LOS ANGELES

EASTSIDER-Seems to me that much of the back and forth over Amy Coney Barrett‘s nomination to become a U.S. Supreme Court Judge is misplaced. Let’s see what the Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell process tells us about the players and the Court. 

REVENGER-IN-CHIEF-During its planning process for Point Reyes National Seashore, the National Park Service received overwhelming public input opposing commercial ranching on and supporting the recovery of the rare tule elk. (photo above)

RANTZ & RAVEZ-Many of the elected officials at Los Angeles City Hall and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors have lost sight of their responsibility to the voters who have elected them to office.

LEANING RIGHT-We live in a pandemic world that is vastly, ever-more-complicated (beyond words, really) by competing perspectives of the right approach to getting through this health/economic crisis, and anyone who tries to address it either "has to say the right things" or ignores the obvious, two-faced reality of it all:

OTHER WORDS--Today I looked at a graph of income inequality over time in America. This was not new information to me, and yet it was still shocking.

CLIMATE POLITICS-Global warming is ravaging forests throughout the world. 

THE VIEW FROM HERE-“Sure, I'm willing to do that...Proud Boys, stand back and stand by! But I'll tell you what...somebody's got to do something about Antifa and the left." President Trump Sept 29, 2020 

GELFAND’S WORLD--Lily Tomlin once said, “No matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up.”

GUEST COMMENTARY-There has been a lot of ink about José Huizar’s precipitous fall from being the all-powerful chair of the Los Angeles City Council Planning and Land Use Management Committee (PLUM) to being indicted on Federal racketeering charges. 

SPECIAL REPORT--Mob-like intimidation tactics deployed against our community leaders, using Black and Brown people's retirement dollars to cut backroom deals that harm Black and Brown communities, and bringing in corrupt Black developers and telling bold-faced lies in an attempt to divide the community:

@THE GUSS REPORT-Politicians should learn to embrace their mistakes and say hey, I’m human and made a mistake, can we let this one go?

ELECTION POLITICS-I moved to Koreatown more than twenty years ago. The organization I worked for opened its office here.

LEANING RIGHT--It's not unusual for a politician to divert and diminish glaring problems so that he/she can avoid being the obvious perpetrator or enabler of said problems.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING-Which would you say the City of LA needs more of right now, hotels or housing? 

HOUSING POLITICS-Two of three HHH Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) projects in Skid Row have estimated completion dates for the fall of this year, while the third project is specified for completion in the winter of 2021.

HOUSING POLITICS--In analyzing Proposition 21 earlier this year, California’s nonpartisan independent Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) noted that the anti-housing initiative could result in a decline in property values for homeowners and impact renters as well.

@THE GUSS REPORT-It is rational for Americans on the left to see the U.S. Senate moving forward with President Donald Trump’s election-year nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court as unfair and hypocritical. 

ONE MAN’S OPINION--The notion that America is a democracy is an example how a lie told 1,000 times becomes the truth.

WHY CALIFORNIA IS ON FIRE---Record setting fires burn in the Western U.S. These fires of recent years are the largest in the California history, and to date 3.2 million acres have burned, tragically taking lives, homes and structures, and property.

GELFAND’S WORLD--Donald Trump believes that if the ballot count comes up against him, then the election must have been rigged. He refuses to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses. 

PLANNING WATCH-The South Pacific cargo cults are gone, but we have plenty of modern cults, and the one I regularly encounter is the Supply-and-Demand cult.