LOS ANGELES

EDUCATION POLITICS--2018 has been a pivotal year for teachers. In West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, Kentucky, Colorado, and North Carolina, teachers walked out of their classrooms and into the streets, demanding their grievances be addressed.

PERSPECTIVE--After weeks of increasingly absurd stories, Saudi Arabia has admitted that Jamal Khashoggi—an American permanent resident, Saudi citizen, and Washington Post columnist—was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2, and Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor has even said that it was premeditated, though the country still denies any high-level involvement.

GUEST COMMENTARY--The company that Los Angeles City contracts with to raise revenues by advertising in bus shelters and kiosks advises that a legal cannabis business in a legal brick and mortar store CAN NOT advertise on their street furniture. 

RANTZ & RAVEZ-Well, Well, the time has finally arrived for you to VOTE for candidates and ballot measures that will impact your pocketbook, family, community and the nation.

CORRUPTION WATCH-Matters have become so dire that only Pogo can rescue the Republic.

EASTSIDER-Notwithstanding all Mayor Garcetti’s talk about how wonderful his homeless plan is, he recently discovered at a Venice Town Hall that the troops think he and the City Council are full of you-know-what. 

GELFAND’S WORLD--My interest in film history has nothing to do with this column except that it has recently allowed me to talk with people from all over the world as we chatted at film festivals.

GUEST COMMENTARY-Lyin' Frat Boy Brett Kavanaugh may be loftily ensconced in his ill-begotten perch at the Supreme Court, but fury against him and the corrupt process that put him there is evidently alive and well. 

BELL VIEW--“People, they ain’t no good.” -- Nick Cave. I once tried a case to a Santa Monica jury where I proved – mathematically – that the defendant lied about meetings and conversations that never actually happened, and manufactured documents after the fact to support those lies.

ALPERN AT LARGE--Come November, YOU decide.  

PERSPECTIVE--Less than 12 hours after praising himself for being on his best behavior as bombs were found in the mail of several targets of his incendiary and conspiratorial ravings—

CORRUPTION WATCH-The Dems are certain that all Trump supporters are vile White racists and the GOP is convinced that all Dems are snowflakes who would turn the country into a Socialist nightmare.

EDUCATION POLITICS-Business banker Marshall Tuck is running for California State Superintendent of Public Instruction again. He’s backed by the same ideologically charged billionaires as the last time — several of whom supported reactionary measures like Proposition 8. 

@THE GUSS REPORT-Should Justin Wesson, (photo above, left) the son of LA City Council president Herb Wesson, ever run for his dad’s elected office (a rumor floated solely by the LA Times), the first question any opponent should publicly pose to him is this: Is it true that you lived with your parents between the ages of 26 and 36, despite having a six-figure salary as Floor Director of the LA City Council? 

MY TURN--The destruction of a power never happens all at once. Rome wasn’t conquering other cultures one day and then the next day finding themselves falling apart.

ALPERN AT LARGE--Come November, YOU decide. As for me, I'm just so very conflicted about Proposition 6 that I cannot recommend either a "pro" or "con" position.

URBAN FORREST POLITICS--Our trees are disappearing.  For a number of reasons our urban forest is declining, at the time we need it most.

PRISON POLITICS--In a reversal of a controversial rule that disproportionately sentenced mentally ill and African-American inmates to life in prison for petty crimes, California will allow all non-violent prisoners under the Three Strikes Act to seek parole.

ELECTION WATCH-According to a WalletHub survey on 2018’s Most and Least Politically Engaged States, California ranked #50 in percentage of registered voters in the 2016 presidential election. Using ten key metrics, the state ranked #24 in political engagement.

PERSPECTIVE--The unfriendly skies over the Southeast Valley got a little unfriendlier on October 18^th.

DEEGAN ON LA-Here’s an unfortunate example of “indirect democracy” coming up on California’s November 6 ballot: Proposition 7, which asks voters to approve permanent daylight saving time.