https://time.com/6296038/john-fetterman-depression-cover-story/

«Fetterman ran for mayor in 2005 on a reform platform, beating the incumbent by a single vote in the Democratic primary.»

Voting matters.

«Governments’ responses only compounded the problem. To preserve jobs, they steered their subsidies primarily to employers, leaving consumers without a cash cushion when the price shock came. Americans, by contrast, benefited from inexpensive energy and government aid directed primarily at citizens to keep them spending.

In the past, the continent’s formidable export industry might have come to the rescue. But a sluggish recovery in China, a critical market for Europe, is undermining that growth pillar. High energy costs and rampant inflation at a level not seen since the 1970s are dulling manufacturers’ price advantage in international markets and smashing the continent’s once-harmonious labor relations. As global trade cools, Europe’s heavy reliance on exports—which account for about 50% of eurozone GDP versus 10% for the U.S.—is becoming a weakness.

….

Adjusted for inflation and purchasing power, wages have declined by about 3% since 2019 in Germany, by 3.5% in Italy and Spain and by 6% in Greece. Real wages in the U.S. have increased by about 6% over the same period, according to OECD data.

The pain reaches far into the middle classes. In Brussels, one of Europe’s richest cities, teachers and nurses stood in line on a recent evening to collect half-price groceries from the back of a truck. The vendor, Happy Hours Market, collects food close to its expiration date from supermarkets and advertises it through an app. Customers can order in the early afternoon and collect their cut-price groceries in the evening. 

“Some customers tell me, because of you I can eat meat two or three times per week,” said Pierre van Hede, who was handing out crates of groceries.

….

The eurozone economy grew about 6% over the past 15 years, measured in dollars, compared with 82% for the U.S., according to International Monetary Fund data. That has left the average EU country poorer per head than every U.S. state except Idaho and Mississippi….

Weak growth and rising interest rates are straining Europe’s generous welfare states, which provide popular healthcare services and pensions. European governments find the old recipes for fixing the problem are either becoming unaffordable or have stopped working. Three-quarters of a trillion euros in subsidies, tax breaks and other forms of relief have gone to consumers and businesses to offset higher energy costs—something economists say is now itself fueling inflation, defeating the subsidies’ purpose. 

Public-spending cuts after the global financial crisis starved Europe’s state-funded healthcare systems, especially the U.K.’s National Health Service.

….

With European governments needing to increase defense spending and given rising borrowing costs, economists expect taxes to increase, adding pressure on consumers. Taxes in Europe are already high relative to those in other wealthy countries, equivalent to around 40-45% of GDP compared with 27% in the U.S. American workers take home almost three-quarters of their paychecks, including income taxes and Social Security taxes, while French and German workers keep just half. 

The pauperization of Europe has bolstered the ranks of labor unions, which are picking up tens of thousands of members across the continent, reversing a decadeslong decline.»

http://Europeans are getting poorer and Americans are getting richer. The story behind a continent’s economic dec https://www.wsj.com/articles/europeans-poorer-inflation-economy-255eb629?st=vw960dq9tdph6vq&reflink=share_mobilewebshare

https://www.tastingtable.com/1338721/twentieth-century-drink-train-inspired/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/its-not-fair-florida-vocal-coach-capitol-rioter-6-years_n_64b2f575e4b0dcb4cab36bb0

《“My whole dream of my life has been taken because people have different politics than mine,” Southard-Rumsey said, the outlet reported.

Sitting before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, she added, per CBS: “I have grievances since they don’t listen to us at the polling place. They don’t listen to us little people in the regular world.”

Southard-Rumsey reportedly urged Mehta to think about “what I now have to give up” and concluded by saying, “It’s not fair.”

….

Prosecutors say she used a flagpole to push against law enforcement trying to defend the Capitol, causing one officer to hit his head on the base of a marble statue.

Southard-Rumsey was also captured on video yelling at Capitol Police, “Tell Pelosi we are coming for that bitch,” referring to the then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

“There’s a hundred thousand of us! What’s it going to be?” Southard-Rumsey was heard saying on the video.

Prosecutors noted her threatening social media posts in the wake of the 2020 election, which included “HANG the TRAITORS!” and a message to “go to their work and home, pull them out by their teeth and hang them for treason!”》

Different politics, eh?

Oy. North Korean defector entertainment industry.

https://wapo.st/3KnuBEX

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-support-sag-aftra-wga-strike-hollywood-actors-writers-donate-fund-2023-7#:~:text=You%20can%20support%20the%20strike,considered%20crossing%20the%20picket%20line.

We don’t watch a ton of movies and shows, but we do love our Netflix and British murder mysteries.

Mmm, plastic-eating bacteria. THAT won’t cause any trouble.

“Researchers at the Cockrell School of Engineering and College of Natural Sciences used a machine learning model to generate novel mutations to a natural enzyme called PETase that allows bacteria to degrade PET plastics. The model predicts which mutations in these enzymes would accomplish the goal of quickly depolymerizing post-consumer waste plastic at low temperatures.”

https://news.utexas.edu/2022/04/27/plastic-eating-enzyme-could-eliminate-billions-of-tons-of-landfill-waste/#:~:text=Researchers%20at%20the,at%20low%20temperatures.