Opinion

“I didn’t go to the No Kings protest last month. Not because I didn’t care. Not because I didn’t agree with the protesters. It wasn’t because I’m not outraged by masked thugs and goons deputized as federal officers grabbing people who are of certain color, have accents, work at certain jobs — some of whom are citizens — and whisked away in unmarked vans to be detained and often deported. It wasn’t because I’m not alarmed by the dismantling of agencies to help the poor here and internationally and promote the rights of racial minorities and LGBTQ folks as well as cultural diversity.”

“‘Supporting our veterans’ has become too symbolic — a slogan rather than a promise lived through policy or compassion. Whether someone served one weekend a month or devoted decades to this country, each wrote a blank check payable to the United States. Really think about that.” Courier file photo

“We are currently at a dangerous and unprecedented place within the culture and politicization of health and science. This threatens the health of the United States, in particularly our most vulnerable, and our ability to lead the world in biomedical sciences and health advances.” Photo/by Kaboompics.com

In May, when I conceived the Courier’s First Amendment special edition, I envisioned a primer for our readers, sort of a guide to possible things to watch for. But things have changed. In the intervening months, the Trump administration has exceeded many of our most outrageous fears, delighting supporters and enraging critics along the way. Photo/by Mohadese, pexels.com

Past presidents have restricted press freedoms during national crises. Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt acted in wartime. Trump, critics note, has offered no justification beyond personal dislike of criticism — a stance with broad implications for his political opponents and for democratic institutions. Photo/by Beth Fitzpatrick, pexels.com

“Maybe leaving a better world for our kids isn’t our job after all. Maybe we just need to get over ourselves and accept that our kids will rise to the occasion and be the change we wanted to see. Or not. It’s not up to us.”

“There is an urgent need and opportunity for California’s schools to strengthen protections and cultivate a climate of inclusion for Jewish students, aligning with their existing support for other targeted groups. It brings parity to how antisemitism is addressed within existing anti-discrimination frameworks and offers a systematic and overdue response to the rise in antisemitism.” Photo/courtesy of Jewish Federation of GSGPV

“California’s classrooms should be places of learning, curiosity, and critical thinking that enrich and guide our next generation of leaders. However, a dangerous bill being considered in the California state legislature, AB 715, threatens to chill free speech and comprehensive learning in classrooms, punish educators for discussing global human rights issues, and adds a financial strain on the state’s already deficient budget by adding additional levels of bureaucracy.” Photo/courtesy of CAIR California

“There’s a lot going on in ‘1991: The Year Punk Broke,’ but the most impactful character in the documentary film, which includes Kurt Cobain no less, does not appear on screen: it’s the approaching cultural tsunami that would be felt around the world just months later. Dirty Opera, is screening the film by director Dave Markey at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, September 18 at the Laemmle Claremont 5.”

“Inflation, though down sharply from its short-lived post-pandemic peak of 9%, is holding stubbornly above the Fed’s 2% target — currently closer to 3%. Arguably, current policies on trade and immigration are also inflationary. Meanwhile, recent jobs reports show significant slowing in new job creation. Despite the inflation risks, it appears likely the Fed will cut rates in its September 17 announcement, giving greater priority to its employment mandate for the moment.”

“At the Claremont Courier, we don’t just believe in the First Amendment — we affirm it every single day. We question authority, publish the truth, and keep public servants in the public eye. The right to speak, write, and know what’s happening isn’t some abstract legal concept; it’s the oxygen of a free community. When those rights get chipped away, we all breathe a little less freely.”

I met John when I was at UCLA for the spring 1984 quarter. He was from Maine and was a big guy, like a dairy farm boy, with a big grin. But he was no country hick. Not only was he at UCLA as an out-of-state student, he was majoring in bio-chemistry or some such, way outside my English/humanities lane.

One of my favorite photos, taken in 2007, is of my second daughter’s first day of kindergarten at Palisades Charter Elementary School in Pacific Palisades.

“Rabbi Kupetz believes humanitarian aid must enter Gaza, he also thinks that no military has an obligation to feed its enemy’s people. Disturbingly, Kupetz does not acknowledge Israel’s role in bringing about the Gaza famine … So yes, when a country deliberately and intentional kills civilians by starving them like Israel has been and is doing to Gazans, the world demands that its army provides the level of aid that’s needed to its ‘enemy’s population.’”

“Democrats’ response to all this insanity has been to hold periodic press conferences and craft strongly worded letters to the manager. Most, save a handful of reliable firebrands, have hidden from cameras, apparently clinging to Michelle Obama’s now wildly archaic “we go high” philosophy. Thankfully, it appears a meaningful response is beginning to coalesce right here in California: Governor Gavin Newsom is getting down in the gutter with Trump, trolling him by aping his own ridiculous barrage of misspellings-laden, all caps social media posts.”

“We are living in a military occupation of Los Angeles orchestrated by the Trump regime. Let that sink in. Read it again. For most of the summer we have endured federal agents of different sorts (ICE, CBP, DHS, FBI) and paramilitaries (or ’empowered bounty hunters,’ as the media is calling them) roaming the streets of Los Angeles with ski masks and loaded high-caliber weapons as if they are in a war zone. Their target: defenseless and unarmed Angelenos.”