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National survey shows where Americans are making cuts amid inflation

Americans are tightening their belts as the price of gas, food and most other goods and services hit a 40-year high.  

A new survey from New Jersey-based financial institution Provident Bank suggests Americans are cutting back on non-essential purchases such as dining out and leisure travel as they are now paying significantly more each month for essential items due to soaring inflation.  

The survey of 600 adults found more than 10 percent of respondents have cut out all non-essential purchases while more than 70 percent said they made at least some changes to their travel plans.  

Respondents said they’ve quit smoking cigarettes, started shopping at discount stores and have taken on side jobs to bolster their income. Others say they have canceled vacations, visited family less frequently or have postponed or delayed travel until the price of gas drops.  

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Some respondents polled in the survey revealed they have had to make much more substantial cutbacks as they feel the financial pinch, saying they have had to skip meals, conserve water and eliminate meat from their diets. Close to half, 46 percent, said they are using credit cards more or “much more” frequently on routine purchases compared to 2021.  

The poll found consumers said price increases on gas, groceries, clothing, meat and utilities hurt their wallet the most. Gas prices increased 4.1 percent last month and are nearly 50 percent higher than they were in May 2021, while food prices increased 1.2 percent last month alone and just over 10 percent over the past year.  

While the current average price of gas in the U.S. is just under $5 a gallon, the survey found 32 percent of drivers are spending between $100 and $250 more per month to fuel up, and 13.5 percent are spending an additional $250 to $500.  

The annual inflation rate increased from 8.3 percent in April to 8.6 percent in May. May’s annual inflation marked the fastest yearly increase in prices since inflation hit 8.9 percent in December 1981.  

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Wanda Sykes: US 'no longer a democracy' after Roe ruling

Wanda Sykes says the United States is “no longer a democracy” following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“I’m a Black, gay woman and I have a daughter. So I’m not doing so well right now,” the comedian said Monday during an interview with Stephen Colbert on CBS’s “The Late Show.”

Sykes ripped the Supreme Court for its decision last Friday to strike down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had granted a constitutional right to an abortion.

“It’s like the country, it’s no longer a democracy, right? I mean, we’re no longer majority rule,” the 58-year-old “The Upshaws” star said.

Sykes placed blame on red states that she described as in the middle of the country.

“Why do they get to tell us what to do, when the majority of us live out [in] New York, California? And we’re paying for all this crap, really,” Sykes told Colbert.

“That’s the union,” Colbert replied.

“It’s supposed to be a representative democracy, but it turns out to be minority rule right now,” the New York-based late-night TV host said.

“California, if it were a country, it’d be like the fourth- or fifth-largest economy,” Sykes said.

“So if, you know, I’m fitting the bill, know your position. You know what I’m saying?” the comic continued to laughs from the audience.

“If I say, ‘Hey, let’s go out to dinner.’ You don’t get to pick the restaurant. Just shut up and eat,” Sykes exclaimed.

Sykes, a critic of former President Trump, told Colbert she “jumped the gun” by naming her 2019 Netflix comedy special, “Not Normal.” But the Emmy Award winner suggested that any lawmakers involved with the deadly Jan. 6 riot last year at the Capitol could help actually help return the country to normalcy.

“I think things would be normal like if people — especially elected officials who tried to overthrow the election — if they went to jail. That will feel normal.”

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White House cites 'dangerous ramifications' to providing abortion services on federal land

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday warned that there could be dangerous ramifications to providing abortion services on federal lands in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that struck down Roe v. Wade.

The Biden administration has come under pressure from progressives to take tougher actions in response to Roe v. Wade’s overturning, including considering the use of federal land in states opposed to abortion to provide the service.

But Jean-Pierre said it doing so could put those providing and getting the service at legal and physical risk.

“With this proposal—we understand the proposal is well intentioned but here’s the thing— it could actually put women and providers at risk. And importantly, in states where abortion is now illegal, women and providers who are not federal employees, as you look at the federal land, could potentially be prosecuted,” she told reporters on Air Force One.

“As we understand why they would put forward this proposal, there’s actually dangerous ramifications to doing this,” she added.

Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), have called on the Biden administration to use federal land to create places where people can receive abortions in states that restrict them.

Vice President Harris on Monday told CNN that the Biden administration is not discussing providing abortion services on federal lands when she was questioned on what executive powers Biden has to act following the Supreme Court’s historic decision.

Jean-Pierre on Tuesday also told reporters, “we’re looking at an array of other actions.”

Biden in remarks on Friday vowed to do what he can with his executive authority, including by ensuring access to Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved contraception and medication to end early pregnancies and by protecting women who will now be required to travel to states where abortion rights are protected.

Source: TEST FEED1

What is actually killing Americans and how to solve it

President Biden recently demanded that lawmakers get their act together, deal with gun violence, stop ‘[failing the American people]’ and keep so many Americans from dying. Well, I have news for you, our government is failing us, Americans are dying, but it isn’t gun violence that is the leading cause, it’s opioids.

Our leaders are failing us because guns are easier to talk about, politically more enticing, and frankly are probably never going to get solved in the United States, so no politician will ever really need to step up and commit. But opioids requires recognizing hard truths; drug addicts aren’t that sympathetic to voters, and the stigma that comes with it isn’t going anytime soon. But whether you don’t care because the opioid crisis hasn’t touched you personally yet (it will soon, I promise) or because you don’t really care about drug addicts dying (your bank account and our economy does), we need to act — and act in ways that will actually solve this crisis to avoid losing an entire generation of Americans.

I know everyone is almost as sick of hearing about the opioid crisis as they are of hearing about COVID, but here are the hard facts. Illegal fentanyl, a significant amount of it coming from China and through our Southern border, is now the leading cause of death in 18-45 year-olds in the United States, and it is only going to get worse. Guns don’t come near to opioids in terms of the numbers of dead Americans — and unlike guns, opioid deaths are only increasing. In 2020, 19,384 Americans died of guns (excluding suicides); while this number is higher than the past couple of years, there were similar numbers of in the 1990s, and one could easily argue that the numbers are pretty stead over time: The gun homicide rate was actually higher in the 1970s and 1990s. However, deaths by drug overdoses, have more than doubled since 2015 and are increasing exponentially, with over 100,000 Americans dying in the past 12 months — and this is all while we have been spending billions of dollars fighting the “opioid epidemic.”

Between the federal government shelling out to solve it, the cost to the economy, the lost productivity, healthcare costs and criminal justice activities, the opioid crisis cost the U.S. economy $631 billion from 2015-2018. Given that even more Americans are using and dying, we can easily say that since the ‘fight’ began, the opioid crisis has cost the United States over $1.2 trillion. And guess what? We are losing, big time.

The usual therapies don’t work. We are seeing no change, just more death. And if you don’t care about the people dying of opioids and illegal fentanyl, then care about the money — because it’s your tax dollars and your economy.

So, what do we do? We fix it, and here’s how.

We have a successful model: COVID. Instead of waiting years, with all the red-tape and cost, to try to create a drug and if/when that fails, try another and wait another 10 years, we should take $30 billion and try out 150 drugs all at the same time. As Professor Andrew Lo’s research shows, this method has both an excellent return-on-investment for investors and solves the issue of time — we could have a cure for the opioid crisis in a matter of months, just like had vaccines for COVID-19.

So why haven’t we done it? The hardest part is done. We have $32 billion just sitting there, in fact — as settlement money from the pharmaceutical companies charged with creating with creating this crisis in the first place. But instead of pooling together like we did with COVID, we are doing the same old useless political hackery of parceling it out to individual states and even counties, with politicians shelling it out in the same old, clearly useless ways.

The United States — and the world for that matter, but really the United States — mobilized behind finding a vaccine for COVID because we knew how many deaths would be coming our way. The only way we are going to solve an exponentially growing crisis that spans all socioeconomic classes is to come together again. We have the money, we just don’t have the will. But before we know it, if we don’t act, we will have lost an entire generation of Americans.

Liberty Vittert, PhD, is a professor of the practice of data science at the Olin Business School at the Washington University in St. Louis. She is also the feature editor of the Harvard Data Science Review and co-host of the Harvard Data Science Review podcast. She is an on-air statistician for “On Balance” on NewsNation. Follow her on Twitter @libertyvittert

Source: TEST FEED1

North Carolina sees its first on-demand health care deliveries by drone

North Carolina is getting its first long-range health care drone deliveries on Tuesday, with a new effort to further on-demand healthcare and transform the patient experience.

Three U.S. health care organizations — Novant Health, Magellan Rx Management and Cardinal Health — will work independently with drone delivery company Zipline to deliver products from a distribution center in Kannapolis, N.C., according to a press release to The Hill.

“We imagine a future in which goods are transported nearly instantly,” said Zipline founder and CEO Keller Rinaudo. “Together with Novant Health, Magellan Rx Management, and Cardinal Health, we are making it a reality. In the process, we are setting the bar for care and convenience with instant logistics.”

The automated delivery service allows organizations and patients to receive their deliveries in as little as 15 minutes and is capable of serving customers within a 7,800-square-mile area, the press release said.

Cardinal Health, a distributor of pharmaceuticals, medical and laboratory products, is delivering certain pharmaceutical products and medical supplies in an effort to mitigate the risk of inventory stock-outs, as well as reduce barriers for patients accessing medical necessities.

Magellan Rx Management says it is the first and only national pharmacy benefits manager utilizing drones to deliver prescription medications directly to patients’ homes, which include specialty medications that treat chronic, complex conditions.

Novant Health, a network of almost 800 locations, first partnered with Zipline in 2020 to launch the country’s first emergency drone logistics operation for a pandemic response, making it the first hospital to be granted Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval for contactless delivery of personal protective equipment and critical medical supplies. The companies are now working together to expand the delivery of specialty medications to Novant Health patients.

“North Carolina is first in flight, and Zipline’s work is taking us to new heights,” said North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D). “This innovative partnership will increase access to health care for our community.”

The announcement comes after the FAA awarded Zipline Part 135 certification, which allows it to operate as a small air carrier in the U.S. It is only the fourth drone operator ever to receive this certification in the United States.

Source: TEST FEED1

White House says WNBA star Brittney Griner case has 'fullest attention of the president'

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Tuesday said that case of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who is detained in Russia, has the full attention of President Biden.

“It has the fullest attention of the president and every senior member of his national security and diplomatic team. And, we are actively working to find a resolution to this case and will continue to do so without rest until we get Brittney safely home,” Sullivan told reporters on Air Force One.

Griner’s detention was extended for six months on Monday, pending the outcome of a trial that is scheduled to start on Friday. She made an appearance in a Russian court and was ordered to stand trial on cannabis possession charges, following her arrest over four months ago. She could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Sullivan on Tuesday said he and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have both spoken in the last few days with Griner’s wife, Cherelle, to “convey our very deep sympathy, convey that we just can’t even begin to imagine what the family must be going through, what Brittney must be going through.”

Cherelle Griner last week said she hasn’t spoken to her wife since February and that she tried to call through the American embassy in Russia for their anniversary but they were never connected.

Sullivan reiterated to reporters that Griner is “wrongfully” and “unjustly” detained and called for her safe release.

“The United States government is actively engaged with trying to solve this case and get Brittney home,” he added, but wouldn’t go into details. He also didn’t provide an update on how Griner is doing when asked by a reporter.

Multiple organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NCAA), Human Rights Campaign and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association, have called on Biden to broker a deal with Russia for Griner’s release.

Sullivan on Tuesday also said that the U.S. is working to return all unjustly detained Americans in Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, Venezuela and China. His comments come as Biden is traveling to Spain for a NATO meeting.

Source: TEST FEED1

The conspiratorial roots of Trumpism

Former President Trump has often been compared to George Wallace, the former governor of Alabama and 1968 third-party presidential candidate. Wallace first appeared on the national stage when, in his 1963 inaugural address, he shouted: “Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!”

That year, a federal court ordered the admission of two African American students, James Hood and Vivian Malone, to the University of Alabama. President Kennedy dispatched the U.S. military to enforce the order. In a scene staged for the television cameras, Gov. Wallace stood in the schoolhouse doorway and proclaimed his dedication to “state’s rights.” In 1968, Wallace expanded his racist appeal to include the cultural resentments of working-class whites, denouncing long-haired college students, saying they knew a lot of four-letter words, except two: “W-O-R-K and S-O-A-P.” Wallace won 13.5 percent of the popular vote and five Southern states.

It’s easy to see the comparisons between Wallace and Trump. Both endorsed political violence: Wallace threatened to run over demonstrators with his limousine; Trump said he would like to personally punch protestors in the face. Both were viewed by many as racists.

But conspiracy-minded thinking energize Trump and his followers most. Trump repeatedly accused President Obama of falsifying his birth certificate, and later claimed that Obama had wiretapped his offices, calling him “a bad (or sick) guy.” In 2020, Trump claimed his reelection was “stolen” because dead people and non-citizens voted, absentee ballots were falsified and suitcases filled with Biden ballots were fed into the voting machines. Trump accused two Georgia election workers – Shaye Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, both African Americans – of engaging in criminal activity, tweeting that Moss was “a professional vote scammer and hustler.”

Trump’s promotion of conspiracy theories is reminiscent of the late Robert Welch. Welch, heir to a vast candy fortune, founded the John Birch Society in 1958. Welch claimed without evidence that Dwight Eisenhower was a “dedicated, conscious agent of the communist conspiracy”; that the United Nations was “the instrument of communist global conquest”; that the civil rights movement sought to tear the country asunder and establish an “independent Negro-Socialist Republic”; and that the fluoridation of public drinking water was “a method of Red Warfare.”

The John Birch Society quickly grew to 30,000 dues-paying members that included two congressional Republicans and a staff of 240 employees. Its followers were described as “wealthy businessmen, retired military leaders and little old ladies in tennis shoes.”

And they were a powerful force in Republican politics. Barry Goldwater praised its supporters as people who “believe in God, they believe in the Constitution, they believe in freedom,” calling them “the finest people in my community [and] the kind [of people] we need in politics.”

Robert Welch was determined to seize control of the Republican Party. “The John Birch Society is to be a monolithic body. . . . No collection of debating societies is ever going to stop the Communist conspiracy from taking over, and I have no intention of adding another frustrated group to their number. We mean business every step of the way.”

Welch denounced democracy as “a deceptive phrase, a weapon and demagoguery, and a perennial fraud.”

Donald Trump’s embrace of authoritarianism is reminiscent of Robert Welch’s. After the 2020 election, Trump considered using the military to seize ballots; his campaign endorsed fake electors who would ensure his reelection; Trump officials pursued claims that Italian military satellites were changing votes; and Trump “gleefully” watched the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.

As president, Trump was in a far more dangerous position than Welch to inflict harm on the body politic. During her videotaped testimony before the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Ruby Freeman said: “Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States to target you? The president of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one. But he targeted me, Lady Ruby, a small business owner, a mother, a proud American citizen who [stood] up to help Fulton County run an election in the middle of the pandemic.”

Those who believe in conspiracy theories don’t seek converts, but heretics. Robert Welch wanted to purge the Republican Party of anyone who didn’t believe his conspiracy theories. Like members of the John Birch Society, today’s Trump Republicans are on the hunt for RINOs (Republicans In Name Only).

In 2021, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) was expelled from her position as House Republican Conference chair. She, together with Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) (who recently posted a letter from someone threatening to kill him, his wife and five-month-old child) are pariahs within the Republican Party. Missouri Senate candidate Eric Greitens is running an advertisement featuring him outfitted with an assault rifle and entering a home, saying, “Today, we’re goin’ RINO hunting.”  

Robert Welch eventually faded away. But Donald Trump and Trumpism are alive and well in today’s Republican Party. And they are on the hunt.

John Kenneth White is a professor of politics at The Catholic University of America. His latest book (co-authored with Matthew Kerbel) is “American Political Parties: Why They Formed, How They Function, and Where They’re Headed.”

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Biden, Erdogan speak ahead of NATO summit

President Biden on Tuesday spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Madrid where the two leaders will cross paths.  

The conversation was Biden’s first with Erdogan since the Turkish president raised objections to the bids by Sweden and Finland to join the NATO alliance.  

According to the White House readout, Biden told Erdogan that he “looks forward” to seeing him at the summit in Madrid, which kicks off on Tuesday.  

“President Biden noted he looks forward to seeing President Erdogan at the NATO Summit in Madrid where leaders will discuss the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for Transatlantic security and other threats to the Alliance such as terrorism, as well as take historic decisions to strengthen the Alliance’s collective defense and security,” the White House readout said.  

The readout did not make specific mention of the bids by Sweden and Finland to join NATO. Still, their membership bids promise to be a leading topic at the NATO gathering in Spain. Biden threw his support behind Sweden and Finland seeking to join the alliance last month after Russia invaded Ukraine.   

Some experts have argued that Biden needs to get more directly involved in resolving the dispute. Turkey has accused Sweden and Finland of not doing enough to fight terrorism and demanded the extradition of suspects affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).  

Some suspect that Turkey is looking for concessions in holding up the bids and that the U.S. will need to offer Ankara something in return, like American-made fighter jets.  

It’s unclear if Biden will meet one-on-one with Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO summit, which is taking place over the course of three days.  

“Nothing is scheduled at the moment, but they may very well have the opportunity to see one another at the NATO Summit,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday.  

Sullivan said he has been speaking daily with counterparts from Sweden, Finland, and Turkey and that Biden is following the talks “very closely.”

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World's stress at record levels: Gallup

Record numbers of people around the world reported experiencing stress and worry last year, according to a new report by Gallup.

The survey giant’s annual Global Emotions report shows record percentages of respondents globally experiencing a lot of stress (41 percent) and worry (42 percent). 

Gallup’s Negative Experience Index, which polls people on five separate negative experiences and then creates an index for the results, was at its highest yet in 2021 at 33. The index has been slowly trending upward, only taking two dips downward since 2006.

By comparison, Gallup’s Positive Experience Index, which operates similarly to its Negative Experience Index but polls people instead on positive experiences and indexes them, also dropped from 71 in 2020 to 69 in 2021. 

Though the Positive Experience Index for 2021 is not the lowest recorded by Gallup – 68 is the lowest that Gallup has recorded for the index – the decrease between the years demonstrates that the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic appeared to take a more negative toll than the first year.

Gallup noted, however, that the poll did find several silver linings: For example, the percentage of respondents worldwide reporting anger in 2021 as compared to 2020 dropped by 1 percentage point.

Additionally, slightly more people reported learning something interesting and said they started laughing and smiling again.

The report comes amid a lagging COVID-19 pandemic, now more than two years old, which has disrupted everyday life for those around the world. People are also experiencing increasing inflation, impacted by the pandemic and Russia’s invasion in Ukraine. 

The Gallup Global Emotions 2022 report polled adults in 122 areas and countries in 2021 and early 2022. Around 1,000 adults were polled by Gallup in each country, though more were polled in several countries. The margin of error is between 2 and 5.5 percentage points. 

Source: TEST FEED1