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What exactly is President Bush trying to achieve on civil rights?

Against the backdrop of the racial controversy that cost Trent Lott (R-Miss.) his job as Senate majority leader, Bush’s own intentions have come under closer scrutiny. But the president has sent such mixed signals that some critics believe he’s playing a double game — moderate on decisions that can be traced directly to him and much more conservative on judicial appointments that will profoundly affect the reach of civil rights law, but only gradually and far away from the White House.

Bush drew praise even from his staunchest critics in the traditional civil rights community for his strong condemnation of Lott’s wink toward segregation. Indeed, while the White House always said publicly that Bush didn’t want Lott to resign, the president’s sharp rebuke during a speech in Philadelphia probably did more to doom the Mississippi senator than anything else that happened since Lott’s remarks at Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday party Dec. 5.

But since Bush’s speech, the liberal civil rights community has repeatedly insisted that the president’s stirring words in defense of equal opportunity needed to be measured against his actions. Just minutes before Lott stepped down Friday, a coalition of civil rights groups held a news conference in Washington to pound at that message.

Conservatives rightly argue that support for the agenda of the liberal civil rights community isn’t the only measure of commitment to equal opportunity. But it’s reasonable for the civil rights groups to insist that a president’s actions should always be weighed more heavily than his words.

So far, Bush has moved cautiously on the civil rights issues most directly under his control. He has appointed conservatives to most key civil rights positions, and liberals charge that the administration isn’t enforcing the laws as aggressively as Bill Clinton did when he was president.

But Bush’s record hasn’t generated the intense conflict that characterized the liberal response to the enforcement of the civil rights laws under Ronald Reagan, and even Bush’s father. William L. Taylor, chairman of the Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights, a leading liberal group, says that Bush’s record shows “a policy that is largely inert, not moving forward, and in a few areas is regressing.” Considering the source, that’s mild criticism.

Nor has Bush moved to retrench the key federal programs that promote affirmative action — policies meant to expand opportunities for minorities in hiring and government contracting. For years, conservative thinkers have viewed these programs as unfair to whites and counterproductive — a group entitlement that exacerbates social divisions.

But Bush has made no effort to repeal the executive order requiring federal contractors to establish goals and timetables for hiring women and minorities. Conservatives have long accused that program, which affects fully one-fifth of all workers in America, of encouraging quotas. Nor has the administration retrenched the programs providing minorities preferences in federal contracting. In all, Bush has done little to disturb the “mend it, don’t end it” balance on federal affirmative action programs that Clinton established in 1995.

Likewise, even before Lott, the administration was hesitant about joining a lawsuit opposing racial preferences in admissions at the University of Michigan now heading toward the Supreme Court. After Lott, officials say, it’s even less likely that Bush will use the suit to argue for a sweeping rollback of affirmative action.

Bush has had such a hands-off policy on these issues that conservatives are starting to grumble. “Conservatives are going to be very disappointed if two years from now there hasn’t been any positive movement,” says Roger Clegg, general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative group.

Clegg probably shouldn’t hold his breath. While Bush has always declared himself against quotas and preferences, he’s never shown any enthusiasm for direct combat on this front. His calculation seems to be that conflict over affirmative action would eclipse efforts to reach minority voters on other issues, such as education and homeownership. “Once you enter this thing,” one Bush political advisor says, “it’s hard to move the ball on anything else.”

But liberal groups take little comfort in Bush’s cautious approach to direct action. Their fear is that Bush is filling the federal courts with conservative judges who will reshape the civil rights laws in ways he wouldn’t risk through executive or legislative initiatives that carry his fingerprints.

It’s not an unreasonable fear. Many of Bush’s judicial nominees have records on civil rights much more conservative than the views Bush has expressed. Civil rights groups argue that Bush appellate court nominees such as Carolyn Kuhl, Jeffrey Sutton and Charles W. Pickering Sr. have displayed a determination to narrow the way civil rights laws are enforced.

All of these nominations will generate fireworks in the new year (especially if Bush fulfills his promise to renominate Pickering, whom the Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee rejected last year largely around accusations of racial insensitivity). But this conflict will really come to a head if Bush receives an opportunity to nominate a Supreme Court justice.

“That’s the big one,” insists Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group. “If they get a firm [conservative] Supreme Court majority, it will render the progressive agenda moot for decades. This is the whole ballgame for them. That’s why they are willing to make compromises legislatively or in the executive branch.”

Bush is under no obligation to support Neas’ agenda on civil rights. But voters have a right to demand accountability from elected officials. If Bush wants to roll back affirmative action, it’s hard to explain his executive actions; if he doesn’t, it’s hard to explain his court nominations.

Bush is sending dissonant signals, perhaps intentionally. But in the end, it’s his decisions on the courts that will speak loudest. Words matter, but words fade. When he condemns Lott, Bush is writing in sand. When he picks judges, he is carving in granite.

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Ronald Brownstein’s column appears every Monday. See current and past Brownstein columns on The Times’ Web site at: www.latimes.com/brownstein.

An Airbnb stay in someone’s garage doesn’t exactly sound like the height of luxury, but one British lad put it to the test and couldn’t believe what he saw when the shutter went up

If you tell someone you’ve booked a stay on Airbnb, most people will picture a pretty cottage or cosy flat. However for one UK holidaymaker, he actually booked out someone’s garage for an overnight stay.

Reviewer Zac Jones shared a video of his experience on TikTok, which has since garnered around 2.8million views, after he checked in for a stay at a garage in Bradford.

In the short clip Zac arrives for an evening check-in, standing outside the garage shutters. He phones up the owner who appears to open the shutter remotely. Instead of a grimy garage – which you’d rightfully expect to see – the shutters reveal a brick wall and front door.

Once inside, it turns out that Zac may have lucked out with what could be one of Britain’s plushest garages. He summed up his reaction in two words: “Pleasantly surprised”.

Instead of a car, storage boxes or a general mess that you’d find in most people’s homes, this garage has been decked out with modern flooring, and comes complete with a bed, bathroom with shower and toilet, a sofa, TV and even a fridge and microwave as reported by creatorzine.com.

Zac added: “Someone has put a lot of effort in. It’s got snacks, and tea and coffee-making facilities. Shout out to the owner of this place. This has been one of my most interesting check-ins in a while.”

As for keeping warm? The room appears to have all the modern comforts you’d need, including a radiator that Zac said was already on, with an extra plug-in radiator for those who might want extra warmth.

The garage in Bradford, West Yorkshire is available for £30 for a night. In the comments, overall people were fairly impressed with the offering. One person said: “For the price, it actually looks good.”

Another viewer added: “30 quid! “I’ve stayed in worse for 100.” A third agreed, describing the property as a “bargain”. However, a few pointed out that the garage doesn’t have windows which would leave them feeling a little closed in, with some questioning the planning permission that would have been obtained to build the room in the first place.

Of course if you are thinking of a stay in Bradford, there are plenty of other Airbnb stays you can book which are entire homes, and not a room in a garage. For a similar price to the £30-a-night garage stay, you can also find hotel rooms from £38 a night with Skyscanner.

Have you got a quirky stay or holiday story you want to share? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com.

PHOENIX — The first pitch of the Dodgers’ 2026 season won’t capture the exuberance of the last pitch of 2025. But it will be meaningful in its own right, as the official first step of the team’s quest for a third straight championship.

How poetic that the same arm should deliver both pitches.

“It’s an honor for me,” Dodgers opening day starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto said Tuesday through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “And then it’s opening day at a Dodger Stadium home game, and that’s very [much an] honor to me. I also feel the responsibility.”

Yamamoto is scheduled to make one more Cactus League start, against the Padres on Friday, before taking the Dodger Stadium mound next Thursday when the Diamondbacks come to town. It will be the second opening-day start of Yamamoto’s MLB career, and his first at home.

It will also mark the end of a whirlwind offseason and spring training for Yamamoto, who not only shouldered a demanding postseason workload, but also navigated an especially quick turnaround to pitch for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic.

“It’s hard to put into words,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He is just very driven, he’s very disciplined in his work. That’s some of the things that allows him to compete at a high level. Where most people would feel that you win the World Series MVP, you don’t have enough to pitch in the WBC. He wanted to pitch for his country, and now he’s really excited about the start of 2026.

“He is a very determined person. He really is. We’re just lucky he’s on our team.”

No one needs to be reminded that Yamamoto was a playoff hero last year, but let’s really break down his efforts.

On Oct. 14, Yamamoto made his third start of the postseason and threw a complete game against the Brewers to put the Dodgers ahead 2-0 in the NL Championship Series.

Eleven days later, he tossed another nine innings to help the Dodgers even the series against the Blue Jays. And he wrapped up the World Series with appearances on back-to-back days, starting Game 6 and finishing Game 7.

Yamamoto threw 526 pitches in the postseason, 235 in the World Series alone, and he still touched nearly 97 mph in his final inning of work.

Most pitchers would need at least a full offseason to recover. When Blake Snell slow-played his offseason because of lingering shoulder discomfort after the World Series run, the decision made all the sense in the world.

Yamamoto, however, was already pitching in meaningful games by March 6.

In Yamamoto’s first start of the WBC, he held Chinese Taipei hitless for 2 ⅔ innings. Then in the quarterfinal game against Venezuela last Saturday, he surrendered a leadoff homer to Ronald Acuña Jr. and a second-inning RBI double to Gleyber Torres before settling in for two scoreless innings. The eventual 8-5 loss eliminated Team Japan from the WBC.

“As Team Japan, the result was not what we were aiming for,” Yamamoto said. “But at a personal level, my condition was good.”

The season will be the true test for Yamamoto’s training methods, which have been infamous since before his transition from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, and are already spreading across the Dodgers’ clubhouse. Look no further than shortstop Mookie Betts this week lauding the effects of throwing a javelin.

If they continue to work, Yamamoto could be in the running for the Cy Young Award, after finishing third in National League voting last year.

“There’s high competition, there are a lot of great pitchers out there,” Yamamoto said, “but I hope that I get there.”

Yamamoto’s offseason work, however, wasn’t simply geared toward getting to opening day or winning an individual award. He knows as well as anyone that this team has set a high bar with back-to-back championships.

“The same goal,” Yamamoto said of 2026, “winning a world championship with this team.”

Now over four months removed from that final pitch of the 2025 World Series, one lesson has stuck with Yamamoto.

“I learned how difficult [it is] to get one win,” he said. “As a team, I want to be able to share that joy.”

A Strictly pro who joined the show in 2022 has shared two words that sum up their thoughts on former host Claudia Winkleman, who announced her departure last year

A professional dancer from Strictly Come Dancing has shared two words that sum up their thoughts on former host Claudia Winkleman. A Chinese Strictly pro who joined the show in 2022 and lifted the Glitterball trophy with former Lioness Karen Carney last year, Carlos Gu was recently quizzed about whether he’d like to step into Claudia and Tess Daly’s shoes.

In October last year, the duo shocked fans by announcing they would be stepping away from their joint presenting duties on the BBC programme, sparking widespread speculation about their replacements.

Carlos doesn’t seem eager to throw his hat into the ring, though, noting that he doesn’t believe he could “ever be a presenter,” but he did have some kind things to say about the former hosts.

In a recent interview, Carlos was asked if he would like to take over from Claudia and Tess, to which he replied that he “didn’t see this coming” and that he loves them both.

He told Best Magazine’s Suddenly Single podcast: “I love Claudia and Tess. I love both of them. They are just iconic and obsessed about Claudia, too, personally. I love her.”

It was then suggested that Claudia was “kooky,” to which Carlos responded: “Very witty, very cool.” And, when it was claimed that the Traitors star “doesn’t like looking in the mirror,” he added that she knows her “value.”

Carlos continued: “No, it’s just, oh, she’s a woman who knows her value, and she knows everything about herself, and she’s so confident with it, which is so powerful. Like, Tess is, too, you know.”

In response to the original question, the dancer explained that he was a “born performer” and would “die on stage,” but doesn’t think he could “ever be a presenter.”

At the time of their announcement, Claudia and Tess shared a message on Instagram that reflected on their time on the show, noting that they “loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream.”

It represents the end of a remarkable 21-year journey for Tess, who, in addition to Claudia, also revealed that they were “always going to leave together” and that they felt it was the “right time.”

Speaking on Instagram, Tess shared: “After 21 unforgettable years, the time has come to say goodbye to Strictly Come Dancing. It’s hard to put into words what this show has meant to me, so here goes…

“Strictly has been more than just a television programme. It’s felt like having a third child, a second family, and a huge part of my life since that very first show back in 2004. I knew then it was something special, but I could never have imagined the magic it would bring.

“Strictly has always been about joy, celebration, and bringing people together – and I’m so proud to have played a small part in something that continues to mean so much to so many.”