NEW GEOGRAPHY--A critical component in the rise of market-oriented democracy in the modern era has been the dispersion of property ownership among middle-income households

LA WATCHDOG--The self-righteous and power hungry State legislators from San Francisco are cooking up legislation that will strip local control from City Hall.

OTHER WORDS-You’ve heard the cliché: If you’re taking heat from “both sides,” you must be doing something right.

AN ANIMAL STORY-I recently responded to a casting call for a reality TV show. Producers were seeking folks to confess crimes—secret crimes for which they’d never been caught.

CONNECTING CALIFORNIA-Of all the lies Californians tell ourselves, one of the biggest is that we hate earthquakes. The unspoken truth is that we love earthquakes, as well we should. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--For those of us looking beyond the soap opera in Washington ("Go back to where you came from?"

GELFAND’S WORLD--The tension is almost unbearable. And that’s just watching the PBS recreation of the Apollo 11 mission that culminated in the moon walks of July 20, 1969.

JUST SAYIN’--As I navigate life as a queer disabled woman, I frequently think of Yale political scientist James C. Scott’s concept of the “weapons of the weak.” 

EASTSIDER-This one is going to tear up the communities in Northeast LA for a long, long time, particularly Eagle Rock, Glassell Park and adjoining areas. 

DEEGAN ON LA-Ella Fitzgerald had it right when she belted out “Too Darn Hot,” the song written by Cole Porter for his musical, “Kiss Me, Kate” in 1948.

RANTZ & RAVEZ-For the skeptics among you who are reading this edition of RantZ and RaveZ, if you think that I’m going to continue discussing the ever-increasing homeless population in Los Angeles and beyond, please read on… 

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Rats, disease, pestilence are merely symptoms of a city run by criminals.

RACE WAR--A racist chant against Rep. Ilhan Omar by backers of President Donald Trump during a rally in North Carolina Wednesday night was countered by an outpouring of solidarity with the Minnesota congresswoman as progressive activists, members of Congress, and ordinary Americans vowed to continue defending Omar against the right's bigoted and dangerous attacks.

@THE GUSS REPORT-My days start in pitch darkness, but rarely are those wee hours of stretching and caffeine the highlight of the day, like last week when I received an overnight message that actor Robert Blake saw my recent column about him and wanted to talk. 

CHARTER WARS-An email thread documenting the unseemly coziness between LA schools superintendent Austin Beutner and the California charter school lobby set off political pyrotechnics late last month when the investigative blog — and indefatigable California public records miner — Michael Kohlhaas dot org published a cache of documents revealing the covert relationship in the midst of last year’s contract stalemate with UTLA.