No more arms sales to Netanyahu (Bernie Sanders)

 op-ed in The Washington Post today:

The United States government must stop blatantly violating the law with regard to arms sales to Israel. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act are very clear: the United States cannot provide weapons to any country that violates internationally recognized human rights. Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act is also explicit: no U.S. assistance may be provided to any country that “prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.”

According to the United Nations, much of the international community and every humanitarian organization on the ground in Gaza, Israel is clearly in violation of these laws. That is why I have introduced, with colleagues, several joint resolutions of disapproval which would block offensive arms sales to Israel. The votes will take place in the Senate on Wednesday.

Is it really that unusual a name?

This is apropos of nothing in  particular: my wife's name is Therese.  That's a two-syllable name.  But I've noticed, for the last 20 or so years, people stumble over it. Many people we encounter socially, including people who have known her for years, address her or refer to her as "Theresa".  

It irritates her (and I don't think she's wrong about it) whenever she's addressed as "Theresa".  I often correct people.  

My explanation for this is, when she was born in the early-mid 1960s, French-y names were kind of trendy (I recall, besides Thereses as relatives and classmates, some Jacquelines and Maries).  Nowadays, Spanish is much more prominent in American culture, whereas French names (and perhaps other manifestations of French culture and influence) have waned.  So people's ears sort of default to "Theresa", or even, on occasion, "Teresa" (with the Spanish pronunciation of the e's).    

Is it just us?

STATISTA: More Young Men Than Women Are Religious

STATISTA: More Young Men are Now Religious Than Women 

by Anna Fleck,

 Nov 14, 2024

Younger generations of women are less religious than their male counterparts in the United States, according to data from a Statista Consumer Insights survey. This marks a shift, as historically, U.S. women have been the more religious group. As this chart shows, for both genders, religion is becoming less widespread overall.

Christianity is the dominant religion in the U.S. Statista data shows that 51 percent of Gen Z males self-identify as Christian, with the next biggest religious groups Islam (six percent) and Buddhism (two percent). Only six percent of Gen Z men are atheists and 17 percent non-religious. For Gen Z women, 48 percent said their religion is Christianity, while only two percent said Islam and two percent Buddhism. Six percent of Gen Z women are atheists and 22 percent identify as non-religious.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Chronic Health Issues and Mental Health (Update)

STATISTA: CHRNOIC HEALTH 

Chronic Health Issues Most Often Tied to Mental Health

by Katharina Buchholz,

 Oct 18, 2024

A majority of people surveyed for Statista Consumer Insights in the United States stated that they lived with a physical limitation or chronic illness. Less than a third of respondents said this was not the case. The most widespread among chronic conditions are mental illnesses such as burnout or depression, which 34 percent of survey participants said they suffered from. Cardiovascular diseases follow in second place at 15 percent of respondents saying they had them. Diabetes and respiratory diseases are also widespread. Blindness or vision impairment still ranged in the double digits at 10 percent, twice as many as the share of respondents with deafness or hearing loss.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Mental Health and Chronic Diseases

Revenue From Tariffs

From STATISTA: 

Tariffs Are Not a Meaningful Source of Government Revenue

by Felix Richter,

Nov 12, 2024

While many economists have pointed out that tariffs are usually paid for by consumers in the form of higher prices – studies have found that Trump’s plans would cost an American middle-class family between $1,200 and $2,600 per year – the president-elect considers tariffs a universal economic and political tool.

He sees tariffs as leverage in negotiations, as a means to protect U.S. industries and as a source of revenue to pay for other initiatives. During the campaign, Trump suggested he would use the additional revenue from new tariffs to lower taxes and pay off debt. At one point he even floated the idea of eliminating income tax and replacing it with tariffs altogether – an idea that economists have quickly dismissed.

Looking at the final budget for fiscal year 2023, existing tariffs generated $80 billion in revenue, a mere drop in the bucket compared to almost $2.2 trillion in individual income tax revenue. Last year, U.S. goods imports amounted to $3.1 trillion. Applying just the simplest math suggests that only a universal tariff of 70 percent would generate enough revenue to replace individual income tax – and that’s just in theory, because imports would obviously crumble in that scenario.

The Tax Foundation estimates that Trump’s actual tariff plans would raise approximately $2 trillion in additional revenue – over the next decade, however. And that is not accounting for dynamic effects, such as retaliatory tariffs from other countries, which would further diminish revenue gains from the proposed tariffs.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Banned Hymns?

An article on the America Magazine site lately: 

Missouri bishop retracts ban on ‘All Are Welcome’ and other hymns and calls for synodal process on the issue | America Magazine

Bishop Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, Missouri, had apparently put out a list of about a dozen hymns in common use in US parishes, that he thought were inappropriate for some reason.  Not surprisingly he got a lot of spirited pushback.

From the article

Remembering veterans

I think of Veterans Day largely as a remembrance for World War I vets, like my Grampa Clinton Foster in the photo at left taken at Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan, 1917. Standing behind him, far left in the white dress is my Gramma Edith Deits. She was 21. He was 25. They would be married six years later. (Also in the photo is Grampa's sister Agnes and Gramma's younger sister, Mary.) 

Grampa was the oldest sibling left at home to work the farm when the war broke out. His father spent a lot of time away from the family as a timber assessor. When Grampa reported for duty in 1918, it was September, and several of his letters home show he was worried about the corn crop:

You did not say if the corn got ripe, and I have not seen any signs of frost here yet & it stays damp nearly all the time. 

Did you folks find the pumpkins I carved my name on in the cornfield? It is on the north side in about the 4th row. Is the corn ripe yet?

I saw an airplane land, and it was sure fine! It was the first seen since I have been here.