IMPORTANT READS

CLASS OF DISCONTENTS - Twenty-first-century America may be dominated by oligarchic elites, but arguably the biggest threat to our economic and political system might be located further down the food chain.

SCOTUS - If she is confirmed by the Senate next week, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson would arguably become the most accomplished Justice on the Supreme Court, and the first to have served as a public defender.

POLITICS & SOCIAL MEDIA - The new revelation Wednesday that Facebook hired one of the largest Republican consulting firms in the United States to carry out a public attack campaign against rival platform TikTok was seen as further evidence of the social media behemoth's growing alliance with the GOP political apparatus.

URBAN WATCH - As the centers of media and political discourse, large cities, notably New York, have a unique ability to promote themselves, asserting that dense, core urban areas own the future.

DOJ WATCH - I know you've heard this before—that accountability is coming for Donald Trump and his cronies for triggering the Jan. 6th insurrection—

NEW TAX CODE - Economic experts and progressives opposed to the outrageous levels of inequality in the United States celebrated Saturday evening

WEALTH DISTRIBUTION - During four years of Donald Trump’s high-anxiety presidency, Republicans could at least point to one goal accomplished amid the noise and two impeachments: the 2017 tax reform law.

NUCLEAR WAR - I’ve been darkly amused by the large number of people I’ve seen and heard dismissing the possibility of nuclear World War III emerging from the Ukraine War:

POLITICS 2022 - The depression-era comedian Will Rogers once famously said he did not belong to an organized political party because he was a Democrat.

ECONOMY - Inflation! Inflation! Everyone’s talking about it, but ignoring one of its biggest causes: corporate concentration.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS - For more than six months, people in Texas have been unable to access abortion in the state beyond the earliest weeks of pregnancy.

JOB MARKET - In corporate speak, there are no “job cuts.”

SANCTIONS - As part of the sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its European partners are cracking down on Russian oligarchs.

MONEY MATTERS - Covid-19 has caused a banking crisis to occur throughout the world.

LITERACY - Nothing is more fundamentally vital to personal and societal success than literacy — the ability to read comprehensively and write clearly.

INFLATION WATCH - On the heels of fresh data showing that the U.S. inflation rate jumped to a new 40-year high last month, a new survey found that more than 80% of American voters believe costs are rising in part because "big corporations are jacking up prices" while raking in record profits.

GUEST COMMENTARY - Republican politicos are all over Joe Biden for failing to stop inflation.

TRANSPO - Ukrainians, terrified, worried, hungry, cold, with very uncertain futures, are fleeing their country to escape the bloody war of Putin.

SCOTUS WATCH - No one can seriously dispute that Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s nominee for the Supreme Court, is a brilliant and eminently qualified candidate.

MBC MEETINGS 2/10-2/11 - Consumers cry out in physical and emotional pain during the quarterly Medical Board of California (MBC) meetings.

UKRAINE'S DEMOCRACY - As I write this, Russian troops reportedly are moving north through the Odesa oblast, or region, toward the river Kodyma, along which sits a town called Balta.