LOS ANGELES

PLANNING WATCH-Each day there is more compelling evidence that Great Recession II is on its way, supplemented by parallel indicators that trickle-down economic gimmicks cannot keep the current housing bubble inflated for much longer.

TRANSIT LA--It was a victory for transit and for community process at Metro today as board members listened to advocates for the proposed North San Fernando Valley Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project and to its critics—the neighbors who would live near it—assuring both groups (there were more than 80 speakers) they would seek a strategic solution to everyone's needs and concerns. Board members then voted to begin the environmental review.

ONE MAN’S OPINION- How did America go from truth, justice and the American way, to lies, deceit and promoter of genocide of the Kurds?

ESSAY-“We train our boys to be killing machines, then prosecute them when they kill!” Donald J. Trump tweeted October 12, 2019 regarding the case of Maj. Mathew Golsteyn a former Green Beret who is on trial for killing an unarmed Afghan man in 2010, a killing Golsteyn twice admitted.

WORLD WATCH-There is no wonder that every person and news outlet that saw Trump’s letter to Turkey’s president Erdogan thought it was a joke.

CLIMATE CHANGE POLITICS-Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who sparked student protests across the globe, had this to tell the UN General Assembly in New York:

VIEW FROM HERE--The world certainly does not need one more psychoanalysis of Donald J. Trump.

GELFAND’S WORLD-With all the criticisms of Donald Trump, there is one thing that isn't sufficiently remarked on.

@THE GUSS REPORT-Today’s column revisits a recent LA corruption story to provide a behind-the-scenes look of how the LA Times has become a patsy of LA City Hall, as well as of other local governments, to the detriment of everyone in LA and around Southern California. 

SOUTH OF THE 10-The NFL owners, especially Sofi Stadium owner Stan Kroenke, must have had a serious brain fart when it comes to their latest proposal.

ALPERN AT LARGE-Guess what, everybody! We're all working for Russia and/or the Ukraine! 

DEEGAN ON LA-Isn’t dealing with the homeless a no-brainer? Feed them, house them and medicate them when necessary.

GUEST WORDS--In a blue state, in a blue city, on the Bruin blue campus of a public university system that once gave rise to the Free Speech Movement, why were the UCLA administration and Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, a liberal Democrat, bent on charging and jailing four young protesters for briefly interrupting a 2018 campus speaking appearance by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin?  

HOUSING JUSTICE-This past weekend, inside the Morningside High School gymnasium in Inglewood, hundreds of housing activists and renters, of all ages and colors, sat together in the bleachers and talked solutions.

DEMOCRACY NOW-We speak with investigative reporter Aaron Glantz about his new book “Homewreckers.”

MY TURN-I support Elizabeth Warren and most of the ideas of the other Democratic Party candidates, but I'm saddened that in the most recent televised debate, Warren and the others continued to allow the conversation on Single Payer Healthcare to be framed by false information.

CLIMATE POLITICS-Extinction Rebellion, XR, established on October 31, 2018, has become a powerful force across the globe, almost overnight.

OTHER WORDS-Mattel executives say they’re worried about girls developing “self-limiting beliefs,” resulting in a “dream gap” with boys. 

FOREIGN POLICY OFF THE CUFF--Turkey’s Syrian venture is rapidly turning sour from President Erdogan’s point of view.

ALPERN AT LARGE--For those of us who remember the Cold War, the influence of Western civilization was supposed to crack the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall with the messages of freedom of speech and religion, capitalism, entrepreneurism, and the plight of the ordinary man or woman.

CONNECTING CALIFORNIA-Bring back Topgun! By that, I do not mean Top Gun, the cliché-ridden, late-Cold War Tom Cruise film about speed-crazy Naval fighter pilots that still defines San Diego in the public imagination.