Looks like consumers have more of an impact on the economy than the government does. When everyone keeps paying for things no matter how much the prices go up, that encourages raising prices further.
“Some of America’s largest companies, from Amazon to Disney to Yum Brands, say their customers are increasingly seeking cheaper alternative products and services, searching for bargains or just avoiding items they deem too expensive. Consumers aren’t cutting back enough to cause an economic downturn. Rather, economists say, they appear to be returning to pre-pandemic norms, when most companies felt they couldn’t raise prices very much without losing business.”
“India’s largest budget carrier, IndiGo, is the first airline to trial a feature that lets female passengers book seats next to other women to avoid sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with a man in a move designed to make flying more comfortable for female passengers.”
“The airline’s booking process is fairly standard except for the seat map which highlights seats occupied by women with the color pink. This information is not visible to male passengers, according to the airline.”
“‘We have a significant share of female travelers. And, basically, technology is now enabling some things which were not able in the past … We brought it up as a test for female travelers to check in and see where they can sit next to another female traveler, and actually it has resounded very, very well of course with our customers, but also internationally,’ CEO Pieter Elbers said in an interview with CNBC.”
In 1972, when the GSS first began asking Americans, “What is your religious preference?” 90% identified as Christian and 5% were religiously unaffiliated. In the next two decades, the share of “nones” crept up slowly, reaching 9% in 1993.
“But then disaffiliation started speeding up – in 1996, the share of unaffiliated Americans jumped to 12%, and two years later it was 14%. This growth has continued, and 29% of Americans now tell the GSS they have “no religion.”
“Pew Research Center has been measuring religious identity since 2007 using a slightly different question wording – “What is your present religion, if any?” – as well as a different set of response options. Since 2007, the percentage of adults who say they are atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” in the Center’s surveys has grown from 16% to 29%. During this time, the share of U.S. adults who identify as Christian has fallen from 78% to 63%.
“There are many theories on why disaffiliation sped up so much in the 1990s and how long this trend might continue. For example, some scholars contend that secularization is the result of increasing “existential security” – as societal conditions improve and scientific advances allow people to live longer lives with fewer worries about meeting basic needs, they have less need for religion to cope with insecurity (or so the theory goes).
“Others say that in the U.S., an association of Christianity with conservative politics has driven many liberals away from the faith. Still other theories involve declining trust in religious institutions, clergy scandals, rising rates of religious intermarriage, smaller families, and so on.”
Signs at the Republican National Convention called for “Mass Deportation Now!”, giving a full embrace to Donald Trump’s pledge to expel millions of migrants in the largest deportation program in American history.
“Some Republicans aren’t quite ready for that.”
“Historians go back to at least the 1850s when German and Irish immigrants were targeted as degenerate thieves. An undercurrent of popular belief that immigrants breed crime persisted through the 20th century and into the 21st.
“But no one compares to Trump, who reached the pinnacle of power by making immigration a signature issue and portraying the foreign-born as criminals. Yet the weight of evidence shows no support for claims that immigrants are more responsible for crime than native-born Americans.”
Putin has described the incursion as a “large-scale provocation.”
What? More of a large-scale provocation than INVADING ANOTHER COUNTRY and STARTING A WAR??
“The Russian Defense Ministry called it one of the largest cross-border incursions of the war as the Russian military and border guards block Ukrainian forces from pushing deeper into the region in southwestern Russia.”
Here is an excellent analysis of how the press interviews different politicians, including what types of questions they ask and whether they push for an actual answer.
This video also does a deep dive into the answers or lack of answers that these politicians give.
What Trump & Vance are saying about Walz almost sounds plausible. Until you check the actual facts.
He didn’t quit 24 years in the National Guard to avoid deployment. He retired (months before his unit was notified about deployment) so he could run for Congress. With the rank of Command Sergeant Major that the Minnesota Army National Guard says he is entitled to.
And back in 2020, Walz DID call in the National Guard and this video includes a recording of a phone call where Trump is praising Walz for handling things well. Which is NOT what Trump is saying today. All of this is included in the video linked below.
“The number of women getting abortions in the U.S. actually went up in the first three months of 2024 compared with before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, a report released Wednesday found, reflecting the lengths that Democratic-controlled states went to expand access.
“A major reason for the increase is that some Democratic-controlled states enacted laws to protect doctors who use telemedicine to see patients in places that have abortion bans, according to the quarterly #WeCount report for the Society of Family Planning, which supports abortion access.”
