IMPORTANT READS

WORLD WATCH - One day last spring, Palestinians in Israel and the occupied West Bank declared a general strike to protest years of repression they faced under Israeli rule.

OVERSIGHT - The Republicans are about to win a major battle in their war on electric vehicles, this time with the second largest vehicle fleet in America owned by the US Postal Service.

NATIONAL GUARD - As the highly transmissible Omicron variant continues to spread, hospitals across the country have reported critical staff shortages.

WORLD WATCH - Now that Angela Merkel has departed the geopolitical arena, Vladimir Putin is by far its most experienced political operator, and it’s showing.

ONLINE GAMING-There has been a big growth in the iGaming industry over the past several years. More than half the country has started legalizing betting, according to Forbes, either online or in person, resulting in states tapping into the more than $150 billion of revenue. Changes to legislation have opened the doors to online gaming, sports wagers, and online poker all seeing a resurgence over previous years.

THE DOCTOR IS IN - As I stated in my last piece, Cancel Culture is alive and well in the United States. That said, we've got nothing on China.

UKRAINE CONFLICT - So what are Americans to believe about the rising tensions over Ukraine?

RACIAL RECKONINGS - Every February, the U.S. honors the contributions and sacrifices of African Americans who have helped shape the nation.

TAX RELIEF - Ada Mae’s beautiful blonde curls are wild on this sunny, mild winter afternoon.

WORLD WATCH - As tensions began to rise over Ukraine, US media produced a stream of articles attempting to explain the situation with headlines like “Ukraine Explained” (New York Times, 12/8/21) and “What You Need to Know About Tensions Between Ukraine and Russia” (Washington Post, 11/26/21).

END OF CIVILIZATION - The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists unveiled the resetting of the Doomsday Clock on January 20^th 2022, electing to keep the clock’s setting at 100 seconds to midnight, same as 2021, which is not at all encouraging since that’s as bad as the setting has ever been. 

THE SUPREMES - Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, one of the three liberal justices on the Court, is retiring at the end of the current term in June, unleashing what promises to be an epic fight over his replacement.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS - Late January marked the 49th anniversary of Roe. V. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. It could very well be the last.

WORLD WATCH - Washington cares less about Ukrainian independence and sovereignty than Russia.

WORLD WATCH - America’s national media typically pay little attention to the moves the nation’s state lawmakers make.

NATIONAL SECURITY - A relative of mine, who works for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) compiling data on foreigners entering the United States, recently posted a curious logo on his Facebook profile: a white Roman numeral three on a black background surrounded by 13 white stars.

ROE VS WADE POLITICS - Saturday 22 January marks 49 years since the US Supreme Court's landmark decision in Roe v Wade, the court case established a right to abortion across the US.

LABOR POLITICS - Even as retail and hospitality workers see pay hikes, the wealthiest Americans got even bigger raises during the pandemic — widening income inequality even further.

OVERDUE PROCESS - The U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay reached its shameful 20th anniversary this January. Its legacy is the detention of nearly 800 Muslim men and boys, most without charge or trial. Many have been tortured.

CONFRONTING WHITE NATIONALISM - “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” — Archbishop Desmond Tutu

VOTING RIGHTS LAW - President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Atlanta, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s hometown, focused national attention on a somber fact: the legacy of the civil rights movement is threatened by recent and ongoing attacks on voting rights.