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Wed, Apr

The Year of the Woman - Is it Still to Come?

BCK FILE-In 2018, 117 women were either appointed to or elected to Congress. Just two years earlier, only 89 women had been elected. The increase led to the media designation as The Year of the Woman. Yet, just one year later, the four women who have thrown their hats into the Democratic presidential primaries are getting less media coverage than the men. 

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The Neighborhood Council System as Colonialism

GELFAND’S WORLD--After years of intending to read Winston Churchill's A History of the English Speaking Peoples, I've finally gotten to it.  Someday I'll talk about the work as a whole, but for the moment I'd like to mention something about the chapter I'm going through right now. 

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Arctic Permafrost No Longer Freezes… Even in Winter

CLIMATE POLITICS-Global warming is starting to hit hard like there’s no tomorrow, and at current rates of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, there may not be a tomorrow, as emissions continue setting new records year-by-year, expected to hit a 62-year record in 2019. So much for the Paris 2015 climate agreement. 

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The Death Penalty Is Getting Crueler

OTHERWORDS--For years, most of the U.S. has been changing death penalty laws in the direction of phasing it out, or at least applying it in a more humane way. California’s governor Newsom generated considerable controversy recently as he moved to use his own resources to put a halt to the death penalty.

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Why are People So Damned Unreasonable?

ALPERN AT LARGE--The last two nights I witnessed a couple of Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) committee meetings that addressed development, traffic, and the environment. Discussions were had, the presenters were smart and sensitive to those doing the questioning, and the MVCC did what it does best: they were reasonable. 

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Killing the California Dream

NEW GEOGRAPHY--Californians need to give up on their dream of a “ranch-house lifestyle” and an “ample backyard” and the state should become “more like New York City,” writes LA Times columnist George Skelton (reprinted in the Mercury-News and East Bay Times in case you run into the LA Times paywall). After reading his article, the Antiplanner has just one question: Why?

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The Real Danger of Anti-Semitism in America

PERSPECTIVE-Many in the American Jewish community are worried about a rise in anti-Semitism and have recently focused their concern on the words of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar. That focus is misplaced. The real and actual threat comes from white extremists. 

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Talk is Cheap. Unfortunately, Housing Ain't!

ALPERN AT LARGE--People need a place to live--I've still not forgotten my earlier days in medical school, and as a resident, and certainly I care deeply about my nurses and my patients. Where are they going to live? Hence my decades-long efforts to encourage affordable and innovative ways for people to live, work, and enjoy a quality of life.

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Cesar Chavez’s Legacy: A Nonviolent Revolution

GUEST WORDS--Many people thought Cesar Chavez was crazy to think he could build a union among migrant farmworkers. Since the early 1900s, unions had been trying and failing to organize California’s unskilled agricultural workers. Whether the workers were Anglos, Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, or Mexican Americans, these efforts met the same fate. 

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The Coldest Spot on Earth: Melting

CLIMATE POLITICS-Global warming is a fact of life that haunts society with consequences that hit hard, and exponentially, especially where nobody lives. It’s happening hyper fast and is downright scary as the major ecosystems of the planet turn upside down in a nasty fashion. 

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