Ramblings

   Finished a book called "Symphony for the City of the Dead" by M.T. Anderson, detailing the siege of Leningrad (St.Petersburg) during WW2. I had never realized what a total narcissistic psychopath Stalin was, nor how many people he was directly and indirectly responsible for killing. Because of his murderous purges before the war-including killing top generals-and his incompetence during the war, the Soviet people lost over 27 million dead. That surpasses all other nations combined. Theirs was a history of paranoia and suffering within a totalitarian system, where neighbor betrayed neighbor and people had to resort to cannibalism to stay alive after the Nazis invaded. Nothing in American history compares-at least not among the dominant white population-and it helps to explain the psychology of the Russian people today.
   In another book- "The 2016 World Almanac", I discovered that the violent crime rate in America is less than half of what it was in 1990. Back then 9.4 people were murdered per 100,000, versus 4.5 today. Motor vehicle theft is about 1/3 of what it was then- 655 vehicles per 100,000 versus 221.3 in 2013. So once again the fear mongering regarding terrorism and gun violence and the threat of crime just doesn't reflect the facts. Neither does the teenage pregnancy rate, which was 43.9 births per 1,000 girls ages 15-17 in 1960 versus only 10.9 in 2013. It had been declining every year since then. As for abortions, they peaked in 1990 at 1,429,247 versus 730,322 in 2011. The number of births to unmarried mothers Has gone up, from 399,000 in 1970 to 1,596,000 in 2013. However, the age of those mothers has increased: In 1970 50.1% of unmarried mothers were under twenty years old. Today only 15.3 percent are that young. So women are delaying birth as the traditional family unit has changed.
   Economically, Bill Gates remains the richest man with 79.2 billion dollars, and Warren Buffet is #3 with 72.7 billion. The Walton family comes in at # 8 (Christy-41.7 billion) #9 (Jim-40.6) #11 (Alice-39.4) and #12(S. Robson 39.1) That's 160.8 billion in one family( ...the rest of the Waltons probably have their own share?)    Meanwhile, 46.7 million Americans( 14.8% of the population) live below the poverty level which this year is $12,071 per person. 3,894,213 people receive some kind of government assistance, including 22.6% of employed people, with the average monthly cash input being $628.
    ....So
The Almanac is a great source of information that helps cut through the bullshit. Statistics no doubt can be deceptive, but not so much as the evening news