LOS ANGELES

RECALL WATCH-The recall election aimed at Gov. Gavin Newsom is close enough to ponder what would happen if, in fact, he is forced out of office a few weeks hence. 

Things looked bad for renters on July 31. The rent moratorium had expired, so millions faced eviction and homelessness.

WORKER SHORTAGE-3.9 million people quit their jobs in June. “We’re seeing the craziest counter-offers I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” says a recruiter. 

PEACE VOICE-If negotiations in Congress open a path to citizenship this year for the roughly 10.2 million undocumented immigrants in America, the U.S. economy will grow by as much as $1.7 trillion over ten years, according to a joint Study conducted by the Center for American Progress and the University of California, Davis’s Global Migration Center. 

THE DOCTOR IS IN - You, me, the folks behind that tree, the mainstream media, social media, and even Hollywood can all hate on the Presidential Administration that resided at 1600 Pennsylvania between 2017 and 2021...

RECALL UPDATE - Gov. Gavin Newsom is happy to talk about Larry Elder.

VIEW FROM HERE - No government can function without social messaging.  To the extent the government replies on power, however, facts and transparency are not tools for communication.

BEING WATCHED - Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. continues to rule the city with an iron fist.  Despite the COVID pandemic continuing to wreak havoc on the world, Butts openly defies mask mandates, and continues to remove the public from participating in the weekly council meetings.

ERIC PREVEN’S NOTEBOOK - Pocket Full of Posers: The Chief Legislative Analyst's (CLA) report on what to do about Public Comment was simply not harsh enough for Paul Krekorian. 

National Socialism, Maoism and Marxism-Leninism all have one thing in common: they boil down human experience to one aspect, such as race or class, and diminish the struggles and achievements of much of humanity.

RANTZ & RAVEZ-I recently attended the League of California Cities and Board of Directors Installation Ceremony and Dinner at the Calabasas Civic Center.

PLANNING WATCH - By August 16, 2021, the California State Legislature may have approved two pieces of contentious legislation, Senate Bills (SB) 9 and 10.

STASHING THE CASH - Based on a review of more than 100 money-laundering cases, a new study finds that the U.S. has become a preferred destination for those looking to stash illicit funds through property. 

HOMELESS POLITICS-Los Angeles City Council Members Joe Buscaino and Paul Koretz have entered a motion for the city to withdraw from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA.

EASTSIDER - After all of the General Managers we’ve had at  the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE), both good and bad, never has anyone risen to the forefront with a move which jeopardizes the entire system. Not until “She Who Must Be Obeyed,” the current General Manager Raquel Beltrán. 

COVID WATCH - After months of reluctance, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday mandated that all California school employees be vaccinated for COVID-19 or be tested weekly.

ERIC PREVEN'S NOTEBOOK - Mapping the future.  A map letting unhoused Angelenos know where they are allowed to sit, sleep, and lie down is going to be needed.

GELFAND’S WORLD - I have an old friend who was running for a neighborhood council board seat a few months ago. One of her political opponents made claims about her that she says were false.

The Biden administration has given new life to a national discussion about the dangers of social media-induced misinformation following its request that Facebook censor Covid-19 anti-vaccination propaganda.

LABOR VIEW - The first time I met Rich Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO who suddenly died this past Thursday, was in early 2008.

Two wheelbarrows full — that’s how much soil a composted human body creates. In California, it could soon be legal for people to be transformed into soil after death.