There's nothing on TV you want to watch tonight.  Trust me.  Instead, read some stuff.

A useful collection of data showing, pretty powerfully I think, the way that economic inequality in the US is (a) anomalous across other “developed” nations, and (b) correlated with political powerlessness on the part of the economically disenfranchised.  

About NPR’s “Code Switch” podcast, highly recommended.

The big story here, and the article explains not to notice to immediately, is that this is fundamentally China’s doing.  Trump is incompetent, but this is really supposed to be the A-Team of China. And they are nothing but bullies

This is a fascinating essay on Ashoka, the 3rd century BCE Emperor and founder of the Mauryan dynasty in South Asia, looking at the relationship between ethics and government in his vision of the human life.  Fascinating about the way government can promote human efforts to be decent and good, about how government can help a society host multiple religious traditions, about a lot of things—really worth your while.  Written by my friend and UVA colleague Sonam Kachru.  Just wonderful.

Can the trauma of war lead to wisdom?  Maybe, but is the cost too high?

those who reported the most guilt about their experience also reported the most growth. However, those veterans also had greater reports of PTSD symptoms as well. As Aeschylus warned, the wisdom they felt they had gained came with deep scars.

Smart Democratic strategists (Galston and Kamarck have been in this business for a while) thinking about what Trump needs to use as a strategy for the Convention this week.  Worth reading.   

...neoliberalism and finance, domestically and globally, were believed to be necessary to maintain white supremacy. Therefore, the maintaining of white supremacy—in the face of global anti-colonial and domestic black insurgency—was essential for transitioning to a transformed capitalist social order centered on finance.…Feher misconstrues the nature of the current political crisis. He misses that it was not just fears about worker rights that motivated the architects of neoliberalism, but fears of nonwhite-governed states destroying the global capitalist order, through various domestic and international regimes of redistribution. 

A really interesting piece on how the current economic order is implicated in “maintaining white supremacy”.  

A fascinating analysis (which means, one I like) of what is happening to the GOP in the Trump era. “The California Republican Party is the party of the deserts, the mountains, the valleys: That's the only place it exists," he says. "They are all in the most remote, rural parts of the state. And that's what is happening nationally with the House."