she said. The U.S. is not and has not been the only game in town. There are other major powers that may not rise to the level of our traditional great powers that are in play here. You have Pakistan, Iran, Russia, and China involved, as well as the numerous neighbors that Afghanistan has.

The West has frozen aid and Afghanistans assets and other players have stepped into the gap and provided what the country needs, she said.

The U.S. has wanted Russia and China to step up and do more in Afghanistan, and now they are, she said. The issue remains if the United States is OK with a potential loss of prestige and influence in the country. Right now were all in a holding pattern, waiting to see whats next.

Asked if other countries can influence the Taliban away from imposing severe strictures on women, Osman said other nations have to figure out a balance between punishing them for such actions and trying to work with them to prevent them.

We dont want the Taliban to entirely collapse because that can create another civil war and people have been so traumatized by 40 years of war, she said. There has to be a balance between the two, and then from there they can move forward, maybe in some kind of coalition government.

Rubin asked Gans if the Biden administration will have a coherent policy on Afghanistan going forward or if it just wants to be finished with the country.

I think the Biden administration would very much like to not have to think about, talk about, or defend Afghanistan policy in the years to come, he said. But the war was a response to 9/11 and so is politically very complex.

He noted that Biden campaigned for the Senate in the 1970s opposed to the Vietnam War, and in the 1990s he was opposed to the Gulf War but supported U.S. leadership in the Balkans.

You see a person who genuinely believes America can only do so much without people on the ground who want the same, Gans said.

As for whether the U.S. will face a terrorist threat from Afghanistan, Guliford said she thinks the immediate threat would be to Afghan civilians and the region overall rather than to the American homeland. One threat is the accuracy of any U.S. attacks on supposed targets, she said.

Now that the U.S. has removed troops on the ground, Guliford worries there will be even more strikes like the one in August that evidence suggests killed an aid worker and his family.

She finds the language the U.S. has used to describe civilian casualties particularly disturbing, like when the government said only three civilians were killed in the recent strike.

The idea of there being only three is problematic and shows us further evidence that the United States continues to discount the value of brown bodies, both internationally and domestically, she said.

The conversation is available on Perry World Houses YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iD26G3xoSk&t=129s.

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Afghanistan's future after the US withdrawal | Penn Today - Penn Today