VOICES

WORLD WATCH - As Moscow signals its apparent readiness for war over Ukraine, the U.S. government seems determined to ignore Russia’s not-so-ridiculous concerns over the military alliances of neighboring states and the prospect of nuclear weapons on its borders.

THE VIEW FROM HERE - Cowards do not go down in history as heroes.  Who wants to receive the Neville Chamberlain Award? 

COMMENTARY - Guess what? I direct the following insight to, among others, the U.S. Congress, which annually and without comment, with only a few objectors, passes a trillion-dollar (and growing) military budget, by far the largest such budget on Planet Earth.

VOTING RIGHTS - Trump set off a disastrous domino effect in 2020. Here are some of the biggest inaccuracies and myths being told about the Senate's vital voting rights legislation. 

COMMENTARY - There are elements in this country pushing to make it a Christian nation even though America’s founders crafted a constitution that specifically separated church from state.

COMMENTARY - President Biden starts off his second year in office with a press conference, and is raked over the coals on his answers.

MARC'S ANGLE - So the Golden State Warriors billionaire decided to have a moment of honesty and say he doesn’t care about the Uyghur situation in China.

ANIMAL WATCH - In the past few months, there has been major progress in the fight against the torture and killing of dogs and cats in South Korea, in the Dog Meat Trade. 

LABOR VIEW - There is one last hope for the United States. It does not lie in the ballot box.

MEDIA WATCH - Right before our eyes, an invaluable American species is fast disappearing from view: Kartoonus Amerikanas.

WOMEN'S RIGHTS - Within the next few months the Supreme Court will decide on Mississippi’s challenge to Roe V. Wade. No Court in the past 50 years would have taken this case,

THE DOCTOR IS IN - It's quite obvious that many (perhaps most) of those who read (or at least write for) CityWatch believe that the one-party ruling system of Los Angeles and California is just great.

POLITICAL GAMESMANSHIP - Sporting events have been seen as virtually sacred by many.

CONFIRMATION PROCESS - Last Wednesday, January 12, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmed the nomination of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to be the next U.S. ambassador to India.

RACIAL RECKONINGS - If you got burnout from circulating the same book list on how to be an antiracist to your white colleagues and friends, here’s a story that might just restore your hope in the definition and practice of true allyship.

REMEMBERING MLK, JR. - We celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day not only to commemorate King’s historic role in overcoming racism and other injustice, but because his work and vision remain relevant.

COMMENTARY - Police brutality, inadequate healthcare, mass incarceration, inferior education are the ‘knee on our necks.’

THE VIEW FROM HERE - America is a nation which runs on lies.  Worse yet, we are a nation where each group manufactures its own lies. 

NUCLEAR WASTE OF TIME - Tokyo Electric Power Company-TEPCO- has been attempting to decommission three nuclear meltdowns in reactors No. 1 No. 2, and No. 3 for 11 years now.

COMMENTARY -  Love thy enemy? I get a chance to do so on a regular basis, thanks to the email (or nasty-mail) I sometimes get in response to my column, e.g.:

WORKERS STRUGGLE - An analysis released this week shows that many of the employees of the nation’s largest grocery chain, Kroger, workers who manage and sell food, are themselves scrambling to get enough to eat, struggling with bills because of part-time and unpredictable schedules and contending, as front-line workers do, with the COVID threat