on what a farce our electoral practice is. Dems fear third party challenge on their left, and the rise of Populism and the Republicans are terrified of minority votes all being counted. Our two party system stands as a perfect example of a closed loop system serving the elite while taking every opportunity to prevent the possibility of the United States becoming an actual functional democratic republic. They are unified in their terror of losing their power to the deplorable unwashed masses.

The 2020 election is sure to be an electoral shit show. On the bright side, it might become the turn where the masks and pretense fall away and the true depravity of this failing empire become evident and undeniable.

One can wish. (sigh)

Just watch a few minutes of the weather extremes around the worlds last month.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnC8yOJ7EbQ]

As the solar minimum deepens, all the electrical phenomena are increasing in amount and intensity, and we had another month of record amounts of water pouring down affecting millions and destroying crops around the world.

East Asia got the worst in July, extreme monsoon rain, and the consequential floods and landslides affected tens of millions, displaced thousands, and killed hundreds of people in China, Nepal, Bangladesh, and India.

China continues to battle the worst floods in decades as the water level of 433 rivers is above the flood control line, with 33 of them reaching record highs. Heavy rains have lashed 27 of the country's 31 provinces, affecting more than 37 million people and leaving 141 dead or missing so far.

South Korea continues to suffer its wettest monsoon in recent history, at least 15 people died and more than 1,500 have been evacuated. About 1,300 houses are reported to have been submerged or buried in landslides across the country, and 1,000 roads and bridges have been destroyed or damaged.

Heavy rain and floods continue to ravage Assam, India since May, affecting 2 to 3 million in 27 districts, claiming the lives of more than 100 people, and destroying crops. Over 2,400 villages submerged.

After two weeks of heavy rains, flash floods washed away houses, farms, roads, and electricity and water lines in Yemen. Thousands have been left homeless, and at least 14 have died.

Heavy rains and floods also affected parts of the US Midwest and Southeast, meanwhile, the tornado season has been prolonged another month, with cases of multiple tornadoes at the same time. Ontario, Alberta and Saskatoon, Canada, also experienced multiple tornadoes, something that is becoming more common, even in places where they are supposedly rare.

Snow continues with its off-season displays, 1 foot of snow and -7C degrees temperatures chilled Noway, and China got a fair share despite it being summer.

In the Southern hemisphere, the Andes recorded a historic record of 17 feet of snow; The Snowy Mountains in Australia reported 40 inches, and South Africa experienced a rare snowfall, something new to many locals.

Meteor fireballs gave us a very bright display this month, reminding us that we need to pay attention to the skies and "cosmic intentions".

At the same time, noctilucent clouds are becoming a common sight, perhaps indicating a more significant accumulation of charged particles in the upper atmosphere. As a reminder:

"The unbelievable amount of precipitation during the past months can be explained with the increasing amount of charged particles in the upper layers of the atmosphere.[...]

[...]Charged particles influence weather much more than has been appreciated. "

Extreme weather continues to impact food production all over the world, and we can expect an increase in food prices sooner than later.

As to voting, Greg offers the following advice....

Protect the health of your democracy during this epidemic of stupidity, meanness, and misinformation. Follow these simple instructions:

Don’t Just Pick and Lick!

If you decide to Go Postal and mail-in your ballot, make sure you follow your state’s rules, no matter how berserk. That means getting a witness signature (Minnesota), notarization (Alabama), and sign the ballot and envelope twice if it says so; use the official envelope only; put on TWO stamps (Ohio). And include a copy of that special ID (Wisconsin).

Registration Investigation!

Think you’re registered? This is America, Jack, not some democracy. Better check your registration again. Make sure you have not been purged, Crosschecked, made “inactive,” or otherwise scammed out of your vote. You don’t have to re-register if you’ve moved within your county—but you’re a fool if you don’t. Why? You can’t mail in your ballot, Homer, if you don’t get it in the mail in the first place! D’oh!

Don’t Get Spoiled Rotten!

Don’t mark ballots with red pens, pencils, crayons, lipstick. Don’t use an ✘, ✓, or ☺︎, unless it says so. Fill in the bubble, Bob. If on a machine, check over your choices before you pull that final lever. If a punch-card, turn it over and scrape off the chads, Dad.

The Early Bird Throws Out the Worms!

Vote early. In-person when no one’s around, weekdays if possible. Then, if they jacked with your registration, you may have time to fight. But beware “Souls to the Polls” Sunday: in states like Ohio, the lines will be hours long as the vote thieves launch their new weapons to block voters of color. If you are a voter of color or under 35, don’t forget to take along photo ID and an experienced attorney.

Look Out for Tranquilizer Ballots!

The nice lady behind the counter will tell you your “provisional” ballot will count. Bullshit. Demand a real ballot from an election judge. If you must fill out that bogus bouncing ballot, make sure you fill in every line on the envelope with registration address, registration signature, and if no license, write “no license.” If you need to return with an ID, do it and don’t bellyache.

Act Out!

It’s time to say basta! to mass purges, to voter ID rigmarole, to tossing out provisional ballots and to the entire lynching-by-laptop operation. And that means joining voting rights action groups such as Rainbow/PUSH. Whether you’re a butcher, baker or mass tort litigation maker, we need you to cross The Bridge with us. I know you have a good excuse to do nothing, but I don’t want to hear it.

Spread the Word!

Download and send this Ballot Condom to everyone you know.

https://www.gregpalast.com/ballot-condom-for-safe-voting-2/

Well y'all have a good day. I like RA's idea to imagine the possible instead of bemoaning the present.

and listen to the whole as well.
[video:https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/659618/how-trump-stole-2020-by-...

On this link you have a transcript of the whole conversation between Hedges and Palast.
On Contact: Voter fraud, stealing elections

I am not the one who should talk about it, I am too far away. Beware of your middle names and use them.

My middle name is beautiful. Verena.

signed mimi, the beautiful verena. I am glad I can't vote in the US though.:-)

Neither party wants honest elections. They benefit in different ways from the cheating. But as a generalization, democrats mostly cheat each other in primaries, while the gop cheats mostly in the general elections. My generalization sorta fits as pundits have noted that democratic party power brokers are more interested in keeping their power than in winning elections.

Much easier to blame the Russians and now Chinese and Iranians for bad election results. In the latest NYT installment, Russians are up-ending the election by filming Portland protesters.

How a Bible burning in Portland reveals Russia’s efforts to upend the 2020 U.S. election

I'm worried about the children that have no way of accessing their online schooling. I have no way of knowing how many of them there are. I personally know of 2 little girls. I am giving them my old IPad. since their mother speaks little, if any, English, I have to hope friends or relatives will help her figure out how to get an Internet connection so they can actually use it.

Several years ago, I read about an organization that was building kid-proof computers and giving them to children in Africa to use for their education. The small computers cost $100 apiece, were able to withstand being banged around etc. I do not remember the name of the organization. I believe they had worked with a university to design the computers.

Does anyone know anything about this? We should be issuing these to every child in this country who needs one. It does no good to have online schools if children have no access to the web. In the spring, there were school districts in some places in US providing tablets to families who needed them.

This is something that is worth putting energy and time into right now. All of us can check with our school districts and push to insure every school age child is able to access the education they need and deserve.

Anything else is illegitimate. Anything else is election fraud, fraud which should result in a long prison sentence. And all those "elected" via other methods are illegitimate. They have all the power with no legitimate authority. They are criminal usurpers.

Canada's last intact ice shelf collapses due to warming

"This is a huge, huge block of ice," White said. "If one of these is moving toward an oil rig, there's nothing you can really do aside from move your oil rig."

huh well heres hoping the industry has plans to move em if that occurs. bp memories suggest nope. thanks obama now trump.

for some reason that news did resonate more than the other horrifying global shitstorm links. proximity i guess. lol i just realized i dont even want to type the word shrug. maybe next week. cheers

everyone i talk to is voting biden 'cause trump is so awful, and they all know why i am not.

peace and love

how Trump stole 2016 from Hillary; he's never interested in how Hillary 2016 stole from Bernie.

You're either outraged by election fraud or you aren't.

If you try to be selectively outraged by election fraud, you lose credibility.