*DECADE OF DEBT!: FEDERAL DEBT UP MORE THAN $10 TRILLION IN 2010s
The federal debt increased by a record $10,796,419,662,320 in the decade that is coming to a close today, according to data published by the U.S. Treasury. This was the first decade in the history of the nation when increases in the federal debt averaged more than $1 trillion per year. The total federal debt accumulated during the decade has equaled approximately $83,967 per household. (The Census Bureau estimates there are currently approximately 128,579,000 households in the country.) On Dec. 31, 2009, the last day of the last decade, the federal debt stood at $12,311,349,677,512.30. As of Dec. 27, 2019, the latest day for which the Treasury has reported the debt numbers, the federal debt stood at $23,107,769,339,832.41. That amounts to an increase of $10,796,419,662,320.11 for the decade. In the decade that ran from 2000 through 2009, the federal debt increased by $6,535,258,363,286.97. Even when that is adjusted for inflation (from December 2009 dollars to current dollars) it equals approximately $7,783,878,290,000—or more than $3 trillion less than the debt accumulated in the 2010s.
In the fifteen full decades that have now elapsed since the Civil War, there have been only three decades when the federal government reduced its debt rather than increased it, according to data published in the Treasury Department’s monthly debt statements. In the 1870s, the debt declined by $453,144,228. In the 1880s, it declined by $594,761,815. In the 1920s, it declined by $8,853,892,229. From the 1930s onward, the federal debt has increased in every decade.
Here is the amount the federal debt has increased (or decreased) in each decade since the 1870s. (Decreases are shown in red.):
*IRANIAN GENERAL QASSEM SOLEIMANI ONCE TAUNTED TRUMP IN FIERY SPEECH
The Iranian general who was torn to shreds by an American airstrike once taunted the president, calling him a “gambler” with the style of a “bartender or casino manager.” “Come, we are waiting for you. We are the real men on the scene, as far as you are concerned. You know that a war would mean the loss of all your capabilities. You may start the war, but we will be the ones to determine its end,” Qassem Soleimani said in a fiery July 2018 speech directed at Trump.
Eighteen months later, his death wish was granted when he was killed Friday in a missile attack near the Baghdad Airport, in the most significant military move in the Middle East of Trump’s tenure, one the President said was intended to stop Soleimani’s plots to kill more Americans. In the 2018 speech, Soleimani was responding to a Twitter post by Trump, warning Iranian President Hassan Rouhani against threatening the US.
*MILE HIGH UGH: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE YOU EAT AIRPLANE FOOD
An NBC News investigation of airline catering found an industry with limited oversight in which outbreaks are difficult to track. Food safety for airline caterers and airlines is regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration, which requires inspections of this industry far less frequently than it recommends local health agencies inspect restaurants. When airline food inspections do occur, they can reveal serious safety violations — as many as 22 in a single inspection — but rarely lead to penalties.
Under the FDA’s rules, the agency only has to inspect airline caterers every three to five years. FDA rules for airlines are even looser than for caterers: planes receive random FDA inspections “when time and opportunity allow,” according to an agency manual.
In contrast, the FDA’s food code, which guides the food safety rules adopted by state and local governments, recommends that local authorities inspect food establishments every six months, with exceptions for low-risk facilities. But airline catering facilities don’t always fall under those codes. The FDA considers them different from restaurants because caterers do not sell food directly to consumers, instead contracting with airlines that do.
*LITERALLY HELL! – AUSTRALIA FACES ‘WORST DAY YET’ AS THREE FIRES MELD TOGETHER TO MAKE A BLAZE THE SIZE OF MANHATTAN
Firefighters in Australia are facing what authorities are calling the “worst day yet” in an uphill battle against devastating wildfires fueled by soaring temperatures and strong winds.
Three fires joined together overnight in the Omeo region of Victoria state to create a 23-square-mile blaze, which is roughly the size of Manhattan. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology warned that weather conditions were deteriorating rapidly Saturday with winds picking up speed and temperatures increasing to well above 100 degrees.
“Today will be a day of severe to extreme fire danger through many districts,” the agency warned. Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed Saturday that 23 people had been killed nationwide and more than 1,500 homes have been destroyed since the fire season began in September.
*LORI LOUGHLIN HIRES PRISON EXPERT TO HELP HER SURVIVE BEHIND BARS
Actress Lori Loughlin has hired a prison expert to teach her how to survive behind bars if she ends up doing time, according to reports. The 55-year-old “Fuller House” star, who awaits trial for charges in the massive college admissions scandal, is “learning the ropes” about life and etiquette in the big house.
Prison is a very different world than Hollywood, and Lori is just trying to be prepared,” a source close to Loughlin told the outlet. “Table manners are different; social interactions are different…Here on the outside, eye contact is a good thing. You meet someone and you shake their hands and stare them in the eyes. In prison, you might not do that. You don’t want to challenge someone,” the source said.
Loughlin is also being schooled on slang in the slammer — and has been training to defend herself. “She’s knuckling down, learning the lingo and practicing martial arts to give off the impression she’s tough and to ward off potential bullies,” an insider told the celebrity news site. “[She] knows there will be plenty of them in federal prison.”
*MUSLIM POPULATION OF ENGLAND PASSES THE THREE MILLION MARK FOR THE FIRST TIME AS NUMBER OF CHRISTIANS CONTINUE TO DECLINE, FIGURES REVEAL
The Muslim population of England has passed the three million mark for the first time, according to estimates prepared by Whitehall. They said that Muslims are the fastest-growing faith group in the country – while allegiance to Christianity continues to decline. The figures were produced by the Office for National Statistics as part of a research project to try for the first time to make regular assessments of the size of different ethnic and religious groups. Until now religious and ethnic minority populations could be gauged only once a decade using the results of the full-scale ten-yearly national census.
According to the ONS assessment, Christians continue to decline in number, but the drop in allegiance to Christianity may be slowing. Among other faith groups, the share of Hindus in the population has climbed slightly, while the proportion of Sikhs has fallen by a similar small amount. The scale of the Jewish and Buddhist shares of the population have remained stable, the report said.
The share of people who say they have no religion at all or who will not discuss their faith has risen to almost a third of the English population, an increase almost certainly a result of the fall-off in Christian belief. The ONS also estimated that the proportion of people in England who say they follow a religion other than a major faith more than trebled between 2011 and 2016.
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Bubble gum is pink because the inventor of the tasty treat didn’t have any other colors on hand.
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President Abraham Lincoln died in the boarding house across from the Ford’s Theatre. The house was owned by William and Anna Petersen and, while they tried to resume business as usual following Lincoln’s death, the family’s business was overrun by people seeking souvenirs of the place Lincoln died. Unruly visitors cut pieces from the curtains, the carpet and bedsheets as mementos.
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*EXAMINER – HISTORY: DO YOU KNOW?
Alfred Stieglitz (1864)
Stieglitz was the first art photographer in the US. More than any other American, he compelled the recognition of photography as a fine art. After editing a series of photography magazines, he established the famous gallery “291” in New York City. The gallery soon broadened its scope from fine-art photography and introduced to the US works by members of the modern French art movement, including Cézanne and Picasso.
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