LOS ANGELES

AT LENGTH-“The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” — U.S. Constitution, Article II, section 4 

CAL MATTERS--To me, California has always been an amazing place with a wondrous geography far more diverse than the other two largest states.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Money is not the root of all evil; even the love of money is not the root of all evil.

CLIMATE POLITICS--Five years ago: Nations of the world met in Paris to draft a climate agreement that was subsequently accepted by nearly every country in the world, stating that global temperatures must not exceed +2C pre-industrial. Global emissions must be cut! Fossil fuel usage must be cut! 

EASTSIDER-Last month, when we visited the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council, they had a major blow-up over a proposal to totally revamp their Land Use Committee; directly by the Board itself. This month, the food fight continued. 

ALPERN AT LARGE-As the impeachment circus in the House (hardcore Democrats probably think that Trump and his supporters are the clowns, while hardcore Republicans probably think that Pelosi, Schiff, and Nadler and their supporters are the clowns) moves now (or not) to the Senate, we're still where we were a decade ago. 

RANTZ & RAVEZ-I submit my column for publication every other week and this will be my final column for 2019.

SOUTH OF THE 10-During a week when American workers have hope with the coming United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and a phase one trade deal with China driven by President Trump, key leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) are driving to restore the status quo of anemic wages and high unemployment to their communities back home by attempting to unseat Trump, the only president in recent history to move the economic needle for blacks in America.

ENERGY POLITICS-Powerful forces are quickly moving Pacific Gas & Electric towards a settlement on its hideously complex multi-billion-dollar bankruptcy case. Thankfully, Gov. Gavin Newsom has put at least a temporary hold on a final agreement.

PERSPECTIVE-As we all know, the largest US corporations and their chief executives were the main beneficiaries of Trump’s so-called tax reform in 2017.

PLANNING WATCH-A municipal version of the dog bites man story surfaced last week, with another METRO report that ridership on buses, subways, and light rail has declined yet again. 

AN ARTIFICIAL CRISIS-Something doesn’t make much sense to me that our major metropolitan areas, all with tens of thousands of homeless people on their streets, would simultaneously have four to five empty housing units sitting vacant per person for everyone sleeping outside.

LA SKID ROW POLITICS-Skid Row is commonly known as “The Homeless Capital of America,” so any court decisions directly affect the epicenter of homelessness in the United States. 

GELFAND’S WORLD--I guess we do live in interesting times. Of the three occasions in American history that a president has been impeached by the House of Representatives, this is the most meritorious – possibly the only truly meritorious case out of the three.

OTHER WORDS-A lawsuit is taking on the University of California system’s use of the SAT and ACT standardized tests in admissions. The suit claims the tests are “deeply biased and provide no meaningful information about a student’s ability to succeed.” 

ONE MAN’S OPINION-One of the greatest fears of our Founding Fathers was unbridled passion.

@THE GUSS REPORT-My family is emerging from a month-long haze because we recently let go of Morsel, a beautiful, intelligent and resilient special needs rescue dog who came from the high-kill Los Angeles Animal Services during Eric Garcetti’s disastrous and inhumane time as Mayor of LA – a leader who misled the public about what the words euthanasia and no kill really mean.

VIEW FROM HERE--According to most climate scientists, emissions would need to start falling next year by 7.6% annually and continue at that rate for a decade in order for the world to have any chance of hitting the widely accepted targets for stopping global warming. 

VOICES--Not many people noticed when, in early December, the California Court of Appeals reversed a ruling by a lower court in the case Beachwood Canyon Neighborhood Association [BCNA] vs. the City of Los Angeles. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--Something terrible happened in New Jersey--a couple of Jew-hating losers killed a police officer and several Jews at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City. And, of course, their Jew-hatred extended well-beyond Jews (of whom they believe they are the "true" Jewish people). 

BCK FILE--When the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia, it’s almost as if they had a crystal ball to foretell a president who would abuse the office in order to achieve, hold onto, and expand his powers.