According to a New York Times analysis, more than 370 candidates for U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, governor, secretary of state, and attorney general -- the vast majority of Republicans running for those running seats -- have questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election. This topological map provides a look at where election denial has (and has not) come to dominate Republican political discourse. (Map from www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/13/us/politics/republican-candidates-2020-election-misinformation.html.)

University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape returned to the national security podcast "Intelligence Matters" last week to provide an update on his group's detailed research on political violence in the U.S. post-Jan. 6.  This site includes highlights of his remarks and a link to the 40-minute podcast: www.cbsnews.com/news/rising-political-violence-in-america-robert-pape-intelligence-matters/

The U.S. has five territories -- American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Marianas Islands, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands -- and all five have been losing population to the mainland.  This recent article from The Washington Post profiles why residents of each territory have been moving and where, on the mainland, they have been moving to: www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/09/23/american-territories-population-loss/

Partitioned from the rest of the island when Ireland (the country) was granted independence in 1921, Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, is the historically Protestant-majority northeastern section of Ireland (the island).  However, a recent census shows that Catholics now outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland for the first time. www.nytimes.com/2022/09/22/world/europe/northern-ireland-census-catholics-protestants.html

Banned Books Week just concluded.  This map from Quartz looks at book bans by state: i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/f243d7078b90019860ee2c5356763ac3.jpg

Most countries around the world received an invitation for their head of state plus one guest to attend Monday's funeral of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.  There were 9 exceptions: the countries shown in black on this map were not invited at all (Russia, Belarus, Myanmar, Syria, Afghanistan and Venezuela); for the countries shown in purple (Iran, Nicaragua, and North Korea) the invitation went to the country's ambassador to the UK instead of the head of state.

World Refugee Day was earlier this week. Although Ukrainian refugees -- now numbering 5.2 million -- have dominated the news this year, this map from Statista is a reminder that Ukrainians are just a fraction of the world's refugees: www.statista.com/chart/18436/total-number-of-refugees-by-origin-country

Based on existing laws and the current political landscape, the Center for Reproductive Rights estimates this is what the legal status of abortion would look like in the United States if Roe v. Wade is overturned this summer: cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/26955.jpeg (map from Statista)

Tomorrow, French voters will go to the polls to choose between current president Emmanuel Macron and perennial far-right challenger Marine Le Pen. This geo-graphic from Statista shows where right-wing populist parties have had the most electoral success in Europe: www.statista.com/chart/20094/national-election-success-of-far-right-parties-europe (For those who cannot make out the flags to the left of the bars, the top three countries shown are Hungary, Poland, and Switzerland.)

If one is in the U.S. or its democratic allies (with the notable exception of Israel and India), it might seem as if the world is all but united against Russia and its invasion of Ukraine. But, in fact, most of the world's 195 countries have not joined in sanctions or provided assistance to Ukraine, and a few have actively provided assistance to Russia. This map looks at how countries voted on the UN resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (Map from www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/briefing/russian-invasion-response-world-sanctions.html.)

Historically, spring has been a busy time for home sale listings. Does the name of your street matter in terms of resale value?  A recent study by a finance professor at Emory University analyzed nearly 6,000 home sales across 35 states from 2001-2020, comparing houses sold on streets with Confederate names (e.g., Jefferson Davis, Dixie) with comparable houses sold on streets without the Confederate association. The economic geography was striking in two ways. First, in the 11 states of the former Confederacy, the difference in sales prices was not statistically significant, but in the other 24 states, houses on Confederate-named streets sold for an average of 4% less -- a loss of $10,000 on a $250,000 house, for example.  Second, in areas with higher shares of college educated, Democratic-voting, or Black residents, houses on Confederate-named streets sold at a bigger discount and were more likely to be slow to sell. This map shows Confederate street names in New Orleans, for example, where the city council is reconsidering place names with Confederate associations: bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/nola.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/ab/fab4b190-acfc-11ea-b1a5-f38812a04d2a/5ee436e73a7b7.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C1294. (Map from NOLA.com; study data from www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-08/confederate-street-names-can-bring-lower-home-prices.)

The Economist (UK) recently released its annual look at the state of democracy around the world. Statista created a map based on this Global Democracy Index: cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/18737.jpeg

The anti-corruption NGO Transparency International has released its latest report. The interactive map shows 2021 corruption perceptions scores around the world. Click on a country to see the current corruption score, the corruption trend line since 2012, and news about anti-corruption initiatives. www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021/

Indonesia is officially moving its capital from Jakarta: earlier this week the Indonesian legislature authorized building a new capital, Nusantara, on the island of Borneo. This map from Statista looks at other national capitals that have moved (and why): cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/25119.jpeg

According to the Dutch VPN service Surfshark, more than 1/3 of the world's countries (71 total) have blocked or restricted internet access since 2015. This map shows, in orange, the countries that are currently blocking internet access (China, Iran, Turkmenistan, and North Korea) and, in red, those that have done so at some point since Jan. 2015: surfshark.com/wp-content/themes/surfshark/assets/img/social-media/social-media-access-min-upd1207.png For the full report, see surfshark.com/social-media-blocking

Although Barbados achieved independence in 1966, the island elected to remain a constitutional monarchy with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as its titular head. Only recently, 55 years later, did Barbados choose to become an independent republic (while remaining part of the Commonwealth). This map from Statista shows countries that used to be part of the British Empire: www.statista.com/chart/26297/countries-gained-independence-from-the-uk/

A few months ago, the Chinese Communist party celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding. This GIF maps the global spread, and decline, of Communism for a slightly different 100-year interval, from 1917 to 2017: www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/pvx2s5/rise_and_fall_of_communism/

The geo-graphics in this article, including this one, for example (static01.nyt.com/images/2021/09/27/multimedia/27-MORNING-sub2-STATE-VAX-VOTE-PLOT/27-MORNING-sub2-STATE-VAX-VOTE-PLOT-superJumbo.png), highlight the increasingly clear relationship between political geography and COVID vaccination rates and death rates in the U.S.: www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/briefing/covid-red-states-vaccinations.html

Many of the maps in the news in the U.S. at the moment are redistricting maps, as political parties jostle for position after the 2020 Census. This article from The Washington Post highlights three states and three ways of drawing districts in each, resulting in significantly different political outcomes: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/redistricting-proposals-oregon-indiana-colorado/  As a bonus: this article from MIT Technology Review looks at how mathematicians are trying to fight gerrymandering with algorithms, including some that even citizens can use: www.technologyreview.com/2021/08/12/1031567/mathematicians-algorithms-stop-gerrymandering.

In most states, this is an off-year in terms of elections. But not in all states. If you are unsure what changes, if any, to voting laws your state may have passed in 2021, this set of interactive maps from the Associated Press can help. (Information accurate through the end of August.) www.wreg.com/news/interactive-maps-illustrate-election-laws-across-the-us/

This geo-graphic looks at who was granted asylum in the U.S. in FY2019, by country of origin, and how that mix has been changing. www.statista.com/chart/25619/asylum-grants-in-the-us-by-nationality

When Kathy Hochul is sworn in as governor of New York tomorrow following the formal resignation of current governor Andrew Cuomo, she will become the first female governor of New York. This topological map from Statista shows which states have had female governors (in blue, NY already listed) as well as the 19 states (in gray) that have not. www.statista.com/chart/25515/number-of-female-governors-by-state

Happy Flag Day! The Brennan Center for Justice reports that between Jan. 1 and May 14 of this year, 14 states enacted new laws designed to expand access to the vote and 14 states enacted new laws to restrict access to the vote. In addition to providing maps for each development, this Brennan Center summary has explanations of the new state laws and notes where state legislature are still moving on voting bills. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-may-2021

Ever wonder what role political borders play in divvying up landmasses? This interesting Reddit map removes everything but the political borders: www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/l95gc5/map_of_the_world_but_it_is_only_the_land_borders/

As of last week, the 22 states shown in green on this topological map have lifted all COVID restrictions. (The states with the most COVID restrictions? California and New Mexico.) www.statista.com/chart/21423/us-states-lifting-covid-19-restrictions