VOICES

PROGRESSIVE POLITICS - Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York warned Sunday that congressional Democrats risk depressing turnout in upcoming elections if they further weaken their flagship reconciliation package, which right-wing lawmakers have already stripped of popular programs and cut by roughly $2 trillion overall.

USPS CUTS - Last year’s holiday season was not exactly a merry one for the U.S. Postal Service.

COMMENTARY - Los Angeles was built on oil, literally, and remains the largest urban oilfield in the world. The Hollywoodland sign and the movies came later. 

JUSTICE WATCH - Criminal trials concern allegedly criminal conduct by the defendant.  In Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial, the conduct was his shooting of three people, two of whom died.

COMMENTARY - The Summit for Democracy that President Biden is spearheading in December, at which scores of countries will be in in attendance, is certainly timely and necessary.

MARC'S ANGle- When I interviewed LA resident, Mercedes Needham, now a widow, about the devastating loss of her 53-year-old husband Terry, she said she had to stay strong for their two children.

THE DOCTOR IS IN - As with my last article, I am quite aware that many of you reading this are entirely unable to impartially weigh one side or another with respect to pros and cons of any given leadership in Washington or at home. 

UP TO THE JURY - Never forget the inspiring righteousness of the great George Floyd, Brionna Taylor, and Jacob Blake Rebellion of 2020 – the popular uprising that sent the fascist president Donald Trump down into his bunker and helped undo his presidency.

TAX FOR WEALTHY - A recent NPR story attempted to explain why it is so hard to tax billionaires.

PROGRESSIVE POLITICS - Here's a dirty secret: Great nations rest on a great common culture.

GUN CONTROL - Eighteen miles south of the Central Valley home that was her prison, down Highway 99 past almond orchards and trucks overloaded with hay bales, sits the Madera County Superior Court.

VOICES - Drama, drama! There’s a shortage of toilet paper, of lumber, of second-hand cars. 

THE DOCTOR IS IN - I am quite aware that many of you reading this are entirely unable to impartially weigh one side or another with respect to pros and cons of any given leadership in Washington or at home.

POP PHENOM - Fourscore and three years ago, Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter—a self-titled “musicianer” who was heralded as a “Bad Nigger” who “makes good minstrel” by Life magazine—explained how he came to create one of the first racism* carols.

RACIAL RECKONINGS - When you’re losing the game, summon the commies!

VOICES - The Committee to Recall LA Councilman Mike Bonin filed 39,164 signatures today with the LA City Clerk’s Office that in all probability will be placed on the ballot in a special municipal election once the signatures are verified and his time as an elected official may soon come to a close.

POLITICAL ANALYSIS - In a provocative recent essay in the New York Times, the political historian Jon Grinspan places the distemper currently afflicting American politics in a broader context. In essence, he contends that we’ve been here before.

COMMENTARY - In late 2021, when Americans think of progressive or liberal politics, what do they think of?

TRUMPISM - The Orange Beast Runs Free, Dreaming of Vengeance.  Two seemingly separate news stories are darkly and intimately related to each other in ways that you will not see intelligently discussed on “Meet the Press” or “Washington Week.”

ANTI VAXX - Dear Aaron Rodgers,

VOTING RIGHTS - My Dad skated for the Minnesota Gophers hockey team after he finally got done serving “for the duration” in World War II in the Philippines.