Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week
Here are some excerpts from the October Harper’s Index:
Percentage of registered U.S. voters who said in 2016 they would consider moving to Canada if Donald Trump were elected: 28
Number of Americans who have done so since then: 33,965
Percentage by which the annual number of people killed by U.S. police officers has fallen in rural areas since 2013: 29
By which it has increased in urban areas: 33
Portion of white Americans who say the benefits of experimental medical treatments outweigh the risks: 2/3
Of Black Americans who say the risks outweigh the benefits: 2/3
Portion of Americans aged 20 to 31 who violated stay-at-home orders in April to have sex: 1/4
Minimum number of Colombians killed by drug cartels or paramilitary groups for failing to observe social distancing: 8
Chance that a U.S. household missed a rent or mortgage payment in July: 1 in 3
Estimated percentage decrease in the money that migrant workers from low- and middle-income countries will send home this year: 20
Portion of U.S. adults who have delayed or are considering delaying retirement because of the pandemic: 2/5
Of U.S. women aged 18 to 49 who plan to postpone or forgo pregnancy: 1/3
Percentage by which someone with Neanderthal genes is more likely to suffer severe respiratory illness from COVID-19: 70
TOP COMMENTS • HIGH IMPACT STORIES • THE WEEK’S HIGH IMPACT STORIES
QUOTATION
“I think there are many times when it would be most efficient to use nuclear weapons. However, the public opinion in this country and throughout the world throw up their hands in horror when you mention nuclear weapons, just because of the propaganda that's been fed to them.”
~~Curtis LeMay (1968)
TWEET OF THE DAY
BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Daily Kos on this date in 2007—The Plan Reeks. At Least Give Us a Decent Catch-Phrase:
It's hard to know for certain who in Mister Bush’s pantheon of officialdumb most frequently chose "desperate" or "desperation" to describe the emotional state of Iraqi insurgents. You might be tempted to give Donald Rumsfeld the prize since he spent the summer of 2003 telling the shocked and awed and fatally compliant media not to say "insurgent," only to say "desperate."
But rigorous competition arises when you have Scott McClellan—remember him?—going for multiples, calling the insurgents "desperate" four times in five minutes at a June 2005 press conference. He, on the other hand, got whipped by an amateur in the good tidings biz. Maj. General Ray Odierno tagged the insurgents “desperate” eight times during a press conference in Tikrit in October 2003. For relentlessness, however, Mister Bush is untouched, having made at least 35 such "desperate" references in various venues, an average of one a month since the war began up until he suddenly gave it up cold turkey in March 2006.
Too bad. It had that euphony so beloved by propagandists eager to hammer hoi polloi until they practically sing the preferred expression like a television commercial jingle.
Now we’re stuck with "Return on Success." Ye gods!