Speaker Mike Johnson, “The problem is the human heart. It’s not guns … this is not the time to talk about legislation.”
Just say it. It will never be the time. No matter how many innocent people die. Ever.
There are 1.9 mass shootings per day in the “greatest country in the world”. It’s trending up.
According to the Wall Street Journal’s interpretation of the Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances.
The gist of it:
“Rather than being left behind as all the gains in the economy accrue to billionaires, they have in fact seen bigger wealth gains over the past three years than the top 10% of families. Indeed, the biggest wealth gains between 2019 and 2022 were among the approximately 13 million families in the 80th to 90th percentile of the income distribution. Their median wealth jumped 69% from 2019, adjusted for inflation, to $747,000 in 2022.”
They note, “. . . the increase in net worth for these families has far outpaced inflation.”
They conclude:
“Rather than being swallowed by the 1%, the economy, according to these numbers, is creating a growing upper middle class. Many people got there by pursuing college degrees, steadily building retirement accounts and purchasing homes. For the most part, they became wealthy slowly, and were well-positioned when pandemic-era stimulus programs boosted asset values.”
As a result of inheriting some of their families’ growing assets, their children may very well end upper middle class too. Especially if they’re college educated.
The unreported on story of course, is the utter lack of social mobility for the other 80%, many of whom are not college graduates. Historically, the default mindset in the (dis)United States has been an assumption that each generation would enjoy a higher quality of life. Now, understandably, parents worry that their young adult children will not enjoy their level of economic security.
“Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo has agreed on a three-year, $186 million contract extension, his agent, Alex Saratsis, told ESPN on Monday.”
Giannis seems like a different cat. In lots of good ways. Most unique of all, he’s content living in Milwaukee*. Close to his family. Treats people well. The money will not dampen his competitive drive. Maybe the word is “grounded”. Good on him for not forcing a trade to a big market.
Did Saratsis get 5% or $9.3m? How much will be left after taxes. Will Giannis be able to afford his own Greek island?
*No doubt Dame Lillard makes it much more livable.
Alternating this afternoon between reading student papers and watching college football.
And reading this email from a Somali-American student of mine. “I just saw my grade and your feedback on it. I appreciate the well thought out and thorough feedback! I’ll be sure to apply it to my next paper! It feels nice to have educators in higher Ed that actually read my work with thoughts opposed to my high school.”
The most important roles I play are all related—listener, reader, assessor. “Professing” is overrated.
I have 53 students this semester. A lot of high school teachers have 153. I teach 12 hours a week. Most high school teachers teach 25. High school students aren’t truly listened to or read closely because there’s too many of them and too little time.
The distinguishing feature of the factory model of education, where secondary students come at you in waves of thirty every hour, is that it’s impersonal.
A focus on equity is laudable, but this is riddled with jargon and lacking in specificity. Given this muddled, vague language, my money is on the K-12 status quo continuing unabated.
Just when I was starting to think any chance I had of participating in the Olympics may have passed, the International Olympic Committee adds flag football (and cricket)*.
Ask anybody in Louisville, KY, and they will tell you that I was a flag football legend back in the day. With a little practice in the front yard, I’m sure I can find the same form as when I took a double reverse to the house (and kept running well past the endzone).
I will have to enlist the GalPal to shoot some vids of my front yard workouts to get the attention of the U.S. Olympic suits in Colorado Springs. Holler if you want to help as a hapless defensive player trying unsuccessfully to grab my flags as I make you miss like legions of defensive players before you.
*Pickleballers to the IOC, “What are we, chopped liver?”
“When Mary Lou Retton, the decorated Olympic gymnast, accrued medical debt from a lengthy hospital stay, her family did what countless Americans have done before them: turned to crowdfunding to cover the bills.
NYT
On Tuesday, Ms. Retton’s daughter started a fund-raising campaign on social media for her mother, who she said was hospitalized with a rare pneumonia.
“We ask that if you could help in any way, that 1) you PRAY! and 2) if you could help us with finances for the hospital bill,” McKenna Kelley, Ms. Retton’s daughter wrote in a post on Spotfund, a crowdfunding platform similar to GoFundMe.
The public swiftly responded, with thousands donating $350,000 in less than two days, shattering the goal of $50,000.”
Another daughter did not reply when asked why her mother, with a net worth of “just $2 million”, did not have medical insurance.
I’m sure the $350,000 was the exclusive work of soft-hearted and headed liberals. Republicans are far too consistent on the whole negative consequences, tough love, and personal accountability thing to have enabled the Retton family.
Pressing Pause 