GELFAND’S WORLD--It's a striking pair of photos. Here is Nikolai Yezhov standing next to Joseph Stalin as they view a Moscow canal. [photo 1]

MINIMUM WAGE-Opponents of raising the minimum wage have seized on a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office that estimated that increasing it to $15 an hour by 2025 would cause 1.4 million Americans to lose their jobs.

PLANNING WATCH-Political pundits have found a path to job security.

TALKING TRANSIT-I began riding buses in 1992 to reduce my share of pollution-producing driving

CALIFORNIA--Defenders of the open internet celebrated a major victory late Tuesday after a federal judge ruled that a California law establishing strong net neutrality protections can take effect, a severe blow to the telecom giants that spent big money trying to kill the measure through aggressive lobbying and litigation.

EASTSIDER-First, we have another Superior Court Judge requiring the City to do something about sheltering LA’s homeless.

LESSONS FROM CLIMATE CHANGE-As Texas battles a severe snowstorm and mass power outages this winter, Tim Boyd, the now-former Republican mayor of Colorado City, revealed his party’s plan for the deadly extreme temperatures linked to climate change.

RAND GETS HIS ANATOMY CONFUSED--The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a joint hearing to confirm Surgeon General Nominee Dr. Vivek Murphy and Dr. Levine, who is transgender and is the current surgeon general for Pennsylvania.

THE DOCTOR IS IN--Sometimes I wonder if this nation really does want to get on with our lives and past this pandemic...or at least whether its political leadership wishes to resolve and move on from this dreadful interruption in all of our lives. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Since 2010 the seminal obligation of Los Angeles Animal Services to maintain animal-law enforcement and protection has been intentionally destabilized by General Manager Brenda Barnette in her mania to achieve the Best Friends Animal Society mythical "No Kill" goal. 

FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS-If you are wondering how your tax dollars are spent on addressing the homeless crisis in Santa Monica, do not ask the City as they would likely not be able to answer.

MY TURN--America is plagued by two similar phenomena, corruption and Corruptionism, and it is important for voters to distinguish between the two. 

HELP FOR HOMELESS-At tomorrow’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Kathryn Barger will introduce a motion, coauthored by Chair Hilda L. Solis, that looks to identify commercial real estate property across Los Angeles County that could be repurposed for critically needed temporary housing for people experiencing homelessness as well as for long term affordable housing.

CLIMATE POLITICS-January 29 marked the day the United States of America rejoined the Paris Climate Accords and is back in the global fight against the climate chaos, which is inevitable if we follow business as usual, now termed RCP (representative concentration pathway) 8.5.  

DEMOCRACY AT STAKE-The invasion of the Capitol on January 6 now stands alongside 9/11 as an act of war against American democracy. Unsurprisingly, news coverage of the incursion has come to resemble war propaganda.