Fifth Ocean, 42nd Day of Childwinter, 525 M.E. (Helios): I think most people, or at least most thinking people, recognize that we are now in nothing short of a coup here in America. The president is shutting down and dismantling the various branches and bureaucracies of government, taking power and authority away from both chambers of Congress, the Department of Justice, and the judiciary. He's demanding full authority and allowing no checks and balances, accountable to no one. The simple word for this state of affairs is dictatorship, but you can also call it oligarchy, authoritarianism, or even fascism.

I never thought I'd live to see the day that fascism became the American form of government, but here we are.

I'm not a reporter of a journalist and there are others covering the current state of affairs much better than I can. I recommend reading Rebecca Solnit or Heather Cox Richardson, both of whom I've quoted quite liberally here in recent months, for a more detailed and cogent day-by-day dissection of what's happening. These are the times and this is the record of the times, and clearly my previous decision to talk only about the environmental issues (climate change, pollution, regulatory enforcement) is woefully insufficient to address the scope of the threat we're facing. 

A sick, profoundly stupid, and greedy narcissist has taken over the country and is ruining it with astonishing speed. Oligarchical wannabes and sycophants are empowering him and lining up to grab pieces and crumbs of the empire as he tears it apart. If he doesn't drag us into a thermonuclear Third World War first, climate change, dead oceans, and pollution will probably kill us all first. 

My only selfish solace is that I'm so old I'll probably be dead anyway before the worst of it happens, but I'm profoundly unhappy with this country and full of anger. 

How's your day going?