IMPORTANT READS

VOICES-Why us? Over the past few months, I’ve been watching us fall behind practically every other country on Earth in terms of Covid-19 prevention and thinking to myself, Why America?

WORLD WATCH--Even a cursory review of our prison system reveals the outrageous inhumanity to which hundreds of thousands of prisoners, especially young adults, are subjected to, many of whom are imprisoned for non-violent crimes, sometimes for life.

ELECTION POLITICS-Kamala Harris has been Joe Biden’s running mate for less than a week, but the birthers are already questioning whether she’s constitutionally eligible to ever be president. 

GUEST WORDS-On the third anniversary of a deadly Charlottesville hate fest that saw tiki-torch-waving white supremacists marching through the streets with swastikas screaming "Seig Heil!" "Blood and Soil!" and "Jews will not replace us!", many argue little has changed, at least not for the better.

OTHER WORDS-Federal troops may be standing down in Portland for now. But Donald Trump has also dispatched federal agents to Cleveland, Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City, and Albuquerque. 

CLIMATE POLITICS-This is a busy time for Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, PhD, a marine biologist, environmental policy expert, and CEO of conservation consulting firm Ocean Collectiv.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--The timer is now ticking on Israel. While Israel historically put Palestinians on the slow burner, gnawing at their lands and livelihoods, time was in Israel’s favor was the world turned a blind eye. Those days are over.

COUNTERPUNCH-The political success of Russiagate lies in the vanishing of American history in favor of a façade of liberal virtue.

SCOTUS--People of the menstruating persuasion: how dare you. The highest court in the land demands to know.

TOM DISPATCH-Whether you consider the appalling death toll or the equally unacceptable rising numbers of Covid-19 cases, the United States has one of the worst records worldwide when it comes to the pandemic.

CIVIL RIGHTS-Relics of America’s harrowing past are facing new scrutiny, and rightfully so.

PROTESTORS VS THE FEDS-The smell of tear gas is hard to describe, but it’s horrifying.

PERSPECTIVE--Two words placed side by side with great frequency are what linguists call “a collocation.”

WORLD WATCH--I, like many of my fellow Americans, am extremely concerned about Trump’s dictatorial tendencies.

REMEMBERING JOHN LEWIS--In 1965, as chair of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), 25-year-old John Lewis led 600 protesters on the first march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, to intensify pressure on Congress to pass a federal voting rights law.

NUCLEAR POLITICS-Americans who grew up with nightmares of nuclear weapons explosions should get ready for some terrifying flashbacks, for the Trump administration appears to be preparing to resume U.S. nuclear weapons tests. 

WORLD WATCH-The rage, desperation, and determination which continue to bring tens of thousands of Americans to the streets in protest against racism and injustice hopefully will be just the beginning.

OTHER WORDS-Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the disease is raging anew because corporate-serving public officials rushed to “open the economy,” causing more infections and deaths. 

RIGHT TO VOTE--The voting rights of hundreds of thousands of former felons in Florida were called into question Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a lower court ruling to stand, permitting the state to bar former inmates from voting if they owe court fees or fines. 

OTHER WORDS-However much half of this country hates the other half now, it’s only going to get worse leading up to November. I don’t look forward to it. 

NEW GEOGRAPHY-Pessimism is the mood of the day, with 80 percent of Americans saying the country is generally out of control.