It will be ridiculous to even imagine that Dhoni would do something like that. The CSK owners were earlier accused in match-fixing and they received a 2-year suspension for that. But don't blame the players for what the management does. Ideally they could have sent in Sam Curran, who scored quick runs in the previous games. Instead they sent players such as Ruturaj Gaikwad and Kedar Jadhav. This blunder cost them 2 points.

I was shocked to hear about this when the commentators mentioned it before the start of the KXIP vs RCB match yesterday. The players were wearing black armbands and I was wondering why. Then one of the commentators mentioned that they were doing it out of respect for Deano. He was just 59 years old. Always loved his commentary, and he will be sorely missed by all the cricket fans.

There is no doubt that China is still having an expansionist mindset. With a population of 1.4 billion, they can easily afford to sacrifice millions of soldiers, in case any of these territorial disputes transform in to full-fledged war. They already claim almost 90% of the South China Sea. And none of their neighbors in that region have the military capability to take them on.

As of now, among the neighbors of China, only Japan and Russia are capable of taking part in a military confrontation against China (May be India as well, to a limited extent). None of the other countries can even last a few weeks against the Chinese military.

I agree. What is the point in going for pirated content, when the licensed content is available for such cheap rates? A Hotstar subscription for 3 months will cost you just ₹399 ($5). And from what I have heard, in India you can get free Hotstar subscription, if you are using SIM cards of some of the service providers. I would have still tolerated piracy, if the licensed content was unaffordable. Here that is not the case.

You are forgetting the fact that alcohol was banned in a number of countries earlier. Prohibition in the United States was in place from 1920 to 1933, and was enacted due to pressure from the church. It was a disaster. The alcohol was available in every nook and corner, but the only difference was that the trade had gone underground and crime rates had increased by manifold. Fortunately, a secular government removed this stupid measure in 1933 despite objection from the church. Today's scenario is not much different. The church is in the forefront of the anti-cannabis movement.

What I was saying is that opinion polls are more accurate than betting odds. While calculating betting odds, a lot of assumptions are being made, which may not get realized. For Trump to win this election, he needs to win at least the following swing states:

1. Ohio
2. North Carolina
3. Florida
4. Arizona
5. Pensylvania

He can afford to lose other swing states such as Wisconsin, Nevada and Michigan. But the problem here is that while he may be having a fighting chance in NC and FL, he is too far behind in AZ and PA.

The pandemic is already 6-7 months old in many of the countries and I don't believe that lockdowns will help in reducing the spread now. The virus is present in the air and the chances of getting infected are high even if you stay at home. I would say that at this point a fresh lockdown sounds completely unnecessary. It will have no impact in reducing the number of new infections, and on the other hand it will destroy the already weakened economy.

Fines and warnings won't work in third world nations, where people have a habit of breaking the rules. That's why the Philippines president came up with such strict policy, in which he warned that anyone who goes outside for non-essential purposes during the lockdown period would be shot. Obviously it attracted a lot of criticism, but in the end at least some of the lawbreakers decided to remain at home.

Rubbish. If this was the case, then everyone would be jobless and the stock market would be in ruins. That is not the case now. The employment rates are improving and many of the stocks are at ATH levels. Some of the blue collar workers have lost their jobs, but hopefully they will be able to find new professions soon enough. The impact from COVID 19 is not as worse as I had imagined.

^^^ The figure from fivethirtyeight looks like the most trustworthy one. Biden is clearly having a huge advantage at this point of time. Betting market odds are better for Trump, because a lot of people are betting in his favor. His higher odds are not because Trump is having a higher probability, but because of the numerical superiority who "believes" that he'll win the elections.  Therefore IMO, Trump's chances are around 10% to 20% at this point.

Well.. I agree. The job market is increasingly getting competitive nowadays and those without the necessary skills may find themselves shut out of the new jobs. There are two things that we need to take care of. First of all, we need to update and enhance our skill set on a regular basis, to stay relevant in the job market. Secondly, we need to implement a regular savings mechanism, which will help us in emergency situations.

I was talking about the system of appointing the judges and not about the elections. I mentioned India because I am a regular visitor to that country. I would say that they have the worst system possible. Judges are promoted on the basis of family ties, with seniority taking a second place. Most of the judges in the supreme court are sons or daughters of former judges.

A number of judges were accused in corruption scandals, with lots and lots of proof. But no action could be taken against them, as a result of judicial immunity. A well known former CJI apparently received around $30 million bribe from the Catholic church, to turn down narcoanalysis results in Sister Abhaya murder case. This judge made the ruling that narco analysis can't be considered as evidence. Another CJI demanded a $60 million bribe from a chief minister of one of the northeastern states. The CM committed suicide later, and in the suicide letter he claimed that the unrelenting demands for bribe from the CJI pushed him towards this drastic step. And once again, no action was taken against the judge. What they have in the US is much better than this sham.

The attitude shown by Dhoni was very disappointing. He could have batted at no.5 or no.6, but he chose to came to bat only after Kedar Jadhav and Ruturaj Gaikwad. What's the logic in sending the inexperienced Gaikwad to bat, when the required rate is around 12 runs per over? Dhoni could have taken the responsibility and scored some quick runs then.

The judges can't take decisions as per their liking. They are supposed to follow the constitution and the penal code. And I believe that the system they have in the United States is much better than the one that exists in some of the other countries such as India. At least in the United States, corruption allegations against judges are very rare, since they are being held accountable.

I don't know how much Duterte can trust China. If the spat with EU goes out of control, then Philippines may become over dependent on China. And the Chinese are experts in exploiting such situations. And now let's not forget the fact that China is locked in a decades-long territorial dispute with the Philippines, over the Scarborough Shoal and some of the other islets in South China Sea.

They made some runs, but not enough. If a nation such as New Zealand, with a population with just 4 million can white-wash India, then it once again proves that Indian batsmen are vulnerable in greentops. However, one advantage with the current Indian team is that now they have world class pace bowlers who can make use of these conditions.

Some of the losses can be carried forward, up to 3 years. But what if the individual doesn't invest in any stocks for the next 2-3 years, or he remains at a loss? Investing in the stock market involves a huge amount of risk, and that is the reason why the tax rates are lower. If the tax rates are sky high, then what prevents the same individuals from purchasing bullion instead of stocks? The only difference is that bullion investment doesn't benefit anyone other than the investor. However, investment in stocks spur job-growth and a growth in indirect tax revenue for the government.

Here in Singapore also we have a few of them. I have used an ATM once, but the markup is too high. If I remember correctly, it was around 8%. You can purchase Bitcoins from Localbitcoins or from any of the exchanges at 0.5% markup, but then doing the KYC is a big headache. So for those who don't want to do the KYC, Bitcoin ATMs are a good option (you need a SMS verification, only if the amount is more than SGD 2,000). I am not that concerned about my anonymity, and therefore I will skip them for now.

People lose their jobs quite frequently and this was the case even before the pandemic started spreading. That doesn't mean that they need to remain depressed and get addicted to drugs and alcohol. Normally when someone lose his job, he will try to improve his skill set and apply for new jobs. The spare time will be used to learn new skills, that will be useful at the job market.

These are just unsubstantiated rumors. Check my previous post in this thread. No bill related to cryptocurrency is scheduled for discussion during this year's parliament session. Every now and then, some people want to spread FUD and will make rumors such as this one. If they are to be believed, India has banned Bitcoin dozens of times already. Don't fall in to this trap, and I am sure that India is not going to ban BTC for another 4-5 years.