LOS ANGELES

VIEW FROM HERE--The human species has the remarkable ability to believe anything no matter how ludicrous. 

THE CITY--The scene was the newest west wing of the Tom Bradley International terminal, the West Gates, and the boys (Mike Bonin and Mayor Eric Garcetti) were introducing facial recognition software. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--In short, there are those who died for us to live, to debate, to do noble things at home, or even to screw up our lives, because we had and have the choices that we all take for granted.

AT LENGTH-Frequent readers of this column will remember Port Executive Director Gene Seroka’s rejection of the neighborhood council proposal to use two port properties, parking lots E and F, to temporarily house the area’s unhoused residents.

CONNECTING CALIFORNIA--Maybe the U.S. Supreme Court should recuse itself from cases involving the Golden State.

GELFAND’S WORLD--There were a couple of breaches of freedom of the press this week. One involved air piracy and the beating of one of the captives.

THE CITY-An interesting question arose at the LA City Council meeting on Tuesday. A member of the public accused Mr. Ridley-Thomas of pimping the African American community. 

PLANNING WATCH-LA’s boosters still control City Hall’s political process, but they have run into a serious barrier:

VOICES-I am writing to express my concerns regarding the participation of Ms. Leonora Camner on the Santa Monica Housing Commission. 

VIEW FROM HERE--The fact that Donald J Trump told more blatant falsehoods than any other US President should not blind us to the fact that lying has become a way of life for both the Right and the Left.

OTHER WORDS-After getting vaccinated, I eagerly returned to some parts of normal life, expecting the essential workers I interacted with would be already vaccinated.

POT POLITICS-The majority of self-identified Republican voters — as do most Americans of all political persuasions — support legalizing marijuana. But you wouldn’t know that by observing the actions of their elected officials. 

AFFORDABLE HOUSING-Trickle-down housing policy, pushed by the real estate industry and politicians, has been a colossal failure.

BITCOIN WATCH-When thinking of trading with Bitcoin, many people just resort to reading all of the processes that power this cryptocurrency, getting educated on how trading works, and after all of that is done, they think that they are ready to dive into this world and earn money. 

VOICES--I am a physician in Los Angeles. I am contacting you about a case that I reported recently to the LA Country DA.  

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS-When people think infrastructure, they rarely think to look below them on perhaps the most critical piece of a major city’s growth: its sanitary sewer system.

GELFAND’S WORLD--It seems that we've been ignoring the needs of 60% of Los Angeles residents as we try to prepare the population for a major earthquake.

PLANNING HIJACKS-On March 30, the Department of City Planning released a memo signed by the Director of Planning, Vince Bertoni.

GUEST WORDS-I am writing to express my concerns regarding the participation of Ms. Leonora Camner (photo, above left) on the Santa Monica Housing Commission. 

WORLD WATCH-No one should have the illusion that once a ceasefire is established, Israel and the Palestinians should or can negotiate a peace agreement.

THE CITY-In LA county approximately 15 percent of the nearly 11 million residents live in poverty, but COVID has caused that number to rise.