Friday, October 20, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.
I think the Roundup makes people feel not so alone.
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Joe is always busy.
Joe Biden’s First October visit to Israel by Annette Niemtzow
On Tuesday following Saturday October 7th’s heinous and barbarous attacks on Israelis by Hamas, President Biden called Hamas "pure unadulterated evil," and made clear, "We stand with Israel."
"We'll make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of itself," the President said. “Like every nation in the world, Israel has the right to respond — indeed has a duty to respond — to these vicious attacks.”.
And then the President went into full activism mode.
He put together a coalition of leaders of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom as well as the United States of America to release a joint statement supporting Israel and condemning Hamas terrorism.
He moved an American warship closer to Israel after the Hamas attack. That action, maybe even more than his crystal clear language, showed that America stands with Israel.
The armed warship with 75 fully battle-ready planes and troops (and a second warship that followed) made clear to third parties -whether Hezbollah or Iran, who might be considering support for Hamas or further attacks on Israel- that they would face America too.
Later he also put American troops on alert to send an additional message of deterrence.
He sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken who greeted Israel with these words of comfort: “As Secretary of State, as a Jew, as a husband and a father, I understand on a personal level the harrowing echoes Hamas's massacres carry.”
During this time, the White House frequently made clear to Americans where our nation stood in this war. One sample of that clarity: The White House has been lit in blue and white since October 10th as a symbol of the United States’ enduring support and solidarity with the people of Israel.
In a surprise announcement on Tuesday, the President declared he was going to Israel, his second visit to a war zone as President.
On Tuesday night, as he was flying to Israel, the President received word that a blast of undetermined origin killed hundreds of people in a hospital in Gaza.
Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military [the IDF] said the hospital was hit by a rocket misfired by Palestinian militants [Palestinian Islamic Jihad].
While in the air, Biden released a statement saying he was “outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, and the terrible loss of life that resulted.”
He said he spoke “immediately” after hearing the news with King Abdullah II of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and said he has “directed my national security team to continue gathering information about what exactly happened.”
American Intelligence supported the Israeli position, that Israel was not responsible for bombing the hospital.
“The United States stands unequivocally for the protection of civilian life during conflict and we mourn the patients, medical staff and other innocents killed or wounded in this tragedy,” Biden continued to say in multiple ways.
The President was in war-torn Israel, for a 7 1/2-hour visit. The visit produced more vocal support for Israel, a deal with Egypt to get limited humanitarian aid into Gaza, likely by the end of the week, and a plea for Israelis not to allow rage over the deadly Hamas attack to consume them.
Though the summit he had intended with Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority was postponed, citing the days of mourning for the hospital blast, he successfully calmed Arab leaders - like the Jordanian king who had said after a meeting in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Schulz earlier Tuesday, “The whole region is at the brink of falling into the abyss that this new cycle of death and destruction is pushing us towards. The threat of this war expanding is real.”
That is no longer true, because of sophisticated actions, including a pledge of $100,000,000 (a hundred million dollars) in humanitarian aid to Gaza, by a President who is a master of foreign policy.
President Biden also talked to the Israeli people, urging them to resist against delivering excessive violence in return for the Hamas atrocities.
He even hugged Netanyahu.
“I understand. Many Americans understand,” Biden said as he wrapped up his stay in Tel Aviv, likening the Oct. 7 Hamas assault to the attacks against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, that killed nearly 3,000 people. “You can’t look at what has happened here ... and not scream out for justice,” he said. “But I caution this: While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it,” he said. “After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. And while we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.”
“I come to Israel with a single message: You’re not alone,” Biden said. “As long as the United States stands — and we will stand forever — we will not let you ever be alone.
This terrible Hamas-Israeli war tested President Biden. Once again, he proved to be a man of courage, compassion and commitment, with a precise moral compass. He spoke morally, truthfully, and acted with great subtlety. He also stopped a war from spreading.
This war is not yet over. Indeed, the current situation is fragile. Egypt and Jordan say they won’t accept refugees from Gaza, leaving unresolved the question of where civilians there, including 500 US citizens now trapped can go. There are still likely about 300 hostages in Hamas hands. Hezbollah remains at Israel’s northern border.
That said, the Middle East now is calmer today than it might have been, even with Hamas rockets flying into Tel Aviv, and Israeli troops taking actions on the streets of Gaza.
Last night, Biden delivered a prime-time televised speech from the Oval Office, where he outlined the gravity of the situation in the Middle East and made a direct appeal to the public for continued aid to both Israel and Ukraine. He seeks a 100 billion dollars for our allies.
Watch it here.👇
One more thing. Or two.
When reporters asked if Biden was disappointed that his trip to Jordan was canceled, the President said no and laughed. “Disappointed? Look, I came to get something done. I got it done…. Not many people thought we could get this done, and not many people want to be associated with failure…. [H]ad we gone and this failed, then, you know, the United States failed, Biden’s presidency fails, et cetera, which would be a legitimate criticism…. I thought it was worth taking the chance to get it done.”
Or as this October 19th article in Haaretz said,
Netanyahu Has to Play by Biden's Rules to Ensure American Support - and Deterrence
“By insisting on a humanitarian corridor for Gaza, Biden dictated new rules of the game to Israel, which need U.S. deterrence so Iran and Lebanon won’t be tempted to join the fight.” (Haaretz)
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Gavin Newsom appointee Laphonza Butler will not run to keep her Senate seat in California.
Californians will still have a wealth of candidates to choose from. Three high-profile Democratic members of Congress — Representatives Katie Porter, Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee — had been campaigning for months when Senator Feinstein died at 90 in late September. Steve Garvey, the former first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, has also announced his candidacy as a Republican.
Several other Democrats, including Lexi Reese, a business executive from Silicon Valley, and Christina Pascucci, a Los Angeles newscaster, have also entered the race. So has Eric Early, a conservative Republican who has run unsuccessfully for Congress and state attorney general.
Mr. Schiff, who has the support of Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker has amassed more than $30 million in cash, according to his most recent campaign filing, and polls have consistently shown him and Ms. Porter in the lead. (Source. New York Times).
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Trump Lawyer Sidney Powell pleads guilty.
She is the second defendant in the Georgia case on election interference to accept a plea deal. She has agreed to testify against the 17 other defendants including Trump. She already has given testimony on tape.
Ex-Trump attorney takes plea deal in Georgia election interference case.
Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell took a plea deal on Thursday in Georgia's 2020 election case, one day before jury selection in her trial was set to begin.
Why it matters: She is the first of Trump's inner circle to enter a guilty plea and admit to crimes in connection with subverting 2020 election results.
Driving the news: Powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor charges relating to efforts to interfere with the 2020 election and agreed to testify against co-defendants in the case.
Fulton County prosecutors recommended Powell receive six years of probation and a $6,000 fine, in addition to paying $2,700 in restitution.
Under the terms of the deal, she is also required to write an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia.
The big picture: Powell helped spread baseless conspiracy theories about ballot fraud in the days after the 2020 election.
She was indicted earlier this year along with former President Trump and 17 others in the sprawling criminal racketeering case.
Her initial charges included violating Georgia's racketeering law and conspiracy to commit election fraud as part of the scheme to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election.
She is the second defendant to accept a plea deal in the case. Scott Hall, a bail bondsman, pleaded guilty to charges against him last month.
What we're watching: The trial for attorney Kenneth Chesebro is set to begin on Friday with jury selection.
Chesebro, an attorney, helped devise the plan to "submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors" to Congress, according to the indictment.
Go deeper: Inside the craziest meeting of the Trump presidency (Axios).
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He is running. No, he is not. Yes, he is running.
Do you think I am writing about Kevin McCarthy? Or Gym Jordan? It could be either.
Jordan is now back in the game after he bowed out earlier in the day yesterday.McCarthy wishes he was still running.
Republican Tempers Flare as Speaker Fight Continues, Paralyzing the House.
G.O.P. lawmakers spent Thursday fighting privately as one faction refused to back Representative Jim Jordan for speaker and another balked at an interim solution to allow the House to operate.
House Republicans spent Thursday fighting among themselves in closed-door meetings, trading blame and insults and casting about for a way forward as they failed again to coalesce around a speaker candidate.
It was a day of uncertainty and whiplash on Capitol Hill, and the House remained paralyzed as war raged overseas and a government shutdown grew near. House members were unable to act on even the most basic of legislation while President Biden prepared to request a $100 billion emergency national security spending package that included aid for Israel and Ukraine and would need congressional approval.
By Thursday evening, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the hard-right Republican nominee for speaker, appeared no closer to winning the post after meeting with some of the 22 mainstream G.O.P. lawmakers opposed to his candidacy. Nevertheless, Mr. Jordan said he would push for another vote to become speaker, scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m., even though he was bleeding support and calls were increasing for him to step aside.
“He needed to know there is no way forward for his speakership,” Representative John Rutherford of Florida, one of the holdouts, told reporters after meeting with Mr. Jordan.
House Republicans spent Thursday fighting among themselves in closed-door meetings, trading blame and insults and casting about for a way forward as they failed again to coalesce around a speaker candidate.
It was a day of uncertainty and whiplash on Capitol Hill, and the House remained paralyzed as war raged overseas and a government shutdown grew near. House members were unable to act on even the most basic of legislation while President Biden prepared to request a $100 billion emergency national security spending package that included aid for Israel and Ukraine and would need congressional approval.
By Thursday evening, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the hard-right Republican nominee for speaker, appeared no closer to winning the post after meeting with some of the 22 mainstream G.O.P. lawmakers opposed to his candidacy. Nevertheless, Mr. Jordan said he would push for another vote to become speaker, scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m., even though he was bleeding support and calls were increasing for him to step aside.
“He needed to know there is no way forward for his speakership,” Representative John Rutherford of Florida, one of the holdouts, told reporters after meeting with Mr. Jordan.
In the face of unyielding opposition, Mr. Jordan began the day by proposing to hit pause on his candidacy and support a plan being floated by centrist lawmakers in both parties that would temporarily give the interim speaker, Representative Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina, explicit power to conduct legislative business.
That proposal met with furious backlash from rank-and-file Republicans, including many of Mr. Jordan’s far-right supporters, who said empowering Mr. McHenry — a stand-in appointed to his post after the ouster of Kevin McCarthy as speaker — would effectively cede control of the House floor to Democrats and set a bad precedent.
That proposal met with furious backlash from rank-and-file Republicans, including many of Mr. Jordan’s far-right supporters, who said empowering Mr. McHenry — a stand-in appointed to his post after the ouster of Kevin McCarthy as speaker — would effectively cede control of the House floor to Democrats and set a bad precedent.
Within hours, Mr. Jordan reversed course again and said he would move forward after all with his bid to try to win the post quickly.
It was the latest abrupt turn in a Republican speaker drama that has played out for more than two weeks, underscoring the depth of the party’s divisions and disarray. Unable to unite behind a candidate to lead them, the G.O.P. now cannot even agree on a temporary solution to allow the paralyzed House to function while members sort out their differences.
After falling short in two consecutive votes for speaker, Mr. Jordan, a hard-line co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus and a favorite of former President Donald J. Trump, had told members on Thursday morning that he did not plan to force a third vote right away. Instead, he said he would back the plan to expand the powers of Mr. McHenry, whose current role is primarily to hold an election for a permanent speaker.
But during a second, more contentious closed-door meeting of Republicans, Mr. Jordan’s backers demanded that he fight on and denounced the plan to bring up a resolution empowering Mr. McHenry.
“We made the pitch to members on the resolution as the way to lower the temperature and get back to work,” Mr. Jordan said. “We decided that wasn’t where we were going to go. I’m still running for speaker. I plan to go to the floor and get the votes and win this race.”
The session grew raucous as some members waved pocket-size copies of the U.S. Constitution and suggested that the plan violated the country’s founding principles.
Hard-right Republicans condemned the idea as a partnership with Democrats who have been calling for a coalition government. Mr. McHenry helped Mr. McCarthy negotiate a deal with Mr. Biden earlier this year to suspend the debt limit and impose spending caps, which was vehemently opposed by his party’s right wing.
“It’s a giant mistake to give the Democrats control of a Republican majority,” said Representative Jim Banks of Indiana, who backs Mr. Jordan. He added: “What they’re doing right now is walking the Republicans off the plank. We don’t deserve the majority if we go along with a plan to give the Democrats control over the House of Representatives. It’s a giant betrayal to Republicans.”
Many lawmakers emerged saying the proposal was dead on arrival.
“Just reading the room, I think it’s dead,” said Representative Vern Buchanan of Florida.
Inside the meeting in the basement of the Capitol, tempers ran hot as the G.O.P. feuding over the speakership dragged into a 17th day, with members airing grievances and lamenting the chaotic state of the chamber.
At one point, Mr. McCarthy, the California Republican, lashed out at Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, the ringleader of a small band of hard-right rebels who forced a vote to remove him more than two weeks ago and thrust the House into uncharted territory.
“I was speaking, and Matt Gaetz tried to interrupt. I told him to sit down, and he sat down,” Mr. McCarthy said later, adding: “I think the entire conference screamed at him. I think the whole country would scream at Matt Gaetz right now.”
Mr. Gaetz laughed off the exchange.
“He loses his temper sometimes,” Mr. Gaetz said of Mr. McCarthy. “Maybe it’s the Irish in him.”
Amid the bickering, Mr. Jordan’s supporters urged him to fight on and call for a third vote on his candidacy on the House floor.
“I’m with Jim Jordan until Jim Jordan says he doesn’t want to do it,” said Representative Byron Donalds of Florida.
Mr. McHenry holds the position of speaker pro tempore under a House rule instituted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It requires that the speaker secretly prepare a list of lawmakers to temporarily assume the post in the event that it should suddenly become vacant. Mr. McCarthy’s ouster this month activated the rule for the first time, and Mr. McHenry, a close ally of his, was at the top of the list.
But because the situation is without precedent, the scope of an acting speaker’s powers is a matter of dispute. Some lawmakers in both parties believe they should eliminate any uncertainty by passing a resolution to explicitly empower Mr. McHenry to conduct legislative business for a set period of time. They have been discussing doing so through early January, though the timing was a point of debate.
Mr. Jordan’s waffling came after he fell well short of the majority he would have needed to be elected speaker on Tuesday, and he was defeated again on Wednesday when the number of Republicans refusing to back him grew.
The roadblock Mr. Jordan has encountered is a rare instance of the party’s more mainstream wing — normally those who seek compromise and conciliation — breaking with their Republican colleagues in defiance of the ultraconservative faction led by Mr. Jordan. They have been the targets of savage threats from right-wing activists allied with Mr. Jordan, who have embarked on an intense pressure campaign to try to install him as speaker.
It also underscored the seemingly intractable divisions among Republicans — as well as the near-impossible political math — that led to the ouster of Mr. McCarthyas speaker two weeks ago and that have so far thwarted the party’s attempts to choose a successor.
Republicans were growing increasingly exasperated about the situation, which could have grave political consequences for their party and has caused chaos at a time of crisis both at home and abroad.
“Maybe we just need to get into a room more often and hash it out and yell at each other,” said Representative Kat Cammack of Florida, a supporter of Mr. Jordan who described the state of the Republican conference as “absolutely frustrated.”
“Bring back caning,” she joked. (New York Times).
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Middle Class life is changing. The cost of entries has gotten high.
It’s Getting Too Expensive to Have Fun.
Concertgoers are shelling out more for big-ticket live entertainment, such as Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
The rising cost of fun is becoming a drag.
Ticket prices for live entertainment events, from Taylor Swift concerts to National Football League games and high-season Disney theme-park visits, rose at a startling rate this year, triggering a phenomenon that analysts have dubbed “funflation.”
Families coughed up large sums saved during the pandemic to attend live events and parks this year. Friends treated themselves to memorable performances. Mothers took their daughters to stadiums packed with friendship-bracelet-clad concertgoers to see Swift’s Eras Tour.
Now, some Americans are feeling tapped out.
Angela Wentink, 48 years old, recalls going to concerts regularly as an essential—and attainable—part of what she describes as a lower-middle-class upbringing in Massachusetts. It didn’t break the bank to see Bon Jovi.
Trying to give her children some semblance of a similar experience feels impossible. The San Antonio resident was laid off from Amazon in January, and received her final severance check around the time Swift was headed to Houston
“Do I do something that feels really irresponsible and take this check and make my daughter’s dreams come true?” she remembers thinking. Wentink, who has since started working for an ad agency, said she couldn’t stomach paying thousands for nosebleed seats.
Nearly 60% of Americans say they have had to cut back on spending on live entertainment this year because of rising costs, according to a Wall Street Journal/Credit Karma survey of about 1,000 U.S. consumers conducted at the start of September. Some 37% of respondents said they can’t keep up with the rising price of events they want to attend, while more than 20% of Americans say they are willing to take on debt to continue to be able to afford their favorite entertainment activities.
Roughly 26% of respondents said they don’t spend any money at all on live entertainment, up from 16% before the pandemic, the survey found.
The cost of admissions and fees rose faster than the prices of food, gasoline and other staples in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditures Survey. Those rising costs have continued this year.
“Anything live, anything experiential is just going through the roof,” said Jessica Reif Ehrlich, a Bank of America analyst who labeled the dynamic as ‘funflation’ in a September research note.
The latest retail-sales report on Tuesday showed spending at stores, online and at restaurants rose a stronger-than-expected 0.7% in September from a month earlier. The data show that consumers are still spending on goods and experiences, including cars and restaurant meals.
Americans were on track to spend about $95 billion this year on tickets to spectator amusements including movies, live entertainment and sporting events, according to August data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. That is up 23% from all of last year, and 12.5% higher than the $84.4 billion spent on the same entertainments in 2019, the last year before the pandemic shut down most spectator events.
Spending at theme parks, campgrounds and related services is on track to hit $79.9 billion this year, up 3.4% from 2022 and 6.2% from 2019.
Live music in particular has undergone supercharged ticket-price increases because of strong demand from some consumers who are still willing to pay up. Music executives attribute this to the marketing power of social media and the globalization of pop music thanks to streaming, with acts such as Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny and Korean girl group Blackpink filling stadiums across the globe during recent tours.
“We’re seeing record attendance everywhere,” Ehrlich said. “Everything is sold out.”
The average ticket price for North American tours hit $120.11 this summer, a 7.4% increase over last year and up 27% from 2019, according to Pollstar.
Fans shelled out for big-ticket shows, especially as more acts tour in stadiums. For the first time, the top five touring acts globally—Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Harry Styles, Elton John and Ed Sheeran—each racked up more than $100 million in sold-ticket revenue during the first half of 2023. Over the past two decades, there were usually no more than one or two artists at that level, according to Pollstar.
Some consumers have cut back on the total number of events they attend, saving their money for one or two big-ticket attractions this year, or have stopped splashing out for entertainment entirely.
For the June quarter this year, the average face-value ticket price for a Swift show was $254, according to Pollstar, with the listed range before taxes and fees running from $49 to $449. The Eagles notched a $239 average price, with Springsteen just below at $226. Phish tickets averaged $206.
The hottest tickets of the summer ran much higher on the resale market. The average price for Swift tickets sold in the U.S. on ticket marketplace StubHub was $1,095, with the best seats going for thousands of dollars. Beyoncé and Styles ticket sales averaged $380 and $400, respectively. After Lionel Messi joined Major League Soccer, the price of tickets to Inter Miami CF matches shot up to $255 apiece, from $30.
A data analysis from Facteus for the Journal that examined credit-card spending at 16 common entertainment vendors, including Ticketmaster, StubHub, Vivid Seats and a host of theme parks and cinema chains from early 2019 through July, found that the share of consumer spending going to ticketed entertainment has essentially recovered to prepandemic levels.
The percentage of cardholders who buy tickets to live events, however, has fallen more than 10%, suggesting that fewer people are spending on in-person events than in the prepandemic period.
At its theme parks, Disney has figured out ways to maximize how much cash each visitor spends, including by offering extra features in its smartphone apps that allow guests to skip some lines for their favorite attractions. Those extra costs, in addition to the steadily rising price of food, toys and souvenirs inside the park, have turned off some fans who are already struggling to pay for high-price flights, gasoline and hotel rooms.
Disney said Wednesday that it was raising some prices at its Disneyland park in California. Walt Disney World in Florida separately increased the price of parking and annual passes.
Before the pandemic, Julie Gibbs, a 52-year-old mother who works in university administration in Indiana, traveled to Walt Disney World in Florida twice most years. Sometimes her extended family would gather at the resort and in its theme parks for special occasions.
But after 2019, prices for tickets and costly add-ons that help visitors navigate the parks began to rise, and she and her family decided to cut out their annual theme-park vacation. They now gather several times a year at a condo in the beach town of Destin, Fla., and spend about half of the typical $6,000 price tag of their previous trips to Disney.
“Quality time with friends and family is really important, but prices have increased on so many things that I feel like we have to be better stewards of what we spend,” Gibbs said. “With Disney, they have their hand out and they just want more and more from me, and I hate that feeling.”
Last year marked the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s biggest year for attendance, with more than six million guests, said Paul Baribault, chief executive of the nonprofit.
The starting price for a one-day pass to the zoo has risen from $56 in 2019 to $69 this year—mainly a result of wage inflation and the cost of materials such as animal food, Baribault said. Many fans became members of the alliance to reduce the cost of each visit.
The zoo now has 28,000 higher-level memberships, nearly four times as many as in 2019, and the average membership-holder visits the zoo five times a year, compared with under four times a year in 2021.
“We’re in a competitive marketplace—we have Disneyland,SeaWorld, Legoland and others right in our backyard,” said Baribault, a former Disney executive. The zoo tries to increase prices carefully so that it doesn’t spook visitors.
“If we were priced on the wrong side of the spectrum, you wouldn’t get that feel-good experience,” he said. (WSJ).
Fewer people are going to movies, theater and museums, NEA study shows.
Research released Wednesday by the National Endowment for the Arts found that significantly fewer American adults are attending cultural activities such as classical music concerts, theater productions and movies than they did before the coronavirus pandemic.
Just 48 percent of adults reported attending at least one arts event from July 2021 to July 2022, according to the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, which has been administered by the Census Bureau roughly every five years since 1982. That number represents a six-point drop from the most recent survey in 2017, amplifying alarm bells that the arts community is struggling to regain its pre-shutdown audience.
In addition to drawing on the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, the NEA’s research also cited the 2022 General Social Survey, which was administered by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. That survey found that 82 percent of respondents watched or listened to arts activities through digital platforms between 2021 and 2022, suggesting a robust online engagement that persisted even as in-person events returned.
The Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, which sampled 40,718 U.S. adults at a roughly 59 percent response rate, found nearly universal declines in fine arts attendance from 2017 to 2022.
The adults who reported seeing a musical theater production fell from about 17 percent to 10 percent; the number for nonmusical plays dropped from about 9 percent to 5 percent.
Attendance for ballet, opera and classical music performances saw similarly dramatic decreases. Although visual arts also experienced drop-offs, the rate of change wasn’t as proportionally drastic. The number of respondents who reported visiting an art museum or gallery shrank from about 24 percent to 18 percent, while those attending craft fairs or visual arts festivals declined from about 24 percent to 17 percent. But those who said they toured parks, buildings or neighborhoods for “historic or design value” fell only two percentage points (to 26 percent).
Patrons line up outside the National Museum of African American History and Culture in D.C. in 2021. (Allison Shelley for The Washington Post)
Social media (17 percent) was the most common tool people reported using to discover arts events they ultimately attended, followed by friends, neighbors or co-workers (about 15 percent) and print/broadcast media (about 11 percent).
The survey also found that about 43 percent of respondents reported going to the movies — about a 16 percentage point decrease from 2017 — though the numbers predated the blockbuster release of “Avatar: The Way of Water” this past winter and this summer’s Barbenheimer phenomenon.
That decline grew steeper among people with higher levels of education, including an approximately 24 percentage point plunge for moviegoers with a graduate or professional degree.
The number of people who said they read a book dwindled four points, to about 49 percent. One area of increase was “other performing arts,” which the survey noted could encompass pop, rock, hip-hop and country music concerts, comedy shows and circus acts. That number rose about six points, to around 21 percent.
The General Social Survey, which documented the high levels of online arts engagement, found that White people were the least likely ethnic demographic to engage with the arts digitally, at 64 percent, compared with 81 percent of Black respondents, 73 percent of Hispanic respondents and 89 percent of other ethnicities. Women, 18-to-24-year-olds and minorities reported participating in more virtual arts events in the second year of the pandemic than they did from March 2020 to March 2021. Unsurprisingly, young adults reported higher rates of engaging with digital arts activities: 95 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds, compared with 68 percent of people 75 and older. The pessimistic in-person numbers validate existing anxieties among arts leaders.
The Washington Post reported this past summer that 25 to 30 percent of theater audiences have not returned since the shutdown, according to experts in theater management. After movie theaters enjoyed five straight years of hitting $11 billion at the domestic box office, from 2015 to 2019, the total gross was only $7.3 billion in 2022, according to the tracking website Box Office Mojo. (The Washington Post).
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Did you think only men can be pictured on money?
Althea Gibson, Ida B. Wells among women to feature on new 2025 quarters.
A render of the American Women Quarters Program obverse.
Story at a glance
Five women will feature on the back face of quarters to be minted for 2025.
The list includes famed journalist Ida B. Wells and trailblazing tennis and golf star Althea Gibson.
The 2025 coins will be the final set in a four-year, 20-coin production run of quarters honoring significant women in American history.
A trailblazing athlete, activist and scientist are among the five women who will feature in a special run of quarters to be minted for 2025, the Treasury Department announced.
The final honorees of the four-year American Women Quarters Program were announced Tuesday.
The group includes journalist and NAACP co-founder Ida B. Wells, Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low, astronomer Vera Rubin, disabilities activist Stacey Park Milbern and tennis and golf star Althea Gibson.
“It’s a privilege for the Mint to connect America through coins, and to tell our nation’s story through honoring the women in this amazing program,” Mint Director Ventris Gibson said in a statement. “The pioneering women we have recognized are among the many in our nation’s history who have made significant contributions and championed change in their own unique way.”
The women’s faces will feature on the tail side of a run of quarters, with the designs announced next year.
The honorees were selected by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen — herself the first woman to hold that post — in collaboration with the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, the National Women’s History Museum and the Congressional Bipartisan Women’s Caucus.
Wells was a trailblazing investigative journalist and civil rights activist. Her work reporting on injustices in the American South in the 1890s, especially lynching, helped inspire the civil rights movement, and she later co-founded the NAACP alongside other notable Black thought leaders.
Low founded the Girl Scouts of the USA in 1912 in Georgia, creating an organization for young women to learn crucial leadership skills and gain independence just as the suffrage movement was in full swing.
Rubin was one of astronomy’s most notable women, famous for her work in the 1970s on the rotation of galaxies. Her work provided some of the first evidence of dark matter, radically changing our understanding of the universe. She was also a significant activist for women in science.
Milbern was one of the leaders of the disability justice movement starting in the early 2000s when she was just 16 years old. She served on disability rights boards in North Carolina and in the Obama administration and was crucial in advocating for disability rights in the last two decades.
Gibson was the first Black athlete to play tennis at its highest level and the first Black woman to win a Grand Slam title in 1956. She won Wimbledon twice and has been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Sports Hall of Fame. Gibson was also the first Black athlete in the Women’s Professional Golf Tour.
A total of 20 women have been featured on quarters since the American Women Quarters Program’s inception starting in 2022. Other notable women who feature on coins include writer Maya Angelou, astronaut Sally Ride and former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. (The Hill).
American Women Quarters
The pioneering American women celebrated on the quarters are listed below in the order the quarters will be released.
2022
Maya Angelou – celebrated writer, performer, and social activist
Dr. Sally Ride – physicist, astronaut, educator, and first American woman in space
Wilma Mankiller – first woman elected principal chief of the Cherokee Nation
Nina Otero-Warren – suffrage leader and the first woman superintendent of Santa Fe public schools
Anna May Wong – first Chinese American film star in Hollywood
2023
Bessie Coleman – first African American and first Native American woman licensed pilot
Edith Kanakaʻole – indigenous Hawaiian composer, custodian of native culture and traditions
Eleanor Roosevelt – leader, reformer, first lady, and author
Jovita Idar – Mexican-American journalist, activist, teacher, and suffragist
Maria Tallchief – America’s first prima ballerina
2024
Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray – poet, writer, activist, lawyer, and Episcopal priest
Patsy Takemoto Mink – first woman of color to serve in Congress
Dr. Mary Edwards Walker – Civil War era surgeon, women’s rights and dress reform advocate
Celia Cruz – Cuban-American singer, cultural icon, and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century
Zitkala-Ša – writer, composer, educator, and political activist
2025
Ida B. Wells – investigative journalist, suffragist, and civil rights activist
Juliette Gordon Low – founder of the Girl Scouts organization
Dr. Vera Rubin – astronomer who pioneered work on galaxy rotation
Stacey Park Milbern – activist for people with disabilities
Althea Gibson – multi-sport athlete and first Black athlete to break the color barrier at the highest level in tennis
(Source. American Women Quarters™ Program At usmint.gov).
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