Democracy gone Astray: Friday, September 29, 2023

Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.

This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, September 29, 2023

Trump confirms he will skip Republican primary debate

Donald Trump has confirmed that he will not attend the first Republican primary debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday, in a post on Truth Social, as he weighs several options for counter programming in an attempt to upstage the opening event in the party’s nominating contest.

The former president confirmed on his social media platform that he would be attending no primary debates. “New CBS poll, just out, has me leading the field by ‘legendary’ numbers… I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES.”

China’s top diplomat has said that a Chinese-mediated detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia was driving a “wave of reconciliation” in the Middle East and pledged to firmly support Tehran on “issues concerning core interests”.

Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, made the comments during a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Sunday, according to China’s Xinhua news agency.

Wang told Amir-Abdollahian that Beijing appreciated Iran’s recent steps to improve ties with Saudi Arabia, including his meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah.

The village of Shevchenkove wants its villagers back. There is one significant problem: very many of its buildings do not have windows.

From the early days of the war, up until November last year when the Russian forces were pushed over to the other side of the Dnipro River, Shevchenkove and its surrounding hamlets in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson were on the frontline.

A dispute over an LGBTQ Pride flag at a California clothing store spiralled into deadly violence this weekend when a man shot and killed the 66-year-old business owner right in front of her shop, authorities said.

The man ran away from the store after the shooting Friday night but was later found and killed in a confrontation with officers from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

Donald Trump has confirmed that he will not take part in the upcoming Republican presidential debate with his rivals in the race for the White House.

The ex-president said one latest poll showed he had "legendary" numbers ahead of other hopefuls to be the party's nominee for the 2024 election.

It is not immediately clear if Mr Trump will be skipping all the debates for the Republican primaries.

The latest Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank last month has been described as a “massacre” by local officials and residents and condemned by the United Nations, but it is far from unique in scope and brutality.

In a statement published on Saturday to mark World Humanitarian Day, UN humanitarian coordinator Lynn Hastings said 77 healthcare workers were injured and 30 ambulances damaged while trying to help people in the occupied territory so far in 2023, whether during raids or protests or just on average days.

If 2024 Republican presidential hopeful and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is trying to woo Donald Trump’s base, he’s taking a strange approach.

DeSantis harped about the former president’s hold on the Republican Party during a sit-down interview with The Florida Standard, calling Trump followers “listless vessels” in a video published by the conservative outlet on Saturday.

“You could be the most conservative person since sliced bread. Unless you’re kissing his rear end, they will somehow call you a RINO,” he said, challenging those who call conservative Trump critics “Republicans in name only.”

Former presidential advisor Stephen Miller declared “lawfare” on President Joe Biden and the Democrats while addressing Donald Trump’s multiple criminal indictments this weekend.

Miller appeared ostentatiously angry during an appearance on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures, where he ranted about “thought crimes” and political persecution before calling on Republicans to draft criminal referrals for President Biden and his associates.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has a new title: “most normal” candidate in the GOP primary, according to fellow Gov. Tim Walz.

Not that Walz, a Democrat, thinks much of the field.

“I do believe that Doug is probably the most normal of these — that’s a pretty weird group of folks going to be on the debate stage,” the Minnesota governor said Sunday during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Democracy gone Astray