, - Polarization & Extremism Research and Innovation Lab - School of Public Affairs
Stephan:
This is some excellent research on what is going on in the younger generations concerning guns. What really stood out for me was the correlation with young men between White supremacy, depression, loneliness and and obsession with guns. To quote the study, “Higher endorsement of male supremacist beliefs is associated with more mental distress (depression, anxiety, loneliness, post-traumatic stress), support for racist ideas, support for anti-government ideas and viewing more gun-related media.” This is all a result of greed and profit becoming the top priorities of our culture instead of fostering wellbeing. And it is being manipulated through social media and misinformation.
To read the full study see: https://www.splcenter.org/peril-youth-attitudes-guns-report
Executive Summary: This report contains our findings from a multi-phase, mixed methods study of youth attitudes toward guns and gun violence in the United States, conducted primarily in 2022.
Rationale: This study aims to shed light on the following research question: What are young people’s thoughts, feelings and beliefs surrounding guns and gun violence in the United States? This research was inspired by: 1) the increase in gun violence, including mass shootings, within the U.S. in recent years; 2) the landscape of youth mental health and 3) the relative dearth of research into how youth think and feel about guns and gun violence in the United States. Methods: This three-phase study included: 1) a mixed-methods coding and analysis of online gun-related content in order to assess prominent gun narratives between October 2021 and February 2022; 2) a quantitative survey using a U.S. national sample of 4,156 youth aged 14-30 (under 18 years old: n = 1,282 [30.85%]) fielded from September 16, 2022 – October 13, 2022, and 3) an ongoing (as of January 2023, n = 38) qualitative phase of focus groups/interviews with youth aged 14-30 recruited from the survey.
Quantitative Findings: • A vast majority (74%) of U.S. youth and […]
There is a major change occurring in every country in the world that is going to change the future fundamentally, and yet almost no one in any government, and certainly virtually no one in media is talking about it. I speak here about the aging of populations. The developed world particularly is going to see a change in the ratio of older and younger population. More retired, fewer workers. As this article describes that is going to change society significantly.
The world’s demographics have already been transformed. Europe is shrinking. China is shrinking, with India, a much younger country, overtaking it this year as the world’s most populous nation.
But what we’ve seen so far is just the beginning.
The projections are reliable, and stark: By 2050, people age 65 and older will make up nearly 40 percent of the population in some parts of East Asia and Europe. That’s almost twice the share of older adults in Florida, America’s retirement capital. Extraordinary numbers of retirees will be dependent on a shrinking number of working-age people to support them.
In all of recorded history, no country has ever been as old as these nations are expected to get.
As a result, experts predict, things many wealthier countries take for granted — like pensions, retirement ages and strict immigration policies — will need overhauls to be sustainable. And today’s wealthier countries will almost inevitably make up a smaller share of global G.D.P., economists say.
This is a sea change for Europe, the United States, China and other top economies, which have […]
When I was a boy my community in Clifton, once an independent village but by then part of Cincinnati, Ohio, built a community pool, and and several tennis courts. That must have been about 1947. This community center for me, and most of the children in Clifton, became the center of our lives in summer, particularly before I learned to drive. Like my friends I learned to be a proficient swimmer in that pool, as well as a fearless diver from the high board. I learned how to rescue someone who was in trouble in the water. Looking back I see it as one of the critical turning points of my life. And this same story played out for millions of children across the United States. But, as this article describes, public pools are dying, no longer a social priority for cities and towns everywhere. Did you know that the majority of Americans no longer know how to swim, and that as a result, drowning is the No. 1 cause of death for Americans 1 to 4 years old. It is the No. 2 cause of death for the next age group. And it is one of the leading causes of death for all Americans under the age of 24. Racism is part of the reason for this, lack of community commitment and funding is another part. And as a result it is hard for community pools to find competent life guards. An entire way of life is vanishing, and as a country we are the worst for this change.
The Perry public swimming pool in Phoenix sits empty on July 19 during a record heat wave after being closed and drained. Credit: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP / Getty
This summer, it’s hot. We don’t need to tell you. America’s been suffering a catastrophic heat wave for more than a month—no part of the country has been immune. That means people are scrambling to cope. Recently, the president even issued the country’s first-ever heat wave “hazard alert” for workers. But there’s one obvious, no-brainer option for staying cool. And across the country, it’s failing.
More than half of Boston’s city pools closed this summer. The same thing happened in Jacksonville, Florida. And in Atlanta, all the outdoor public pools closed for the rest of the summer before July even ended. Pool closures have plagued American cities for years. Officials blame crumbling infrastructure and, recently, lifeguard shortages. About a third of the nation’s public pools were affected by staffing issues last year. According to the American Lifeguard Association, 2023 is as bad or worse.
“We really just haven’t prioritized swimming in this […]
In contrast to the seemingly endless reports of corruption on the part of the christofascist six Justice majority on the Supreme Court, we have the integrity and competence of the three women who make up the minority of justices focused on fostering wellbeing. And here is Associate Justice Elena Kagan’s response to the blatant imperialism, we are above the law, statement of cabalist Samuel Alito.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Credit: Stuart Isett / Fortune
While acknowledging that she couldn’t speak for Alito’s full intentions in making his recent controversial claims, Kagan proceeded to lay out the constitutional basis for Congress intervening in the Supreme Court’s business.
“Of course Congress can regulate the Supreme Court,” she said. “Congress funds the court. Congress has traditionally made changes to the court’s structure and composition. Congress has historically made changes to the court’s appellate jurisdiction. And there’s a provision in the Constitution that says something like, ‘The Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction under regulations that Congress provides.’”
Kagan also said she found it unlikely, given the emphasis that America’s founders placed on checks and balances when drafting the United States Constitution, they would have intended for the Supreme Court to be immune to oversight from the other two branches of the federal government.
I don’t think most Americans can even understand the grotesque wealth inequality in the United States that has been engineered by the Republican Party rigging the American tax structure. Why? The numbers are simply incomprehensible. To give you an example of what I mean, last Friday Jeff Bezos’ fortune in 24 hours increased by $12 billion. To break that down a bit, over those 24 hours it increased the equivalent of $541,666,666.67 an hour, or $9,027,777.78 a minute, or $150,462.96 a second. The average American full-time worker median income this year will be $56,940. So on that one day Jeff Bezos made every second almost three times the annual income of an American full-time worker.
Jeff Bezos, third richest person on earth. Credit: Wired
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos saw his personal net worth increase by a whopping $12 billion on Friday morning as the e-commerce giant’s stock price soared by some 11% in pre-noon trading — the largest single-day jump so far this year.
The Seattle-based company, whose stock was trading at nearly $143 per share as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time on Friday, surged after dazzling Wall Street with an earnings report that blew away analyst expectations.
