Excerpts from the December Harper’s Index:
Percentage of the world’s internet traffic that is attributable to Netflix: 12
Amount that the Florida D.M.V. earned selling personal data in 2017: $77,865,737
Percentage of American women aged 30 and older who receive financial help from
their parents: 49
Of American men aged 30 and older: 62
Median percentage of student-loan debt owed by white borrowers twenty years after enrolling in college: 6
Of student-loan debt owed by black borrowers: 95
Number of months for which Japanese men are legally guaranteed
paid paternity leave: 12
Percentage of Japanese fathers who take some advantage of the policy: 6
Who take all twelve months: 0.1
Percentage of images in U.S. online media that feature people aged 50 or older: 15
Percentage of Americans who are older than 50: 46
Chance that an American avoids drinking tap water at home because
of safety concerns: 1 in 3
Percentage of bottled water sold in the United States that is
filtered tap water: 64
Percentage of the U.S. automobile market that is composed of
S.U.V.s and pickup trucks: 66
Of sedans: 22
TOP COMMENTS • HIGH IMPACT STORIES
QUOTATION
“When one thinks of all the people who support or have supported Fascism, one stands amazed at their diversity. What a crew! Think of a programme which at any rate for a while could bring Hitler, Petain, Montagu Norman, Pavelitch, William Randolph Hearst, Streicher, Buchman, Ezra Pound, Juan March, Cocteau, Thyssen, Father Coughlin, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Arnold Lunn, Antonescu, Spengler, Beverley Nichols, Lady Houston, and Marinetti all into the same boat! But the clue is really very simple. They are all people with something to lose, or people who long for a hierarchical society and dread the prospect of a world of free and equal human beings. Behind all the ballyhoo that is talked about ‘godless’ Russia and the ‘materialism’ of the working class lies the simple intention of those with money or privileges to cling to them. Ditto, though it contains a partial truth, with all the talk about the worthlessness of social reconstruction not accompanied by a ‘change of heart’. The pious ones, from the Pope to the yogis of California, are great on the’ change of heart’, much more reassuring from their point of view than a change in the economic system.”
~~George Orwell, England Your England and Other Essays, 1953
TWEET OF THE DAY
BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Daily Kos around this date in 2002—Army fires gay Arab linguists:
How can the US make any credible claims that it is fighting the terrorist threat with all available means when this sort of crap happens?
Nine Army linguists, including six trained to speak Arabic, have been dismissed from the military because they are gay.
The soldiers' dismissals come at a time when the military is facing a critical shortage of translators and interpreters for the war on terrorism.
[...]
The government has aggressively recruited Arabic speakers since the Sept. 11 attacks.
"We face a drastic shortage of linguists, and the direct impact of Arabic speakers is a particular problem," said Donald R. Hamilton, who documented the need for more linguists in a report to Congress as part of the National Commission on Terrorism.
Crazy...
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Greg Dworkin joins in awarding mixed grades for the media on impeachment hearings. Stone trial goes to jury. Russia-linked money flows in UK, Boris blocks report. Trump pondered sending migrants to Guantanamo. John Solomon: blech!
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