North American Union?

https://twitter.com/Locati0ns/status/1761618197923684435

If I had to guess, this is unlikely to happen. There was a lot of speculation about a possible NAU when the European Union and the Euro came on the scene. But both of those are faltering on shaky ground. If anything, global trends seem to point to devolution and nation states breaking apart rather than joining together.

And Europe at least had two relatively co-equal anchor states (Germany and France) for the mid-tier and other states to attach themselves to.

An NAU would be quite different. Canadians have had a century and a half where they could have subsumed themselves into the beast to the south had they wanted to; they’ve shown no desire to do so. And NAFTA has already tied the three economies to each other. But the cultural differences would be huge. Northern Mexico may already be closely tied to the U.S. and, by extension, the Canadian economies, but southern Mexico is in many ways a world apart.

For any chance for an NAU to emerge, Canadians and Mexicans would have to feel that they were not simply becoming part of Greater USA. They’d have to feel that they were full partners. Which probably wouldn’t go over well for a significant subset of nativists in the US.

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Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

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Politics:

Trump’s Holiness Rises as His Corruption Is Revealed

For those familiar with authoritarian history, it is no wonder that the talking point of Trump’s holiness has become prominent as more of his malfeasance and illegal behavior has been made public. Nor is it surprising that Trump would share a depiction of himself as Jesus-adjacent during his Oct. 2023 civil fraud trial. The image implies that Jesus is with him on his righteous path and that, even in court, Trump thinks holy thoughts.
And how typical that Trump declared that he would govern as God’s direct emissary just when the news hit that he received millions from at least 20 foreign governments while he was president, including over $5 million from entities linked to the Communist regime of China.
The sudden rise of an obscure backbench politician to the pinnacle of American congressional power also makes sense within this logic. Trump had been indicted a few months prior, and some of his co-defendants were turning against him. God only knew what else might be revealed. Enter Mike Johnson, with his impeccable credentials as a religious zealot and his great potential as a faithful servant of Trump’s wishes.

First responders in a Texas town are struggling to cope with the trauma of recovering bodies from the Rio Grande

31,000 Ukrainian Soldiers Killed in Two Years of War

Some 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion began two years ago, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, acknowledging for the first time in the war a concrete figure for Ukraine’s toll.
It differs sharply from estimates by U.S. officials, who, this past summer, put the losses much higher, saying that close to 70,000 Ukrainians had been killed and 100,000 to 120,000 had been wounded. Russia’s military casualties, the officials said, were about twice as high.

https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1761867059015610677

Bolsonaro Rallies Supporters as Legal Troubles Grow

Jair Bolsonaro led supporters at a rally in the heart of Brazil’s biggest city on Sunday in an attempted show of force against political opponents and the country’s Supreme Court as a litany of legal troubles close in on the former president.
Supporters dressed in the green and yellow colors of the Brazilian flag occupied three of the 18 blocks of Sao Paulo’s Paulista Avenue at the start of the demonstration, local media reported. Dozens of conservative congressmen and governors also attended, demonstrating Bolsonaro’s continued grip on the Brazilian right.

https://twitter.com/Kasparov63/status/1761564730823508451

Can Trump Pay His Legal Judgments?

Like many on Wall Street, I’ve been left wondering how Donald Trump will be able to afford the more than $450 million penalty, including interest, that Judge Arthur Engoron imposed on him last week as a result of the civil fraud lawsuit brought by New York State Attorney General Letitia James as well as the $83.3 million he owes E. Jean Carroll after he lost two defamation cases she brought against him.
Assuming that at some point he loses all his appeals, can he get the cash he needs to pay his debts? Is he liquid enough for the appeal bond in the meantime? Will he be able to find someone to post the bond and take the risk of his credit? And that ignores, for the moment, the increasing possibility that he might also have to pay the I.R.S. $100 million or so in back taxes, as a result of his improper deductions over the years.”

https://twitter.com/TrumpsTaxes/status/1761142747379958197

The case of Clarence Thomas’s new clerk taints the entire judiciary

https://twitter.com/AWeissmann_/status/1761853614228648180

Republicans vote unanimously to ban basic income programs in a state with one of the highest homelessness rates

My guess is that none of them took advantage of Coronavirus Tax Relief or cashed any of the Covid stimulus checks.

https://twitter.com/Davidlaz/status/1761778354708254979

Beyond shock and awe: Inside Trump’s potential second-term agenda

From nationwide abortion bans to classroom culture wars, assaults on climate science and political weaponization of the military, his return to the White House could make Trump 1.0 seem tame.

https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1761777701407571985

Germany legalises cannabis, but makes it hard to buy

Serendipity:

One of the world’s biggest cities may be just months away from running out of water

^{Badge thanks to @arcange}

hypothetical NAU flag source

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