IMPORTANT READS

GAP WIDENS--As the gap between the world's richest and poorest people has widened to an extreme not seen since the Gilded Age, the 500 wealthiest people have gotten $1 trillion richer in 2017, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index. 

HOLIDAY POLITICS--For Americans in the past decade, the month of December has not only been about braving the attic, Fraser firs, idiosyncratic family traditions, and Walmart anarchists. For years, conservative television networks, right-wing politicos, and outspoken Christian organizations have lamented the perceived "War on Christmas" and the holiday's increasing secularization among American families.

TRUMP WATCH--President Donald Trump told friends at his lavish Mar-a-Lago club “you all just got a lot richer” after the passage of his tax cut legislation, CBS News reported Sunday. 

CORRUPTION WATCH-The Davos Set (the 1%ers) are gunning for Net Neutrality and Bitcoin. Net Neutrality is falling away and Bitcoin is next. The popularity of both are related to the American belief in our inalienable rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.  

YOU’RE NOT GONNA LIKE THE WAY THIS LOOKS-The tax bill currently set for a final vote in Congress will be a disaster for millions of hard-working American families.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES GALORE-Two days ago I happened to write an article about the amazingly stupid conspiracy theory that the Green Party, which has run a presidential candidate every election since 1996, ran a presidential candidate in 2016 because of a Russian plot to sabotage American democracy. Today, Buzzfeed News reports that the Senate Intelligence Committee has asked Jill Stein’s campaign to comply with a document search.

DEC 28 DEADLINE IS KEY--Remember the classic Jack Nicholson line: “[The truth?] You can’t handle the truth!” from the movie, “A Few Good Men”? It’s often recalled as a courtroom-cinematic highlight, but it’s also symbolic. It shows that, perhaps with the best of intentions, institutions can take strange paths to try and achieve altruistic outcomes.

NET NEUTRALITY UNDONE-The five-member Federal Communications Commission has voted three to two to repeal net neutrality regulations. 

CRUMBLING DICTATORSHIP-The shocking defeat of GOP Senator hopeful Roy Moore may not spell the end of Trumpism, but you can see it from there. The president’s unconventional peasant rebellion has now reached its high-water market, with a countervailing tide threatening to inundate an increasingly vulnerable GOP.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS-If there is one thing that scares the living daylights out of conservative Republicans, it is the rise of strong, intelligent women in politics. They have used every trick in the book to continue to push down women that have progressive political stands and will fight for women’s rights. From cherry picked religious dogma to gerrymandering, women have historically been told that they need to “stay in their place” in the home, kitchen and child rearing. But that time is now done and we have so many women of the past to thank for paving the way to our current time. 

DATELINE HOLLYWOOD-We’re in a VIP Room at the Avalon Hollywood. It’s a celebration the likes of which this reporter has never seen. An impossibly good looking private host escorts us through a private door to a VIP Table where Tom Joad sits snugly behind a velvet rope, sipping Dom Pérignon poured out of a Magnum at table side.

FIRST PERSON REPORT-My parents love true crime shows. They love Dateline, 20/20, you name it. Lester Holt and Keith Morrison are like family friends at this point. It’s been this way since I was in high school, and I remember my sister and I finding it funny how much these morbid shows entertained our parents until we got hooked on the stories too. But there was always a running commentary from our parents. 

VETS FOR PEACE SPEAK OUT-The U.S. president, Donald Trump, revealed his inner nature again earlier this week when he retweeted a series of anti-Muslim propaganda videos from the deputy leader of an ultranationalist, neo-fascist hate group in the UK. Trump sank to a new low in terms of the blatant falsehoods and myths he will invoke and propagate to incite enmity against Muslims.

DEFINING THE DEBATE-The first time I remember being sexually harassed at work was at my second job ever, working at a bookstore. There was a man there who always tried to work sexual innuendo into every conversation we had.

COMMUNICATIONS POLITICS--The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced it will next month vote on a plan to repeal net neutrality laws that require internet providers to give consumers equal access to all content online. A repeal would be bad news for everyone  --  especially women, whose voices, causes and businesses are often shut out of mainstream media. 

MUSINGS BY MIRISCH-There’s something about Pixar and senior citizens. The world’s leading animation studio, groundbreaking within an art form traditionally associated with children and families, seems to be at its absolute best when making pictures featuring senior citizen characters -- perhaps the least traditional of animation characters -- in prominent roles. 

NEW GEOGRAPHY--The Republican Party’s road to the 2018 mid-terms looks increasingly like Pickett’s Charge, the Confederate assault on fixed Union positions that marked the high-water mark for the southern cause. After achieving its greatest domination of elective office in 80 years, the GOP seems likely to get slaughtered.

AT LENGTH--It seems like it was just two short years ago that we lived in a country that was moving forward past historic racial divides with the election of the first black president —a man who brought intelligence, grace and compassion to our highest office without a hint of scandal. 

420 FILE—(Editor’s Note: For Californian’s ‘drug war’ is descriptive of the Golden State’s relationship with the US Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. CA needs more help from its representatives in DC to protect the voter voice that approved the legalization of marijuana. Here ‘s the latest on the battle with Sessions.)

HOLIDAY HEALTH ALERT--Diestel Turkey, sold by Whole Foods and other retailers at premium prices, says on its website that its “animals are never given hormones, antibiotics or growth stimulants.” 

CORRUPTION WATCH-Suppose Los Angeles Democrats had the choice for U.S. Senator between a Democrat candidate with a history of sexual dalliances with teenage girls and a White Supremacist.  For whom would they vote?