LOS ANGELES

CHANGING JEWISH POLITICS?--Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his conservative Republican Jewish supporters in the United States and President Donald Trump are trying to influence the upcoming U.S. elections with a toxic mixture of religion and right-wing politics, helping to turn the country against constitutional protections for ethnic minorities, including Jews. 

@THE GUSS REPORT-The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s building in the obscure, semi-suburban City of Norwalk is the typical governmental monolith with its weekday beehive of activity for mundane government records and licenses, and a flow of people dressed up to get married there.

WHO GETS A PASS?-No one is immune to sexual harassment and misconduct. Women across the planet have been subjected to it for centuries, and many do not have a voice to speak out against it.

CONSIDER THIS--Despite the speculation of commentators, Tuesday’s California primary was less “jungle” and more “zoo.”

TURNED DOWN AND OUT--Did Antonio Villaraigosa make a horrendous political mistake when he chose not to run for California's open U.S. Senate seat two years ago, when the presidential election voter turnout was certainly greater than it was Tuesday? 

ALPERN AT LARGE--In short, the Top Two priorities of the next governor are as follows:

BCK FILE-The June 5 primary is a doozy in California, with top-two primaries for the gubernatorial and Senate race, as well as primaries for a slew of state offices, from Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State to Controller, State Treasurer, Attorney General, and Insurance Commissioner up for grabs and numerous propositions. 

ANIMAL WATCH-The enigmatic campaign which began with "Ban Pit Bulls" flyers and "Pit Bull Facts," posted widely in Los Angeles, California, and Boca Raton, Florida, in April caught Pit Bull advocates by surprise, and was reported in CityWatch on April 23. 

ELECTION WATCH--On Tuesday, voters in the district that stretches from Anaheim to Chino Hills will decide whether to fire Newman halfway through his first term in the Legislature.

VOICES--As Californians up and down the state cast ballots in the primary election, some incumbent lawmakers in Sacramento may have hoped their decisions on a pair of renter protections fell below voters’ radar.

@THE GUSS REPORT-The best thing one could say about former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is that he always looked camera-ready and got good mileage on shallow qualifications and minimal accomplishments in the political jobs he held along the way to this week’s California primary, where he is struggling against a little-known Republican named John Cox, in order to face off against an equally shallow Gavin Newsom to be California’s next Governor. 

AT LENGTH-Where there is no vision, the people perish. -Proverbs 29:18, King James Version.

DEEGAN ON LA-Here’s a “New York” idea that has nothing to do with what is derisively called “the Manhattanization of Los Angeles.”

CAPITAL & MAIN-Cole Morgan is a 21-year-old student at Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo, California and lives with his parents in nearby San Clemente.

CORRUPTION WATCH-We, the Sheeple, in order to be further deceived and fleeced by the billionaires do hereby declare Tuesday, June 5, to be the new Fools’ Day previously known as Election Day. 

CAL BUZZ--Tom Steyer, the billionaire entrepreneur and Democratic activist, is right that the only way to get rid of President Donald Trump is to impeach him.

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-The City Council’s latest stopgap measure to deal with the most extreme aspect of the housing crisis, rampant homelessness and the emergence of homeless encampments throughout Los Angeles, has set neighbors against each other.

THE CHAPMAN REPORT-This was bad. Very bad. We were on our way to the Cinemark-owned Century theaters in Napa to celebrate Jennifer’s birthday. Dinner was on tap afterward at the new sports bar. We were in spectacular moods on a gorgeous, wind-whipped day. 

BELL VIEW--Last week I went to Chicago to help my mom downsize her living situation. Her next-door neighbor kindly agreed to take a couple extra-large couches off our hands. Nice guy. As I helped him carry the couches across the expanse of lawn separating his house from my mom’s, he mentioned that he used to live in Southern California back in the 90’s.

@THE GUSS REPORT-As if the problems weren’t already bad enough at the LA Times and its parent company Tronc, as of last Friday, the content of both entities could no longer be accessed by nearly 800 million people in Europe, by its own choice, raising the issue of why the Times has been virtually silent on it. 

EASTSIDER-First of all, hats off to the EAPD (East Area Progressive Democrats) Club who scooped everyone in Los Angeles when they caught the LAUSD Board doing the down and dirty, secretly hiring Austin Beutner in a closed session that was not agendized or disclosed.