U.S. Department of the Treasury

Meet Emanuel Pleitez

He's the Most Amazing Person Who Won't Win the March 5 Los Angeles Mayoral Primary

Mara Salvatrucha, Koreatown Gang, Is Now An International Crime Syndicate

Mara Salvatrucha, the Salvadoran American group that got its start in the heart of L.A.'s Koreatown, has been designated by federal authorities as an international criminal organization, a first for a street gang. MS-13, as it's also known, "is being targeted for its involvement in serious transnat ... More >>

Mara Salvatrucha's Koreatown Crime Booms Even During Truce And Federal Crackdown

See also: *Mara Salvatrucha, Koreatown Gang, Is Now An International Crime Syndicate. Even as the federal government announced this week that it would crack down on the Mara Salvatrucha gang, treating it as a "transnational criminal organization" on the level of a major drug cartel, L.A. police hav ... More >>

Emanuel Pleitez, Goldman Alum, Faces Long Odds In Quest To Be Boy Mayor of Los Angeles

A few weeks ago, Emanuel Pleitez called up Fernando Guerra -- a veteran political analyst -- and asked whether he should run for mayor. Pleitez is just 29, with a resume that includes Stanford and Goldman Sachs. He has no shortage of ambition, but Guerra told him to hold off."I don't think he stands ... More >>

In Debate, Brad Sherman Attacks Howard Berman On Iraq War, Trade and Super PACs

Brad Sherman: Throwing punches​The battle is now underway to determine which bald, Jewish Democrat who voted for the Iraq war will continue to represent the San Fernando Valley in Congress.At their first debate on Thursday night, Reps. Brad Sherman and Howard Berman eagerly tore into each other, s ... More >>

Kinde's Crimes

Whose Dole Is It, Anyway?

Maxine Waters Comes Out Swinging

​Maxine Waters held a press conference in Washington this morning to issue a full-throated response to the ethics charges against her.Waters is accused of arranging a meeting between Treasury Department officials and representatives of OneUnited Bank, in which her husband owned stock.This morning, ... More >>

Rep. Maxine Waters' Ethics Charges Spelled Out

​ The House ethics committee spelled out its case against against Rep. Maxine Waters, the legendary congresswoman who represents south L.A., The Washington Post reports. As expected, the case alleges Waters "improperly exerted" influence over Treasury Department officials when she sought ban ... More >>

Maxine Waters' Grandson At Heart Of New Ethics Allegations

Maxine Waters​Rep. Maxine Waters' grandson, Mikael Moore, worked on legislation to help OneUnited Bank, according to new allegations in the House Ethics report issued today.Waters, D-Los Angeles, has been under fire for more than a year for helping to arrange a meeting between OneUnited representa ... More >>

Rep. Maxine Waters Roundup: Jon Stewart, The New Republic, KCRW

​ Rep. Maxine Waters, who faces an ethics trial after arranging a meeting between Treasury Department officials and a bank in which her husband owned a lot of stock, continues to hit back hard against her accusers in the Office of Congressional Ethics. Waters, who represents South L.A., said s ... More >>

Breaking: Congresswoman Maxine Waters To Appear On KCRW To Discuss Ethics Charges

​U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters will appear Thursday evening on KCRW (89.9 FM) show "Which Way L.A.?" to discuss ethics-violations charges she faces in Washington. The Los Angeles congresswoman has asked that the charges, so far undisclosed but related to her setting up a 2008 meeting between a bank ... More >>

City Hall's 2010 DWP Debacle

How Beutner, Carr, Carson, D'Arcy, Freeman, Greuel, Raj, Santana, Szabo, Villaraigosa & Co. pushed L.A. to the cliff edge

Maxine in Hot Waters Over Bank Conflict

L.A. Observed's business writer Mark Lacter does a fine job pulling together choice quotes from the Wall Street Journal and N.Y. Times on L.A. Congresswoman Maxine Waters' ties to OneUnited Bank. Until a few years ago she was an investor and her husband was once a director of the Boston-based bank, ... More >>

Uh oh, Obama asks Antonio Villaraigosa for Economic Advice

By Tibby Rothman Many Southern Californians were mystified by this news from the Wall Street Journal and NBC's Firstread blog: The often stumbling Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, whose city budget deficit has hit a historic high and who has based his economic plan in Los Angeles almost entirely on a s ... More >>

The Red Scare and Average Joes

What we talk about when we talk about socialism

Sicko's Bitter Pill

Michael Moore’s new movie delivers a harsh diagnosis to the American health care system. Also a Q&A with Moore

Leaving Home

In defense of secession

Ports of Cough

What it will take to clean up the mess caused by ships and trucks

Leaving Home

In defense of secession

A Kilo Full of Kryptonite

Big Joe Bralic thought he was Superman. Then the Canadian tried to do a drug deal in L.A.

Les Should Be No More

Moonves can’t “D’oh!” us like that again

Hummer Bummer

Going for a test drive the day after explosions rip through a dealership

Dumb and Dumberer

Why the FCC shouldn’t consolidate without concessions

Made In the USA, Part III: US Company Listings A-M

Another FBI Agent Blows the Whistle

New evidence that the Bureau quashed another terror probe before 9/11

Life on the Edge

Argentina’s disappearing middle class

Liberty and Justice for All

The Democratic Party platform you won’t see

October Demise

War Without Borders