Forbes: Russia to Experience Mild Natural Increase in Population in 2013?

Russia

Mark Adomanis of Forbes makes a case that, if recent trends continue for the rest of the year, Russian births might exceed deaths in 2013.

The article is linked below.

Forbes: Natural Increase for Russia's Population?


"In 2013 Russia’s basic demographic indicators have modestly improved over 2012, which was itself the best year since the early 1990′s. In June-July 2013 the number of births was just a little smaller than the analogous period in 2012, but mortality decreased by an even larger amount."

---Mark Adomanis, Forbes 

Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama Atop the Nation in Incarceration Rates for 2012

Louisiana

Mississippi

Alabama

Per the FBI, Louisiana topped the nation in terms incarceration rate, followed by Mississippi and Alabama.

Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama Highest Incarceration Rates in U.S. for 2012

The American Prospect's Paul Waldman: White Privilege

Paul Waldman, in The American Prospect, takes a look at the benefits of white privilege enjoyed by people like himself.  Waldman further takes a sympathetic interpretation of President Obama's comments pertaining to the Trayvon Martin case.

Waldman's column is linked below.

Paul Waldman: White Privilege

"I will never have to sit my children down and give them a lengthy talk about what to do and not to do when they encounter the police. That's the talk so many black parents make sure to give their children, one filled with detailed instructions about how to not appear threatening, how to diffuse tension, what to do with your hands when you get pulled over, and how to end the encounter without being arrested or beaten."

---Paul Waldman, The American Prospect 

The AP's Hope Yen: 80% of U.S. Adults Face Economic Distress at Various Points in Life

Hope Yen of The Associate Press provides a fascinating summary of a new study about the pervasiveness of poverty and/or economic insecurity in the United States.  Yen's article is based, in part, on exclusive access to data being studied by Mark Rank, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Rank's study will be published at a later date by the Oxford University Press.

Rank has developed an Economic Insecurity Gauge, a measurement considering episodic unemployment for 1 year or more, usage of government aid like food stamps, and an income of less than 150% of the federal poverty line. For the record, the recent federal poverty line is set at $23,021 annual income for a family of four.

Yen's article is a quite detailed piece.  Here are some highlighted points:

• 46 million of the U.S. public in poverty, about 15% of the total population
• 19 million whites are below the federal poverty line, constituting about 41% of the American poor
• Working class whites (those without college degrees) make up the biggest demographic bloc of the U.S. working age population
• American marriage rates are on the decline
• Among whites, rising pessimism about the future
• Among minorities, a 90% risk of economic deprivation at some point in life

Yen's article is linked below.

The AP's Hope Yen: 80% of American adults face economic distress at Various Points in Life

"Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream."

---Hope Yen, The Associated Press

Hope Yen's story at the AP website

Andrew O'Hehir: Detroit Haters on the Right

Detroit, Michigan

In a provocative column for Salon, Andrew O'Hehir contends that the American right has a contempt for the black identity and cultural influence New Orleans and Detroit, and as such, relishes the respective falls of each city--those being Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Detroit's municipal bankruptcy in 2013.

From jazz to Mo-Town soul, O'Hehir describes New Orleans and Detroit as crucibles of cultural influence that were liberating and a little subversive.  To reactionary America espoused led by the likes of Sean Hannity, New Orleans and Detroit were a threat. Per O'Hehir, the reactionary and racist American right believed--in some fashion--that "New Orleans and Detroit had to be punished."

O'Hehir's column is linked below.

Andrew O'Hehir; Detroit Haters

"I think the collapse of Detroit makes us look the way we looked after the national humiliation of Katrina: like a bitter, miserly and dying empire where the deluded rich cling to their McMansions and mock the suffering of the poor while everyone else fights over the scraps, and where the slow-acting poison of racism continues to work its bad magic."

---Andrew O'Hehir, Salon 

Reactions to Victor Davis Hanson's Controversial Column About Race and Crime

Below are links to reactions to the controversial Hanson column.

The Atlantic: Response to Victor Davis Hanson

The Atlantic Wire: National Review's Newest Warning About Black People

The New Yorker: A Critique of Hanson's Recent Column on Race

The Daily Kos: A look at the Victor Davis Hanson column

Victor Davis Hanson's response to The New Yorker piece is linked below.

Victor Davis Hanson: Response to The New Yorker

National Review's Victor Davis Hanson: Obama and Holder Wrong on the Trayvon Martin Case

National Review conservative columnist Victor Davis Hanson argues that President Obama at Attorney General Eric Holder are fundamentally wrong about race and the Trayvon Martin killing. He contends that the Trayvon Martin killing was not a function of white racism, nor a product of stand your ground laws.

Hanson further provides a story from his younger years in which his father advised him to avoid groups of young black males in an urban area, San Francisco precisely.  Hanson notes that he advised his son in a similar fashion.  These points, in particular, have generated a great deal of controversy in some circles.

His column is linked below.

National Review's Victor Davis Hanson: Obama and Holder Wrong About the Trayvon Martin Case

"Barack Obama knows that if non-African-Americans were to cease all inordinate scrutiny of young African-American males, the latters’ inordinate crime rates would probably not be affected — given other causation for disproportionate incidences of criminality. Yet should their statistical crime profiles suddenly resemble those of other racial and ethnic groups, the so-called profiling would likely cease."

---Victor Davis Hanson, National Review

Charles Blow of The New York Times: Fifty States Not United

In a deeply pessimistic column for The New York Times, Charles M. Blow argues that the United States in increasingly united only in theory. Blow notes that, at the state level, more than two out of three states are controlled by a single party, most of them Republican.

Blow essentially describes a patch-quilt nation in which many of the states are constructing a reactionary political and social order, particularly in the areas of voting rights for minorities and low income citizens, and reproductive rights for women.

His column is linked below.

Charles Blow: The Deeply Divided States of America

"In fact, we seem to be increasingly becoming two countries under one flag: Liberal Land — coastal, urban and multicultural — separated by Conservative Country — Southern and Western, rural and racially homogeneous. (Other parts of the country are a bit of a mixed bag.)"

---Charles Blow, The New York Times 

Eleanor Clift: The Current Republican Electorate

The Daily Beast's Eleanor Clift takes a look at some polling conducted by Stanley Greenberg, the Democratic pollster who helped guide Bill Clinton's 1992 victory.

In this case, Greenberg is in the process of examining the GOP electorate.  Per Clift, Greenberg's findings show a Republican electorate full of dissatisfaction with the GOP, but united in opposition to President Obama.  His polling also indicates that the GOP, while still winning elderly voters in polling, is now prevailing by far smaller margins than in 2010.

Clift's article is linked below.

The Daily Beast's Eleanor Clift: The GOP Electorate

"Republicans are holding on in rural and small-town America and among married men and women, but these are not the fast-growing parts of the electorate. The survey finds Republicans intensely opposed to gay marriage, strongly favoring pro-life groups, and incorporating opposition to dealing with global warming as part of their values."

---Eleanor Clift, The Daily Beast 

CBS News: The New North Carolina Voter I.D. Law and the Disenfranchisement of Thousands

North Carolina

The recently passed Republican-sponsored North Carolina voter I.D. law, if allowed to operate in its current form, will likely prohibit thousands of North Carolina residents from voting in 2016, many of them college students, the poor, and/or minorities.

The North Carolina voter I.D. law is likely to diminish turnout among Democratic voters, a state Barack Obama carried in 2008 and narrowly lost in 2012.  The Tar Heel state is considered a key swing state in presidential elections for the foreseeable future.

CBS News takes a look at this piece of legislation and its potential suppression of the vote.

The CBS report is linked below.

CBS News: The North Carolina Voter I.D. Law and the Disenfranchisement of Thousands

The Atlantic: Economic Mobility and Two Milwaukee Families

Milwaukee, WI

In The Atlantic, David Rohde takes a look at a PBS Frontline documentary about the 22 year struggles of two Milwaukee, Wisconsin families, the Stanleys and the Neumanns.

Simply put, Rohde describes how the documentary tells the story of how the American Dream is bypassing two households.

Rohde's article is linked below.  At the bottom of this post is a link to the PBS website.  The documentary is available for online viewing from that site.

The Atlantic: Two Families in Milwaukee

"The Stanleys and the Neumanns are a microcosm of the middle class that President Barack Obama -- and House Republicans -- will spar over for the remainder of Obama's presidency. And they are part of a global trend. Across industrialized nations, income inequality is growing and people like the Stanleys and Neumanns are the losers."

---David Rohde, The Atlantic

PBS.org: Two American Families

Ronald Brownstein: The Return of American Racial Division

In a column for National Journal, Ronald Brownstein examines how the Trayvon Martin case demonstrates the depths of division between white and non-white America.

Brownstein's column is linked below.

Ronald Brownstein: U.S. racial division has returned

 "Even as America experiences its most profound demographic change in more than a century, our society is increasingly fracturing along overlapping racial, generational, and partisan lines. The diversity remaking America could be a source of rejuvenation and innovation, but today it is reinforcing our ferocious partisan polarization."

---Ronald Brownstein, National Journal 

Bowling Green State University: U.S. Marriage Rate at Lowest Rate in Over a Century

The Bowling Green State University statement is linked below.

Bowling Green State University: The U.S. Marriage Rate at Lowest Point in a Century

Related stories stemming from the BGSU report:

Huffington Post: BGSU Report on the Marriage Rate

"A new report released Thursday by Bowling Green State University's National Center for Marriage and Family Research found that the U.S. marriage rate is 31.1, or 31 marriages per 1,000 unmarried women. That means for every 1,000 unmarried women in the U.S., 31 of those previously single women tied the knot in the last year. For comparison, in 1920, the national marriage rate was 92.3."

---Huffington Post

New York Daily News: U.S. Marriage Rate in Decline

CNN's Ruben Navarette: Keep the Dreamers; Discard Congressman Steve King

In an editorial column for CNN, Ruben Navarette makes a case for keeping the Dreamers (i.e. undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children) and sending away Iowa Republican Congressman Steven King.

Steve King, a rabid right-wing congressman from Iowa, recently claimed that Dreamers are much more likely to be drug smugglers than good students.

Navarette's column is linked below.

CNN's Ruben Navarette: Deport Congressman Steve King

"Now King has really outdone himself. With Republicans poised to introduce their own version of the DREAM Act, he recently suggested that -- contrary to the popular image of undocumented students brought here by their parents who become class valedictorian -- young illegal immigrants are just as likely to enter the country as drug mules."

---Ruben Navarette, CNN

Pew Research Center: 44% of the American Public See Economic Turnaround Coming Later Rather Than Sooner

A Pew Research Center survey finds that the American public is less than rosy about the near future of the U.S. economy.

The Pew study is linked below.

Pew Research: 44% say economic revival still relatively far away

The American Prospect: Children in Poverty, the Numbers

Curtis Skinner, in The American Prospect, examines the rise in the number of American children in poverty.

Skinner's article is linked below.

The American Prospect: Children in Poverty, the Numbers

"The increase in the child-poverty rate of four percentage points between 2007 and 2011 to 22 percent was the second largest four-year increase since modern recordkeeping began in 1959. The percentage of children living in low-income families—with incomes less than twice the federal poverty line—increased even more rapidly, from 39 percent to 45 percent."

---Curtis Skinner, The American Prospect 

The American Prospect: A Diminished Social Safety Net

Elizabeth Lower-Basch, in The American Prospect, chronicles the down-sizing of the American social welfare system, a process that began in earnest in 1997.

Lower-Basch's article is linked below.

The American Prospect: A Diminished Social Safety Net

"Five years later, in 2011, as a result of the worst recession in generations, the number of poor children in the U.S. had climbed to 16.1 million, but still just 3.4 million children were in families receiving cash assistance under TANF. The number of families receiving help grew in some states, but never as much as need rose."

---Elizabeth Lower-Basch, The American Prospect

The American Prospect: Children in the Wake of the Great Recession

Jared Bernstein, in The American Prospect, looks at some of the effects of the Great Recession on children, along with the effects of the Stimulus Act.

Bernstein's article is linked below.

The American Prospect: Children of the Great Recession

"While the safety net performed well during the worst phase of the downturn, other trends have been troubling. Families lost trillions of dollars in home equity, the largest source of wealth for working- and middle-class households. Long-term structural inequality persists, so the modest economic growth that has returned since 2010 is eluding most families."

---Jared Bernstein, The American Prospect

The Nation's Richard Kim: The Republican Party as a White Redoubt

The Nation's Richard Kim examines the issue of whether the GOP will choose to pursue voter outreach that appeals almost exclusively to white voters.  Kim notes that while such a path might be a long term loser for the Republicans, it is yielding policies in various states that hurt minorities in the here-and-now.

The Nation: The GOP as a White Stronghold

"For the past two decades, the GOP has waged a crusade to redraw the political map so as to maximize the number of white voters in Republican-leaning districts, while lumping as many minority voters as possible into Democratic-leaning ones. The siege mentality is baked into the very DNA of the party, and it creates a perverse incentive structure in which only white voters matter."

---Richard Kim, The Nation

New York Times Editorial Supports President Obama's Comments Regarding the Legitimacy of Black Experience Relative to the Distress Over the Killing of Trayvon Martin

The New York Times Editorial Board published an editorial in the wake of President Obama's comments about the killing of Trayvon Martin.   The editorial endorses the President's statements, and expresses hope that the President's words will spark a national dialogue.

New York Times Editorial in Support of President Obama's Remarks About Black Experience as a Prism Through Which the Killing of Trayvon Martin is Viewed

"It is a great thing for this country to have a president who could do what Mr. Obama did today. It is sad that we still need him to do it."

---The New York Times Editorial Board

Salon's Katie McDonough: Religious Progressives Rising

In a Salon article, Katie McDonough cites a recent survey indicating that 19% of the U.S. adult population is classified as "Religious Progressive." 

The rest of the population, per the survey, breaks down as follows:

Religious and conservative: 28%
Religious and moderate: 38%
Not religious: 15%

McDonough's article is linked below.

Katie McDonough at Salon: Religious Progressives Growing in Number

"While politicians like Rick Perry and pundits like Bill O’Reilly may clog up a lot of media airtime, the proportion of religious conservatives in the United States is shrinking with each successive generation, and close to 20 percent of Americans today are religious progressives..."

Katie McDonough, Salon

The New Republic: The Decline of Detroit Shown Via Maps

Detroit

In the wake of Detroit's filing for bankruptcy, Nate Cohn of The New Republic analyzes a series of maps showing the steady population decline of Detroit, Michigan.

Nate Cohn's article is linked below.

The New Republic: Detroit's Collapse Shown in Maps

"The Motor City has been in decline for decades; its population peaked at 1.8 million in 1950 and declined to just 700,000 people in the last Census. Predictably, its economy faltered—especially over the last decade. The unemployment rate is over 18 percent; fewer than half of adult residents are employed. A shrinking tax base made the city’s debt unsustainable—forcing it into bankruptcy."

----Nate Cohn, The New Republic

Life Expectancy Narrowing Between U.S. Whites and Blacks

Sabrina Tavernise, in a piece for the New York Times, describes how the life expectancy gap between whites and African-Americans has converged to its narrowest gap since the federal government began making such calculations around 80 years ago.

Tavernise's article is linked below.

New York Times: U.S. White vs. Black Life Expectancy Closing

"Life expectancy for blacks rose to 75 years in 2010, up from 64 years in 1970. For whites, it rose to 79 years from 72 years in the same period. In 1930, life expectancy stood at 48 for blacks and at 60 for whites."

---Sabrina Tavernise, New York Times

Pew Research Center: A Deeply Divided Congress and American People

U.S. Capitol Building

In an article for the Pew Research Center, Drew Desilver claims that not only are Democratic and Republican members of Congress growing apart, but so are partisans in the American public.

He cites data that indicates that conservatives now make up a greater portion of the GOP than they did over a decade ago.  A similar ideological sharpening is happening in the Democratic Party as well in that a increasing portion of Democrats self-identify themselves as liberals.  On an array of issues, ideological splits among the public have become larger.

In Congress, ideological differences are increasingly widened, especially when contemporary party policy differences are compared to respective party policy stances in the late 1940s.

Pew Research Center: Congress and the People are Deeply Divided

"Not only are Republicans and Democrats elected from very different districts with distinct voter bases, but Congress reflects an America that has been growing further and further apart ideologically for decades."

---Drew Desilver, Pew Research Center

Washington Post: President Obama and the Political Thicket of Identity

President Barack Obama

Scott Wilson chronicles the careful manner in which President Obama is reacting to the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial.  He notes that, while Obama has spoken boldly about racial matters at certain junctures in his public career, he is taking a subdued approach in the aftermath of the trial.

Wilson's Washington Post article is linked below.

Washington Post: Identity Politics and a Careful POTUS

"Obama’s handling of the verdict’s aftermath reflects some of the hard-learned lessons of the past four years. Rather than criticism, he has chosen a tone of consolation, avoiding the issue of race directly to help cool the country down."

---Scott Wilson, The Washington Post

The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson: Young Black Males Rendered Disposable

Trayvon Martin

In a powerfully-argued column for the Washington Post, Eugene Robinson claims that "our society considers young black men to be dangerous, interchangeable, expendable, guilty until proven innocent."

Robinson condemns the initial non-chalant response of the Sanford Police Department to the killing of Trayvon Martin, a killing that resulted in prosecution of George Zimmerman after it became a national story.  One of the most poignant issues raised by Robinson is that, for a teenager like Trayvon Martin, it must have been frightening to be followed by an adult on that rainy night in Florida.  And under those circumstances, Martin faced a "fight or flight" dilemma.  Per Robinson, George Zimmerman was not the only adversary that Trayvon Martin faced on that night in February 2012.  He also faced deeply-rooted American assumptions about young Black males.

Eugene Robinson's column is linked below.

Eugene Robinson: Young Black males kept from being youthful

"The assumption underlying [the Sanford authorities] ho-hum approach to the case was that Zimmerman had the right to self-defense but Martin — young, male, black — did not. The assumption was that Zimmerman would fear for his life in a hand-to-hand struggle but Martin — young, male, black — would not."

---Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post

Joe Scarborough: The "Hyper-Partisan" Responses to the Verdict in the George Zimmerman Trial

Former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough, in a Politico column, laments the "hyper-partisan" responses to the Trayvon Martin killing, and the George Zimmerman trial and verdict, particularly the responses of various members of America's "political class."

And while he condemns the partisan responses of many American liberals too, the self-described conservative and former Republican lawmaker hits American right-wingers particularly hard. He argues that conservative rhetoric and GOP-supported policies like Stand-Your-Ground laws have often served to increase American racial division.

His column is linked below.

Joe Scarborough: Partisanship and the George Zimmerman Verdict

"But that doesn’t mean I can’t draw my own personal conclusions, like my belief that George Zimmerman is a racist idiot who chased an unarmed teenager through a neighborhood for little reason more than he was a black man wearing a hoodie. I can also conclude that many conservative commentators were offensive in their reflexive defense of Zimmerman, as well as their efforts to attack the integrity of a dead black teenager. I am also not sure how it is that the right-wing’s professional chattering classes usually find themselves on the other side of African-Americans in racially sensitive cases."

----Joe Scarborough, Politico

Are We in a Long Hot "Summer of Hate?"

Salon's Mary Elizabeth Williams contends that we are living in a "summer of hate" that will catch the attention of future academic scholars.  Williams claims that an inventory of incidents this summer point to something perverse.  She cites the following high-profile incidents:

The contemptuous descriptions of Rachael Jeantel, a friend of Trayvon Martin and a trial witness
Rightwing jubilation over the Zimmerman verdict
Racial slurs used on Big Brother
Paula Deen's purported racism
The prank--in the wake of the Asiana airline crash in San Francisco--of a California television station

In short, Williams contends that America remains a country where anti-minority racism continues to flourish.

Salon: A Hate-filled Summer

"Years from now, when colleges offer courses on 'Race Relations in the Early 21st Century,' and authors write the books on dark chapters in American history, they’re going to have a whole lot to say about the summer of 2013. The summer of our emboldened ignorance."

----Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon

Popular Vote Totals in Presidential Elections, 1976-2012

The chart above traces the popular vote totals of Democratic and Republican presidential tickets from 1976 to 2012.

For the Democrats the general trend lines have been relatively simple. After a decline in vote totals in 1980 (Jimmy Carter's defeat), from 1984 to 2008 the respective Democratic candidates improved the vote totals from the four years prior.  In 2012, four years after Obama received a record-setting 69 million plus popular votes, his successful re-election effort garnered around 3 million fewer votes.  But that aside, for 7 consecutive elections, the Democrats improved their vote totals, relative to the Democratic totals in the prior election.  It's significant, though, that of those 7 contests, the Democratic candidates only won 3, those being Clinton's wins in 1992 and 1996, and Obama's victory in 2008.

The Republican trends were a bit more complex.  In 1980 and 1984, Ronald Reagan's victories also saw vote gains over the four years prior.  But in 1988 and 1992, George H.W. Bush received fewer popular votes than the totals four years prior.  In 1988, Bush won a popular vote and electoral vote landslide, but relative to Reagan's 1984 GOP-best performance, it was a popular vote decline.  GOP vote totals in the defeats of 1992 and 1996 were well below the GOP 1988 totals, thus constituting the worst GOP popular vote totals of the last quarter-century.

In 2000 and 2004, GOP popular vote totals rebounded, and in 2004, garnered a GOP-best 62 million votes.  In 2008 the McCain-Palin ticket received around 59 million votes, a decline from George W. Bush's 2004 totals.  In 2012, the Romney-Ryan GOP ticket did outperform the 2008 GOP ticket.

If there's any simple good news for both of the two major U.S. parties, it's that each party has received its three highest popular vote totals in the last three elections.  For the GOP, its best year was 2004, followed by 2012 and 2008.  The Democrats had their best performance in 2008, followed by 2012 and 2004.

The Daily Beast's Bassam Gergi: Zimmerman Acquitted and the African American Community "Seethes"

Trayvon Martin

Bassam Gergi's column in The Daily Beast is linked below.

Zimmerman's Acquital Sparks Righteous Indignation Among Black Americans







"George Zimmerman walked free last night. He walked free and black America seethes. It seethes because 50 years after the end of Jim Crow, and more than 150 years after emancipation, black people find themselves, yet again, powerless to ensure that justice is upheld for their children."

----Bassam Gergi, The Daily Beast

Regarding the George Zimmerman Trial: A Brief Demographic Profile of Seminole County, Florida

Seminole County, Florida

On July 13, 2013 a jury in Seminole County, Florida rendered a verdict in the Trayvon Martin Killing  Trial. The defendant was George Zimmerman who shot and killed Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old, during an altercation.  Zimmerman maintained that he acted in self defense.  It appears that the jury of six women agreed.

What follows is a brief demographic profile of Seminole County, Florida, the county where the killing occurred, and where the trial was held.

State: Florida
County: Seminole

Population: 430,000

Population growth from 2010 to 2012: 1.9%

Population under 18 years of age:  22%
Population 65 years of age and older: 13.3%

Racial-Ethnic Composition

White, Non-Hispanic: 65.2%

Hispanic: 18.2%
Black: 11.8%
Asian: 4%
Native American: < 1%
Multiracial: 2.3%

Median Household Income:  $58,900
Percentage of Population in Poverty: 10%

Persons per square mile: 1367

-------------

Source: The U.S. Census Bureau (2010-2012 data)   www.quickfacts.census.gov

Chicago Tribune: The Six Jurors in the George Zimmerman Trial

The American Prospect's Paul Waldman: State-Level Republicans in the South See Little Need to Reach Out to Minorities

In a piece for The American Prospect, Paul Waldman provocatively claims that, for Republicans in Southern state legislatures, they have little incentive to reach out to minority voters.

Waldman maintains that the demographic troubles facing the GOP at the national level just don't apply at the Southern state level.  He cites the exit poll data showing the overwhelming Southern white support of the McCain-Palin ticket in 2008. In Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana in 2008, over 80% of whites in each of those three Deep South states voted for the GOP ticket.

While the national GOP is awash in angst about its ability to adjust to American demographic change, in Dixie, these are the halcyon days for Southern Republicans.  As described by Waldman, the structural basis of this Republican dominance (and likely continued dominance) in the South comes down to party and racial allegiance.  He claims that "it's little exaggeration to say that Republicans in the South would be happy if every elected Democrat in their state was a black Democrat."

Walman notes that in states like Alabama--a state where Romney won around 90% of the white vote in 2012--the GOP does not need any Black voters.  He maintains that, for a hypothetical Alabama Republican, "an all-white party is just fine with you."

Waldman's column is linked below.

The American Prospect: Little Incentive for State-level GOP to seek minority support

"This isn't equally easy in every state, but in some places in the South, the proportion of white Republicans has grown so high that once they can segregate the black voters (so to speak), it doesn't just mean they're no longer vulnerable to Democratic challengers on an individual basis, it also means their hold on power in the state as a whole is virtually assured."

---Paul Waldman, The American Prospect

New York Times: The Racial-Ethnic Demographic Compositions of Democratic vs. Republican Congressional Districts

The New York Times provides an illuminating graph showing the respective racial-ethnic proportions of the Democrats, Republicans, and the overall U.S. population.

Per the Census Bureau, the racial-ethnic composition of the U.S. population was thus in 2010 (at least for the four biggest groupings):

White, non-Hispanic: 63.4%
Hispanic: 16.4%
Black: 12.1%
Asian: 4.7%

Republican districts, per the Times, are significantly whiter and less racially-ethnically diverse than Democratic districts.  In the red (Republican) districts, whites make up nearly 75% of the population. Whites are 51% of the population in the blue (Democratic) districts.

The racial-ethnic demographic disparities are also found among Hispanics, Blacks, and Asians. For example, Hispanics make up nearly 23% of the population in Democratic districts, but only 11% in GOP districts.  Blacks, in turn, constitute 16% of blue districts, but only 8.5% of red districts. Asians compose nearly 7% of Democratic districts, but only 3% of GOP districts.

The bottom line is that overall,  Democratic congressional districts reflect the racial-ethnic diversity of the U.S., while for the most part, GOP districts do not.

The graph is linked below.

New York Times: Red vs. Blue Congressional Districts in Terms of Racial-Ethnic Composition

Washington Post's Kathleen Parker: A Republican "Bonfire of Vanities"

Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker takes the Republican Party to task, arguing that GOP conservatives are behaving immaturely on such matters as the food stamps provision of the farm bill, and the immigration reform bill.  As conservative herself, Parker also calls out conservative columnists Bill Kristol and Rich Lowry for their joint anti-immigration editorial calling for the rejection of the Senate-passed bill.

Much like David Brooks (see the prior post), Parker contends that the GOP is committing political suicide over the long haul.

Kathleen Parker: The Rightwing Blunder on Immigration

"What Republicans are selling appeals to an ever-diminishing market that doesn’t even include their erstwhile allies in business and industry. And their self-immolation may prove to have been nothing more than a bonfire of vanities."

---Kathleen Parker, Washington Post

Conservative Columnist David Brooks Message to House Republicans: Pass the Immigration Reform Bill

New York Times columnist David Brooks argues that objections to the immigration reform bill made by fellow conservatives are weak.  On matters such as border security, economic growth, fertility rates, and fiscal discipline, the bill is in conformity with larger conservative goals, contends Brooks.

Brooks further contends that a GOP blockage of immigration reform could be a "tragedy" for the United States, and "political suicide" for the Republican Party.

Brooks' column is linked below.

David Brooks: The Republican-Controlled House Should Pass Immigration Reform

"Whether this bill passes or not, this country is heading toward a multiethnic future. Republicans can either shape that future in a conservative direction or, as I’ve tried to argue, they can become the receding roar of a white America that is never coming back."

----David Brooks, New York Times

National Journal's Charlie Cook: Warnings Against Stereotyping Demographic Groups and Voting

Charlie Cook takes a look at the complexities of ethnicity and gender in American voting patterns, particularly the ways in which women voters constitute a very heterogeneous demographic.

Cook notes that, within the GOP, there is a perspective holding that the party must learn to develop its messaging in fashions appealing to more varied audiences.

Charlie Cook: Stereotyping Demographic Voting Groups

"If Republicans want to appeal only to older white men, their rhetoric would not have to change one iota. But with the makeup of the electorate changing dramatically, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the Republican Party has an unsustainable business model."

---Charlie Cook, National Journal

Salon's Joan Walsh: Appealing to White Racial Resentments Likely to be a Part of Potential GOP Efforts to Increase the White Vote

In a column of Salon, Joan Walsh argues that, if the Republicans attempt to increase their vote totals by reaching out exclusively to white voters, then they will likely appeal to racial resentments held by whites.

Joan Walsh: Stoking Racial Resentment and Maximizing the GOP White Vote

"I have a visceral reaction to conservatives arguing that Republicans should forget about trying to lure Latinos by passing immigration reform, and focus on turning out white voters instead. When Phyllis Schlafly or Pat Buchanan makes that pitch, it’s clear to me, it’s racist. They are urging their party to rely on the 50-year narrative of white grievance, perfected by Buchanan for Richard Nixon, that turned many white working-class people against Democrats."

---Joan Walsh, Salon

Pew Research Center: Food Stamps Political Demographics

According to the Pew Research Center, about 22% of Democrats have received federal food stamps at some juncture in their lives.  For Republicans, it's about 10%. Among Independents, 17% have received food stamps at some point.

All total, about 18% of Americans have participated in the food stamps program.

While in terms of party affiliation, participation rates were significantly different, in terms of political ideology, there was no significant difference.  Among liberals, conservatives, and moderates each group had 17% indicating participation in the food stamp program.

Pewresearch.org: Food Stamps Political Demographics

Brief State Demographic Profiles: Montana

Montana

This is the 26th installment of demographic profiles of each of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.  Some of the Census Bureau data are rounded.

State: Montana

Population: 1 million

Population growth from 2010 to 2012: 1.6%

Population under 18 years of age:  22.1%
Population 65 years of age and older: 15.7%

Racial-Ethnic Composition

White, Non-Hispanic: 87.2%

Hispanic: 3.1%
Black: < 1%
Asian: < 1%
Native American: 6.5%
Multiracial: 2.5%

Median Household Income:  $45,300
Percentage of Population in Poverty: 14.6%

Persons per square mile: 7

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Source: The U.S. Census Bureau (2010-2012 data)   www.quickfacts.census.gov

Brief State Demographic Profiles: Missouri

Missouri

This is the 25th installment of demographic profiles of each of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.  Some of the Census Bureau data are rounded.

State: Missouri

Population: 6 million

Population growth from 2010 to 2012: < 1%

Population under 18 years of age:  23.3%
Population 65 years of age and older: 14.7%

Racial-Ethnic Composition

White, Non-Hispanic: 80.6%

Hispanic: 3.7%
Black: 11.7%
Asian: 1.8%
Native American: < 1%
Multiracial: 2%

Median Household Income:  $47,200
Percentage of Population in Poverty: 14.3%

Persons per square mile: 87

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Source: The U.S. Census Bureau (2010-2012 data)   www.quickfacts.census.gov

Brief State Population Profiles: Mississippi

Mississippi

This is the 24th installment of demographic profiles of each of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.  Some of the Census Bureau data are rounded.

State: Mississippi

Population: 3 million

Population growth from 2010 to 2012: < 1%

Population under 18 years of age:  25%
Population 65 years of age and older: 13.5%

Racial-Ethnic Composition

White, Non-Hispanic: 57.6%

Hispanic: 2.9%
Black: 37.4%
Asian: 1%
Native American: < 1%
Multiracial: 1.1%

Median Household Income:  $38,700
Percentage of Population in Poverty: 21.6%

Persons per square mile: 63

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Source: The U.S. Census Bureau (2010-2012 data)   www.quickfacts.census.gov

Brief State Demographic Profiles: Minnesota

Minnesota

This is the 23rd installment of demographic profiles of each of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.  Some of the Census Bureau data are rounded.

State: Minnesota

Population: 5.4 million

Population growth from 2010 to 2012: 1.4%

Population under 18 years of age:  23.7%
Population 65 years of age and older: 13.6%

Racial-Ethnic Composition

White, Non-Hispanic: 82.4%

Hispanic: 4.9%
Black: 5.5%
Asian: 4.4%
Native American: 1.3%
Multiracial: 2.2%

Median Household Income:  $58,500
Percentage of Population in Poverty: 11%

Persons per square mile: 67

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Source: The U.S. Census Bureau (2010-2012 data)   www.quickfacts.census.gov

Thomas Edsall: Declining Political Power for Blacks in the South

In a provocative column of the New York Times, Thomas Edsall looks at the relationship between Republican takeovers of state legislatures in the former Confederacy and declining Black political power in these same Southern states.

Edsall's column is linked below.

Thomas Edsall: Blacks are losing political power in the South

"Republicans are currently entrenched, backed by decisive majorities of white voters. Republican legislators in the South have, in turn, moved aggressively on two fronts to secure their power: by designing legislative and Congressional districts minimizing Democratic prospects and by moving ahead with legislation designed to suppress voting under the guise of combating voter fraud."

----Thomas Edsall, New York Times

Slate's John Dickerson: Immigration Reform and Competing GOP Visions of Death

The GOP

Slate's John Dickerson takes a look at the continuing GOP dilemma on immigration reform.  He summarizes of substance of the joint editorial of National Review and The Weekly Standard, a statement penned by the respective editors Rich Lowry and Bill Kristol.   In short, Lowry and Kristol call on the Republican House to reject categorically the immigration bill passed by the U.S. Senate.

Dickerson notes that, within the Republican Party, there are now two forms of party death-fear. One version is the Lindsey Graham school which fears a demographic "death spiral" for the GOP if immigration reform fails to pass.  The other manifestation of Republican fear of death is the one often heard on the Tea Party rate, namely that a significant increase in Latino citizenship will render the death of the GOP.

An escalation of rightwing anti-immigration rhetoric will likely occur within Republican ranks, concludes Dickerson, should the GOP leadership follow Lowry and Kristol's advice.

Slate's John Dickerson: The Republican Immigration Problem

"Republicans don’t always look good when debating immigration reform. They get emotional, judge each other's motives, and generally provide Democrats with opportunities to point fingers at them. Republicans on both sides of the issue point to the trouble the GOP has had talking about immigration in the past. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado is blamed for years of immigrant bashing that made the party look intolerant. In the 2012 GOP primary, the unresolved immigration issue caused a rolling fracas between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. When Romney came out for 'self-deportation,' many in the party believe it defined Romney and the GOP as cold and unwelcoming."

------John Dickerson, Slate

Brief State Demographic Profiles: Michigan

Michigan

This is the 22nd installment of demographic profiles of each of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.  Some of the Census Bureau data are rounded.

State: Michigan

Population: 9.9 million

Population growth from 2010 to 2012: - <1%

Population under 18 years of age:  22.9%
Population 65 years of age and older: 14.6%

Racial-Ethnic Composition

White, Non-Hispanic: 76.2%

Hispanic: 4.6%
Black: 14.3%
Asian: 2.6%
Native American: <1%
Multiracial: 2.2%

Median Household Income:  $48,700
Percentage of Population in Poverty: 15.7%

Persons per square mile: 175

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Source: The U.S. Census Bureau (2010-2012 data)   www.quickfacts.census.gov

Brief State Demographic Profiles: Massachusetts

Massachusetts

This is the 21st installment of demographic profiles of each of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.  Some of the Census Bureau data are rounded.

State: Massachusetts

Population: 6.6 million

Population growth from 2010 to 2012: 1.5%

Population under 18 years of age:  21.1%
Population 65 years of age and older: 14.4%

Racial-Ethnic Composition

White, Non-Hispanic: 75.8%

Hispanic: 10.1%
Black: 7.9%
Asian: 5.8%
Native American: <1%
Multiracial: 2%

Median Household Income:  $66,000
Percentage of Population in Poverty: 10.7%

Persons per square mile: 839

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Source: The U.S. Census Bureau (2010-2012 data)   www.quickfacts.census.gov

Michael Tomasky: White Voters Likely to be Less Conservative in the Future

Michael Tomasky, in a column for The Daily Beast, argues that the American white population is evolving in a less conservative direction, and that conservative calls for the Republican Party to rely solely on white voters is foolish. Simply put, American whites are not a culturally static conservative voting bloc that can be harvested in greater future numbers.

In the last few election cycles, whites with graduate degrees are trending Democratic, and among college-educated whites in general, Romney's edge over Obama was modest.

Among younger working class whites, in turn, Tomasky maintains that working class millennials tend to support same-sex marriage, are pro-immigrant, and are less religious than their elders.  And while this demographic is likely to tack right on certain issues as they age, they are unlikely to jettison their current affinity for cultural tolerance.

Michael Tomasky: A Less Conservative U.S. White Population in the Making

"White people—yep, even working-class white people—are going to get less conservative in coming years, so the Republicans’ hopes of building a white-nationalist party will likely be dashed in the future even by white people themselves."

---Michael Tomasky, The Daily Beast

The New Republic's Nate Cohn: The Theory That More White Voters Alone Will Save the GOP is Bogus

Nate Cohn, in a piece for The New Republic, challenges Sean Trende's claim that the GOP can change  its recent electoral fortunes by maxing out its support among whites.  Much of Trende's thesis rests on the fact that recent GOP presidential candidates have been increasing their party's share of the white vote.  In 2012, Romney carried around 61%. Trende argues that white support for the GOP can continue and expand.

Cohn contends that Romney's high rate of support by the 2012 white demographic is misleading due to the fact that Romney racked up huge margins among Southern and Appalachian whites.  In swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, Romney's support among whites was more modest.  In fact, according to Cohn, in many parts of the U.S., Obama received white support in 2012 that exceeded Al Gore's in 2000.  Cohn provides a national map showing where Obama outperformed Gore.

That Hispanics alone cannot rescue the GOP on a national level, Cohn readily agrees with Trende.  But Cohn maintains that in states like Florida, Nevada, and Colorado, the Republicans must improve their appeal with Hispanics, due to the higher prevalence of Hispanic voters.

In Cohn's view, a GOP embrace of immigration reform, while it probably would not bring in a bountiful harvest of new Hispanic voters, would likely go a long way to "re-branding" the GOP along lines more in line with the realities of an American electorate that is less in tune with conservative stances of social issues.

In short, Cohn argues that the GOP must make inroads among a variety of voters, and not single demographic group provides the sole solution.

Cohn's article is linked below.

Nate Cohn: More White Voters Will Not be Enough to Sustain the GOP

"Demographic changes are turning the Bush coalition—which combined white conservatives with a few targeted inroads among sympathetic groups—into a coffin."

----Nate Cohn, The New Republic

NBC News' Allison Linn: A Lower American Birth Rate in the Aftermath of the Recession

Allison Linn of NBC News takes a look at the travails of a childless Las Vegas couple--Sky Pearce and Bryan Haas--regarding the decision to have children in an era of economic uncertainty.  Lin tells their story in the larger context of the decline of the American birth rate.

In 2007, per Linn, the U.S. birth rate was 69.3 live births per 1000 women ages 15 to 44.  In the post-recession year of 2011, the rate had declined to 63.2.  Preliminary data for 2012 indicates that the rate remained the same at 63.2.

NBC News: Fewer Babies in the Wake of the Great Recession

"It’s common for people to have fewer kids when a recession hits, because they worry that they will lose their job or their home, or just not be able to afford another mouth to feed."

---Allison Linn, NBC News

Brief State Demographic Profiles: Maryland

Maryland

This is the 20th installment of demographic profiles of each of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.  Some of the Census Bureau data are rounded.

State: Maryland

Population: 5.9 million

Population growth from 2010 to 2012: 1.9%

Population under 18 years of age:  22.8%
Population 65 years of age and older: 13%

Racial-Ethnic Composition

White, Non-Hispanic: 53.9%

Hispanic: 8.7%
Black: 30%
Asian: 6%
Native American: <1%
Multiracial: 2.5%

Median Household Income:  $72,400
Percentage of Population in Poverty: 9%

Persons per square mile: 595

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Source: The U.S. Census Bureau (2010-2012 data)   www.quickfacts.census.gov

Brief State Demographic Profiles: Maine

Maine

This is the 19th installment of demographic profiles of each of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.  Some of the Census Bureau data are rounded.

State: Maine

Population: 1.3 million

Population growth from 2010 to 2012: <1%

Population under 18 years of age:  20%
Population 65 years of age and older: 17%

Racial-Ethnic Composition

White, Non-Hispanic: 94.1%

Hispanic: 1.4%
Black: 1.3%
Asian: 1.1%
Native American: <1%
Multiracial: 1.5%

Median Household Income:  $47,900
Percentage of Population in Poverty: 12.8%

Persons per square mile: 43

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Source: The U.S. Census Bureau (2010-2012 data)   www.quickfacts.census.gov