The Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s obviously unconstitutional attempt to forgive half a trillion in student loan debt. This should surprise nobody, given that virtually everyone admitted the president does not have the authority to do this. (Here is then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stating as much.)
Democrats are going to freak out about this decision the same way they freak out about literally every single Supreme Court decision that doesn’t go their way. They will cry that this ruling makes the court “illegitimate,” and they will threaten the court with violence and with court-packing.
Stoking hatred toward the court is central to Democratic politics these days (even after assassination attempts aimed at altering outcomes). The question is whether forgiving student debt is actually part of the Democrats’ politics these days.
It might be! Student borrowers are disproportionately in the upper half of income earners and otherwise fit into Democratic constituencies. This would be a major transfer of wealth into the hands of Democrats, at the expense of everyone else (because it would accelerate inflation and add to the taxpayers' federal debt).
But because it would accelerate inflation to inject hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy out of nowhere, it’s unlikely the Democrats actually want to do this ahead of an election in which inflation, and the cost of living for the average family, is Biden’s biggest weakness.
If they actually wanted to forgive student loans, though, there’s a tricky way they could do that, and Pelosi knows what it is.
“People think that the president of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness," Pelosi once said. "He does not. He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress.”
Yes, there is a branch of the federal government that actually has the constitutional authority to pass laws, and it’s not the executive. Congress could pass a law that does exactly what Biden’s executive order pretended to do.
And if Democrats cannot get enough votes to pass their bill through Congress, they could try politics. If the party is willing to run on student debt forgiveness in 2022, they could start applying pressure to vulnerable Republicans by running ads in their districts: “Why won’t Rep. Smith vote for this bill to forgive student debt?”
If their bill really is that popular, either they can pressure enough Republicans to flip, or they can defeat enough Republicans for opposing it and thus take back Congress and immediately pass their bill in January 2025.
I don’t think they will do this, though. Attacking the court in the media is the goal here, not actually putting inflation on steroids by enriching the upper middle class.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said that “the nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”
Quartz Smart Investing: Elyse Ausenbagh Part 2
Off
English
He’s far from the first human to connect soil health to national development. Mesopotamia became a major hub of the ancient world thanks to naturally high levels of nitrogen and potassium. Waves of migration that settled the world were largely shaped by the appearance of highly fertile podzols in pockets of soil around the world. Formed over several millennia from decomposing steppe vegetation, podzols contain high levels of ammonia and phosphorus. More immediately, Russia’s centuries-old desire for control over Ukraine has been motivated, in part, by the prevalence of an extremely fertile type of soil known as chernozem, or black earth.
In modern agriculture, soil amendments have taken the place of geographical luck. Potash, a naturally occurring salt, is a highly effective fertilizer and the world’s largest industrial use of potassium.
93%: Share of world potassium production consumed by the fertilizer industry, most of which goes to potash
Origin story
What came first, potash or pot-as(h)-sium?
Potash has long been used as a common component in soapmaking and textile production, largely due to how easy it is to make. Make a fire, collect the ashes, let them soak in a pot of water, strain out that water, and let it evaporate in the sun. A few hours later, you are left with a crystalline substance known as potash.
However, it wasn’t until English chemist, Humphry Davy, tinkered with potash in 1807 that scientists figured out what it was actually made of. During an experiment in which Davy connected electrodes from a battery to the crystal material, the potash began forming tiny metal globules under the ash, which then instantly combusted and caught fire.
Without realizing it, Davy had discovered potassium, a previously unknown element, secretly hidden in a farming fertilizer that had been used for thousands of years. He named the new element after potash: pot-as(h)-sium.
Fun fact!
The first US patent ever filed was for a mechanism to make potash. Issued in 1790 to Samuel Hopkins,Patent X1was filed for an improvement “in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process.” The process involved isolating lye—produced when ashes are mixed in water—before boiling the solution to produce potash salt. It was filed on July 1, in New York City and aimed to make production more efficient, and thus, cost-effective.
Explain it like I’m 5
Photo: Nayan Sthankiya (Reuters)
Potash mining
Potash, or simply the residue of ash from woodfires, has long been known to improve soil fertility, but due to the relatively small amounts of potash created by using ashes and evaporation, it was not widely used as fertilizer. Creating the substance was a laborious, time-intensive process, meaning it didn’t make financial sense for widespread use.
This changed at the end of the 19th century when the first major potash salt deposit was found in Stassfurt, Germany, near the eastern end of the Harz Mountains. In 1851, while looking for rock salts, miners discovered potash salts like carnallite, sylvanite, and kainite that could be easily melted down into fertilizing crystals.
Within a decade, the world’s first potash factory had opened in Stassfurt, demonstrating the potential large-scale production of the fertilizer and leading to a potash mining boom across Europe.
Now, there are countless potash mines spread around the world. The production’s immense scale, and potash’s relative abundance, has helped turn the potassium salt into one of the world’s largest sources of fertilizer.
Pop quiz
Gif: Giphy
NPK stands for?
A. Never Pay Kings
B. Nitrogen, Potassium, Calcium
C. Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium
D. New Potassium Kahoots
The answer is buried in the highly fertile soil at the bottom of this email.
Quotable
“The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.”
In addition to being an ingredient in fertilizers, potash has a number of other uses.
🧂 Road Salt: Potash is a major source of road salt. While not as efficient at low temperatures as sodium chloride, potash is commonly used as a component in larger salt mixes used to de-ice roads. Because it occurs naturally, it is considered better for the environment than some rival road salts.
💊 Pharmaceuticals: A caustic form of potash can be consumed as a treatment for hypokalemia, a type of potassium deficiency.
🫙 Glassmaking: Potassium carbonate, the primary component of potash, is used as a strengthening agent in the production of glass. It can help control the process of melting sand, adding transparency and strength to the material.
🧼 Soap: Potassium carbonate is also used to make a type of soap that combines ash with vegetable oil. It is a less aggressive alternative to most soaps, and can also be used as a fungicide and insecticide, as it can block the respiration of fungi and insects, suffocating them.
In last week’s poll about indoor air, about 56% of you said you think about your indoor air quality once in a while, and 29% of you think about it multiple times a day. With the Canadian wildfire smoke rolling in, we hope you’ve got some air purifiers and N95 masks on hand.
Today’s email was written by Diego Lasarte, who, despite living in New York City, tries to submerge his hands in fresh dirt at least once a week, and edited and produced by Annaliese Griffin (badly needs to weed her garden).
The answer to the quiz is C. Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium theprimary make-up of most fertilizers, for both home gardeners and large scale farms.
Slate Plus members get more How to Do It each week. How to Do It is Slate’s sex advice column. Have a question? Send it to Stoya and Rich here. It’s anonymous!
Dear How to Do It,
I (cisgender woman) am seeing a new fellow and finding it much harder to get off with digital stimulation than it used to be.
I recently stopped using a vibrator for masturbating. It’s going fairly well, except when I get to the “peak,” instead of the longer orgasms I get with a vibrator, I barely experience a couple of vaginal contractions before it’s over. Admittedly, it has been a dry spell of a bit over a year and since I bought that vibrator, which is more powerful than those I had used before, but I am sure that my orgasms by manual stimulation used to be longer and more intense! Do I just need to give it more time? Have I somehow permanently conditioned myself to need a vibrator for satisfying orgasms?
—Hot and Not Bothered Enough
Dear Hot and Not Bothered Enough,
You might have conditioned yourself to this particular vibrator, or to vibrating sensations in general. We tend to fall into routines, get used to them, and then get tripped up when they change. The good news is we’re adaptable, and you’ll likely adjust back to something like the response you had before.
I’m wondering, though, if your new fellow is stopping stimulation earlier than you would when you’re using the vibrator. Continued stimulation—to the point of “this is too much”—tends to provide the longest and most powerful orgasms. So it’s worth considering what he does when you start having your orgasm. Try asking him to keep going without changing anything, and to increase the sensation when he sees or feels that you’ve started to come.
—Stoya
More Advice From Slate
I recently started dating again and have just recently been confronted by a situation that’s left me scratching my head. I have met two men who would like to date me, and they both are great! And, they both sound completely gay—like, out-of-the-closet, effeminate-speech gay. This is kind of a libido killer for me, and it makes my brain spin.
It's no secret that I am Team Carry-On Only, refusing to check a bag at all costs.
Just this week alone, 30,000 flights in the U.S. were delayed or canceled ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, increasing the risk of checked bags following suit.
Even without a summer of flight issues, checking a bag only delays you as a traveler since you'll have to wait to retrieve that bag, if you're lucky, at the carousel.
With that in mind, here are seven tips from TPG experts to help you avoid overpacking and having to check a bag.
Use packing cubes
CARMEN CHAN/CALPAK TRAVEL
One of our most used items at TPG is packing cubes, which many at TPG, including senior aviation reporter David Slotnick, deem "essential" for their space-saving ability.
I'm also a fan of packing cubes for their ability to fit more clothes and other items in your suitcase. TPG director of content Summer Hull recommends this Calpak five-piece packing cube set. She's found it to be particularly durable on her various travels to theme parks, ski resorts and cruises.
"What makes Calpak a brand that I've ordered with my own cash not once — but twice — is how well it holds up to extended real-world use," Hull wrote. "Specifically, after bringing bed bugs home in my luggage from a trip a few years ago, I've forever changed how I pack and unpack."
Use compression bags
If you find that you need even more space than those provided by packing cubes, consider compression bags, such as these packing bags from Samsonite.
These bags allow you to compress the air out of them without a vacuum, further increasing more space in your suitcase.
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"After these bags helped me double the amount of clothes I could pack in my carry-on for Japan, I am obsessed with these bags," Madison Blancaflor, TPG senior editor, shared. "Plus, I still had room for my makeup and toiletries."
Roll your clothing
BOY_ANUPONG/GETTY IMAGES
Regardless of whether you use packing cubes or compression bags, rolling your clothing is also an effective space saver.
This packing method originated from the military, and the technique is formally referred to as Ranger Rolling. You simply fold your article of clothing tightly in the shape of a burrito. If you want to get really fancy, you can read step-by-step instructions for this method here.
"Ranger roll your shirts and socks together," Jose Ventosa Rodriguez, TPG engineering intern, said. "This creates space, and if done well, you can avoid creases, and your socks won't have to be bunched up in a ball."
Plan ahead
Organize outfits
Rather than just throwing your entire closet into your suitcase without a plan, consider laying out all of your potential outfits ahead of time and curating from there based on relevant factors, such as weather and itinerary.
"I lay out all of my outfits and plan day by day, so I don't overpack," Becky Blaine, TPG newsletter editor, shared.
"Choose some kind of neutral bottom and shoe color, such as black and then match tops, accessories, etc., to that color," she explained.
Accessorize
If you're worried about fitting clothing for all occasions, from a walking day tour to a night out, consider packing a lot of jewelry to "dress up basics," offered Jamie Page, senior vice president of content.
"If you're like me, your work-from-home wardrobe hardly changes throughout the week, making it unlikely that I am going to wear a ton of outfits on vacation when I wear leggings and a sports bra every other day of my life."
Be strategic
"I try to be realistic about how much I’m actually going to the gym on a trip," Ashley Kosciolek, TPG senior cruise writer, said. "I do not, in fact, need seven sets of workout clothes, nor do I need my bulky running shoes. Cutting most of that out saves quite a bit of space."
Instead, try limiting yourself to one item of each kind, i.e., one pair of jeans, two pairs of shoes (including the ones you wear on the plane), one swimsuit, one sweater and so on, according to Clint Henderson, TPG senior editor.
Do laundry at your destination
I detest traveling with dirty laundry, especially workout clothes. That means I attempt to do laundry when traveling at all costs, even on vacation.
To start, I generally ask if my hotel has coin-operated laundry facilities I can use or if they offer paid laundry services. If neither of those is an option, TPG senior director of engineering Mitchell Stoutin recommended Travelon Laundry Soap Sheets, which dissolve in water and comply with TSA's 3-1-1 liquids rule.
Page also advised packing "a tide pen to handle spills and stains without needing to pack backup clothes."
Bring travel makeup
If you intend to pack your toiletries and clothing in one suitcase, this travel makeup from Subtl Beauty is essential, according to TPG family travel writer Tarah Chieffi. You can customize your travel makeup stack via their online quiz to create a personalized stack of makeup, from concealer to highlighter and bronzer, that are vegan and cruelty-free.
Acknowledge that overpacking with kids may be unavoidable
DIMENSIONS/GETTY IMAGES
"If you’re traveling with a baby, just give up on the concept of 'overpacking' and accept that this is how you live now," Slotnick, a new father, advised.
Stoutin echoed this tip.
"I'm team ruthless efficiency when traveling alone, but with young kids, the attitude is, 'let's just bring everything,' he said. "If a suitcase is overweight, chuck a packing cube from it into the car seat bag. Nobody notices or cares."
Bottom line
With these tips in mind, you might be able to pack more than you realize and avoid overpacking.
As you navigate crowded airport crowds this summer, implementing these tips may make your travel experience slightly less stressful by bringing only what you need.
Cleaning a car can almost be ritual-like. Some people obsess over minor details, cleaning everything from air vents to individual buttons. Others may not care as much and will clean it just enough so that it just merely looks clean. No matter which group you fall into, we all have certain tips or cleaning tricks we do that we think get our vehicles the cleanest they can be.
Triumph Is Giving Us The Small Displacement Bikes We've All Been Yearning For
Off
English
I’m of the detail-oriented lot, thanks to being both a parent and a child of a former mobile detailing service owner. I’m talking Q-tips in air vents kind of detail. One of my best cleaning tips I learned from my mom when she ran her detailing service was how to get pesky stains out of seats. Things like food stains or something stronger can be hard to get out of seats, especially if it’s a nice type of fabric. Using a plastic spoon to scrape off the top surface of the stain does well to loosen it so it won’t be as embedded in the fabric of the seat. It can be time-consuming if it’s a bad stain but trust me, it works.
Now we ask you, the reader. What car cleaning tips or tricks do you have up your sleeve? It could be something that you’ve been doing for years. Or something you just discovered that works. Whatever it is, share it with us in the comments.
CRESTWOOD, Mo. (KMOV) - The Crestwood Police Department is asking for tips after an armed robbery on Wednesday.
According to the department, the suspect entered Circle K at 8600 Watson Road around 6 a.m., went behind the counter, pointed a semi-automatic handgun at an employee and threatened to kill them if they did not give over what was in the store’s safe. After stealing cash, the suspect ran out of the store. Police believe he may have had a waiting escape vehicle in the area.
The suspect was wearing gloves, a mask, a dark cap, a green hooded sweatshirt and dark-colored pants during the crime.
Police are asking anyone who was in the area at the time and that may have witnessed the crime, the suspect or possible escape vehicle to contact them via the Crestwood MO PD app or by texting “Crestwoodtip” and the tip to 847411.
After a smooth start to summer travel, disruptions, delays and frustrations have been mounting this week leading into one of busiest travel times of the year.
Nearly 51 million Americans are expected to travel 50 miles or more from their homes over the Fourth of July weekend, according to an AAA projection, which would break the 2019 record of 49 million. The organization considers Friday through Tuesday the long weekend, though huge crowds are also expected Thursday and the day after the holiday.
Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel, said numbers usually tick up in good years, but this year’s anticipated records reflect pent-up demand during the pandemic.
“The influx that we’re seeing now is still full-speed ahead,” she said.
But that speed has been running into thunderstorms, air traffic control issues and other tangles that are threatening a rough start to the holiday travel stretch. Here are five tips from experts to help travelers navigate the ride.
Hope to set out for a holiday weekend road trip on Friday? Join the club.
According to INRIX, a transportation data company that forecasts road congestion for AAA, Friday is expected to deliver the worst traffic. Average driving times could be nearly 30 percent higher than normal, the company says, with major metropolitan areas such as Boston, Seattle and D.C. faring the worst.
On that day, the best travel times are expected to be before 10 a.m. and after 6 p.m.
The worst times to drive Thursday are between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. On Saturday, drivers will do best to hit the road before noon; 1 p.m. is expected to be the worst time to travel.
Sunday and Monday should both see only “minimal traffic impact,” according to INRIX, before things get busy again on the official holiday on Tuesday. For the Fourth itself, traveling before 11 a.m. and after 6 p.m. is the best option; driving between noon and 3 p.m. is the worst.
Roads are expected to be crowded again on Wednesday from 3-6 p.m., so the best travel time is before 2 p.m.
“With record-breaking travelers expected on the road this holiday weekend, drivers should prepare for above-average delays to their favorite destinations,” Bob Pishue, a transportation analyst at INRIX, said in a news release. He recommended using traffic apps, paying attention to local transportation department notifications and using the 511 service to get travel information.
For people planning to fly, the Transportation Security Administration expects Thursday through Wednesday to be busy, with peak crowds on Friday. Prepare to be joined by roughly 2.82 million fellow fliers that day — far more than flew on any single day around Thanksgiving or Christmas last year. The agency said its high for the Fourth of July holiday was on July 7, 2019, when it screened 2.79 million travelers.
The Federal Aviation Administration, meanwhile, forecasts Thursday to have the most flights, with a peak of 52,564.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said that “the nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”
Quartz Smart Investing: Elyse Ausenbagh Part 2
Off
English
He’s far from the first human to connect soil health to national development. Mesopotamia became a major hub of the ancient world thanks to naturally high levels of nitrogen and potassium. Waves of migration that settled the world were largely shaped by the appearance of highly fertile podzols in pockets of soil around the world. Formed over several millennia from decomposing steppe vegetation, podzols contain high levels of ammonia and phosphorus. More immediately, Russia’s centuries-old desire for control over Ukraine has been motivated, in part, by the prevalence of an extremely fertile type of soil known as chernozem, or black earth.
In modern agriculture, soil amendments have taken the place of geographical luck. Potash, a naturally occurring salt, is a highly effective fertilizer and the world’s largest industrial use of potassium.
93%: Share of world potassium production consumed by the fertilizer industry, most of which goes to potash
Origin story
What came first, potash or pot-as(h)-sium?
Potash has long been used as a common component in soapmaking and textile production, largely due to how easy it is to make. Make a fire, collect the ashes, let them soak in a pot of water, strain out that water, and let it evaporate in the sun. A few hours later, you are left with a crystalline substance known as potash.
However, it wasn’t until English chemist, Humphry Davy, tinkered with potash in 1807 that scientists figured out what it was actually made of. During an experiment in which Davy connected electrodes from a battery to the crystal material, the potash began forming tiny metal globules under the ash, which then instantly combusted and caught fire.
Without realizing it, Davy had discovered potassium, a previously unknown element, secretly hidden in a farming fertilizer that had been used for thousands of years. He named the new element after potash: pot-as(h)-sium.
Fun fact!
The first US patent ever filed was for a mechanism to make potash. Issued in 1790 to Samuel Hopkins,Patent X1was filed for an improvement “in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process.” The process involved isolating lye—produced when ashes are mixed in water—before boiling the solution to produce potash salt. It was filed on July 1, in New York City and aimed to make production more efficient, and thus, cost-effective.
Explain it like I’m 5
Photo: Nayan Sthankiya (Reuters)
Potash mining
Potash, or simply the residue of ash from woodfires, has long been known to improve soil fertility, but due to the relatively small amounts of potash created by using ashes and evaporation, it was not widely used as fertilizer. Creating the substance was a laborious, time-intensive process, meaning it didn’t make financial sense for widespread use.
This changed at the end of the 19th century when the first major potash salt deposit was found in Stassfurt, Germany, near the eastern end of the Harz Mountains. In 1851, while looking for rock salts, miners discovered potash salts like carnallite, sylvanite, and kainite that could be easily melted down into fertilizing crystals.
Within a decade, the world’s first potash factory had opened in Stassfurt, demonstrating the potential large-scale production of the fertilizer and leading to a potash mining boom across Europe.
Now, there are countless potash mines spread around the world. The production’s immense scale, and potash’s relative abundance, has helped turn the potassium salt into one of the world’s largest sources of fertilizer.
Pop quiz
Gif: Giphy
NPK stands for?
A. Never Pay Kings
B. Nitrogen, Potassium, Calcium
C. Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium
D. New Potassium Kahoots
The answer is buried in the highly fertile soil at the bottom of this email.
Quotable
“The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.”
In addition to being an ingredient in fertilizers, potash has a number of other uses.
🧂 Road Salt: Potash is a major source of road salt. While not as efficient at low temperatures as sodium chloride, potash is commonly used as a component in larger salt mixes used to de-ice roads. Because it occurs naturally, it is considered better for the environment than some rival road salts.
💊 Pharmaceuticals: A caustic form of potash can be consumed as a treatment for hypokalemia, a type of potassium deficiency.
🫙 Glassmaking: Potassium carbonate, the primary component of potash, is used as a strengthening agent in the production of glass. It can help control the process of melting sand, adding transparency and strength to the material.
🧼 Soap: Potassium carbonate is also used to make a type of soap that combines ash with vegetable oil. It is a less aggressive alternative to most soaps, and can also be used as a fungicide and insecticide, as it can block the respiration of fungi and insects, suffocating them.
In last week’s poll about indoor air, about 56% of you said you think about your indoor air quality once in a while, and 29% of you think about it multiple times a day. With the Canadian wildfire smoke rolling in, we hope you’ve got some air purifiers and N95 masks on hand.
Today’s email was written by Diego Lasarte, who, despite living in New York City, tries to submerge his hands in fresh dirt at least once a week, and edited and produced by Annaliese Griffin (badly needs to weed her garden).
The answer to the quiz is C. Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium theprimary make-up of most fertilizers, for both home gardeners and large scale farms.
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