"Absurdities of Late" by Daniel Guss
Catching up on things while LA City Council goes on another soused recess
@TheGussReport — Despite taking off most of July, the LA City Council is again on recess after Tuesday’s meetings to enjoy another soused soirée known as the League of California Cities Annual Conference and Exposition in Sacramento.
That’s not to be confused with the time it took off in March for the similarly named National League of Cities Annual Congressional City Conference in Washington, D.C., just in time for cherry blossoms.
Now, stick with me, because it’s about to get a bit more absurd…
Those conferences are not to be confused with the National League of Cities City Summit in Atlanta for which they will go on yet another recess in November.
The odds of anything happening at these conferences that will genuinely benefit the rest of us is in serious doubt, unless you believe that failing politicians drinking with lobbyists is a good and healthy thing.
These are the same politicians who want to expand City Council… because more of the same will lead to better results??? No, we need a smaller Los Angeles with better politicians who stay put until they earn their paycheck with indisputably positive outcomes. This is done, ideally, without patting one another on the back while they ignore constituents who come to City Hall for a single minute to speak.
In other ABSURD news…
Fitness For Office?
Congressman Robert Garcia, who represents Long Beach and other areas of south Los Angeles County, has declared that President Joe Biden is healthy and strong, which conflicts with the perspective of the vast majority of Americans.
ABSURD: Despite his confidence, Garcia refuses to state whether he endorses Biden. Apparently, he has not yet been given permission to do so. Not to worry, though. The LA Times is guaranteed to endorse Garcia in his next campaign.
Wrong Jewish Holiday, But Good Try LA Times. Well, Not Really.
Last Friday evening was the start of Rosh Hashana, the celebration of the Jewish new year that precedes Yom Kippur, which is the Jewish holiday for atonement of sins.
On that day at the LA Times, however, the holidays were mistaken for each other, with Yom Kippur referred to in the present tense and Rosh Hashana in the future tense.
ABSURD: Mistakes happen, but five days after bringing it to writer Sonja Sharp’s attention (she refers to herself as a “reporter of fact”), the mistake continues to mislead, even though the misspelling of someone’s name in the original version has already been corrected. Such indifference is what some Jews refer to as a shonda, or a disgrace.
ABSURD 2: Sharp leans heavily on the stereotype of how it is supposedly expensive to be Jewish, while failing to mention that Jewish holidays, in fact most Jewish services, are streamed online for free from many, if not most, reform congregations. Problem solved for most reform and secular Jews even if they want to watch services in other cities.
Typo Thyme At The LA Times
A month after pointing out its misspelling of “Californians,” the LA Times still hasn’t corrected it.
ABSURD: Perhaps this is due to recent newsroom cuts in El Segundo. But if this is a new pattern and practice of indifference at the Times, that too is a shonda.
City Hall’s Tortured, Failed Effort To Rebrand South Central
LA City Council loves to rebrand its failures. Homeless people are now “people experiencing homelessness.” The long-deprived 9th District is “The New 9th,” even though its representative, Curren Price, faces much of the rest of his life in prison for the same old City Hall corruption.
ABSURD: City Hall thinking that anyone outside of its confines buys that South LA is any different than South Central when it still lacks new supermarkets, farmers markets, new and better schools and, dare I say, school choice.
Karen Bass Burgers
Between incessantly telling LA that she is laser focused on “locking arms” in photo ops with other politicians, and how “Inside Safe” got 15 of 50,000 homeless people off the sidewalks this week, LA Mayor Karen Bass found time to reject her predecessors’ efforts to promote healthier eating.
ABSURDLY AWESOME: When people reply to Bass’s tweet with a dose of street reality.
And Finally…
Why does LA Metro ignore infectious bodily waste from people on its trains and buses where others who smelled it have scattered, but where others will soon unknowingly sit and stand in that waste and track it to their cars, workplaces and homes? Is LA Metro now considered an “Inside Safe” location?
Because this is absurd…
But it isn’t as absurd as a guy rigging something on Metro’s subway tracks at 2pm on a weekday with zero signage about where to call in case of an emergency since there was zero law enforcement or “security ambassadors” that it promoted with such confidence.
In due time, even more people are going to get killed on Metro. (Look for this prophetic caveat to be quoted in future trials.)
And that’s not just absurd.
It’s a criminal failure by LA Metro and the politicians and appointees who run it…into the ground.
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(Daniel Guss, MBA, is a multi-award-winning journalist. In June ‘23, he won the LA Press Club’s “Online Journalist of the Year” and “Best Activism Journalism” awards. He has been City Editor for the Mayor Sam network, and a featured contributor for CityWatchLA, KFI AM-640, iHeartMedia, 790-KABC, Cumulus Media, KCRW 89.9 FM, KRLA 870 AM, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Movieline Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal, Pasadena Star-News, Los Angeles Downtown News and the Los Angeles Times in its sports, opinion, entertainment and Sunday Magazine sections among other publishers.)