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THE VIEW FROM HERE - Los Angeles government is conducted in secret. Back in 2014 famed, big shot attorney Mickey Kantor issued his 2020 Commission’s report, A Time for Change, on how to cure Los Angeles’s ills. He wrote:
“Accountability and transparency provide the foundation of any effective democratic institution. Governments that are open with their citizens not only provide useful information, but they also promote access to it, knowing they will be held accountable for what they say and do. This spirit of transparency builds public trust and encourages a level of civic engagement, which in turn, demands better outcomes. A virtuous circle.”
While his 2020 Commission was a farce, even Kantor recognized that accountability and transparency are the foundation of a democracy. Ten years later, Los Angeles is still an opaque, failed state, where Angelenos are poorer each day, the criminally insane prowl our streets, homelessness increases while the city allows more destruction of rent controlled units, the Mayor is not safe in the Mayor’s Mansion in Hancock Park, and the Woker-Developer Alliance is stronger and wealthier.
Now, the Terrorist Organization Hamas Has Been Allowed to Take over Our Nation’s College Campuses
No one should be surprised that Columbia University supported the pro-Hamas ramble. With zero transparency in NYC and LA, the protestors are allowed to call themselves “Pro-Palestinians,” while calling for the extermination of Jews. Hamas cries for Death to Jews and Death to America. When one judges Mayor Bass by her actions rather than her empty words, Mayor Bass’ actions support Hamas.
Mayor Bass’ Support for Political Violence
Even before she took office back on December 12, 2022, Mayor Bass supported the far-left Woker attacks on city councilmembers and city hall itself. The LAPD did repel the January 6th style attack on the city hall building, but city council had to close down – like USC and UCLA now close down events and buildings to appease the Hamas supporters. After three LA councilmembers were falsely accused of being anti-Black, the LAPD was hamstrung in protecting them from the woke mobs. Upon becoming mayor, Karen Bass would not allow any transparency into the origin of the False Narrative so that Angelenos would learn who maligned the innocent city councilmembers. The mobs threatened to kill city council president Nury Martinez’s son, but there was no LAPD protection, forcing Nury to choose between being a city councilmember and her son’s life. She resigned.
Mayor Bass knowingly allowed the Woke BLM crowd headed by Jason Reedy to stalk city councilmember Kevin DeLeon for weeks. When Reedy and his mob was videoed taped disrupting a children’s Christmas Party, screaming “racist” at Kevin DeLeon, he attempted to leave so as not to escalate the situation, but Reedy and his mob followed DeLeon. In the hallway, Reedy backed up the councilmember to a wall and head butted the councilmember. Kevin took Reedy by the coat collars, turned him over and placed him down on a table. Reedy responded by continuing his attack on Kevin.
Guess who then prevented the LAPD from arresting Jason Reedy for stalking, assault and battery? No one else had that power, except Mayor Karen Bass. Also, the LAPD’s investigation into the illegal tape was thwarted when it could not get a search warrant for the LA County Federation Office. Instead, under Mayor Bass tutelage, the LAPD had to rely on the “evidence” provided by those being investigated.
Who Was Really Behind the Defamatory and False Audio Tape
The number one suspect was Hugo Soto-Martinez who was running for council #13 seat which he won. One would think that if Soto-Martinez were innocent, the LAPD, Mayor Bass, and Councilmember Martinez would want the world to know about his exoneration. Instead, the results of the limited LAPD findings were squelched. Is this what Mickey Kantor meant by transparency and accountability - the hiding the results of criminal investigations to protect the Mayor and her political allies?
Then, the new city attorney Hydee Feldman-Soto thwarted the prosecution of Jason Reedy by announcing she would not indict him or his innocent victim Kevin DeLeon. Oh, what a blessing Angelenos have in Ms. Feldman-Soto; she declines not to prosecute the innocent and the guilty alike – that’s Woker Equity at work. The city attorney has zero jurisdiction over felonies. Nonetheless, her decision had tremendous psychological effect in a city which is close to brain dead when it comes to political corruption.
The Pro-Hamas Rallies
The so-called rallies to Free Palestine are pro-Hamas rallies, but in a nation suffused in Woker political correctness, no one is allowed to point that calling for the extermination of Jews is not the same as a Two State Solution. On October 7th, the day that Gaza’s legitimate government, Hamas, attacked, raped, murdered, and burned alive 1,200 people in 22 Israeli towns, Gaza was already free. There were zero Jews in Gaza. Gaza had freely elected Hamas. Gazans had freely helped construct the vast tunnel network designed to be part of the Hamas plan to exterminate Jews. Gazans freely allowed the UN and UNRWA to teach their children to hate Jews; they allowed Hamas to shell Israeli cities for 17 years from sites next to schools and mosques. They cooperated in constructing of dual-purpose hospitals as Hamas military installations. Gazan civilians went with Hamas troops into Israel and participated in the carnage.
Thus, the cry “Free Palestine for the River to the Sea” means to kill all the Jews and establish one Arab state in place of Israel. The campus dweebs are too mentally dense to realize that both Gaza’s and the West Bank’s freedom does not require the mass murder of Jews – except in their twisted Woker ideology.
These Are Pro Hamas Take-overs of College Campuses
As NYC Mayor Eric Adams and his department heads said in their April 30, 2024, news conference, the college campuses were being taken over by professional agitators and that is intolerable. That night Mayor Adams had the NYPD take back Hamilton Hall and remove the Columbia encampment by force. Student protestors were shocked. To them, all they had to do is claim “protest” and then engage in whatever illegal activity they wanted. That was the modus operandi on the West Coast with UCLA. After the pro-Hamas forces were allowed to block Jewish and other students from the library and harass them in their daily lives, UCLA administration sided with Hamas. Where was Mayor Bass? In Washington scooping up billions of federal dollars for LA Woker-Developer Alliance.
It was foreseeable that ordinary people in LA would emulate Mayor Adams and take action to evict the pro-Hamas forces from public places at UCLA so that students could get access to all of the UCLA campus. While self-help is not a wise response, enough Angelenos were fed up with Mayor Bass’ and the UCLA Administration’s allowing Hamas supporters to take-over portions of the campus. This result was predicted Nonetheless, UCLA is still kowtowing to the pro-Hamas occupiers. They have not been removed and UCLA is keeping Royce Hall and Powell Library closed.
Let’s remember the Hamas Charter calls for the extermination of Jews while Israel allows people of all backgrounds. Yet, Woker Mayors like Karen Bass condone the big lie that Israel is guilty of genocide.
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of Richard Abrams and not CityWatchLA.com.)