IMPORTANT READS

NEW GEOGRAPHY-Pessimism is the mood of the day, with 80 percent of Americans saying the country is generally out of control.

DISPARATE DEVASTATION-The novel SARS-CoV-2 has roared through the American landscape leaving physical, emotional, and economic devastation in its wake.

PERSPECTIVE-Volunteers speak with a woman while boxes of food for the needy from the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida are being packed in her car during a drive through event at City of Destiny church.

BEHAVIOR-Have you noticed recently that things are collapsing?

DEMILITARIZING POLICE-Think of it as a war system that’s been coming home for years.

PERSPECTIVE Change. Now.

FIRST PERSON-I’m terrified of going back to work.

OTHER WORDS-For weeks since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, protests have erupted across the globe.

GUEST VOICE-The time for manufacturing of weapons of war has passed as a viable industry for our nation, despite the way some of our political leadership clings to economies of the past. — Lisa Savage, U.S. Senate candidate in Maine. 

4^TH OF JULY PERSPECTIVE-When I was a child, I learned to believe that Americans valued freedom and equality more than any other place on the planet.

PERSPECTIVE--For decades, we’ve been told that policing is a public good: available to all, for the benefit of all. But in practice, that’s never been true.

SLAVERY POLITICS-Emancipation Day celebrations concluded this weekend, accompanied by significant talk among elected officials about finally recognizing Juneteenth as a national holiday.

VIEW FROM HERE-As I sympathize with those who want to knock down and deface statues representing former slave owners, I realize that modern corporations are involved in the slave trade today.

GUEST WORDS—Imagine if Adolf Hitler had staged one of his infamous 1930s fascist Nuremberg hate-fests … and the stands were less than full, his speech fell flat, his flawless phalanxes dissolved into chaos, the fighting flags failed to unfurl.  

@THE GUSS REPORT-The United States and much of the free world is presently undergoing a transformational cleansing of racist brands and misdeeds by current celebrities, historic figures and Madison Avenue, for starters.  

WORLD WATCH-Notwithstanding what has been commonly discussed, if the Netanyahu government moves on its plan to annex nearly 30 percent of the West Bank, which will include the Jordan Valley and Israeli settlements, it would precipitate major adversarial repercussions for Israel. 

COMMON DREAMS-As coronavirus cases continue to increase nationwide, President Donald Trump is drawing criticism for his Saturday rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma from a number of angles, including his suggestion that he encouraged officials to slow down testing for Covid-19 and his unauthorized use of a song to promote "a campaign of hate." 

GUEST WORDS--Sign of the changing times: Aunt Jemima, the minstrel-based, cringey racist "mammy" figure on the classic fake maple syrup of our childhoods - and for some white people, their only black friend - is about to go.

GUEST WORDS--“This was not an attack on history. This is history. It is one of those rare historic moments whose arrival means things can never go back to how they were.”

VIEW FROM HERE-After Ferguson six years ago, police departments all over the country implemented several reforms to make officers more aware of their implicit biases and to embrace conflict de-escalation as one of their duties.

ELECTION PROTECTION-Unless election protection activists rise up, primary election disasters in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Georgia could signal the death of American democracy this fall.