🇺🇸👥 The U.S. Population is Shifting

🪟 Why it's important: The new results provide a detailed window into America’s demographics, and allow legislators and commissions to immediately begin redrawing local and federal voting districts before next year’s elections.

• The data will also shape how ~$1.5 trillion in annual federal spending is distributed.

🔢 By the numbers… The nation’s population grew just 7.4% since 2010, the second slowest on record for a decennial census. Only the 1930s—the era of the Great Depression—recorded slower growth.

• The non-Hispanic white population dropped 2.6% between 2010 and 2020, its first-ever decrease. The decline puts that group’s share of the total U.S. population at 57.8%, the lowest on record.
• Hispanics are now the largest racial or ethnic group in California, growing to 39.4% from 37.6%, while the share of white people dropped from 40.1% to 34.7%.
• Cities were big winners over the past decade. Population in metro areas grew by 8.7%, while more than half of U.S. counties (52%) have smaller populations than in 2010.

📝 The bottom line: “The U.S. population is much more multiracial and much more racially and ethnically diverse than what we have measured in the past," said Nicholas Jones, a Census Bureau official.

From the Left: ABC News

From the Right: WSJ

How the World’s Population is Changing

🎁 DONUT Headline: According to a peer-reviewed paper published yesterday in Science, many commonly-held notions about our metabolism could be dead wrong.

Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images

🤿 A deeper dive... The blueprint provides instructions to Senate committees setting specific spending targets. Major elements include:

• $726 billion for the Health, Labor, Education, and Pensions Committee with instructions to provide universal pre-K for three- and four-year-olds, child care for working families, tuition-free community college, funding for historically black colleges and universities, and an expansion of the Pell Grant for higher education.
• $332 billion for the Banking Committee with instructions to invest in public housing, the Housing Trust Fund, housing affordability and equity, and community land trusts.
• $198 billion for the Energy and Natural Resources Committee with instructions primarily related to clean energy development.
• $135 billion for the Committee on Agriculture Nutrition and Forestry with instructions to address forest fires, reduce carbon emissions, and address drought concerns.
• $107 billion for the Judiciary Committee with instructions to address "lawful permanent status for qualified immigrants."

💰 How are they going to pay for it?... The budget outline calls for raising taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations and beefing up tax enforcement to cover part of the cost. The rest will purportedly be paid for by projected health care savings and long-term economic growth.

• The blueprint offers little detail on specific tax policy for the wealthy, saying only that it seeks "tax fairness for high-income individuals" and would “prohibit” new taxes on families making less than $400,000 a year, small businesses, and family farms.

👁️ Looking ahead... The House is expected to return to Washington the week of August 23 to vote on the budget resolution.

• If the House approves a blueprint identical to the Senate’s, Democrats can unlock the budget reconciliation process and pass the subsequent legislation with a simple majority in the Senate rather than the customary 60 votes – meaning they could do so without any GOP support as long as they don't lose a single Democratic vote.

✋ Yes, but... Some moderate Democrats - namely Sens. Joe Manchin (WV) & Krysten Sinema (AZ) - said they voted in favor of the budget blueprint to keep to process moving, but may not ultimately support legislation with such a high price tag.

Finding Your Zen in This Crazy World

Living in the news 24/7 can cause major stress and anxiety. So, as you can imagine, our team is always chasing zen – meditation, yoga, rock climbing, whatever.

For Kyle, our managing editor, it’s painting. But not just any type of painting – Kyle is obsessed with alcohol-ink painting.

• An almost direct quote: “The moment I spilled ink, I was so mesmerized - it was like teetering on a line between control and total surrender.”
• Our response: 1) “What in the world did you get yourself into?” and 2) “Where can we try it, too?”
• Kyle’s answer: 1) “😏 ” and 2) “Julie Pelaez Studios.”

Here’s what we’ve discovered since taking the “Intro to Alcohol Inks” e-Course:

• Alcohol-ink refers to vibrant, alcohol-based inks most often used in fluid, intuitive painting. They can be used on any heat-resistant smooth surface
• You don’t need any experience to get started. The 40+ minute course walked us through materials, techniques, troubleshooting common problems, how to create an easy and safe set-up at home – and even gave us project ideas. If you want live feedback (as we did), Julie herself hosts monthly Q&A Zoom sessions at no extra cost.

The ultimate conclusion: Painting with alcohol inks beats almost any Netflix Original and is, in fact, as zen as Kyle describes.

Explore the “Intro to Alcohol Inks” e-Course and find your zen today.

💀 Beyond The Grave

Image: Elaine Thompson/AP

Even after death, humans continue to have an impact on the environment - cremations around the world emit millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, while embalmed bodies can cause chemicals to seep into the soil after burial.

• To put it in perspective, after death a single human body is responsible for the equivalent of 40 propane tanks worth of CO2.

That’s why Recompose offers an alternative. By placing the deceased in an 8ft-long steel cylinder filled with warm air and organic material for 30 days, the company is able to produce enough soil to fill two wheelbarrows – and prevent about a metric ton of carbon dioxide from entering the air.

• “The natural organic reduction allows a literal return to the earth,” said a representative for Recompose.

Keep reading.

Images: WaPo

After the DONUT Pet Olympics last month, it’s obvious we have a subscriber base full of dog lovers. If any of your dogs went suddenly missing, we would all understand the heartbreak to follow.

• For June Rountree, this heartbreak became reality when her four year old pooch named Abby was lost.

June and her husband searched their small Alabama town for three weeks to no avail – that is, until Abby decided to find them instead.

• Working her usual cashiering shift at the local Walmart, June was shocked when suddenly a dog that looked mysteriously like Abby sprinted through the aisles.

​​“I called her name and she came to me,” June said. “I bent over and hugged her. I completely lost it then. I couldn’t speak. I was in complete shock and just couldn’t believe it.”

Keep reading.

Q: You see a boat filled with people. It has not sunk and nobody has fallen off, but when you look again you don’t see a single person on the boat. Why?

(keep scrolling for the answer)

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No link found!

Answer: All the people are married or in relationships. #dadjoke