Also on today’s menu:
Potential Railroad Strike Already Boosting Inflation
Statistically Insignificant Improvement
Zelenskyy Uninjured In Car Crash
Retired Brigadier General Donald Bolduc ended up defeating Senate President Chuck Morse, 51,098-49,483, for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Maggie Hassan, but his victory owes part of its success to the $3.2 million in advertising paid for by the Senate Majority PAC, which is aligned with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). The Democrats’ political action committee has been meddling in primaries across the nation to give far-right candidates like Bolduc an edge over moderate Republicans in hopes of enhancing their own candidates’ chances over extremists on the right during the upcoming general election.
Both Republicans and Democrats have criticized the strategy, which may backfire and give controversial candidates a shot at winning office.
Former president Donald Trump praised Bolduc’s showing, but had not endorsed him, despite Bolduc’s statements during the campaign that aligned with Trump’s false claims of a stolen 2020 election. Meanwhile, Governor Chris Sununu endorsed Morse, who was the recipient of tens of millions of dollars in advertising from the GOP PAC run by U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Potential Railroad Strike Already Boosting Inflation
An already-troubled U.S. economy, grappling with high inflation, is facing the prospect of more disruptions if some 15,000 railroad workers decide to go on strike Friday. Several union organizations have been unable to reach wage agreements with the railroad companies Union Pacific, CSX, Norfolk Southern, BNSF, and Kansas City Southern.
Ten of 12 unions have reached agreements with a coalition representing the railroad companies, but the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, representing 90,000 workers, had not reach agreements as of Wednesday night.
While top negotiators huddled in Washington late Wednesday to try to hammer out an agreement, industry groups have been warning of severe disruptions to America’s already-fragile supply chains. The freight rails carry about one-fifth of the country’s grain supply, and scheduled shipments of ammonia, fertilizer, and other chemicals for agriculture have already been delayed out of fear that they might be halted en route. Ethanol prices increased on the threat of a strike. U.S. railroads may stop shipping crops as soon as today, and Amtrak has canceled passenger rail on some long-distance lines.
Statistically Insignificant Improvement
While real median income in the United States for 2021 was $70,784, the U.S. Census Bureau said the amount was not statistically different from 2020. The official poverty rate of 11.6 percent, and the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) of 7.8 percent represented a decrease of 1.4 percentage points from 2020, but it, too, was deemed not statistically significant, although it was the lowest SPM poverty rate since estimates were first published in 2009 and it was the third consecutive annual decline.
The percentage of people with health insurance coverage for all or part of 2021 was 91.7 percent, compared to 91.4 percent in 2020. However, an estimated 8.3 percent of people, or 27.2 million, did not have health insurance at any point during 2021. It was down from an estimated 8.6 percent of people, or 28.3 million, who did not have health insurance at any point during 2020.
The real median earnings of all workers, including part-time and full-time workers, increased 4.6 percent from 2020 to 2021, while median earnings of those who worked full-time, year-round, decreased by 4.1 percent. There was an increase of about 11.1 million full-time, year-round workers (from approximately 106.3 million to 117.4 million), suggesting a shift from part-time or part-year in 2020 to full-time, year-round work in 2021.
Zelenskyy Uninjured In Car Crash
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 44, was uninjured Wednesday when a passenger car collided with the presidential vehicle and his escort in the capital Kyiv, according to spokesman Sergii Nykyforov.
Earlier on Wednesday, Zelenskyy had visited the recaptured city of Izyum, described as a key logistics hub in north-eastern Ukraine. The driver of the car that collided with the motorcade was treated at the scene before being taken away in an ambulance.
Nykyforov said all of the circumstances of the traffic accident were being investigated by law enforcement officers.
Café Chatter
I would like to say thank you to all who voted and supported me in the primary. It is my honor and hope to represent you in Concord on the issues that are important to you.
If you want to fight back on inflation, keep NH gun rights, parents to have rights over their child they birthed and are raising (government does not own your kids), keep education freedom accounts, lower property and school taxes, protect senior and veteran’s benefits, reasonable, smaller government and don’t want government mandates ever again, then stand with me, vote for me, help me and tell others we are in a battle for our life and kids’ lives.
There are many ways to help, donations are needed, I have ten towns to cover (Enfield to Bristol) and that takes a lot of time, gas and money. I need places to put yard signs showing support. Need people to host an event where I can speak to your friends and they get to know why I stand for the issues above.
Regarding education freedom accounts and the public schools losing money, well it’s just not true. I mean think about it. If one chooses to home school or private school their child, they get about $4,000 bucks (and that’s only if they have receipts for reimbursement). Now, according to the article “Education Freedom Accounts Prove Popular” it costs $21,842.89 per student to educate in a public school and if the parents get $4,000, guess what, the school gets the difference.
If I were a public-school superintendent or the district school board, I would like more of these kids to be home schooled/private schooled since the public school will make about $17,842,89 for doing nothing, zero, nada. That is an awesome deal. On the other hand, the public schools are most likely losing the brightest of kids and causing the SAU scores to drop, so they should actually be competing for these kids.
John Sellers, Bristol
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