News and notes from around the interweb:
- 48% of Americans now have passports, up more than 9-fold in 33 years. (HT: @crucker) Of course Americans didn’t used to need a passport to visit Mexico or Canada.
Wild statistic in this State Department release about passport processing times returning to pre-pandemic levels: “In 1990, only five percent of Americans had a passport. Today, that number is 48%” pic.twitter.com/XooGpya6Bb
— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) December 18, 2023
- DOJ meets with Arab American groups over hotels cancelling events post-October 7 (HT: Paul H) No mention in the piece is made of October 7 or the pro-Hamas messaging expected at some of the events like this one.
Hotels face a difficult challenge navigating not getting in the middle of messaging by the conferences they hosts, while also not hosting messaging they loathe. I presume the contracts allowed the cancellations for the reasons given, and if not that they will face significant liability.
- Air India is working hard to turn itself around under new ownership but they’re stating with a product that sometimes does this:
Air India ….
fly with us – it's not a trip …
it's an immersive experience pic.twitter.com/cEVEoX0mmQ— JΛYΣƧΉ (@baldwhiner) November 29, 2023
- New Escape lounge (Centurion Studio) going in at Tulsa’s airport
- Know the difference between Disney and Disney Plus.
Yikes. I actually feel bad because this is a mistake a lot of older people probably make pic.twitter.com/fULLypnTKg
— Travis (@Travis_in_Flint) December 18, 2023
- Don’t quit your day job…
@SouthwestAir last night on my flight from Houston to Harlingen (flight 1585) one of the flight attendants made funny jokes and kept us entertained while our flight was delayed. This is the reason why I love flying Southwest! I don’t know who she is but I want to thank her! pic.twitter.com/X9pyvgWlKr
— Josue Garza (@garza_josue01) December 18, 2023
The number of valid passports in 1990 is fishy on the State Department website. They reported that they issued 3,688,689 new passports in 1990 and there 11,116,489 valid passports. Looking back 10 years, the typical length of a USA passport for an adult, they had been issuing more than 3 million but less than 5 million every year. Were people turning in their passports and having them destroyed? There should have been around 40 million in 1990. If you take 2023 and add the previous nine years, you get approximately the number of valid passports for 2023.
good detective work JNS!
Yes…I’m on the State Dept website seeing what you see. It does look strange / suspicious. I think somebody at State Dept is bad at math and historical analysis. But that’s not a surprise given hiring directives / standards now. And the quality of “modern education.” Progress! /s
I did write a blog entry decade+ ago about this subject. I can probably find it.
Anyway
US population 1990 – 250 million (248) or so. So the 40 million estimate you state in 1990 would be around 16%. Just did quick count in my head 1980-1990 = 44 million or so? So maybe slightly more then 16%.
No need to worry, passports will be obsolete with AI.
At birth, the hospital will slip a chip in the back of your neck like pet owners do with their cats and dogs. While passing thru scanners, only important government info will appear (traffic tickets, delinquent taxes, political party, etc). Better yet, an eye scan (currently available) will be compared to the chip for double confirmation, just like now when a text message is sent to your cell phone when you want to view your bank account on-line.
Unfortunately, all these surplus passport employees will be moved to TSA. You can never get rid of government.