SETTLING OLD SCORES - A British judge on Wednesday officially approved the U.S. government's request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who faces espionage charges for publishing classified material that exposed war crimes by American forces.
IMPORTANT READS
Tax Day: Many In Financial Straits
TAX DAY - Today, as millions of Californians rush to file their tax returns and apply for tax credits, state lawmakers are returning to Sacramento from an 11-day spring recess — and preparing to resume negotiations over the best way to put money back in residents’ pockets.
Crimes of War
MASS VIOLENCE - In just the past few years, we have witnessed mass violence directed at innocent people in many places:
The US Supreme Court Has a Very Serious Clarence Thomas Problem
SCOTUS - As I have written before, the U.S. Supreme Court is facing a crisis of legitimacy driven by a growing public perception that the court is a political institution dominated by conservative activists masquerading as impartial guardians of the Constitution.
The GOP Has Gone Bull-Goose Bonkers, Where Are the Democrats?
GUEST COMMENTARY - I think we can now say the obvious: The Republican Party has gone bull-goose bonkers.
About That $900 You Gave Pentagon Contractors
MILITARY TAX - Most of us want our tax dollars to be wisely used — especially around tax time.
Reasons Rookies Lose Money at the Poker Tables
WANT TO BET-Sitting at the poker table is filled with so much fraught, especially for newbies. Having a strategy is what is most desirable for any rookie’s success.
Move Over Weapons Makers, Facebooks Wants Its War Profits Too
SOCIAL MEDIA - It should come as no surprise that Facebook, alongside many big tech companies, opposes anti-monopoly regulatory efforts, expanding antitrust rules, and strengthening privacy and user rights.
Top 5 Worst Corporate Landlords (Corporate YIMBYs Win Honorable Mention)
RENT CONTROL - As corporate landlords keep setting sky-high prices in the rental housing market, tenants are getting slammed by unfair rents, more evictions, and more homelessness.
What If Voting Became Mandatory in the United States?
OUR DEMOCRACY - Washington Post opinion columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. votes at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland.
Undermining Judge Jackson's SCOTUS Confirmation: The GOP, Islamophobia, and Guantanamo
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.
The Most Dangerous Class: Educated, Unemployed & Angry
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.
Facebook Hires GOP Firm Tied to 'Republican Political Machine'
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.
New Reality: The Biggest Cities Are Past Their Prime
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.
Enough. It Is Time for Merrick Garland to Act on Trump's Coup Plot
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—
Top 10 Billionaires Could Pay $215 Billion Over Next Decade
NEW TAX CODE - Economic experts and progressives opposed to the outrageous levels of inequality in the United States celebrated Saturday evening
The Fight to Tax the Super-Rich
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.
Thinking About the Unthinkable
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:
The Coming Bloodbath Of The Democrats
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.
The Underlying Problem Isn't Inflation—It's Corporate Power and Greed
ECONOMY - Inflation! Inflation! Everyone’s talking about it, but ignoring one of its biggest causes: corporate concentration.
Texas' Bounty Hunter Abortion Ban Is a Dire Warning of the Future of Reproductive Rights
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.