August 5, 2026
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Opinion pieces, editorials and letters to the editor on Santa Monica issues from Santa Monica Mirror.

Thomas B. Elias, Columnist

Vote Against Transparency Helps Explain GOP Plight:

Despite persistent delusions that it retains plenty of influence, the California Republican Party is in increasing danger of descending into third place among party registration choices of California voters. That’s clear from the newest voter […]

Steve Stajich, Columnist

The New Funny: Laughter Not Included:

April Fool’s Day isn’t really “celebrated” in the strictest sense. I’ve never been invited to an April Fool’s party although maybe the perfect April 1st event would be to invite people to a party… and […]

Thomas B. Elias, Columnist

Minor Party Protest Lawsuit Misses The Point: Elias:

There’s always reason for suspicion when political parties with dramatically disparate ideologies band together for anything. So it was when the state Republican and Democratic parties partnered in a lawsuit that eventually got California’s old […]

Steve Stajich, Columnist

Do We Need To Defend Books?:

You may have heard that the Encyclopedia Britannica will no longer exist as a kind of wall of knowledge on shelves in classrooms and school libraries. No more penciling-in funny cartoon bubbles coming out of […]

Angel Villaseñor listened when his own brothers forbid him to join a gang

A Gang Is Waiting…:

For most of us, family can be the glue that holds us to this life; a source of strength and the sun around which the various other planets of our life revolve. Mirror Editor-in-Chief Brenton […]