IMPORTANT READS

ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY - "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can do much to help it…The freedom to do as one likes leads straight to its overthrow." —Judge Learned Hand, 1944

DC WATCH - U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin came under fire Saturday after The Washington Post reported that the West Virginia Democrat "does not currently support" passing even his own recent $1.8 trillion counteroffer to President Joe Biden's Build Back Better agenda.

A VIEW FROM HERE - Although the country’s history with slavery is not the core problem facing the nation, there is the need to root out a strong anti-Black legal tradition. 

IMMIGRATION WATCH - One of the signal stories of 2021 was a narrative of unfulfilled promise:

WEALTH WATCH - A new analysis out Tuesday shows that the nearly 750 billionaires in the United States saw their combined wealth soar by $1 trillion in 2021, a 25% jump that—if taxed—would be enough to fully fund major priorities in Democrats' stalled Build Back Better package.

HOUSING WATCH - A few weeks ago, in November, activists in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, had done something momentous: in each of their cities, against the deep-pocketed landlord lobby, they managed to convince voters to pass pro-rent control ballot measures.

DC WATCH - The Biden administration’s foreign policy in its first year was mostly defined by an unwillingness to make major policy changes and to take significant political risks to follow through on the president’s campaign pledges.

DEMOCRACY CONFERENCE - The just-concluded Summit for Democracy was intended to be a rallying point for democratic and nearly-democratic states, with pep talks on confronting rising authoritarianism and building democratic institutions.

TRUMP WATCH - You have to listen to what Donald Trump says. If he’s made one thing clear, it’s that, when it comes to the big stuff, he keeps no secrets.

POLITICAL UNREST - In recent years, the world has been shaken by protests. From the Arab Spring to the social uprisings in Chile and Latin America, the world has seen a dramatic rise in protests.

WAR MACHINE - The NYTimes’ recent series of articles exposing the civilian cost of the U.S. wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan should prompt public fury.

HOUSING WATCH - It seems like everyone is talking about housing these days. For many, it is in a state of crisis.

CHILD CARE - Child care is one of the biggest expenses many families face — in much of the country, it can run higher than college tuition. Could a national child care program ease that burden?

FINANCE LEARNING - Taking a course in cryptocurrency is of utmost importance as some experts estimate that the crypto market should, by 2027, reach $1.7 billion. Learning crypto terminologies and garnering knowledge through the steep curve pattern are intriguing ways of getting started.

THE VIEW FROM HERE - Back on May 13, 2021, Joe Biden would have done well to remember the chorus to American Pie: 

CONSUMER WATCH - Confession time: this year, I don’t want to buy my kids anything for Christmas. Big one, right?

RACIAL RECKONINGS - We are at a tipping point in the racial history of the United States — perhaps the most important moment since the civil rights and more radical black/brown/indigenous movements of the 1960s and ’70s.

WORLD WATCH - Vladimir Putin is trying to accomplish two very dangerous tasks at once: the destruction of civil society in Russia, and the withering away of international support for a democratic Ukraine.

WORLD WATCH - After a 5-month hiatus, indirect negotiations between the U.S. and Iran resumed last week in Vienna in an attempt to revise the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA). The outlook isn’t good.

PRESS FREEDOM - “Let us look at ourselves, if we have the courage, to see what is happening to us”  – Jean-Paul Sartre

DEMOCRACY WATCH - Trump and his supporters do not mean by "democracy" a liberal democracy. They mean the popular sovereignty of "true Americans."