• CONFLICTING BUT INTERESTING RESEARCH ON SENIORS’ MEMORY: Most research on ‘aging’ suggests that “mental powers change with age in different ways – some declining while others improve, at least for a time, with arithmetical, comprehension and vocabulary skills improving until age 50. However, for tasks involving short-term memory (remembering things immediately after presentation) and working memory (remembering them half an hour later), it is downhill from the age of 20 or so.”  [ECONOMIST 1/13/24]     However, in one key category, two five-year research studies on over 2,400 seniors through age 90 found that “regular sexual activity keeps the brain from aging. In addition to boosting cardiovascular health/ strengthening immune function/ reducing anxiety/ alleviating stress & depression, the release of dopamine during sex also preserves cognition and episodic memory (by as much as earning a college degree).” Who knew?  [PSYCHOLOGY TODAY 1/17/24]
  •  “THE LEFT IS CREATING HISTORIC ANTI-DEMOCRATIC PRECEDENTS…apparently convinced that ‘democracy’ cannot be trusted, and so itself must be sacrificed as the price of destroying the possible return of President Trump. The Democrat current agenda is summed up as ‘by any means necessary, we had to destroy democracy in order to save it.’ This paranoia has been outsourced to state and local officials, attempting to, by declaration, take away the rights of, so far, some seven million Americans to vote for the president of their choice – four leftist prosecutors arbitrarily ‘indicting’ Trump and petitioning courts to accelerate the usually lethargic legal process to stifle his campaigning, supported by four liberal judges and overwhelmingly liberal jury pools, with several State courts pushing the limits (even despite U.S. Supreme Court overcalls)… The Left privately knows that its historically unprecedented strangulation of democracy is increasing Trump’s popularity, but, like an addict, cannot quit its Trump Fix.”  [VICTOR DAVIS HANSON – 1/12/24]
  • BUT REALITY TODAY IS THAT THE BIGGEST FEAR ON BOTH ENDS OF THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM is “not so much that ‘democracy’ might be overthrown this year, rather that some Populist parties might get themselves elected” and disrupt the true power & control of the Elites. Populism is dictionary-defined as ‘political ideas & activities that are intended to get the support of ordinary people by giving them what they want’ – a threat to those currently in charge (irrespective of which political team got them into bureaucratic position), for decision-making at various levels. “Like every Elite in history, our technocratic betters believe they are infinitely more rational, informed and qualified than the great unwashed to decide which course our societies should chart. The great irony is that the supposed experts have been getting it wrong for decades and the elites have completely lost their minds – embracing all manner of poisonous quasi-religious faiths from gender ideology to woke anti-racism to eco-austerity.” [SPIKED – 1/13/24]
  •  MEANWHILE, U.S. ELECTION INTEGRITY IS SERIOUSLY AT RISK. Apart from the increasing mis- and dis-information, outright lying from politicians & bureaucrats at all levels, and government manipulation of candidate & voter eligibility, our actual voting process provides no real Election Integrity. Congressional hearings, latest surveys & studies (by multiple media & organizations), dozens of Court-nullified election results across the country, and multiple criminal convictions for fraudulent activities confirm that recent years’ elections, and particularly 2020, were in no way ‘secure.’ Fraudulent balloting arose largely from unverified mail-in ballots, but also from ballots by non-residents, using names of deceased, and/or by allowing “friend, family member, political party or organizations who offered pay or reward” to cast another’s vote. Up to four-in-ten of thousands polled believe the last election results were illegitimate. https://twitter.com/EpochTimes/status/1746179040200069408
  •  THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: A short history of rock & roll:  https://biggeekdad.com/2012/07/a-short-history-of-rock-n-roll/

What a surprise!! A study by researchers at Amazon Web Services AI Lab found over 57% of all sentences on the internet have been “translated to lower-resource languages, in a ploy to garner clickbait-driven ad revenue – another warning sign of generative AI’s existential threat to the web’s usability.”

 Not to be outdone by Progressive Left California’s ‘gender affirming care’ law which allows courts to override parental disagreement in custody battles, legislators in Maine are now considering a bill that “would give authorities the right to take custody away from parents who oppose hormone blockers or transgender surgery, regardless of the laws in their state of residence… Lifelong sterilization and surgical mutilation would be available in Maine to kids over 16 who are (1) diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria and (2) ‘declare’ their parent to be aware but refusing to support transgender treatment.” Critics are describing the bill as ‘State-Sanctioned Kidnapping’ and ‘Transgender Trafficking.’

The 2024 election is already shaping other countries’ respect for and responses to current U.S. foreign policy.  https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/trump-already-reshaping-geopolitics