# SAY WHAT? ## [ Freedom Reads: A Lifeline To A Still-Flawed World](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23921-freedom-reads-a-lifeline-to-a-still-flawed-world "Freedom Reads: A Lifeline To A Still-Flawed World") Details Abby Zimet [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) February 24 2022 ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Feb-2022/016z1.png) SAY WHAT? - On this date 57 years ago, Malcolm X - former inmate, fierce civil rights warrior, "one of the greatest leaders this country has ever seen" and for what he proudly deemed Afro-Americans "our own black shining prince" - was [**assassinated**](https://twitter.com/hashtag/MalcolmX?src=hashtag_click) while giving a speech at New York City's Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. He was just 39. Malcolm had become a key figure in the fight for civil rights in part through his fiery oratory, famously insisting, "We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day...by any means necessary." Clear-eyed, he knew the harsh realities of a country where, "We are brutalized because we are black people in America." "I'm not an American. I'm one of 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism," he said in a 1964 speech. "I speak as a victim of America's so-called democracy. You and I have never seem democracy; all we've seen is hypocrisy...We don't see any American dream; we've experienced only the American nightmare." Often, he referenced not just the physical but psychic pain inflicted by our racism. "America's greatest crime against the black man was not slavery or lynching, but (teaching him) to wear a mask of self-hate and self-doubt," he said. "They cripple the bird's wing, and then condemn it for not flying as fast as they." [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23921-freedom-reads-a-lifeline-to-a-still-flawed-world) ## [ Don't Say Gay (Also Black, Poor, Horny, Bi, Brown Or Lesbians Buying A House) ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23893-don-t-say-gay-also-black-poor-horny-bi-brown-or-lesbians-buying-a-house "Don't Say Gay (Also Black, Poor, Horny, Bi, Brown Or Lesbians Buying A House) ") Details ABBY ZIMET [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) February 21 2022 ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Feb-2022/015z2.png) SAY WHAT? - Intent on making America bigoted again, GOP-controlled states - because who else would do it - have cavalierly added LGBTQ+ identity to racism as a "divisive" subject in order to support their feverish [**efforts**](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fabiola-santiago/article257696978.html) to push queer or other "other" kids back in the fearful closet with deliberately vague, singularly cruel bills essentially banning any discussion or material that supports, addresses, depicts or even friggin' recognizes the existence of, you know. Because the right's censorship crusade was never gonna stop with Critical Race Theory, their new focus on sexuality in addition to race is a logical extension of an unprecedented "national assault on our education system, censoring both what teachers can say and what students may learn," [**argues ](https://pen.org/educational-gag-orders-target-speech-about-lgbtq-identities-with-new-prohibitions-and-punishments/)PEN, which has already documented a steep rise in educational gag orders and [**book bans, ](https://pen.org/press-release/texas-governor-invokes-pornography-to-ban-books-threaten-criminal-action-against-librarians-and-teachers/)often accompanied by uncommonly harsh punishments. Now, they say, "bills silencing speech about LGBTQ+ identities have also surged to the fore," rising on the tide of an anti-Critical-Race-Theory and "[**indoctrination**](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/yes-theyd-like-to-indoctrinate-your-kids/id1047335260?i=1000550705698)" hysteria that has "primed the public to support sweeping censorship of classroom speech." The sorry [**result**](https://pen.org/educational-gag-orders-target-speech-about-lgbtq-identities-with-new-prohibitions-and-punishments/): a "once-in a generation opportunity" for anti-LGBTQ+ activists to "lock LGBTQ+ topics on the wrong side of the schoolhouse gate." [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23893-don-t-say-gay-also-black-poor-horny-bi-brown-or-lesbians-buying-a-house) ## [ So The Whole World Will Listen To Joaquin Today](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23866-so-the-whole-world-will-listen-to-joaquin-today "So The Whole World Will Listen To Joaquin Today") Details Abby Zimet [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) February 17 2022 **![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Feb-2022/014z4.png)** SAY WHAT? - **In furious tribute to** this week's anniversary of the murder of his 17-year-old son Joaquin and 16 others in one of this country's worst mass school shootings, Manuel Oliver[ scaled**](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/manuel-oliver-father-of-parkland-shooting-victim-climbs-construction-tower-in-dc-to-drop-banner-calling-for-biden-to-pass-gun-legislation/ar-AATPOdT)a towering construction crane across from the White House to remind its occupant that 45,000 people, still and all, had "died of gun violence on your watch." Oliver's action on Monday came exactly four years after a gunman killed 14 students and three staff, and injured 17 more, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida. It also came as Sandy Hook families finally [**won ](https://apnews.com/article/sandy-hook-school-shooting-remington-settlement-e53b95d398ee9b838afc06275a4df403)some accountability from the gunmaker who killed 20 of their children, and as the financially floundering but still-sociopathic NRA continue to fight even modest limits on their power to kill innocents - offering proof, one more infuriating time, the filibuster has to go. In 2018, in the wake of the Parkland massacre, then-Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill [**calling for**](https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article258379933.html#storylink=cpy) what advocates called "baby steps" toward sensible gun reform: raising the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21, imposing a three-day waiting period for the purchase, and banning bump stocks that turn standard firearms into automatic weapons, like the one the sick kid used in Parkland to mow down 17 people in six minutes. In its enduring, obscene zeal, the NRA[ sued ](https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials)to block the bill, charging that making any aspiring young mass murderer wait till he's 21 to shoot up a school violates his vital 2nd Amendment rights; legal arguments on that unholy stance begin in March. [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23866-so-the-whole-world-will-listen-to-joaquin-today) ## [ Run, Kevin, Run. All Of 'Em, Actually ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23822-run-kevin-run-all-of-em-actually "Run, Kevin, Run. All Of 'Em, Actually ") Details ABBY ZIMET [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) February 14 2022 ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Feb-2022/013p.png) SAY WHAT? - Cowards and liars and frauds, oh my. In what Nancy Pelosi has [**called**](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pelosi-blasts-mccarthy-dodging-press-rnc-resolution-gop/story?id=82775387) their longstanding, by-now-wearisome "limbo contest with themselves to see how low they can go," milksop Republicans are ever more frantically fleeing accountability and reality itself as a steadfast Jan. 6 Committee keeps digging for truths they don't want revealed. With their outlandish Cheney/Kinzinger censure claim that rioting thugs represented "legitimate political discourse," Pelosi suggests, the GOP may at long last have reached "rock bottom," but God knows we've thought that before. Still, they're definitely getting down there. Despite the scandalous news their former Dear Leader illegally, relentlessly ripped up records of his catastrophic reign - and [**stole ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/trump-records-mar-a-lago/)a bunch - Lock-her-up Hillary [**haters**](https://www.c-span.org/video/?465752-3/senator-grassley-clinton-emails) have fallen [**strangely silent**](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-emails-gop-trump-ripping-documents_n_6202c78ae4b050042433bc2f) on the whole "[**full disclosure**](https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/04/13/ron-johnson-continues-focus-fbi-probe-hillary-clinton-emails/515035002/) and full exposure" idea. They include Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who said, "I really don't know enough to comment" - but his documents! - even though a few years back he was harumphing that Clinton's possible, minor breach of email protocol “raises serious concerns for Americans who believe in open government and the accountability of our highest officials.” Curious what he thinks of the new [**revelation ](https://www.axios.com/maggie-haberman-book-trump-papers-2d59d593-8b89-4edd-8623-8ef709af524f.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_content=politics-maggiehaberman)Orange Julius flushed some of that accountability down the toilet, an ewww on so many levels we can't even. Hillary, meanwhile, is peaceably [**having**](https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1490732135854096388) coffee. [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23822-run-kevin-run-all-of-em-actually) ## [ Still Ripping Things Up, Still Bewilderingly Roaming Free](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23813-still-ripping-things-up-still-bewilderingly-roaming-free "Still Ripping Things Up, Still Bewilderingly Roaming Free") Details ABBY ZIMET [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) February 10 2022 ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Feb-2022/012w.png) SAY WHAT? - Somehow, brazen crimes by the former fascist-in-chief keep surfacing. (Feel free to stop now if you understandably don't want to read any more about this affront to humanity. Lamentably, it's still news.) Less than shockingly, it seems the lying grifter who hid his school grades, tax returns, sexual assaults and countless financial transgressions also blithely[ ripped up ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/05/trump-ripping-documents/)hundreds of documents, often in violation of the Presidential Records Act and despite warnings from legal experts; later, his minions, or [**National Archives**](https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/31/politics/trump-torn-documents/index.html) staff, had to paw through papers to [**tape them ](https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/31/politics/trump-torn-documents/index.html)back together for shredded posterity and, now, the Jan. 6 Committee. “He didn’t want a record of anything,” said one former staff member. “He never stopped ripping things up.” Sometimes, he also [**took**](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/trump-records-mar-a-lago/) home - ie stole - stuff, including his "love letters" from Kim Jong Un. But what about her emails? [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23813-still-ripping-things-up-still-bewilderingly-roaming-free) ## [ Exemplary In Every Aspect of Egg Care, and Happily Also Not Inclined To Burn Books](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23779-exemplary-in-every-aspect-of-egg-care-and-happily-also-not-inclined-to-burn-books "Exemplary In Every Aspect of Egg Care, and Happily Also Not Inclined To Burn Books") Details ABBY ZIMET [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) February 07 2022 ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Feb-2022/011s.png) SAY WHAT? - Yeah, wearisome, venomous, crackpot Nazis are still[ everywhere.**](https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/right-wing-bonus-tracks-kill-whitey/) Following the lead of a craven GOP[ ](https://twitter.com/briantashman/status/1489716467604070400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Eprofile%3Adigby56%7Ctwgr%5EeyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19%7Ctwcon%5Etimelinechrome&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigbysblog.net%2F)unfathomably[ declaring ](https://twitter.com/briantashman/status/1489716467604070400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Eprofile%3Adigby56%7Ctwgr%5EeyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19%7Ctwcon%5Etimelinechrome&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigbysblog.net%2F)a riot "legitimate political discourse" to its logical toxic conclusion and never mind the death, trauma and overthrowing-ness of it, the [**sickest ](https://morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/a-trolls-progress)of the sick are shrieking[ ](https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1489338896622235652?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Eprofile%3Adigby56%7Ctwgr%5EeyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigbysblog.net%2F)that needle-wielding white cultists are raping children with COVID vaccines, degenerate Jews are molesting and sacrificing "goyim" children, and liberals are "genociding us" by [**bringing in ](https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1489338896622235652?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Eprofile%3Adigby56%7Ctwgr%5EeyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigbysblog.net%2F)refugees from "shithole countries" while teaching them to hate white people, as in, "Every single thing Jake Tapper says, he might as well just say, 'Go kill whitey.'" To fight back, a [**rabid,**](https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2020/08/30/convicted-felon-roger-stone-led-a-political-rally-at-a-hate-pastors-church/) Stop-the-Steal, [**masks-**](https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1288838007055888386)are-Satanic "[**pastor**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgYr3hgy780)" in Tennessee (oh, Tennessee) who [**believes ](https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/greg-locke-alleges-mitch-mcconnell-was-controlled-by-illuminati-hand-signals-during-election-certification/)Mitch McConnell is controlled by “Illuminati hand signals” - though, ok, he may have something there - cited a Biblical mandate to [**call for ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIKFcQVgkc8)and then [**preside over ](https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pithinthewind/theyre-burning-books-in-tennessee/article_1f8c631e-850f-11ec-bc9f-dbd44d7e14d7.html)a [**book-burning**](https://twitter.com/hemantmehta/status/1489063350755545091) of devil-worshipping *Harry Potter* and *Twilight* books as "a deliverance from demons." "We're exposing the Kingdom of Darkness," he [**proclaimed**](https://fox17.com/news/local/tennessee-pastor-holds-burning-of-books-other-materials-deemed-demonic-nashville-mt-juliet-religion-church-state-politics-twitter). "It's time for people to be delivered." [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23779-exemplary-in-every-aspect-of-egg-care-and-happily-also-not-inclined-to-burn-books) ## [ Nothing Less Than Justice](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23745-nothing-less-than-justice "Nothing Less Than Justice") Details Abby Zimet [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) February 03 2022 **![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Feb-2022/010x.png)** SAY WHAT? - In a rare move against white privilege and for racial equity, U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood has [**rejected ](https://apnews.com/article/ahmaud-arbery-crime-race-and-ethnicity-hate-crimes-savannah-4843bf04cf74034b2f396a844599f899?utm_medium=AP&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter)a federal plea deal for the three white thugs who murdered Ahmaud Arbery for jogging while black; her ruling came after Arbery's mother, who's fought fiercely for justice for her son, denounced the deal as "a betrayal." In November, Travis McMichael, his father Greg, and their neighbor William Bryan were [**convicted**](https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/24/us/ahmaud-arbery-killing-trial-wednesday-jury-deliberations/index.html) by an almost all-white jury of chasing, trapping and killing Arbery, 25, in their Georgia neighborhood in February 2020; last month, they were all [**sentenced ](https://www.theroot.com/ahmaud-arberys-killers-sentenced-1848322965)to life in prison. But with the men also facing a federal hate crimes trial next week - any convictions there would be immune from pardons from future wingnut governors - Department of Justice prosecutors suddenly struck a deal to allow at least the McMichaels to serve somewhat cushier time. In exchange for skipping that trial and pleading guilty to one hate crime - killing Arbery simply because he was black - the men could do 30 years in a slightly more civilized federal prison, likely safer especially for the elder McMichaels as a former cop, rather than the hell-holes that are most Georgia prisons; only after that would they be transferred back to the state system. [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23745-nothing-less-than-justice) ## [ And Then They Came For the Mice: No One Wants To Hear Such Stories ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23709-and-then-they-came-for-the-mice-no-one-wants-to-hear-such-stories "And Then They Came For the Mice: No One Wants To Hear Such Stories ") Details ABBY ZIMET [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) January 31 2022 **![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Jan-2022/009v.png)** SAY WHAT? - Eerily echoing Adolf Hitler's [**vow ](https://www.azquotes.com/author/6758-Adolf_Hitler/tag/culture)to "burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of LIBERAL excess," a Tennessee school board in their unholy wisdom has banned Art Spiegelman's singularly searing, brutally tender, Pulitzer-winning graphic novel [***Maus*,**](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/maus-art-spiegelman/1102082108) which uses cartoon animals - Nazis as cats, Jews as mice, Poles as pigs - to tell the harrowing story of his survivor parents and the carnage, horror and enduring trauma of the Holocaust. Unsparing and multi-layered, Spiegelman merges personal and historical devastation by documenting the lives of his father Vladek and mother Anja, Polish Jews who survive Auschwitz deeply scarred, and his own struggle to unspool their painful stories. Disquietingly, there is no redemptive arc, no real justice in the end, just a dark account that must be recorded. Anja committed suicide in 1968, when Spiegelman was 20; Vladek, who lost a six-year-old son and most of his extended family during the war, emerges as a controlling, cranky, shut-down old man; their fraught relationship leads Spiegelman to the pitiless conjecture that, "Unimaginable suffering doesn't make you better - it just makes you suffer." Through much of *Maus,*Vladek harshly resists his son's inquiries into a past whose losses still haunt him. "It would take many books, my life," he says bitterly, "and no one wants anyway to hear such stories." [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23709-and-then-they-came-for-the-mice-no-one-wants-to-hear-such-stories) ## [ These Are Not the Best of Times](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23678-these-are-not-the-best-of-times "These Are Not the Best of Times") Details ABBY ZIMET [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) January 27 2022 **![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Jan-2022/008z1.png)** SAY WHAT? - On the vital, longtime, increasingly [**bonkers ](https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/chaos-breaks-out-over-critical-race-theory-at-prince-william-county-school-board-meeting/2804770/)battleground of culture wars that are our schools and our kids and what they can learn, it keeps getting worse. A new report finds wingnuts in calamitous power are begetting a flood of "educational gag orders" that are often sloppily written, factually inaccurate, vague enough to invite confusion if not egregious abuse, extreme enough to spark chaos, and "pedagogically pernicious," from banning ill-defined "divisive concepts" that cause "discomfort" to setting up a snitch line - [**cue ](https://twitter.com/QasimRashid/status/1486116414243098625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1486116414243098625%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffpost.com%2Fentry%2Fglenn-youngkin-tip-line-pranksters_n_61f0f6c0e4b0061af257cbfd)helpful "tips" on Albus Dumbledore, creeping Sharia, teachers teaching and the terrorist group al-gebra - to report teachers "behaving objectionably." In the process, they chillingly [**create**](https://twitter.com/0liviajulianna/status/1485982363901382663?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1485982363901382663%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Fflood-glenn-youngkin-tip-line-reporting-teachers-tiktoker-gen-z-1672720) "an Orwellian hellscape" where teachers are treated "as subversive internal threats who must be zealously rooted out at any deviation from orthodoxy" - a toxic, growing trend,[ writes**](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/24/new-study-gop-laws-restrict-teaching-race/) Greg Sargent, that can "make teachers feel on such thin ice they end up whitewashing the U.S. past rather than communicating hard truths about it." The [**new report ](https://pen.org/steep-rise-gag-orders-many-sloppily-drafted/)from PEN America, which for over a year has been [**tracking ](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Tj5WQVBmB6SQg-zP_M8uZsQQGH09TxmBY73v23zpyr0/edit?usp=sharing)"censorious legislative efforts" across the country,[ finds**](https://pen.org/steep-rise-gag-orders-many-sloppily-drafted/?fbclid=IwAR0uuC0GyJsvJKUptHHF7P0b6AAY34VxmHs6XVb5z5ysRY_5ZBpA7ulMJ1M) a "steep rise" in gag orders," with over 71 bills introduced in state legislatures, or about three a day. Most are about sex, race or U.S. history; like earlier ones, writes Jeffrey Sachs, "All are sweeping, all are draconian, and few make any kind of sense...This is about putting the fear of God into teachers." [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23678-these-are-not-the-best-of-times) ## [ Mitch, Please: Yeah That's Me. American.](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23628-mitch-please-yeah-that-s-me-american "  Mitch, Please: Yeah That's Me. American.") Details ABBY ZIMET [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) January 24 2022 ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Jan-2022/007w.png) SAY WHAT? - In an ongoing tragicomedy of malignant errors, Senate Minority Leader, racist turtle and "sloppy first attempt at a pancake with blueberry eyes" Mitch McReaper scrambled to defend his indefensible "Klanian slip" this week suggesting he views African-American voters as a different species from "American" voters, and never mind this country was built on their black ancestors' oft-whipped backs. Asked how African-American voters might respond to his retrogade party of thugs [**blocking ](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/19/senate-vote-on-voting-rights-bills-filibuster-rules-change.html)the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, he infamously replied, "The concern is misplaced, because if you look at the statistics, African-American(s) are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans"; also, if you look at the [**video**](https://twitter.com/travisakers/status/1484015915553406980), you can see him [**re-enforce**](https://twitter.com/iamJxWoods/status/1484502149124005890?s=20) his screaming dogwhistle with a repugnant them-and-us flip of his limp hand. At a Friday press conference amidst a storm of entirely understandable outrage, he [**huffed ](https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/21/politics/mitch-mcconnell-civil-rights-comment/index.html)it was "deeply offensive" and an "outrageous mischaracterization" of his stellar civil rights record - except for all the times he's said Jim-Crow-y things or smirkingly [**posed**](https://twitter.com/POTUS_15/status/1484519486552223747) in front of a giant Confederate flag - to suggest he was partaking in the [**othering ](https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/01/20/asked-about-black-voters-mcconnell-says-quiet-racist-part-very-loud)of people of color just because he "inadvertently" omitted a word that he then had to come back twice to the mic to fumblingly identify as either "almost," or "all," or, the day before, "other." Ok, so he doesn't have the best words. At this point, that's the least of his crimes. [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23628-mitch-please-yeah-that-s-me-american) ## [ Slouching Towards Fascism With DeSantis' Election Police](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23614-slouching-towards-fascism-with-desantis-election-police "Slouching Towards Fascism With DeSantis' Election Police") Details ABBY ZIMET [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) January 20 2022 **![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Jan-2022/006z2.png)** SAY WHAT? - Even as the Senate bitterly, implausibly debates fundamental voting rights that not long ago were almost universally deemed non-negotiable, Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking Orwell's "1984" and running with it into a despotic dystopia of his own feverish imagining with his hoped-for, first-in-the-nation [**creation ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/01/18/florida-governor-proposes-special-police-agency-monitor-elections/)of an Office of Election Crimes and Security to ensure "elections are conducted in accordance with the rule of law," though, in fact, they already are. The Himmler-wannabe's shiny new police force, which would be part of Florida's Department of State, would hire over 50 investigators to “detect, apprehend, and arrest anyone for an alleged violation” of election laws, with Gestapo snitches posted at unspecified “field offices" through the state to act on dubious tips from “government officials or any other person” to "facilitate the faithful enforcement of election laws," which, did we mention, already occurs. Also - see Himmler - they'd report directly to him. Herr DeSantis, who once considered forming his own private militia, [**asked ](https://www.flgov.com/2022/01/11/governor-ron-desantis-state-of-the-state-address-3/)the GOP-led legislature for $6 million for the new stormtroopers in a State of the State [**address ](https://www.flgov.com/2022/01/11/governor-ron-desantis-state-of-the-state-address-3/)teeming with freedom-y bilge: Florida is "the freest state in these United States," standing as "freedom's vanguard" for "those chafing under authoritarian, arbitrary and seemingly never-ending mandates" due to "a coercive biomedical apparatus" in "blind adherence to Faucian declarations," but "Florida is a free state" that "has stood strong as the rock of freedom." Fascistic, but strong. [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23614-slouching-towards-fascism-with-desantis-election-police) ## [ As Sinema Defends Filibuster, Progressives Say 'Vote Her the Hell Out'](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23580-as-sinema-defends-filibuster-progressives-say-vote-her-the-hell-out "As Sinema Defends Filibuster, Progressives Say 'Vote Her the Hell Out'") Details Jake Johnson [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) January 17 2022 ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Jan-2022/005v.png) SAY WHAT? - On what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.'s 93rd birthday, voting rights advocates and progressive lawmakers rallied in Arizona on Saturday to target the first-term Democratic senator blocking legislation aimed at strengthening ballot access amid [growing](https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/12/21/gop-tidal-wave-voter-suppression-set-intensify-2022-analysis-warns) GOP-led suppression efforts. In attendance at Saturday's demonstrations in Phoenix were members of the King family, which is planning to [lead a march](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/13/mlk-day-voting-rights-march/) to Washington, D.C. on MLK Day with a simple message to lawmakers: "No celebration without legislation." Referring to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's (D-Ariz.) Thursday [speech](https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/01/13/shame-her-sinema-sparks-fury-choosing-filibuster-over-democracy) defending the 60-vote legislative filibuster, Martin Luther King III argued Saturday that "what she said is, 'I support voting rights, but not as much as I support the ability of someone to take those rights away.'" "The filibuster is a meaningless Senate rule," he added. "It's a remnant of slavery used to block civil rights for generations." [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23580-as-sinema-defends-filibuster-progressives-say-vote-her-the-hell-out) ## [ Crazy Like A Fox: Pissing On the Libs, Literally](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23535-crazy-like-a-fox-pissing-on-the-libs-literally "Crazy Like A Fox: Pissing On the Libs, Literally") Details ABBY ZIMET [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) January 12 2022 ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Jan-2022/004t.png) SAY WHAT? - In an admirable, longstanding tradition, heedful Americans are taking multiple, pragmatic, science-based precautions against a virus that in two years has killed 900,000 people, is poised this week to set[ new records**](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/omicron-pushes-us-covid-hospitalizations-toward-record-high-2022-01-07/) for surging hospitalizations, and is still [**infecting ](https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/01/02/expect-unprecedented-number-social-disruptions-amid-omicron-surge-health-experts)almost 700,000 people a day. LOL. Just kidding. In moronic fact, despite an "extraordinarily contagious" Omicron variant that doctors at overwhelmed hospitals [**say ](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/omicron-pushes-us-covid-hospitalizations-toward-record-high-2022-01-07/)poses challenges that kindle, "I don't want to say despair, (but at least) fatigue," crackpots still roam the land, spewing their crazy. As always, the most disheartening are those with, inexplicably, power and a platform. They range from the former guy mindlessly [**berating ](https://twitter.com/realLizUSA/status/1478853966666600450?s=20)his fans to "Rise up!" against often non-existent vaccine mandates to Rand Paul [**ranting**](https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/01/11/fauci-accuses-rand-paul-kindling-crazies-during-heated-exchange) at Dr. Fauci for trying to save lives not make money to Florida's so-called Surgeon General[**urging**](https://miami.cbslocal.com/2022/01/03/florida-surgeon-general-joseph-ladapo-points-to-need-for-high-value-testing/) the COVID-[**ravaged ](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/florida-covid-cases.html)state's health officials to "unwind the testing psychology" and rely on "natural [**immunity**](https://gbdeclaration.org/view-signatures/)" A "[**well-educated ](https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/editorials/os-op-florida-surgeon-general-joseph-ladapo-rivkees-20210922-fsxpdsujwfhudiqypxgver25fm-story.html)COVID crank" - Harvard?! - and fan of [**hydroxychloroquine**](https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-lets-all-be-honest-about-hydroxychloroquine-20201013-5j5q4i23qvfuzos4jh7ztc3usa-story.html) and [**wingnut ](https://www.thedailybeast.com/demon-sperm-doctors-group-that-met-with-pence-is-now-pushing-covid-vaccine-fears)demon-sperm doctors who's not big on masks or vaccines, Dr. Joseph Ladapo held a press conference[ ](https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1478049647478333441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1478049647478333441%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wonkette.com%2Fflorida-s-surgeon-general-wants-covid-tests-to-be-grandmas-only)to [**announce ](https://www.commondreams.org/further/2022/01/12/unwind)the state would work to "unwind this" - here, he haplessly spun his finger around in search of good words - "planning and living one's life around testing." "It's really time for people to be living," he said, "to make the decisions they want regarding vaccination, to enjoy the fact that many people have natural immunity." Testing has "been treated almost like a religion, and that's just senseless," he [**scolded**](https://www.commondreams.org/further/2022/01/12/pic.twitter.com/cju0o1uVJm) at a podium that read, "Early Treatment Saves Lives," because if we restrict tests to, say, only grandmothers, we'll magically have fewer COVID cases! We love science. [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23535-crazy-like-a-fox-pissing-on-the-libs-literally) ## [ Against the Rulers of the Darkness of This World](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23525-against-the-rulers-of-the-darkness-of-this-world "Against the Rulers of the Darkness of This World") Details Abby Zimet [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) January 10 2022 ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Jan-2022/003z1.png) SAY WHAT? - A year after a mob of delusional, autocrat-loving thugs tried to overthrow our admittedly flawed and fragile democracy, Joe Biden gave a fiery [**speech ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpUj5Tq68hI)denouncing "the defeated former president" - "You can't love your country only when you win" - and[**asking,**](https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1479099527978270720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1479099527978270720%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2Flive%2F2022%2Fjan%2F06%2Fus-capitol-attack-one-year-anniversary-trump-pence-biden-house-committee-live) "Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth but in the shadow of lies?" An excellent question for those of us witnessing the ongoing, increasingly unhinged [**onslaught ](https://twitter.com/brianbeutler/status/1479219109317562368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Eprofile%3Adigby56%7Ctwgr%5EeyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19%7Ctwcon%5Etimelinechrome&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigbysblog.net%2F)of revisionist lies and crimes and stonewalling underway, alarmingly [**encouraged**](https://digbysblog.net/2022/01/06/one-year-ago-today-6/) by millions in large part because, "To the privileged, equality feels like oppression." In response to the madness, A.G. Merrick Garland [**assured ](https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a38678418/merrick-garland-jan-6-investigation-speech/)the country, the wheels of justice are slowly and creakily turning: The DOJ has issued over 5,000 subpoenas or search warrants, seized about 2,000 devices, watched 20,000-plus hours of video, and arrested and charged over 725 defendants. To those frustrated by the slow and creaking part, he offered a reality check: Large investigations take time, typically starting with gathering the evidence and low-hanging fruit - ie: rioters - before moving on to their evil masters. Justice, he said, will hold "all perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law," and "follow the facts wherever they lead." [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23525-against-the-rulers-of-the-darkness-of-this-world) ## [ Devin Moo-ness Has Officially Left the Building](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23492-devin-moo-ness-has-officially-left-the-building "Devin Moo-ness Has Officially Left the Building") Details Abby Zimet [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) January 05 2022 ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Jan-2022/022v.png) SAY WHAT? - In case you missed it, dimwitted, thin-skinned, uber-Trumpy "treasonous cowpoke" Devin Nunes officially [**resigned**](https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1478044730495746052?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Eprofile%3Adigby56%7Ctwgr%5EeyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigbysblog.net%2F)[ ](https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1478044730495746052?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1478044730495746052%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wonkette.com%2Fr%2Fentryeditor%2F2656211249publish)from Congress on Monday to take a "job" [**as CEO ](https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/6/22821450/devin-nunes-ceo-tmtg-spac-dwac-truth-social-media)of Trump's new media "company," leaving behind an illustrious legacy of renaming a post office, undermining Congressional oversight, pushing bogus conspiracy theories, trying to [**erect ](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/opinion/devin-nunes-is-dangerous.html)a wall in House Intelligence offices to keep Democrats separate, and[ suing ](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/03/devin-nunes-files-bonkers-usd250-million-suit-over-mean-tweets.html)imaginary livestock for mean tweets "that no human being should ever have to bear and suffer in their whole life," because he's, like, 12. In Congress since 2003, Nunes managed to achieve staggeringly little - aptly, for the guy about whom it was[ once said,**](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/opinion/devin-nunes-is-dangerous.html) "No one is asking him to bring the potato salad to the Mensa picnic." There was his 2017 [**rush**](http://www.wonkette.com/614531/dumbass-trump-slut-devin-nunes-needs-to-sit-the-fuck-down) to tell the Trump White House he had *proof* Obama [**put "wire tapps"**](http://www.wonkette.com/613824/is-obamas-wire-tapp-the-end-of-donald-trump-maybe-a-holy-shit-yall-investigation-into-wtf) on them during "the very sacred election process," except it was Trump who said that. There were the breathless [**scandals ](https://www.lawfareblog.com/transcript-house-intelligence-committee-meeting-regarding-nunes-memo)- FBI misdeeds, Carter Page, Steele Dossier - that fell flat. There were frantic errands to Putin, r[**umors**](https://www.wonkette.com/does-devin-nunes-have-mad-cow-disease-we-are-just-asking) he had Mad Cow Disease, whispers that, alongside Greene and Boebert, he'd no longer take top prize for dullest tool in the shed. There were ignoble hashtags that trailed after him like tin cans strung on a sorry dog's tail - [**\#DevinNunesIsAnIdiot**](https://twitter.com/hashtag/DevinNunesIsAnIdiot?src=hashtag_click), [**\#TreasonousCowpoke, ](https://twitter.com/hashtag/TreasonousCowpoke?src=hashtag_click) [**\#DevinNunesIsCorrupt, ](https://twitter.com/hashtag/DevinNunesIsCorrupt?src=hashtag_click) [**\#DevinNunesIsStillAnIdiot**](https://twitter.com/hashtag/DevinNunesIsStillAnIdiot?src=hashtag_click) [**- ](https://twitter.com/hashtag/DevinNunesIsStillAnIdiot?src=hashtag_click)and ceaseless, stupid lawsuits against [**Rachel ](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-03/congressman-nunes-sues-nbc-claiming-rachel-maddow-smeared-him#:~:text=California%20Republican%20Congressman%20Devin%20Nunes,presidential%20election%20for%20Donald%20Trump.)Maddow,*Twitter,* WaPo and his [**constituents**](https://www.scribd.com/document/420603214/2019-08-01-Nunes-Campaign-v-Michael-J-Seeley-Et-Al) when they hurt his feelings. Most notoriously, there was his $250 million [**lawsuit ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/19/ridiculousness-devin-nunes-suing-devin-nunes-cow-what-it-really-signals/)against an Internet cow for making fun of him, after which the newly famous cow swiftly garnered over 700,000 *Twitter* followers, because we are all the cow. [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23492-devin-moo-ness-has-officially-left-the-building) ## [ Idiots On Parade: We Shall Overcome, We'll Also Take Two Whoppers and Fries](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23444-idiots-on-parade-we-shall-overcome-we-ll-also-take-two-whoppers-and-fries "Idiots On Parade: We Shall Overcome, We'll Also Take Two Whoppers and Fries") Details Abby Zimet [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) January 03 2022 # ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Jan-2022/001z2.png) SAY WHAT? - Two weary, relentless, life-rupturing years into the pandemic, there are modest glimpses of glad news. A team of doctors at Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, doing what Big Pharma [**won't**](https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/12/30/texas-team-applauded-giving-what-big-pharma-refuses-patent-free-vaccine-world), has developed "the world's vaccination," a safe, open-source vaccine whose patent they're now [**transferring ](https://www.texaschildrens.org/texas-children%E2%80%99s-hospital-and-baylor-college-medicine-covid-19-vaccine-technology-secures-emergency)free of charge to manufacturers in poor countries - first India, then hopefully Indonesia, Bangladesh, Botswana and elsewhere. Doctors call Cobervax, created at the [**Center for Vaccine Development**](https://www.bcm.edu/departments/pediatrics/divisions-and-centers/tropical-medicine/research/vaccine-development) with generous philanthropic support, "a gift to the world" that could mark a first step in both vaccinating the rest of the world and halting the emergence of new variants. Around the same time, a team of scientists at UC San Francisco and University College London announced they [**have solved**](https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2021/12/422081/alpha-coronavirus-variant-evolved-evade-immune-system) the mystery of the Omicron variant's rapid spread; their discovery of a critical protein that stifles the body's immune response, they hope, can lead to breakthrough treatments against Omicron. Okay, that's about it in good news. [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23444-idiots-on-parade-we-shall-overcome-we-ll-also-take-two-whoppers-and-fries) ## [ Just Do Your Duty: Democracy Yay or Nay](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23422-just-do-your-duty-democracy-yay-or-nay "Just Do Your Duty: Democracy Yay or Nay") Details Abby Zimet [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) December 30 2021 **![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Dec-2021/140t.png)** Say What? - **The January 6 Committee** just announced they'll begin [**holding ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/january-6-attack-investigation/2021/12/27/e2c37488-62d4-11ec-8ce3-9454d0b46d42_story.html)public hearings in the new year, which is good news. But it's clear that, even before they open that particular Pandora's Box of malfeasance, we're already awash in ever more sordid details about the ongoing right-wing march to fascism. There's asshats telling the president to go fuck himself on a benign Christmas call with his kids and then [**whining ](https://www.kron4.com/news/national/man-who-told-biden-lets-go-brandon-goes-on-bannons-podcast-touts-trump/)about freedom of speech when they're castigated for being asshats. There's MAGA conspiracy wingnuts [**working**](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-maga-squad/2021/12/26/654f49ea-5448-11ec-8769-2f4ecdf7a2ad_story.html) to boost the careers of other wingnuts so the party can tilt so far right they fall off the planet. There's the dozen militia thugs [**plotting**](https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/men-accused-plotting-kidnap-michigan-gov-new-creative-defense-rcna10075) to kidnap and/or kill Michigan's Dem governor for trying to save lives during a pandemic now arguing the government entrapped them. [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23422-just-do-your-duty-democracy-yay-or-nay) ## [ That Ye Love One Another](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23397-that-ye-love-one-another "That Ye Love One Another") Details Abby Zimet [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) December 27 2021 **![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Dec-2021/103o.png)** SAY WHAT? - A nod to the real meaning of the holiday, the birth of a Jesus who was not divine but "supremely human" - a "radical non-violent [**revolutionary ](https://twitter.com/DavidCornDC/status/1474756103183511555?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1474756103183511555%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.democraticunderground.com%2F100216182062)who hung around with lepers, hookers and crooks... was anti-wealth, anti-death penalty, anti-public prayer; but was never anti-gay, never mentioned abortion or birth control, never called the poor lazy, never justified torture, never fought for tax cuts for the wealthiest Nazarenes, never asked a leper for copay, and was a long-haired, brown-skinned, homeless, community-organizing anti- slut-shaming Middle Eastern Jew." [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23397-that-ye-love-one-another) ## [ Even Forrest Would Think It is Ugly: One More Down](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23368-even-forrest-would-think-it-is-ugly-one-more-down "Even Forrest Would Think It is Ugly: One More Down") Details Abby Zimet [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) December 22 2021 ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Dec-2021/102r.png) SAY WHAT? - Given....everything, it's not much. But in a glimmer of good news, the Lost Cause lost again earlier this month when Nashville TN finally[ took down ](https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2021/12/08/nathan-bedford-forrest-confederate-statue-removal-nashville-interstate-65/6431195001/)the moral and aesthetic "abomination" that was its deranged fiberglass statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a millionaire antebellum slave trader, Confederate general and war criminal who later served as the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Long deemed "a blight" on a city that sees itself as a symbol of "the new South" - albeit in a state where a black man just[ won**](https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2021/12/03/tennessee-man-gets-new-trial-after-jury-met-room-confederate-symbols/8859025002/) a new trial after being convicted by an all-white jury in a room named for the daughters of the Confederacy and hung with a Confederate flag - the "objectively hideous," 27-foot-high statue stood a few miles south of Nashville in plain view of the highway for over 20 years, a rare Confederate monument as ugly as the racist history it marks. [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23368-even-forrest-would-think-it-is-ugly-one-more-down) ## [ The Facts of That Day: Lying Despots 'R Us Part 478](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23354-the-facts-of-that-day-lying-despots-r-us-part-478 "The Facts of That Day: Lying Despots 'R Us Part 478") Details Abby Zimet [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) December 20 2021 **![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Dec-2021/101z.png)** SAY WHAT? - Ohhh....So *that's* why the Repubs didn't want a Jan. 6 Commission. It's taken almost a year for the glacial, creaking wheels of justice to gear up, but lawmakers, legal officials and even penitent rioters have finally begun unveiling a mountain of sublimely damning evidence on the whos and hows of the "gutless attack" that was the Capitol Riot. With subpoenas still [**dropping ](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/10/us/politics/jan-6-capitol-riot-subpoenas.html)for unnamed witnesses, this week's most sensational moments featured Liz Cheney - as the daughter of Lord Voldemort, really, who'da thought? - [**reading ](https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1470550748828246019)aloud eye-popping text messages Mark Meadows received during the riot from unlikely correspondents who never imagined one day they'd be unwittingly thrown under the bus by a guy so dumb and indecisive he turned over all this incriminating stuff and only when the shit hit the fan thought, oh wait, maybe not. [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23354-the-facts-of-that-day-lying-despots-r-us-part-478) ## [ We Who Are About To Die: America's Schools As the Hunger Games](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23322-we-who-are-about-to-die-america-s-schools-as-the-hunger-games "We Who Are About To Die: America's Schools As the Hunger Games") Details ABBY ZIMET [SAY WHAT?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what) December 15 2021 **![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Dec-2021/100u.png)** SAY WHAT? - Symbolically merging the inequities and indignities of late-stage capitalism with the [**gladiatorial**](https://www.realmofhistory.com/2020/01/03/12-facts-ancient-roman-gladiators/) efforts of underfunded, overworked educators to do their vital job, ten South Dakota teachers gamely clambered around an ice rink on their hands and knees this weekend [**grabbing ](https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2021/12/11/dash-cash-stampede-hockey-teachers-sioux-falls/6448189001/)as many $1 bills as they could from a $5,000 heap to help buy basic school supplies as spectators hooted and cheered. The tawdry Dash-For-Cash, held during a Sioux Falls Stampede hockey game, was funded by CU Mortgage Direct as "an awesome group thing to do for the teachers," because “with everything that has gone on for the last couple of years" - like, say, their struggling to wrangle up to 30 kids into order or at least onto Zoom amidst an ongoing pandemic that's seen burned-out teachers [**leaving ](https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/education/2021/08/31/compensation-review-board-cites-low-pay-pandemic-in-teacher-shortage-south-dakota-covid/5648556001/)in droves and rabid anti-mask-or-mandate-or-CRT parents harassing and assaulting them just for trying to keep their kids and themselves alive and in pencils on the [**lowest ](https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/education/2021/08/31/compensation-review-board-cites-low-pay-pandemic-in-teacher-shortage-south-dakota-covid/5648556001/)teacher pay in the country in a state with one of the [**lowest ](https://www.argusleader.com/story/opinion/2021/12/13/dash-cash-south-dakota-metaphor-teacher-salary-pay-underfunding-stampede/6495760001/)rates of education spending despite a budget surplus last year of $85.9 million, which is maybe why they [**walked out**](https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/education/2020/02/05/sioux-falls-teachers-protest-lack-state-funding-joining-national-movement/4653827002/) last year - with all that, "they deserve whatever the heck they get," which in this case was a lousy few hundred bucks in exchange for being part of a cheap spectacle with a touch of degradation thrown in, which evidently nobody thought might not be a good look. [ Read more … ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23322-we-who-are-about-to-die-america-s-schools-as-the-hunger-games) 1. [ At Gitmo, A Soul-Crushing Parade of Horribles](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23305-at-gitmo-a-soul-crushing-parade-of-horribles) 2. [ But It Adds Up To Freedom](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23274-but-it-adds-up-to-freedom) 3. [ Teach Your Children Well](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23245-teach-your-children-well) 4. [ I Saw Goody Proctor Teaching CRT: On Moms For Liberty and Other Racist, Fascist Vigilantes](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23204-i-saw-goody-proctor-teaching-crt-on-moms-for-liberty-and-other-racist-fascist-vigilantes) 5. [ We Are Raising An Army, My Liege: Cut-Rate Nazi Clowns Found Liable For $26 Million](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23168-we-are-raising-an-army-my-liege-cut-rate-nazi-clowns-found-liable-for-26-million) 6. [ Come Gather 'Round People: Pining For This Once-Idyllic Neighborhood Without Ahmaud Arbery In It](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23149-come-gather-round-people-pining-for-this-once-idyllic-neighborhood-without-ahmaud-arbery-in-it) 7. [ INFINITE SIEG F#CKING HEILS: Alas, Kyle Rittenhouse Is An American](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23127-infinite-sieg-f-cking-heils-alas-kyle-rittenhouse-is-an-american) 8. [ Steve Bannon and the Deadly Implications of 'Deconstructing the Administrative State'](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23093-steve-bannon-and-the-deadly-implications-of-deconstructing-the-administrative-state) 9. [ Justice In America: Unfit Judges, Lying Thugs, Screamingly Racist Lawyers and Only So Many Black Pastors Please](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23056-justice-in-america-unfit-judges-lying-thugs-screamingly-racist-lawyers-and-only-so-many-black-pastors-please) 10. [ Queer Republicans Try To Make Melania Trump A Gay Icon In Cringiest Video Of The Year](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/23005-queer-republicans-try-to-make-melania-trump-a-gay-icon-in-cringiest-video-of-the-year) 11. [ Keep Hope Alive: The Browning of America](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/22981-keep-hope-alive-the-browning-of-america) 12. [ Tin-Foiled Again: QAnon Way Sad When JFKs Jr. and Sr. Don't Show In Dallas, But Tupac and Kobe Made It](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/22954-tin-foiled-again-qanon-way-sad-when-jfks-jr-and-sr-don-t-show-in-dallas-but-tupac-and-kobe-made-it) 13. [ Talk About the Teetering Edge of A Regime: When Do We Get to Use the Guns?](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/22933-talk-about-the-teetering-edge-of-a-regime-when-do-we-get-to-use-the-guns) 14. [ Caitlyn Jenner Defends Dave Chappelle as “100% Right”: “We Must Never Yield”](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/22892-caitlyn-jenner-defends-dave-chappelle-as-100-right-we-must-never-yield) 15. [ Be Of Good Cheer: Death Cult Christians Say Better To Go Home to the Lord (Albeit With COVID) Than Wear A Mask](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/22857-be-of-good-cheer-death-cult-christians-say-better-to-go-home-to-the-lord-albeit-with-covid-than-wear-a-mask) 16. [ OMFG Texas: Giving Nazis - Also Slave-Owners and Assorted Bigots - A Break](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/22827-omfg-texas-giving-nazis-also-slave-owners-and-assorted-bigots-a-break) 17. [ To Boldly Go Where No Man (sic) Has Gone Before, Even If Funded By A Rapacious, Oblivious Sociopath](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/22814-to-boldly-go-where-no-man-sic-has-gone-before-even-if-funded-by-a-rapacious-oblivious-sociopath) 18. [ Apocalyptic Perps 'R Us: Saving America For God, Guns, Ashli Babbit and Whatzizname](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/22779-apocalyptic-perps-r-us-saving-america-for-god-guns-ashli-babbit-and-whatzizname) 19. [ Praise the Lord: In A Surprise Move, John Birch Will Save Us and Our Bodily Autonomy From the New Jim Crow](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/22754-praise-the-lord-in-a-surprise-move-john-birch-will-save-us-and-our-bodily-autonomy-from-the-new-jim-crow) 20. [ A Dangerous Cabal: Chosen By God Though Last Time We Looked She Didn't Have A Dog In the Fight](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what/22725-a-dangerous-cabal-chosen-by-god-though-last-time-we-looked-she-didn-t-have-a-dog-in-the-fight) Page 6 of 24 - [Start](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what "Start") - [Prev](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what?start=84 "Prev") - [1](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what "1") - [2](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what?start=21 "2") - [3](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what?start=42 "3") - [4](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what?start=63 "4") - [5](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what?start=84 "5") - 6 - [7](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what?start=126 "7") - [8](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what?start=147 "8") - [9](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what?start=168 "9") - [10](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what?start=189 "10") - [Next](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what?start=126 "Next") - [End](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what?start=483 "End")