ELIE MYSTAL, Justice Correspondent for The Nation magazine and a contributor to MSNBC, opens his first book, ALLOW ME TO RETORT: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution, with the following words: “Our Constitution is not good. It is a document designed to create a society of enduring white male dominance, hastily edited in the margins to allow for what basic political rights white men could be convinced to share.” The starting point is that far from perfect, this document of compromises necessary to win ratification from slaveowners is unworthy of the veneration promoted by the Right and accepted by too many on the Left. Once we get over that, perhaps we can roll up our sleeves and get to work to bring some of its underlying ideals to fuller realization in the real world.

As we confront Russia’s war on Ukraine – What is the role of the press or international law? How can either stand up to those who defy and ignore them? MARIA ARMOUDIAN has written three books on the possibilities and limitations of “soft power”: KILL THE MESSENGER: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World; REPORTING FROM THE DANGER ZONE, and LAWYERS BEYOND BORDERS: Advancing International Human Rights through Local Laws and Courts. She is also host/producer of the syndicated radio program, The Scholars’ Circle. You can learn more at armoudian.com

 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may be failing, but it is also devastating and cruel. The US is unwilling to impose a No Fly zone because Putin has nuclear weapons and no one is certain that he won’t use them. How did we get here? Who else has nukes? Why haven’t we taken steps toward nuclear sanity? I turn to JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, Distinguished Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and former head of the Ploughshares Fund. His books include BOMB SCARE: THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS; and NUCLEAR NIGHTMARES: SECURING THE WORLD BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.

 

DAVE PELL, the “Internet’s Managing Editor,”  has been writing about news, technology, and media since 1999. He just released his first book, PLEASE SCREAM INSIDE YOUR HEART: Breaking News and Nervous Breakdowns in the Year that Wouldn’t End, a rollercoaster ride through 2020, leavened with humor and a good dose of perspective taken from the experience of his parents, who survived the Holocaust. You can learn more at NextDraft.com or Pleasescream.com

LARRY KOPALD, Co-Founder and President of The Carbon Underground, wants you to know that to successfully confront the climate crisis, it’s not enough to reduce or even halt carbon emissions. We also need to draw down accumulated carbon from the atmosphere. Nothing does that better or more simply than Regenerative Agriculture, by rebuilding soil organic matter. I don’t like talking about “theenvironment” as some separate entity out there. Our deepest goals in life must include a healthy relationship with the rest of nature and an effective response to the climate crisis. Regenerative Agriculture and the work of The Carbon Underground offer a pathway to both.