Recent by-elections lay bare alarming path country may take toward 2027

Here’s a question. Did we just have “third world” by-elections?  Or rather, “buy-elections”? Here’s another. 616 days, or 88 weeks from today, will our new-fangled “third world to first” ruling regime literally have to buy all of us in 2027 in order to remain in office? Tough questions.

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box-shadow: 0 2px 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
background-color: #ffffff;
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.paywall-header {
font-size: 24px;
font-weight: bold;
margin-bottom: 15px;
color: #333333;
text-align: center;
}

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font-weight: bold;
color: #d40511;
margin: 15px 0;
text-align: center;
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cursor: pointer;
margin-bottom: 20px;
transition: background-color 0.3s;
text-decoration: none;
text-align: center;
}

.subscribe-button-green:hover {
background-color: #b0030e;
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content: “✓”;
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position: absolute;
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font-weight: bold;
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justify-content: center;
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`;
} else {
teaserEl.innerHTML = “”;
}

activeEl.innerHTML = “”;
paywallEl.style.display = “block”;

} else if (now >= saleStart && now <= saleEnd) { paywallEl.style.display = "none"; var diffToEnd = saleEnd - now; var totalSeconds = Math.floor(diffToEnd / 1000); var days = Math.floor(totalSeconds / (24 * 3600)); var hours = Math.floor((totalSeconds % (24 * 3600)) / 3600); var minutes = Math.floor((totalSeconds % 3600) / 60); var seconds = totalSeconds % 60; activeEl.innerHTML = `

Offer ends in…

${days}Days
${String(hours).padStart(2,’0′)}Hours
${String(minutes).padStart(2,’0′)}Minutes
${String(seconds).padStart(2,’0′)}Seconds

Subscribe Now & Save

`;
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const hours = Math.floor(totalSeconds / 3600);
totalSeconds %= 3600;
const minutes = Math.floor(totalSeconds / 60);
const seconds = totalSeconds % 60;
return `${days}d ${hours}h ${minutes}m ${seconds}s`;
}

updateFlashSale();
setInterval(updateFlashSale, 1000);

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