IMPORTANT READS

WORLD WATCH - The seeds for the crisis in Ukraine were planted 25 years ago when the Clinton Administration decided to expand the North Atlantic Treaty into East Europe, accepting membership from former members of the Warsaw Pact.

RICH GET RICHER - In the first week that the Omicron variant sparked global fears of a new wave of infections, a small handful of investors and executives with Pfizer and Moderna—currently the world's preeminent makers of Covid-19 vaccines—saw over $10 billion in new wealth, with the Moderna's CEO alone adding over $800 million to his personal fortune.

RANDOM LENGTH NEWS - One of the few pleasures I’ve found during the pandemic is the time to actually read books —not that I didn’t read them before — it’s just that with fewer distractions and social obligations, I actually had the luxury of time–uninterrupted! 

WORKFORCE REDUCTIONS - As a writer, I get stuck every so often straining for the right words to tell my story.

PROFITS ARE OUR LOSS - With vaccination rates on the rise, Americans are hoping for a return to some semblance of normalcy this holiday season.

SUPREME COURT - As journalists and other observers of the U.S. Supreme Court noted Wednesday that its right-wing majority appeared inclined to uphold Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban—and potentially overturn Roe v. Wade—while hearing oral arguments in a case challenging the state law, reproductive rights advocates rallied outside and demanded congressional action.

HIDDEN GEM--A lot of people who visit or even live in Los Angeles don’t realize that there’s an active casino just outside of downtown, in Inglewood.

MILITARY JUSTICE -So far, the Democratic-led Senate Armed Services Committee has refused to open an investigation into the Baghuz attack or any other possible war crimes by U.S. forces in the war against ISIS.

WORLD WATCH - Amid all the flag-waving, chants of “USA, USA,” and other nationalist hoopla that characterize mainstream politics in the United States, it’s easy to miss the fact that most Americans favor global governance.

SOCIAL DEMOCRACY - Clobbered from all sides by the pandemic, climate change and disruptions in virtually every industry by the rise of artificial intelligence, the capitalist dream is dying — and a new, mutant form of socialism is growing in its place.

2^ND AMENDMENT POLITICS - Expect the gun control debate in America to really get hot over the next 12 months as Beto O'Rourke runs for governor of Texas.

THE VIEW FROM HERE - As written previously, America believes that it has two main political parties when in reality it has four; 

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT - On Wednesday, October 20, I joined “Vrede Scheppen,” “Create Peace,” about 25 peace activists from the Netherlands, Germany and Austria at the airbase at Volkel, Netherlands, making a plea for an end to nuclear weapons.

OPINION - I get how hard it is to admit defeat, to lower expectations.

WORLD WATCH - How have Israeli-Palestinian relations changed since the end of the right-wing Netanyahu government?

SUPPLY CHAIN INTERRUPTUS - Washington pundits generally see the supply-chain hiccups and partially related price inflation as political risks for the Biden White House. Probably that’s so but there’s also opportunity for a left-ward administration.

WAR MACHINE - Even as Congress moves to increase the Pentagon budget well beyond the astronomical levels proposed by the Biden administration, a new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has outlined three different ways to cut $1 trillion in Department of Defense spending over the next decade

STATE GOV - Gov. Gavin Newsom broke his nearly two-week silence on Tuesday to make two key points: California is seeing an uptick in coronavirus cases that could signal the start of a worrisome winter surge, and California’s economy “continues to dominate” the rest of the country’s. 

ROBOTICS - Tick-tick-tick — each sweep of Big Tech’s clock enhances corporate power and sweep away more of our civil rights.

POLITICAL IMPACT - The stunning defeat suffered by the Democrats in Virginia, a surprisingly close race in deep blue New Jersey and the defeat of a “police defunding measure” in Minneapolis represent a remarkable turning point in American politics.

SAVING DEMOCRACY - On Tuesday, J.D. Vance, author of the bestselling Hillbilly Elegy and now candidate for the U.S. Senate from Ohio, gave a keynote speech at the National Conservatism Conference titled "The Universities Are the Enemy."