Even if you hate the time change, you have to admit this lighting better fits our national mood. The latest dark turn is the Trump administration’s refusal to dole out SNAP benefits to the 42 million Americans who receive food stamps. Days after a judge ruled that the payments can’t simply be stopped, the administration has agreed to release the funds. But not all of them. About half. NYT (Gift Article): Trump Administration to Send Only Partial Food Stamp Payments This Month. At this point, even such a half hearted measure might surprise you on the upside. So maybe you see the glass as half full. But I’m guessing about 42 million people will experience this as a glass half empty moment. And, in the short term, it could be full empty. It “remained unclear when food stamp recipients might actually receive their aid, since the Trump administration itself had acknowledged previously in court that there could be substantial delays in provisioning SNAP on a partial basis during the shutdown.” 2Vice Versa“One minor but arresting fact of U.S. history is the huge amount of alcohol the average American consumed in 1830: 7.1 undiluted gallons a year, the equivalent of four shots of 80-proof whiskey every day. Assuming some children wimped out after the first drink, this statistic suggests that large numbers of Jacksonian-era adults were rolling eight belts deep seven days a week, with all the attendant implications for social and political life. Imagine what it was like resolving a buggy accident, let alone conducting a presidential election.” These days, we drink a lot less. And a lot more of us are choosing not to drink at all. But what effect do these drinking habits—along with dramatic changes to some of our other national vices—have on our shared (and increasing, not shared) experience? Dan Brooks in The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Lonely New Vices of American Life. “That the new vices are so uniformly solitary suggests that the national character might become more solitary, too. This trend is unsettling, but perhaps more alarming is that large numbers of people could become so oblivious to the upside of vice as to decide that it is better pursued alone.” (So do society a favor and forward this newsletter to a few friends. It actually pairs quite nicely with a few gallons of whiskey.) 3Water Falls“Global temperatures have made the atmosphere more waterlogged — providing fuel for wetter and more dangerous storms. In the past 85 years, The Post found, the amount of water vapor moving through Earth’s atmosphere has increased 12 percent. That increase is equivalent to 35 Mississippi Rivers flowing through the air every second.” And what goes up must come down. But it doesn’t come down everywhere. A new WaPo(Gift Article) investigation reveals where climate change has supercharged the movement of moisture through the skies. Deadly rivers in the sky. 4Ballpark Figures“Baseball is but a game, glitter on dirt. It is three outs and four bases and nine innings (sometimes 18) and a bunch of millionaires grunting on your TV screen. It is a nice summer day, a hot dog and a few cold ones. It’s an expensive jersey that you didn’t need but bought anyway. And it is all, compared to the realities of life, completely trivial. It’s a beautiful distraction. Neither the actions nor the outcomes actually matter. In other words: It’s all only as important and as meaningful as it makes us feel. And on Saturday, this heavenly, cruel, perfectly imperfect sport sent any and all who interacted with World Series Game 7 through every emotion the human experience has to offer. Fans from Saskatchewan to Southern California, from Toronto to Tokyo, were held captive by the game’s wondrous, tortuous, addictive power. It was, in every way, the best baseball has to offer.” Game 7 took fans everywhere in an off-the-rails thrill ride. 5Extra, ExtraA Bleak Sequel: “The first time Darfur tipped into chaos, there was at least some degree of Western pressure. This time, there’s little celebrity activism or political attention, and impunity for abuses is rife.” NYT (Gift Article): A Massacre Unfolding in Sudan. “The fighters rampaging across Darfur are armed, organized and funded better than ever. And they are backed by one of the wealthiest countries in the wider region, the United Arab Emirates, which is also a close partner of the United States. (The Emirates has denied backing either side in the conflict.) Then, fighters rode mainly on horses and camels; today, they drive armored vehicles and pickups. Before, they torched villages; now, they fire heavy artillery and fly sophisticated drones.” |