December 4 2024

FLASH…UT OFFERS FREE TUITION FOR FAMILIES MAKING UNDER $100K…REP. MOSKOWITZ-D JOINS DOGE CAUCUS…CHINA BANS RARE MINERAL EXPORTS…GM TAKES $5B HIT IN CHINA…
1 - U.S. Math Scores Plummet, Pandemic Widened Global Gap
2 - Declining Prospects for White Working Class, Gains for Black Americans
3 - CULTURE WARS: Supreme Court Tackles State Bans on Transgender Medical Treatments
4 - China’s Cheap Goods Ignite Tensions in Developing Nations
5 - South Korean President Faces Impeachment After Martial Law Debacle
December 4, 1619: 38 colonists celebrate first Thanksgiving in the Americas.

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

FLASH…UT FOLLOWS MIT, OFFERS FREE TUITION FOR FAMILIES MAKING UNDER $100K…REP. MOSKOWITZ JOINS DOGE CAUCUS, FIRST DEMOCRAT TO DO SO…CHINA RETALIATES WITH RARE MINERAL EXPORT BAN AFTER NEW U.S. CHIP SANCTIONS…GENERAL MOTORS TAKES $5B HIT ON CHINA BUSINESS VALUE…

Editors Note: The GM story is important because it shows the trend of US businesses making money in China is ending. We’re decoupling whether we want to or not.

1 - U.S. Math Scores Plummet, Pandemic Widened Global Gap

American students’ math scores took a bigger hit from the pandemic than their peers overseas, according to a closely watched international exam.   U.S. fourth- and eighth-grade students’ math performance on a big worldwide test fell between 2023 and 2019, the last time the test was administered. America’s rankings slipped relative to other countries.  Research has linked school closures to greater learning loss, and the U.S. had a higher duration of at least partial school closures than many other countries, including all of Europe, according to a Unesco analysis. Still, at least one other big exam of high-schoolers, released last year, suggested U.S. learning loss wasn’t worse than its peers.  

Article Source: WSJ

2 - Declining Prospects for White Working Class, Gains for Black Americans

A big shift is under way in American life: The prospects for working-class and poor white Americans are declining, while they are improving for Black Americans in the same economic tier. That reversal of fortunes was documented in a landmark study published earlier this year by Harvard University researchers. The change in economic mobility the researchers traced—which shrank the amount by which Black Americans’ income lags behind white Americans’ income—occurred between 2005, when many Gen Xers were in their late 20s, and 2019, when many millennials reached the same age. Nationwide, a Black child born to parents at the 25th percentile of income in 1992 made $9,521 less at age 27 than a white child born at the 25th percentile. A Black child born in 1978 made $12,994 less at age 27, adjusted to 2023 dollars.  

Article Source: WSJ

3 - CULTURE WARS: Supreme Court Tackles State Bans on Transgender Medical Treatments

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will consider for the first time whether states can ban certain gender transition medical treatments for young people — a closely watched case brought by three transgender teens, their parents and a doctor, all seeking to ensure health care access they say is critical. At issue is a Tennessee law barring transgender minors from using puberty blockers and hormones, treatments the state characterizes as risky and unproven. Lawmakers said the state should instead encourage adolescents to “appreciate their sex, particularly as they undergo puberty.” The court’s ruling might have implications for the more than 100,000 transgender adolescents living in Tennessee or one of the 23 other states that has banned using the drugs to treat minors with gender dysphoria. The question of whether and how to medically treat young people whose gender identity is different than their sex assigned at birth has become a polarizing issue, one President-elect Donald Trump seized on in advertisements targeting transgender people during his campaign.

Article Source: WaPo

4 - China’s Cheap Goods Ignite Tensions in Developing Nations

A deluge of cheap Chinese goods washing over the developing world is jacking up tensions between China and the Global South, complicating Beijing’s plans to build alliances as it confronts escalating trade tensions with the U.S. With President-elect Donald Trump saying he plans to significantly increase tariffs on China, Beijing is hoping to unload more of its excess factory production to developing-world countries, from Indonesia to Pakistan to Brazil. But many of those countries are pushing back, as cut-price Chinese imports put pressure on their factories, killing jobs and blocking efforts to grow manufacturing at home. Many poorer countries have been counting on expanding manufacturing as the best way to propel their rise up the development ladder.

Article Source: WSJ

5 - South Korean President Faces Impeachment After Martial Law Debacle

A. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces an impeachment vote after declaring, and rapidly rescinding, martial law in the country. Yoon’s late-night announcement said the decision targeted “anti-state forces” linked to North Korea, but it was really spurred “by his own desperate political troubles,” the BBC wrote. Lawmakers rushed to Parliament to vote against the measure and Yoon lifted the order. On Wednesday South Korean MPs began impeachment proceedings against Yoon, and are considering whether to impeach his defense minister too.  

B. Who wants to be President of South Korea?  

Presidents of South Korea

1. Syngman Rhee (1948–1960) – Overthrown.  

2. Yun Bo-seon (1960–1962) – Overthrown.  

3. Park Chung-hee (1962–1979) – Assassinated.  

4. Choi Kyu-hah (1979–1980) – Removed by a military coup.  

5. Chun Doo-hwan (1981–1988) – Sentenced to death after his presidency. 

6. Roh Tae-woo (1988–1993) – Sentenced to 22 years in prison after his presidency. 

7. Kim Young-sam (1993–1998) – Imprisoned during the term of President No. 3. As president, secured convictions against two of his predecessors. 

8. Kim Dae-jung (1998–2003) – Imprisoned under President No. 3 and sentenced to death under President No. 5 (later pardoned). Nobel Peace Prize laureate. 

9. Roh Moo-hyun (2003–2008) – Impeached (later overturned by the Constitutional Court). Investigated for corruption after his term and committed suicide.  

10. Lee Myung-bak (2008–2013) – Arrested for corruption after his presidency; sentenced to 15 years in prison.  

11. Park Geun-hye (2013–2016) – Impeached and arrested for corruption; sentenced to 24 years in prison.  

12. Moon Jae-in – Recent president; no imprisonment.  

13. Yoon Suk Yeol – Impeachment likely.

C. The decision of the South Korean president was a disaster for Korea and also for the United States. Mr. Yoon's reckless declaration has imperiled the country and severely risked the alliance with the United States. The United States keeps a large military force in Korea based on a mutual defense treaty. The US has 28,500 US troops in Korea, predominantly Army, the majority of them at Camp Humphreys, the largest US overseas base in the world. In addition there is U.S. Army Garrison Daegu and Camp Casey, near the DMZ. Since 2016 the US has deployed a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in Korea as part of the US ballistic missile defense system.  

Editors note: From July 1951 until the signing of the armistice on July 27, 1953, a stalemate characterized the Korean War and neither side gained much territory. A peace treaty was never signed; the Korean War has never officially ended.

Article Source: Semafor, @nexta_tv, Weapons and Strategy

December 4, 1619: 38 colonists from Berkeley Parish, England disembark in Virginia and give thanks to God. Considered by many the first Thanksgiving in the Americas.

Sources

2. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/us-student-test-scores-covid-impact-bf3ec65a?st=EwjRnk&reflink=article_copyURL_share
https://timss2023.org/results/math-achievement/#:~:text=Summary%20of%20TIMSS%202023%20Results%20in%20Mathematics&text=58%20countries%20and%205%20benchmarking,average%20mathematics%20achievement%20favoring%20boys

3. https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/income-gap-white-black-working-class-13b8a286?st=4ei1Lk&reflink=article_copyURL_share
https://www.wsj.com/economy/economic-mobility-research-community-employment-3eeef1c3?mod=article_inline

4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/12/03/supreme-court-trans-minors-health-care/

5. https://www.wsj.com/world/china/chinas-flood-of-cheap-goods-is-angering-its-allies-too-51284954?mod=hp_lead_pos8

6. A https://www.semafor.com/article/12/04/2024/south-korean-leader-faces-impeachment
B https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/1864007234570645800?s=46&t=nVb-5uC_WM3Cp0R0dGiqHQ
C https://substack.com/inbox/post/152524299