Tomorrow could be the biggest day of mass protest America has ever experienced. The "No Kings" rallies planned for Saturday could, collectively, add up to more than the five million who turned out earlier this year for the same reason: to protest that America was founded on the idea that we do not want to be ruled by a king who holds himself above the law, but instead by laws that all people -- even the country's highest leaders -- have to follow. That's a pretty basic premise, really. And the organizers of the rallies have reportedly gotten a much larger signup than occurred at their earlier rally, so the signs are pointing to tomorrow breaking records as well. There will be over 2,500 locations of these rallies across all 50 states, so go to their site and check out where the closest one to you is!

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On the National Mall, with the United States Capitol as a backdrop, democracy is dying. Or... well... melting, to be more pedantic and less poetic. A brilliant art installation funded by Ben Cohen (of "Ben and Jerry's" fame) was erected this morning and unveiled at noon, consisting of an ice sculpture spelling out "DEMOCRACY" in capital letters five feet high. They lucked out on the day chosen, since it is reportedly a sunny 70 degrees in Washington today, which means the sculpture is not going to last very much longer (there's a live feed of it available, which at roughly 5:00 P.M. Washington time had been reduced to the "D", the first "C", and the "Y", with a portion of the second "C" and nubs of a few other letters still hanging on). The message is as simple as it is brilliant: Democracy is melting away before our very eyes. Or, to rework the now-laughable banner slogan of the once-vaunted Washington Post: "DEMOCRACY" dies in broad daylight.

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The United States of America now seems to have officially become a banana republic. That's really the only conclusion one can draw, after the events of the past week (and the past eight months, for good measure).

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Last night, Jimmy Kimmel returned to the airwaves. Well, most of them, at any rate. Two corporate conglomerates of ABC affiliates refused to air the show, but with modern technology available, everyone can now watch his opening monologue even if you live in a television market where his show was pre-empted.

The official YouTube video of the opening of Jimmy Kimmel Live! has (as of this writing) 15.7 million views. If you haven't seen it yet, it is well worth watching. In fact, today we are pre-empting our own political column to present a full transcript of what Jimmy had to say last night in his opening monologue, because it is an important statement on free speech that stands on its own, and one that everyone who cares about free speech should either read or watch.

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Disney, in the end, did the right thing. That's the big news today. And it is a clear victory for free speech.

Last week, Disney abruptly yanked Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show off the airwaves, after being pressured to do so (for purely political reasons) by the head of the Federal Communications Commission. Today, Disney apparently saw the error of their ways and announced that Kimmel will return tomorrow night.

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[Program Note: Once again, we are pre-empting the entire format of this column due to the seriousness of the situation America now finds itself in. Most weeks, we strive to rise above the firehose of distractions from Donald Trump and his administration, to focus instead on things which truly matter -- which, this week, include Trump once again rolling over for Vladimir Putin while he invades another NATO country's airspace, as well as Trump blowing up boats in international waters just because he feels like it. But this week the distraction truly was what really mattered. Because this week we had a direct assault on the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press in a way not seen since Joe McCarthy trod the halls of the U.S. Capitol. So we had to write an extended rant instead of our usual column, just to warn everyone in advance.]

Our subtitle this week is meant to honor the passing of Rick Davies, one of the founding members of the musical group Supertramp, who passed away less than two weeks ago. In one of their biggest hits ("The Logical Song"), one lyric seems to sum up where we now stand as a nation:

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[Donald Trump today, while speaking on an unrelated subject:]

You know, I'm going to see Putin. I'm going to Russia on Friday.

[Friday, dateline Alaska. Donald Trump emerges from his meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin and takes the podium:]

I am pleased to announce that President Putin and I have made a deal. Part of it covers Ukraine, which I will get to in a little bit. But here's the big news -- I have agreed to sell back to Russia all of the state of Alaska above the Arctic Circle. Not a lot of people know this, but Russia actually owned all of Alaska a while ago. That's right! The land we're standing on right now was actually part of Russia -- who knew?

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Happy Second of July, everyone! Happy Independence Day!

Now, you may be thinking: "Has Chris gone bonkers? Why is he jumping the gun, two days early?" The answers to these important queries are: No, Chris has not gone any more bonkers than usual; and, in fact, the rest of you are celebrating a fictitious event on a fictitious anniversary date. So there.

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It is rare enough, these days, to find a story that everyone should be able to agree with and support, especially when it comes to federal court decisions and constitutional law. But today we actually have one, so we're going to ignore the frenzy of wheeling and dealing currently happening within the Republican Party over their Medicaid-gutting new budget bill and instead focus on a story it's almost impossible not to smile about.

The facts of the case come from a small town, where for some reason the town's "municipal code enforcement officer" decided to become an art critic, as it were. The town -- Conway, New Hampshire -- which assumably is run by either petty tyrants or just garden-variety curmudgeons, demanded a local business remove a bright and cheerful mural that had just been painted by local high school students. The business fought back, and a judge just agreed with the owner and told the town to knock it off and chill out (I am paraphrasing the legal language used, I admit...).

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Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!

First, let's just quickly check the weather report from the Emerald Isle, shall we?

(Heh.)

But surprisingly enough, the country that caught my eye this particular Paddy's Day wasn't Ye Ould Sod, but instead our neighbor to the north. And it wasn't the fine stout product from Sir Arthur Guinness that intrigued my beer-loving sensibilities this year, but instead... Moosehead?

That's right. Moosehead beer (lager, actually, if you want to be pedantic). From Canada.

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