Posts

FEATURED POST THIS MONTH

GUIDE TO SEPTEMBER 2026 POSTS

  POPULATION PROJECTIONS / IMMIGRATION Revision of World and US Population Projections             World Population Prospects 2024 The estimated likelihood that the world’s population will peak within the current century is very high (with a probability of 80 per cent); this varies sharply from the 2013 projections which said there was only a 30 per cent chance. This is already coming about. In 63 countries and areas – containing 28 per cent of the world’s population in 2024 – the size of the population peaked before 2024. In 48 countries and areas, representing 10 per cent of the world’s population in 2024, the population size is projected to peak between 2025 and 2054.  In the remaining 126 countries and areas, the population is likely to continue growing through 2054, potentially reaching a peak later in the century or beyond 2100.  I mmigration is projected to be the main driver of population growth in 52 countries and areas through ...

Presidents & Mid-Term Elections (STATISTA)

Image
  Presidents Party Up Against Poor Odds in Mid-term Election by Katharina Buchholz, Sep 2, 2026 The Republican Party is controlling the House, the Senate and the presidency at the moment, but the midterm elections coming up at in November have the power to change this Status Quo. Congressional and presidential approval are near all-time lows as the Trump administration's wars are proving unpopular, but the party is also up against a historical precedent at the same time: The president’s party rarely does well in the midterms. As seen in data by The American Presidency Project, there are only two presidents of the modern age who could expand their party’s showing in both chambers in the midterms or at least not lose ground: Bill Clinton during his second term and George W. Bush during his first, when he managed to flip the Senate in his favor while holding on to the House just one year after 9/11. Against these few success stories stands a long line of defeats. President Donald Tr...

Fox News Continues to Lose Viewers (STATISTA)

Image
  Fox News Continues to Lose Viewers by Katharina Buchholz,  Oct 7, 2026 Fox News launched in the U.S. 30 years ago, on October 7, 1996. The channel founded by Rupert Murdoch is considered a prime example of the rise of explicitly partisan news outlets in American television. Statista Consumer Insights data shows that the channel, now and then, appeals primarily to a right-wing conservative audience. This editorial stance has made it the most successful cable news channel in the US, according to Nielsen figures published by Adweek, but some of that shine is now fading. As of 2026, Fox News still reaches an average of just over two million viewers during prime time (8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.). This puts the channel well ahead of competitors MSNBC and CNN. However, Fox News saw its reach dwindle continuously from reaching more than 2.7 million prime time viewers just two years ago. While competitors also lost viewers as linear TV is losing importance in general, both MSNBC and CNN...

U.S. Party Affiliation: Countercyclical Tendencies (STATISTA)

Image
  U.S. Party Affiliation: Countercyclical Tendencies by Katharina Buchholz, Oct 7, 2026 The midterms are a time when Americans usually let out their frustration with the party in power and the 2026 installment of the U.S. Congressional elections are no exception. They are even seeing a more extreme case of this phenomenon, as in 2026 so far, an average of 49 percent of Americans said they identified as Democrats or leaned towards the party, while only 39 percent said this about the Republican Party. This is according to surveys by Gallup. In 2024, the year of the last U.S. election and last year of presidency of Democrat Joe Biden, a slim majority of U.S. respondents surveyed said they favored Republicans. 2022, the year of the last midterms, saw a similar scenario. The change is more pronounced during Trump's first term in office, when 47-48 percent said they favored Democrats or leaned towards them in the midterms and prior to Trump's unsuccessful reelection bid vs. 41-43 pe...

Democratic Party Affiliation Reaches Decade High (STATISTA)

Image
  Democratic Party Affiliation Reaches Decade High by Katharina Buchholz, Oct 7, 2026 Ahead of the midterms, affiliation with the Democratic Party in the U.S. has risen to levels last seen in Q1 of 2009, the start of the presidency of Barack Obama. This is according to Gallup. In Q3 of 2026, 50 percent of respondents to surveys by the polling company said they identified as a Democrat or leaned towards supporting the party. Only 39 percent said this about the Republican Party . In Q1 of 2009, this gap had stood at 13 percentage points . Meanwhile, President Trump’s average approval rating stood at just 41 percent in the year so far, also according to Gallup. The midterms are typically a time when Americans voice their frustrations with the party in power and 2026 is shaping up to be no different. On the contrary, the decade-high in identification with Democrats might hint at an even bigger disadvantage than the president’s party usually already has in the midterms. At the same time...

Can Catholic Voters Tip the Midterms? COMMONWEAL

  Heidi Schlumpf is Commonweal’s senior correspondent.  Can Catholic Voters Tip the Midterms?  A fter decades of campaigns to convince Catholics that the GOP is the only party for religious voters, the 2024 election seemed to confirm that to be Catholic in the United States is to be Republican. No longer was the Catholic vote evenly split, with any slight advantage helping to determine the winner—a reality that had led E. J. Dionne Jr. to quip a quarter-century ago: “There is no ‘Catholic vote.’ And yet, it matters.” Instead, by 2024, white Catholics were starting to resemble white Evangelical voters, with nearly two-thirds of white, weekly Mass-attenders opting for Trump. He even made significant inroads among Hispanic Catholic voters.  But while a majority of white Evangelicals continue to support the president, Catholic confidence in Trump has been tanking. Even before Trump started insulting Pope Leo this spring, support for his job as president had declined amon...

Prophetic Leadership: @Servant Leadership (Greenleaf)

WARNING: WORK IN PROGRESS September Guide     Population/Immigration     The Young Elderly (60-74) Middle Elderly (75-84) Very Elderly (85+) October Guide     Prophetic Leadership     Spiritual Leadership     Apostolic Leadership     Voluntary Leadership November Guide     Spirituality: Four Cultures     Merton: Seeds of Contemplation     Leisure the Basis of Culture     Commonweal as a Journal of Spirituality     Religious Orders and Spirituality December Guide     Nine Lessons and Canticles for Childermas     Spirituality of the Children January Guide     Capital: the Accumulation of Labor February Guide     Time Our Most Precious Resource March Guide     Bible (Evangelization)     Agranomic University Life Style  April Guide     Volunteerism (Friendship) May Guide     Health: Therapy   ...

CANNING

Image
  COLD PACKED TOMATOS FOOD PANTRY CARTON

The People of God (Vatican II)

  9. At all times and in every race God has given welcome to whosoever fears Him and does what is right.(85) God, however, does not make men holy and save them merely as individuals, without bond or link between one another. Rather has it pleased Him to bring men together as one people, a people which acknowledges Him in truth and serves Him in holiness. He therefore chose the race of Israel as a people unto Himself. With it He set up a covenant . Step by step He taught and prepared this people, making known in its history both Himself and the decree of His will and making it holy unto Himself. All these things, however, were done by way of preparation and as a figure of that new and perfect covenant, which was to be ratified in Christ, and of that fuller revelation which was to be given through the Word of God Himself made flesh.  "Behold the days shall come saith the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel, and with the house of Judah . . . I will giv...

The People of God in Lake County

In December 2024, Bishop Malesic of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland published a pastoral letter on the internet.  It’s simply a letter about how we can draw closer to Christ, and there is no controversy in that,” Bishop Malesic said. “Let’s just pray 15 minutes a day; join a small group; invite your Catholic neighbors and friends together to have a cup of coffee and talk about ‘Why are you Catholic?’; ‘How can you become a disciple of Jesus?’ I think these are the basic things.” -from a media interview of the bishop A Flourishing Apostolic Church ============================ The bishop asks each Catholic of the Diocese to do five simple things: 1. Study and Discuss the Pastoral Letter "I invite every Catholic in the Diocese of Cleveland to read this pastoral letter in its entirety, as I have written it with each of you in mind. Make notes and underline your copy of the letter; Consider reading it more than just once. then, meet with some other Catholics who have read this letter...