July 30, 2019

Who Has the Most Rats?

One of my regular readers emailed this morning to say that “Surely the rat population of American cities needs to be graphically represented!” Obviously he’s got my number, but rats? Where the hell am I going to find data about rat infestation?

Well, bizarrely enough, this is a question on the American Housing Survey. Here are the top 15 cities plus Baltimore:

Sadly, intellectual honesty forces me to publish this chart even though it confirms Baltimore as one of the rattiest cities in America. However, I’d add that two of the top five are New York, where Donald Trump lived in the past, and Washington DC, the city where he lives now. I guess rats only count if they live somewhere that a TEOC (Trump enemy of color) lives.

UPDATE: The AHS also asks about cockroaches. Oddly enough, Baltimore does much better on this measure. I suppose it must all be weather related or something.

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DECEMBER IS MAKE OR BREAK

A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

With only days left until December 31, we've raised about half of our $400,000 goal—but we need a huge surge in reader support to close the remaining gap. Whether you've given before or this is your first time, your contribution right now matters.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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