What is the best way to get through the next 3 1/2 years until Donald Trump is thankfully out office? Should we simply ignore him to focus more on everyday activities and local happenings? I've thought about moving temporarily to Mexico or Honduras, but at age 87, I don't want to be away from easy contact and communication with my kids, as who knows how long I will actually remain living with them on this planet?
Let's see now if I can keep comments about Trump to a minimum from now on, though it's impossible to ignore him altogether. That man has ways of attracting attention.
Since the beginning of the year, Trump’s popularity has continued to decline, and he currently holds the lowest approval ratings among presidents in modern history, according to Gallup data.
How to define "subversive", something only in the eye of the beholder?
The Hill A coalition of Democratic lawmakers is launching an investigation into the “alarming extent” to which staffers with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have embedded themselves in agencies across the government.
“Although Elon Musk has departed, his influence remains, as DOGE and its employees attempt to become a permanent part of the federal government, scattered across agencies where they can continue to sabotage key functions from within,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
“The conversion of DOGE appointees to career federal service roles—even as most agencies are under a hiring freeze—could potentially run afoul of laws that explicitly ban political considerations and loyalty tests in hiring practices. Additionally, it is unclear who newly embedded DOGE staff are accountable to and if they truly serve within the chain of command of the agencies they work for.”
This inquiry, spearheaded by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), was launched together with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and with House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.).
On quite another matter, can the baby-bust, now spreading worldwide, be reversed? So far, the answer has been "no."
The Economist In 1960 America’s total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman could be expected to have, was 3.6. By 2022 it had fallen to 1.7. Recent data released by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an official body, show a further drop since then, to just under 1.6—the lowest rate on record. Women in every state are having fewer children. The US population is not replacing itself and immigration has been all but halted.
Not only are American women having fewer children, but fertility is falling all over the world, now barely reaching slightly above replacement, considered to be 2.1. According to the UN, the world's fertility rate in 2024 was 2.2 births per woman. When able to control their fertility, many women simply stop after the 2nd child and some don't even get that far. This is Malthus in reverse. Having too many children was once considered excessively burdensome for parents and for communities. Now, instead, having too few kids is deemed undesirable for both a nation and a community. However, efforts to increase births have had very little success.
For example, Singapore offers the equivalent of around $8,500 per child for first- and second-born children, and $10,000 for three or more children. Germany issues up to $335 in a monthly child allowance for qualifying parents. Both countries are still below replacement-level fertility.
A big factor in fertility is that women are starting to have children at later ages, so end up having fewer overall. Women also want to work and to be paid for their work. Self-worth is often measured in the paycheck, not by the number of children someone has. And many women are not entering into enduring partnerships with men, so may fear being left to raise children alone. Keeping the human population from shrinking now is proving as challenging as avoiding overpopulation. Remember when China was encouraging overseas' adoptions of baby girls, considered to be the less desirable gender? No more. China, like other countries needs more babies, both boys and girls.
CNN, China used to fine couples for having too many babies.
Now it can’t pay them enough
| African counties now have the highest birthrates 1 | Chad 5.94 |
| 2 | Somalia | 5.91 |
| 3 | DR Congo | 5.90 |
| 4 | Central African Republic | 5.81
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[Sorry folks, Chad has resisted lining up with the rest.]
NY Times, Measles Spreads Quickly in Rural Alberta Areas That Resisted Vaccines
Vaccine scepticism exists in parts of Canada, just as in the US, with the same unfortunate consequences.
Mar-a-Lago in southern Florida lights up in the evening. Donald Trump owns this private club and
many other properties. (He has certainly done his part in contributing to the population.)
Here's a photo just released from the Cuba Archive--of a Cuban medical brigade leaving Bolivia in 2020, being posted now with the comment below, revealing a bit of recent history.
SHOCKING TESTIMONY ON CUBA'S MEDICAL MISSION TO BOLIVIA Bolivia will hold a presidential election on August 17th after nearly two decades of eroding freedoms under the socialist party MAS and Bolivarianism under Cuban tutelage. In 2019-2020, during a 12-month reprieve, the Cuban “medical brigade” was expelled. Cuba Archive reported back then on the four members of the medical brigade arrested for coordinating violent protests. The medical mission has not returned, but Cuba’s nefarious influence in Bolivia continues at many levels. A compelling testimony from a Cuban doctor confirms in lavish detail what the interim government of Bolivia reported in 2019: that hundreds of Cubans –including security/intelligence agents, drivers, and cooks– posed as “doctors” and were paid as such by the government of Bolivia. The medical specialist also describes the modern slavery conditions and salary confiscation (86%) endured by the Cuban medical workers and other very troubling aspects of the mission: unnecessary eye surgeries, invented patients, falsified records, and destroyed medical supplies to justify Cuba's presence and revenue stream. |
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Free Society Project, Inc./Cuba Archive, 2025.
www.CubaArchive.org
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Thanks now to a blog reader who sent this inspiring flower image.
Here are some more flowers, displaying many different colors. .
Bright orange flowers like these once bloomed in my own front yard.
Flowers come in every color.
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