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Looks like #Trump is trying to follow #Putin's playbook! More white babies! To hell with everyone else!

Russia Is in Demographic Free Fall. Putin Isn’t Helping.

The Russian president is enacting one of the world’s most extreme natalism programs—and one of the weirdest.

By Anna Nemtsova, April 29, 2025

"Russia was in demographic decline long before the war in Ukraine. Now it’s in free fall.

Since 2022, hundreds of thousands of Russians have died or suffered critical injuries in Ukraine. The result: According to one demographer, Russians may have had fewer children from January to March 2025 than in any three-month period over the past 200 years. As of 2023, the country’s fertility rate—1.4 births per woman—lies well below replacement level and amounts to a roughly 20 percent drop compared with 2015. In some regions, births fell that much in just 12 months. Last year, deaths outpaced births by more than half a million.

This crisis has led to one of the world’s most extreme natalism campaigns—and one of the weirdest. President Vladimir Putin has commanded his government to “stimulate” Russian women to have at least three children, and to make sure they get pregnant when they’re young. To that end, the Ministry of Education has been discussing ways to create “conditions for romantic relations” in schools. Last month, Moscow’s Department of Health displayed giant pink banners around the city asking women, How’s it going? Still haven’t given birth?

If this is supposed to make them want to procreate, it doesn’t seem to be working—at least not for Larisa, a 21-year-old university student who was incredulous when she saw the sign on her way to campus. Even though her parents cover the cost of her car and apartment, she told me, “I have enough money to pay just for my food. Forget three babies.” Indeed, the Kremlin’s own polling has shown that almost 40 percent of Russian women of childbearing age say they won’t have kids in the next five years because of financial concerns.

Most of Larisa’s friends are like her: women in their early 20s who came to Moscow to study and start their career. That’s precisely the path that Russian leaders are trying to discourage. Irina Filatova, a member of Parliament, recently warned that young women’s ideas about “self-development” are a threat to Russia’s “traditional family values.” But if they insist on going to college, then at least they should find a husband there, so they “can give birth at age 18 or 19,” another female legislator suggested last year.

To assuage concerns about the cost of having kids, authorities in the Oryol region recently began offering pregnant students $1,200. Daria Yakovleva, a women’s-rights activist, told me that such programs may lead girls to think of childbearing as a ticket to economic security, even though having children in Russia often entrenches poverty. Svetlana Gannushkina witnesses these financial burdens firsthand. A human-rights advocate who served on Russia’s Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, Gannushkina helps low-income families that are unable to provide for their children. She doesn’t see government handouts as a solution. “Paying girls money for pregnancies is a strange approach,” Gannushkina told me.

“Authorities should be forcing men to feel responsible, first of all, but so far, all we hear is demands for women—what women should not do or should do.”
One of Gannushkina’s clients, Takhmina, is pregnant with her eighth child, and her husband makes less than $800 a month. Gannushkina told me that the state was supposed to send them financial aid but has withheld it since a right-wing mob attacked Takhmina’s family online because they’re ethnically Tajik. Evidently, Gannushkina said, “she is not the kind of pregnant woman they want.”"

Read more:
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/04/russia-putin-demography-children/682637/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/mGso7

#TrumpIsPutinsPuppet #TrumpIsAFascist #ChristoFascism #HandmaidsTale #ProBirth #WhiteNationalism

Russia Is in Demographic Free Fall. Putin Isn’t Helping.

The Russian president is enacting one of the world’s most extreme natalism programs—and one of the weirdest.

The Atlantic

Only one thing is going to stand in Trump's way — and he knows it | Opinion

by Thom Hartmann, April 28, 2025

"It didn’t happen in some shadowy back alley or under the cover of night.

"It happened in broad daylight — in the heart of an American courthouse.

"Federal agents, acting without even the decency of a signed warrant, stormed into Judge #HannahDugan’s courtroom on Friday morning and dragged her away like a common criminal. No warning. No legal process. No respect for the law she had spent a lifetime upholding.

"But they made sure the cameras were there, so America could see what they were doing. Because this was not about justice. This was about terror.

"This was a warning shot aimed directly at the beating heart of America’s judiciary: 'Fall in line — or you’re next.'

"In that moment, the world’s oldest democracy lurched closer to the edge of #AuthoritarianRule. In that moment, America became a little less free — and a lot more like the nightmare #VladimirPutin always hoped we’d become.

"The FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan last Friday without even having a legal arrest #warrant; this is as outrageous and #PoliceState illegal as an administration can get.

"And #PamBondi’s performance Friday — after her federal agents swarm-raided this county judge — wasn’t staged for the general public.

"The real audience was a very small, select group: America’s judges.

"Their message is very simple: 'P--- us off, judges, and you could end up in prison, too.'

"Trump has already pacified the Article I branch of government — Congress — and now he’s in the process of pacifying the Article III branch, the Judiciary.

"There are only 3 branches to our government: cowing both Congress and the nation’s Judiciary will leave only the president in charge of the entire country under all circumstances in all ways.

"Nothing and nobody else will be able to stop him, short of a military coup (and he’s already decapitated the senior leadership of the military) or unending demonstrations in the streets (demonstrators who may soon face live ammunition).

"That is called dictatorship. Real dictatorship. Vladimir Putin-style dictatorship where you are punished for the smallest deviation from orthodoxy and can find yourself in #prison or sued into #bankruptcy if you dare speak out in public.

"It appears more and more every day that #Putin is Trump’s mentor, if not his handler. Trump is doing everything he can, with help from a South African billionaire, to destroy the historic American infrastructure (which has been an example for the world for 250 years) and turn us into the newest member of the #dictators club, joining Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Hungary, North Korea, and the rest of the #fascist and #authoritarian world.

"To get there, now that they’ve pacified every single Republican member of Congress (most recently, Don Bacon criticized Trump’s schizophrenic tariffs; a day later he started talking about retiring), they only have to seize control of the Judiciary, and then nothing except We The People will stand in their way.

"Nothing. Will. Stand. In. Trump’s. Way. Except We The People. And he knows it.

"Look at the striking parallels between Putin’s strategies and Trump’s actions:

"From installing Trump’s loyalists in the military and the federal police agencies of the Department of Justice and FBI, to his open threats against freedom of the press, to the GOP’s efforts to rig elections and purge voters, Trump’s subversion of US democracy looks eerily familiar.

"He’s taking pages directly from the autocrat’s handbook.

"Trump has openly quoted and praised autocrats like Putin and Hungarian strongman #ViktorOrbán, who has presented his leadership in speeches to the GOP and CPAC as a model of an '#illiberal' state.

"Trump’s not hiding his admiration for dictators; he’s flaunting it. And now he’s putting the final stages of their script into action.

"Trump’s movement toward authoritarianism follows 'a known playbook. It’s unfolded in many other countries,' as journalist Anne Applebaum notes. 'These are democratically elected leaders who characterize themselves or describe themselves as deserving of no opposition. So I am the true Hungarian, or I am the only real American.'

"In a mere matter of weeks into his presidency, Applebaum says, Trump and his allies “have managed to push America into that space somewhere between (no longer) democracy and full-scale autocracy.”

"The speed is shocking, but it shouldn’t be surprising. It only took #Hitler #53Days to completely end democracy in Germany. Others, like Lukashenko, Orbán, Putin, Mussolini, Duterte, El-Sisi, and Erdoğan took longer (none longer than two years), but you could argue that Trump has been working at this project for 9 years now."

Read more:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/only-one-thing-is-going-to-stand-in-trump-s-way-and-he-knows-it-opinion/ar-AA1DMg7z?ocid=winp2fptaskbarent&cvid=49790001a22c4193dcd61f5b6b4b4c74&ei=22

#Fascism #TrumpIsABully #USPol #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#ResistAuthoritarianism

MSN

"Stawp! I'm going down in the polls! How could I know that people like Zelinskyy over Putin?" smh

#Trump urges Putin to 'STOP!' after deadly attack on #Kyiv

By Aamer Madhani

https://apnews.com/article/trump-putin-russia-ukraine-war-kyiv-fb61625d2dee8b1917bb3522e73c2166

#CeasefireNow #RussiaOut #FreeUkraine #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet #FascistsOfAFeather

Trump urges Putin to 'STOP!' after deadly attack on Kyiv

President Donald Trump has offered rare criticism of Vladimir Putin, urging the Russian president to “STOP!” after a deadly barrage of attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. Trump said in a social media post on Thursday that “I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying.” Trump also said, “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!” Trump’s criticism of Putin is notable because Trump has repeatedly said Russia, the aggressor in the conflict, is more willing than Ukraine to get a deal done.

AP News

#Whistleblower Blames Musk’s #DOGE Goons for ‘Significant #CybersecurityBreach

Story by Liam Archacki

"In his disclosure, Berulis said he became concerned when he saw peculiar spikes in data leaving the agency after DOGE staffers—who insisted that their actions not be tracked in the system—gained access. He also observed suspicious log-in attempts from an IP address in #Russia using DOGE’s new accounts."

Read more:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/whistleblower-blames-musk-s-doge-goons-for-significant-cybersecurity-breach/ar-AA1CZePi?ocid=winp2fptaskbarent&cvid=c3e03a3856a14471fab083981fe0f577&ei=8

#TrumpIsPutinsPuppet #USPol #WorldPol #RussiaPol #SVR #GRU #UsefulIdiots #DOGEBoys #ElonIsATraitor

MSN

Marco Rubio's hunt for "#AntiChristian bias" is creeping #theocracy

In a new war on federal workers, State Department employees are told to snitch on people with #Pride flags

By Amanda Marcotte
Published April 15, 2025 6:00AM (EDT)

Excerpt: "Unsurprisingly, a deeper read of the cable shows that 'anti-Christian bias' is the cover story propped up to justify Rubio's actual assault on freedom of religion at State. He's giving Christian nationalists at the agency a tool to harass and even Rpurge people who don't share their #FarRight beliefs. The definitions of 'anti-Christian bias' throughout add up to outrage that conservative Christians are expected to treat people who believe differently with fairness and decency.

"For instance, the memo asks for reports of 'mistreatment for opposing displays of flags, banners or other paraphernalia,' specifically during Joe Biden's administration. It doesn't take a doctorate in bureaucratese to interpret this. Rubio is seeking stories where conservative Christians were told to mind their own business after objecting to a colleague putting up a #PrideFlag, a #BlackLivesMatter sign or perhaps a religious knickknack from a #NonChristian faith. This might be more comprehensible if, say, any Christians had being told they couldn't wear a cross or have a picture of Jesus on their desk. Instead, what Rubio is suggesting is that Christians have [the right to] prevent other people from having the freedom to express views and positions they dislike — and that it amounts to 'bias' if they can't control what others do or say. "

Read more:
https://www.salon.com/2025/04/15/marco-rubios-hunt-for-anti-christmas-bias-is-creeping-theocracy/

#ChristianNationalism #USPol #ChristoFascism #ChurchAndState #AntiGBLTQ #CharacteristicsOfFascism #HeritageFoundation #Project2025 #ChristianCoalition #MoralityPolice #HumanRightsViolations #GBLTQErasure #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet #TrumpRegime

Marco Rubio sets up a State Department snitch line for "anti-Christmas bias"

Rubio wages new war on federal workers who reject theocracy

Salon.com

#Maine takes #Trump administration to court in first lawsuit over #TitleIX dispute

The lawsuit, filed Monday by Attorney General Aaron Frey, challenges the U.S. Department of Agriculture's decision to halt federal funds over Maine's policy regarding #TransgenderAthletes.

April 7, 2025

"Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration Monday challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to withhold federal funds over Maine’s policy allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls high school sports.
Frey’s office said funds withheld by the administration are used to feed children in schools, child care centers and after-school programming, as well as disabled adults in congregate settings.

"It is the first lawsuit to result from the Trump administration’s actions targeting Maine over trans athletes.

"'Under the banner of keeping children safe, the Trump administration is illegally withholding grant funds that go to keeping children fed,' Frey said in a written statement. 'This is just another example where no law or consequence appears to restrain the administration as it seeks capitulation to its lawlessness. The President and his cabinet secretaries do not make the law and they are not above the law, and this action is necessary to remind the President that Maine will not be bullied into violating the law.'"

Read more:
https://www.pressherald.com/2025/04/07/maine-ag-sues-trump-administration-over-title-ix-funding-freeze/

Archived version:
https://archive.md/5pQdU
#MaineResists #SeeYouInCourt #JanetMills #ProtectTransYouth #ProtectTransKids #TransgenderRights #Resistance #TrumpIsABully #USPol #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet

Maine sues Trump administration in 1st case involving Title IX dispute

The lawsuit, filed Monday by Attorney General Aaron Frey, challenges the USDA decision to halt federal funds because Maine allows transgender athletes to compete in girls sports.

Press Herald

Hmmmm... 🤔 White House Official Explains Why #Russia Isn't On Donald #Trump's New Tariffs List

#Cuba, #NorthKorea and #Belarus are also absent.

By Lee Moran
Apr 3, 2025, 04:34 AM EDT
Updated Apr 3, 2025

"The absence of Russia on the president's new list of countries that he'll hit with steep tariffs did not go unnoticed on social media. Critics were quick to accuse Trump of kowtowing to Russian President Vladimir #Putin, whom Trump has for years expressed his admiration of."

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/russia-absent-trump-tariff-list_n_67ee412be4b00a8085e3f3b6
#TrumpIsPutinsPuppet #USPol #WorldPol
#Magog = #MAGA ?

White House Official Explains Why Russia Isn't On Donald Trump's New Tariffs List

Cuba, North Korea and Belarus are also absent.

HuffPost
@gleick Um, not that crazy. I've been saying that #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet for a while now.
@wdlindsy I was wondering about that. More evidence that #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet !