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Warnings about the decline in reading comprehension in the US shown by 30 years of NAEP testing, all the way down the graphs show.  About 70 percent of American children in 4th grade cannot reach Reading Proficient level of the National Association of Education Performance Tests for 2024. The problem is the lack of rich content based education as standard in all American schools says E.D. Hirsch. It is also about getting children excited about reading, and giving them opportunities to use their imagination. This promotes lifelong learning the key to better reading. This way children seek out new books from libraries, from friends, mentors, from the internet and from online stores. Once this happens it takes place on its own. Interaction with adults adds another dimension to the reading. Lyrarc's Movement for Global Literacy is about rebuilding reading comprehension in the US. This is behind every aspect of educational activity, reading is fundamental to all educational activity.  It is also fundamental to nation building, never more important than today with the fragmentation in cultures and ethnic fragmentation being allowed to happen as core fundamentals were ignored, and hard earned experience neglected by adopting newfangled theory since the 1950's that has failed us. ...

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Democrats win a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and lose 2 Congressional elections in Florida with smaller margins in April 2025. It revives spirits of Democrats following a loss in the November 2024 elections.

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After a civil war with 3.5 million displaced people Burma is hit by an earthquake. Pictures of the earthquake are shown in the BBC News.

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Senator Grassley of Iowa is chairman of the US Senate Judiciary Committee. He is introducing a bill called the Judicial Relief Clarification Act to limit the role of lower courts in issuing TRO's temporary restraining orders as universal injunctions and make them immediately appealable. A flurry of lower court decisions have created confusion about executive actions in 2025.

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In 2024 US inflation was 2.9%. The problem in 2025 that elected DJT was immigration and borders, and the deindustrialization that has taken place over three decades in the US, first with Japanese trading practices and now with Chinese trading practices and state capitalism. The deindustrialization created the supply shock during the pandemic. It also has destroyed American manufacturing and factory jobs and communities in the US, shattering the middle class. This requires an Amendment to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 to set a goal of reindustrialization as part of the Fed's mandate.  The 1970's were a period of high inflation that led to US central bank the Fed under Paul Volcker making an effort under president Carter to tackle inflation. It was 6.7% in 1977 in the first year of the Carter administration rising to 13.5% in 1980 when Carter was defeated in one term. This is why the 1977 Amendment to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 stressed the goal of price stability and maximum employment as goals for the Fed. The Fed Reserve Act of 1913 did not state the goals as it was designed to setup a central bank for the US under Woodrow Wilson and it focused on setting the institution of the central bank the Federal Reserve, its regional banking structure and the governors, their terms of office.  ...

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The First 100 Days of DJT show the president and the administration acting quickly on many fronts risking a chaotic appearance as the courts limit actions  and the administration scrambles with its next response. The president and the administration are moving quickly because they see a short two year window to get things done. And see the tradeoff between making some errors but getting things done which were supported by voters in November 2024 vs leaving a lot undone if one or two houses of Congress changes hands. 

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DJT economic adviser Peter Navarro says German and South Korean companies will be the one's that will have to raise prices as these companies  VW, BMW and Benz, Hyundai and Kia, make most of their cars imported to the US in Mexican or German plants. American companies make 60 to 80% of their cars in the US already and will shift production here with little or no increase in prices. US International Trade Commission did a study in 2024 about a 25% import tariff and it shows a 5% increase. WSJ shows other studies at 10% but this includes prices of luxury brands that are less sensitive to price changes such as BMW, Benz and Audi cars.

"The reason why we will not see inflation is because foreigners are going to eat most of it, they have to," he said, adding that the US "is the biggest market in the world." - Peter Navarro

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Shawn Fain of the United Autoworkers union in the US says NAFTA and the USMCA that replaced it continued to create incentives for outshoring jobs and manufacturing from the US to Mexico and Canada. It also undercut wages of American workers. Speaking on CBS Face the Nation, March 30, 2025, Fain described the situation and his support of 25% tariff on auto imports into the US, which USITC study shows increasing auto prices by 5%, in this way- "Now that Wall Street's upset about it, it's an issue. Where was Wall Street when- when all these manufacturing facilities have been leaving the country in the last 30 years? You know, interestingly enough, you know, automotive companies in the last three years, 2019- 2019 to 2023, they jacked up the price of vehicles 35% to 40% over that time frame. (compared to 5% with this tariff). Not because of anything that happened, not because wages went up. It was just flat out price gouging to consumer and corporate greed. Where was the outcry then? They don't have to raise the price of vehicles a penny with these tariffs. It's a decision that the companies are making, and that lays straight in the hands of the- of the companies." "Mexican workers, they're not the enemy. They've been exploited for decades. You know, another promise of NAFTA was that it was going to raise the standard for everybody. The realization of that is the wages in America and the wages in Mexico were cut in half over the- over the last 30 years as a result of NAFTA. So it's driving a race to the bottom, and that's not going to work for anybody." ...

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UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper's efforts to cut the boat arrivals of illegal migrants to the UK. 

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UAW's Shawn Fain's support of US 25% auto tariffs April 2, 2025. Fain says-“We applaud the Trump administration for stepping up to end the free trade disaster that has devastated working class communities for decades.” US president Biden supported the UAW, even standing in a picket line to support UAW negotiate a contract for fair wages for workers with the three US automakers, Ford, GM and Stellantis. For decades workers in the US faced the threat of outshoring to Mexico to reduce wages. This action on tariffs will increase depressed wages for American workers in the same way that president Biden's action helped negotiate better wages. In this sense both Biden and DJT are on the same track. In fact president Biden 2020-2024 decided to keep most of the tariffs put up by president Trump in 2016-2020. It is likely that a future Democratic administration will continue DJT tariff policies to achieve domestic goals such as fair wages for American workers, and for rebuilding American manufacturing in the way president Biden has done. This is in fact one of the singular achievements of the Biden administration for building the working class and middle class neglected by Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations. On this issue both Biden, Trump and any future US president will be on the same page, because it is about fair trade, to even the playing field, and is right by American workers and American values. History will show that this required courage and persistence on the part of Biden and DJT, and was done not on whim as is falsely portrayed but on the advice of people who had the experience, wisdom and sought the best for America such as Robert Lighthizer ,the US Trade Representative in 2016-2020 and his deputy Jamieson who is the USTR in 2025. Lighthizer is notable because he handled the unfair trade with the Japanese in the 1980's as Deputy USTR under Reagan, and knows fair trade and how to get it to build a strong American economy. ...

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Germany is going through a second year of slight economic contraction. The newly elected government of chancellor Merz has setup a $1 trillion fund to invest in infrastructure and defense. This will increase the debt to GDP ratio from 62% much lower than other advanced economies to 75%, and could give the German economy a rebound with $500 billion for fixing aging infrastructure. Germany's unemployment rate stands at 6.3% in March 2025. The economy weathered a energy crisis with the cutoff of energy supplies from Russia during the term of chancellor Scholz. Infrastructure, child care, was neglected under Merkel and previous administrations as it was in the US under Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations. The 2009 financial crisis, the eurozone debt crisis and the pandemic, Ukraine crisis from 2009 to 2024 have provided headwinds for action to renew Germany till now. A $1 trillion new fund and removal of the constitutional brake under the newly elected parliamentary majority of the CSU/CDU, the SPD and the Greens is the first step with $500 billion earmarked for fixing aging infrastructure, digitization of the economy, and other investment. The unemployment situation is deteriorating in the auto industry which was poorly managed and is now being hit with US tariffs of 25% on imported cars made by BMW, Mercedes and VW. ...

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A six storey Arts Centre in the heart of Paris that arouses one's curiosity will close for renovation for 5 years in 2025. It is named after French president Pompidou who followed De Gaulle as president.

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Earthquake in the middle of a civil war devastating Burma. A series of blunders made by politicians and well meaning westerners, and the failures of geopolitical competition that lead to the civil war after a recent restoration of democracy for a few years.