IMPORTANT READS

POLITICS & SOCIAL MEDIA - The new revelation Wednesday that Facebook hired one of the largest Republican consulting firms in the United States to carry out a public attack campaign against rival platform TikTok was seen as further evidence of the social media behemoth's growing alliance with the GOP political apparatus.

URBAN WATCH - As the centers of media and political discourse, large cities, notably New York, have a unique ability to promote themselves, asserting that dense, core urban areas own the future.

DOJ WATCH - I know you've heard this before—that accountability is coming for Donald Trump and his cronies for triggering the Jan. 6th insurrection—

NEW TAX CODE - Economic experts and progressives opposed to the outrageous levels of inequality in the United States celebrated Saturday evening

WEALTH DISTRIBUTION - During four years of Donald Trump’s high-anxiety presidency, Republicans could at least point to one goal accomplished amid the noise and two impeachments: the 2017 tax reform law.

NUCLEAR WAR - I’ve been darkly amused by the large number of people I’ve seen and heard dismissing the possibility of nuclear World War III emerging from the Ukraine War:

POLITICS 2022 - The depression-era comedian Will Rogers once famously said he did not belong to an organized political party because he was a Democrat.

ECONOMY - Inflation! Inflation! Everyone’s talking about it, but ignoring one of its biggest causes: corporate concentration.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS - For more than six months, people in Texas have been unable to access abortion in the state beyond the earliest weeks of pregnancy.

JOB MARKET - In corporate speak, there are no “job cuts.”

SANCTIONS - As part of the sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its European partners are cracking down on Russian oligarchs.

MONEY MATTERS - Covid-19 has caused a banking crisis to occur throughout the world.

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.

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.

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

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."