In a recent survey of young Americans who use Tik Tok for more than an hour a day, 17 percent “couldn’t say definitively that the earth is round” according to the Reboot Foundation, which promotes media literacy and critical thinking. [NYT 6/18/23]
In 2023, almost 1 in 2 U.S. families with young children struggle with diaper need. In 2017, 1 in 3 U.S. families were saddled with diaper need. 28% of
parents experiencing diaper need reported skipping meals to afford diapers. [NDBN 2023]
Here is the share of each group who voted Democratic in the 2022 mid terms.
- Age 18-29 – 64%
- 30-44 – 58%
- 45-64 – 45%
- 65/older – 44%
[NYT 6/5/23]
Over 122,000 people were in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails in 2019. [NBC News 5/27/23]
The earth’s oceans, whose floors are far less well known than the surfaces of the moon or Mars, cover seven-tenths of the planetary surface. NYT 7/9/23
Texas generates more electricity from wind and solar than any other state.
[WP 7/4/23]
Over the last decade, almost every cohort of voters under 50 has shifted toward the right, belying predictions of a permanent Democratic hold on millennials. [NYT 7/9/23]
A Look at Latinos
Latinos are 18.7% of the U.S. population.
- 32% of all respondents said neither Democrats nor Republicans care about Latinos.
- 40% of respondents said it’s a bad time to be a Latino or Hispanic person in America, up from 31% last October.
- 44% of registered voters said they had a favorable opinion of President Biden.
- 32% of registered voters had a favorable opinion of former President Trump.
- 34% said neither party is good on immigration; 30% neither is good on crime and 38% said neither party is good at managing the federal budget.
[Axios AM 6/22/23]
Roe v Wade
61% of registered voters disapprove of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade.
| Approve | Disapprove | |
|---|---|---|
| Men | 42% | 55% |
| Women | 31 | 67 |
| Women | 18-49 | 21 |
| Suburban women | 33 | 66 |
| White voters | 40 | 57 |
| Black voters | 20 | 78 |
| Latino voters | 30 | 70 |
| Democrats | 7 | 92 |
| Republicans | 65 | 31 |
| Independents | 37 | 60 |
22% of registered voters say abortion access has become too difficult in their state, 17% say it is too easy, and 43% say their states have struck the right balance. [NBC News Poll 6/20/23]
The following were created by Gerry Kauvar.
BAD GNUS
Most streets have two sides: but not the Wall Street Journal.
Fox News is a misnomer. It should be Fox Views.
The New York Times: All the News that gives you fits.
Nightly news evening broadcasts: All the stale news in snippets.
Cable news: Just read the chyrons.
Breaking news: Mostly anything that you knew hours ago with the inclusion of a trivial detail.
The Washington Post: Democracy thrives on lots of advertising and the price of obituaries (the morning news).
Morning newspapers: Nothing you didn’t know when you went to bed.
Nightly news hosts on assignment: anchors away.
Weather reports: hedging bets in bold colors and repeated use of “likely.”
PROBLEM
The Supreme Court left undefined what employee religious beliefs and practices entitle exemption from work assignments.
There are over 4000 religions, faith groups and denominations.
SOLUTION
1: Expand IRS tax forms to include a list of approved individual beliefs and practices.
2: Establish a Validation Corps to make sure individuals are believing and practicing.
3: Create a Congressional committee to create a basket of penalties for failures to believe or practice.
Advantages:
Job creation.
Pleasing whatever gods there be.
Keeping Congress too busy to establish new flights from
Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Disadvantages:
May encourage supply chain hiccups.
Lack of privacy (if there’s any left)
May piss off Atheists, Agnostics, Satan Worshippers and
Witches.
Breaking News: New cuts offered by the Freedom Caucus
- Reform social security by reducing benefits for people who are sick or dying and who have Government supported medical insurance.
- Reduce the government contribution to medical care for anyone under 65 who isn’t really sick or dying according to doctors serving in Congress (including optometrists)
- Design a tax benefit for euthanasia to reduce population relying on government subsidies.
- Impose a tax on abortions after conception.
- Decrease the financial burden and improve the common defense of the nation by extending and weaponizing the border wall to the east and west coasts and Canada.
- Realign the pay of federal government employees to the official poverty level + 10%. Except for the Congress.
- As our first President suggested “avoid entangling alliances.” Reduce the budget for the State Department except for assistance to State legislatures.
- Impose taxes on non- fossil fuels.
- Abolish the Department of Education because it does not educate anyone.
- Tax the endowments of universities and colleges which encourage DEI (Definition to follow).
- Slash the budget of the Department of Defense by reducing reliance on offshore activities (land, sea, and air). Reduce the number of traitors of any rank.
- Impose a tax on any gifts or emoluments of Supreme Court Justices except their salaries.
- Eliminate voting fraud and raise funds by reinstating poll tests and taxes.