LOS ANGELES

DIGITAL WIZARDS MISS THE BOAT-From the VC “masters of the universe” on Sand Hill Road and Y Combinator to the social media FAANG monopolists to the adolescent male libertarian bros with their internet startups — all share the fundamentalist faith in electricity.   

GUEST COMMENTARY--Here’s how to put an end to PG&E’s reign of error. 

PLANNING WATCH-In the United States one of seven adults goes to bed hungry, and the plight of children is even worse; one in five do not get enough to eat! In Los Angeles, the Regional Food Bank reports that 2,000,000 Los Angeles County residents are food deprived.

EASTSIDER-Back in 2009, Fred Buenrostro and Alfred Villalobos were simply CalPERS insider crooks who got caught and sent to jail.

ALPERN AT LARGE--Happy Halloween, everybody! Want to hear a good joke? Here goes:

VIEW FROM HERE-If any theory of psychology explains the fierce devotion motivating Trump's base, it has to be social identity theory, an idea popularized by the social psychologist Henri Tajfel (1919-1982) in the 1970s. 

@THE GUSS REPORT-A frantic LA City Council president Herb Wesson released a statement a few days ago in the wake of a front-page story in the LA Times on his latest self-dealing, corrupt move involving one of his sons, claiming that the story is a “hit piece” funded by those seeking to derail his shaky campaign to become the next LA County Supervisor from the 2^nd District. 

HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT--California State Sen. Scott Wiener continues to roll in campaign cash from Big Real Estate.

SOUTH OF THE 10--The site will be the home of the Los Angeles Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams plus Super Bowl LVI in 2022 and the College Football National Championship in 2023 and the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2028 Olympic Games.

DC DISPATCH-In the Arab world, there are widespread prejudices against dogs -- for some, because of the belief that they are dirty animals that spread disease and for others because of various sayings allegedly attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (but nowhere in the actual Koran) describing dogs as unclean and unworthy animals.

GUEST WORDS--The U.S. Constitution provides, in Article II, Section 4, three grounds for the impeachment of a president: (1) Treason; (2) Bribery, and (3) other High Crimes and Misdemeanors.

RED FLAG CRISIS--With wildfires raging across California on Wednesday—and with portions of the state living under an unprecedented "Extreme Red Flag Warning" issued by the National Weather Service due to the severe conditions—some climate experts are openly wondering if this kind of harrowing "new normal" brought on by the climate crisis could make vast regions of the country entirely uninhabitable.

AT LENGTH-Just the other day I read a story about how the government’s response to the housing crisis isn’t hitting the mark.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Trump’s craven betrayal of the Kurds will forever stain American honor, as well as have a devastating impact on our ability to form allies forever.

NEW GEOGRAPHY-This early 1900s house, after the neighborhood had been rezoned for apartments, declined in value to $7,000 in the 1970s. Being rezoned single-family brought decades of revitalization that raised the value of neighborhood homes like this one to $700,000. 

@The GUSS REPORT-It isn’t the crime, but the cover-up. Last week, CityWatch published my latest column showing how LA Times’ City Hall reporters allow corrupt-o-crat politicians like LA City Council president Herb Wesson to dodge and screen questions even though they had good reason to explore – but didn’t – the bigger issue of whether the perpetually cash-strapped lawmaker used current and former staffers to pressure businesses for freebies and discounts for the wedding of his son, Justin Wesson, to Alexis Marin, both of whom are LA City Council aides.  

OTHER WORDS-Earlier this month, famed astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson appeared on The Late Show, where host Stephen Colbert asked Tyson about the allegations of sexual misconduct four women had brought against him. 

BCK FILE--Last week 18 pounds of fentanyl were seized in Orange County, enough of the synthetic opioid to create 4 million lethal doses.

ALPERN AT LARGE-The fires are now ablaze in the mountains near the Getty Center, and local schools and highways are now closed.

CAL MATTERS--In the months until a new law takes effect, tenants rights advocates are scrambling to combat what they say is a wave of landlords exploiting a temporary loophole. Could it have been avoided?  

GELFAND’S WORLD--Counting on my fingers, I come up with a total of 6 general managers of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) over its brief lifetime.