Quote for today…
Fear an ignorant man more than a lion. – Turkish Proverb
Welcome to “Thursday Numbers!” If you are a first-time visitor, this is the weekly column where I look at the numbers in the news (in descending order) and provide commentary, sometimes sprinkled with sarcasm and humor.
Topics include – lottery jackpot, COVID numbers, unemployment, House/Senate projections, campaign literature, Biden approval, Murders in Iowa, MSU Billings poll, Wolverine Watchmen guilty, gas prices, and more!
800,000,000
That is the estimated Powerball Jackpot for Saturday’s lottery drawing. (Powerball)
The winner will be able to buy several politicians…
1,069,449
That is how many people have died in the United States from coronavirus, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. There have been 97,343,426 cases across the country so far. The first death in the USA was reported on February 29, 2020. (Johns Hopkins)
Last week, the death total was 1,066,584.
217,000
In the week ending October 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 217,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 214,000. The 4-week moving average was 219,000, an increase of 6,750 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 212,250. (DOL)
Note: On Thursdays, this column is published right after 6:30 a.m. (Montana time), so I can post the latest unemployment numbers.
81
According to FiveThirtyEight.com, the Republicans currently have an 81% chance of winning the majority in the House. (Source)
Last week the chance of Republicans winning the House was 75%.
62
So far this election season, I have received about 62 pieces of campaign literature in the mail.
Is this a great country or what?
54
According to FiveThirtyEight.com, currently, the Democrats have a 54% chance of keeping the majority in the U.S. Senate. (Source)
Last week the chance of Democrats winning the Senate was 61%.
50-70
Lucy Studey claims that her father Donald Dean Studey, who died in 2013, murdered between 50 to 70 women, and buried them on their Iowa property. (Daily Mail)
Hello Iowa…
41.8
According to FiveThirtyEight.com, that is President Joe Biden’s current approval rating. (Source)
Last week, Biden’s approval rating was 42.3%.
35
The 35th edition of the Montana State University Billings poll is out! (Daily Montanan)
Check out the poll HERE.
3
Three men accused of supporting terrorism in the plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor were convicted of all charges Wednesday in a trial that focused on paramilitary drills and fierce contempt for government ahead of the 2020 election. Joe Morrison, his father-in-law Pete Musico, and Paul Bellar were found guilty of supplying “material support” for a terrorist act as members of a group known as the Wolverine Watchmen. (AP)
I hope the three MAGA nutjobs receive the maximum sentences…
0.060 – 11.13
That is the price range per gallon of gas worldwide as of October 24, 2022. (Source)
In the USA, the average price per gallon of gas on October 24 was $4.02. Last week (Oct. 17), the average price in the USA was $3.99.
The Western Word 
I agree. I at least makes three
I don’t get it. According to the polling,
“ In one of the few results that has remained relatively stable and unchanged for years were the number of people who value protection of public lands. Ninety-five percent of officials agreed that leaders should protect public lands.”
Then why do so many people vote for MAGAs who are furiously doing everything they can to sell off our public lands? Where is the disconnect? To me this is one of the most important issues. Once they’re gone, they’re gone for good. I mean, Zinke? James Brown? Daines? Gianforte? Really? These guys would sell their mothers for a buck.
And if the country goes entirely MAGA, which it looks like it could, it’s game over for public lands.
https://www.salon.com/2022/10/27/nevertrumper-rick-wilson-on-the-midterms-democrats-are-about-to-pay-a-terrible-price/
The big money interests that control the Republican party have been convincing people to vote against their own self-interests for decades by distracting and dividing working and middle class people against their neighbors to take attention off what the wealthy and corporate elites are really doing, changing the laws to funnel more and more of the national wealth upwards to those elites, and to maintain power for them. They are at it again this year with their contrived issues like CRT, school library books, alleged grooming, and of course The Big Lie. People will vote because they are angry about those lies, and then the real Republican work of distributing more wealth upwards can continue unabated in subsequent legislative sessions.
When the time comes to sell off the public lands to their wealthy friends, those same elites will contrive more phony wedge issues to distract people from what is really happening and convince them to vote against their own self-interests. Then they will proceed to do what no one elected them to do, give away public lands.
Personally I expect the assault on regular Montanans’ access to public lands and streams will begin in earnest in the 2023 legislature, and will succeed because people have been distracted by all the noise and voted so many Repub foxes into the public henhouse. Trump laid out the blueprint … what else do the little people need besides National Parks?
I’m constantly reminded of a ruined manor house I visited in Ireland. When the English lord who was given that piece of ground by the occupying English government in Dublin decided to build his big fancy house on the hill, he forced all the poor Irish living within eyesight to clear off because they spoiled his view.
Good analysis. Thanks, JmB