Free Republic

After the wide-scale apoplexy induced by reports of overpopulation, an ice age, global warming, and then climate change, the apocalypse of the season may be shifting to low birth rates and population loss. In recent months, authorities no less diverse and august than Pantsuited Demographer Hillary Clinton and Hillbilly Procreationist J.D. Vance have weighed in with their preferred remedies. I regret to report that no one has suggested any politically and culturally acceptable solutions, so it is time to grin and bear it. Mr. Vance, a seemingly dedicated Europhobe, proposes an oddly Continental menu of transfer payments to parents to...

Whether they’re doing it on purpose or out of just plain ineptitude, Illinois’ political leaders have been slowly destroying this state. More recently, they’ve moved into overdrive.What we’re talking about is all the wealth the state is giving up by pushing out wealthier taxpayers and inviting less wealthy people in. Not to mention the flood of illegal immigrants that have been “welcomed” to Illinois, many fully dependent on the state.Not only is Illinois a net loser of people to other states, but the people leaving Illinois make far more than the people coming into Illinois, making things even worse.The taxpayers...

A new Pew Research Center report shows that although Christianity continues to be the world’s largest religious group, its share of the rising global population has fallen over the last decade, mainly due to people walking away from the faith. The report, based on an analysis of 2,700 censuses and surveys, shows that the global population of Christians grew by 121.6 million people from 2010 to 2020, reaching some 2.3 billion people. As a share of the global population, estimated to be about 7.8 billion in 2020, Christians fell by 1.8 percentage points to 28.8%. The global population of Muslims,...

A new survey by the UN Population Fund shows that the most common reasons people name for not having more children are financial in nature.As Statista's Katharina Buchholz reports, among 14 countries surveyed, respondents named financial limitations or job instability as the most common reasons to have fewer children than they desired in all. Commonly, financial reasons, also including housing and childcare costs, made up the top 2 or even top 3 of the issues most often cited for lower fertility, for example in India, Indonesia, South Korea, South Africa, Brazil, Morocco, Hungary and Germany.You will find more infographics at...

As a Blue state teacher, I'm beginning to see a scary revelation Policy & Politics The fact of the matter is that liberals have fewer kids compared to conservatives. Enrollment is down and the birth rate cratered during the Great Recession. Lots of school districts, especially urban ones, are laying off teachers due to budget and declining enrollment. For those teachers who are still early in their careers and are used to being supported by a Union and receiving better pay and benefits, they may have to move in order to continue in this profession. They may have to move...

A federal court ruled in favor of religious and other broadcasters on Monday against a Biden administration rule that would have required them to annually report employees’ genders and ethnicities. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) “workforce diversity” rule from 2024 in response to lawsuits from the National Religious Broadcasters and other groups that argued the regulation violated constitutional rights. Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr celebrated the ruling as he continues his broader push to end left-wing policies at an agency with significant control over America’s airwaves. “The FCC’s 2024 decision...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope says Church must ‘confront forms of paganism’ in secularismIn his meeting with his brother Jesuits in Belgium, Pope Francis call secularization a “complex phenomenon” and noted sometimes the Church must “confront forms of paganism.”Speaking to 150 Jesuits in Brussels on Sep. 28, the pontiff answered a question from a member living in Amsterdam, one of the most secularized cities in the world.In his reply, Francis noted he didn’t mean a paganism like the one in the ancient world.“We do not need a statue of a pagan god to talk about paganism: The very environment, the air we...

After years of ominous headlines about the world's shrinking birth rates, there's a bright spot. The US birth rate increased slightly in 2024, according to preliminary data from the CDC. The 1% rise in births was largely driven by moms in their early 40s, who gave birth to 2% more children in 2024 than in 2023. Moms in their 30s and late 20s also experienced slight increases in births. Brady Hamilton, the lead author of the report, told Business Insider that the stats are a continuation of the trends of the last three decades. Women in their late 20s to...

Ezra Klein suggested that Democratic assumptions about youth support have proven 'completely false' amid President Donald Trump's return to power New York Times columnist Ezra Klein spoke with a Democratic pollster Tuesday about how the dream of an ascendant Democratic majority is imploding as younger voters, especially White men, flee the party. Klein interviewed David Shor, the head of data science at Blue Rose Research, a Democratic polling firm, for his podcast in an episode titled "Democrats Need to Face Why Trump Won." When Klein and Shor reviewed numerous charts, including one headlined, "2024 Democratic Support by Age – Split...

THIS IS A TRANSLATION: Ukraine will need to import over 8 million migrants from developing countries to a looming “demographic crisis” a employment leading sector specialized has been said. Vasily Voskoboinik, president of the All-Ukrainian Association of Companies for International Employment, past year, told the country’s state television on there will be an urgent need for migration from countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, India, North Africa and Central Asia. He said: “According to estimates by the International Organization for Migration and the International Labour Organization, in will need 8.2 million workers. This is a huge problem facing our country. “We...

It is often said that the future belongs to those who show up. And the most relevant way of showing up, is having children.Anecdotally, it has been obvious for a long time that conservatives are more likely to have children than liberals, and apt to have more children. But the data are clear, and getting clearer:Brad Wilcox@BradWilcoxIFS ·FollowThe "relationship between voting Republican and having more babies is growing stronger over time." Given that Ds respond to R presidential elections by having fewer babies, this relationship could grow even stronger in the next 4 years...I think it is totally rational for...

A tough choice between Muslim Europe and Muslim Russia. Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism. Russia, with a birth rate of 1.5 children per woman, has invaded Ukraine, where the birth rate is 1.2 children per woman, to determine which nation with below replacement birth rates will go extinct the fastest. In the long run the only winners of the war to determine whether Ukraine will belong to the 1.2 or 1.5 people will be the Chechen and other Muslim soldiers doing...

One of our current cultural mantras is “you do you” - putting your personal desires over the greater good of others and society. In other words, living selfishly instead of selflessly.The manifestation of such a philosophy and its implications for our society is particularly acute when it comes to the institutions of marriage and family.As the late James Q. Wilson, former professor of government at Harvard University, wrote in his book, “The Marriage Problem”: “It is not money, but the family that is the foundation of public life. As it has become weaker, every structure built upon that foundation has...

The ineffectiveness of pro-natal programs suggests raising the next generation isn’t a main priority of 21st-century adults.Hungary’s fertility rate dropped to a record low in 2024 despite its best efforts to reverse the birth dearth through economic incentives. Those advocating for similar policies in the United States could learn from Hungary’s unsuccessful pro-natal programs, which have a track record of negligible results everywhere they have been implemented.Nordic countries have the most generous family policies in the world, yet fewer children are born there almost every year. Even in socially conservative Poland, where the “Family 500+” program is widely popular, the...

The governments of Finland and the Philippines have signed a Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) in a major step towards ensuring fair and sustainable opportunities for Filipino workers. This collaboration focuses on ethical labour mobility and protecting workers’ rights, particularly as Finland seeks to address its growing labour shortage. Ethical recruitment In a ceremony held in Manila, DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac and Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs Arto Olavi Sartonen signed the agreement, reaffirming their mutual commitment to fairness and dignity in labour mobility. Filipino workers in Finland, particularly those in the healthcare, IT, and industrial sectors, will benefit...

You can smell it in the air. A deep sense of betrayal among Democratic voters. An underlying realization that the Democratic party’s politburo — Obama, Pelosi, Schumer, Jeffries, and their courtiers of elected official and consultant sycophants — sold voters a bill of goods: the gaslighting of the public on President Biden’s decrepitude; the false idol of the Kamala Harris “campaign of joy” as a smart last-minute stand-in; and the repeated cowering to the far left whose wokeness and moral condescension turns off most voters. In a just world, one might expect a formal no-confidence vote on this leadership failure....

Among rich countries without large resource rents or a history of Communism, the United States stands out as being much wealthier than IQ alone would predict. Meanwhile, the non-US Anglosphere (United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada) underperforms, being poorer than both the United States and north west Europe. The comparison with the non-US Anglosphere is particularly instructive because these countries are very similar to the United States culturally, genetically and institutionally. American speech is the freest in the world, a fact recognized by much of the tech-right. A comparison to our Anglosphere cousins is instructive. We can be proud...

Two suspects in connection to the death of Reba the bulldog appeared in court Monday. Issac Laushaul Jr. and Markeisha Foster were arrested over the weekend. Laushaul refused to show up to his Sunday court appearance. During Foster's court appearance later Sunday afternoon, the judge set a no-contact order between her and Laushaul. ***They both face one felony charge each of animal cruelty. We've been following this story for months, first making you aware of Reba in late July. According to the Vegas Pet Rescue Project, Reba was found in a container behind a grocery store at Maryland Parkway and...

The 2024 presidential election may have been Donald Trump’s best yet. While white evangelicals’ strong support for the former president didn’t budge, he made sizable gains among Catholic and Hispanic voters ... 58 percent of Catholics voted for Trump over Harris this time.. In 2016, Trump won 17 percent of Hispanics. By 2020, 32 percent....this year...Trump won 45 percent while Harris won 53 percent. Trump was also able to win among Hispanic men for the first time... White evangelicals’ margin of support for Trump stayed at 81 percent, exit polls found.... White evangelicals supported George W. Bush in 2004 by...

The influx of millions of migrants has shifted political power in the nation to Democrats, even though they are not allowed to vote... While they may be considered noncitizens, illegal and legal migrants are counted by the census, and those numbers are used to shift congressional districts, which affect electoral votes, according to two new studies from the Center for Immigration Studies.... “Immigration shifts political power in the United States — without a single immigrant having to vote. Seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and thus votes in the Electoral College are apportioned among the states based on each...