POLITICS. Just got a new book about gaslighting, or claiming something obviously wrong to wind up a political opponent or to just confuse the situation.
Maryland's turn! Go VOTE! And if you are wondering what to do for Baltimore city, here's some handy stats to help you decide. Let's not disrupt progress!
https://www.europesays.com/1214655/ “If you don’t like paying taxes, make billionaires pay their fair share and you would never have to pay taxes again.” —Warren Buffett #Economy
Bertrand Russell's last message (before his death in 1970) on Israel, the displaced people of Palestine and the subsequent occupation of what remains of their lands.
@professorhank I totally get it and have considered moving out of Florida back to the northeast because of how toxic the politics and government policies have become down here. But I do worry that it basically cedes huge states to Republicans as they get redder and redder thus further locking in their over-representation in the Electoral College, Senate, and US House (the latter less so).
I hear you. There is a huge misalignment of private and social incentives. Rather than moving away from the red areas, we would be better off if people from dense blue pockets moved in large numbers to red and battleground states to make use of the large lead in popular vote.
That said, it's hard to imagine individuals choosing to do so as they would bear the costs and, unless done by many, may have little benefit.
Is that even legal? It's one (crooked) thing to accept their money and generally act in their best interest. But overtly making an offer to do something specific in exchange for something specific for the financial betterment of both parties ... it's just good ol' fashioned corruption 🤔
As Martin Wolf argues in the FT today, the good news is that life expectancy continues to climb (albeit with occasional blips, like the one the UK is currently working through), but the bad news is we haven't reconfigured our social mores & practices to recognise this demographic change.
Improvements in longevity are unevenly distributed but the key to making this work for everyone is better public health provision & clearer notions of lifetime learning & supporting career change(s).
I realise Rishi Sunak, with his financial services background is used to adding to any claim that 'past performance is no guarantee of future results' (usually deployed about investments), but he now seems to be turning this into the Tories key electoral message as he promises 'bold idea' to change British society for the better....
Does he really think we can just forget a decade & half of Tory chaos, mismanagement, mendacity & corruption?
Surely its time for Reform UK to be forced to rename itself 'The Party of Richard Tice' given his role in bank-rolling it.... and of course as you would expect Nigel Farage is not using his won money to pay the party's expenses.
[Oddly (?) I'm reminded of Richard Branson's business model across his Virgin conglomerate.]
If, as many suggest, rich people's contributions to political parties should be tightly constrained by law, that would be then of Reform!
@ChrisMayLA6 hey, not so fast. The money Tice is spending on election fees and printing is a public finance stimulus! And probably a more socially useful destination for his cash than sitting in the Virgin Islands.
@professorhank I was wondering if any of these people ever consumed enough Ivermectin during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic to cause bowel incontinence, a known side-effect. Are they just outing themselves now? Or are they truly this far gone?