A WAR EVERY 20 YEARS--These were the words that did it, that knocked the composure out of me. I was standing at what felt like the heart of Chicago on a January afternoon, corner of Wabash and Wacker, next to the river and beneath the tower known as Trump. The crowd had swelled by this time to nearly a thousand.

CLIMATE POLITICS-Like so many these past few days, I have been stunned by the devastation across Australia.

OTHER WORDS--In a full-blown U.S. war with Iran, up to a million people could die initially.

ELECTION POLITICS--Derek Thompson of The Atlantic recently wrote a piece in which he theorized about why young, progressive voters appear to loathe Pete Buttigieg. The 33-year-old journalist was puzzled as to how we haven’t gravitated to Mayor Pete on the basis of age alone:

SPECIAL REPORT--A new Bloomberg analysis found that the planet’s 500 richest people saw their collective net worth soar by 25 percent over the last year The 500 richest people in the world, all of whom are billionaires, gained a combined $1.2 trillion in wealth in 2019, further exacerbating inequities that have not been seen since the late 1920s.

PAST TIME--Impeachment, Trump, impeachment, Trump. It’s hard to think of this year without obsessing about the occupant of the White House.