The Books of Bokonon

It's not clear whether or not we will have a republic, known as the United States of America, for much longer. It's safe to say that Elon Musk, the billionaire overlord, is taking over more and more of the federal government with each passing day. Those government agencies only survive if people defend them. I think a lot of Democratic leaders and pundits, as well as Democratic or Democratic-leaning citizens were shell-shocked by the speed and ferocity with which the second Trump "presidency" (regime is a much more fitting descriptor). It's safe to say the shock has worn off and those who were stunned are now simply pissed off. The video you see is primarily directed at the closure of USAID. At the end, you see a number of Congressional representatives from the House and Senate enter the building housing USAID. It's not the only defense of our republic that I've seen, but it is noteworthy. I tend to be a bit jaded when it comes to actions that are more per...

Just four years ago, the US almost experienced a successful coup. That is not hyperbole. It happened. Any of us who were anywhere near a cell phone, computer, or TV would have seen coverage on Donald Trump's self-coup throughout the day, starting at the Ellipse with speeches by Trump and his henchmen that ginned up the crowd to the attack on the Capitol Building grounds. There were injuries and deaths as a result. Congress members' lives were in danger for several hours. The whole thing was so well-documented and footage would continue to stream long after the coup was finally put down. There was no love there. These were not tourists. Even if the insurrectionists don't want to be seen in this light, the reality is that they were terrorists and traitors.  Trump had telegraphed his self-coup well in advance, laying the groundwork in the early fall prior to the election in 2020. The many lawsuits and schemes for fake electors in swing states that went to Biden were part of th...

Like many of you in the US, I pretty much woke up to a developing news story that the South Korean President (Yoon) had declared martial law and was apparently in the midst of perpetrating his own autogolpe (a fancy name for a self-coup). I honestly don't know the intricacies of South Korean politics, so I'll leave all that for those who have legitimate expertise, but I get the impression that Yoon, who narrowly defeated an incumbent back in 2022 had become deeply unpopular and had led a scandal-plagued presidency. He also had to deal with a Parliament whose majorities were with the opposition, meaning he really was a lame duck. Thankfully for South Korea, Yoon apparently made a half-assed coup attempt that failed within a matter of hours. The members of the South Korean parliament got together, held a vote, and rejected Yoon's martial law declaration, which did force him to back down. What his future holds is hard to say. At minimum, I expect he will be impeached. I get th...

First, A Closer Look: Colbert weighs in:

Professor Allan Lichtman and his son, Sam, did a live stream this evening, focused mostly on Jack Smith's court filing yesterday. If you have an hour, it's worth your while to listen. As he sees it, what Judge Chutkan responds will be potentially huge, especially if she orders hearings. That's a distinct possibility.  If you want a sort of big picture analysis that places all of this in context, check it out.

This is the court filing that Donald Trump did not want made public. I've only had some time to check out the coverage of Jack Smith's filing earlier today, but what I've heard and read makes clear that there is damning evidence that Donald Trump bears responsibility for the January 6th insurrection that could have resulted in a coup, reinstalling Trump by fiat in the process. The reason we are even dealing with this is that Jack Smith, in his capacity as Special Prosecutor, had to demonstrate that the charges against Donald Trump were due to his actions as a candidate running for re-election, rather than in his official capacity as President. Today's filing is especially noteworthy given last night's VP debate, in which Trump's running mate, JD Vance, refused to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 election. Vance got to try his hand at gaslighting his audience last night ahead of a healthy reminder that Trump not only lost but that Trump tried to illegally ove...

One reason for threatening to pardon the criminals who were convicted for their role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election? Trump, as would-be dictator wants a paramilitary squad to terrorize us. The more goons out loose the better from his perspective, and likely the perspective of his followers. It's weird, un-American and anti-American, but this is what we deal with now when one of the major party candidates openly embraces fascism . They're not even hiding it at this point. Vote like your democracy depends on it, because it does.

If you had told me a couple decades ago that I would agree with anything Karl Rove said, I'd have seriously questioned your sanity. Yet here we are. This post by Digby is worth reading, and better yet, worth listening to Rove himself. The insurrectionists were thugs. They deserve to do time - hard time. Granted, Rove helped create the monster that we are all facing now, but at least he has the self-awareness to understand.

As you probably already know, extreme-right-wing supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro held their own January 6th style coup attempt by storming the Congressional building, the Presidential Palace, and the Supreme Court. Much like our own experience with a self-coup roughly two years ago, Bolsonaro's failed. As of now, well over a thousand individuals have been arrested and are being held for questioning, and investigators are collecting forensic evidence at what is now a crime scene in the capital city of Brasilia.  Tom Sullivan at Hullabaloo has a fairly detailed run-down of what happened . One major concern is that the US, which once had a reputation of inspiring copycat attempts to create democracies is now gaining a reputation for copycat attempts to destroy democratic governments and institutions. We can thank Trump and the MAGA crowd for that. I am hoping that those responsible, including Bolsonaro, are brought swiftly to justice. If so, that would be an im...