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Rural America has the same percentage of Americans that are prone to fringe views as urban America about 27%, the rest are simply trying to find ways to meet severe health, educational, lack of investment in rural areas by government, and cost of living challenges, that other communities have, says Nicholas Jacobs, professor of Colby College. He knows rural America as he shows in his new book -The Politics of Place and the Disuniting of America. Jacobs lives in rural Maine and has both studied reams of data and himself lives in a rural area. Here is the truth he says- Rural America is suffering from chronic health conditions, health worker and hospital shortages, limited employment opportunities and infrastructure deficits, rural schools suffering from funding gaps and teacher shortages. Similar to urban, yes, yet even worse, and need understanding not recrimination. What JFK rightly called, a policy "to lift all boats," from his speech in Arkansas, saying rural Arkansas was as much the Nation, as Massachusetts. He warns Americans to be careful what they listen to about rural America in talk shows or in books written to get audiences from one segment of the population or the other, with gross mischaracterizations of Rural America and its so called rage, with condescending views about people simply struggling to make sense of all the change some of it for the worse going on around them- in this period of Beaverbrook television or internet media. Beaverbook television is after a press baron in the last century in Britain who saw it fit to take advantage of crises of any sort to sell tons of newspapers for a profit, along the way promoting any bias that he had regardless of whether it was proven right or wrong. At one point UK press barons including Beaverbrook, controlled 13 million circulation the most in the world in 1947. Today instead of newsprint it is in book, television, social media or the internet video formats. This can concoct narratives of people that do not exist by using polls that are inadequate, and superficial understanding, with no effort to look for credible answers to difficult questions, and no effort to look for solutions that "lifts all boats," in America and in the World. ...

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Mr. Modi tells the Summit for Democracy convened by president Biden- "We must jointly shape global norms for emerging technologies like social media and crypto-currencies, so that they are used to empower democracies, not undermine it."Mr. Modi refereed to need for continuous improvement -"There is much we can learn from each other, We all need to constantly improve our democratic practices and systems. And we all need to continuously enhance inclusion, transparency, human dignity, responsive grievance redressal and decentralisation of power."  In India the need to provide benefits to the struggling working classes, farmers and rural households so that democracy works for them is one of Mr. Modi's themes, as is the idea of "dignity" and "respect" for working class people and families that new SPD chancellor Olaf Scholz put forward in his campaign for Germany. For this to happen he told the virtual summit-  "Democracy is not only of the people, by the people, for the people, but also with the people, within the people." Within the people he said is about democracy becoming a part of the culture of the country. This happens with the concerted effort of many generations. In India this effort started under the British with Dadabhai Naoroji elected to the British parliament as a Liberal and continued into the 1910 period with 1 million people given the vote in India, and into the 1930's with 5 million, leading to the elections in the 1950's under Nehru and Sardar Patel with woman having the right to vote, and to today's 900 million large voter base. A lot of the work was done under Mohandas Gandhi and the leaders around him such as Govind Vallabh Pant and Ambedkar, with respect for the rule of law, for rights of citizens, and parliamentary institutions, and learning from the British system of democracy even after feeling the effects of colonial rule, looking for the best in all nations. Gandhi's genius lies in his willingness to take British ideals as a starting point and start building from that, leading to Clement Atlee's decision to withdraw and help setup the basis for the first Constituent Assembly to write India's Constitution by 1950. ...

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The Russian position for a ceasefire in Ukraine and peace talks is set forth by president Putin. "Our principled position is that state of Ukraine must be neutral, non aligned and free of nuclear weapons." Putin wants Ukraine to give up Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, Russian speaking regions in the east of Ukraine. Capitals of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and some of the territory is controlled by Ukraine today. It means that Russia could accept a ceasefire under the present lines of control. It also means Ukraine would not be part of NATO, though it could be part of the European Union, as a peace settlement. All western sanctions on Russia would have to be lifted. Throughout the decade of this war Russia has maintained close connections to the Russian speaking eastern part of Ukraine with historically close ties to Russia and as Ukraine public opinion shifted to the EU Russia began its efforts to bring these regions under its control even when German-Russian relations were better during Merkel years. Russia has the support of China and Brazil in its position. At some point if a settlement is reached one possibility is that the line of actual control or LAC would be put in place. It happened in the Korean War, when the demilitarized zone was setup and in other conflicts on the Indian border with China and Pakistan, in Cyprus between Greece and Turkey. For it to happen Russia will have to dispel fears in the EU and the US that Russia will continue the conflict at some later stage till all its objectives are achieved. This requires removing the perception that Putin is set on achieving all his objectives to reopen the war at some later stage. Mr. Putin hinted at this by saying "today we are making a concrete real peace proposal," and adding that Russia was not ''talking about freezing the conflict, but its final resolution." In this situation it is the western doubt about Putin's intentions that is another barrier to a settlement on European security, with continued destruction in Ukraine when the war has entered a stalemate where both sides have exhausted their resources and have little to gain by prolonging this conflict. ...

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Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand have redefined citizenship so that it is along blood lines, and not birthright citizenship. The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution was passed by Congress in 1866 and ratified by the States in 1868. It uses the words-"All persons born or naturalised in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction therof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."  The US Supreme Court will have to interpret this language and intent of the Amendment whether they intended it to apply to children of unauthorized migrants coming illegally into the country. At the time it was passed after the Civil War it was intended to emancipate freed black slaves and give children of freed slaves citizenship and rights. Congress, the States and the Supreme Court will have to consider whether the situation intended to be addressed in 14th Amendment was slavery and not the refugees and economic driven illegal migrants flowing in at the rate of 1-2 million a year as happened in 2021-2023. The Supreme Court in its Wong Kim Ark decision in 1898 supported the 14th Amendment at a time when illegal entry into the US was a tiny fraction of what it is today.   The 14th Amendment included under Section 4 on Debt the words- "Neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void." The 14th Amendment was  in its intent designed to complete the work of the Civil War to free black slaves and give them the rights of citizenship. The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution Section 1 says- "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." ...

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Jack Draper of Britain joins the ranks of inspiring British sports athletes such as Brayshaw of the British women's Olympic rowing team who had suffered injuries in an accident to come back for the gold medal. Draper after suffering hip pain flareup and much preparation, hard work, gets to the finals of the Indian Wells Open to bean Rune of Denmark. Draper had no sign of nerves throughout his game. He had struggled in pre-season with flareups of hip pain. “I felt like I deserve it, in all honesty. The amount of adversity I’ve been through, the amount of sacrifices and time all the people around me have put in and the hard work, it’s an emotional feeling to know how much you’ve gone through and put in. To be here now and say I’m going to be No 7 in the world, honestly I can’t tell you how much that means to me.” Draper acknowledged the efforts of his team in a picture shown here in The Times. About his own effort Draper says- “I wasn’t expecting this. I put in a lot of work over time. I am just so grateful and so happy to be out there and able to play with my body feeling healthy and my mind feeling great. Just all the work I have done in the last few years, it feels like it is coming together on the big stage." In 2022 a new player 19 year old Carlos Alacaraz of Spain burst into the top ten by winning the US Open over 23 year old Casper Ruud of Norway. In 2025  23 year old Jack Draper of Britain beat Alcaraz and 21 year old Rune of Denmark to win the finals 6-2, 6-2 of the Indian Wells US tennis championship. There is now a generational shift in tennis. And not just men's tennis. The women's tennis final was won by 17 year old Mira Andreeva of Russia after losing the first set to Sabalenka 6-1, she maintained composure after a toilet break to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. ...

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Baked goods salty snacks and other ultraprocessed foods made up 55% of calories of all Americans in 2021-2023. 62% for children and adolescents, says CDC in 2025. It is an astonishing figure and shows the neglect of health nutrition by business and previous administrations in the US, in an alarming and dangerous way. RFK Jr. at Health and Human Services department, and Rollins at Agriculture department, have made it their life's mission to get America healthy again. And fight the battles, conduct the policy changes that have to be made to do this. Education of the public and making healthy choices available and affordable, are a big part of the challenge today. Individual states such as Iowa and West Virginia, Texas and Florida are already taking it up at the state level in a concerted effort.

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This is an exceptionally humorous operating room story of Dr. Trump and Dr. McConnell by Kristof of the NYT. Sometimes humor tells the story- and Kristof does this using a story of a surgeon president Trump in the operating Room trying to address the concerns of the patient Janet, as he keeps telling her she needs a new heart with great benefits, great benefits, before she implodes or goes down failing. Flat out take the old heart out even if a replacement hasn't been found, believe me great benefits the surgeon tells her, just that the patient just isn't getting convinced as its happening to her. The analogy is with replacing a health care plan, not just the Obama plan, any plan without something to take its place. For a few days before this article by Kristof, the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act without having a replacement was presented as a good idea. Janet is like the three Republican women- Collins of Maine, Capito of West Virginia, and Murkowski of Alaska who wanted to keep the heart they had till a replacement was found, against the surgeon Trump's advice. In a way it is about politicians in the last decade who never had any discussions as they rushed through with their own agendas, as the Republican and Democratic health care plans were rushed through Congress with relatively little participation and debate to hear all viewpoints. ...

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On over 50,000 square feet of space this MIT Museum on scientific endeavours in different fields of inquiry brings together scientific projects and artifacts from MIT's past. It poses many fascinating questions to the visitor says WSJ. It is moved to a new 3 storey space within MIT's campus. Here we come across the realization that accidental situations can lead to new discoveries, that it is all about asking questions as education is about exploration. Four major galleries include Essential MIT, Gene Cultures, AI: Mind the Gap and MIT Collects.

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Hints left in this report by Catie Edmondson and Luke Broadwater in the NYT that there is another route to passing the raising debt ceiling legislation in Congress. This is by the rather delicate route that brings together the moderates of both parties and leaves a win win for both sides with nothing that president Biden considers burdensome to ordinary Americans Biden seeks to defend. It means progressive Democrats and extreme Republicans would vote against it and it passes Congress. All sides can say they did the right thing as they go into the 2024 elections.

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Swedish word lagom means just the right amount, and it is deeply rooted in the Swedish culture, says a decluttering expert cited here in this report on how to clean up. Anything that you haven't used for a long time, set it aside, give it away, keep only the important things. Its called death cleaning here but it is more than that, just keep life simple, don't accumulate, and it makes it easier to enjoy life. All the clutter only comes in the way, more of a hindrance to living.

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Shraddha Pandey, Indian civil servant offers these thoughts to young women and men joining the Indian Administrative Service, IAS, now that women form 34% of the candidates who have passed the UPSC exams. The top four candidates are also women. This includes thoughts on showing one's soft and intelligent side which is the real source of strength in life, maternity leave acceptance similar to how an educational or other activity requires a short absence,  participation in chores by all genders at home that make it easier for women, and shared child care that create a healthy home.

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Indian Finance Minister Sitharaman on the need for the G-20 to set regulation for cryptocurrency. "Crypto currency involves a lot of technology, it's 99% technology. We are talking to all the countries to setup a standard operating procedure that will be effective while following a regulatory framework. It's under discussion with G-20 nations." India's central bank RBI head Shantikanta Das says simply "cryptocurrencies don't have any underlying value." He has cautioned repeatedly not to let these assets grow as they could cause another financial crisis.

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Democrats are feeling hopeful that they can keep control of the Senate after passing the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. This gives Democrats something to show Americans that tackles issues of inflation, climate change, fair taxation, healthcare access. In addition the Democrats have passed bills on building America's advanced technology industries with the semiconductor bill, earlier infrastructure bill in 2021, and a bill to help veterans. By not supporting the Inflation Reduction Act with all 50 Republican votes in the Senate voting against it Republicans are now less hopeful of winning the Senate.

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Asia's longest bidirectional tunnel is between Ganderbal district in Kashmir and Kargil district of Ladakh in India's Himalayan region at a height of 11,500 feet for 14.2 kilometres. Indian Express shows pictures of work on the tunnel which will cut time across the mountains from 3 hours to 20 minutes and connects Leh in Ladakh with Srinagar in J&K providing all weather connectivity. It will be completed months ahead of completion date of 2026. As part of the project 19 tunnels are being constructed at a cost of $3.5 billion.

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Kristine Tompkins donates 1 million acres, the Chilean government donates 9 million acres, together this is being used to create 5 national parks and expand 3 in Chile. Since 1994 she and Mr. Tompkins a founder of North Face, who made $150 million from selling his apparel company Espirit, have accumulated land in Argentina and Chile as part of a passion for conservation. Tompkins died in a kayaking accident and Ms. Tompkins has decided to give it all away in national parks. Their story is part of a new documentary "Wild Life," by Chin and Vasarhelyi.

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A look back at the Merkel 16 years in Germany and the European Union, the compromises to keep the Social Democrats out and her party the CDU in power, the failures in preserving social mobility in German society, immigration that led to divisions in German society, and climate change where she took some faltering steps. Only in the end did Merkel put all her convictions behind Scholz and the effort to bring trillions of euros of aid to Germany and the European Union devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. This may be her singular achievement.

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The US has a history of vaccination mandates, going back to the Revolutionary War under George Washington when all soldiers in 1777 were required to be vaccinated and Boston required the population to be vaccinated in 1809 for smallpox. Vaccine mandates were adopted during the measles, and diphtheria vaccination campaigns, and for other diseases. It is only through the mandates that these diseases were controlled. The coronavirus is no different as states and cities across the US take up mandated vaccination to avoid taking any risks with the fast spreading Delta variant.

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NYT reporters look at the details in the Biden $1 trillion infrastructure spending bill passed in the U.S. Senate. For the first time in decades Congress and the president take a serious approach to investing in America's infrastructure. It covers investments in modernizing and improving  rail, broadband, nuclear, roads and bridges, with additional investments in environmental protection, and renewable energy. It does not give president Biden all that he has asked for and was achieved through compromise between Democrats and Republicans in Congress who agree that big infrastructure investment is needed to upgrade old infrastructure.

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President Biden and Russian president Putin held a two hour virtual meeting on December 7, to discuss Ukraine. Biden stated that the US would take action to support defense arrangements in Ukraine, Poland, Romania, and other Eastern European countries, if Russia invaded Ukraine. He urged Russia to return to diplomatic talks to settle differences over Ukraine. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan described the virtual meeting in this way- "There was a lot of give and take. No finger wagging. But the president was crystal clear about where the United States stands on all of these issues." 

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One bright spot even as the war in Ukraine continues is the recovery in Ukraine food exports. Ukraine's Food ministry says the exports of foodgrains from Ukraine reached 6.9 million metric tons in September 2022 compared to 7.1 million metric tons in September 2021 before the war. This shows how vital are the shipping lanes and agreements to keep shipping safe on the Black Sea ports as they are a lifeline for Turkey, Egypt and many countries in Africa. It also takes out some of the pressure on food prices all over the world.

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Mr. Alter's "His Very Best," shows Jimmy Carter much more than a one term president, a president who brought compassion, decency and transparency to the presidency. Here a critical care physician describes Jimmy Carter's decision for "hospice" care and what it means to spend the last months not just a few days in the company of family at home. Carter had foresight to put solar panels on the White House, and started initiatives in housing and health, and maintained an active healthy lifestyle that is a role model for all Americans.

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Burning of stubble from the rice harvest to clear land for the next year's cultivation in the Punjab creates 25% of the pollution over New Delhi. Automobile pollution adds more pollutants. This toxic mix of pollutants is trapped by the cooler air during the winter over much of northern India. At one point the pollution index reached 643 in New Delhi, by comparison it was hard to breather with an index of 116 from the wildfires in Canada's northern region that sent smoke all the way into Washington D.C. 

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The Trump real estate assets in New York and the real estate business are at risk in the civil case in New York about inflated asset values and loans, says this report in The Guardian. Judge Ergoron is handling this case and this is not a jury trial. This report in The Guardian asks, did Mr. Trump have the goods, citing a line in his 1987 book, "The Art of the Deal." It says after all the press, the hyperbole, the promotion and the excitement, if one cannot deliver the goods, people finally catch on to what is happening.

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Almost all countries have lower commissions for real estate sales. In the US about 3-4 houses are sold over a lifetime. At 6% commission this amounts to a cost of 25% of the sale price of these homes. This adds to the cost of living for American people and reduces their savings for investment in quality of food, education, health and leisure activities. By comparison in the UK it is 1.3%, in Netherlands 2%, in China 2.5%. In most countries only 33% of sales are done by buyer agents in the US 89%, in the UK less than 5%.

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Jurgen Klopp takes Liverpool to a 4-0 win over Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final of 2019. With 2 key players out from injuries, for Liverpool it was all about the mind and its approach to the game with a mentality to go out there and do whatever was needed. It strained credulity. In 7 minutes it was 1-0. In less than an hour it was 3-0. Without Firmino and Salah, two of their best players, it was disbelief at Anfield. Messi and Suarez tried for Barcelona, but it made no difference.