Los Angeles

Referendum violence, the economics of bribery and political clowns + this day in history w/the start of the Beltway Sniper spree and our song of the day by Luna on your Morning Monarchy for October 2, 2017.

Jay Dyer and Jay Weidner explore the multiple layers of corruption as depicted in the film Chinatown which are present throughout the strata of our society. As a burgeoning Los Angeles struggles to establish itself as a vital city, the power elite take this as an opportunity to make great financial gains for themselves. We learn that the archetypal figures portrayed in this film are representative of what is happening in the real world.

Like Trump, a liar and manipulatorA couple years ago, I was driving out to City of Hope in Duarte and was able to listen to a whole segment on KPCC, an interview with in-coming Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. He spoke very eloquently and forcefully about environmental abuses and dangerous industrial and commercial pollution in working class residential communities.

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officer stands by his car in Santa Monica, Calif. on Saturday, June 8, 2013. (AP/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
LOS ANGELES  — Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department cannot reveal to prosecutors the names of 300 problem deputies who are potential witnesses in pending criminal cases, a California appeals court ruled Tuesday.

I woke up this morning and my e-mail box was filled with messages about this report, Rigged by Brett Murphy for USA Today. I had missed it when it ran a few days ago but. My correspondents were insistent it is a must-read. And it is. It’s worth reading in full— though probably not on a full stomach.

The new issue of the Harvard Business Review carried an adaptation by urbanologist Richard Florida from his new book, The New Urban Crisis, warning about "a sterile sameness" that's been hard to miss taking over cities we all used to love and feel inspired by. I don't think Florida is as worried about it as I am...

At the end of March, L.A. progressive icon Marcy Winograd wrote a guest post about the importance of Steve Zimmer's May 16 school board election-- a week from today.

Earlier in April of this year, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a non-profit group which emphasizes preventative medicine and vegan lobbyists, said in a lawsuit that the Los Angeles school district should not be allowed to serve hot dogs and other processed meats to students because the products increase the risk for cancer. [1]

The recent power failures in New  York, Los Angeles and San Francisco represent a wider failure of American power. This power is not just limited to the ability to keep the lights on, it includes an eerie silence about why the lights off which represents governmental power totally failing the public.

Yesterday, morning power black-outs hit three major US cities in two time zones. Areas of New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles were hit by the still unexplained power cuts.
San Francisco’s power supply is controlled by Pacific Gas and Electric, most of Los Angeles is controlled by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power while other areas are controlled by Southern California Edison and much of New York City is controlled by ConEdison.