James Gallagher, Health and Science Correspondent - BBC News
Stephan: Since the 1960s most experts and media outlets have been ranting on about over-population becoming a huge problem. In contrast for 20 years SR has been arguing, based on birth data, that the real problem is decreased population, and a disproportionate elder demographic. Here is the latest data and, as it says, it is jawdropping.
Credit: Getty
The world is ill-prepared for the global crash in children being born which is set to have a “jaw-dropping” impact on societies, say researchers.
Falling fertility rates mean nearly every country could have shrinking populations by the end of the century.
And 23 nations – including Spain and Japan – are expected to see their populations halve by 2100.
Countries will also age dramatically, with as many people turning 80 as there are being born.
What is going on?
The fertility rate – the average number of children a woman gives birth to – is falling.
If the number falls below approximately 2.1, then the size of the population starts to fall.
In 1950, women were having an average of 4.7 children in their lifetime.
Researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation showed the global fertility rate nearly halved to 2.4 in 2017 – and their study, published in the Lancet, projects it will fall below 1.7 by 2100.
As a result, the researchers expect the number of people on the planet to […]
Stephan: The Covid-19 virus has its own priorities and schedule, and so does climate change and sea rise. Here is the latest from NOAA.
Michel Rodriguez tries to jump to a shallow spot as he crosses a flooded street that was caused by the combination of the lunar orbit which caused seasonal high tides and what many believe is the rising sea levels due to climate change on September 29, 2015 in Miami Beach, Florida. Credit: Joe Raedle Getty
American coastal communities will experience high-tide flooding as many as 270 days a year by 2050, according to NOAA projections released yesterday that show sea-level rise causing the dramatic increases.
NOAA’s annual report on high-tide flooding—also called “sunny day” or “nuisance” flooding because it’s not related to storms—shows that records were set in the past year in one-quarter of the communities along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the agency has tide gauges.
Eagle Point, Texas, near Houston, experienced high-tide flooding 64 days in the one-year period from May 2019 through April.
“This is the new normal. It’s a floodier future,” NOAA oceanographer William Sweet said. “It’s this drive in sea-level rise that is really pumping up the water levels and causing more flooding to […]
Stephan: It is my view that the Republican Party from Trump and his administration as well as most Republican governors are accessories to mass murder and crimes against humanity. And to that group, I would also add Fox and the rest of the alt-right media that has knowingly and deliberately spread disinformation about the pandemic. Here's the data.
Texas Gov. Abbott visits Fox to brag about his “victory” after one of the nation’s shortest lockdowns.
Ever since protests began following the police murder of George Floyd, the conservative media has been eager to blame rising cases of COVID-19 on protesters. That has required overlooking a number of issues, primarily an utter disconnect between the primary sites of protests and the areas where the pandemic is now staging a massive comeback. But Fox News and its many friends have never been daunted by facts. However, as NPR reports, protests don’t appear to be associated with clusters of COVID-19. That’s because protesters in most areas wore masks, even during prolonged outdoor events in the heat of the day. Meanwhile other, less political activities—like house parties—were tied to new clusters of cases in Washington state, and reopening with a disregard for guidelines, social distancing, and mask mandates is driving up cases in multiple states.
But there is a political factor that’s increasing both the reach and the deadliness of the pandemic. Because studies are now showing how right-wing media, including […]
Julie Wernau and Zusha Elinson, - Wall Street Journal
Stephan: America's gun psychosis has become a kind of secondary epidemic. More guns in the U.S., means more shootings, more deaths, and many of those shootings will be one family member shooting another in an argument.
MINNEAPOLIS—Americans are buying guns in record numbers.
The new coronavirus pandemic, civil unrest after the killing of George Floyd and the ensuing movement to defund police are bringing in new buyers worried about their personal safety, according to buyers, store owners and gun experts.
Gun sales began rising to unusual highs in March, as coronavirus cases began surging in the U.S. and government-ordered lockdowns led to the highest unemployment levels since the Great Depression. The Federal Bureau of Investigation processed 7.8 million background checks for gun purchases from March to June, according to National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry trade group.
In June, background checks for firearms were up 136%, compared to a year earlier, according to the trade group, which gives the best proxy for gun sales. Background checks in June for civilians seeking a license to carry were the highest since the FBI began conducting checks 20 years ago.
Background checks for guns in Georgia tripled last month versus last year, according to NSSF data, and have more than doubled in Oklahoma, New York, Illinois and Minnesota.Total U.S. […]
Stephan: I wrote this, and consider it one of the most important papers I have written about American healthcare.
Texas Coronavirus ICU Credit: CNN
I can’t speak for you, but as I watch day-by-day, the thing that stands out for me is that we are asking a relatively small group of men and women to both save us and put their lives on the line. And yet we are failing them in almost every way. What kind of mental space do you have to be in not to see this? I will never forget the images of ER personnel cutting holes in 50-gallon trashbags and putting them on because they didn’t have enough proper PPE gear. The only thing comparable is going into combat knowing you might be killed or crippled in some way that would dominate the rest of your life and doing it anyway. That is real heroism. I think there should be some kind of national recognition, something special.
But because of those images, and that reality, what I want to talk about is the failure of the system that put these people in that position. If you stress a system to its limits, its strengths, but […]
