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A $355 million fine in the civil fraud trial of Donald Trump.

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Mixed race population in America increased to 31 million or 10% in 2024. At one time in the early twentieth century Irish and Italians were considered "Non-white." With assimilation both were considered white. Asians were not allowed to be US citizens till 1952. Gradually things have changed. America is now grappling with the idea of white and non white in a mixed category because of intermarriage between Latinos, White Europeans, Blacks and Asians. Gender, socioeconomic status, education, culture, are more differentiating factors than just race in 2024.

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Arango takes a look back at the history of Iraq- the 400 years of Ottoman rule and the role of Gertrude Bell in defining Iraq's current borders under British rule. Saddam Hussein, Maliki and Islamic State pitted Sunnis against Shiites and Sunnis against Kurds for the last 40 years, leavig a divided country. The current effort to put Iraq together as a country with different faiths and communities under prime minister Abadi will take many years after so much bloodshed. Northern Ireland shows that it can be done after much pain and loss, when all realize putting the past behind is the only way forward.

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Le Monde France celebrates 80 years 1944-2024.

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The question of identity that looms large over the retirement years is explored from personal experience by Stephen Yoder in the WSJ.

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A Druze community on the Golan Heights split over the conflict with Lebanon and Hezbollah. Elders identify with Syria, young people identify with Israel after studying at Israeli universities. Attacks on a soccer field here led to retaliation by Israel.

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"Our public and democracy needs constructive questioning,” speaking in Irish and English says Catherine Connolly of Ireland after winning by 63% presidential election in Ireland. “Together, we can shape a new republic that values everybody, that values and champions diversity and that takes confidence in our own identity.”

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Turkish identity is changing as Erdogan pushes through changes in Turkey that replace the secular character established by Kemal Ataturk with his own brand of Ottoman identity. Erdogan appeals to the pious Muslims from the lower classes in Turkey who were ignored earlier, and to people who trust him in the middle class for preserving economic gains. By increasing tension with Kurds and other people in society Erdogan has increased the divisions in Turkish society. It is not clear what will take the place of the secular society and the gains made by it in modernization of Turkey now that the whole region is engulfed by conflict, and Turkey also faces a refugee crisis at its borders with Iraq and Syria.

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Syriza party's young leader Alexis Tsipras retains popularity even as Greece accepts the third bailout program from the EU with conditions for pension reform and tax changes. He now says some of the pension reforms were necessary even in the absence of the bailout conditions, saying it is not normal for someone to retire at age 45 or 50. He also says that he is fighting tax evasion so that the rich pay their share of taxes. The mainstream parties have lost confidence because the programs did not ensure a equitable sharing of tax and other measures, and more of the burden falling on the poor. In contrast to Portugal where the tax burden is shared more equitably, more of the burden in Greece has fallen on the poor and less affluent.

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When the BBC talks about "fish" in a novel way as identity it fails to look at the important issues of unemployment, failures in industrialization and modernization, failures in infrastructure building, entrenched corruption that are the main issues in the West Bengal election in 2026, as they were in the elections earlier in Bihar and Orissa states of northeastern India.That the BBC is silent or says nothing about the massive amount of poor quality and unstable unemployment in West Bengal where youth are leaving the state to find employment in the western states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and other states. BBC is silent about the "cut culture" which means a percentage of every financial transaction goes from the public or business to corrupt politicians in government and their associates, destroying any chance of economic progress. BBC along with other media say little about the lack of business investment in the state, and an environment that is not investment friendly, which means industrialization and modernization is falling behind in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa region with a population of close to 300 million people, about half the size of the European Union, located in northeastern India.In this attitude by the media including the BBC in the US and European Union one finds a feeling that is similar to that shown during the evolution of China into a modern state from the conditions of the 1930 with Japanese occupation, corrupt leadership and roadblocks to modernization and industrialization that mattered little to the world outside China and India. ...

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The English Bible in the Texas K-12th grade schools curriculum for children in 2025. Critical for young children is an understanding of how the Christian faith was critical in the struggle against the evil of slavery, and how it was Abraham Lincoln's faith in Christianity that sustained him through the long and difficult struggle to end slavery in the Union, and to preserve the Union. How millions gave up their lives to end the evil of slavery in the Civil War. One passage from the new curriculum for Texas children says- "Even as the use of slave labor grew, opposition to slavery also grew, driven by colonists morally opposed to the practice, often based on their beliefs as Christians." Lyrarc.com has Lincoln's devotional- with parts of the New Testament from a British publisher in the 1840's that show how Lincoln's faith preserved the Union, and created the society in which all men are created equal envisioned by Washington and Jefferson in the 1770's and 1780's, right upto the French Revolution's rallying cry of Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite that was heard in America in 1800. It is strange that it is forgotten that for most of the period from 1600 to the 1950's there was never any doubt for 350 years that the US derived it's unique identity and ideals from it's Christian faith, just as China and India have derived their unique identity and ideals from the Buddhist scriptures and the Bhagavad Gita. The novel idea that the Bhagavad Gita and the Buddha should have the same level of understanding for America's children as Christian faith of countless generations since the settlement of North America from 1600 is hard to grasp. ...

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This article in Zeit Online emphasizes that the deep sense of unease and anxiety about the future among working class white people is behind the shift in American politics. This shift has a lot to do with the basic identity of the U.S., the borders, and  the ability to generate decent jobs at decent wages. The populous states of the midwest in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin helped tilt the outcome to Trump. It is pointed out that this shift is not simply a result of tax breaks for wealthy people and corporations. It goes a lot deeper than that- a growing anxiety about identity, borders and decent wages with decent jobs is what worries non college educated people who make up a larger proportion of voters in some midwestern and eastern states. Democrats also put themselves in an unsustainable position by pushing trade agreements such as TPP as an Obama legacy- even in the face of strong evidence that core working class Democratic voters, unions, and other working class groups had fervently opposed it. It is not that there are fewer liberals today- about 21% in 2012 and the same in 2016. Simply that the anxiety was too high about issues such as borders, identity, and manufacturing jobs that Democrats lost sight of. ...

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The Orthodox Church of Ukraine gives Ukraine its own identity as a nation and people. Here young church members are shown making candles and preparing camouflage nets at a local church in the northwestern part of Ukraine. Use of the Ukrainian language is now popular.

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Senator Patrick Toomey (Pa.) and Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Tex.) are lobbying Republican party members in Congress behind the scenes to accept $300 billion in taxes as the only way to get an agreement on debt reduction in the Supercommittee. This would be part of a plan that addresses entitlements, and changes the tax code to lower rates and reduce tax expenditures by closing deductions and loopholes. This is leading to an intense debate in the Republican party about the wisdom of a purely ideological position on taxes that does not take into account current realities, and risks letting markets take control of the nation's future.

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DW.com looks at the Dutch elections on March 15, 2017, with an increase in support for right wing anti immigration parties. A look at a combination of polls put together by DW.com shows Wilders right wing anti-immigration party having about 15% support, the Freedom and Democracy Party of prime minister Rutte having 16%, and the Labor Party coalition partner having about 9%. The Dutch party system has about 5 parties each having about 10% of the vote including a Green centre left party, and parties with special interest causes. None of the other parties is expected to join Wilders anti-immigration Freedom Party to allow it to form a government, leading to a coalition between a number of parties in parliament or inconclusive result. Wilders still will have moved the debate in the Netherlands towards emphasizing Dutch identity. Dutch prime minister Rutte has called for immigrants not accepting or merging into Dutch culture to leave. A current exhibit at the Rijke National Museum in Amsterdam on the Afrkaaner story in South Africa gives some indication of how Dutch people now view the importance of their identity- scribbled on the walls as part of the exhibit were the large letters "I am Afrikaaner" and the exhibit showed a life size Dutch girl in the Hague wearing a dress in 1904 during the Boer War with a ribbon remembering Afrikaaners interned in British concentration camps. The tone of the exhibit was to show pride in Dutch identity, with a Gallery of Honor for Dutch heroes in the 17th century golden age of Dutch explorers and navy. Even though Netherlands is not expected to leave the EU the new government will likely show a shift towards Dutch identity within EU. ...

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During the war in Ukraine and refugee crisis the CDU and SPD have an identity crisis says this report in NYT, now that the AfD is surging and shows 22% support close to CDU, and above the SPD. Chancellor Scholz and also CDU have not made a convincing case about their policies and for the future of Germany says this report.

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The heat wave in India is hurting agricultural production in India. Production losses for wheat could range from 6% to 10 or 15%. The mango crop is hit hard with losses of about 70% and quadrupling of mango prices. Mangoes are part of the identity of India and mango farmers get a new high from a bumper crop. This year has been bad for farmers in the north in India's mango belt including Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

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Shiller points to a Gallup poll that shows that two thirds of Americans don't see a recovery in two or more years. He cites the economist Samuel Bowles who points to the errors of thinking that a high performing economy can be based on self-interest alone. In these lectures titled "Machiavelli's Mistake" at Yale, Bowles warns that the overuse and abuse of incentives that appeal to individual's self interest only could lead to a collective disorientation. He points to a book "Identity Economics" that carries the same theme. In that book economists George Akerloff of the University of California, Berkeley, and Rachel Kranton of the University of Maryland, show that an economy works well when peple identify with it . Their self-esteem has to be woven into the activities of the society and economy. This describes today's mood where other polls done by Wall Street Journal and NBC in January 2010 show a majority of people do not see a bright future for their children's generation. And it has become hard for ordinary Americans to identify with activities in an economy where individuals are pursuing their self interest regardless of how it benefits the society and the economy as a whole....

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The former president Donald Trump and Rachel Scott of ABC Q&A session turned into controversial remarks about Kamala Harris. About not knowing she was black "until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black." And now she wants to be known as Black."

Former Maryland Governor and candidate for senator from Maryland Larry Hogan says “It’s unacceptable and abhorrent to attack Vice President Harris or anyone’s racial identity. The American people deserve better."