3 Facts, 3 Numbers, 3 Thoughts 

THE FACTS

* Dr. Seuss books discontinued as racist. Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced that they will cease publication of six books that had come under attack by the Sensitivity Police. Three of the stated violations: 1. 98% of the characters are white. (Archie and Veronica, they’re coming for you next.) 2. Some illustrations evince a “perceived resemblance” to “blackface performance imagery.” (No examples provided.) 3. images of Asians are “stereotypical and offensive.” (See above.)

* While America was locked down, alcohol dependency went up. A University of Arizona study of 6000 participants across the US found that alcohol dependency doubled in localities under strict lockdown orders, but stayed the same in areas where lockdowns were not enforced.

* $100 million worth of pandemic relief unemployment claims went to prison inmates from March to October last year, according to the US Department of Labor. Funny, right? This is funny too: During the same period, $58.7 million in benefits went to people using the Social Security numbers of dead people. And this is not funny: $3.5 billion (that’s a billion with a B) in benefits went to people that were fraudulently or otherwise “wrongfully” filing.

THE NUMBERS

* $1.5 billion ‒ the net worth of Whitney Wolfe Herd, the first self-made female billionaire ever, after taking Bumble, her dating app, public on February 10.

* 675,068 ‒ the number of deaths from heart disease, the leading cause of death in the US, during the pandemic’s surge in 2020. Cancer came in 2nd with 590,518 deaths, while COVID was a distant 3rd with 339,394.

* 22.1 million – the number of undocumented immigrants (referred to as “removable aliens” in the report) currently living in the US, according to the Department of Homeland Security. (This is a significantly higher number than the 11 million usually used by the media.)

THE THOUGHTS 

* “A resolution to avoid an evil is seldom framed till the evil is so far advanced as to make avoidance impossible.” ‒ Thomas Hardy

* “You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.” ‒ Robert A. Heinlein

* “Character is a delicate thing, a paper-thin skein to contain the ugly machinery of human frailty.” ‒ Michael Masterson