Within about a month of the debut of Fwd.us, Mark Zuckerberg’s new DC lobby outfit aimed at promoting immigration reform, the group is already falling apart. If this week is any indication, the meltdown will be as spectacular and ignoble as every other ill-conceived, overfunded start-up in the Valley. Fwd.us’ political problems began the way they usually do: with a cynical, too-cute-by-half strategy adopted by his Beltway proxies. Fwd.us’ approach amounted … read more.
From time to time we may gripe about individual stories or columns that appear in the Los Angeles Times, but it remains our city’s paper of record and a powerful source of investigative journalism – at a time when such journalism has rapidly given way to rumor-sourced blogs written by dilettantes or pundits. That the Los Angeles Times may become the private toy of America’s most partisan conservative interests … read more.
L.A. Superior Court judges are doing the wrong thing. They decided to deal with a $53 million budget deficit by arbitrarily closing eight courthouses around L.A. County, which will send justice into chaos, inconvenience people and cause transportation and other problems. The courthouses scheduled to close as of June 28 or sooner are: Huntington Park, Whittier, Pomona North, Malibu, West Los Angeles, San Pedro, Beacon Street and the Kenyon … read more.
The West, Texas chemical and fertilizer plant where at least 15 were killed and more than 200 injured a few weeks ago hadn’t been fully inspected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration since 1985. (A partial inspection in 2011 had resulted in $5,250 in fines.) OSHA and its state partners have a total of 2,200 inspectors charged with ensuring the safety of more than eight million workplaces employing … read more.
As you've probably heard, the Senate is now selling a new brand of immigration reform bill called the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. Senators -- both Democrat and Republican -- have stirred together a complex and massive proposal that has potential to become law, driven by a strong showing of immigrant voters in the November election. This proposal is a huge deal for everyone … read more.
Today, millions of Americans who contribute to the wealth and prosperity of our country don’t get the credit they deserve. One of the closest things to economic democracy we have in this country, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), is something that President Barack Obama cut from his 2014 budget. An ESOP is a type of employee retirement or savings plan, similar to stock bonuses, but with the ability to borrow … read more.
On January 16, 2013, just after 5 a.m., 12 sheriff's deputies and 10 Portland police officers forcefully evicted the original Portland foreclosure fighters - Debbie and Ron Austin - from their NE Portland home. The eviction was at the demand of the government sponsored and funded mortgage finance vehicle, Fannie Mae. The family was evicted, but their home is not empty. A force of armed private security guards from … read more.
Barack Obama’s nomination of Penny Pritzker as Commerce Secretary was a poke in the eye of the American labor movement. The niece of the founder of the Hyatt Hotel chain and current member of the company’s board, Pritzker is a key player in what UNITE HERE calls “the worst hotel employer in America.” Go to the union’s Hyatt Hurts website for info on its global boycott and then click to … read more.
The American public knows it’s downwardly mobile. What it doesn’t know is what it can do to arrest, much less reverse, that trend.The public’s awareness of its plight was evident in the Allstate/National Journal poll released last Thursday. Half of the respondents – 49 percent – said that only the upper class could realistically expect to be able to pay for their children’s college education. Another 46 percent said that … read more.
On Wednesday, community activists and homeowner groups got some good news from Washington. President Obama announced that he was removing Ed DeMarco, the Bush-appointed acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). FHFA regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the bailed-out mortgage financiers that together own or guarantee 60 percent of the nation's mortgages. For more than a year, activists have waged a "Dump DeMarco" campaign because of … read more.
