IMPORTANT READS

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.

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

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.

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.

BYE, BYE BOREDOM - Do you find yourself being bored quite often and don’t know what to do? Do you want to know what some of the most popular pastimes are to see if any of them interest you?

NUCLEAR THREAT - The international environmental group Greenpeace warned Wednesday that Russia's intensifying assault is placing Ukraine's nuclear power facilities under serious threat, risking devastation "far worse even than the Fukushima Daiichi catastrophe of 2011."

NUCLEAR RISK - Russian forces have captured Chernobyl, a 1,000 square mile radioactive exclusion zone.

TRACK SPEAK---If you're looking for a hobby that can be both fun and lucrative, horse betting may be the perfect option for you.

THE DOCTOR IS IN - For years, we heard nothing but Donald Trump's a Putin pawn, Donald Trump will get us into World War III, Donald Trump will ruin our foreign relations worldwide, etc.

POLITICS OF FINANCE - Has the unthinkable, the Swedish political scientist Bo Rothstein mused earlier this month, now entered the realm of real possibility? Could democracy in the United States be disappearing?

AIR RAGE - Violent behavior on airplanes has reached such epidemic proportions that the President of Delta Airlines last week asked the Department of Homeland security to allow the airlines to submit passengers who have terrified or otherwise abused flight crews for placement on the government's no-fly list.

WORKER SAFETY - The fight for justice and accountability continues for six Amazon employees who were killed when a warehouse roof collapsed during a tornado last December.

AFGHAN AFTERMATH - Gay rights, women’s rights — in reality, these are a nuisance to many U.S. conservatives, but purporting to protect these rights on the other side of the world is a great excuse to play war.

WORLD WATCH - The current crises in eastern Europe reflect more than just Kremlin mischief-making—they reflect the first fruits of an emerging world order that spans the vastness from Beijing to Berlin.

UKRAINE WATCH - The situation between the United States and Russia over Ukraine is very dangerous.

ENERGY WATCH - Roughly a half century ago, rising energy prices devastated Western economies, helping make the autocrats of the Middle East insanely rich while propping up the slowly disintegrating Soviet empire.

ISSUE OF SOVEREIGNTY - March 15, 1939: Hitler’s army marched into Czechoslovakia with the blessings of the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain. 

THE VIEW FROM HERE - Sometimes individuals can plunge the world into chaos.