Dec.30

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

This Week in Freudenfreude: What a Year!

We're going to do something a little different this week. Instead of focusing on one bit of positive news, we thought we'd run down 10 things from the past year that afford a bit of hope and/or sunshine. Without further ado:

1. Ukraine: Despite Vladimir Putin's plans for a quick and easy victory, Ukraine is holding firm, and appears to have the upper hand in the Russia-Ukraine War. The economic impacts of the war have been managed fairly well, worldwide, and more importantly, the world's wealthiest countries have pitched in with their wheat and other foodstuffs to forestall potential famines in the poorest countries of the world.
   
   
2. Just Say No... To Extremism: In November's elections, the Republican Party put up a parade of far-right nutters. And nearly all of them, particularly the high-profile ones, were sent to defeat. Yes, there's Sen.-elect J.D. Vance (R-OH), but he's a faux nutter who is just playing to the base. And there are a few new members of the House who are a few bricks shy of a load. But generally speaking, Democrats, independents and normal Republicans stood together to make clear that they are not buying what the MAGA maniacs are selling.
   
   
3. Vaccination: The disease of the hour (and the day, the month, and the year) is COVID-19, of course. And for all the anti-vaxx activism, a staggering number of people have gotten jabbed, at least once. In the U.S., 268,507,100 people (80.9%) have gotten at least one shot, and 229,011,000 (69%) are fully vaccinated. Worldwide, thanks in substantial part to 1 billion-plus shots administered by the U.N.'s COVAX global vaccination program, 5.47 billion people (71%) have received at least one shot, while 5.06 billion (66%) are fully vaccinated.
   
   Meanwhile, Moderna is currently testing an HIV vaccine; the first time such a vaccine has reached the human trial phase, Pfizer is getting close to a workable Lyme disease vaccine, and Afrigen has become the first major vaccine research and production facility to be located in Africa.
   
   
4. Health Insurance: At the moment, thanks primarily to gains among communities of color, approximately 92% of Americans have health insurance. That number needs to get to 100%, obviously, but for now, it's a record; the highest-ever proportion of U.S. citizens with health insurance. Thanks, Obama (and this time we mean that unironically).
   
   
5. Bipartisanship Is Not Dead: This one might not age well, given what's about to happen in the House of Representatives, but you never know. In any event, Joe Biden's faith in bipartisanship was not totally misplaced, as he had the opportunity this year to sign significant bipartisan bills on gun control, combating climate change, fixing the presidential election process, and other matters.
   
   
6. Representation: 2022 saw the U.S. get its first Black woman Supreme Court justice (Ketanji Brown Jackson), its first Black president of Harvard (Claudine Gay), its first Black woman on a U.S. quarter (Maya Angelou), its first Native American woman on a U.S. quarter (Wilma Mankiller), its first Asian-American woman on a U.S. quarter (Anna May Wong), its first openly lesbian governors (Tina Kotek, D-OR and Maura Healey, D-MA), its first trans male state representative (James Roesener, D-NH), its first trans NFL cheerleader (Justine Lindsay), its first trans Jeopardy! grand champion (Amy Schneider), its first Native Alaskan member of Congress (Mary Peltola, D-AK), its first LGBTQ immigrant member of Congress (Robert Garcia, D-CA), its first Gen Z member of Congress (Maxwell Alejandro Frost, D-FL) and its first Gen Z Academy Award winner (Billie Eilish). Meanwhile, Vermont elected a woman (Becca Balint, D) to the U.S. House, thus becoming the last U.S. state to break that particular glass ceiling.
   
   
7. Animal House: We know there are many animal lovers among the readership. Betty White, before her passing, was one of the country's most prominent animalophiles, and when she passed away at age 99, her fellow animal lovers staged the #BettyWhiteChallenge, raising tens of millions of dollars for animal charities on what would have been her 100th birthday. Meanwhile, the ASPCA's relocation program, in which animals in states with overcrowded shelters are relocated to states without enough pets to satisfy demand, has continued to grow and prosper. Thanks to efforts like these, and others, the number of dogs and cats euthanized annually has dropped precipitously. A decade ago, it was 2.6 million dogs and cats each year. In 2022, the number was down to 390,000. That's nowhere near as good as zero, but it's a damn sight better than over 2 million.
   
   
8. Solar Energy: We could talk about many positive steps forward as regards the environment, but we're just going to focus on solar energy as an exemplar for the larger trends. To start, in 2022, the world surpassed 1 terawatt in solar capacity for the first time. That's still a drop in the bucket (worldwide demand is over 20,000 TW), but it's a step in the right direction, and one major report said that the world is now on pace to meet its global climate goals if it keeps expanding solar and wind capacity at the current pace. Meanwhile, a team of engineers at Stanford have developed solar panels that can generate electricity at night, while a company founded by scientists from MIT and Michigan State has nearly perfected windows that double as solar energy collectors. The Ukraine is able to keep its hospitals running thanks to solar microgrids, while in the U.S., a remarkable 40% of energy is now coming from renewable sources, with solar leading the way. In commie pinko California, in an experiment, the state was able to satisfy all of its energy demands for about half an hour with renewable sources of power, with solar again leading the way.
   
   
9. Fusion: Speaking of scientists, and California, a group at the at the U.S. government's National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California achieved the first ever fusion reaction that produced more power than it required. This comes with a bunch of caveats, such that it will be a long time before you can power your DeLorean with a Mr. Fusion generator. Still, it's a big step forward, and may one day be seen as a key moment in the annals of science.
   
   
10. High Times: Tobacco is very bad from a public health perspective, as it kills and maims many people, while also placing enormous burdens on the healthcare system. It's also bad from a governance perspective, given that tobacco companies are as good at lobbying as anyone outside of the petroleum companies. And for these reasons, we take it as excellent news that in 2022, for the first time, the U.S. has more marijuana smokers (16% of the population) than tobacco smokers (15%). Perhaps we've been smoking something, but from where we sit, the munchies are considerably less harmful than lung cancer.

And there you have it. A good weekend and a happy new year to all, and here's hoping that 2023 brings this much good news and more. (Z)