LyrArc Article Gist
Aaron Tilton of DW.com provides this exceptional report on World AIDS Day 2016, showing that about one percent of the population in Russia could be infected with AIDS, becoming for Russia "an issue of national security." Mr. Pokrovsky, head of Russian federal AIDS center, says that the proportions are reaching an epidemic, and that it may now infect the general population. The campaign to have NGO's registered as foreign agents is cutting off funding from outside and this hurts efforts of private organizations. The government of Russia's attitudes towards AIDS and following the thought of the Russian Orthodox Church with stigma associated with AIDS as a moral failure, is also hurting efforts to tackle the AIDS epidemic among LGBGT community, sex workers and other populations. Only now is the Russian government waking up to tackle this as a national priority with support of prime minister Medvedev, and by backing up the UN 90-90-90 program. That program sets targets for total population- 90% to be diagnosed, 90% treated, 90% viral suppression. Russia has only 250,000 being treated, only one third of the affected population, says this report. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Democrats face an uphill battle to recover lost territory during the Obama presidency. The efforts to promote Trans Pacific Trade Agreement by Obama against the interests of the unions, working class Americans, is one example of the way president Obama had alienated working class Americans. By being too close to Silicon Valley and failing to understand the changes in states with blue collar workers Democrats lost some of the working class base that had always voted Democratic. On social issues the party drifted too far in one direction in appealing to small groups and in the process drifting away from blue collar workers who were Democratic in the past but did not share the same passion for these issues. About 90% of better educated Americans were liberal yet among blue collar workers who had voted Democratic in the 1990's only 60% were liberal in the same way. The changes in America's landscape with the shift of manufacturing centres away from cities such as Pittsburgh to blue collar suburbs stretching from Michigan and Wisconsin to the Carolinas and the Deep South, created a new blue collar worker base that was more aligned with Republicans on social issues such as abortion, LGBT, and gun control. As a result the conservative base of the Republican Party now finds itself aligned with the blue collar worker, while the Democratic Party in places like New York and California is more aligned with the workers in the financial industry and in Silicon Valley. The improving economy gives more room for Republicans even with policies that might not help its new working class base as it strives to meet policy demands from wealthier Americans in the Republican Party.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
A new generation of young people born between 1995 to 2012 get the name iGen. It makes up 24% of the population in the U.S. San Diego State University Prof. Twenge describes this group of young people as open and tolerant but very casual about most things, and not literate in comparison to the Millenials and previous generations of young people. They are tolerant to LGBT and transgender, not church going,  and at the same time can be intolerant of other opinions than their own. One of four students in this group says someone who says something insensitive about race can be fired. This group also does not try to look deeper to obtain a better understanding. Virtual relationships are preferred to social relationships. They tend to spend about 6 hours on technology devices such as smartphones and social media outlets. They interact less and yet do not find time for reading, and read much less than GenX or Millenials, or baby boomers. Twenge says they are less informed about current events and their academic skills lag behind that of Millenials. Not that this is a good place they have found, as the more time they spend on the internet the worse they feel. Making them less happy than other generations of young people before them who had face to face interaction instead of endless hours on social media. The reviewer is skeptical of what is happening here, saying that the use of technology devices in this way has stunted their development in ways one could not imagine possible. Not let them develop the skills of previous generations of young people who did not have these devices and lived a simpler life with face to face interaction. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Many of the towns with manufacturing plants in 1992 have switched sides from Democratic in 1992 to Republican in 2016. This explains Donald Trump's success - he tapped into discontent with Democrats who supported trade agreements such as TPP and did little to take up the cause of workers in areas hit hard by foreign manufacturing and imports. It also explains why Republicans are now favoring protectionism and Democrats supporting free trade, traditionally the opposite was true.   As the U.S. manufacturing workforce diminished in size from 15% of the U.S. workforce in 1992 to 8% in 2017, it shifted from cities with unions to blue collar suburbs. Factories in traditional Democratic places were closed down and these cities ceased to be manufacturing centres. Pittsburgh ceased to be a major manufacturing centre as manufacturing jobs declined by 37000, and service industries increased by 168,000. This resulted in the manufacturing heartland going through Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, through Ohio and the Carolinas and into the deep South. In these places whites without college education took up manufacturing jobs and identified with the Republican party's focus on social issues and abortion restrictions. So big is the shift that labor unions that represented 20% of manufacturing workers in 1992 represented only 9% of workers in 2017, according to economists at Georgia State University. Bill Clinton won 49% of working class counties where workers were at least 25% of the workforce. By 2016 the 860 such counties were down to 320 about two thirds now gone, and Mr. Trump took 95% of these counties. The change is dramatic. Voters that identify Democrat are now from cities, more educated, and less likely to be identified as blue collar. As the economies of these cities has shifted to finance and service industries, these residents have not accomodated the conservative cultural views. and have shifted to embracing more immigration, LGBT, gay rights on social issues. Before there was one mention in the 1992 Democratic platform of LGBT says the Journal, now there is 19 mention of rights for LGBT. Republicans have now shifted from privatizing Social Security, and now support some infrastructure spending. Republican platform now calls for free trade that is fair trade. And this has support from the left and the right. Factory owners and factory workers are united in their opposition to free trade rules that hit American factories. Union leaders say the Democratic Party left us. The Democratic Party gets more support and identifies more with Silicon Valley- Mr. Obama's TPP trade agreement benefitted Silicon Valley more than it did auto plants. The change happened over many years and Mr Trump capitalized on this. ...