Are we now living too long?

 Are we Americans living too long now, becoming a nation top-heavy with elders and without enough young people coming along? As in Scandinavia, it's time to start offering subsides to families with young children. And also time to stop the ridiculous effort by President Donald Trump to limit immigration and even to take away birthright citizenship. Our country needs about every person we can possibly get. JD Vance is setting an example by having 4 kids. Even Donald Trump is setting an example with his 5 kids. at least 5 that we know of. Of curse, it's easier for a man than for woman to have 5 kids.  And it's easier for those who can afford it, which is why child subsidies should be offered to American parents, as in Scandinavia. By keeping people out, Donald Trump is just not doing the math. 

Trump signs orders to limit US birthright citizenship, despite Supreme Court ruling

Donald Trump's executive orders to limit birthright citizenship are not legally binding, but some jurisdictions might try to use them either to deport people or at least get them to move to another state or even to Canada. Canadian authorities might welcome most migrants coming from the US because of a shrinking birthrate there as well. 

Donald Trump, you nincompoop, don't you realize that our US birthrate is falling and that we actually need more, not fewer. migrants, especially those of working age to now help support a growing number of oldsters like yourself? 

Donald Trump has been getting increasingly tired and mixed up lately. 

Even when reading from a teleprompter, Trump garbles his words. He never was as bright as a button nor as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as your neighborhood squirrel, but now he seems to be getting even worse.

Polls show that Donald Trump, though he won election this last time around, is even less popular now than even during his first presidential term, back when Hillary had won thousands more votes, while losing to him in the Electoral College. Trump may even turn out to be the very least popular, the most unpopular, president ever in American history. Even those who voted for him last time, like many folks right around here, think the guy is slipping mentally really fast. 

Many had avoided voting for Kamala because she is a woman, even though nearly all Latin American countries have already had female presidents. Some citizens there even consider them less corrupt than male politicians. 

It's high time anyway after 250 years to jettison the US Electoral College for a national popular vote. then maybe to elect a woman president next time. Could Kamala even make a comeback? I'm a little concerned about Gavin Newsom of California now throwing his hat into the presidential ring, as he is quite a popular governor and so may leave no room for a female candidate to emerge, But elections are matters of the moment and this may be Newsom's moment..

Speaking of seizing the moment, back in the 1990's, I was volunteering as an election observer and a human rights' monitor and being sent all over the world. I was then a single mother fighting my late ex-husband and his new wife to even get child support. They had even taken every penny from our joint bank accounts. So we delivered phone books for cash to buy groceries. At the time, my late mother asked me, "Why don't you just wait until your children are older to go overseas?" The world was then asking me to come right away when my language skills and local connections were most needed, not 5 or 10 years later. So, of course, I answered the call and our family made it through, though not without sacrifices. I hope my kids did not suffer. but they did lose my attention for a time and alternate care was very hard to arrange, as their father and his new wife were unwilling to help out even one iota.    

Washington Post, 

Israelis fear irreversible shift as support from both major U.S. parties slips

Israel is totally dependent on US support: economic, moral, political, and military. But now even some American Jews have become less enthusiastic about supporting Israel and especially about supporting the Israeli leadership. Some 21% of Israeli citizens are not even Jewish and their numbers seem to be growing faster than the Jewish population. What is their political role in Israel? Is Israel now becoming a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation? 

Israel was established in 1948 by US President Harry Truman as a haven for European Jews displaced by the Holocaust. I also have known Palestinian refugees in the US displaced at that time by the establishment of Israel, so it's really a rather complicated story.   

I have also known Israelis living in the US belonging to Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) which Google describes as "an anti-Israel and anti-Zionist organization that does not represent the vast majority of American Jews." Those folks had never wanted to live in Israel nor did they even support its creation. Here's what Google says. 

Mainstream Jewish Consensus: Major community organizations and demographic surveys show that most American Jews identify with Zionism or hold a baseline connection to the state of Israel, placing JVP outside the mainstream of American Jewish communal life. 

JVP's Stated Mission: Jewish Voice for Peace describes itself as a progressive, grassroots organization working in solidarity with the Palestinians' freedom struggle and opposing Zionism, which it views as counter to universal equality and justice. 

Criticism from Jewish Defense Groups: Organizations such as the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League characterize JVP as a fringe or radical activist group. Critics argue that its platform delegitimizes Israel's right to exist and utilizes rhetoric that crosses over into antisemitism.

I remain torn, both by having friends who are supporters of Israel and others who are opposed to its existence as a "Jewish state." Of course the ethnic make-up and orientation of Israel is evolving. Nothing ever stands still. 

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           Now I live in West Virginia and have no friends here who are either Israeli or Palestinian. In fact, most folks around here have never even been to Washington, DC. and their focus remains completely local. They never talk about Israel or Palestine or anything else beyond: "What's on sale today at the grocery store?" "Have you been to any services at XX church, as my daughter is getting married and may want to hold the ceremony there?" Or "My teenage son just graduated high school and is now looking for a job." "I need to find someone to help care for my elderly mother." Or, perhaps, "Please come by tomorrow morning to have coffee with us. " And so these conversations continue and fill up each of their days. That's just fine, as it's their life, after all.

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 In Japan and South Korea, robot talking dolls have become companions for the elderly, as not enough younger folks have been born. Each successive generation is becoming smaller. Once that starts happening, the trend is hard to reverse. Scandinavian countries have slowed  the decline by offering generous subsidies to new parents. Malthus had long warned about overpopulation, Now who is warning about underpopulation?