This and That---February 21, 2024 Edition

A few random observations, charts and factoids to provide some context on what is going on in the world.

What Is Going On In Portland?

Portland, Oregon was at the center of the defund the police movement a  few years ago.

Source: https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/infrastructure/503940-portland-is-latest-city-to-defund-police/

The argument was that resources would be better spent on psychologists, mental health professionals and paramedics than community policing.

This was how one of the young. liberal, female protestors confronted the police in Portland during the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movement in 2020.

It was one of my favorite images from that crazy year.

How have the progressive strategies worked out in Portland?

Another interesting factoid I saw about Portland recently.

It has the most strip clubs per capita of any city in the United States.

Source: https://priceonomics.com/why-does-portland-have-so-many-strip-clubs/

I have to say that surprised me considering the progressive, feminist mindset that permeates politics in that city.

In attempting to get an explanation as to how it is that Portland became the strip club capital of America I came across this explanation.

When Oregon adopted its constitution in 1859, it included a very vague, open-to-interpretation statute (Article 1, Section 8): “No law shall be passed restraining the free expression of opinion, or restricting the right to speak, write or print freely on any subject whatever.” Since then, Oregon’s Supreme Court has vigorously defended this “free expression” in all forms, resulting in something of a garden of eden for strip clubs.

Apparently that "free expression of opinion" allows strip clubs to proliferate and young women to protest the police while nude in the middle of the street but did not extend to those who did not want to wear a mask or to get vaccinated during Covid.

Source: https://www.wmtw.com/article/portland-city-council-unanimously-passes-mask-mandate/38659539

Source: https://komonews.com/news/local/covid-19-vaccine-required-for-city-of-portland-employees#!

White Males Die By Suicide, Black Males Die By Homicide 

This is an interesting chart that shows violent death rates for males by race.

White males die by suicide. Black males by homicide.

Credit: https://twitter.com/Foz89107323/status/1759271422956863600

It appears that destructive tensions in Whites are borne internally whereas the opposite is true in Blacks.

This appears to have been exacerbated in recent years as "White Guilt" has become a thing.

I referred to the following data in an earlier blog post  ("Making Sense of Self-Esteem") that shows that in the U.S. Blacks have the highest level of self esteem and Whites have the lowest. This may partially explain the high suicide rates for White males compared to Blacks.

It has also generally been true that all races feel better and have warmer feelings about their own race than they do of others. This has probably been the case since the beginning of time since familiarity drives favorability in the human mind.

You see that fact in this chart which measures in-group bias by race/ethnicity.

However, there is one outlier---White liberals.

They claim to feel more warmth to other races than they do to their own race.

Credit: https://twitter.com/Foz89107323/status/1759271478120305101

White liberals are the only group who views themselves worse than they do others.

It is never a good thing to take anger out on someone else.

This data suggests that it is worse to take it out on yourself.

Who Is Driving In Luxury?

Recent data suggests that 39% of the vehicles that Gen Z are interested in buying are luxury models.

Only 12% of the vehicles that Boomers are likely to buy are luxury brands..

Gen Z is generally defined as someone who was born in the mid-1990s or later making the oldest of that generation in their late 20's.

What is interesting is that the Federal Reserve is not even separately breaking out the wealth of this generation yet. due to lack of data. Anyone born after 1981 is considered a Millennial.

However, even considering this, Millennials only hold 8.5% of total wealth in the U.S.

Boomers hold 50%.

The fact that Boomers are not interested in buying luxury cars might be one reason why they have that wealth.

The fact that Gen Z wants to buy a luxury car must be a reason why they want their student loan debt to be cancelled.

Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/us-wealth-by-generation/#google_vignette

Catch and Release

Joe Biden claims that he needs Congress to pass new legislation in order to make the border more secure.

However, look at the chart below of the number of illegals who were apprehended at the southern border and then released into the country on their own recognizance to appear at an immigration hearing sometime in the future. 

Many of those released will not get a court date for at least a decade. 

Source: Source: https://apnews.com/article/immigration-courts-wait-54bb5f7c18c4c37c6ca7f28231ff0edf

What are the chances that these illegals will even show up for that court date knowing they may be deported?

In 2020, under the Trump administration, just 365 border apprehensions were released into the United States with a notice to appear at a future court date.

In 2023, under the Biden administration, over 1 million illegals who were apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol were released into the country. 

Credit: https://twitter.com/kerpen/status/1756811183410008148

You might believe the law changed in January, 2021.

It did not.

This was accomplished by the executive orders of Joe Biden.

No new law will fix this.

Laws do not mean anything if the person charged with enforcing the laws of the United States does not do so.