alanjjohnstone
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Not as nuanced or as intricate explanations as those offered here but here is something
https://www.worldsocialism.org/wsm/2020/10/13/religion-thy-name-is-superstition/
Interesting but in the end i think it will be all an anti-climax.
Biden will win both the popular vote and the Electoral College with a comfortable margin that won’t be disputable.
Trump will retire to a golf-course to write his guaranteed to be lucrative revisionist history of his presidential term, describing how the “deep state” conspired against him, reinforcing the resurrection of a tea-party movement that has been reinforced by the armed militias. Maybe a few acts of lone-wolf domestic terrorism.
And he’ll need the cash because perhaps he will also be engaged in a series of legal cases draining his over-estimated wealth. Biden won’t be interested in polarising the moderate Republicans with an anti-Trump witchhunt
I think he will try to set up his dynasty to challenge in 2024.
But as others will confirm, LT, my predictive powers are rather unreliable. I always believe the British entry to the Eurovision Song Contest is the best and sure to win. I also was certain that Scotland would win the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.
Wolff and the fascist threat as he talks about feudalism
https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/how-fascism-converged-with-capitalism-to-redefine-government/
‘…In decentralized feudalisms, lords wielded state-type powers alongside their economic positions directing production by their subordinated serfs. Eventually, when pandemics, long-distance trade, serf revolts, or divisive warfare among lords (as dramatized in Shakespeare’s plays) threatened feudalism, a centralized state arose from among contending lords. That state—a supreme lord or king—shared social power with the hierarchy of what we might call “private” lords to reproduce feudalism. In medieval Europe, strengthened feudal states evolved into absolute monarchies. Those were tight alliances between kings and hierarchies of lords within boundaries defining different nations. Those tight alliances deployed violence against serfs, serfs’ revolts, rebellious lords, external threats, and one another…’
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/oct/14/joe-biden-win-us-stock-investment-patterns
According to online bookmakers, the chances of a Biden victory have improved since the beginning of the year, and have increased from 65.8% to 69.2% two weeks on from the first presidential debate. Trump’s chances of winning have decreased from 34.8% to 32.3% over the same two-week period.
On Monday, Betfair said: “A huge shift in the US election betting on the exchange over the weekend means Joe Biden is now rated twice as likely as Donald Trump to win.”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/oct/14/joe-biden-win-us-stock-investment-patterns
As the odds of Biden victory have shortened, investors appear to have become less fearful of a Democrats-controlled government pushing through corporate tax increases and increased spending, and more focused on the likelihood of a generous, post-election fiscal stimulus package.
Increasing expectations of a Democratic party victory in the race for the White House and on Capitol Hill appear to be driving investors towards stocks that could benefit from the policies that could accompany a Biden administration, including generous government stimulus spending. Investors have also marched into stocks in renewables – which could boosted by the Democrats’ commitment to greener energy initiatives.
14 million Americans have already voted in the general election
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/14/us-election-record-turnout-early-voting
Rabies in India
India’s stray dog population has grown. It is estimated to be between 35–40 million.
I have direct experience of the issue. Friends ran a dog rescue charity which did vaccinate and sterilise the local beach dogs. It was successful compared to the government projects of killing them.
If you kill dogs, you create vacant territory for others to move into. If you sterilise, they become healthier and drive out the weaker dogs who are more susceptible to disease and the population stabilses and eventually goes down.
The Market has spoken
BP’s share price has tumbled to a 25-year-low as investor jitters over the company’s ambitious transformation plans collide with fears for the future of the global oil market. The company is now worth less than half its £5-a-share value at the start of the year
Re-Wilding
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/14/re-wild-to-mitigate-the-climate-crisis-urge-leading-scientists
<p class=”css-38z03z”>Restoring natural landscapes damaged by human exploitation can be one of the most effective and cheapest ways to combat the climate crisis while also boosting dwindling wildlife populations, a scientific study finds.</p>
<p class=”css-38z03z”>If a third of the planet’s most degraded areas were restored, and protection was thrown around areas still in good condition, that would store carbon equating to half of all human caused greenhouse gas emissions since the industrial revolution.</p>
“If restoration is not properly planned it could lead to a risk to agriculture and the food sector, but if done properly it can increase agricultural productivity. We can produce enough food for the world and restore 55% of our current farmland, with sustainable intensification of farming.”All we are doing is playing a pub thought game, speculating about future possible scenarios.
The president cannot call out the National Guard. That is the prerogative of a state governor. Recall that Trump in Oregon had to deploy federal law enforcement, that is, units of ICE, the border immigration control and they are not in sufficient numbers – nationwide. Senior officers in the actual military have already publicly signalled that in a constitutional dispute it would stay on the side-lines and not intervene. I have no doubt some police departments and various state-troopers may be sympathetic to a possible Trump coup.
I actually think all talk of a coup is Democrat scare-mongering. It is an example of what Malcom X said…liberals need to create the fear of a wolf so that the fox can succeed.
More worrisome is what i said elsewhere…a defeated Trump will run the country into the ground in the 2-3 month transfer period but the Democratic Party are already complicit in that strategy.
A stimulus package is vital but Pelosi is refusing to compromise to stop any campaign credit going to Trump. When he is defeated on November 3, Trump has no incentive whatsoever to bail out working people with pay and rent. And it will be almost February, three long Winter months, before Biden can even start his policy.
That may well be the most likely source of the spark of unrest and discontent, not a coup.
Feeding chickens live insects has also been found to have a positive effect on the birds’ immune systems – the Mears haven’t used antibiotics on their farm this year – offering the potential to reduce antibiotic use, which continues to rise in the poultry sector.
Thanks for the info
This explains it further
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43823.pdf
Since the project begun in 2006 as you say 15 states and the District of
Columbia, controlling 196 electoral votes, have joined. Can Republican controlled states be persuaded to join? Will the opponents succeed in reversing the decision of those who have signed up?Obviously not read it but this new book seems to make an interesting point.
Psychology professor Bob Altemeyer and former Nixon White House lawyer John Dean write in their new book, ‘Authoritarian Nightmare,’ that “Even if Donald Trump disappeared tomorrow the millions of people who made him president would be ready to make someone else similar president instead.”
They explain that many Trump supporters]are submissive, fearful, and longing for a mighty leader who will protect them from life’s threats …They divide the world into friend and foe, with the latter greatly outnumbering the former.”
https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/submissive-fearful-and-l/
(original story behind Washington Post’s paywall)Reminds me of Wilhelm’s Reich “Listen Little Man”
With all this vote Biden the lesser evil from the Left, what is always missing is just why Trump got such a solid support in the first place that has remained fairly steady and how Biden is going to offer solutions to them to placate their anger at the system.
