VOICES

ENVIRONMENT - The United States uses about 100 billion plastic bags every year. By 2050, a report at the World Economic Forum predicted there will be as much plastic in the world’s oceans as fish. 

GUEST COMMENTARY - Three local elected United States representatives turned their backs on the protection of Women's rights namely the right of Choice which led up to the recent decision by the United States Supreme Court to overturn Roe vs Wade. 

MID TERM ELECTION - Prospects for Democrats winning in November in the House and Senate have picked up recently.

ELECTION POLITICS - Two-thirds of the way through 2022, the political situation is quite different than it appeared to be on January 1.

GUEST COMMENTARY - Barak Obama’s presidential portrait will finally hang in the White House after the traditional, official ceremony.

THE DOCTOR IS IN - Contrary to current popular media groupthink and echo chambers, no one in their right mind wants to live in an unhealthy environment.

GUEST COMMENTARY - In the 1970s, I met one of Hitler’s leading propagandists, Leni Riefenstahl, whose epic films glorified the Nazis.

GUEST COMMENTARY - Before I even get into the guts of this argument, just ask yourself:

MY THOUGHTS - Before I start this week’s column, I want to say a few words about my late departed friend CW Publisher, Ken Draper. 

OP-ED - It was the honor of my life to serve the people of Los Angeles and the State of California over a 20-year public service career.

GUEST COMMENTARY - There was no leader in the twentieth century who did more to end the Cold War, the over-militarization of his country, and the reliance on nuclear weaponry than Mikhail S. Gorbachev. 

THE VIEW FROM HERE - Two factors precede most civil wars: (1) The breaking of established cultural norms based on shared values, and (2) division along ethnic, religious or race lines. 

ACCORDING TO LIZ - Labor sounds awfully intense in this Trumpian era of self-indulgence. Do people really want to celebrate work? 

DRUG OVERDOSES - In February 2021, 16-year-old, straight-A student Sammy Berman Chapman asked his dad for a cheeseburger. 

GUEST COMMENTARY - The last few decades have seen the emergence of two rival economies:

STUDENT LOANS - President Biden’s student loan debt forgiveness plan is like a dirty band-aid on a festering wound.

THE VIEW FROM HERE - On Sunday, August 27, 2022, 60 Minutes ran a story about terrorist attacks on the power grid. 

ACCORDING TO LIZ - In the fable about the three little pigs, the big bad wolf huffed and puffed and blew down the house made of straw and the house made of wood, but when his hot air made no impact on the solidly built brick house of the third pig, he tried to sneak down the chimney and ended up in the soup pot.

GUEST COMMENTARY - Social Security advocates on Wednesday applauded Democrats including U.S. President Joe Biden for their defense of the popular program as Republicans recycle false claims that the nation will soon be unable to pay for the program's benefits,

GUN VIOLENCE - Among the many ironies and hypocrisies leading up to the 2022 midterms, one deserving special mention is Trump's and the GOP's unremitting claim that America has become more violent and dangerous under Biden and the Democrats.

GUEST COMMENTARY - During the summer of 1967, I wrote my second novel in an apartment in the Echo Park Lake section of Los Angeles.