SAY WHAT?

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--One of the clearest ways to see America’s collapse is through the lens of its eerie mirror image: the Soviet Union.

 The similarities, by now — ideology, a collapsed middle, masses living in shortages of basic goods, elites too arrogant and clueless to understand, much less care — should be striking to any thoughtful person. And those resonances lead me to ask a tiny question: is Bernie America’s Gorbachev?

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--I don’t know a lot about white history.

I also don’t know much about green bean casserole, Creedence Clearwater Revival or shampoo-and-conditioner-in-one. I am, however, familiar with seasoned salt, the nuances of Blue Magic vs. Dax vs. Pink Oil Lotion, and the musical stylings of Frankie Beverly and Maze.

And, unlike many of my educated white counterparts, I know a lot about American history.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--Donald Trump once made fun of a journalist for having a “t****y dad,” according to a new book co-authored by two Daily Beast journalists.

Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng’s new book, Sinking in the Swamp: How Trump’s Minions and Misfits Poisoned Washington, bills itself as an “eyewitness account” of how the Trump administration brought an “unprecedented awfulness” to Washington in the form of “charlatans, conspiracy theorists, ideologues, and run-of-the-mill con artists” who were given powerful political jobs.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--If you’re like me, you spent the weekend depressed after reading Nate Cohn’s column in The New York Times or David Wasserman’s post on the NBC website.

In each, the two data science-focused reporters looked at the Presidential election polling. Rather than simply looking at the national results, they considered the state by state results and analyzed what these results mean for the election.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--US President Donald Trump looks back as a question from the press is shouted after a press conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 22, 2020. (Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

While attending the World Economic Forum's summit of global elites in the Swiss mountaintop retreat of Davos on Wednesday, President Donald Trump openly admitted he would—if reelected in 2020—consider cutting back funding for key social programs including Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--While scratching around for some Christmas cheer through the oft disgraced but equally celebrated ‘Poet Laureate of LA Low Life’, Charles Bukowksi, I wandered upon an old favourite.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--There’s an old joke about how Richard Nixon was the kind of politician who’d cut down an endangered giant redwood, then climb on the stump and make a speech about conservation.

Fast forward to 2020 and Donald Trump, who with every breath plunges Nixonian hypocrisy to heretofore unimagined depths: “I want clean air,” he declared the other day. “I want clean water. I want the cleanest air, want the cleanest water. The environment is very important to me."

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--On today’s episode of “White Men With Weird Persecution Complexes,” I give you Iowa Rep. Steve King. On Friday, King spoke on the house floor to decry the term “white nationalist” as a totally unfair term created and weaponized be “the left” to smear good conservatives such as himself with.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--Many of us watched the impeachment proceedings in absolute horror. We witnessed Republicans screaming, ranting, pounding tables, dredging up information that was a deflect or distraction, and yet never making any attempt to actually “defend” trump’s actions. I know I wasn’t the only one thinking “what is wrong with these people?” They appeared to be appealing to the theatrics and drama of the type of reality show that the trump base love. Was this performance for those that watch the likes of Duck Dynasty or Honey Boo Boo? All the while, the Democrats remained fairly calm, focusing on the issues, and not playing into the Republican gas lighting attempts.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--With the March primary election rapidly approaching, the stakes are high in the race for a rare open seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

Until now, it has been a largely civil affair, with L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson the perceived front-runner to replace term-limited Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. But the gloves are finally starting to come off.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--The Trump Administration has quietly removed sexual orientation protections from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) guidelines on workplace discrimination. The official explanation of why contradicts an anti-LGBTQ argument being made by Trump in several court cases.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--Sorry but bad news: IMPOTUS is a moron, and increasingly unwell. 

While vacationing once again - on what is now the $118 million taxpayers' dime - he spoke to young conservatives at their Turning Point USA conference in West Palm Beach. 

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--With President Donald Trump headed for a partisan impeachment in the House and a largely automatic acquittal in the Senate, liberals like to console themselves that history will be unkind to Trump’s staunchest defenders in Congress ― that the Republican members turning a blind eye or offering bad-faith excuses for the president will rightfully be recorded as enemies of truth.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--It didn’t surprise the locals when Claremont United Methodist Church unveiled its annual outdoor Nativity scene this week. In keeping with its spiritual leanings and activist traditions, this was no tender Christ-child-in-the-manger tableau.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING-A new report from the state Legislative Analyst’s Office spotlights a dangerous incongruity in how California approaches two issues involving global warming: the push to reduce emissions of Earth-warming greenhouse gases and what to do about the already-rising seas. While the state has been an international leader on the former, it is woefully behind on the latter. California has not done what it should to prepare for coastal erosion, sea incursions into low-lying areas (including sensitive wetlands), storm-surge flooding of shore communities or the possible need for a forced retreat from imperiled developments at the ocean’s edge. (Photo above: San Diego coastal flooding.)

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--Jewish groups denounced President Donald Trump Sunday for anti-Semitic tropes after he referred to some Jewish voters in the real estate business as “brutal killers” who will vote for him to dodge a wealth tax. 

Trump also complained that some Jews “don’t love Israel enough” in a speech Saturday at the Israeli American Council National Summit in Florida before a supportive crowd that chanted “four more years.”

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--Unsatisfied with getting away with murder, the bane of the universe, George Zimmerman, has filed a $100 million lawsuit against attorney Ben Crump and the family of Trayvon Martin.

According to a press release provided to The Root, the lawsuit alleges that Rachel Jeantel, the prosecution’s key witness during the 2013 trial, was both “an imposter and fake witness.” The suit also accuses Crump of defamation for remarks made in his recently published book, Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--Melania Trump is no damsel in distress; in fact, she’s a calculated genius (if her visa is to be believed) who plotted on the old orange man with the attractive bank account. But unless Scrooge McDuck sleeps with his money, Melania reportedly has no interest in laying next to his old wrinkly ass. (Photo above: MANDEL NGAN (Getty Images) 

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--Marking this year's International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, held for the last 40 years on Nov. 25, hundreds of thousands of women from Mexico to Sudan to France took to the streets to honor the roughly 90,000 women murdered each year by men, and to demand the end of rape and all forms of domestic abuse. According to the World Health Organization, one in three women worldwide will endure physical or sexual violence in her lifetime, with the UN deeming that violence one of the "most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today."

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING-Calls for Republican Rep. Devin Nunes to resign spread rapidly on social media Friday night following reports that Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, is willing to testify to House impeachment investigators that Nunes met with a former Ukrainian prosecutor in an effort to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--The one thing never to forget about global warming is that it’s a timed test.

It’s ignoble and dangerous to delay progress on any important issue, of course – if, in 2020, America continues to ignore the healthcare needs of many of its citizens, those people will sicken, die, go bankrupt. The damage will be very real. But that damage won’t make it harder, come 2021 or 2025 or 2030, to do the right thing about healthcare.