What important numbers do you want to know? I mean not baseball numbers, etc. For example...

[Ukapau]

Last edited Thu Nov 9, 2017, 08:38 AM - Edit history (1)

We have spent more than 5.6 trillion dollars on war since 9-11, according to a Common Dreams article from 11-9-17: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/11/08/nation-says-it-cant-afford-medicare-all-has-spent-56-trillion-war-911

What other numbers do you want to know?

The NRA stops all municipalities from compiling data on harm from guns. But those numbers I'd like to know.

We don't have an ongoing measure of the acidification of the oceans, or on how large the dead spots are. I sure as hell want to know what the tipping points are and I don't give a damn about the Kardashians.

I'd like to know the environmental degradations state by state, county by county. And who the hell is responsible.

Seems to me that hidden from us (at least I have had a hard time finding this) is the list of issues that more than 60% of voters want.

We don't have a listing of how many people have been killed by the police -- move along, move along - nothing to see.

But what numbers on what issues do you want?

[Stuart G]

1. k and r...Welcome to DU..Excellent post on "Important Numbers to Know..thank you for posting..

[Ukapau]

3. Thanks! One of the most important sites is the cost of War in Iraq -- see

https://www.nationalpriorities.org/campaigns/cost-war-iraq/

If you have never seen this site, it is very illuminating about why our roads are bad, our cities' needs are being ignored, etc. Actually, it appears to greatly understate the Iraq/Afghanistan debacle. But it's useful reminds us of these costs.

Any other numbers we should know?

[Takket]

2. i would like a nationwide accounting on the effects of voter supression

how many people did not or could not vote because of voter suppression tactics vs how much "fraud" was actually prevented.

[Ukapau]

4. Great question you ask about in-person voter fraud. That is, one person pretending to be another.

Look at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/01/0-000002-percent-of-all-the-ballots-cast-in-the-2016-election-were-fraudulent/?utm_term=.93096f14d70d to see the number for the 2016 election.

and

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/03/heres-how-rare-in-person-voter-fraud-is/?utm_term=.732c739ee573

Short answer, very, very few instances of in-person voter fraud. Trivial beyond belief.

Certainly voter suppression results in an incredibly larger number.

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

5. Measurement

"We don't have an ongoing measure of the acidification of the oceans, or on how large the dead spots are."



I think there must be some level of measurement for that. 2-3 years ago I read an article on the impending collapse of the food chain. I'm going off memory here, but part of the collapse disaster involved the ongoing acidification of the oceans as a major factor.

The conclusion of the article was that by 2050 we will have killed off the oceans. First to go, of course would be the plankton and then right on up the chain.

I wish I'd saved that article, but at the time I thought it would get some attention. It wasn't just some guy's blog, it was from a legitimate, reputable publisher, I just can't recall which. If I hadn't considered the source reputable I'd have skimmed over it for a chuckle, but I vividly remember actually reading it. I've brought that tidbit up in a few threads since, and there have been responses from others that saw the article, or had heard of it.

I won't be here to see it but I believe we'll be extinct in 75 years, max.

But back to my original point, there had to be some level of measurement in place at the time.

[Ukapau]

11. Thanks! I'll investigate further. Yours!

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

6. Here's a few important numbers

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

[kydo]

7. The numbers in orange mans taxes

and the number of rubles the election cost putin.

[Journeyman]

8. Back in 2006, I addressed the cost of the IraqAttaq at that time . . .

In those days, we were told the Attaq cost $720 million a day, which worked out to $5 billion a week, or some $20 billion per month. Many were quick to point out, if we ceased this tremendous drain on our coffers, we'd have around $240 billion a year in savings.

I thought then (and believe now) the number was far too small.

But using the publicly disclosed cost, I began to use these numbers in casual discussion.

I created an IraqAttaq monetary standard in which one hour equaled $30 million, a day was $720 million, a week $5 billion, and a month $20 billion. Then I insert the terms in conversations as often as possible.

"Yes, I think the town should build a new library -- after all, it'll only cost $3 Iraq Hours."

"A new highway through that part of the county would be great and would only cost $1-1/2 Iraq Weeks to build."

"It's true, health care for all in this state would be expensive, but we're only talking about $4 Iraq Months each year."

I felt it brought the cost of the IraqAttaq in to sharper focus, and helped people conceptualize in easily understood terms the tremendous, needless drain this senseless occupation exerted on all our lives. It was also a somewhat innocuous way to bring the Catastroph@#k into normal conversation (especially in those days, when so many former supporters were loathe to even consider the disaster's true impact on their world).

[Ukapau]

12. I like your measurement system -- how much Iraq hours things cost. Seems to me you

are right - that people can put it in correct perspective...

[Ukapau]

13. According to a Common Dreams article today, we have spent

more than 5.6 trillion dollars on war since 9-11.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/11/08/nation-says-it-cant-afford-medicare-all-has-spent-56-trillion-war-911

That's a hell of a lot of money totally wasted, unless you think destabilizing the Middle East killing hundreds of thousands of people there, making their lives miserable, etc., is a good investment.

[NCTraveler]

9. I want to know the realities of the gulf oil spill. Nt

[SHRED]

10. I'll bet part out those Trillions are sheltered offshore

Traitors.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

14. re: "...how many people have been killed by the police..."

Check the CDC database: https://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate.html

For 2015 that would be 530. That includes gun battles, folks tasered into a heart attack, lethal injections and suffocation.

[Ukapau]

16. Here is an article from Newsweek that says that those numbers have been hard to get to.

From: http://www.newsweek.com/how-many-americans-do-cops-kill-each-year-480712

"How many people are killed by police?

"It’s a simple and important question, but, until this year, the shocking answer was “we have no idea.” There is no central authority systematically keeping track of killings by law enforcement, and police in most states are not required to report the use of lethal force to anyone....
"
"In 2015, several private groups started systematically tracking police killings from news reports. The Washington Post started tracking people “shot dead” by police (weirdly, specifically only counting shooting deaths). At the same time, the Guardian began counting all people killed by police, regardless of the means.

"Brian Burghart, former editor of the Reno News & Review , founded a website called “Fatal Encounters,” which ambitiously attempts to count all police killings across the United States going back to the year 2000. Fatal Encounters’ database uses numbers from other public databases, public records requests, paid researchers, and crowdsourced submissions from verified media reports.

"By the end of 2015, the Washington Post counted 990 people shot dead by police; the Guardian counted 1,146 people killed; Fatal Encounters recorded 1,357 killed.

"These are two, three, four times higher than the numbers typically reported by the FBI or the BJS. (This, of course, does not and cannot say anything about how many are justified or not.)"

According to this author, the actual numbers are unclear and numbers across reporting agencies don't fully agree."

Interesting information!

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

17. Thanks, I'll dig into that and do some research

Have a nice night.

[Ukapau]

18. Thanks so much! This is one of the issues I hear about

on the Thom Hartmann radio show but I don't hear many others focus on.

By the way, "the Thom Hartmann report" on ITunes, etc., is sure worth listening to for a deeper dive into the issues of today.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

19. Thanks for the info

[phylny]

15. I really want to sit down and add the number of Democratic ballots for governor in Virginia

from red counties. This isn't quite in line with your questions, but I think it's really hard to be a blue dot in an overwhelmingly red area. If we know how our votes from rural areas in Virginia contributed to the victory, it would make our Democratic voters feel validated and proud.