Excerpts from the September edition of Harper’s Index:
Minimum age at which citizens of the Netherlands can request euthanasia, with their parents’ permission: 12
Number of Dutch 12- to 17-year-olds who have requested and received euthanasia since 2005: 14
Estimated portion of people in the world who were married as children: 1/10
Estimated percentage of active police officers who use racist, bigoted, or violent language on Facebook: 20
Of retired police officers: 45
Percentage of state prisoners who are incarcerated for violating parole or probation: 45
Percentage of those prisoners whose violations did not involve the commission
of a crime: 55
Percentage of non-L.G.B.T.Q. Americans in 2016 who said they were comfortable interacting with L.G.B.T.Q. people: 63
Who said so last year: 45
Percentage of U.S. workers over 50 who lose longtime jobs before they are prepared to retire: 56
Percentage of those workers who never recover their earning power: 90
Percentage change since 1981 in the number of annual U.S. mergers and
acquisitions: +104
In the number of annual antitrust investigations undertaken by the
Justice Department: –33
Percentage of Americans who think it’s “too much” to expect the average person to recognize made-up news and information: 56
Who think it’s “too much” to expect the average person to recognize satire: 34
TOP COMMENTS • HIGH IMPACT STORIES
QUOTATION
“Solidarity is what we want. We do not want to find fault with each other, but to solidify our forces and say to each other: We must be together; our masters are joined together and we must do the same thing.”
~~Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, Speech to the United Mine Workers of America, July 19, 1902
TWEET OF THE DAY
BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Daily Kos on this date in 2006—Experts to Bush: Back Off, Iran is "Not a Crisis":
Apprehensive that Bush's "hard line" toward Iran is a "prelude" to a U.S military campaign against Iran, 21 former U.S. generals, diplomats and national security officials will release an open letter to the president tomorrow, demanding, according to the Los Angeles Times, a "a complete overhaul of U.S. policy toward both Iran and Iraq."
More from the Times:
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Robert G. Gard, one of the letter's signers and a former military assistant to Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara in the 1960s, said the group was particularly concerned about administration policies toward Iran, believing them to be a possible prelude to a military attack on suspected nuclear sites in that country.
..."It's not a crisis," Gard said in a telephone interview. "To call the Iranian situation a 'crisis' connotes you have to do something right now, like bomb them."
As Plutonium Page diaried well more than a year ago, these voices are being joined to that of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Hans Blix.
It appears that any action against Iran will not be able to filed under the "Nobody could have anticipated ..." category in the Bush White House. When such experts come out so openly and vigorously - and preemptively - against a destructive path, there's hope that no matter how desperately the president wants to expand the violence, the public and the press will be armed with solid ammunition against the attempt.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Go retro, with our 8/16/18 episode. Greg Dworkin says the Pelosi bomb's a dud. Breaking: Not all "Trump Country" voters are the same. Old ideas coming back: one dumb, one not. Is the "casting couch" really just sex trafficking? Yes. Yes it is.
