LOS ANGELES

GUEST COMMENTARY--Last week, we learned more about the White House’s smear campaign of U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and other American public servants, whose only offense was to do their jobs as loyal Americans.

PLANNING WATCH-In my years at LA’s City Hall, the most insightful comment I ever heard from a colleague was, “When you have power, you don’t need empowerment.”

GUEST COMMENTARY-It is amazing to me how taxpayer dollars are thrown around for the purpose of perception. 

EASTSIDER--There have been a flurry of events over the last few weeks here in Northeast LA, featuring the 5 candidates to replace Jose Huizar. 

PERSPECTIVE-The Valley Village Homeowners Association made its presentation to the Burbank Airport Task Noise Force the night of January 15 at the Burbank Airport Marriott.

ALPERN AT LARGE--So why fight the good fight in L.A. against State Senator Atkins, Governor Newsom, State Senator Scott Wiener, and all the other Democratic (and Republican, too--you know you are!) corrupted cowards in Sacramento willing to turn California into a crudhole just to line their pockets with ill-gotten money and job promises...if our own City of the Angels is just as bad? 

RANTZ & RAVEZ-Lakers Basketball star Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and friends John, Keri and Alyssa Altobelli and Christina Mauser, Sarah and Payton Chester and pilot Ara Zobayan all perished when their private helicopter crashed in the hills of Calabasas near the 101 Freeway early last Sunday morning.  

CLIMATE POLITICS-Michael Shermer’s “Giving the Devil His Due” (Cambridge University Press, 2020) (Subtitle: “Reflections of a Scientific Humanist”) is a very special book written for people who actually spend time “thinking.”

VIEW FROM HERE-I am a Celtics fan. But damn he was good. He could create space better than any player of his era.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Dems do not want to admit that Nancy Pelosi’s personal ambitions make her opposed to Trump being removed from office. Her political power rests on the Dems needing her blessings (spell that M-O-N-E-Y) to run for the House. Pelosi’s fundraising rests on Trump’s atrocious behavior. 

PLANNING WATCH: Our regional transit agency, METRO, has finally realized that years of declining transit ridership require an answer. 

BCK FILE--Kobe Bryant transcended what Aldous Huxley characterized as “nineteen suburbs in search of a metropolis.” He was a legend, an American hero, in Los Angeles and beyond.  

AFFORDABLE HOUSING POLITICS--Corporate landlords are financing two campaigns to stop the Rental Affordability Act, the November 2020 ballot measure that expands rent control in California.

ALPERN AT LARGE--Amidst all the craziness of the world, there's still one big issue in our lives that stands out: the cost of health and survival.

DEEGAN ON LA-The Dodgers have regained their reputation as winners, despite that reputation having been shredded in two recent World Series.

@THE GUSS REPORT-For generations, the LAPD has been exposed as corrupt, dishonest and abusive. Its widely adopted motto, "To Protect and to Serve," is largely just a slogan rather than a promise kept. 

CLIMATE POLITICS--Thwaites, in West Antarctica, is the world’s most dangerous glacier. As of January 15^th, scientists have labeled it: “A Climate Time Bomb.” 

GELFAND’S WORLD--Sunday night, January 26, 2020, was one of those Only In LA things that are hard to describe but worth mentioning for the historical record. In this case, it was a significant work of art that had never been experienced before. 

NEW GEOGRPHY-Not long ago, in our very same galaxy, the high-tech elite seemed somewhat like the Jedis of the modern era. Sure, they were making gobs of money, but they were also “changing the world” for the better. 

ONE MAN’S OPINION-After the rule of law has been killed, a society will live under the delusion that its decisions and actions are done under the rule of law.

AT LENGTH-“The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”      —U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 4