VOICES

PANDEMIC ANALYSIS - Two years ago I was panicking, making hundreds of phone calls to postpone my wedding that was a few days away. It was March 2020.

OIL INDUSTRY - Long used to cheap gas at the pump, Americans are experiencing serious sticker shock these days.

GUEST COMMENTARY - Some readers may have seen the graphic showing oil company revenues since last year:

LETTER TO THE EDITOR - We are writing concerning Bob Gelfand’s article of March 21, 2022, entitled “LA City Goes Full-On Fascist in Neighborhood Council Forced Indoctrination Proposal” which contains gratuitous anti-Scientology bigotry.

MY THOUGHTS - I’ve finished watching all the new Hallmark movies…TV news is so depressing…the price of gas precludes joy rides…even Trader Joes is out of some of my favorite things.

GUEST COMMENTARY - Today’s US propaganda barrage seeks to demonize the Russians as thoroughly and completely as possible, which now ironically includes attacks on Russia’s oligarchy. 

GUEST COMMENTARY - As right-wing candidates around the country mold themselves after Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene, we have a new template for Los Angeles politicians who proclaim their love for children while undermining public schools. 

GUEST COMMENTARY - As we lock horns with the cruel and out-of-touch Putin, once again we’re at a moment that too closely resembles the Cuban crisis of 1962.

GUEST COMMENTARY - For more than a decade, Vladimir Putin has sought to sow division and undermine American democracy.

IMMIGRATION WATCH - When Joe Biden ran against President Donald Trump in 2020, he promised to fight back against anti-immigrant policies, including those that punished “sanctuary cities” and that gave more local authorities power to act as an extra arm of federal immigration enforcement.

HOUSING WATCH - Unable to come up with real solutions for Los Angeles’ homelessness crisis, City Council Member Joe Buscaino is pushing forward a ballot measure that doesn’t address homelessness and merely rearranges the deck chairs on the Titanic.

SCOTUS - So now, as expected after decades of taking big bucks for her rightwing work on behalf of America's oligarchs, we learn that the wife of Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Ginny Thomas, was in Trump's January 6th "rally" up to her eyeballs.

GUEST COMMENTARY - At the beginning of the Trump administration, I wrote several articles for CityWatchLA on the prospects for fascism in the U.S. 

COLD WAR II - Vladimir Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine is the most important geopolitical development since the end of the Cold War.

VOTING RIGHTS - The following are the prepared remarks from Bishop William J. Barber II, president and senior lecture of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign:

GUEST COMMENTARY - Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine will be remembered as one of the great crimes of the 21st century.

DOLLAR SENSE - If you’ve been slammed lately by higher prices on everything from groceries to rental cars and gas prices, you’re probably wondering what on earth is behind these skyrocketing costs.

BAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS - Putin’s cruel invasion of the Ukraine reminds us that there are leaders of countries—and not only Putin—who think and act according to the conviction that if they do not get their way, they might turn to nuclear weapons as a last resort. 

IMMIGRATION POLITICS - Borders are meant to create order and security. But around the world, authoritarians seeking to enhance their power are pushing dangerous border narratives to sow chaos and exploit insecurity. 

GUEST COMMENTARY - The following is a brief synopsis of a major peace proposal that would bring about an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict under the framework of an Israeli-Palestinian- Jordanian confederation.

GUEST COMMENTARY -  As Vladimir Putin watched the opening ceremony of this year’s Winter Olympics, the rest of the world watched as Russian troops massed along the borders of Ukraine.