Lexical Compendium

Short for Counter Intelligence Program, COINTELPRO was a series of covert operations conducted by the FBI from 1956 to 1971 (when it was exposed). Its primary goal was to disrupt, discredit, and neutralize civil rights organizations, political activists, and other groups deemed "subversive" by the government. Targets included Martin Luther King Jr., the Black Panther Party, and anti-Vietnam War protestors.

Though I had some knowledge of the illegal tactics used by the FBI during this era, I first came across the term COINTELPRO after listening to the second season of SNAFU with Ed Helms.

Broligarchy is a portmanteau of "bro" (slang for brother or close male friend) and "oligarchy" (a system where power rests with a small number of people).

After the inauguration of President Donald Trump in 2025, this term has been in the media a lot. The three richest men in the world, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos have seemingly moved into Trump's inner-circle (with Musk heading the "Department of Government Efficiency").

Interestingly, broligarchy doesn't seem to have been coined recently. The Urban Dictionary entry dates back to 2011.

Broligarchy was a 2024 American Dialect Society "Political Word of the Year."

Habeas corpus is a Latin phrase meaning "you shall have the body."

It is a legal principle that safeguards individual freedom by protecting against unlawful or indefinite imprisonment and it has its origins many hundreds of years ago in England. The Magna Carta in 1215 established that no one -- not even the king -- is above the law. In the 13th century and for the next few hundred years, common law court practices involved issuing writs to check unlawful imprisonment. These started with Habeas corpus ad subjiciendum, meaning you have the body to submit [before the court]. Over time, this evolved into a powerful legal tool, eventually codified in the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679.

In the U.S., the right to habeas corpus is enshrined in the Constitution (Article I, Section 9), which states that it may only be suspended "when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it." As it was centuries ago, it remains a key check on arbitrary power by government leaders. . I’ll be honest -- if you’d asked me to define habeas corpus or explain the Magna Carta, I probably would’ve stumbled through it. I knew the term appeared in the Constitution, but I couldn’t have told you exactly what it meant.

Then came the news cycle in late May 2025.

Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, bungled answers on Tuesday about habeas corpus, incorrectly asserting that the legal right of people to challenge their detention by the government was actually the president’s “constitutional right” to deport people.

-- Gold, Michael. "Noem Incorrectly Defines Habeas Corpus as the President’s Right to Deport People" The New York Times, 20 May 2025

Heather Cox Richardson also covered this in the 20 May 2025 Letters From an American.

I'm guessing I wasn’t the only one suddenly revisiting high school civics after that performance.

1. A period when normal government is suspended, especially between successive reigns or regimes.
2. An interval or pause between two periods of office or other things.

As in:

...the interregnum between the discovery of radioactivity and its detailed understanding.

or:

You are a weak monarch in a dangerous interregnum.

The latter comes from a line of dialog from the character Gerri in the television series "Succession"

Tribology is the scientific study of friction, lubrication, and wear between interacting surfaces in relative motion. It blends principles from mechanical engineering, materials science, chemistry, and physics.

The word was coined in 1966 by British mechanical engineer Peter Jost in a report to the UK government titled "Lubrication (Tribology) - A Report on the Present Position and Industry’s Needs". The word is formed from the Greek root tribos meaning rubbing.

During a trip with my brother, he told me about a tribological analysis his firm performed along with a write-up they published and this is how I was introduced to the term.

While looking up the origins of the word tribology, I thought it would fit perfect in an episode of Archer. The characters often use absurdly niche references followed by incredulity when nobody knows the reference.

[Scene: ISIS HQ hallway, someone slips slightly on a recently waxed floor]

Lana: Whoa -- can we not buff the floors like an Olympic luge track?

Archer: Who are you, Peter Jost?

Lana: Who?

Archer: Peter Jost? The father of tribology??

[Everyone stares blankly]

Archer (muttering): Seriously guys, read a book! Well, actually an obscure UK lubrication report from 1966.

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA, pronounced "eye-EE-puh") is a U.S. federal law enacted in 1977 that grants the President broad authority to regulate commerce and impose economic sanctions during a declared national emergency related to external threats.

IEEPA was signed into law by President Carter as a response to the Iran Hostage Crisis.

The act is frequently used to enforce sanctions against foreign governments, organizations, and individuals involved in terrorism, cyber threats, or other destabilizing activities.

In January 2025, President Trump used these powers to enact tariffs on Canada and Mexico using the external threat of illegal immigration and drug trade (specifically fentanyl).

Update: on 02 April 2025, President Trump declared another national emergency in order to use his IEEPA powers. This time the emergency was posed by the large and persistent trade deficit that is driven by the absence of reciprocity in our trade relationships and other harmful policies like currency manipulation and exorbitant value-added taxes (VAT) perpetuated by other countries. This emergency was used to implement broad and sweeping tariffs against most contries. (See White House "fact sheet")

Update: on 28 May 2025 judges ruled that Trump's usage of IEEPA exceeds what the Constitution permits. Obviously this will be appealed.