'Wake up' America

                     Mourners visit the graves of victims of the recent Minneapolis school shooting. 

'Wake up' America, Gavin Newsom says, warning that Donald Trump wants third term in office

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California revealed on Wednesday that President Donald Trump won’t stop 

sending him merchandise. Specifically, ‘Trump 2028′ hats.
In an interview with Politico’s Christopher Cadelago...Newsom expressed concern that Trump wants 

another term. The proof? “I have two dozen Trump 2028 hats his folks keep sending me.”

I certainly cannot survive a third Trump term. I may not even survive his current term. Newsom sounds as though he might want to be president himself. That sounds certainly preferable to a 3rd Trump term. 

Trump says he has raised $1.5B since 2024 election

If so that's a record for an incumbent president, especially one not expected to run again--or will Trump try for a 3rd

term after all? 

 

Border Patrol arrests 2 firefighters for being in the country illegally as they battled
Washington’s biggest wildfire

This happened in Washington State near the Canadian border. 

What polling shows about Trump's pivot from immigration to crime

Crime is now a bigger concern among US voters than immigration. 

Trump escalates spending fight with Congress, says he will cancel $5 billion

Trump says he is going to withhold spending of 2025 funds until his efforts outrun the fiscal clock. 

He doesn't want shared power; he is determined to seize dictatorial power. Newsome may be right that

Trump is laying the groundwork for unprecedented 3rd term. The man may have dementia; he may 

forget what he was saying in mid-sentence, but his more canny advisers behind the scenes are

guiding him every step of the way. It's a scenario worthy of the Wizard of Oz. 

Wash. Post, Trump tries to wrest spending power from Congress as government shutdown looms

The administration says it can cancel nearly $5 billion in international aid with or without approval from lawmakers under

 a little-tested theory called a "pocket cession."

Reuters, India's powerful Hindu group chief urges three-child families as fertility rates falls.

Did we ever expect to see a leader in India urging larger families? Even 3 children per woman is 

more than the average there these days. In fact, the rate in India has even fallen slightly below 2. 

The baby bust is now moving from China to India, moving all around the world, 

where 2 children has often become a limit, not even an average. 

Partnered women everywhere are entering the workforce and they now know how to prevent having 

any more children. They love their kids, but are finding that 2 are quite enough. Generous childbirth 

incentives have had little effect even in Scandinavia, where they have been widely offered. 

Worldwide, the average birthrate per woman was 2.2 in 2023, and just 1.6 here in the US, which is 

now below replacement, with its own unfortunate effects. This is Malthus in reverse, creating a

society top-heavy with elders like me. 

Only a few African counties are now bucking the trend. Niger, Chad, and Somalia are currently 

high fertility countries; so is south Sudan, where I once had a mission. There, the rate was 5.3 children 

per woman in 2024.

I need to post this right now, as the blog gods keep on interfering, no matter what I try to do.