In the News
‘Cloaking’…Yes, Hacking Happens Here
CYBER CRIME FOR SALE-Last March, Bloomberg Business ran an article called “How to Hack an Election” in which Andrés Sepúlveda, a computer hacker now serving time in a federal prison in Colombia, describes his career rigging elections throu…
Can the Leopard Change Its Spots – At least at LA’s City Hall?
PLATKIN ON PLANNING-LA’s March 7 election appeared to be decisive. Measure S, the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative, was soundly defeated…
Trump Messing with Clean Air Act, Headed to War with California
CALWATCHDOG--President Trump on Wednesday launched the first salvo in what seems likely to end up a war with the state of California and ma…
The High Human Costs of Defunding California State Universities
EDUCATION POLITICS--Last month a seven-member panel met in the state Capitol to discuss the calamitous funding situation of the California…
Repeal of Costa-Hawkins Will be a Life Saver for LA Tenants
TENANTS RIGHTS--Los Angeles, Homeless Capital of the Nation, is a city in which 64% of its residents are renters and a majority of those re…
Reelected Mayor Eric Garcetti: Where is LA Headed? Does the Mayor have Developers ‘In His Pocket’?
IN HIS OWN WORDS (VIDEO)—LA’s just reelected Mayor Eric Garcetti answers these questions and more in this special 7 ½ minute interview with…
Measure S Failure was Not a Vote for the Status Quo
GUEST COMMENTARY-In the aftermath of Measure S, it seems everyone is offering their post mortem observations about this giant struggle over…
PBS Documentary ‘The Bad Kids’ – A Public Education Fantasy
FILM WATCH--The most pernicious aspect of our purposefully failing, corporate-profit-driven public education system (when it comes to stude…
Will LAPD Taser Deaths Become Charlie Beck’s Legacy?
TASER TROUBLE-Last chance for Charlie Beck. Back-to-back Taser-stained police shootings last weekend--one by LAPD officers, the other by LA…
Top Ten Reasons Measure S Failed
ALPERN AT LARGE--In a shock to many, Measure S failed by a wide margin ... after a host of City Council motions and reform measures were pr…
Sheriffs at Odds with Cops … Line Up Against California Sanctuary Law
IMMIGRATION WATCH--As the Trump administration ramps up deportations of undocumented immigrants, federal officials say they need more lock-…
To Meet California’s Emissions Goal You Will have to Drive 23% Less
TAKING THE HYDRID APPROACH-To reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California, the state has pledged that by 2030, emissions will be brought…
A Woman’s Place is in the Resistance
FRONT LINE REPORT-- Dateline March 25, 1911 – On this day, tragedy was the spark that resulted in International Women’s’ Day. The Triangle…
Affordable Healthcare: Dr. Alpern’s Analysis is on Life Support
GELFAND’S WORLD--My CityWatch colleague Ken Alpern recently published his views, as a practicing physician, on the current controversy over…
Can’t We All Just Get Along?
EDUCATION POLITICS--A plaintive parent declares that with “one kid in a regular public district school and another in a charter school”, we…
For California … and America … Common Sense on Immigration
NEW GEOGRAPHY--No issue divides the United States more than immigration. Many Americans are resentful of the estimated 11 million undocumen…
Is LA’s State of ‘Entropy’ Déjà vu All Over Again?
STOP EXPECTING DIFFERENT RESULTS-When applied to a city, “entropy” means that the socio-political structure is disintegrating toward chaos…
Mayor Garcetti May be the Next … Antonio Villaraigosa
@ THE GUSS REPORT-The primary qualifications for electoral longevity in the City of Los Angeles are identity politics and incumbency. Not c…
Affordable Healthcare: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly … Through a Doctor’s Lens
ALPERN AT LARGE--The concepts and opinions surrounding the "rights" and "needs" and "responsibilities" of Americans for their own healthcar…
Engaged and Enraged: Women Hit the Ground Running in LA … the Resistance Continues
RESISTANCE WATCH--A New York Times column dated March 8 questioned whether Wednesday’s A Day Without A Woman protests would “test the movem…
