I rely frequently on the YouGov polls done for the Economist. There are two reasons for this. First, they have a excellent reputation for accuracy. Second, they routinely make crosstabs available, which helps a lot if you want to dig past the simple topline numbers. Here's their latest poll of Trump vs. Biden: Nationally, they ...continue reading "Biden and Trump are in a dead heat"
The Washington Post reports today on the latest in fertility treatments: Red-state Christian women are rising up, speaking out to defend IVF A typical example is Sara, who was angered by a viral Twitter post from a Christian influencer who condemned IVF: “Show others love, grace and sympathy rather than judgment,” Sara wrote back online. ...continue reading "Here’s the secret to being pro-life and pro-IVF"
Here's something you may or may not know: home prices in the US are nearly down to their pre-pandemic average. In January, the median price of a new home was $420,000, only about 6% higher than the pre-pandemic average of $395,000. The data is very similar for existing homes. POSTSCRIPT: It's worth noting that this ...continue reading "Raw data: The price of new homes in the US"
Waymo is getting ready for freeway driving in California: California regulators on Friday granted Alphabet’s self-driving car division Waymo permission to expand its robotaxi service to include highways in several Bay Area cities and large swaths of Los Angeles, a massive expansion that comes amid concerns about the impact more driverless cars will have on ...continue reading "Waymo is ready to take on highways"
You have questions. I have answers. Question: What is DWAC? Answer: DWAC is a SPAC. Q: Thanks a ton. A: I just had to get that out of my system. A SPAC is a Special Purpose Acquisition Vehicle—a big pile of money that does nothing, but is nonetheless traded on the stock market. Eventually, a ...continue reading "There sure are a lot of people who want to give Donald Trump money"
America's manufacturing construction boom continued apace in January: This is mostly due to a series of federal government initiatives: the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS Act. In total, manufacturing construction has more than doubled over the past two years, from an annual rate of $90 billion in late 2021 to ...continue reading "Raw data: Manufacturing construction in the US"
Here is Hilbert on the bed with me getting his head scratched. You can't hear it, but he was purring his furry little face off while this was going on.
Finally: The U.S. military will be conducting airdrops of humanitarian aid into Gaza in the coming days amid tense negotiations for a pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas, President Joe Biden announced on Friday. The mission is designed to increase the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza as Palestinians struggle to get food, ...continue reading "US to airdrop aid to Gaza"
Michael Flynn tonight: “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God.” pic.twitter.com/ShGVrsQ9hW — Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 13, 2021
Ranked-choice voting has been gaining popularity lately, and that's sparked a MAGA backlash. But why? There's no obvious reason it would benefit either Democrats or Republicans. Nevertheless, conservative groups have launched a large number of very well funded and coordinated attacks on RCV. Alaska, for example, approved RCV in 2020 but opponents have now gathered ...continue reading "Why does MAGA hate ranked-choice voting?"
Talk about your low-hanging fruit. The IRS is finally starting to send letters to people who make $400,000+ but haven't filed a tax return: One thing nonfilers haven’t had to fear, until recently, was hearing about their shortcomings from the IRS. The agency generally knows who should be filing a return but hasn’t had the ...continue reading "The IRS would like you to pretty please file a tax return"
"Check out this video of Biden at the border," says Rich Lowry, so I did. It's 25 seconds long and there's no sound, just Biden walking along stiffly thanks to his arthritis. So what's the big problem? Answer: "Most people are simply not going to feel comfortable with a president who walks this way," says ...continue reading "Joe Biden has arthritis"
I keep hearing about how Mitch McConnell was a terrible person because he stacked the Supreme Court and enabled Donald Trump. That's fair enough, but it's hardly McConnell's biggest achievement: These days you often hear reporters and commentators saying matter of factly that legislation requires 60 votes in the Senate. This is truly McConnell’s greatest ...continue reading "Mitch McConnell’s real legacy is anarchy"
This effect may or may not be permanent, but a team of researchers in England has found that long COVID significantly reduces cognitive ability—and the longer the COVID the more it hurts: Six IQ points is no joke, though this loss is found only in the most extreme cases. On the other hand, these are ...continue reading "Long COVID is wrecking our IQs"
Has the internet destroyed reading? Not really: Reading for pleasure has declined by an average of six minutes per day in the internet era, but the truth is we never read very much in the first place. Twenty years ago TV outpaced reading by 7:1. Today it's nearly 11:1. We really love our televisions.
TikTok is a Chinese surveillance and propaganda tool. Chinese-made cranes in US ports are a national security threat. Huawei routers and 5G infrastructure contain backdoors that allow the Chinese government to monitor and disrupt US phone and internet services. Consumer hobbyist drones made in China could provide sensitive images and geographical data to Beijing. Chinese ...continue reading "How big a threat is Chinese tech?"
PCE inflation spiked upward in January: On a conventional year-over-year basis, PCE inflation was up 2.4% in January and core PCE was up 2.8%. This spike is all about services. Goods inflation was negative, at -2.0%, while services inflation came in at 7.4%.
Here's a question for you. Suppose Joe Biden had a change of heart and decided it was essential to broker a ceasefire in Gaza. What could he do? Is there any pressure he could bring to bear on Bibi Netanyahu to force him to stop fighting? Be creative, but be realistic too and stay within ...continue reading "What could Biden do to stop the fighting in Gaza?"
Over at Mother Jones, Noah Lanard comments on the 13% "uncommitted" vote in yesterday's Michigan Democratic primary: The results in Michigan are another sign the president’s team underestimated the level of outrage that its war response would provoke. The New York Times’ Peter Baker reported Tuesday that the president’s advisers had been hoping the war ...continue reading "Israel isn’t hurting Joe Biden"
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