Gilead
Competitive authoritarian regime project
Fig. 1. President Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Clarence Mitchell during signing ceremony of the voting rights act. Yoichi Okamoto, August 6, 1965, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
The ‘independent state legislature’ seeks to remove the jurisdiction of state courts on state legislative attempts to regulate elections, including gerrymandering. Three U.S. Supreme Court justices seem to be on board with the idea, the usual suspect three ‘liberals’ are opposed, and three others seem to want to allow jurisdiction for state supreme courts.[1]
Debra Cassens Weiss, “3 conservative SCOTUS justices appear to seek middle ground on ‘independent state legislature’ theory,” American Bar Association Journal, December 7, 2022, https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/3-conservative-scotus-justices-appear-to-seek-middle-ground-on-independent-state-legislature-theory
Donald Trump
There is a new blog post entitled, “Revisiting Philip Slater’s Chrysalis Effect in the post-Donald Trump era.”
Finances
Fig. 1. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell, “Trump Organization found guilty on all counts of criminal tax fraud,” CNN, December 6, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/06/politics/trump-organization-fraud-trial-verdict/index.html
Greg Walters, “Trump’s Criminal Nightmare Officially Begins,” Vice, December 7, 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3pjpj/trump-organization-convicted-tax-fraud-case-criminal-nightmare-begins
Coup attempt
Fig. 1. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Tierney Sneed, “Appeals court halts special master review of documents seized at Mar-a-Lago in major defeat for Trump,” CNN, December 1, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/01/politics/mar-a-lago-special-master/index.html
Kristen Holmes, “Trump expresses support for Capitol rioters as he continues to embrace extremist groups,” CNN, December 2, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/02/politics/donald-trump-january-6-rioters-support/index.html
Bess Levin, “Donald Trump, Running for President in 2024, Defends Violent Mob That Broke Into the Capitol Over His 2020 Loss,” Vanity Fair, December 2, 2022, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/12/donald-trump-defends-january-6-rioters
Karoun Demirjian and Toluse Olorunnipa, “White House rebukes Trump’s suggestion to suspend Constitution over 2020 election,” Washington Post, December 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/03/trump-constitution-truth-social/
Kristen Holmes, “Trump calls for the termination of the Constitution in Truth Social post,” CNN, December 4, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/03/politics/trump-constitution-truth-social/index.html
Ruth Marcus, “Trump’s call for suspending the Constitution is too dangerous to ignore,” Washington Post, December 4, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/04/ruth-marcus-donald-trump-latest-outrage-is-too-dangerous-ignore/
Martin Pengelly, “Biden rebukes Trump for saying constitution should be ‘terminated’” Guardian, December 4, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/04/biden-trump-us-constitution-terminated-election-fraud
Amy B. Wang, “GOP lawmakers largely silent after Trump suggests ‘termination’ of Constitution,” Washington Post, December 4, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/04/trump-constitution-republicans/
Caleb Ecarma, “Republicans Apparently Have No Red Line With Trump—Not Even His Desire to Terminate the Constitution,” Vanity Fair, December 5, 2022, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/12/republicans-trump-terminate-constitution
Jeremy Roebuck, “Rudy Giuliani doubles down on false Pennsylvania election fraud claims in disciplinary hearing,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 5, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/news/rudy-giuliani-dc-disciplinary-board-hearing-bar-pennsylvania-election-20221205.html
Aaron Blake, “4 takeaways from the Georgia Senate runoff,” Washington Post, December 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/06/takeaways-georgia-runoff-2022-warnock-walker/
Sara Murray, Annie Grayer, and Zachary Cohen, “House January 6 committee has decided to make criminal referrals, chairman says,” CNN, December 6, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/06/politics/january-6-committee-criminal-referrrals/index.html
Jenny Jarvie, “Warnock defeats Walker in Georgia runoff, giving Democrats a 51-seat Senate majority,” Los Angeles Times, December 6, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-12-06/sen-raphael-warnock-defeats-herschel-walker-in-georgia-senate-runoff
David Von Drehle, “The tragedy of Herschel Walker,” Washington Post, December 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/06/herschel-walker-reputation-georgia-football-politics-senate-trump/
Jacqueline Alemany et al., “Items with classified markings found at Trump storage unit in Florida,” Washington Post, December 7, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/07/trump-tower-bedminster-records-search/
Lloyd Green, “Georgia’s runoff was a resounding rebuke of Trumpism. Will Republicans hear it?” Guardian, December 7, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/07/georgias-runoff-was-a-resounding-rebuke-of-trumpism-will-republicans-hear-it
Greg Walters, “Trump’s Criminal Nightmare Officially Begins,” Vice, December 7, 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3pjpj/trump-organization-convicted-tax-fraud-case-criminal-nightmare-begins
Ukraine
Fig. 1. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[2] fair use.
Peter Stone, “Top US conservatives pushing Russia’s spin on Ukraine war, experts say,” Guardian, December 6, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/06/us-conservatives-pushing-russian-spin-ukraine-war
Isabelle Khurshudyan, “On east front with Ukrainian troops: Constant shelling, no heat or coffee,” Washington Post, December 7, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/07/kremmina-luhansk-eastern-front-ukraine/
Andrew Roth, “Vladimir Putin says Russia’s war in Ukraine could be ‘long-term process,’” Guardian, December 7, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/07/vladimir-putin-says-russias-war-on-ukraine-could-be-long-term-process
Illiberalism
Fig. 1. Photograph by Joachim F. Thurn, August 1991, Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F089030-0003, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE.
If I understand correctly, the plot in Germany meant to restore the ‘legitimacy’ of the Nazi regime that was defeated in World War II with some cooperation from Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The latter denies involvement. It’s all weird with a prince from an old German monarchy was among the ringleaders. The prospects for success of the plot are unclear.[3]
Kate Connolly and Philip Oltermann, “German police raids target group accused of far-right plot to overthrow state,” Guardian, December 7, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/07/german-police-raids-target-far-right-reich-citizens-movement
Alice Speri, “‘We’re Coming for You’: Italy’s Neofascists Target Journalists as They Assume Power,” Intercept, December 7, 2022, https://theintercept.com/2022/12/07/italy-giorgia-meloni-journalists/
- [1]Debra Cassens Weiss, “3 conservative SCOTUS justices appear to seek middle ground on ‘independent state legislature’ theory,” American Bar Association Journal, December 7, 2022, https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/3-conservative-scotus-justices-appear-to-seek-middle-ground-on-independent-state-legislature-theory↩
- [2]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩
- [3]Kate Connolly and Philip Oltermann, “German police raids target group accused of far-right plot to overthrow state,” Guardian, December 7, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/07/german-police-raids-target-far-right-reich-citizens-movement↩