IMPORTANT READS

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.

MY TURN-It doesn’t seem like the Republicans can find a “low” that is low enough for them. Every turn they take is designed to undermine the very heart and soul of the country, removing the ability to have equality in voting so that they can be guaranteed to win each time.

MY TURN--Justice Democrats heralds their call to action, not by making an attempt to get trump and his evil band of idiots out of office, but instead, by attacking Democrats that don’t line up with their purity standards.

RIGGING THE SYSTEM--Here are three important lessons for the progressive left to consider now that it is clear the inquiry by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russiagate is never going to uncover collusion between Donald Trump’s camp and the Kremlin in the 2016 presidential election. 

CLIMATE CHANGE POLITICS-The United States Senate rejected a resolution for a Green New Deal, the non-binding resolution with lofty climate goals but few policy details about how to achieve them, on Tuesday.

FEELING TRUMPED? --Donald Trump is bragging that the Mueller report did not prove he colluded with Russia during the 2016 election. 

For most of us, when we rate how we’re doing in our jobs, we don’t say, “Nobody can prove I committed a crime!” or even, “I didn’t commit a crime!” and then pat ourselves on the back for a job well done.

GUEST COMMENTARY--The Mueller report’s categorical statement that Donald Trump and his campaign did not collude with Russia ends one of the most shameful periods in modern American journalism, one that rivals the mindless cheerleading for the Iraq War by most of the press.

IN DEPTH--What does a megalomaniacal president of the United States do when he’s cornered? We’ll soon find out. 

House Democrats are beginning a series of investigations and hearings into Donald Trump. 

VOTER FRAUD CONUNDRUM-Economics is all about incentives. Consider how economists talk about unemployment compensation. They worry that if the payments are too generous, people will choose unemployment rather than working. 

VIEW FROM HERE--As soon as the president stepped off Air Force One to bask in the afterglow of being vindicated by Robert Mueller’s report, he began by saying this “witch …” before catching himself and saying to reporters, “after a long investigation, after so many people have been so badly hurt, after not looking at the other side, where a lot of bad things happened, a lot of horrible things happened, a lot of bad things happened for our country, it was just announced there was no collusion with Russia, the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” 

2020 -- When Bernie Sanders launched his 2020 presidential bid this week, a Vermont Public Radio interviewer asked him how his candidacy fit into a moment when the Democratic Party is looking more diverse than ever?

MY TURN-Being a liberal activist is not only a personal choice, it is a passion. I always embraced the many people who would join the cause for equality and protecting the planet, and never really thought about those who chose to sit it out.

RACIST POLITICS--It's inspired terrorist attacks — and entire governing structures — on multiple continents.

PERSPECTIVE--Artificial Intelligence is one thing. Artificial morality is another. It may sound something like this:

EXPOSED--Sixteen years after the United States invaded Iraq and left a trail of destruction and chaos in the country and the region, one aspect of the war remains criminally underexamined: why was it fought in the first place? What did the Bush administration hope to get out of the war? (Photo above from left: Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, President George W. Bush, and Vice President Dick Cheney.

VIEW FROM HERE--Later this month The George Eastman Museum in Rochester is set to screen the 1960 courtroom drama Inherit the Wind.

BUSTING THE BEHEMOTHS-Presidential hopeful Senator Elizabeth Warren announced Friday she wants to bust up giants like Facebook, Google, and Amazon. 

FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN?--Fox far right wing propagandist Jeanine Pirro came after Ilhan Omar for veiling, saying it is unconstitutional for her to follow the sharia and accusing her, horror of horrors, of dual loyalty. (Photo above: Rep. Ilhan Omar is the first person to wear a hijab in Congress.)

WAR OF WORDS--What happened to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar was troubling. On the one hand, because she dared to challenge the way supporters of Israel have worked to silence debate on U.S. policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she became a victim of incitement, and the target of legislation meant to shame her.