LOS ANGELES

CAL MATTERS--As fate would decree, both of California’s U.S. senators, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, both played starring roles in last week’s confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, and both had personal political agendas. (Photo above: Senator Kamala Harris, left, with Senator Dianne Feinstein.)

ALPERN AT LARGE--One of the most sacred parts of the trust between government and its constituents (or, restated, the citizenry which is SUPPOSED to be the #1 constituency) is how government spends its money. 

CLIMATE POLITICS--The Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco this week is positively thick with solidarity.

DEEGAN ON LA-The Miracle Mile has it all:

VOICES--Once upon a time, in a town at the far end of the city, stakeholders actually got what their taxes paid for, and lived in a place that had very few homeless, vagrants and drug dealers.

CORRUPTION WATCH-The mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said, “seek simplicity and distrust it.”

GELFAND’S WORLD--Back in 1964, Roger Miller wrote King of the Road.Maybe it wasn't quite at the level of perfection of Dang Me,but it does speak to our current homeless question. 

BCK FILE: FOOD DEMOCRACY-At least several times each week, well-heeled Angelenos gather at galas to raise money for various causes.

ALPERN AT LARGE--In my last piece on those Bird scooters showing up everywhere, I may have come across as too "anti-scooter", which is not consistent with the pro-mobility efforts I've pursued for many years. 

URBAN PERSPECTIVE--Few believed that Cameron Terrell (photo above) was innocent in the gang-related shooting death of Justin Holmes in South LA.

@THE GUSS REPORT-Ah, government incompetence… An ill-conceived Motion signed by Los Angeles City Council president Herb Wesson and several of his colleagues on Friday calls for ejections and progressive punishments against loud, obnoxious City Hall critics.

CORRUPTION WATCH-The goal of political philosophy is to structure government so that leaders automatically must do the right thing and there is no need to search for people with integrity.

CAL MATTERS-Sean Kayode says he watched his whole world roll away from him at 3 in the morning.

MY TURN--This entire administration has been compared to the Nixon era travesty, and yet what we are going through is far worse than the Watergate theft and reveal.

EIGHT MOST READ -  The CalPERS Board is failing to act as the fiduciaries of we the beneficiaries, when it comes to running their own organization.

PERSPECTIVE--I have profound respect for Trump and Senate Republicans.

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-In Los Angeles land use decisions appear to be the province of City Hall’s well-trained zoning specialists.

ALPERN AT LARGE--Hey, Cats!  

Alley Cats, really! Are you addicted to getting in and out of your garage? 

CAL MATTERS --The venue was a high-level international climate conference sponsored by the United Nations, but the demonstrators were undeterred.

GUEST COMMENTARY-So California, a left-leaning, socially conscious, environmentally friendly state, has passed cannabis laws making it illegal to serve the cannabis customer in the traditional way: deli style picked from the big deli jars (see photo above). 

CORRUPTION WATCH--The inevitable part of predictions is being wrong. In fact, we need a new word for prediction whose root would be the concept that the predicted event will not happen.