LOS ANGELES

EASTSIDER-During our recent fires that seemed to consume most of California, one utility company stood out. LA City’s Department of Water & Power kept our lights on. 

GUEST WORDS--Over the past few months President Trump has unilaterally by Tweet and telephone begun to dismantle the U.S. military’s involvement in the Middle East.

2020-Republicans are less likely to win elections when voter turnout is high. It’s true: Four of the five states with the highest voter turnout voted blue in the last presidential and midterm elections. All are crucial swing states. 

VETERANS DAY-If you’re looking for a way to honor veterans, here’s one: protect the U.S. Postal Service.

CAL MATTERS-Legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom primarily aimed at requiring Donald Trump to disclose his tax returns before being placed on the March 3 primary ballot appears to be in jeopardy. 

PLANNING WATCH-An old joke describes LA’s four seasons as fires, floods, earthquakes, and civil disturbances.

POLITICS LOS ANGELES--As the race to replace Councilman Jose Huizar in CD 14 heats up, rumblings about possible candidate residency fraud are circulating.  

WORLD WATCH-There is a new political day dawning in Kosovo -- the newest, but a troubled country in Europe.

ANIMAL RIGHTS-On October 26, Mayor Park Won-soon of Seoul, South Korea announced that all dog meat slaughterhouses in the city would be closed by October 31, 2019.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Before we can arrive at truth, we need facts.

ALPERN AT LARGE--Some of us care a great deal about history and science, and demand debate with multiple points of view, and some of us demand unity and "purity" of thought to the extent that there will be punishment and ostracism for those who don't agree with the "correct" point of view. 

OTHER WORDS-Right now, thousands of Californians are fleeing raging wildfires, while millions sit in the dark. And for-profit utilities may be to blame.

LA LABOR --A few days ago, Dolores Huerta, the indefatigable, 89-year-old labor union and civil rights activist, wanted to share her wisdom.

ARCHETECHTURE POLITICS-This Wednesday, the LA County Museum of Art’s proposal to build a bridge across Wilshire Boulevard will face its first hurdle in city government. 

CHARTER WARS-The astroturf groups Parent Revolution and SpeakUp are flooding social media of late with their PR-honed contention that opposing LAUSD charter-advocacy-backed members Nick Melvoin’s and Kelly Gonez’ School Performance Framework (“SPF”), is “hiding” data from parents.

@THE GUSS REPORT-Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey is eating her words lately, resulting in a bad case of Gascón, as it were, as in George Gascón, the San Francisco District Attorney and former LAPD copper, who announced his return to LA to run against Lacey to helm the largest local prosecutorial office in the United States. 

POWER GAMES-We Californians are watching our state burn. Our houses are literally on fire, and yet we should not be surprised.

GELFAND’S WORLD--As CNN reports, “All four White House officials who are scheduled to give depositions on Monday during the House’s impeachment inquiry won’t show up, as a source with knowledge of the situation tells CNN that National Security Council lawyers Jon Eisenberg and Michael Ellis will not testify.” 

DEEGAN ON LA-Too late to help the thousands of Los Angeles renters that have been thrown out of their apartments, and not soon enough for the developers that used the Act to leverage rent-controlled housing into market rate bonanzas, the Ellis Act is finally facing reform. 

SPIKING INCOME INEQUALITY-Despite the upbeat words from America’s billionaire president about the “economic miracle” he has produced, economic inequality in the United States is on the rise. 

ONE MAN’S OPINION-The hows and whys of judicial corruption are very complex. Although California state courts may be the most corrupt in the nation, the plague of corrupt judges has beset mankind throughout history.