In the News
The Trump Administration's Latest Outrage is More George Orwell Than George Carlin
On the face of it, this comes across as downright scary -- an escalation in the right wing war on science. It is reminiscent of Orwell's invention in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the agency known as the Ministry of Truth. This is of cou…
New Marijuana Law Punishes 18-20 Year Old Students, Employees
GUEST COMMENTARY--ON January 1, the new State and City Marijuana laws kick in.
Merry Christmas from the Mission Inn: A Mission In Pedestrian-Friendly, Business-Friendly Walkways
ALPERN AT LARGE--Yes, my family is Jewish, but we love our annual holiday retreats to the Mission Inn in Riverside. The staff is friendly…
Los Angeles: De-densify or Die!
CORRUPTION WATCH-The handwriting has been scribbled all over the walls for more than a decade – densification is killing Los Angeles. In fa…
How LA Helped Its Homeless During the Wildfires
LA CARES--The devastating impact of wildfires exploding across swaths of California is captured nightly in dramatic television footage. Lar…
GOP Tax Plan Targets California’s Elderly … Safety Nets Getting Cut
SLICING AWAY AT THE SAFETY NET-The Senate’s version of tax reform, 479 pages with last-minute, handwritten changes in the margins, passed s…
City Council President Stepping Deeper into Free Speech Do Do
@THE GUSS REPORT-It is the proverbial loose thread on the free speech sweater. It should not have been pulled, but now that it has, it will…
Christmas Card for the Metropolitan Tenants: Happy Holidays! Now Get Out!
TENANTS’ RIGHTS-That's what City Councilman Mitch O'Farrell and United Way board member Jerry Neuman are permitting as they look the other…
California: Universal Health Care for Less $$$
CAL MATTERS-When the Legislature reconvenes and the campaigns for governor heat up next year, Californians will be hearing a lot – and a lo…
What Alabamians and Angelenos Have in Common
CORRUPTION WATCH- People love lies, myths and feel-good beliefs, but we shun facts. The sooner we recognize that our lives are founded on o…
United Nations Investigation Visits LA’s Skid Row … the World Needs to Know!
DTLA SKID ROW- Last week, Philip Alston, a United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, visited Skid Row in Downt…
The Danger of Race-Based Politics
RACISM CUTTING BOTH WAYS-Overall, perceptions of worsening racial relations have been building since the Obama years. And now, with everyth…
The Crime Debate Gets Louder, Bail Reform is Next
CAL MATTERS--California, which had led the nation in cracking down on crime in the 1980s and 1990s by locking up tens of thousands of felon…
‘RFPs … We Don’t Need No Stinking RFPs’
PREVEN REPORT--In California, public agencies are required to put major contracts out to bid, so why did the Mayor and City Council of Los…
Oh Lord, the Democratic Establishment Rides Again!
EASTSIDER-Just when I was going to do a column on Neighborhood Councils, the National Democratic Party struck again! I just don’t understan…
New Billboard Law Allows Flashing Ads Every 8 Seconds … Yes, It's That Bad
BILLBOARD BLIGHT-There will be hundreds of new digital billboards all across the city, flashing ad messages that change every eight seconds…
It’s Not Complicated
BELL VIEW--This morning we woke to news of a miracle in Alabama: a tough-on-crime prosecutor who brought justice to unrepentant terrorists…
First-Person Report: Cancer-Causing Chemicals Endanger SoCal Kids
‘I DON’T WANT TO DIE’-As a veteran teacher of 25 years, I‘ve heard children say a lot of things. But, in 2010 one of my second-grade studen…
City Hall Putting Its Thumb on the Land Use Scale
PLATKIN ON PLANNING-In the fanciful world of high school and college “civics” and political science classes, government is portrayed as a n…
Loser Trump: Uniquely Awful and at the Tipping Point
POLITICS-Does Tuesday’s election of Doug Jones as Alabama’s first Democratic U.S. Senator in more than two decades signal the beginning of…
