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Remembering Eleanor Montano
I’m a family friend of Eleanor Montano. I’m speaking on behalf of the Montano family to let you know of her passing on April 29th.
Eleanor served her community of Wilmington, LAPD Harbor Division, City of LA on various Boards and Commissions throughout Los Angeles for over 50 yrs.
Eleanor has received numerous awards through the years for her work and has been a friend and mentor to many throughout the community. On a personal note, she was a mentor to me when I first came on board with the LAPD, volunteering with the Crisis Response Team back in 1996.
I thought it would be so very nice to acknowledge her dedication to her many years of service.
Thank you so much,
Gary Horton
Industrial Robots
U.S. factories now run about 382 ,000 industrial robots—up 12 % in a single year—and 2023 saw a new unit bolted to the floor roughly once every 14 minutes. ¹ These machines make everyday goods cheaper, but each one also reshapes or erases a human role. IFR International Federation of Robotics
AI is no longer just on the shop floor: algorithms design circuit boards, route freight, and even auto‑generate maintenance schedules. Yet the speed of this rollout has left unions and local officials scrambling to react in real time, not years in advance.
So why aren’t workers given a transparent timeline—and the resources—to adapt? Large‑scale studies show that only about one in eight displaced workers (≈ 10–15 %) ever enroll in any formal retraining, despite clear evidence that targeted coursework can restore lost earnings. ² Meanwhile, many Americans still cling to the comforting hope that the economy will simply “snap back” to its pre‑automation state. That ship has sailed; entire warehouses and ports already run lights‑out. Money Smart Week
If we’re serious about preserving middle‑class dignity, three steps can’t wait:
Transparency. A federal Automation Forecast forcing large employers to publish five‑year robot/AI deployment plans.
Transition funding. A National Reskilling Trust that grants every displaced worker a fully paid year in an accredited program—no tuition, no lost health coverage.
Portable benefits. Health care and retirement accounts that follow the worker, not the job, so people can move from legacy roles into new ones without risking bankruptcy.
Give citizens the facts, the time, and the tools, and they’ll meet the future head‑on. Keep them in the dark, and the true price of “cheap” goods will be paid in livelihoods, not dollars.
Carlos Saldana
Long Beach
California Love
If your online algorithms have ever led you into the far-right internet, you know it is a fact-free environment filled with conspiracy theories and disinformation.
That’s true when it comes to California as well.
During the LA fires they were out there saying we didn’t rake the forest enough, firefighters were using purses to put out fires, and that the fires were set deliberately to create a UN model city. Wild stuff…
But it happens every day.
They say people are fleeing California. False. Our population grew again last year.
They say our state has made a mess of the economy. False. California is now the fourth largest economy in the world. The right likes to talk up Texas as some beacon of what America’s economy should be. Ridiculous. California is the largest manufacturing (and agricultural) state in the country. The next largest state is Texas, and we’re 41% bigger than Texas. Plus, California is a donor state. Texas? A welfare state.
We have more jobs in forestry, agriculture, and fishing. In so many ways, California is a microcosm of the United States. America… but more.
Thanks for reading — and stay vigilant against the lies and falsehoods out there.
Gavin Newsom, Governor California
Peace In Pedro
I’d like to announce 2 local Peace events this month:
1) Thursday May 15th 4-5pm in front of RLN, we will be rallying for our 1st Amendment Freedom of the Press, and to commemorate Nakba Day and denounce the murder by Israel of over 200 Palestinian journalists in Israel’s US-backed war of erasure in Gaza.
2) Our 10th Annual L.A. Harbor Peace Week Not Fleet Week, a series of Peace activities at the San Pedro Waterfront resisting the normalization and promotion of war during the U.S. military’s annual “fleet week” here. For 10 years during “fleet week”, YOUR L.A. Harbor has become a military fairground at the base of the USS Iowa on the L.A. Waterfront. Weapons of all types, and “careers” in WAR are promoted ad nauseum to tens of thousands of people, and especially target youth to recruit them to war jobs after high school.
We Americans pay $1.5 Trillion every year to the Pentagon to fight, prepare for, and recover from, America’s highly questionable wars and over 750 military bases in other people’s countries. Cutting just the nonsense programs like the F-35, long range missile “defense”, the Sentinel ICBM program, and the continued procurement of aircraft carriers could save $100 billion a year. This money could go to nurses, affordable housing, teachers, clean energy, pre-school programs, and healthcare, including VA benefits.
If you are sick and tired of constant WARS, and the promotion of them, join us for Peace Week Not Fleet Week!
A full list can be found @pedro4peace and @codepinksanpedro and on Facebook.
Thursday May 22 we’ll be flyering 4 peace at the downtown welcome “party”. Party4Peace. We’ll meet at 6pm in front of the garden at 429 6th St.
Friday May 23 is our Weekly “Rally for Palestine” @1221 S Gaffey St VONS 5-6pm, followed by a Car Caravan to Wilmington to vigil and FLYER in Banning Park at “fleet week’s” Wilmington Welcome ‘Party’.
Saturday May 24 11am-2pm to FLYER! @ the USS Iowa. and 5pm-7pm FLYER! for Peace at West Harbor
Sunday May 25 1-4pm @ USS Iowa
-Interfaith Peace Promotion and FLYERING!
“Stop Glorifying Guns”
“Pray for Peace, Not for War”
Monday Memorial Day May 26 2-5pm @ USS Iowa FLYERING!
“Gaza is Starving”
“War is Making you Poor”
Rachel Bruhnke Codepink
San Pedro
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