In the January to June 2024 timeframe, I collected a series of data points from articles and op ed pieces published in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Facts. Being in somewhat of a negative frame of mind these days, it is not surprising that the resulting observations matched my mood. The format for what will be a string of blogs is as follows: an overall heading pertinent to the connected data points, the data points, and an observation.

I would welcome an analogous set of data points that could be lumped under the heading of positive trends; sorry, the stock market rise does not count unless you are willing to deeply analyze its positives and negatives.

Not here, but in the ensuing blogs, there is an implicit (and unanswered) on-going question: which factors are foundational, which are consequences; how do you separate causation and correlation. You may properly ask how often is the country’s racial history embedded in the data point. If you eventually believe that change is necessary for any of the data point factors, you may ask where does the necessary motivation come from.