IMPORTANT READS

FREEDOM OF SPEECH - For a good while one could blame Trump for the prosecutorial monstrosity perpetrated on journalist Julian Assange.

GUEST COMMENTARY - Your partners in crime hit me up for nickels and dimes, The man you were loving couldn’t never get clean, It felt out of place, my foot in his face, But he should’ve stayed where his money was green…  – Bob Dylan, Where Are You Tonight?

GUEST COMMENTARY - Liberals and moderates complain endlessly about the awfulness of Trumpian Republifascists in their families, workplaces, and communities and of course in United States politics.

ACCORDING TO LIZ - The self-aware global defense platform from 1984’s The Terminator did not start exterminating mankind in 1997. 

FLORIDA POLITICS - Leaders in the African American community in Florida are speaking out after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) replaced a pro-trans state attorney with a lawyer who wants to bring back what has been called the “Biking while Black” policy.

OUR TAXES - Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Charles Rettig vowed in a recent letter that the agency would “absolutely not” use the 87,000 new employees funded by the Inflation Reduction Act to target middle-class Americans.

GUEST COMMENTARY - Could somebody please get an extension ladder to help Senator Schumer down from the ceiling?

THE VIEW FROM HERE - The nation faces an unrecognized dilemma. Who is more dangerous to America – Donald Trump who is definitely a narcissistic histrionic or Nancy Pelosi who is probably a narcissistic psychopath? 

HOUSING CRISIS - As the median rent spikes to $2,000 across the country, housing justice activists double down on efforts to counter price-gouging landlords.

THE REPUBLICAN REPUBLIC - If this was just routine political corruption by a few rogue politicians, it would be a problem but not a crisis—however—this cynical embrace of strongman oligarchy has put America itself at risk. 

RELIGION POLITICS - In the run-up to the U.S. midterm elections, some politicians continue to ride the wave of what’s known as “Christian nationalism” in ways that are increasingly vocal and direct.

GUEST COMMENTARY - The Trump era was marked by the administration loading the federal judiciary with a seemingly endless number of right-wing extremists, many of whom weren’t remotely qualified to serve a lifetime on the bench.

US HOUSE REPORT - "These firms are buying up a lot of housing, and they're particularly buying up housing in places that have relatively weak tenant protections," said one eviction expert. "And I don't think that that is coincidental."

THE VIEW FROM HERE - In order to consolidate power, power needs to vanquish the rule of law. 

RACIAL RECKONINGS - What some Americans seem to have forgotten. 

FOOD SUPPLY - The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is holding its annual convention in Philadelphia starting on July 29.

HUMANS - The world is a mess, in both social and ecological terms, mired in unjust and unsustainable systems.

WAR ON UKRAINE - What the mainstream media fail to see in the coverage of the current Ukraine crisis is that there is no text (narrative) without context.

PLANNING WATCH - Automobile companies in Asia, Europe, and the United States are investing over $500 billion in electric cars, led by two German car companies, Daimler and VW. 

OIL PRODUCTION - Will civilization collapse because it's running out of oil? That question was debated hotly almost 20 years ago; today, not so much.

SCOTUS VIEW - On June 30, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case called Moore v. Harper.