LOS ANGELES

BEACH REPORT CARD-California beach water quality sagged slightly in 2018-19, driven in large part by increased rainfall, according to the 29^th annual Beach Report Card that the environmental-advocacy nonprofit released today.

CLIMATE CHANGE POLITICS--James Lovelock (photo above)  theorized Gaia while working for NASA in the 1960s when he was hired to determine if there was “life on Mars.” 

GUEST WORDS--If Donald Trump actually follows through on his recently tweeted promise that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “will begin deporting the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States … as fast as they come in,” what will you do?

EASTSIDER-Donald Trump became President in part because he promised to end the endless wars in which the United States has become permanently embroiled.

NEW GEOGRAPHY--I’ll start by giving you all a chance to consider some basic questions that Mayor Eric Garcetti and his staff failed to address –-

ALPERN AT LARGE--Let's start on the right note: the horrible, heart wrenching photo of a drowned father and daughter fleeing from Central America is--as was the gut-rendering photo of a drowned boy fleeing from Syria--a depiction of unspeakable tragedy.

GELFAND’S WORLD--Jim Murray used to call it "getting the ribbon clerks out of the game." That's what happens in round one.

URBAN PERSPECTIVE-Lyft and Uber are pulling out all PR and legal stops to derail California Assembly Bill 5.

BUDGET ADVOCATES-The odds have always been stacked against Neighborhood Councils. Always.

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Los Angeles was dealt a bad hand in 1978, when California voters adopted Proposition 13. 

ONE MAN’S OPINION-While Garcetti is the architect of Los Angeles Homeless Crisis, the evil conspiracy of silence by the esteemed Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong’s Pravda West, along with the local and national news media, has helped bring about the Homeless Crisis.

NEW GEOGRAPHY--If next year’s election is a referendum on Donald Trump, you can hand power to the Democrats now. But fortunately for the president, and the Republican Party, politics remains more about interests than personalities.

GUEST COMMENTARY-Recently in a press conference, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the doubling of sanitation crews to clean up the City’s homeless sites on a regular basis. 

@THE GUSS REPORT-Lest anyone think Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Herb Wesson-led LA City Council are serious about confronting LA’s homeless crisis and fecal factor, there was lots of sheer nonsense taking place at the start of Friday’s Council meeting. 

CLIMATE POLITICS-Fasten your seat belt…global warming is on a rampage.

VIEW FROM HERE--The unmanned drone narrative is wrong. Someone is always operating these highly sophisticated killing/surveillance machines.

NEW RESEARCH--Formal complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace have declined over the past 20 years. But according to new research, this good news comes with an asterisk.

ALPERN AT LARGE-With Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom now proclaiming the GOP is destined for the waste bin of history, it's a good question to ask what the future of the Democratic Party is -- particularly with troublemakers like Scott Wiener backed by people like Newsom himself. 

BCK FILE--This past week, Sarah Fabian, the senior attorney  for the DOJ’s Office of Immigration Litigation, told a panel of Ninth Circuit judges that it was “safe and sanitary” to house immigrant children without soap or toothbrushes, forcing them to sleep on concrete floors under bright lights. Fabian’s arguments went viral. 

GELFAND’S WORLD--There is a Bird scooter that has been gracing the alley adjacent to where I live for 3 days going on 4 as of this writing. I ask the following question:

DEEGAN ON LA-Fighting the traffic, searching for parking, feeling the frustration of commuting to a job that is miles away from your home can be stressful.