America by the Numbers

Featurette

30 — Percent of US wheat directly treated before harvest with glyphosate, the active ingredient in the cancer-causing herbicide Roundup

100 — Percent of US soybean acreage treated with glyphosate

1500 — Percent increase in global use of glyphosate since the introduction of “Roundup ready” glyphosate-tolerant crops in 1996

14 — Number of ingredients in McDonald’s French Fries in the US

4 — Number of ingredients in McDonald’s French Fries in France

$42 Billion — Cost of Biden–Harris administration BEAD program to “unlock the digital potential of rural America”

600 — Current number of Virginia households receiving broadband internet thanks to BEAD

$50 — Monthly starting subscription cost to Elon Musk’s Starlink low-earth orbit satellite internet

164.5 — Number of terawatt hours generated by utility-scale solar power projects in 2023

146.2 — Number of terawatt hours that will be required to power AI data centers in 2027

$3.04 — Average cost of a gallon of milk in 2019

$4.33 — Average cost of a gallon of milk in 2024

$948 — Average monthly mortgage payment in 2019

$2,209 — Average monthly mortgage payment in 2024

65 — Percent of Americans who feel that the country is on the wrong track

43.1 — Percent of popular vote won by Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary

44.9 — Percent of popular vote won by Donald Trump in the 2016 Republican primary

$150 billion — Total US government spending on illegal immigrants in 2023

$119 billion — Total federal funding for K-12 education in the US in 2023

$27.5 billion — Total federal disaster relief funding in 2023

$96.7 billion — Total tax revenue generated by illegal immigrants in 2022

81,282,916 — Number of votes cast for Joe Biden in 2020

74,223,369 — Number of votes cast for Donald Trump in 2020

72,350,352 — Number of votes cast for Kamala Harris in 2024

75,491,241 — Number of votes cast for Donald Trump in 2024

17 — Percent of Biden voters who voted at the polls on election day in 2020

84 — Percent of Americans who support requiring photo ID in order to vote

25 — Number of US states where photo ID is required to vote

6,600,000 — Amount of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) used by US food and beverage companies in 2023 (in short tons)

507,000 — Amount of HFCS used by European food and beverage companies in 2021 (in short tons)

8 — Number of States in which M&Ms are the most popular Halloween candy

1 — Number of States in which Lemonheads are the most popular Halloween candy (Louisiana)

58 — Number of years that humans have been communicating with apes using sign-language

0 — Number of questions that apes have asked humans during that time

By The Editors

Tags:
Treated with glyphosate
To power AI

When Animals Attack

Squirrel of Destiny

The Ballad of Peanut (and Fred)

Overbearing bureaucrats could ransack their sanctuary, then seize and euthanize their tiny bodies. But their truth keeps marching on.

Sic temper tyrannis

By Walter Kirn

Peanut the squirrel was a leaper. He loved to leap. In videos of his seven happy years of domesticated cohabitation with a lively American family named the Longos, seldom was he seen to creep or scurry in the manner of duller, more earthbound rodents. Antic Peanut was always catching air. Down from the bookshelf and onto his master’s shoulders, from the top of the fridge to his master’s outstretched arm, his takeoffs showed total commitment to the arc, but his landings were always sure, as if he were possessed of Velcro feet. That Peanut became a star of social media, the world’s most famous squirrel with millions of followers, is no more surprising than Nureyev’s ascent to the top of the twentieth-century ballet scene. Peanut’s artistic medium was gravity, a mysterious force invisible to humans but readable to Peanut’s brain in much the way the ocean is to surfers. Kowabunga! His early life, as is common among great artists, was troubled and insecure. In 2017, his mother was mowed …

Featurette

American Glossary

By The Editors

AI — Your toaster is smarter than you are Doge — Not pronounced “dog” Doge coin — Elon Musk wants you to buy it Harris campaign — Where did the money go? Kayfabe — It’s fake K-Hive — K-Hole Pedo — New word for “famous” Pollsters — “It’s a toss-up” means never having to say you were wrong Joe Rogan — Try Rogaine Trolling — More fun than governing Woke — 55-year-old billionaire divorcee with blue-framed glasses representing the most advanced frontiers of human thought