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It’s the electoral college, stupid This piece by an expert on the electoral college made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The US political system is just nuts enough right now for this to happen: Most of the concern over the independent presidential campaigns of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West and the No Labels party has focused on the risk that they could draw votes away from President Biden and throw the 2024 election to Donald Trump. That’s understandable, given what happened in 2000 and 2016. But there is another reason to fear these candidacies, and it’s right there in the Constitution: a contingent election decided by the House of Representatives, arguably the worst part of the Electoral College system. Ask people who don’t like the Electoral College — that’s roughly two-thirds of Americans — and they will point to its occasional habit of awarding the presidency to the candidate who comes in second in the popular vote. This fundamental violation of majority rule has happened five times — in 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000 and 2016.
They have no mechanism for fixing it as long as MAGA reigns Even if they finally manage to pick a speaker, they will find it impossible to govern. The inmates are running the asylum. Matt Ford at TNR: For three years in the thirteenth century, there was no pope. The cardinals who gathered in the small Italian town of Viterbo after Clement IV’s death in 1268 could not agree on a successor. A group of French cardinals hoped to elect one of their own to lead the church, while the others feared France’s influence in the Italian peninsula. A deadlock ensued, until the people of Viterbo locked the cardinals into a church, cut their rations, and removed its roof. Maybe someone should do that to the House of Representatives. The lower house of Congress is no closer to electing a new speaker since a renegade GOP faction ousted Kevin McCarthy earlier this month. If anything, it’s strayed even further away from that goal. Earlier this week, the House Republican caucus internally elected Majority Leader Steve Scalise as the party’s nominee for speaker. Then, unsurprisingly, everything fell apart.
A war with China may not be inevitable, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks observed recently, but it’s a genuine possibility and so this country must be prepared to fight and win. But victory in such a conflict will not, she suggested, come easily. China enjoys an advantage in certain measures of military power, including the number of ships, guns, and missiles it can deploy. While America’s equivalents may be more advanced and capable, they also cost far more to produce and so can only be procured in smaller numbers. To overcome such a dilemma in any future conflict, Hicks suggested, our costly crewed weapons systems must be accompanied by hordes of uncrewed autonomous ships, planes, and tanks. To ensure... Read more
Source: Swarms vs. Swarms appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
Sounds pretty good to me.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton, buoyed by the boost in polls he has received after spending weeks trashing the Voice, has told colleagues that he will look to win the next election with his signature policy, a return of the white... Read More ›
but…. Alexandra Petri’s latest: The word “But” has been stunned to find itself appearing in an increasing number of sentences that begin “The killing of children is never acceptable … ” After finding itself in yet another Instagram comment, preceded by the phrases “I am devastated to read about the loss of life” and “I deplore the killing of civilians, especially children,” the word “But” described itself as “horrified” to be included. Although it did not specify what sentiment came after it — possibilities included the phrases “should have had different parents,” and a reference to making omelets and breaking eggs — “But” took to social media to beseech other posters to avoid making this mistake.
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – October 15, 2023
by Tony Wikrent
Strategic Political Economy
US science agencies on track to hit 25-year funding low
[Nature, via Naked Capitalism 10-11-2023]
The Smart Corporate Tax Idea That Might Have Prevented the UAW Strike
Jessica Church, October 9, 2023 [washingtonmonthly]
Geoff Pryor on Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy towards Palestinians in Gaza Continue reading »
October 14, 2023 will be remembered by many as the day reconciliation died. The defeat of the referendum may not have surprised many of us, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. After all, we have become accustomed to disappointment. Nonetheless, it is a devastating and demoralising blow. We must take stock of this political disaster Continue reading »
I don’t think it’s too controversial or anti-American to suggest that our long-term strategic partner has been having a few issues lately. We may have grown used to people in the US shooting each other in large numbers, taking too many drugs, and generally over-indulging in self-destructive and planet destroying ways, but we still expected Continue reading »
In the 1970s a study was undertaken into aspects of management in the Department of Defence. When an honest, conscientious and mildly critical report was provided to the Department’s Secretary, Sir Arthur Tange, he scrawled “CRANSTON” on its front page and gave the relevant file a stiff security classification. “CRANSTON” was the name of a Continue reading »
Certainly, Dutton has demonstrated that disinformation, division and some outright lies can confuse and motivate large sections of the community. There is the whiff of a Pyrrhic victory in the Dutton and No wins on Saturday. Certainly, Dutton has demonstrated that disinformation, division and some outright lies can confuse and motivate large sections of the Continue reading »
Glyn Davis may have been ‘shocked’ by the Pezzullo revelations but, as several other observers have noted, many other people inside and outside the public service were not really surprised. Pezzullo has always been a divisive character with a management style that takes no prisoners. His has never been the collaborative leadership approach long espoused Continue reading »
‘Growth is one of the stupidest purposes ever invented by any culture. We’ve got to have an ‘enough’. Always ask growth of what, and why, and for whom, and who …
The post Humanity sits at a crossroads as politicians re-sell the politics of public austerity appeared first on The Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies.
We have “likely crossed a tipping point for Australia’s temperate broadleaf and mixed forests when a critical level of heat or drought triggers a massive, devastating event. … Climate change is driving a new era of ‘unnatural disasters’ – and as a country we are not prepared to cope.” – Australian Climate Council, 2021. September Continue reading »
In Australia, in the 25th year of the award of the Sydney Peace Prize, attention has at last been turned to a country, Iran, ruled by fear. The award-winning Iranian born British activist and actress Nazanin Boniadi will receive the 2023 Sydney Peace Prize ‘for drawing attention to human rights violations in Iran, for lending Continue reading »
It had so much promise … We thought that social media was going to be a great boon to civilization, opening up communication across the planet for the benefit of humans everywhere. Instead it’a become a dystopian nightmare. Look what’s happening in Israel and Gaza: A WhatsApp voice memo purporting to have insider information ricocheted across hundreds of group chats in Israel early on Monday. The Israeli army was planning for another “battle like we’ve never experienced before,” the anonymous woman said in Hebrew, warning that people should prepare to lose access to food, water and internet service for a week. Across the country, Israelis raced to the banks and to the grocery stores, anticipating another attack. But the message, the army clarified hours later on X, turned out to be a falsehood. One week into the war between Israel and Gaza, social media is inducing a fog of war surpassing previous clashes in the region — one that’s shaping how panicked citizens and a global public view the conflict. Social media has long played a critical role in battles in the area.
#WhoSpy is back with another image clue to what's to come with the BBC's Doctor Who - and we a quick theory about what it could mean.
In a deranged rant, Trump says Barr, Romney and Paul Ryan are conspiring with big donors and two GOP candidates running against him. He says they are disloyal losers with no talent and they “eat their young” by opposing him. He says “Republican Nation” must not listen to them. pic.twitter.com/zuDzMAbtDg — Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) October 14, 2023 He always says that he feels like he’s 35…
To the rude, inappropriate and manipulative Kat Abughazaleh of Media Matters is sick of being asked. Stop asking every Palestinian if they support Hamas: pic.twitter.com/3oFalcc1as — Kat Abu (@abughazalehkat) October 14, 2023 One of the most outrageous features of the public response to any mass terror attack is the assumption that everyone from the ethnic group of the terrorists is expected to publicly and immediately condemn the villains or be condemned themselves as a terrorist sympathizer. (Unless the perpetrator is a white American, naturally.) The premise behind the demand is assignation of mass guilt by association. Plus, the demand itself is annoyingly manipulative, and not just limited to (in this case) Palestinians. It kind of works like, “If you are outraged by this act of terror, if you are horrified and sickened, we, your neighbors (and political adversaries), demand you shout your outrage from the rooftops. We demand you feel the way we feel and express your feelings about the attack the way we do, now, performatively, publicly and loudly.
When sharing information online, please keep in mind that both Instagram and Facebook have policies suppressing information regarding the occupation of Palestine. For more on that…