LOS ANGELES

GELFAND’S WORLD--How can any nominally sane person miss the point that the current government shutdown is just another one of Trump's distractions?

DEEGAN ON LA-Part of the bigger conversation about the homeless in Los Angeles is just how many there are?

@TheGussReport – (This is the first of a series of in-depth reports on the current investigation into the possibility of corruption at Los Angeles City Hall.) On Sunday, the LA Times published a story on how the FBI’s recent raid on the City Hall offices of City Councilmember Jose Huizar as well as on the home he shares with his politically crafty wife Richelle, are part of a broader investigation on Southern California political corruption. 

GUEST COMMENTARY--There were potent responses aplenty to last night's "stream of lies" and "racist pablum" oozing from a once-sacrosanct Oval Office - Ocasio-Cortez: "What we are seeing right now is death" - but we'll add one roof-raising amen from the Blackish-star Jenifer Lewis, Brandy and Roz Ryan.

CORRUPTION WATCH-Americans are accustomed to a military that stays out of politics, but throughout most of world history, the military has played a pivotal role.

FIRST PERSON-Our long-failing still segregated model of “non-education” at LAUSD needs to end and the looming strike by UTLA teachers might just be the best and most efficient way to accomplish this.

ALPERN AT LARGE--It's not the first time, nor will it be the last time, that the concept of "that will neeeeeever happen" has been proven, but it bears repeating.

WEHOVILLE REPORT--Timothy M. Dean, the 55-year-old African-American man found dead on Monday in the Laurel Avenue apartment of Ed Buck, has been identified as an employee of Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, a member of the National Gay Basketball Association and a recently baptized member of OneLA, a religious group based at the Potters House Church on La Brea Avenue. (This is the second person found dead in Buck’s apartment within the past year. See that report here.) 

BUDGET ADVOCATES--At a meeting on January 7, the Budget Advocates passed a motion to send a letter to the Health, Education and Neighborhoods Councils Committee; the Budget and Finance Committee; and the Board of Neighborhoods Councils to advise you all of our serious concerns about certain actions taken by DONE General Manager Grayce Liu and these actions impact on the work of the Budget Advocates.

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-During the Fall Semester I taught a course for 4^th year city planning students at California State University-Northridge (CSUN). Their research revealed more details about the proposed Purple Line “transit neighborhood plan” than City Planning has offered up after spending millions of METRO grant dollars. 

GUEST WORDS--A small group of parents and children were enjoying an impromptu visit to Averill Park in San Pedro.

CAL MATTERS--In one of his first official actions, Gov. Gavin Newsom has directed that state agencies, including the one that oversees Medi-Cal, negotiate as a block to demand prescription drug makers lower their prices.

DANGERS OF IDENTITY POLITICS-I’ve long had a penchant for writing about the absurdities — and counter-productiveness — of a certain kind of moral hyperventilation coming from my fellow liberals.

EASTSIDER-It has always puzzled me that City Council members get paid about $200,000 per year to do nothing (the highest paid in the nation), and yet that is apparently not enough. Particularly when it comes to Airbnb. 

JUST SAYIN’--I don’t think anyone in Washington is actually offended by Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s use of profanity.

BREAKING-A black man in his 50s was found dead early Monday at the West Hollywood apartment of Ed Buck, a prominent Democratic donor associated with a different death in his home last year.

CORRUPTION WATCH-Obviously, one should not ask why a non-teleological universe gave rise to teleological sentience. The practical question is: what are the objectives of our communities? 

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION REVISTED-In 1995, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan declared, “Sometime in the next century the United States is going to have to address the question of apportionment in the Senate.” Perhaps that time has come.

FIRST PERSON--If United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) President Alex Caputo Pearl and the other leaders of the union really want to achieve their demands for a school work place environment with reasonable class size, administrative support for discipline, fair compensation for teachers, and an end to targeting teachers for removal who seek these and other excellent education goals, they need the support of their students' parents to join them in striking/boycotting LAUSD schools, which will cut off the Average Daily Attendance (ADA) funding from the State of California, based on in-seat student attendance, which regrettably is the only thing that those running LAUSD actually care about.

RANTZ & RAVEZ--It was a nice Friday evening when I met my son for dinner.  He is a commercial airline pilot with a major airline and is often out of town in other parts of the world enjoying the life of a pilot. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--Those of us who've watched, who've advocated for, and who've critiqued the Green Line for years have noted its potential and its shortcomings.