'Fell victim to authoritarian tendencies.’ United States added to the list of ‘backsliding democracies’ for the first time

Julio Cortez/AP

The Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance report is a sobering indictment of America in the 21st century. But we are hardly alone in the global march toward tyranny. It is human nature, especially in times of turmoil, to place security - and protection from ‘the other’ - above individual liberty. -

The United States for the first time was added to a list of “backsliding democracies” in a report released Monday by the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. 

“The United States, the bastion of global democracy, fell victim to authoritarian tendencies itself, and was knocked down a significant number of steps on the democratic scale,” the International IDEA’s Global State of Democracy 2021 report said. 

The study, which analyzed trends from 2020 to 2021, found that more than a quarter of the world’s population now lives in democratically backsliding countries, which International IDEA defines as nations seeing a gradual decline in the quality of their democracy. 

“The world is becoming more authoritarian as nondemocratic regimes become even more brazen in their repression and many democratic governments suffer from backsliding by adopting their tactics of restricting free speech and weakening the rule of law, exacerbated by what threatens to become a ‘new normal’ of covid-19 restrictions,” the report found. “The number [of countries] moving in the direction of authoritarianism is three times the number moving toward democracy.” 

International IDEA classes countries as democratic (which includes those backsliding), “hybrid,” and authoritarian, the latter two of which it considers to be nondemocratic. It bases its analysis on 50 years of democratic indicators tracked in about 160 countries. 

The report found that some of “the most worrying” democratic backsliding happened in some of the world’s largest countries, including Brazil and India. It also highlighted “concerning democratic declines” in the United States and three European Union members: Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. (Read more)

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Week in review, 03/27 - 04/02

‘Too many Americans are acting as if this fight is over. It is not.’ Biden warns that progress in the fight against COVID can still be reversed if people do not do their part. People would be wise to take heed

‘Following nearly three months of declines, U.S. coronavirus cases are beginning to rebound once again. The country is reporting a weekly average of 61,821 new Covid-19 cases per day, a 12% increase compared with a week ago’

Millions of Americans return to air travel as vaccines and spring break fever kick in. No wonder we are seeing COVID on the rise again. Every time there’s been a lull in new infections and hospitalizations, these restless herd animals just have to get back out there - no masks on, breathing all over one another, and spreading the virus anew.  And of course, once the numbers start surging again, these same people then turn around and blame the president or some other convenient scapegoat. Or just deny reality altogether. The pandemic may eventually end - once there are enough people vaccinated, and if the vaccines prove to offer more than temporary immunity - but willful stupidity, selfishness, and malevolence will always be with us

CDC: Fully vaccinated individuals at lower risk of transmission while traveling, but travel is still not recommended as COVID cases surge once again

We’ll be stuck in this cycle for years: CDC director expresses concern about the latest COVID surge

‘The Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported an additional 2,160 confirmed COVID-19 cases Friday, bringing the statewide total to 602,792 since the start of the pandemic’

COVID-19 cases increase for the third straight week in Massachusetts schools

The truth is strange enough, no need for any conspiracy theories: WHO study finds that COVID was likely transmitted from bats to humans via another animal

COVID-19 infections once again surging in India, prompting the country of 1.4 billion to severely curtail the number of vaccines it had been exporting to dozens of other nations

‘More than 40% of adults in the United States experienced symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorders at some point between August 2020 and the end of January’

Neurological issues plaguing those who had mild COVID-19 symptoms, months after being infected

At one time, charges such as these against the GOP would be considered gross hyperbole at best, and outright defamatory at worst. But, Republicans in recent years have decided to become every single stereotype the other side has about them, so we’ll call this for what it is - 21st century Jim Crow: Georgia’s repulsive new election law is Exhibit A in the GOP’s war on voting rights

No way is this legislation going to survive. If the courts don’t overturn it, corporate pressure will: Coca-Cola and other companies based in Georgia facing boycotts after the state passes law restricting voting rights

‘President Joe Biden called a sweeping elections law signed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp this week an "atrocity," and said the Justice Department is "taking a look" at the measure’

Mona Charen: Sidney Powell admits it was all a lie; former Trump attorney pleads it was his First Amendment right to engage in made-up claims of election fraud

The grievances of (mostly old) white people are all that the GOP is about now. Persecution complex is their modus operandi, and extremely effective with the target audience. Paul Waldman: Republicans want you to call their policies ‘racist,’ as it’s part of their plan

Making ‘the case for why these events are an utter waste of the president’s time.’ Jennifer Rubin: President Biden excels at his first news conference, while the media embarrass themselves

Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota appears to suggest he would either shoot President Biden or sic a dog on him in moronic ‘come and get it’ tweet

What depths will these right-wing populist clowns not sink to? Did Sen. Ted Cruz need an armored patrol boat to prove he cares about migrant kids

Senator Warren vows to ‘fight to break up Big Tech so you’re not powerful enough to heckle senators with snotty tweets’ after being fact-checked by Amazon in Twitter back-and-forth

Am beyond disgusted: U.S. Capitol officer killed and another injured in vehicle attack. Culprit fatally shot by police after attempting to lunge at them with a knife. President Biden orders flags at half-staff

Consistency of narrative has never been their strong suit, but has always been beside the point for these people: Some QAnon adherents now want us to believe ‘Q’ was only something the boogeyman media - not they themselves - made up to smear them

Death toll from last month’s winter storm disaster in Texas is revised upward

‘Day of terror’ in the former Burma, as the ruling military junta slaughters dozens of civilians, including children: With the events of the past few years and tensions in this country running hot, it is apparent most Americans of today - left and right - would have no moral qualms seeing people on the other side being shot by a politicized military dedicated only to carrying out their ideological crusades. We’re not as enlightened as we believe ourselves to be, and the only thing stopping us from becoming Myanmar is a noble military that stays out of politics and adheres to the rule of law. If the U.S. Armed Forces didn’t stand in the way of corrupt politicians - especially, at this moment, the nationalist GOP - and a malevolent citizenry, this would be us

‘Across Syria, the pandemic has compounded the worst economic crisis since the conflict began in 2011. The local currency has crashed and food prices have soared — increasing by 222% from last year. Nine out of 10 people live below the poverty line and in northwest Syria, close to three-quarters of the 4.3 million residents are food insecure’

Another doctor at Omsk hospital where Navalny was treated reportedly dies

‘They are deliberately turning him into a cripple.’ Vladimir Kara-Murza: The Kremlin may be slowly killing Alexei Navalny in prison, and the world must not let it happen

‘Increasing threats of poaching and loss of habitat have made Africa’s elephant populations more endangered, according to a report released Thursday by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’

Coffee pulp may help revitalize tropical forest growth

NASA determines the asteroid Apophis will not strike Earth for at least 100 years

St. Louis Cardinals great Joe Cunningham - who once battled Hank Aaron for the batting title, and later served as a prominent goodwill ambassador for the organization - dies at 89

Rest in Peace, Howard Schnellenberger: College football coaching great dies at 87

Former Grade 1 winner Unbridled Forever dies after foaling complications

American horse Mystic Guide wins the Dubai World Cup in solid fashion

Known Agenda, son of Curlin, takes charges in the stretch to win the Florida Derby

Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.

Week in review, 01/27 - 02/02

At least we can hope it won’t get any worse, but it was a rotten year by any standard: 2020 was the worst year for economic growth since World War II

‘The U.S. economy has taken a turn for the worse after a winter surge in coronavirus cases, the Federal Reserve admits, but it doesn’t think any more monetary medicine is needed right now’

Shameful that such a simple, common-sense policy took nine months to be put in effect: New CDC edict to require passengers wear masks on all public transportation in the United States

COVID claims the life of 100-year-old British national hero Captain Sir Tom Moore

The UK - or ‘Kent’ - variant of COVID-19 appears to have mutated again and may reduce vaccine effectiveness

‘Not every mutation is created equal,’ How many variants of the coronavirus are there?

This will make some conspiracy theorists’ and anti-vaxxers’ heads explode: FEMA asks the Pentagon to ready as many 10,000 troops to support nationwide vaccine push

Anti-vaccine protesters shut down massive vaccination site at Dodger Stadium for an hour, further stressing hundreds of motorists who had already been waiting in line for hours

Former Wisconsin pharmacist accused of sabotaging 570 doses of COVID-19 vaccine said to believe the sky is ‘a shield put up by the Government to prevent individuals from seeing God’

‘Vaccine hunters.’ Young, healthy people receiving their vaccine shots ahead of schedule by gaming the system

Oakland International becomes first airport in the country to offer COVID-19 test kit vending machines

‘HHS officials inappropriately spent millions in federal funds that were intended for vaccine research and emergency preparedness, according to a federal watchdog’

A warning against ‘vaccine nationalism.’ WHO criticizes the European Union over vaccine export controls, saying they are prolonging the pandemic

Babies receive COVID-19 antibodies from mothers while in the womb, study finds

Photo: Getty Images

Trump parts with impeachment lawyers just over a week before trial is set to begin

The leader of the domestic terrorism group Proud Boys discovered to have once been an FBI informant, though he himself is denying it

Two Proud Boys members indicted in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, one who admitted he wanted to kill Pelosi and Pence

‘The Department of Homeland Security issued a warning Wednesday to alert the public about a growing risk of attacks by “ideologically-motivated violent extremists” agitated about President Biden’s inauguration and “perceived grievances fueled by false narratives”’

A ‘disproportionate’ amount of active and former military personnel among those who were arrested for the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol

Records show some of the insurgents who stormed the U.S. Capitol did not vote in the election whose outcome they were protesting

Grocery chain heiress donated $300,000 to fund the January 6 D.C. rally that led to the insurrection at the Capitol; reached out to Alex Jones for assistance

‘(K)eep (your) cringe to (yourselves), for all our sakes’: A ‘golden age of cringe’

An example of how populist fervor warps the human brain: ‘Trump just used us and our fear.’ One woman’s journey out of QAnon

The ‘uncanny resemblance’ between today’s GOP and the Know-Nothings of the mid-19th century

The GOP is in a really bad spot: Alienate Trump, and alienate most of the supporters the party has remaining. Continue to embrace Trump, and they (further) alienate everyone else: Trump’s new PAC raises over $30 million

Republicans at the state level ‘have made loyalty to the defeated ex-president the sole organizing principle of the party.’ Nationalist populism and conspiracism have a commanding grip on hearts and minds that’s not going to be broken without a fight

Pew Research Center: How America changed during Donald Trump’s presidency

One of Trump’s own pollsters concludes loss of support from white men, disastrous response to COVID-19 cost him the election

President Biden’s early approval rating: 54 percent (Monmouth)

Photo: AFP

Putin critic Alexei Navalny sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison: A very sad day for human liberty. Russia has been emboldened and left unchecked; no amount of international condemnation or mere sanctions is going to rein it in now

China, ‘paying huge premiums for containers, making it far more profitable to send them back empty than to refill them,’ and higher fright rates are meaning higher prices and less inventory: The global food trade has been upended by a container crisis

Thousands flee Hong Kong for the UK as China cracks down on civil liberties

Coup in Myanmar (Burma): Military takes power following election fraud dispute

Secretary of State Blinken warns ‘Iran could be weeks away from having material for (a) nuclear weapon if it continues to lift restraints of nuclear deal’

‘A section of Highway 1 in California is closed after part of the road crumbled and fell into the Pacific Ocean this week, according to the state's transportation agency’

New Tennessee Volunteers’ coach Josh Heupel: Wishing him luck, but no expectations of anything whatsoever

One of the greatest tight ends in NFL history, and before that a standout on Rocky Top. All the best to the man: Jason Witten retiring after seventeen pro seasons

Yes, this is very exciting news: St. Louis Cardinals complete deal for 3B Nolan Arenado

Rest in Peace, Cicely Tyson. A long and fruitful life

Godspeed: The great Tony Bennett - still working at 94 - revealed to be suffering from Alzheimer’s

Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.