IMPORTANT READS

MY TURN-If you talk to anyone from a variety of other countries on the topic of Trump and his wacko supporters, you will get just about the same opinion: They think that Americans have lost their minds.

WORLD WATCH--In my last CityWatch article, I argued that the ultimate solution to the Palestinian refugees’ right of return rests on resettlement and/or compensation.

RESPECT--The Queen of Soul, the “voice of black America”, Lady Soul, arguably the greatest singer in living memory –

MY TURN-In only a few years we will hit the one hundred-year milestone for American women achieving the right to vote.

THE VIEW FROM HERE--As a cheap political slogan, I detest “drain the swamp.”

GUEST COMMENTARY--With overnight crowds outside the White House chanting, "Jail to the Chief!", Richard 'I Am Not A Crook I Just Act Like One' Nixon resigned his beleaguered presidency 44 years ago this week in the name of hastening "the start of that process of healing which is so desperately needed in America." 

CONTROLLING THE MESSAGES-Last year, representatives of Facebook, Twitter, and Google were instructed on the U.S. Senate floor that it is their responsibility to “quell information rebellions” and adopt a “mission statement” expressing their commitment to “prevent the fomenting of discord.” 

MY TURN-The image of the average American, living in a world of oblivion and self-absorption is playing out in a sad truth.

ABORTION POLITICS-Alarm over the future of reproductive rights is at a fever pitch in the USA.

LEANING LEFT-There is no boundary for greed, and when it comes to conservatives, there never seems to be enough money to make them happy.

THE MID EAST FOR CITYWATCH--Last week, the Israeli Knesset passed a new basic law which in the main enshrines “Israel [as] the historical homeland of the Jewish people in which the State of Israel was established …

RELIGION POLITICS--Reversing long-held church doctrine and aligning himself with progressive Catholic advocates, Pope Francis said Thursday that the death penalty is "inadmissable" in all cases.

CONSIDER THIS-For the record, I am against foreign interference in free elections.

GUEST WORDS--“We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama’s relationship with ACORN,” said Senator John McCain in his third presidential debate with Barack Obama in October 2008.

MY TURN-“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” -- George Orwell.

FIRST PERSON--The most leading-edge research, which will hopeful find a cure for cancer now starts out with the surprising realization that all human beings are normally exposed to cancer cells already within their own bodies daily.

THE BIZ OF PRESIDENT--President Donald Trump is subject to the Constitution’s emoluments clause, and any profit, gain or advantage that his hotel in Washington, D.C., obtains from a foreign or domestic government would implicate the clause, according to a ruling by a federal court on Wednesday.

GUEST COMMENTARY--Sigh. In this week's circus act of gonzoanti-diplomacy, our imbecilic Peacock-In-Chief has cited as the next great danger to world peace the newly proud member of NATO:

CONSIDER THIS-On both sides of the political aisle, Trump’s summit with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki has been cast as an utter failure. 

BY ANY NAME, A PROBLEM--My father and I always had a tacit agreement: “We will never speak of That Part of the World.”

NEW YORKER--Sitting in a stuffy, overpacked hall at the Presidential Palace, in Helsinki, watching Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump give a joint press conference after their meeting today, I was shocked but not surprised.