Politics
Merriam Webster Dictionary*: Synonyms of Woke, Chiefly US Slang: Aware of and Actively Attentive to Important Societal Facts and Issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)
"No retreat into cynicism and hopelessness. … We have a moral obligation to "stay woke," take a stand and be active; challenging injustices and racism in our communities and fighting hatred and discrimination wherever it rises—Barbara Lee … argued that … Brad Pitt is not only woke, but the wokest man in Hollywood … because he uses his status—and his production company Plan B—to create space for artists of color, with such films as 12 Years a Slave, Selma, and the upcoming film Moonlight.— Giselle Defares. Being woke to gender discrimination is difficult; it ruins things you love. Entire canons of art are rotten to the core with it.— Rachel Edelstein' more »
Jo Freeman Reviews: The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald, A Novel by William Alsup
Jo Freeman Reviews: "You read dialogue and details and personal stories that you won’t find in official testimony. Reading the Warren Commission volumes might not be exciting, but this book is. The questions and answers in the trial have to be fiction, because Oswald never went on trial. But.... you still feel like you have a front row seat in the court room. There are plenty of conspiracy theories, both real and fictional... These were enhanced by the fact that Oswald had trained as a Marine marksman and then defected to Russia. He married a Russian woman and returned to the US. The author had his pick of theories to complicate the “trial,” without picking any of them.... There were also quite a few mysteries. People disagreed over whether they heard three, four, or five shots. They also disagreed over where they came from. Why were only two bullets found? The lawyers in the book debate these mysteries as they try to figure out what really happened." more »
Jo Freeman Reviews: The Moment: Changemakers on Why and How They Joined the Fight for Social Justice
Jo Freeman Reviews: After publishing his last book in 1921, based on memories and interviews with civil rights icon C.T. Vivian, Steve Fiffer wanted to do more like it. He felt that many lesser-known people had stories that needed to be told. His publisher concurred. It does help to start with an interested publisher. At that time it was NewSouth books. By the time the book came out in November 2022, NewSouth had become an imprint of the University of Georgia Press.
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Congressional Budget Office: Federal Budget Deficit Totals $1.4 Trillion in 2023; Annual Deficits Average $2.0 Trillion Over the 2024–2033 Period
"The cumulative deficit over the 2023–2032 period that we now project is $3 trillion larger than we projected last May, mainly because of newly enacted legislation and changes to the economic forecast that boost interest costs and spending on mandatory programs. Federal debt held by the public is projected to rise from 98 percent of GDP in 2023 to 118 percent in 2033 — an average increase of 2 percentage points per year. Over that period, the growth of interest costs and mandatory spending outpaces the growth of revenues and the economy, driving up debt. Those factors persist beyond 2033, pushing federal debt higher still, to 195 percent of GDP in 2053. The increase in mandatory spending is driven by rising costs for Social Security and Medicare. Total discretionary spending falls in relation to GDP. As the cost of financing the nation’s debt grows, net outlays for interest increase substantially." more »