LOS ANGELES

VIEW FROM HERE--Inspired by predictive variables in earthquake research, political historian Allan Lichtman's 1996 book, The Keys to the White House, introduced his prediction system for determining the outcome of U.S. presidential elections.

ALPERN AT LARGE--Some folks reading this will immediately decry the "Le-Mon" in this title, and they should--this well-known, prominent anchor properly pronounces his name as "Don Lemon"...like the fruit.

WAGING PEACE---Just one month into a new decade, we face an ever-increasing risk of nuclear apocalypse.

GUEST WORDS--Last week, SB 50 (housing development legislation) failed to pass out of the State Legislature, but it may be back again before we know it. 

NEW NUMBERS--This January, President Trump claimed credit for new figures from the American Cancer Society showing  “the sharpest one-year drop in cancer death rate ever recorded” between 2016 and 2017. 

@THE GUSS REPORT-On May 21, 2014, Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz and his colleagues issued proclamations to widely respected homeless dog rescue Bark ‘n’ Bitches as the very first storefront pet rescue in the City of Los Angeles.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-While we assign dates to such events as the beginning and death of a nation, the reality is that such dates are usually significant events which seem representative of the social, political or economic changes that have occurred over a longer period of time. 

ESSAY--The plight of impoverished children anywhere should evoke sympathy, exemplifying as it does the suffering of the innocent and defenseless.

GUEST COMMENTARY--Last week, we learned more about the White House’s smear campaign of U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and other American public servants, whose only offense was to do their jobs as loyal Americans.

PLANNING WATCH-In my years at LA’s City Hall, the most insightful comment I ever heard from a colleague was, “When you have power, you don’t need empowerment.”

GUEST COMMENTARY-It is amazing to me how taxpayer dollars are thrown around for the purpose of perception. 

EASTSIDER--There have been a flurry of events over the last few weeks here in Northeast LA, featuring the 5 candidates to replace Jose Huizar. 

PERSPECTIVE-The Valley Village Homeowners Association made its presentation to the Burbank Airport Task Noise Force the night of January 15 at the Burbank Airport Marriott.

ALPERN AT LARGE--So why fight the good fight in L.A. against State Senator Atkins, Governor Newsom, State Senator Scott Wiener, and all the other Democratic (and Republican, too--you know you are!) corrupted cowards in Sacramento willing to turn California into a crudhole just to line their pockets with ill-gotten money and job promises...if our own City of the Angels is just as bad? 

RANTZ & RAVEZ-Lakers Basketball star Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and friends John, Keri and Alyssa Altobelli and Christina Mauser, Sarah and Payton Chester and pilot Ara Zobayan all perished when their private helicopter crashed in the hills of Calabasas near the 101 Freeway early last Sunday morning.  

CLIMATE POLITICS-Michael Shermer’s “Giving the Devil His Due” (Cambridge University Press, 2020) (Subtitle: “Reflections of a Scientific Humanist”) is a very special book written for people who actually spend time “thinking.”

VIEW FROM HERE-I am a Celtics fan. But damn he was good. He could create space better than any player of his era.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Dems do not want to admit that Nancy Pelosi’s personal ambitions make her opposed to Trump being removed from office. Her political power rests on the Dems needing her blessings (spell that M-O-N-E-Y) to run for the House. Pelosi’s fundraising rests on Trump’s atrocious behavior. 

PLANNING WATCH: Our regional transit agency, METRO, has finally realized that years of declining transit ridership require an answer. 

BCK FILE--Kobe Bryant transcended what Aldous Huxley characterized as “nineteen suburbs in search of a metropolis.” He was a legend, an American hero, in Los Angeles and beyond.  

AFFORDABLE HOUSING POLITICS--Corporate landlords are financing two campaigns to stop the Rental Affordability Act, the November 2020 ballot measure that expands rent control in California.