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Rolla Peace News October 20, 2020 |
Dear Friends:Editor's note: Today we have an extremely interesting op-ed by Muhammad Usman Khan on how this November's elections in the United States may affect Democracy throughout the World. Dr. Khan holds a Ph.D. degree in Mining Engineering from Missouri S&T. Many thanks, Dr. Khan, for this very informative article.In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2020 2. FORE & AFTER SHOCKS OF US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: DEMOCRACY AT STAKE? 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Comment on Fore & After Shocks b) King Donald and the Viral Waves (Cartoon) c) Climate Catastrophe Updated d) Unexpected Rise in Deep-Sea Temperatures e) How to Keep COVID-19 from Spreading f) What's Wrong with the Democrats? — A Very Insightful Article by a Young Intern 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2020 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office, THIS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM (and most subsequent Thursdays until Peace is established). Please join us again this Thursday in saying NO WAR AGAINST IRAN or any other country. The temperature is predicted to be around 80. If you do not feel comfortable standing with us in front of the Post Office, please consider driving by and showing your support for our message by honking your horn and flashing a peace sign. Note: Since there are so few of us, generally 2 or 3, no need to cancel; but let's maintain social distancing. 2. FORE & AFTER SHOCKS OF US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: DEMOCRACY AT STAKE? by Dr. Muhammad Usman Khan Trump has always been an unconventional politician. He does not seem to have much respect either for democracy or for democratic principles. On one side, he openly praises Mr. Putin, Kim Jong-un, Xi Jinping, and many other leaders of authoritarian regimes. On the other hand, he has criticized and mocked several democratically elected heads of state, including Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, and has even disrespected Sadiq Khan the first elected Muslim mayor of London. In-fact, Trump has never bothered to promote democratic principles. He has repeatedly targeted the media and labeled it as “Fake News”. The operating way of Trump is quite simple, “either he is right, or you are wrong”. Trump’s presidency has always been a one-man show, He would fire anyone who may dare to do his job impartially. Election 2020 is going to be a huge test for the US Constitution, its democracy, and existing norms of rule. This test will be even more challenging, if Biden appears to win. If Trump may appear to lose in the 2020 presidential race, there will be two critical phases: First is the acceptance of election results by Trump, and the second is the transfer of power to Biden. Trump seems reluctant to announce categorically that he will accept the election results if he loses. Trump, other GOP officials, his aids, and renowned Republican supporters are repeatedly raising questions on the pre-balloting/early voting, showing their distrust in the election process. These are the deliberate tactics adopted by Trump and his allies, and he will not show any reluctance in maligning the election in case Biden may appear to win in key battle grounds. In this regard, Florida may be the most critical state in the 2020 US presidential election. Over the last four years, Trump has not followed any long-established norms of presidency. Trump’s unconventional attitude, ability to question well established governing principles, and reluctance to accept election defeat may end up taking US democracy under the deep sea. Another twist will be the role of the electoral college, as factually, the people of the US do not directly elect the President, rather it is the electoral college which eventually elects the president of the US. Many in the US consider the electoral college a bias and unfair means designed to manipulate US elections. The presence of the electoral college has been widely questioned by many in the US. However, there has not been a single instance in history when electors may have directly manipulated the election result or have voted against the will of their state voters. It is worth mentioning that there is no clause in the US constitution which may bind these state electors to vote for the same candidate who has won in the general election. Despite the long-established norms and tendency of electors to vote in favor of the winning candidate, this time some electors may choose to act otherwise. Keeping in view the questions raised by the GOP and Trump on pre-balloting/early voting, any close contest in key states like Florida can make the election process look unworthy. Once the integrity of the election has been questioned or challenged, electors may take advantage of that chaos and end up voting against established norms. If any such thing may happen, it will eventually favor Trump. Although Biden and his Democratic Party will make a huge noise about it, they may not be able to challenge Trump, as he is the Big Bully in Power. People have started to raise such concerns on the national television and on other forms of media. However, no one knows the answer to this puzzle. Whatever the results of the 2020 US election may be, dark shadows are surrounding the US democracy and its future seems bleak. Many novice democracies in the world are helplessly looking at the US which once was the leading advocate of democracy and freedom of press. The 2020 presidential election will not only put the US democracy to the real test, but it may also shake the core concepts and evolution of modern democracy worldwide. Disclaimer: Information presented in this article is gathered from available online sources, news agencies etc. Comments and analysis presented in this article are purely the author’s views. This article is not intended to interfere, affect or manipulate the outcome of the 2020 US presidential election. Lastly, views expressed in this article are solely the author’s own personal views and do not reflect or represent the views of the author’s current or past affiliations, positions, employers or companies. 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Comment on Fore & After Shocks b) King Donald and the Viral Waves (Cartoon) c) Climate Catastrophe Updated d) Unexpected Rise in Deep-Sea Temperatures e) How to Keep COVID-19 from Spreading f) What's Wrong with the Democrats? — A Very Insightful Article by a Young Intern A Comment on Fore & After Shocks One of the many important points that Dr. Khan discusses in Fore & After Shocks is that the US presidential election will effect everyone, all over the world. Reading the US media and pronouncements by the political pundits, one would think that no one outside the United States has any Right to have a say in this election. According to this theory, the citizens of Fiji and the Marshall Islands have no Right to an influence in the US elections, in spite of the fact that due to greenhouse emissions from the United States (and other industrialized countries) their islands may soon be totally underwater. No one outside the United States has any Right to an influence in the US elections in spite of the fact that US Nuclear Weapons (and those of eight other nations) threaten every living being on the face of the Earth with annihilation. One can see this in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons which now has 84 signatories and 47 state parties, none of which possess nuclear weapons. None of the nine nuclear weapons states have shown any interest in this treaty, except to denigrate it or ignore it. (So let's hear a loud Hip, Hip, Hooray for Tuvalu, the most recent country to ratify The Treaty.) On a personal level, barely a day goes by when I don't receive multiple requests for donations to candidates for elective office as far away as Arizona and North Carolina. So why is it ok for me, a resident of Missouri, to influence an election in Arizona; but not ok for a Fiji Islander to influence the election for President of the United States? King Donald and the Viral Waves (Cartoon) I've posted a new cartoon on my website. Climate Catastrophe Updated I've posted the September update to Climate Catastrophe. In spite of a fall to -0.6 in the ONI index for July though September and the looming La Niña event which one might hope will bring about a fall in global surface temperatures, September 2020 was the warmest September on record. Unexpected Rise in Deep-Sea Temperatures Scientists at NOAA have found that the ocean depths are warming faster than expected. This is very scary, precisely because it was unexpected. Think about how large and deep our oceans are and how much heat is required to warm the depths even a few hundredths of a degree. Whether it's Arctic ice melting, forests burning, or deep-sea temperatures rising, it appears always to be the same story: Global Warming is progressing faster than expected. How to Keep COVID-19 from Spreading After discovering six cases of COVID-19 in Qingdao, a city of 9.4 million; China has tested ten million people in four days and found seven more cases. China appears to have contained the outbreak through mass testing and contact tracing. COVID-19 first made itself known in China and has since then become a global pandemic. As of today, China has experienced less than 86,000 confirmed cases and 4.6 thousand deaths. The United States, in which many consider the virus a “Chinese hoax,” has experienced over 8 million confirmed cases and over 200,000 deaths. (If you want to know why, see cartoon referenced above.) So wear a mask, avoid crowds, particularly indoors, and if you feel sick or have been exposed, get tested and, if possible, self-quarantine. What's Wrong with the Democrats? — A Very Insightful Article by a Young Intern Mariah Kreutter explains why Republicans almost always seem to win and Democrats almost always seem to lose. Kreutter compares senior Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein's treatment of Amy Coney Barrett with her treatment of pre-teen advocates of the Green New Deal — the deference shown to a powerful Republican Supreme Court Nominee with her vicious attack on under-age environmentalists. By 2016 the electorate was fed up with politics as usual and chose a maverick Republican over a Democratic insider. This year the choice seems to be a maverick Republican incumbent whose policies have failed miserably against another Democratic insider. I suspect the election could go either way. But, in my opinion, if the Democrats *really* wanted to win this November's election, they would have run Bernie Sanders — just like in 2016. Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesday evenings (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Grassroots Rolla: at the top of rightmost column). If you don't wish to get notices of peace events in the Rolla area, let me know and I'll take you off this list. If you want to be added to this list, let me know. Wage peace, Tom yushasager (at) yahoo.com |