IMPORTANT READS

AFGHAN WITHDRAWAL--A Taliban judge is promising that Sharia law will be reinstated in Afghanistan after coalition forces have left the country and the brutal Islamic force regains power.

CONNECTING CALIFORNIA-The attempted recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom has many geographic roots. Its original proponent was a sheriff’s deputy from Yolo County.

RACIAL RECKONINGS-On June 30, the New York Times published an article, Target Store Closings Show Limits of Pledge to Black Communities, about Target closing 13 stores and divesting in some Black communities.

IMMIGRATION POLITICS-Last month, attorneys from the Department of Justice joined with counsel for the private prison corporation, the GEO Group, to present Oral Arguments supporting private immigration detention in California. 

EASTSIDER-By all accounts, this was a really bad (as in ill-conceived and poorly executed) war, and yet we have been there for 20 years without “winning” anything.

LABOR TRAFFICKING-In June of 2018, two Monterey County site inspectors visited a Salinas cannabis farm, where they encountered a small group of farmworkers who they suspected had been trafficked.