IMPORTANT READS

HUMAN RIGHTS--Merely banning abortion isn't enough for some on the rabid right — a few are even threatening women with the death penalty.

HUFF POST REPORT-Ending months of speculation, former Vice President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he’s running for president in 2020, joining a crowded field of Democrats eager to take on President Donald Trump.

MY TURN-For all who campaigned, called, volunteered and encouraged to elect Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign, we knew that there was an extreme left faction that was buying into the conspiracy theories that were being dissipated.

VIEW FROM HERE-Imagine that Donald Trump was in the drug trade instead of running for president.

POLITICS--Bill Kristol declared the Democratic race for President as between Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg. At a Des Moines town hall, his campaign planned for 50 people to show up; 1600 did. According to a CNBC analysis, Buttigieg has become a top recipient of bundled contributions from Democratic campaign donors. It looks like this guy is for real.

EDUCATION POLITICS--Amid a rapidly worsening shortage of teachers in California, progressive lawmakers in the state are exploring an unorthodox option for strengthening public education: barring even more teachers from classrooms.

EDUCATION POLITICS--The actress Felicity Huffman—along with 13 other parents charged in the college admissions scandal—entered plea deals last week, putting pressure on actress Lori Laughlin and her husband, designer Mossimo Giannulli, to do the same.

ELECTION 2020-It’d be difficult to advise a former vice-president to not run for the presidency, to tell them how they’d likely lose, that they should just sit this one out, particularly when so many others in their position did succeed at eventually occupying the Oval Office.

PERSPECTIVE--We on the Portland Peace Team were invited out the other day to provide some nonviolent public safety for the local demonstration of perhaps 250 people calling for the unredacted release of the Mueller Report to Congress and to the American people.

FINALLY … THE MUELLER REPORT-- “Oh my God,” President Donald Trump said. “This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m fucked.”

NO TURNING BACK-The result of the Israeli election has demonstrated that the Israeli public’s movement to the right is now consolidated, and that its prospective reversal to the center and left-of-center is becoming increasingly unlikely.

VIEW FROM HERE-According to their website, "on April 5th, 2010 WikiLeaks released a classified U.S. military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad- including two Reuters news staff.

POLITICS--Tax Day is here. What’s in your return?

TRIBAL WARFARE EXAMINED-When I look around the world today-- and particularly, at English speaking societies-- entire nations seem to be having a kind of severe mental breakdown. America. Britain. Nation after nation is falling into the grip of a kind of mania, driven by strange, foolish, downright bizarre myths.

VOICES- Communities have a right to say what they need. Why is it only a problem when certain communities speak up? As the 2020 campaign lurches to a start, get ready to hear a lot about “identity politics.” 

GUEST WORDS--Jared Kushner’s father reportedly pledged $2.5 million to Harvard just as young Jared was applying. The young man gained admission, despite rather mediocre grades.

TOO MUCH KNOWLEDGE A BAD THING?-To prepare themselves for future success in the American workforce, today's college students are increasingly choosing courses in business, biomedical science, engineering, computer science, and various health-related disciplines. 

RESPECTING THE IMBECILES-When we look at the spectacular, astonishing, bizarre state of affairs that Anglo countries — meaning the US and UK are in — it’s hard not to see a truth emerge.

PACIFIC STANDARD PERSPECTIVE--Purdue Pharma, the company that makes OxyContin, has been taking some legal hits lately. Last week, the company settled a lawsuit with the state of Oklahoma for $270 million, the largest amount yet in a state opioid suit.

CAL BUZZ-We agree with Harvard Professor Theda Skocpol:  “The piling on about Joe Biden’s sometimes unwanted affectionate touches by political competitors and media outlets is shameful.” 

WAR POLITICS--I spent last week at Angelo State University in remote central Texas as a panelist for the annual All-Volunteer Force (AVF) Forum. It was a strange forum in many ways, but nonetheless instructive.