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THE VIEW FROM HERE - Note: Centrists are people; extremism refers to a movement. Centrists are individuals who chose not to register as members of any political party because they want to judge each and every issue based on the pertinent facts to that issue and not based upon some imposed Narrative as both Woke and MAGA insist on doing. Centrists need to remain unaligned with other people’s philosophies as well as developing their own dogmas. Creating a movement, e.g., Centrism, will result in establishment of rules, doctrines, and accepted beliefs. One debilitating impact of organized Centrism movement will be to interfere with individuals’ agreeing with a various views of MAGA or Wokeism, which they may think correct. As happens with political movements, certain people will insist on being leaders who seek to impose a degree of thought control on their members. When a person can stand up and proclaim, “my followers think this or that,” that are gathering personal power for themselves and shutting the varied opinions of Centrists. On the other hand, in opposing “Extremism” and not Extremists,” tends to keep our ideas on concepts, while the term “Extremists” focuses on people. Because Centrists by their nature oppose polarization, it is necessary for each individual Centrist to remain free adopt his own unique viewpoint.
See Fight Extremism. Regain Your Power By Quitting
Centrists’ Big Victory
Right now, with Trump’s MAGA rampaging, we may not realize that Centrists dealt Extremism a huge blow in the November 2025 election. After Centrists saw the harm that Woke DEI was doing to the nation, enough Centrists, be they nominal GOP or Dem, or Independents, voted to kill off Woke DEI. The choice between the two extremes, MAGA vs. Woke, was not easy. While MAGA is a cult based on Trump, Woke is a system which has deeply ingrained itself into our government, businesses, and educational system without any constitutional process. Wokeism substituted Group Rights, aka Identity Politics, in place of individual inalienable rights and sought to replace the Republic with its rule of law with a democracy where there is no rule of law – under a democracy, law is whatever the majority most recently wanted. A constitutional democracy is an oxymoron.
Because Wokeism nullifies both individual inalienable rights and the rule of law which are hallmarks of the Republic, whoever claims a mandate based upon winning an election feels entitled to do what he was. As Trump declared, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”
Fairness is a Key American Value
The Declaration’s all men have inalienable rights spring from the inherent notion of fairness. Even puppy dogs recognize unfairness. The only way to be fair to each person is to develop a mutually cooperative government whose purpose is to protect individual rights. People ignore that the fact that every right has a correlative duty. People love their rights and tend to ignore their duties. However, the duty to respect everyone else’s rights makes a functional society. The inalienable right to Liberty is an illusion, if others when Woke DEI ignores your qualifications to select a less qualified person because selected person’s ancestors had been treated badly. Under Woke DEI individual merit could for nothing so that society’s goodies can be doled out on the basis of one’s membership in some ascriptive group. Woke DEI is nothing more than White Supremacy philosophy resurrected in favor of minorities. Despite years of warnings, the Woke DEI got bitten hard in the November 2024 elections. See The Danger of Wokeism
What Can Centrists Do – #1 Admit the Problem
People fail to realize that Los Angeles faces the same Woker danger as the nation, but hopefully Angelenos can avoid a poison pill like Trumpism. Angelenos are slow to recognize that Mayor Bass has the same political instincts as Trump, although in a weaker version. Left unchecked, Mayor Bass and the Wokers on the city council will magnify their use of political violence on others. In fact, Mayor Bass has employed the tactic of political violence since she took office. see Mayor Flunked Her 1st Test.
It appears that Mayor Bass is condoning political violence against journalists who displease her. Recently in January 2025, three city council aides for Councilmember Harris-Dawson (CD 8) physically incident against the award-winning reporter Daniel Guss. In June 2024 there was harassment of Guss by LAPD’s Enrico Luigi DiNapoli. Daniel Guss Intimidation by gangsters and politicos start with smaller acts, sometimes innuendoes. If the target continues to assert his rights, the political aggression becomes worse. In light of Mayor Karen Bass’s protecting BLM member Jason Reedy for his videotaped stalking, harassment, and assault and battery on councilmember Kevin DeLeon, journalist Guss has no reasonable expectation that the intimidation on him will stop.
Stalking is a crime: PC § 464.9. The core words of PC § 464.9 are: “. . . willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly follows or willfully and maliciously harasses another person and who makes a credible threat with the intent to place that person in reasonable fear for his or her safety, or the safety of his or her immediate family is guilty of the crime of stalking.”
Notice the element of reasonable fear of one’s safety. In light of threats of physical violence and actual violence against city councilmembers and Jews, Mr. Guss has a reasonable fear that the physical violence by Mayor Bass’s allies will increase. He has no reasonable expectation that the LAPD will protect him, just that did not protect Nury Martinez and her family.
In light of the stalking by Mayor Bass supporters of city council president Nury Martinez including threats against her son and the LAPD refusal to provide any protection, Nury Martinez resigned as city council president. Later when Jewish students at UCLA were being stalked and harassed by Hamas supporters, Mayor Bass did nothing. In fact, only when Bass went out of town, did the LAPD, which had broken up the encampment at USC weeks earlier, the Inglewood PD, the Santa Monica PD, and the CPA organize to dismantled the UCLA encampment. Later on August 13, 2024, federal Judge Mark Scarsi found that the UCLA encampment members had in fact harassed Jewish student due to their status of being observant Jews.What Can Centrists – Do #2 Public Records Requests
Each individual has a powerful tool to hold power mongers and abusers be they MAGA or Wokers responsible, i.e. California Public Records Act, (Government Code section 7920.520.)
Any person may request and obtain copies of any writing including emails which a public official or his office possesses. The emails do not have to be written by or directed to the public official, it merely has to be in their possession.
Why Gov’t Code § 7920.520 is Such a Great Tool
When a major holds a press conference an spews a series of lies about what she fired LAFD Chief Crowley, it does no good to ask Bass or her cohorts any questions, since lie and lie, á la Donald Trump, will flow forth. However, when some member of the public sends a CPRA request, “Please produce each and every writing between the Mayor’s office and the LAPD concerning the fire risk. This requests all writings including emails between Jan 1, 2025 and February 1, 2024.”, the city has to provide the Writings. There is no rational reason to wait until some long biased investigation is concluded 2 years from now. Under CPRA, the writings must be provided within 10 days, with possible 14 day extension. In other words, a CPRA request acts within real time and the public can see that the Writings say — not what the city hall politicos pretend they say.
Not surprisingly LA, Mayor Bass and most city departments and personnel hate to produce incriminating evidence and thus they will stall, stall, stall. Such tactics tell the public that the Mayor’s representations were false. When the city jacks around the requester, he may hire an attorney to obtain sound legal advice and not rely on a citywatch column alerting him to his options. If the Requester wins his lawsuit, the city has to pay the requester’s costs and attorney fees. An attorney who practices CPRA law will know whether a lawsuit will succeed and will usually agree to defer his compensation until hie wins the lawsuit. The more trouble the city causes fort the attorney, the more attorney fees it will owe.
It takes a little while to get the hang of making CPRA requests, but it is a tool which a Centrist may use without getting anyone else’s consent. Centrists make judgements based on facts and thus the more Centrists master making these CPRA requests, the more facts which will be disclosed.
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected])
