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Hurdles Republicans face in selling the One Big Beautiful Act to voters in 2026 Midterms. Republicans have to find ways to talk to voters about the benefits of the bill.

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See what individual parents say in Australia after social media is removed from children's lives under 16 years. The vast majority of parents are relieved by 2025 removal of social media from 16 year olds in Australia- Guardian collects views of individual parents. The first twelve of 20 views expressed to The Guardian are quite positive with parents and also children relieved. About four are ambivalent or say kids will circumvent the restriction. Only about four question the restriction saying their children get social connections. In all 16 out 20 accept this as a necessary direction in this small audience poll by Guardian.

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Lecornu and Macron operate differently now with Lecornu making the decisions for negotiating with Socialists and putting aside pension reform. After his ouster Lecornu set conditions for his return - to have latitude to make decisions if he was to take the job of PM and to consult with Macron but make decisions to negotiate with socialists, to set aside pension reform, to use Article 49.3 when he thought it would be wise, on and on. Macron to be useful in his last year has agreed. Macron has dropped his Jupiterian presidency says Le Monde in favor of consultation and discussion and letting others make decisions to govern. One should not misread Macron's new style of opposing DJT- it is a way for him to bring all French parties, the movement of Melenchon, the Socialists, and the Le Pen National party, to agree on something, when even passing the Budget was difficult in a frayed political environment. Macron having lost trust and with low popularity, Le Pen and the Melenchon movement at odds every step of the way- an inability to govern. ...

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Nuclear arms control SALT treaties expire Feb 2026 - need for new negotiations as the treaties were obsolete, did not include China, smaller nuclear weapons, and weapons from space. The SALT arms limitation treaty was first signed in 1972 by Brezhnev with Nixon. These treaties went through a second version and were renewed. The US no longer thinks this is relevant as China is not included, and smaller nuclear weapons, ones from space are not included and new negotiations are the best way to conduct true arms limitation. An accompanying video in NYT by David Sanger goes into these aspects of talks. Rafael Gross, head of IEA International Atomic Agency, says- You wouldn’t negotiate the same treaty again. There are new technologies that are not covered by the treaty — hypersonic missiles, undersea nuclear weapons, space weapons. And there are many other countries that, for one reason or another, feel now as if they may need a nuclear arsenal of their own.” This is the reason. It also happens that in 2026 US and Russia could coordinate their efforts, so that new US weapons may be needed as other risks could emerge from other places. There are smaller nuclear powers and new nations that might develop nuclear weapons as the US nuclear umbrella may be seen as not fully dependable. This new thinking would be that US and Russia may not see themselves as adversaries but work together to prevent nuclear risks from other sources. This is also why the US (and Russia) may want to wind down smaller regional conflicts, reduce their reliance on their own alliances, so that nuclear cooperation between nuclear powers US, Russia, China, and India may lead to control of nuclear weapons in a larger sense from space and from smaller countries that might develop nuclear weapons as has happened in Iran, which might create new risks that cannot be managed. A belligerent North Korea could lead to South Korea and Japan developing a nuclear weapon. This is also why the Ukraine conflict has run its course and it is in no one's interest to let the Nordics or Britain continue the conflict. The US, Russia, China, India, Brazil should not let middle or smaller powers continue regional or historical conflicts, and promote settlement through peace talks of such conflicts, as it inevitably leads to damaging the interests of billions of people around the world in peaceful cooperation and tackling challenges that affect the quality of life. ...

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Washington Post Editorial Board on how to bring down oil prices  during Iran War, including repealing Jones Act. The Jones Act says that only US ships can transport oil between US ports. France is sending warships to help escort tankers in the Persian Gulf. US has plans to do this to escort tankers. US can provide 24/7 drone coverage in the Persian Gulf to eliminate waterborne threats says the Post. The Post says it is in the French interest for oil trade to resume, and in America's interest.

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How does a poor nation in Asia respond to the quagmire that is the Middle East? Iran War impact on fuel prices in Pakistan- increase in gasoline prices by 55 rupees per liter, long lines at the gasoline pump,  schools closure for 2 weeks for 40 million children, public employees put on 4 day week and half of public employees put on remote work from home.

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Immigration rulings on questioning by ICE- Kavanuagh ruling and Sotomayor dissent plus later apology. Kavanaugh supported ICE questioning for illegal immigrants in the Supreme Court decision. Sotomayor dissented and said Kavanugh would not understand as his parents never worked by the hour. Kavanugh wrote the Opinion of the Court saying that the questioning was temporary short and if legal the immigrant was free to go about his work.

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For Germany's students and young people the preferred destination in Europe is Austria or Switzerland, and includes Tokyo, seen as cleaner better run and good places to live. A large number of people, about 21% of young Germans 18 years to 29 years would like to go to another country to live. This is shown by a survey "Youth In Germany," or "Jugend in Germany" by Verlag. Slow growth, the polarization of society and rise of AfD, poor job prospects, neglect of infrastructure and public services are given as reasons.

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Maria Machado met US president DJT at the White House for lunch as the two leaders discussed the situation in Venezuela. The US is moving step by step towards long term goals for the benefit of the Venezuelan people. It is acting quickly where necessary and at the same time with confidence in the final goal of making life better for all Venezuelans, aware of how decades of mismanagement and ideologic rhetoric, the failure of the party systems that existed before the entry of Chavez in 1992 and 1998 three decades back, created the wrecked national economy of today with exorbitant inflation and a fourth of the population to leave the country. Looking back (on Britannica.com) one sees in its history a century of conflicts and chaos between conservatives, liberals, and the military, from 1850 to the 1950's. Only a 50 year period of relative quiet and democracy ending with mismanagement and corruption separates that period from today, showing how difficult a situation the US and DJT face in turning Venezuela around after centuries of Spanish colonial rule till the French revolution. For this reason alone the US takes one step at a time towards the long term benefit of the Venezuelan people knowing the nature of the task and the Monroe Doctrine's overall goal for the western hemisphere. ...

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Some estimates of the cost of the Iran War for the US are about $13 billion over 10 days of the war. US president DJT asks Congress for $200 billion to finance the war. Iran refuses to back down on the closing of the Straits of Hormuz. Much of the oil going through the Straits of Hormuz goes to Asia, 90% from Kharg Island in Iran goes to China. Oil from the UAE goes through the Straits to Japan and India.

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The US, Belgium and Italy oppose use of Russian assets in Belgium of $200 billion as collateral for loans to Ukraine. Ukraine is facing budget shortfall of $135 billion for the next 2 years 2026-2027. TheUk supports it use, and Germany and France are leaning in this direction with the EU's Leyen. US intention is to do this so that a peace settlement can be reached to end the war in Ukraine. Lack of trust between Western Europe and Russia threatens a breakdown in the efforts of the US for peaceful end to the war, leading instead of a settlement to increase in defense and armed forces of Germany and France at this point in December 2025.

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Changes for US and Asia, EU, to ponder on are happening in Swedish schools. It is back to books in Sweden as digital learning has not worked well so far and reading has suffered in some ways dismally. At younger ages books are better for reading and comprehension than screens. "We're trying, actually, to get rid of screens as much as possible," says the Education Minister. The government uses a slogan "från skärm till pärm,  in Swedish this translates to "from screen to binder". Later in 2026 a ban on mobiles in schools even for educational use goes into effect. Digital acts as a distraction and lessens concentration say teachers. Sweden scores on PISA tests have gone down since 2012. A new curriculum based on books goes into effect in 2028 and 157 million euros will be used for new books in schools. "Reading real books and writing on real paper, and counting with real numbers on real paper, is much better if you want kids to get the knowledge they need," say Swedish education experts consulted for the changes. This is a sea change other nations need to consider doing. ...

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Pulling back from the surge in both ICE agents patrolling Minneapolis streets and protestors going to the streets in a confrontation Border head Homan says this was not the right way of going about law enforcement. Homan said “I do not want to hear that everything that’s been done here is perfect." Instead of street sweep patrols by Border Patrol agents Border head Homan says after meeting with Atty Gen. Ellison of Minnesota, ICE will get people charged with crimes from the jails. In earlier remarks by Kristi Noem, Homeland Security Secretary, she had mentioned that Minnesota state and local authorites were not cooperating and releasing people from the jails to the streets making ICE job more difficult. The Minnesota local authorites now agreed to cooperation with federal immigration authorites for better law enforcement. Minnesota is unique because the governor of the state and mayor are Democrats, and governor Walz was the VP candidate of Kamala Harris for Democrats, with a certain amount of belligerant opposition in that state to DJT and Homan. The lack of cooperation and the antipathy between the federal and local officials carried over, and more and more Border Patrol and immigration personnel were sent to the state reaching 3000. Compared to other Democrat states or cities- California and Tennessee, Washington DC, where initially there was criticism in the state of ICE Minnesota turned out to be different. The president was critical of the way Somali immigrants were settled in the state and the reported fraud for state benefits. The presence of ICE and Border Patrol under Bovino on Minneapolis streets led to more protests and confrontation. The DJT administration and Congress, other states are learning from this experience. ...

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German digital decline-only 20% of Dusseldorf administrative public services are online, Berlin much less than Dusseldorf, other cities in Germany lag behind. Denmark is way ahead of Germany with all public and administrative services shown on one site for every citizen of Denmark. In Germany there is institutional inflation in that each city does digital development separate from others, and there is no national system. It may have come from Germany's disinclination to centralize things in the political system after the Nazi period of the 1930's destroyed liberties, which extends into the social sphere. In any case fax machines are common in Germany, and are needed to correspond with public services of city and state. Germany's IT industry association Bitkom tells DW in this report that 77% of German companies still use fax machines, and 25% use fax machines frequently.

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Two women one from Pennsylvania and one from Washington state, one Republican and one Democrat. Opinions did not change. A businessman from Pennsylvania who gave the DJT State of the Union address to Congress an A. Two minority voters, blacks from Georgia call it racist or dictatorial. A small business owner, a Democrat from Dominican Republic, from Pennsylvania calls it offensive to immigrants by describing only the worst of immigrants or migrants. Does not appear to be a good enough sample spread out over the Nation, an unrepresentative with 3 from racial minorities or 43% of sample.

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Most of the Address followed a familiar pathabout the economy, about the reasons for the Iran war being the nuclear threat most of all, and the way the president has sought to tackle the threat of ballistic missiles that could soon reach US and Europe. It was an update one month into the war with Iran. One part of it showed a focus on keeping the war short compared to other conflicts and limiting US losses by being very careful on that point. DJT cited the wars of the past 1 year 7 months for WW1, 3 years and 8 months for WWII, Korean War 3 years and 1 month, that soon stretched on for decades in the conflicts that followed. Vietnam 18 years, Iraq 8 years- wars that dragged on and led to US losing its economic position as the strongest nation economically. This one with limited goals nuclear threat removal and ballistic missile removal as the key goals on for 32 days, and right from the start clearly setting what US would not do and do- not take on role of opening Straits of Hormuz and asking China, Britain, countries that get the oil from Hormuz to take this on as China and Japan get 90% of their oil imports from Hormuz Straits. US is self sufficient and does not need that oil from Hormuz. It was the message to the MAGA base that does not want this war to become like the ones carried on for 8 years by Bush and Obama in Iraq which they clearly reject- the bigger goal is the US economy and reindustrialization not the deindustrialization that happened under  Bush and Obama destroying the US industrial base while fighting wars in remote places.  It was also meant to counter the idea of a president not conscious of responsibilities for limiting the duration of the conflict by removing goals such as opening Hormuz Straits which would involve the US in something it does not need and is the job of other nations who need that oil like China, Japan, Britain and India. ...

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New York City faces a $2 billion deficit in current fiscal year in 2026 and $10 billion the following year. This means there is less funding for new Mayor Mamdani's programs for groceries/transport for New Yorkers. Mamdani was elected by people in the hope that he could find ways for struggling New Yorkers to handle the cost of living crisis in 2026. New programs Mamdani promised were free bus service with costs annually (cost 0.8 billion), new rent stabilized units (annual cost $7 billion),  universal child care (annual cost $ 6 billion). A state corporate tax hike could generate $5 billion and a millionaires tax $4 billion, not enough for $13.8 billion cost for these services. The other problem is the way the city has handled its finances- this report shows declining projections for expenditures under former mayor Adams for public assistance, rental assistance, and MTA subsidies items which one would expect to go up in a large city the size of New York with new immigrants.The report says the shortfalls were met by using funds meant for the next year. Already Mamdani is not able to expand the state voucher program for residents facing eviction because of these budget constraints. This is the pattern in New York of making new promises not funded on the revenue side. Mamdani promised smaller class sizes but did not show where the funding for extra teachers would come from. For New Yorkers this adds a bit of realism to the idea that a new Mayor and new promises is the answer to its problems. Only about two thirds of its budget comes from its revenues the rest from federal and state funding which means an overall solution firing on all fronts, with federal and local cooperation, private investment, good governance, foreign investment, is needed to tackle the problems of major cities like New York. ...

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140 kms walk by Dame Mullally from St Paul's to Canterbury, Kent UK.

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India European Union Trade Agreement of 2026- game changer in world trade reconfiguring supply channels with 2 billion people market. EU's Leyen says she is determined to push ahead and make this the defining trade arrangement of this century. That the EU will deliver. For India it gives a reliable partner for modernization of its logistics, its infrastructure, and its industrialization, India's modernization in a rapid way. Similar to what China gained over 2 decades with its trading relationship with the EU, even surpassing that because of newer technologies in 2025-2050. It is a relationship based on two cultures and two civilizations, on respect for European and Buddhist/Vedic civilization for each other, totally different from the Imperial Japan of the 1930's that overran China, and the CCP in China ambitions for China Dreams based on belligerent action or support for belligerent action as in Ukraine. Leyen goes as far as citing Romain Rolland, a western philosopher of Indian civilization in the concluding point in her speech. In fact the first translation of the Bhagavad Gita was done by Charles Wilkins in 1765 taking it out of the hands of the Brahmins in Varanasi similar to how William Tyndale translated the New testament into English from Greek in 1534.  The Bhagavad Gita was then translated by German philosopher Frederick Schlegel into German from Sanskrit, spreading learning of Asian languages throughout Europe. India owes a lot to Europe and Europe to India, for two civilizations that speak the same human language of spiritual aspirations. ...

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Shabana Mahmood UK Home Secretary  says -UK "will do whatever it takes to secure our borders," as the Labour Party seeks to meet the challenge from UK Reform Party. Across Europe, in the Netherlands, Italy, France, Germany and UK public opinion is shifting for a tight immigration system. Shabana Mahmood plans to adopt some aspects of Denmark's tight immigration system for UK. Labour MP's in the Red Wall and in places in the Midlands and northern England see this as action needed to prevent UK Reform from winning in this region of England. This has one problem in that Labour has taken too much time to arrive at this point when opinion on illegal immigrants has shifted for many years starting in Denmark. Even Wilders movement in Netherlands is now three years old and DJT's in the US is in its second term going back to 2016 and in a new phase in 2025. One could say that patience is wearing thin among the people in Europe and the US with all forms of illegal immigration whether across the Rio Grande or across the English Channel or across the Mediterranean to Greece and Italy, or across Hungarian border to Germany.  ...