December 23 2024

FLASH Biden Commutes Almost All Death Row Inmate Sentences
1. Healthcare Costs Up 7.5% in 2023
2. Immigrants Drive 84% of U.S. Population Growth in 2023
3. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo Fight RFK Jr.’s Plan to Limit Sugary Drinks in Food Stamps
4. Defense-Tech Rebels Form Coalition to Challenge Prime Contractors
5. U.S. Navy Shoots Down Own Plane in Yemen
Disabling app notifications
December 23, 1888: Vincent van Gogh chops off own ear

GET THE APP - FREE!

download

See the Ad Astra Podcast! Released on Apple and Spotify around 10a CST.

FLASH Biden Commutes Almost All Death Row Inmate Sentences

1. Healthcare Costs Up 7.5% in 2023

The killing of a health insurance executive in New York City prompted a furious outpouring of anger over the industry and healthcare prices. So just how much have healthcare costs and spending been going up? The short answer: a lot. National healthcare spending increased 7.5% year over year in 2023 to $4.867 trillion, or $14,570 per person, according to data released Wednesday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  Total spending on healthcare goods and services, everything from prescription drugs to back surgeries, accounted for 17.6% of gross domestic product, a measure of goods and services produced by the U.S. economy. The 7.5% rise represented a much faster pace of growth than the 4.6% increase in 2022. It came as pandemic federal funding for the healthcare sector expired and private health insurance enrollment increased. More people with insurance led to increased demand for medical procedures, and spending on hospital care grew at the fastest pace since 1990. Spending on drugs also rose, including for medications to treat diabetes and obesity. 

Article Source: WSJ

2. Immigrants Drive 84% of U.S. Population Growth in 2023

Immigrants are having a huge impact on the nation’s population growth, new federal estimates show.  Newcomers accounted for 84% of U.S. growth in the year ended June 30, the Census Bureau said Thursday, continuing a trend since the Covid-19 pandemic. This was fueled by a surge in legal and illegal arrivals, a falling birthrate and a death rate propped up by an aging population. The Census Bureau estimates include major revisions to earlier estimates that are intended to better capture a surge in immigration. The bureau estimates about 2.7 million net arrivals for the most recent year. The bureau also more than doubled its net immigration estimate for the prior year to about 2.3 million. The agency now estimates the U.S. grew by 8.5 million over the past four years, with immigrants accounting for the vast majority.

Article Source: WSJ

3. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo Fight RFK Jr.’s Plan to Limit Sugary Drinks in Food Stamps

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to take sugary drinks out of the shopping carts of food-stamp recipients. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Keurig Dr Pepper are mobilizing to stop him. Kennedy, the president-elect’s nominee to run the Health and Human Services Department, aims to remove soda and processed foods from federal programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps. The move could have big repercussions for the beverage industry.

Article Source: WSJ

4. Defense-Tech Rebels Form Coalition to Challenge Prime Contractors

Palantir and Anduril, two of the largest US defence technology companies, are in talks with about a dozen competitors to form a consortium that will jointly bid for US government work in an effort to disrupt the country’s oligopoly of “prime” contractors. The consortium is planning to announce as early as January that it has reached agreements with a number of tech groups. Companies in talks to join include Elon Musk’s SpaceX, ChatGPT maker OpenAI, autonomous-ship builder Saronic and artificial intelligence data group Scale AI, according to several people with knowledge of the matter.

Article Source: FT

5. U.S. Navy Shoots Down Own Plane in Yemen

Two U.S. Navy pilots ejected from their jet fighter over the Red Sea after being caught in “an apparent case of friendly-fire,” U.S. Central Command said Sunday, as American forces conducted a new round of attacks against the Houthi militant group in Yemen overnight. The military said the two pilots safely ejected from their F/A-18 after it was hit by fire from the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg. The jet fighter had flown off the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and both ships are part of the same strike group. One of the crew members sustained minor injuries and an investigation is under way, the military said.

Article Source: WSJ

Disabling app notifications

A future app update will allow subscribing to certain notifications (e.g. McPherson news and sports). In the meantime, all notifications go to all app users. If you want to disable notifications:  

iOS: Settings / Notifications then find citizen journal among the apps and uncheck “Allow Notifications”

Android: Settings / Notifications / App notifications then find citizen journal among the apps and uncheck “Allow Notifications”  

Note: this turns off ALL notifications

December 23, 1888: Vincent van Gogh chops off own ear

Sponsors

Sources

2. https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/american-healthcare-spending-charts-explained-adaa0e23?st=bXUbNY&reflink=article_copyURL_share

3. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/census-data-immigration-state-population-changes-9f8f4508?st=mUe3fs&reflink=article_copyURL_share

4. https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/rfk-jr-soda-snap-food-stamps-coke-pepsi-9bd9a872?st=Wz45xX&reflink=article_copyURL_share

5. https://on.ft.com/3DtpFxy

6. https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-navy-shoots-down-own-plane-as-fresh-strikes-target-houthi-rebels-in-yemen-7b6a4d27?st=eGTovd&reflink=article_copyURL_share