IMPORTANT READS

SPORTS BETTING - Successful NBA betting is a combination of luck and skill.

DEMOCRACY IN JEOPARDY - "At bottom, the Court's opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self-government since the founding,

FIBER OPTICS WATCH - Like many municipalities across the country, Los Angeles is in the throes of trying to figure out the best way to close the digital divide and provide unserved and underserved communities in the County with high-speed broadband connections to internet.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS - Progressives are sounding the alarm about the lengths to which GOP officials appear willing to go to advance their deeply unpopular and reactionary agenda after Louisiana's State Bond Commission,

BUYING ELECTIONS - Shareholders are pressuring some of the largest American corporations to account for political spending that may be aiding voter suppression or election interference.

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.