LOS ANGELES

AT LENGTH-That the national broadcast media gave up prime time television minutes in exchange for a metaphoric shadow boxing match over the border wall is telling in and of itself.

ALPERN AT LARGE--Sometimes our worst fears are realized. Sometimes life imitates art (in this case, the movies).

@THE GUSS REPORT-Well that took long enough! On January 8, Southern California Congressman Ted Lieu (Photo above-right) finally announced he washed his hands of $18,500 in tainted campaign donations he received from controversial Democratic fundraiser Ed Buck. 

NEW GEOGRAPHY--The Democratic Party’s triumphal romp through suburbia was the big story of the midterms.

SAVING OUR SCHOOLS-Austin Beutner, the current Superintendent of LAUSD, was essentially appointed to his position by Eli Broad and his Billionaire Buddies who funded their charter school supporting candidates for the Board of Education.

BCK FILE--“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” --Donald J. Trump, presidential announcement speech, June 16, 2015

FIRST PERSON-I can't think of a better way of accelerating the corporate takeover and privatization of public education with corporate run charter schools than UTLA going on strike at this time.

GUEST COMMENTARY--Leaders and Board members of Los Angeles Unified School District would like the public to believe that the teachers strike is all about salary.

DEAR MR. BEUTNER--You don’t know my two children who attend LAUSD schools or me.

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.