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© Krànitz Roland/
Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020 |
STILL no president elect!
STILL an unbelievably close race!
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Even if Biden wins, the world will pay the price for the Democrats' failures
How could the electoral circumstances for the US Democrats have been more favourable? A quarter of a million Americans have died in a pandemic bungled by the incumbent president, and at least 6 million have consequently been driven into poverty. The coronavirus crisis is the devastating climax of a presidency defined by hundreds of scandals, many of which alone, in normal circumstances, could have destroyed the political career of whoever occupied the White House.
Despite having the active support of almost the entire US press, Joe Biden’s victory looks to be far narrower than predicted. During the Democratic primaries, Biden’s cheerleaders argued that his socialist challenger Bernie Sanders would repel Florida’s voters, and yet Donald Trump has triumphed in the sunshine state. They argued that his “unelectable” rival would risk the Senate and down-ballot races, yet the Republicans may retain control of the Senate, and Democrats are haemorrhaging seats in the House of Representatives.
The one thing the US
really needs to address – unwieldy as it might be – is the 40 to 50 percent of Americans who are
so disillusioned with their political, cultural, and social representation that they’d vote for a character like Trump. There is real pain “out there” in the democratic republic of the United States – no jobs or low paying jobs, no livable wage for too many people, no decent affordable medical care, substandard education, racism, sexism, elitism. This cries out for attention.
Alas, the American political system is broken, fundamental shared values are absent, and, in essence, “politics as usual” continues.
The whole world recognizes this. American leaders, however, do not recognize it and will not address it.
To the detriment of all sentient beings, these truths will be swept under the rug… the can kicked down the road … lip-service employed …
In 1992, third party presidential candidate
Ross Perot predicted “a giant sucking sound” as “production operations and factories packed up in the United States and moved to Mexico.”
Perot was correct.
That giant sucking sound is now a giant burp coming back up to discomfort us. Will we change track based on overwhelming in-your-face evidence?
Unfortunately, inertia predominates. Inerita: “a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged” or, more formally, “a property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external force.”
What kind of “external force” is the big question.
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Meantime, the US recorded 102,831 new cases of coronavirus, and saw 1,097 new Covid deaths. This, according to the
Johns Hopkins University tracker.
The New York Times reports that 23 states have recorded more cases in the past week than in any other seven-day stretch. And five states — Colorado, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota and Nebraska — all set new single-day case records yesterday. Deaths related to the coronavirus have increased 21 percent across the country in the last two weeks.
The Associated Press report that the surge was most pronounced in the Midwest and Southwest.
Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and New Mexico all reported record high hospitalizations this week. Nebraska’s largest hospitals started limiting elective surgeries and looked to bring in nurses from other states to cope with the surge. Hospital officials in Iowa and Missouri warned bed capacity could soon be overwhelmed.
The American Academy of Pediatrics also announced earlier this week that the number of US children contracting COVID-19 has soared to unprecedented levels. There were nearly 200,000 new cases during October.
If the current rate continues, by the middle of next week the US will have recorded over 10 million cases.
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No updates from The Lincoln Project as it regroups … Humor and satire have been a positive feature of the last four years of pain. Let's hope The Lincoln Project or similar group finds a niche for the next four years.
Healthy futures, anyone?
Enjoy Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Jacaranda trees, imported from Argentina in the 1880s, have taken to their new home in a big way. They're currently in blossom across the country.
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| Street view. |
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Aerial view - Pretoria.
Image credits: Facebook/Munro Boutique Hotel |
