LOS ANGELES

CAPITAL & MAIN REPORT-The shortage of affordable housing in urban California is by now well known, and high-profile bills to deal with the crisis have repeatedly been shot down in Sacramento this year.

IMPEACHMENT BE DAMNED, SPEAK UP--While many progressives were dismayed to learn on Thursday that Democratic leaders remain reticent to call for impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, some looked with admiration at the hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans who successfully forced their governor from office with days of non-violent protests.

Gov. Ricardo Rosselló's resignation Wednesday night followed nearly two weeks of historic, sustained demonstrations by Puerto Ricans angry over leaked messages showing the governor and his associates denigrating his constituents, as well as a corruption scandal.

Puerto Ricans have given "their fellow Americans the blueprint to remove Trump," wrote one progressive critic on social media.

Meanwhile, in the wake of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) reportedly dismissed Rep. Jerrold Nadler's (D-N.Y.) suggestion in a closed-door meeting that House committees begin drafting articles of impeachment against the president.

At the hearing, Mueller testified that Trump was "not exculpated" for obstruction of justice. His testimony confirmed that Trump ordered former White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Mueller and told former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to order the Department of Justice to limit the special counsel's probe.

A number of observers noted after the hearing that those facts—along with Trump's alleged violation of the Constitution's emoluments clause, advocacy for violence against his political opponents, attacks on the free press, and other alleged misconduct—provided enough evidence for Democrats to draft articles of impeachment.

"In less than 16 days from the time the first news broke of his horrible and hateful comments, Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló is expected to resign after mass protests," tweeted Human Rights Campaign press secretary Charlotte Clymer. "I can't even recall all the horrible shit Trump has done in the last 16 days."

One observer noted that Puerto Ricans in New York rallied at Grand Central Station in support of people living on the island territory.

A poll taken this month by the Washington Post/ABC News showed that 37 percent of American adults currently support beginning impeachment proceedings. A survey released by Gallup on July 3 revealed that 45 percent of Americans, including 81 percent of Democrats, say the president should be impeached—a greater share than that which backed impeachment proceedings when officials began pursuing impeachment for Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.  

"The Puerto Rican people showed how you impeach a bigoted politician: Don't wait for politicians—organize general strikes and get in the streets!” wrote author and educator Jesse Hagopian. "It's time we show Trump where the real power is!"

(Julia Conley writes for Common Dreams.)

-cw

GELFAND’S WORLD--You had to be a total political junkie to sit through the whole thing. Even I missed a few minutes of the Mueller hearings at the beginning by not being up and awake at 5:30 AM.

ALPERN AT LARGE-Believe it or not, President Trump and both the Democratic and Republican Parties are actually focused on a few issues that are of benefit to the American People ... and are delinquent on two key "radioactive items": 

FIRST PERSON-On July 10, 2019, I interviewed John Lee, one of the two remaining candidates for Council District 12’s special election to replace Councilmember Mitch Englander. The election will take place on August 13, 2019. 

ONE MAN’S OPINION-People do not realize that sprawl reduces their tax burden and significantly lowers the cost of housing while increasing its quality. Even a dimwit, however, should realize that if they spend most their consumable income on high rents or on excessively high mortgage payments, they are working to support two entities: the government and Wall Street. 

@THE GUSS REPORT-The blissfully ignorant LA City Council will be back soon from its frolicking, multi-week summer recess despite the tumult, crises and emergencies it caused and failed to remedy, including the immediate health risk of a bubonic plague outbreak, according to Dr. Drew Pinsky, the apolitical M.D. heard on KABC-790 AM from noon to 3 p.m. each weekday. 

NEW GEOGRAPHY--When there is a general change in conditions, it is as if the entire creation had changed, and the whole world altered. —Ibn Khaldun, 14th-century Arab historian 

CALBUZZ--Fans of U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris rejoiced last week when the well-known Quinnipiac University Poll found her leading former Vice President Joe Biden in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination in California.

PERSPECTIVE--Trump rally participants chanted about Ilhan Omar: “Send her back! Send her back!” They are shameless so I feel shame for them.

GELFAND’S WORLD--I would like to extend upon Tim Deegan's excellent article from last week, "Help wanted: a climate Czar for LA" The article comments on action taken by the Los Angeles City Council to create the Climate Emergency Mobilization Department.

DEEGAN ON LA-Inspired by President Barack Obama to pursue a career in organizing to build community and advocate for change, Aura Vasquez (photo above) became a community organizer early on, a path that led to her leadership role as an organizer and activist for environmental justice. 

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Rats, disease, pestilence are merely symptoms of a city run by criminals.

RANTZ & RAVEZ-For the skeptics among you who are reading this edition of RantZ and RaveZ, if you think that I’m going to continue discussing the ever-increasing homeless population in Los Angeles and beyond, please read on… 

EASTSIDER-This one is going to tear up the communities in Northeast LA for a long, long time, particularly Eagle Rock, Glassell Park and adjoining areas. 

JUST SAYIN’--As I navigate life as a queer disabled woman, I frequently think of Yale political scientist James C. Scott’s concept of the “weapons of the weak.” 

GELFAND’S WORLD--The tension is almost unbearable. And that’s just watching the PBS recreation of the Apollo 11 mission that culminated in the moon walks of July 20, 1969.

ALPERN AT LARGE--For those of us looking beyond the soap opera in Washington ("Go back to where you came from?"

CONNECTING CALIFORNIA-Of all the lies Californians tell ourselves, one of the biggest is that we hate earthquakes. The unspoken truth is that we love earthquakes, as well we should. 

AN ANIMAL STORY-I recently responded to a casting call for a reality TV show. Producers were seeking folks to confess crimes—secret crimes for which they’d never been caught.

OTHER WORDS-You’ve heard the cliché: If you’re taking heat from “both sides,” you must be doing something right.