Coup d’etat is a “sudden, usu. violent, government takeover.” [FN1] One might argue that other countries, and only shithole [FN2] countries at that, endure such events. To call what has unfolded over the past several years in the USA a “coup” might be difficult, but 1/10

only if one insists a takeover be “sudden.” Violence is here. Free speech? One late-night comedy host too-many has been fired. This not only is a warning, but a test. What is reality? Jimmy Kimmel was not fired for…

   The Declaration of Independence says all are created equal and are endowed with certain unalienable rights that include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

   The right to freedom of speech, particularly political speech, is amongst those most protected of our rights. The Declaration does not distinguish between nationalities.

   We need not delve into rights of people here legally yet without status as citizens and the rights of those here illegally to resolve the issue…

  On this 43rd anniversary of the Watergate break-in, I thought of politics and irony.

   President Nixon was on his way to a landslide re-election victory in 1972, in part because of such tactics as exemplified by the Watergate fiasco, but also because Nixon had made a lot of what today would be called progressive moves (like creating the EPA) although simultaneously prolonging direct United States military involvement in Vietnam so he could make a grandstand peace deal as the 1972…

   U.S. Representative Jack Kingston, a Republican from Georgia, has said children from families in poverty, who qualify for free lunches at school, should be forced to work for those meals. He suggested the children sweep the cafeteria floor to understand what it means to work. He said children should learn there is no such thing as "a free lunch." State Senator Stacey Campfield of Tennessee has introduced legislation in the Volunteer State that would cut State welfare benefits to parents…

   Candidates ran for office. They promised a certain approach to govern, amongst the most important  that the government would not be a theocracy and everyone would be considered equal. 2012 elections were won by a candidate for president whom people trusted to keep his word. Immediately he backtracked. He assumed "near-dictatorial power to enact a hastily written constitution---one that, Islamists crowed, lacked many basic right."  TribLive, 6/29/13. People, angry over this turn of events…

   John Adams wrote that July 2 would go down in history as the day this country declared its independence from England. A different date appears on the formal document that memorializes the "birth" of this country. Of course, there are other minor errors in modern knowledge about the initial events that gave start to what became the United States of America. Our country was born in irony or paradox, but perhaps hypocrisy would be as good an adjective.

   All men are created equal and…

   Today, May 25, at 11 a.m., we shall stream "live" from Good Earth, located on Guilford just north of the Rainbow Bridge in what is, for now, beautiful Broad Ripple Village. The focus of our conversation with guest panelists Matt Stone ("Indy Student" blog), Len Farber ("Indy Vanguard"), Rudy the manage of Good Earth, and a couple of the folks who attended Thursday evening's Broad Ripple Village Association ("BRVA") meeting will be the proposed construction of an architectural monstrosity…

   A phrase can be used by political cheerleaders. We are "The Land of the Free"! Alternate that with a chant of "U--S--A!" and see how many people stand up to question the validity of the former.

   1) Prisons. We have 25% of the world's inmate population, but only five percent of the World's total population. The War on Drugs---a "war" that has cost tens of billions of dollars, ruined many lives with felony convictions, and resulted in a loss on that weird battlefield---has engorged…

   Unlike Charles Foster Kane, I did not sit down one night and write a "Declaration of Principles." The Show only has two rules: (1) Don’t wears stripes and (2) Don’t talk at the same time as someone else. There are goals for what we do, although those goals never have been stated specifically as such. We seek to inform and educate—ourselves and guests as well as our audience. We seek to address topics of interest in ways and from perspectives people might not have encountered. We try to…