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Thu, Mar

LAUSD Makes It Official: The Charter School Fox is Now In the Henhouse

EDUCATION POLITICS-Under District rules, every charter that is submitted to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) for approval must contain District Required Language (DRL). Some of this language simply ensures that the charter conforms to the California Education Code. Other sections cover requirements specific to the LAUSD, like conforming to the Chanda Smith Modified Consent Decree.

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Judicial ‘Code Words’ Benefit the Well-Connected in California

CORRUPTION WATCH-The use of code words has no honest role in clean government. Yet this is exactly what the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye, does. Using code words to signal to other people in the corrupt judiciary hierarchy, she makes her dictates known but escapes responsibility for her actions. 

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Brown’s Bid to Finesse Trump’s National Guard Plan

CAL BUZZ--Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday yielded to President Donald Trump’s request for troops to control the Mexican border, agreeing to supply 400 members of the California National Guard for “targeting transnational criminal gangs, human traffickers and illegal firearm and drug smugglers along the border, the coast and throughout the state.”

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The Lost Honor of Ref Rodriguez

EDUCATION POLITICS-The story of LAUSD School Board member and former President Ref Rodriguez gets more pathetic. Hewas arrested recently on suspicion of being drunk in public at a Pasadena restaurant. 

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SB 827 Amendments: Affordability, Transit Lines, Height, Ellis Act Protections & More

THE VIEW FROM HERE-California has a housing deficit approaching 4 million homes, and our housing shortage is a huge threat to our state’s diversity, economy, environment, and quality of life. I introduced SB 827 to create more opportunities for housing where we need it  --  near public transportation. SB 827 increases housing density near transit while still retaining significant local control. 

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Public Ed on the Brink: Teachers Must Stand Up to Corporate Greed

FIRST PERSON-For anyone who bothers to look -- since school districts like LAUSD make no attempt to hide it -- there is an ongoing history of illegal attacks on, and removal of, thousands of expensive high seniority teachers from coast to coast on clearly fabricated charges. This is happening because they are too costly for school districts that are themselves in dire financial straits due to their own malfeasance. 

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Predatory Judicial Abuse is Passim

CORRUPTION WATCH-Passim is a legal word referring to something one finds throughout a system. For instance, raisins are passim in Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon Swirl Bread with frosting on top. Thousands of times each day, some poor soul is being screwed in some court in California. That does not mean that every case and every hearing is corrupt. And just as there are ingredients other than raisins in the Pepperidge Farm bread, not every judge is abusive, but all are complicit by silence. 

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LA’s Dystopian Future

BELL VIEW--The other day, driving West on Hollywood Boulevard, while stopped at the light at Hollywood and Western, I heard small, frantic voice to my left screaming “Wait! Wait! Wait!”  

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Abusing Authority: Why Scott Pruitt Matters

EASTSIDER-For too much of my life, I’ve been involved with government -- working as an employee of public agencies, representing public employees before administrative bodies, and even running two administrative agencies themselves. That’s why I can’t simply let EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s behavior get a pass. 

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The Impending Aesthetics of Displacement (or, Why the North Westlake Design District Is Just Another YIMBY Policy)

VOICES--In January of 2018, at a community meeting organized by the Coalition to Defend Westlake (CDW), city planner Craig Weber advocated for the North Westlake Design District (NWDD), stating “It’s important to the city to create an environment that is conducive to walking and does not take a step backward and reorient toward the automobile.”

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Gaslighting Californians:  No, You're NOT Crazy, But Your Government is Trying to Make You Think You’re a Whack Job

ALPERN AT LARGE--Word of the day: GASLIGHTING.  This happens increasingly in the United States, and throughout the world, but especially here in California.  Gaslighting, as per Wikipedia, is a form of manipulation that sows seeds of doubt in an individual or members of a targeted group, hoping to make them question their memory, perception, and sanity. 

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The Doctor is In … the CA Insurance Commissioner Race

BCK FILE--As a Southern California pulmonologist and doctor of internal medicine, Dr. Asif Mahmood (photo above, right)has been at the frontline of healthcare in Southern California for 18 years.. The physician says the issue of healthcare has never been more important and he has specific ideas about what’s needed to turn the state around. 

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SB 831: Senator Wiener’s Wacky World on Steroids Must be Defeated!

CALL TO ACTION-On January 4, 2018, Senator Bob Wieckowski introduced SB 831, a bill that would have amended the just-last-year enacted "Granny Flats" sections of state law to require, rather than simply permit, cities, states and other municipalities to provide by ordinance for the creation of "junior accessory dwelling units", or so-called ADUs. 

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Sanctuary Cities … Like Los Angeles …  are Sacred Spaces

PERSPECTIVE--According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) states that: "In 2016 in the Buffalo region, which includes Syracuse, there were 1,103 administrative arrests by ICE.  Of those, 160 were non-criminals. For 2017, there were 396 non-criminal arrests by ICE out of 1,494 total." Four months into 2018, it appears that those numbers are going to skyrocket. 

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