Tag: Population

Is US Running Out Of White People?

I recently read a fascinating article about the population changes coming….this story could send shivers up the spines of all those that hate diversity…..plus my favorite subject, a little history, thrown in….

Demographers project that whites will become a minority in the U.S. around 2045, dropping below 50% of the population. Between 2010 and 2018, the number of white children fell by 2.8 million, or 7.1%. In contrast, nonwhite children grew by 6.1%.

In 2018, the last year for which data are currently available, the proportion of people in the U.S. under 18 years of age was just barely more white than nonwhite. However, children under 11 were more nonwhite than white.

In almost one-third of U.S. states, nonwhite children outnumber all white children under 18 in 14 states — including Nevada, Hawaii, Georgia and Maryland — plus the District of Columbia. The link I tried to provide to document this led to factfinder.census.gov, which is currently unreachable. Is it too much of a conspiracy theory to think it’s among the thousands of government sites Elon Musk and DOGE don’t want you to see?

Not enough white people isn’t a new problem in America. When Europeans supposedly discovered America, there were already more people of color than Europeans. In 1526, a group of enslaved Black people escaped their Spanish captors during the San Miguel de Gualdape Slave Rebellion. They mixed with Native Americans in what is now South Carolina and Georgia. In 1565, Spaniards (not exactly white) brought slaves to Saint Augustine. In 1619, a British ship landed in Jamestown with enslaved people.

Though the indigenous population took a hit from the diseases carried by Europeans, including smallpox, they easily outnumbered white people when America was founded. The Black population drastically increased, not only from the Transatlantic Slave Trade but by a systemic pattern of forced breeding to meet the demand for labor. When the international slave trade was ended in 1808, it was because a sufficient number of Black babies were being born to meet the needs. The means to the end often involved rape and forced pairings. Thomas Jefferson didn’t need to explain that to George Washington when he wrote to tell him that if each enslaved woman had a child every two years, he would see profits increase by 4% annually.

By the time America achieved independence from the British in 1776, several areas including some states like South Carolina had a majority Black population, mainly enslaved people. Before there were police forces, there were slave patrols to capture runaways and protect plantation owners from revolts. There was a fear of rebellion throughout American history, before and after slavery. Jefferson talked about having a “wolf by the ears.” Lincoln wished to deport the freed slaves to Liberia and Central America. Heexperimented with deportation on Cow Island near Haiti, which had disastrous results.

https://www.levelman.com/america-is-running-out-of-white-people/

Is news like this driving the GOP and especially Little Donny in its push to re-write history?

I think diversity is what makes this country great, well great before the magic Sharpie.

Trying to change the outcome of history is a fool’s errand…..but look who we voted into office….one of America’s biggest fools.

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–15Mar23

There is a global majority approaching….and it is not what you think.

The planet is becoming overweight (polite term for FAT) or obese…..

In a little more than a decade, obese people will be the majority around the world. More than half of the world’s population, or more than 4 billion people, will be overweight or obese by 2035, according to the World Obesity Federation, which is warning countries to act now to prevent “serious repercussions” at a cost of $4.3 trillion globally—or 3% of the global Gross Domestic Product. That’s “comparable to the economic damage wrought by Covid-19,” per the Guardian. It notes 38% of the world’s population is already overweight (with a body mass index of at least 25) or obese (BMI of 30 and up). About one in seven people are now obese, though that’s expected to rise to one in four by 2035.

A new report from the federation finds the fastest rising rates of obesity in children, with rates among boys and girls expected to double from 2020 figures, per the BBC. The expected rate among girls is slightly higher than boys at 125%, per the Guardian. That’s a “particularly worrying” finding, says Louise Baur, the federation’s president. She adds “governments and policymakers around the world need to do all they can to avoid passing health, social, and economic costs on to the younger generation” by assessing “the systems and root factors” that contribute to obesity, which is known to raise one’s risk of heart disease, cancer, and other ailments.

Nine of the 10 countries expected to experience the greatest increases in obesity by 2035 are low or lower-middle income nations in Africa and Asia—”often the least able to respond to obesity and its consequences,” according to the report. This is owing to a shift toward sedentary behavior, more highly-processed foods, weaker food control policies, and lacking health care services related to education and weight management. The federation—made up of health, scientific, research and campaign groups that work closely with global agencies—recommends taxes and restrictions on food marketing be used to push people away from high-fat, high-sugar foods. It also calls for healthier foods in schools.

Come on people!

Get some exercise and eat a better diet and all this can be avoided.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–30Jan23

A few weeks back one of the big stories was that the birth rate in the US is declining for yet another year.

And right on cue all the speculation for this was put into action.

But really what is the reason for this decline.

Personally I think it is nothing but fear on the part of potential parents.

There has been a lot of buzz in the media over the last few years around declining population growth — people aren’t having as many babies as they used to, especially in the United States. The birth rate in the U.S. has indeed been in steady decline since around 2007. Spurred by the Great Recession of 2008-2010, the birth dropped to 1.71 in 2019, the lowest since the 1970s. And although it’s gone up since then, the birth rate has remained relatively low.

Alongside the decline in birth rate has come widespread speculation that a population collapse is looming on the horizon, which could result in economic upheaval — and, if you’re prone to flights of whimsy, a Mad Max meets the Wild West-style dystopian future.

According to a new study, however, the plummeting U.S. birth rate is not because people want to have fewer children than their parents and grandparents did; it’s likely that they’re scared to have any kids at all. In case you haven’t been paying attention, things aren’t great for parents in the U.S., and many people of child-bearing age are playing it safe and waiting to see if conditions improve before having a baby.

“It’s hard to have children in the United States right now,” said study co-author Sarah Hayford, director of Ohio State University’s Institute for Population Research. “People feel more worried about the future than they might have been several decades ago. They worry about the economy, child care, and whether they can afford to have children.”

Hayford’s team asked 13 cohorts of women and ten cohorts of men born between the 1960s and 2000s about the number of children they would like to have. The average number they reported was not dramatically different compared to the number of children people in previous generations wanted. Hayford’s study groups reported wanting 2.1 children, compared to 2.2 children in the early 1960s.

https://www.fatherly.com/news/birth-rate-us-study-social-safety-net

Good points but I feel it is deeper than that….how about you?

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Societal Overhaul?

It is the weekend and I like to give my readers something to think about over the next few days.

Futurists are starting to worry about mankind….in general…..and it has little to do with the pandemic that we are fighting……

Experts say we’ll need to “reorganize societies” to respond to a “jaw-dropping” decrease in the number of Earthlings being born. To keep a steady population, a woman needs to have 2.1 children on average so as to account for infant mortality and childless women. Women were having an average of 4.7 children in 1950. But the global fertility rate fell to 2.4 in 2017, per the BBC, and researchers at the University of Washington expect it to drop to 1.7 by the end of the century. As a result, the global population is expected to peak at 9.7 billion around 2064, then drop to 8.8 billion by 2100. Nearly all countries—183 of 195—are predicted to have a fertility rate below the replacement level. Some 23, including Japan and Italy, will see their populations drop by more than 50%, while 34, including China, will see a drop of more than 25%, per CNBC.

In 2017, there were 681 million people under the age of 5, and 141 million over the age of 80. By 2100, experts predict 401 million people under 5, and 866 million over 80. With fewer young people to care for the elderly, “we’ll have to reorganize societies,” Christopher Murray, whose research is published in the Lancet, tells the BBC. He predicts “frank competition for migrants,” particularly from sub-Saharan Africa, which is expected to triple in population size to more than 3 billion people by 2100. But migration isn’t going to help once most countries experience population decline. “If you can’t [find a solution], then eventually the species disappears, but that’s a few centuries away,” Murray says. Others seem more hopeful, noting healthy life expectancy is increasing, allowing people to work longer, meaning more money paid into health care systems, per the BBC. And a lot can change in 80 years.

Just a little something to ponder…..and while you ponder that try this little ditty……

We guys have a Y Chromosone…..and research is showing that it is disappearing……

The Y chromosome may be a symbol of masculinity, but it is becoming increasingly clear that it is anything but strong and enduring. Although it carries the “master switch” gene, SRY, that determines whether an embryo will develop as male (XY) or female (XX), it contains very few other genes and is the only chromosome not necessary for life. Women, after all, manage just fine without one.

What’s more, the Y chromosome has degenerated rapidly, leaving females with two perfectly normal X , but males with an X and a shriveled Y. If the same rate of degeneration continues, the Y chromosome has just 4.6m years left before it disappears completely. This may sound like a long time, but it isn’t when you consider that life has existed on Earth for 3.5 billion years.

https://phys.org/news/2020-07-chromosome-men.html

In the distant future will mankind become a unisex being?  (Sounds like a good SciFi story in the making, huh?)

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thoughts–27Sep18

I have been writing for years about the Draft or if you will conscription……..

https://lobotero.com/2015/10/05/would-a-return-to-conscription-substantially-reduce-the-probability-of-war/

https://lobotero.com/2007/04/10/why-no-draft/

As an antiwar person I would not support the draft….but on the other hand it would make the media focus on our numerous wars and American deaths….and in return help create a vibrant antiwar movement.

But recent news has it that the Army is not meeting their goaals in recruitment…..

For the first time since 2005, the US Army missed its recruiting goal this year, falling short by about 6,500 soldiers, despite pouring an extra $200 million into bonuses and approving some additional waivers for bad conduct or health issues, the AP reports. Army leaders said they signed up about 70,000 new active-duty recruits in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30—well short of the 76,500 they needed. The Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps all met their recruiting goals for 2018. The Army’s shortfall, says Maj. Gen. Joe Calloway, was fueled by the strong American economy and increased competition from private sector employers who can pay more. But the failure has triggered an overhaul in Army recruiting, including an increase in recruiters, expanded marketing, and a new effort to reach out to young, potential recruits through popular online gaming.

Calloway says there were several thousand permanent legal residents seeking to enlist, but they did not get through the screening process in time. The recruiting struggles come at the end of a tumultuous year for the Army, which faced questions from Congress over its expanded use of waivers for recruits with previous marijuana use, bad conduct, and some health problems. In addition to the Army competing with the private sector, there just aren’t that many potential recruits: Only about 30 percent of 17- to 24-year-olds meet the physical, mental and moral requirements for the military, and only one in eight are interested in serving.

Like I said I am starting to re-think my stand on conscription……

When I started working for War Resisters’ International in 2012, we were beginning to rethink our strategy as a group supporting conscientious objectors: a central concern since our foundation in 1921. According to international standards, the right to conscientious objection should be available not just to conscripts but also to professional soldiers who join up voluntarily. In reality however, most of WRI’s work up to that point had been in supporting conscripted soldiers – those who had to sign up without making an active choice to do so. But in the twenty years leading up to 2012, conscription had been suspended or abolished in at least twenty two states[1]. What did this mean for those supporting draft evaders, if there was not much of the draft left?

https://www.wri-irg.org/en/story/2018/return-conscription

I have been an antiwar activist and protester since 1973 when I returned to civilian life after 2 and half years in Vietnam…..but the only way to keep from fighting endless wars (like we have now) is a strong antiwar movement and if conscription can deliver then I am going to support it.

The Problem of Collective Indifference

The US is still involved in a war they started 16+ years ago.  And since those days since we have engaged in more and more conflicts and not all are the ones we started…..it is as if if there is a war someplace then the US needs to be there.

In all this time few Americans seem to care that our people are being sent and dying….but yet they are the most “patriotic” population in the world….but in reality is the truth is they do NOT care about our countrymen are having to deal with this situation….the deadly situation.

Can anyone explain this “collective indifference” of the American people……

Consider, if you will, these two indisputable facts.  First, the United States is today more or less permanently engaged in hostilities in not one faraway place, but at least seven.  Second, the vast majority of the American people could not care less.

Nor can it be said that we don’t care because we don’t know. True, government authorities withhold certain aspects of ongoing military operations or release only details that they find convenient. Yet information describing what U.S. forces are doing (and where) is readily available, even if buried in recent months by barrages of presidential tweets.

Source: The Problem of Collective Indifference: Wars Go On and On | Alternet

What will it take for the American people to show some concern over all the war we have taken on?

Look at today……North Korea…..a month ago is all everybody could talk about….today it is the media that all talk….a year ago it was ISIS…..today we are lucky to hear the name mentioned….the American people become indifferent to the prevailing news……especially when it comes to war.

Make Time For Sex

Another Sunday and more time in the sun….having to get the garden ready for installation….

Back in the early days of this blog….when I was using the Blogger format…..I tried to increase my readership by inserting the word “Sex” into the title even if there was nothing sexual involved in the post….back in those days I was lucky to get 5 hits a week….so from time to time I still find something about sex to report to my readers…..

I read about a Swedish town that was worried about their declining population and came up with a solution…..

A local Swedish official also wants to help people create those babies.

Per-Erik Muskos, a councilman from the small town of Övertorneå, has announced plans to give the municipality’s 550 employees paid time off to have sex.

“There are studies that show sex is healthy,” Muskos told AFP, adding that couples in Sweden weren’t spending enough time together. “It’s about having better relationships.”

Muskos’ plan for paid sex breaks, however, is really just a proposal to amend an existing work break given to employees for fitness and exercise. Employees already get one paid hour off each week to work out; Muskos is suggesting they should also be allowed to go home and have sex during that time. He said sex was often a form of exercise “and has documented positive effects on well-being,” though employees could, of course, abuse the benefit and just work one hour less.

I also read where Denmark was having the same problem and was looking at the Swedish model…..

But with all this sex talk Spain has come up with a novel idea….for they also are facing the population thing……a Sex Tsar

Spain has appointed a ‘sex tsar’ to encourage the declining population to ramp up procreation in a bid to reverse a dip in the birth rate.

The country reported a higher number of deaths than births for the first time last year, prompting the government to take action.

Those aged 18-49 reportedly had an average of 1.3 children, below the European Union’s (EU) figure of 1.58.

A declining birth-rate is a common feature across many European countries but Spain’s figures means it has one of the lowest birth-rates in the developed world.

In response and faced with an impending population crisis, the government has appointed Edelmira Barreira to the position of sex tsar.

The portfolio was created by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Ms Barreira, a demographic expert, will help draft a document for a national strategy of demographic imbalances.

A helluva idea….a sex tsar.  The US has more “tsars” than we have hairs on our butts…but I cannot see the stodgy GOP going for this type of government involvement….unless they can give tax breaks for Viagra…..or a Swedish Penis Pump.

Why do so many really good ideas come out of Europe?

And then there is the new condom that lets its wearer enter into the 21st…..ain’t technology grand?

Sexting may be about to rise to a whole new level with the introduction of what is being billed as the first “smart condom.” The i.Con—think of it as a FitBit for the penis, per the Sun—tracks the particulars of each sexual encounter and lets users download the data to their phones and share it. It uses a nanochip and sensors embedded in an adjustable condom ring that measures penis size and tracks things like the number and velocity of thrusts, skin temperature, and calories burned. UK manufacturer British Condoms says it will also be able to detect STDs, reports Mashable, though the website points out that the latter claim is still being tested.

The company is currently taking pre-orders but isn’t accepting payments until a release date in 2017 is finalized. So far, the i.Con is available only in the United Kingdom, but the company says distribution will go global if demand is high enough. The ring would cost about $74 in US money. The i.Con has the potential to open a bold new frontier for hackers, but British Condoms promises that “all data will be kept anonymous”—unless users themselves decide to share it, reports CNET.

I am spent…I need a smoke and a nap….LOL

That be it….I will finish my weekend with a smile and will return to my usual pensive self come Monday…

Peace Out my friends.

What Is An Arab?

Most Americans have a very simplistic idea of what an Arab is all about…..

A friend (electronically) from Lebanon sent me this cartoon via Twitter and it sums up what Americans think when they hear the word ARAB……most people have this caricature of what an Arab is….

My friend added to the ‘toon…”and the wife is in the kitchen”……

Being “Arab” is more complex than the limited knowledge of most Westerners have….which according to them makes them an “expert”…..

Nothing about the ‘toon is accurate……but why let accuracy get in the way of hatred?

Half Of The United States Lives In These Counties – Business Insider

If this info is true….why don’t political parties concentrate their efforts and cash in these counties….seems it would be money well spent during a national election……check out the other data that is linked in on the bottom of the article….that is if you are interested in the demographics……….

Half Of The United States Lives In These Counties – Business Insider.