Monday, October 13, 2025

Peace and consequences







                           
                    Tel Aviv residents have come out now, loudly celebrating the ceasefire.





Donald Trump has been roundly congratulated. 
                                                           




                            But not everyone in London has been happy about the agreement. 




So will Mr. Trump be awarded that Nobel next year? That may depend on whether the Gaza peace endures. 

(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump urged Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, during an address to the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem. During a 

more than one-hour speech, Trump said:

"Hey, I have an idea. Mr. President, why don't you give him a pardon? Cigars and some champagne — who the hell cares?" referring to the fraud, bribery and breach of trust charges, which Netanyahu denies.

Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 in three cases, one of which includes receiving almost 700,000 shekels ($210,000) in gifts from businessmen, including champagne and cigars.



                             Gazans have started to finally return home, to whatever is still left there.









While Trump should be given proper credit for the Gaza peace, he is not doing very well on the home front. Recent polls show that Trump's approval rating hovers around 39-40%, as most US voters till blame him and Republicans for the federal government shutdown. 


                Even during the government shutdown, Trump was out golfing, requiring Secret Service                                 protection. 



Brazil Supreme Court justice keeps Bolsonaro under house arrest


Despite, or maybe actually because of, Trump's attempted intervention on Bolsonaro's behalf, he 
still remains under house arrest in Brazil. 

                                    And here was Mr. Trump in Abu Dabi back in May, making a deal there.
                                    


Back here at home:

(NEXSTAR) – States are warning SNAP recipients that their eligibility for food assistance could change as a November deadline to comply with the One Big Beautiful Bill approaches. The mega-bill, which passed into law over the summer, overhauls the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as the Food Stamp Program), which provides food assistance to more than 42 million. The changes are expected to squeeze some people out of the program as federal spending on the program is cut by an estimated $186 billion over the next decade.


SNAP changes: Here’s who could lose benefits in November



Below is an invitation I would certainly accept if I still lived in Washington, DC:
You're invited to an exclusive briefing with Jim Malloy, CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of 
Washington, on November 3rd, 2025, to discuss the impact of federal policies on homelessness and 
vulnerable populations.



ABC News
Search for suspects in shooting that left 6 dead, 10 wounded in Mississippi

There have been several fatal shootings recently in Mississippi and even across the nation. This is the  unfortunate legacy of the so-called "right to bear arms," which has caused such great suffering and provided so little benefit to our nation and our citizens. 
That traditional "right" needs to be modified urgently to now bring it in line with the modern age. Counterpart democracies just don't have this problem. 



Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) on Sunday characterized a string of U.S. strikes on Venezuelan boats in international waters as "illegal killings," saying that the White House has not yet shared the legal justification for the attacks with congressional lawmakers. "They are illegal killings because the notion that the United States — and this is what the administration says is their justification — is involved in an armed conflict with any drug dealers, any Venezuelan drug dealers, is ludicrous," Himes said on in an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation." "It wouldn't stand up in a single court of law."


Let's cross the Pacific Ocean now to China. 


China's population is decreasing, experiencing a decline for the third consecutive year in 2024. This trend is driven by a consistently low birth rate with more deaths than births, an aging population, and increased migration abroad, all leading to a population decline that has accelerated since 2022. The only immigrants who might actually be going to China now are from North Korea, arriving there 
after crossing over their shared border. Chinese themselves are leaving forelsewhere if they possibly can. 


Wash. Post,
China’s demographic crisis means it’s going to run out of workers

China is one of countries failing to produce enough working-age folks. Chinese government incentives for families with 3 children have had little effect in encouraging couples there to have a 3rd baby. France and Nordic countries also offer incentives to new parents, including baby bonuses and 
free childcare. But in Europe, as in China, the impact of such incentives has been minimal. 

Japan is shrinking fast as well, with its population in decline for 16 consecutive years since peaking in 
2009, so is now experiencing a consistently low birth rate and an aging population.

South Korea's population is also decreasing, driven by the world's lowest birth rate, which has 
caused a continuing population decline ever since 2020, with projections of a significantly smaller population in the coming decades.

There are still many abandoned villages all over asia and I have even noticed some abandoned and deteriorated houses right here in Berkeley Springs, as, evidently, no heirs were left to keep them up. 

I've also already noted that many of my son's co-workers here at the Coolfont resort are single mothers who bring their kids to work with them on holidays, without any dads in sight. 

Since women, either single or partnered, all over the world are having fewer babies, not enough babies are being born now, so fewer children are growing up to actually become workers. The US had always attracted workers from abroad, but Mr. Trump has effectively sealed-off our southern border, meaning that no one has arrived to pick our crops, which are now languishing  in the fields. 

Today, world overpopulation is no longer a major concern; instead, global underpopulation has become the main worry now.  

DINK—double income, no kids--has become a popular lifestyle. 
Taken to extremes, if the childless lifestyle keeps on spreading, finally, no humans will be left on earth.



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