International
Greece plans to spend 20 billion euros to halt ‘national threat’ of population decline
From LifeSiteNews
Demographer and data analyst Stephen Shaw has said that ‘no society in history has been known to come out of’ the ‘spiral’ of population decline.
Greece plans to spend 20 billion euros on economic incentives aimed at halting the country’s population decline, which Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has called a “national threat.”
The nation that has been referred to as the “cradle of civilization” now has a fertility rate of 1.3, one of the lowest in Europe, and far below the rate of 2.1 that is needed to maintain the population.
In fact, the country now has twice as many deaths as it has births. Last year, Mitsotakis shared during a demographics conference that Greece recorded one birth for every two deaths in 2022.
On September 30, a demographic plan to incentivize having children, totaling 20 billion euros, was presented to Greece’s government. The money will be spent on tax breaks, day care vouchers as well as the establishment of day care centers in workplaces, and cash benefits rewards for raising children. Families with three or more children will receive greater compensation.
Family and Social Cohesion Minister Sofia Zacharaki said on October 2 that “the ultimate goal” of the plan “is to improve the standard of living.”
She noted that, according to current forecasts, by 2070 the biggest population group will be people over 90 years old.
The country is one of many undergoing different phases of population decline headed toward collapse. Greece’s particularly low birth rate may be further exacerbated by the economic hardships plaguing the country, which in July had the second-highest unemployment rate in the EU.
Demography experts such as data analyst Stephen Shaw, the creator of the documentary “Birthgap,” are skeptical about whether economic incentives can reverse the trend of population decline. He has noted that even the Roman Empire, in its later stages, enacted policies aimed at increasing birth rates, including taxing the childless.
According to Shaw, “No society in history has been known to come out of” the “spiral” of population decline.
In his film “Birthgap,” he has documented how declining birth rates in the U.S. and around the world are being driven by an “explosion” in childlessness as opposed to smaller family sizes.
This trend of childlessness began to crop up in the 1970s. For example, in Japan in 1974, one in 20 women were childless. By 1977, the ratio was 1 in 4, and by 1990, it had reached 1 in 3, a statistic that held in 2020. Shaw has shared that most countries have likewise now become “childless nations,” where one-third or more people will become “childless for life.”
It is notable that the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) confirmed in December 2022 that the majority of childless women actually desire children. Delayed childbearing, and as Shaw commented in his film, failing to “find the right partner at the right time” are major factors contributing to the childlessness explosion.
Commentators such as Elon Musk have warned that if global birth rates continue to decline at their current projected rates, “human civilization will end.”
Daily Caller
Sweeping Deportations to Begin in Chicago Day After Inauguration
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Jason Hopkins
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to launch his promised large-scale deportation operation the day after he is sworn into office, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
The incoming Trump administration will immediately begin mass deportation efforts in major sanctuary cities across the United States, with Chicago predicted to be first on the docket, according to The Wall Street Journal. The raid in Chicago is anticipated to begin Tuesday morning and last the entire week, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deploy 100 to 200 agents to execute the operation.
Incoming border czar Tom Homan — who led ICE during the first Trump administration — previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the White House will focus on the “worst first,” prioritizing illegal migrants who have criminal histories and orders of removal. However, Homan also made clear that any illegal migrant in the U.S is fair game.
“Like the first Trump administration, we’re going to prioritize public safety threats, national security threats and fugitives,” Homan stated to the DCNF, adding that gang members and other criminals would be their main focus. “Those that had due process at great taxpayer expense, were given orders of deportation, never left and became a fugitive – them too, they’re a priority.”
“The ones who pose the biggest threat to the country – they come first. The worst first,” Homan went on. “But let’s be clear, if you’re in the country illegally, you’re not off the table.”
The Chicago City Council recently slapped down an attempt by two moderate aldermen to scale back the sanctuary city laws currently in place.
Aldermen Raymond Lopez and Silvana Tabares, both Democrats, proposed amending Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance to allow for ICE cooperation when an illegal migrant has been arrested of certain criminal activities, arguing that such a policy would be a net benefit for the city’s immigrant community as it would allow deportation officers to better focus on criminals instead of making enforcement actions in the city at large. However, their proposal was quickly shot down by the council on Wednesday.
Other sanctuary cities in the U.S. have also expressed steep opposition to Trump’s enforcement agenda. Los Angeles passed its sanctuary law shortly after Trump emerged victorious in the presidential election, San Diego County doubled down on its existing law and Boston reaffirmed its sanctuary status in December.
Homan has said that city officials refusing to cooperate with ICE will not deter their agenda, and he added that those who knowingly harbor illegal migrants from law enforcement will be recommended for prosecution.
Along with large-scale deportation operations, Trump has also vowed to end birthright citizenship for those born on U.S. soil by illegal migrant parents, resume construction on the U.S.-Mexico border wall, bring back the Remain in Mexico program and implement other hawkish policies.
International
Coup in Romania – Fascinating interview with Presidential hopeful Calin Georgescu
Funny how a lot of people branded “far right” by progressives and the corporate media sound pretty reasonable when you see / hear them in conversation.
Take Romanian Presidential candidate Calin Georgescu. As an independent candidate, Georgescu found himself leading the current Presidential race in Romania when his campaign found itself under attack.
Georgescu opposes financial and military support of the war in neighbouring Ukraine. For that he’s been called not pro-peace, but pro-Russian and anti-NATO. His campaign effectively used TikTok as any other potenial candidate hoping to win an election in 2024 would do. Opponents say his social media success simply has to be the result of Russian influence. They have no proof, but they’re already in power so they don’t seem to need any.
Georgescu has an extremely interesting resume for someone who is apparently ‘far-right’. In 2015 and 2016 he was Executive Director of the United Nations International Institute for Sustainable Development. His political experience in Romani comes from a long stint in the Office for the Environment including two years as Secretary General of the Ministry of Environment.
He followed that up with a long run as Executive Director of the National Centre for Sustainable Development in Bucharest, before joining the United Nations.
Fascinating route to far-right extremism indeed.
Of course no one called him ‘ultranationalist, extremist, or far-right while he was polling around 5%. But when his success in the first round catapulted him to 23% of the vote for President, putting him in the lead heading into the decisive second round of Presidential voting, the Constitutional Court of Romania annulled the results.
Among his “far-right” campaign initiatives were strengthening Romania’s defence capabilities, diversifying Romania’s diplomatic relations, increased support for farmers, promoting energy and food production, and reducing dependency on imports.
From Viva Frei on Rumble
Călin Georgescu’s unexpected success in the first round of the presidential election was attributed to a massive social media campaign on TikTok, which was later scrutinized for possible foreign influence, particularly from Russia. The court’s decision to annul the election results was based on these concerns and allegations of campaign finance irregularities. It is nothing less than the desecration of the democratic process.
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