“We of course sought to retain maximum leverage until after American citizens were released,” said State Department spokesman John Kirby. | AFP/Getty

By Louis Nelson
Published: 08/18/16 – 05:24 PM EDT
Updated:   08/18/16 – 08:04 PM EDT

• ‘He lied about the hostages – openly and blatantly – just like he lied about Obamacare,’ Trump says.

Republicans are claiming vindication after the State Department confirmed on Thursday that the United States conditioned the release of a $400 million cash payment to Iran on the departure of American prisoners from Tehran.

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Nuclear Scientist Discussed In Clinton Emails Executed In Iran For Spying For U.S.

By Jacqueline Klimas (@jacqklimas)
8/7/16 – 12:30 PM

Hillary Clinton recklessly discussed, in emails hosted on her private server, an Iranian nuclear scientist who was executed by Iran for treason, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Sunday.

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By Jay Solomon and Carol E. Lee
Updated: Aug. 3, 2016 – 12:01 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration secretly organized an airlift of $400 million worth of cash to Iran that coincided with the January release of four Americans detained in Tehran, according to U.S. and European officials and congressional staff briefed on the operation afterward.

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A television screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows the closing number for the Dow Jones industrial average, Friday, June 24, 2016. The DJIA dropped 611 points, or 3.4 percent, to 17,399 in heavy trading Friday. Stocks plunged in the U.S. and worldwide after Britain voted to leave the European Union. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

By Rachel Uranga, rachel.uranga@langnews.com, @racheluranga on Twitter
Posted: 06/24/16 – 7:31 PM PDT |

Britain’s exit from the European Union shocked markets, reshuffled alliances and created a new political reality that experts say will be felt in Southern California.

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Thursday, June 23, 2016 – 11:30 p.m.

Great Britain citizens have voted to leave the European Union.

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Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who upended Orange County politics by ousting Republican Bob Dornan from Congress in 1996, announced in May she was running for U.S Senate. Mark Boster TNS

Capitol Alert
By Christopher Cadelago
ccadelago@sacbee.com
December 10, 2015

• Sanchez says they are willing to use terrorism to target ‘our way of life’
• Her office issues statement seeking to clarify remarks to Larry King
• Sanchez adds: ‘I strongly support the Muslim community in America’

California Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, said as many as 20 percent of Muslims desire to form an Islamic caliphate, “to institute that in any way possible,” and go after Western norms, “our way of life.”

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Donald Trump and Marion Maréchal-Le Pen are shaking up politics in their respective countries.

Sunday, December 6, 2015 – 09:00 a.m.

I know it may sound weird. But the U.S. and France have something in common right now.

Politically that is.

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Politics | Tue Nov 17, 2015 5:07pm EST

WASHINGTON | By Ginger Gibson

American voters are evenly split between Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as their top choice to address the issue of terrorism following the Paris attacks, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

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Capitol Alert
By Jeremy B. White
jwhite@sacbee.com
November 16, 2015

• Statement comes after Paris violence prompts backlash
• Numerous U.S. governors push back on resettlement plan
• Brown pledges ‘everything in our power to protect the people of our state’

Breaking with other governors who have warned that admitting Syrian refugees would undermine American security, Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday advocated preserving “America’s traditional role as a place of asylum” but stressed the need for thorough vetting.

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By Jeff Parsons
November 16, 2015 – 12:54

The global hacktivist group has threatened to intercept and close down ISIS online communications and accounts

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From left to right. Ohio Governor John Kasich, Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, Business Executive Donald Trump, Retired Neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz on stage at the Fox Business Channel/WSJ republican debate on Tuesday, November 10.

Saturday, November 14, 2015 – 09:00 a.m.

The horrific images of the coordinated terror attacks in Paris, on Friday, have placed border and immigration control front and center in the republican presidential campaign.

As if the issue wasn’t already there.

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Facebook activated its “Safety Check” tool on Friday night to let users check on friends and family in Paris. Photo: Screenshot Of Facebook.com

By Julie Balise
Friday, November 13, 2015 – Updated 5:36 pm

• Facebook activated its “Safety Check” tool on Friday night to let users check on friends and family in Paris.

Facebook activated its Safety Check tool on Friday, after at least 100 people died in terror attacks across Paris.

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Friday, November 6, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.

The Lou Desmond and Company Show is broadcasting from the Toyota of San Bernardino Recording Studios!

On the Lou Desmond and Company Show, Lou is joined by Ed Hoffman to discuss the ongoing issues in Europe with Middle Eastern refugees. Munich has had recent issues with rape, sexual molestation and harassment. The cultures aren’t mixing well. Who could have predicted that?

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Don Lee
November 5, 2015

The long-anticipated release Thursday of the sweeping Pacific Rim trade agreement text set off an intense public battle over its pros and cons that probably will rage until Congress issues its own verdict next year.

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Friday, October 16, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.

The Lou Desmond and Company Show is broadcasting from the Toyota of San Bernardino Recording Studios!

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Wednesday, September 30, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.

The Lou Desmond and Company Show is broadcasting from the Toyota of San Bernardino Recording Studios!

Tonight on the show, Lou is joined by Ken White to discuss the week in law enforcement. In the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, they talk about a soccer referee who brandished a gun on the field.

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Aguilar

Published: Sept. 2, 2015 – Updated: 4:57 p.m.

Cross one Inland Democrat off the list of congressional representatives who are undecided about the Iran nuclear deal.

To read post by Jeff Horseman in The P-E Political Empire Blog, click here.

By Shan Li, Samantha Masunaga and Andrew Khouri
August 12, 2015

At the Beverly Center on Wednesday, a clutch of Chinese tourists spilled out of a bus and into the upscale mall, ready to snap up Gucci purses and Nike sneakers.

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Mexican secretary of state Jose Antonio Meade discusses illegal immigration at the San Francisco Chronicle in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, July 22, 2015. Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle (Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle)

By Carla Marinucci
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Updated: July 22, 2015 8:56pm

After weeks of presidential candidate Donald Trump lobbing sharp criticism and insults at America’s southern neighbor, Mexico’s secretary of state delivered his country’s first response Wednesday, saying that Trump’s views are rooted in prejudice and “have no place in politics.”

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Tuesday, July 21, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.

The Lou Desmond and Company Show is coming to you from the Toyota of San Bernardino Recording Studios!

Tonight, Vince from Bullseye Sport joins the show to talk about the finding of 1,200 guns at a man’s home. Then, how would Hillary and Bernie handle gun ownership?

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President Barack Obama answers questions about the Iran nuclear deal during a news conference in Washington, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. (Susan Walsh/AP)

By Charles Krauthammer, Opinion Writer
July 16, 2015

When you write a column, as did I two weeks ago, headlined “The worst agreement in U.S. diplomatic history,” you don’t expect to revisit the issue. We had hit bottom. Or so I thought. Then on Tuesday the final terms of the Iranian nuclear deal were published. I was wrong.

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Tuesday, July 14, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.

The Lou Desmond and Company Show is coming to you from the Toyota of San Bernardino Recording Studios!

Tonight on the show, Lou and Ralph Rossum, constitutional scholar, joins Lou to discuss the Colonies Corruption Case. Can the county argue in one case that the settlement was legal while arguing the exact opposite in another court case?

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Monday, July 13, 2015 – 08:40 a.m.

Greece and it’s European counterparts struck a deal for a third bailout of the beleaguered nation early Monday morning in Brussels.

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Monday, July 6, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.

The Lou Desmond and Company Show is coming to you from the Toyota of San Bernardino Recording Studios!

Tonight on the show, Lou is joined by Estimable Economist Jay Prag. First on the show: an Al Jazeera video that criticizes America. So why does every major broadcaster carry the network? After that, a columnist had hard words for the Moreno Valley Logistics Center, but failed to take into account some facts.

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Demonstrators hold flags and banners in front of Parliament in Athens in February. (Simela Pantzartzi/EPA)

By Ylan Q. Mui
July 5, 2015 at 2:55 PM

The financial crisis in Greece has upended the lives — and livelihoods — of residents of the Mediterranean nation. The shutdown of the banking system has resulted in long lines at ATMs to withdraw a daily maximum of just 60 euros, about $67. Citizens have stockpiled food and fuel, leading to empty shelves at grocery stores and crowded gas stations. Business leaders have warned that shortages of crucial medicines could be next.

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Sunday, July 5, 02:45 p.m.

Greece’s European Austerity Referendum went down in flames Sunday night.

The measure was overwhelmingly rejected by Greek voters.

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Thursday July 2, 2015 – 10:30 a.m.

The headline in The Guardian, a British newspaper, is fitting.

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Sunday, June 28, 2015 – 10:00 a.m.

All eyes on the new Greek play. Really?

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has called for a June 5 referendum asking voters to decide whether to accept more economic pain, which they will. But all the back and forth rhetoric over the weekend is sort of entertaining.

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(Source: Bloomberg)

Monday, June 22, 2015 – 08:30 a.m.

Will the economically-tiny nation of Greece default?

Is it already too late?

If it does. Will the event ripple through the financial markets?

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Thursday, June 4, 2015 – 10:00 a.m.

Expect ripples in the financial markets.

Greece, a country where the mainly tourist-driven economy is driven by government jobs and pensions, finally can’t pay its bills.

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Thursday, May 14, 2015 – 04:00 p.m.

Tonight on the show, Ryan Hagen joins to program to discuss San Bernardino’s plan to exit bankruptcy. The only problem, they are releasing it at 5:00, then locking the doors to city hall until Monday morning. Also, Lou will cover the local headlines from the Inland Empire.

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David Knowles
Apr 24, 2015 – 2:00 AM PDT

How Hillary Clinton’s new campaign reacted to a brutal morning in the press.

To run the risk of understatement, Thursday did not begin well for the Hillary Clinton’s nascent presidential campaign.

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Former U.S. President Bill Clinton listens to the speech of U.S. President Barack Obama during the seventh annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) at the Sheraton New York Hotel on September 21, 2011 in New York City. (Photo: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

By Jonathan Chait
April 23, 2015

The qualities of an effective presidency do not seem to transfer onto a post-presidency. Jimmy Carter was an ineffective president who became an exemplary post-president. Bill Clinton appears to be the reverse. All sorts of unproven worst-case-scenario questions float around the web of connections between Bill’s private work, Hillary Clinton’s public role as secretary of State, the Clintons’ quasi-public charity, and Hillary’s noncompliant email system. But the best-case scenario is bad enough: The Clintons have been disorganized and greedy.

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By Amy Chozick
April 19, 2015

The book does not hit shelves until May 5, but already the Republican Rand Paul has called its findings “big news” that will “shock people” and make voters “question” the candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

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Friday, April 17, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.

Tonight on the show, Lou is joined by Ed Hoffman, President of Wholesale Capital Corporation. They discuss the caring, down to earth Hillary Clinton that Iowa saw this week. Do you buy it?

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By Alexander Bolton
04/11/15 – 11:34 AM EDT

Democrats are badly split on geographic and political lines over whether to support or oppose a bill allowing Congress to review and possibly vote on a nuclear deal with Iran.

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Rep. Paul Cook spoke at the Victorville Rotary Club on Tuesday. (James Quigg, Daily Press)

By Shea Johnson
Staff Writer
Posted Apr. 7, 2015 at 12:01 AM – Updated at 9:37 PM

VICTORVILLE — Fresh from a recent trip to Tel-Aviv where he toured Israeli missile defense systems, Rep. Paul Cook on Tuesday reiterated his concerns about the emerging Iranian nuclear deal in a speech dominated by his thoughts on the volatility facing the Middle East.

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President Obama returns to the Oval Office from the Rose Garden on Thursday after announcing a breakthrough in nuclear talks with Iran. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

By Dan Balz, Chief Correspondent
April 4, 2015 at 2:35 PM

It is perhaps only an accident of history that three of the key actors in the diplomatic efforts to deny Iran a nuclear bomb are the 2004, 2008, 2012 and probable 2016 Democratic presidential nominees. But their intertwined ambitions provide a dramatic backdrop to the unfolding and unfinished story.

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Saturday, April 4, 201 – 12:00 p.m.

It’s all in the name of securing a arms deal with Iran. Or any other deal for that matter.

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By Juliet Eilperin and Greg Jaffe
April 2, 2015 at 8:14 PM

President Obama, who for months had been battered, second-guessed and openly defied, had come to the Rose Garden to make his case to the American people.

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Thursday, April 2, 2015 – 04:30 p.m.

Tonight on the Lou Desmond & Company Show, Jonathan Wood from the Pacific Legal Foundation joins Lou. Jonathan talks with Lou about the drought that has been made much worse by poor policies. Is a fish worth the human toll?

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By Shane Goldmacher
March 30, 2015

Jeb Bush previewed his plans Monday to attack one of Hillary Clinton’s supposed strengths, criticizing her foreign policy record and blaming current global unrest in part on her term as secretary of State.

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Thursday, March 26, 2015 – 04:30 p.m.

Tonight on the Lou Desmond & Company Show, Adrian Moore of the Reason Foundation joins Lou to discuss Bowe Bergdahl, who was charged with desertion yesterday. Moore spent a decade in the military. Hear what he has to say about the matter.

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US President Barack Obama listens to a question during a town hall meeting at Nashua High School North February 2, 2010 in Nashua, New Hampshire. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

By Michael Goodwin
March 22, 2015 | 12:23am

First he comes for the banks and health care, uses the IRS to go after critics, politicizes the Justice Department, spies on journalists, tries to curb religious freedom, slashes the military, throws open the borders, doubles the debt and nationalizes the Internet.

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Tuesday, March 10, 2015 – 04:30 p.m.

Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Dr. Adrian Moore, vice president of policy at the Reason Foundation, joins Lou to talk about the sudden ousting of San Bernardino’s financial director in the midst of the city’s financial woes.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks before a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 3. Behind him are House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, left, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Tuesday, March 3, 2015. (Photo: BILL O’LEARY / Washington Post)

Opinion
By Debra J. Saunders
Published 4:39 pm – Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Photo: BILL O’LEARY / Washington Post

Nancy Pelosi was near tears. After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress Tuesday, the House minority leader sent out a press release informing the media, “I was near tears throughout the prime minister’s speech — saddened by the insult to the intelligence of the United States” and “saddened by the condescension toward our knowledge of the threat posed by Iran.”

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Wednesday, February 4, 2015 – 04:30 p.m.

Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Tom Del Beccaro, former Chairman of the California Republican Party and author of The Divided Era, joins Lou to discuss an array of topics.

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Tuesday, February 3, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.

Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Ralph Rossum, Salvatori Professor of American Constitutionalism at Claremont McKenna College, joins Lou to discuss ISIS and foreign policy.

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By Charles Krauthammer, Opinion writer
January 15, 2015

On Sunday, at the great Paris rally, the whole world was Charlie. By Tuesday, the veneer of solidarity was exposed as tissue thin. It began dissolving as soon as the real, remaining Charlie Hebdo put out its post-massacre issue featuring a Muhammad cover that, as the New York Times put it, “reignited the debate pitting free speech against religious sensitivities.”

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By Alan Cowell
January 14, 2015

PARIS — The French authorities moved on Wednesday to reinforce a clampdown on hate speech and anti-Semitism, as the weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo returned defiantly to the newsstands with a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad on its cover, just one week after Islamist gunmen slaughtered 12 people in an attack on its offices.

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The president’s decision to skip the Paris march raises eyebrows.

By Edward-Isaac Dovere
1/11/15 – 6:26 PM EST

Barack Obama n’est pas Charlie — or at least, he wasn’t this weekend.

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General Motors could eventually export vehicles to Cuba, a nation filled with aging relics. (Ernesto Mastrascusa, EPA)

By Andrew Khouri
December 17, 2014

President Obama’s decision to start normalizing relations with Cuba gives American business a fresh opportunity on an island once known as a travel hub for the U.S. jet set.

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By Lauren French
11/21/14 7:24 PM EST

The House Intelligence Committee dismissed on Friday a number of the most persistent myths about the 2012 terrorist attacks at a diplomatic outpost in Benghazi.

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Politics
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and DALIA SUSSMAN
SEPT. 17, 2014

For the first time in his presidency, more Americans disapprove of President Obama’s handling of terrorism than approve of it, as discontent about his management of foreign affairs and the fight against Sunni militants in Iraq and Syria weighs on an anxious and conflicted public, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

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President Obama has found his economic message drowned out by events abroad. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

The White House didn’t plan to spend the summer consumed by foreign policy.
By George E. Condon Jr.
September 14, 2014

White House hopes for the summer were sky-high as plans were made for a messaging blitz the administration hoped would buoy struggling Democratic candidates across the country. But now, after yet another week dominated by foreign policy messes, missiles, and mayhem, President Obama has been reduced to looking for new ways to slip his preferred message into any openings he can find—even if it doesn’t seem to fit.

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Sunday, Augusr 10, 2014 – 11:00 a.m.

Here’s some news flowing across the transom last week. In case you missed it!

Unemployment claims drop by 18,000

First-Time Jobless Claims dropped by 18,000 to 289,000, according to Thursday’s report by the Labor Department. The four-week moving average of 293,500 is the lowest since 2006. The claims estimate was for 305,000.

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By Jeff Mason
OAK BLUFFS Mass. Sat Aug 9, 2014 7:06pm EDT

(Reuters) – President Barack Obama gave Americans an update on U.S. military strikes in Iraq on Saturday from a podium on the White House lawn with Marine One, the presidential helicopter, parked in the background.

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By Katie Zezima
April 17 at 9:05 am

[This post has been updated with additional excerpts from the interview.]

Russia doesn’t want a military confrontation with the United States, President Obama said Wednesday.

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Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton with moderator and political science professor Lynn Vavreck at UCLA on Wednesday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times / March 5, 2014)

By Maeve Reston
March 5, 2014, 3:36 p.m.

Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that she was merely comparing the tactics used by Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin — and not equating the men themselves — when she drew a parallel between Hitler’s efforts to resettle Germans in the late 1930s to Putin’s recent moves to issue Russian passports to citizens in Ukraine with ties to Russia.

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Obama received low marks on foreign policy amid the crisis in Ukraine. | AP Photo

By TAL KOPAN | 3/5/14 6:16 PM EST

President Barack Obama’s approval rating hit a new low mark in a poll out Wednesday, dipping below 40 percent for the first time.

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President Barack Obama speaks about Ukraine. | AP Photo

By REID J. EPSTEIN | 3/2/14 8:52 PM EST

President Barack Obama once again finds himself in a standoff with Russian President Vladimir Putin — with no good options for getting out of it.

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