J.T. the L.A. Storyteller

You can also watch this conversation on YouTube. Aida Ashouri is an Iranian-American immigrant running for L.A. City Attorney this year. In this IG Live she speaks with me about her last few days on the campaign trail gathering signatures, and just what it’s gonna take to reach as many voters as possible before election day on June 2nd. Keep up with Aida here. AND LET THE CITY KNOW! J.T.

LET THE CITY KNOW: You can also watch this episode on YouTube. Because of course you don’t think it’s “Mission Accomplished” in Caracas already, do you? Check out this map on US “Interventions” in Latin America since 1950 for yourself here. Subscribe here to make sure you don’t miss my written work via Making a Neighborhood. And to support a Local Vendor Buyout campaign for East Hollywood, Virgil Village and Silver Lake, please do so via Quien Es Tu Vecindario. J.T.

LET THE CITY KNOW: From Dana Williamson, who was outgoing Governor Newsom’s former Chief of Staff, to California’s own Attorney General Rob Bonta, to Oakland’s Ex-Mayor Thao, to Orange County’s Andrew Do, the last couple of weeks since the passage of Prop 50 in California have seen a number of corruption cases brought forward. Plus, back in the Southland, a new report shows that from Pacific Palisades to Altadena, myriad officials in L.A. County absolutely failed their duty to the residents of L.A. County as wildfire tore through these communities. This was also the case even after the 2018 Woolsey fire was supposed to serve as an inflection point for L.A. County to better prepare for “natural disasters.” You can read the full report for yourself here. Subscribe here to make sure you don’t miss my written work via Making a Neighborhood. To support a Local Vendor Buyout campaign for East Hollywood, Virgil Village and Silver Lake, please do so via Quien Es Tu Vecindario. J.T.

LET THE CITY KNOW: Prop 50 HAS PASSED. Now, could Gavin Newsom tell us about just why California has the second highest rate of unemployment in the nation, second only to Washington D.C? Subscribe here to make sure you don’t miss my written work via Making a Neighborhood. To support a Local Vendor Buyout campaign for East Hollywood, Virgil Village and Silver Lake, please do so via Quien Es Tu Vecindario. J.T.

LET THE CITY KNOW: PROP 50: “Requires temporary use of new congressional district maps through 2030. Directs independent Citizens Redistricting Commission to resume enacting congressional district maps in 2031. Establishes policy supporting nonpartisan redistricting commissions nationwide. Fiscal Impact: One-time costs to counties of up to a few million dollars statewide to update election materials to reflect new congressional district maps.” Subscribe here to make sure you don’t miss my written work via Making a Neighborhood. To support a Local Vendor Buyout campaign for East Hollywood, Virgil Village and Silver Lake, please do so via Quien Es Tu Vecindario. J.T.

LET THE CITY KNOW: At this critical juncture for creators and our online community, it’s time to make some changes to how we do it. Subscribe here to make sure you don’t miss my written work via Making a Neighborhood. To support a Local Vendor Buyout campaign for East Hollywood, Virgil Village and Silver Lake, please do so via Quien Es Tu Vecindario. J.T.

LET THE CITY KNOW: Deeyah Khan’s “White Right: Meeting the Enemy” is a must-watch this weekend. Subscribe here to make sure you don’t miss my written work via Making a Neighborhood. To support a Local Vendor Buyout campaign for East Hollywood, Virgil Village and Silver Lake, please do so via Quien Es Tu Vecindario. J.T.

LET THE CITY KNOW: You can also watch this episode on YouTube. It’s been a little while since I sat down for some hot takes, but this week is exceptional! Yesterday, in Los Angeles, charges were announced by federal prosecutors against Jonathan Rinderknecht, a 29 year old Uber driver who the state alleges was responsible for the blaze which became the monstrous Pacific Palisades fire due to 80 – 100 MPH winds. I consider just what this means for victims of this unbelievable news, including since this recent L.A. Times analysis shows that after California wildfires destroyed nearly 23,000 homes between 2017 – 2020, to this day only 38% of them have been successfully rebuilt. This podcast episode also shouts out the late, great Mike Davis’s Ecology of Fear, which discusses the perilous challenges for Los Angeles in the face of Climate Change. Please find it at your local library or bookstore, it’s never been a better time to get in the know. ***To support a Local Vendor Buyout campaign for East Hollywood, Virgil Village and Silver Lake, please do so via Quien Es Tu Vecindario HERE.*** J.T.

LET THE CITY KNOW: You can also watch this episode via YouTube. In this installment of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast, guest David Cowen and I discuss his being diagnosed with bipolar disorder as early as when he was 21 years old, Kabbalah and Zionism, Israel’s genocide through forced starvation in Gaza, as well as rising homelessness in Los Angeles and California. We also shout out a special fundraising campaign for Khaled, only five months old as his family flees south from Gaza to the border with Sudan due to Israel’s latest campaign against the Palestinian people, known as “Operation Gideon’s Chariots II.” To learn more about Ibrahim and Nagham’s campaign for Khaled, please do so here. From David: “Dave Cowen turns the religious into humor, finds the ​s​piritual in the digital, and makes serious comics fun. His popular series of comedy Haggadahs for the Jewish holiday of Passover have been featured in The New York Times and include parodies of Trump, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mel Brooks, Kanye West, and The Office. His debut graphic novel, 11 years in the making, AN IMPERFECT UNION, is available on his Substack SerioComics, which also includes Q&As with the best makers of ​g​raphic literature today such as Pulitzer Prize winner Tessa Hulls, Eisner winner Shannon Wheeler, ​Melissa Chan and Badiucao, Sina Grace, Yasmeen Abedifard​, etc.​ Follow his stories and more on Instagram at (@_davecowen_).” Thank you also to Nicolas Jara (@nicthejara) for video, Jacob on Sound (@fuller.sound), and Esteban (@marsbuiltstudio) for sharing his space for this discussion. J.T.

LET THE CITY KNOW: You can also watch this episode via YouTube. On Sunday, August 3rd in East Hollywood, Mark Casas and his partner Angel Maria Zavala spearheaded a special pop-up with Ondo Coffee in support of Who Is Your Neighborhood, also known as Quien Es Tu Vecindario. The pop-up featured home-style chilaquiles as well as horchata, with proceeds from the event going directly to street vendors in our community. In this installment of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast we speak with Mark and Angel Maria as to just how we did it, including the way that growing up in Los Angeles and observing our family traditions inspired us into action. For more on this story, sign up for Making a Neighborhood, the newsletter, here: https://makinganeighborhood.substack.com To support our ongoing Vendor Buyout campaign, please do so here: https://onevecindario.org/buyout. J.T.

It’s Friday, August 1st, and for this installment of the podcast my goal is get you up to speed with all things on so-called “IMMIGRATION REFORM” as it pertains to Los Angeles, most of all for the people of Los Angeles. In case this is your first time checking in about “THE IMMIGRATION ISSUE” in L.A., what you need to know is that since June 6th of this year, the city has found itself under siege on a totally racial basis, with ICE and Border Patrol in particular running rampant, by and large unconstitutionally arresting and detaining at least 3,000 people so far, including “U.S. CITIZENS.” Due to the agency’s utter disregard for the rule of law and due process, ON JULY 2ND AND JULY 3RD, the ACLU and PUBLIC COUNSEL FILED A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST “THE DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY.” ON JULY 11TH U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE FRIMPONG GRANTED THE TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER ON ICESTAPO. ON TUESDAY, JULY 13TH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FILED AN AN APPEAL. THREE DAYS LATER, ON JULY 16TH, THIS REQUEST WAS DENIED. NONETHELESS, THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS SCHEDULED A HEARING FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO SHOW JUST WHAT “IRREPARABLE HARM” WAS CAUSED BY THE RESTRAINING ORDER’S REQUIREMENT THAT ICE AND BORDER PATROL ABIDE BY THE CONSTITUTION. THIS IS THAT HEARING, AND IN TURN, OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS. To support a Local Vendor Buyout campaign for East Hollywood, Virgil Village and Silver Lake, please do so via Quien Es Tu Vecindario here: https://onevecindario.org/buyout/ J.T.

LET THE CITY KNOW. The answer is probably not, but his father, Fred Trump, sure was! In 1905 Donald Trump’s grandfather Friedrich Trump, originally born in Kallstadt, was threatened with deportation for failing to report for military services in the 1880s. When he nonetheless pleaded to be allowed to return permanently to Bavaria from the U.S., he was denied and forced to return to New York, where they’d give birth and raise Fred Trump, the 45th President’s father. Should the administration explore the possibility of revoking citizenship, then, based on these facts they just may have to line the president up for a deportation hearing as well. ***To support a Local Vendor Buyout campaign for East Hollywood, Virgil Village and Silver Lake, please do so via Quien Es Tu Vecindario HERE.*** J.T.

LET THE CITY KNOW. In this installment we consider just what the administration’s deployment of National Guard personnel—after wresting control of them from Newsom—has meant for communities across Los Angeles and Southern California. In other words, what has the deployment actually achieved, and for whom? We also consider the recent injunction by U.S. District Judge Frimpong in favor of a civil lawsuit against ICE alleging the use of racial profiling to conduct raids and abduct people, including U.S. citizens. J.T.

WILL L.A.’S RESTAURANT INDUSTRY SURVIVE THESE ATTACKS FROM ICE?

LET THE CITY KNOW. For more on these CUENTOS: I. Family shaken after Huntington Park home raided, KTLA: https://youtu.be/-os0_WGcLKU II. South L.A. fireworks explosion likely caused by miscalculations from bomb technicians, LAPD chief says: https://youtu.be/Xr0yAlbGvKY?si=YKtDIalypLr6YLVA III. LA Black Panther member recalls shootout with LAPD’s newly formed SWAT in 1969 on Central Avenue, StreetTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze2oAR-gS7k&ab_channel=StreetTV IV. The 1969 raid that changed policing, LA TIMES: https://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=6e943b58-a0b0-4ff7-9142-43cd01a099e4 J.T.

So much to read, yet, such little time. This reality notwithstanding, here are four articles I think you should check out this weekend and why. This round-up can also be viewed on YouTube: 1. Aryan Brotherhood members found guilty of ordering L.A. County murders from prison – Matthew Ormseth, L.A. Times 2. LADWP paying up to $1,975 an hour to Munger, Tolles & Olson, to defend against lawsuits from the Palisades – Matt Hamilton, David Zahniser, L.A. Times 3. Trump’s Mass Deportation Plan Hits Its Own Wall – Brittany Gibson, Axios 4. Revisiting Obama‘s Presidency and its Impact on the Democratic Party – Yeva Nersisyan, The Hill Let The City Know! (And please refer any typos in the captions to your local A.I. committee). J.T.

You can also watch this episode on YouTube. In this first installment of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast for 2025 I’m pleased to introduce the Los Cuentos Listenership to Anneliese Hanson, better known as My Goth Therapist! Official show-notes coming soon. For now, stay vigilant and stay tuned. And Let The City Know! J.T.

2024 has been an incredible year, but today I’ve got one more present for the Los Cuentos listenership before it’s over: the 150th episode of the Social Primate Podcast in collaboration with yours truly, initially aired live on Tuesday, December 17th, 2024. In the special program, as noted by my colleague and podcaster from another broadcaster, Eddie Aguirre: “Together, we dive into the untold stories of Los Angeles, including captivating listener-submitted pieces that bring the city, its people and our shared human experiences to life. If you love authentic storytelling and hearing the voices of LA’s vibrant communities, this episode is for you. Don’t miss it!” Enjoy it, and until the next one, Los Angeles! J.T.

Official show-notes in soon. For now… To make a one-time donation to my nonprofit work for working-class communities in The City, do so here. To support the production of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast for as little as $5 a month, check out my page at Patreon. Until the next time, stay vigilant and stay tuned. J.T.

With Elizabeth Chou for Los Angeles! To make a one-time donation to my nonprofit work for working-class communities in The City, do so here. To support the production of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast for as little as $5 a month, check out my page at Patreon. Until the next time, stay vigilant and stay tuned. J.T.