We all know people moved during the pandemic; with a newfound ability to work from anywhere, many migrated to the Sunbelt. Between April 2020 and July 2023, Census Bureau data shows the population in the South rose by nearly four million people.

But the real story, according to a Bank of America research note released Monday, is what’s happening in the West. “While this rise is sometimes discussed in the context of the pandemic, in many ways it is not new ‘news’—the South’s share of U.S. population has been rising for a long time,” the bank said. “The real story, arguably, is the decline in the share of population of the West…its share of overall U.S. population has flattened, and now appears to be falling.”

For the first time since World War II, the share of Americans living in the West has fallen. Bank of America’s data reveals population growth across major metropolitan areas in the West is declining compared to the prior year, with Las Vegas being the exception. “The fall in population growth in the West is more of a Pacific story,” the bank said—with a chart showing declines in population growth across San Diego, Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, with the latter two cities leading the declines.

But why are people giving up on the West Coast, and maybe even their dreams of living in California? It’s simple: housing costs. “We believe relative housing affordability remains a key part of the story,” the bank said. Major metropolitan areas with higher median mortgage payments have experienced negative population growth or, at best, weakly positive growth annually, according to Bank of America. “Looking at the [metropolitan statistical areas] in the Pacific states in the West, they all tend to have higher-than-average mortgage payments relative to the U.S,” the bank said. “By contrast, in the southern Mountain states, mortgage payments are lower than the U.S. average, so outward migration is potentially a reaction to housing costs.”

San Francisco and Los Angeles experienced the largest population losses, while San Antonio and Austin saw some of the biggest increases. In terms of housing costs, it’s not difficult to understand why that is. The average home value in Los Angeles is $918,087; in San Francisco, it’s $1,216,087. Meanwhile, the average home value in Austin is $527,205. In San Antonio, it’s just $251,545, per Zillow. Let’s do the math: The monthly mortgage payment on, let’s say, a million-dollar home after putting 20% down at a 7% 30-year fixed mortgage rate (not including taxes and insurance) would be around $5,300.

That’s a lot more than what you’d typically pay living in San Antonio or Austin. The relationship between migration and housing costs is not perfect: Phoenix’s population, for instance, fell slightly over the last year, despite the fact the city does not have relatively high mortgage payments. But the metropolitan population is up substantially compared to the first quarter of 2020, which suggests “relative housing costs do exercise some ‘gravitational pull’ on population flows, even if shorter-term factors also make an impact.”

Over time, Bank of America expects domestic migration flows across the country “to lead to some ironing-out in relative housing costs” among the metropolitan areas losing residents. The bank believes it’s likely those regions would see reduced pressure on home prices and rents, which would eventually equate to cheaper housing costs—although, that’s in comparison to areas currently seeing spikes in their population growth. “Interestingly, our data also shows a relatively high proportion of higher-income households in the outflow of people from [metropolitan statistical areas] in the West to the South, which could boost demand for housing in southern [metropolitan statistical areas] by more than a straightforward count of the people leaving would suggest,” the bank said. “Likewise, the West may find demand for housing weakening more if higher-income households are leaving.”

More than 40% of people leaving the West for the South had incomes above $125,000, and over 10% had incomes above $250,000. Even so, the bank’s data found that a higher proportion of those leaving the West are one-person households.

It’s mostly single-person households leaving Los Angeles and San Francisco. So if we assume they’re flexible to changes in the economy, they might return eventually. “Overall, as the pandemic itself fades as an influence, whether the internal migration flows we have observed in Bank of America internal data will continue or ease is an open question,” the bank said. “While current patterns may seem entrenched, over time, we think relative housing cost adjustment is likely to have an impact.”

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Virtually every presidential election over the past forty years has been described by one of the candidates or by either left-wing or right-wing pundits as being the most crucial since (fill in the date). However, in light of the Marxist radicalization of the Democrat Party over the past sixteen years, 2024 is evolving into being the most crucial election cycle since 1860 as the future of this nation as founded precariously hangs in the balance.

Considering the factors that contributed to the debacles that were the 2020 presidential and the 2022 midterm elections combined with the Republican Party’s seemingly never-ending incompetence, inability to turn out the vote, and lack of determination to combat voter fraud and manipulation, it is very likely that the Democrats could run the table in 2024.

If the Democrats controlled the White House, the Senate by either a 50-50 or 51-49 margin, and the House by four or six seats for another four years what would be the political, economic, and societal portrait of this nation on January 20, 2029? Over the past half-century, the federal judiciary has increasingly assumed the role of being the last line of defense in upholding the Constitution and the delineated rights of every American.

Thus, the Democrats have been singularly focused on transforming the federal judiciary. That resolve has culminated in both Obama and Biden appointing radical left-wing judges during their twelve years in office. The unabashed lawfare directed at Donald Trump is a manifestation of their increasing success. There are 667 District Court judges in 94 districts who resolve disputes and conduct trials. Currently, there are 339 serving judges who were appointed by Democrat presidents. There are currently 58 vacancies of which at least two-thirds or more will be filled by Biden and the Democrats before the end of the year.

Therefore, by January of 2025 there will be at least 380 serving judges (or 57%) appointed by the Democrats. Based on historical averages, the 2024 newly elected Democrat president and Democrat-ontrolled Senate will appoint upwards of 160-170 judges over the next four years, bringing the total number to 545 or 82% of all District Court judge appointed by the radical left Democrat Party. The only check on the District Court judges are the Circuit Courts of Appeal and ultimately the Supreme Court.

Currently there are 83 out of 179 serving Circuit Court judges appointed by Democrats and four vacancies which will be filled this year totaling 87 or 49% of all judges. Historically, a president during their term will appoint 30-35 Circuit Court judges, thus by 2029 there could be upwards of 122 judges appointed by the Marxist left or nearly 70%.

The two oldest Supreme Court justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, will be 80 and 78 years old respectively by 2028. Thus, opening up the distinct possibility of the Democrats appointing multiple replacements. In which case the Supreme Court will, along with the District and Circuits Courts, make a dramatic turn to the radical left. These potential appointments would be the final nail in the transformation of the United States into a one-party socialist oligarchy as it would be a virtual impossibility to achieve the decade of Republican control of the White House and Senate necessary to reverse this dominance. Consequently, there will be no recourse for the American citizenry.

No one, who does not acquiesce to the dictates of Democrat Party regime, will receive equitable treatment in the courts and no action by the administration will ultimately be declared illegal or unconstitutional. By 2029 the weaponization and radicalization of the judiciary may will be a fait accompli. Since Biden’s inauguration, over 10 million illegal immigrants have descended upon the United States. 2024 is on pace for another two million bringing the four-year total to over 12 million.

Added to the 22+ million illegals already in the country, over 10% of the American population will be here illegally absorbing untold billions of dollars in benefits and welfare while depriving American citizens of jobs and wealth creation. This process will continue unabated during the next Democrat administration as upwards of another 12 million will be granted unrestricted access. By 2029 there could be as many as 50 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

A population larger than Spain and 164 other countries throughout the world. Over the next four years, a mass amnesty bill will be passed and touted as being the only solution to this crisis. Within the amnesty bill will be an accelerated path to citizenship. A dependable Democrat voting bloc will be created as the nation begins to fracture and balkanize. By the end of 2028, the Democrats, in a de facto alliance with a transforming judiciary, will embed de facto government censorship under the guise of controlling disinformation or threats to the nation.

The Second Amendment will again come under attack and will, in all likelihood, be dramatically rewritten. Religious freedom will continue to be progressively restricted as will the right of parents to raise their children as they see fit. Racial, tribal, and cultural animosity will increasingly engulf the nation as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will become the underpinning of laws, regulations, and executive orders. The religion of “climate change” and its attendant “green agenda” will dominate government spending and economic policy, thus, dramatically undermining the economy and standard of living of virtually every American.

The current national debt is a staggering $34 Trillion dollars. With less than 5% of the world’s population, the United States accounts for 37% of global public debt. By the end of this year the debt will approach $36 Trillion. Another four years of Democrat domination and, thus, uncontrolled spending will add a further $10-12 Trillion to the debt. Taxes will be significantly increased, and tax enforcement massively ramped up placing a massive drag on the economy. The nation will experience four years of stagnant growth and the Democrats will scramble to avoid a massive recession by unrestrained government spending and de facto money printing.

These actions will result in never-ending inflation and ongoing and accelerated decline in the standard of living as state, local, and federal government spending will consume half of the annual GDP (up from 37% today). By 2029, the nation will be teetering on the precipice of a depression. It is highly likely that if the Democrats control the Senate they will modify the filibuster rule in order to pass a bill effectively nationalizing all elections.

Mass mail-in voting, ballot harvesting, same day registration, and no requirement for identification or proof of citizenship will assure Democrat dominance for the foreseeable future. A similar bill was passed by a Democrat-controlled House in 2021. Lastly, the world will be a far more dangerous place by January of 2029 because of American obeisance to Communist China, indifference toward Iran, and de facto animosity directed at Israel. America will continue to effectively underwrite China’s ambitions by persisting in its reliance on unfettered trade with China, thus, effectively granting them a free hand in their pursuit of global hegemony which will include a takeover of Taiwan.

A nuclear-armed Iran will inexorably increase its belligerency toward the Sunni nations of the Middle East as well as Israel in their all-consuming determination to establish a new caliphate. Israel will be forcibly coerced by the United States into accepting a variation of a two-state solution which will evolve into a new outpost for Iran and its terrorist proxies.

The Middle East will become the tinderbox that was the Balkans in pre-WW I Europe with the same inevitable outcome including the potential destruction of the state of Israel. There are those, including many American Thinker readers, who will dismiss all the above as being hyperbolic or an exercise in sensationalism colored by my experience as a survivor and casualty of WW II and its aftermath. Far too many Americans fail to recognize the existential threat the Marxist-dominated Democrat Party is to America, despite having experienced the radicalism and divisiveness of the Obama administration as well as the ongoing national catastrophe that is the Biden Administration.

The Democrat Party is the ideological successor to those in the 20th century whose single-minded quest for power deprived untold millions of life and liberty in countries around the globe. John Adams in a letter to his wife, Abigail, wrote: “Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.” However, as the 20th century underscored, once lost, Liberty can be regained, but only through unfathomable violence. Only by soundly defeating the Democrats in November can this potential eventuality be avoided.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various author’s articles on this Opinion piece or elsewhere online or in the newspaper where we have articles with the header “COLUMN/EDITORIAL & OPINION” do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints or official policies of the Publisher, Editor, Reporters or anybody else in the Staff of the Hemet and San Jacinto Chronicle Newspaper.

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I was recently asked if there was a defining moment that dramatically accelerated and perhaps made permanent the chaos this nation is presently facing. My answer: the two weeks between March 16 and March 30, 2020.

On March 16th, Donald Trump declared a National Emergency for COVID-19 and effectively shut down the nation for “15 days to slow the spread”. At a press conference announcing the temporary shutdown he said: “With several weeks of focused action, we can turn the corner, and turn it quickly.” Regardless of the severity, never throughout the annals of mankind has a nation been shut down to combat a pandemic.

However, the politically compromised and dishonest medical advisors to Trump (including Drs. Fauci and Birx) advised him to declare a National Emergency and agree to a shutdown and social distancing by pointing to the supposed success of China’s choreographed lockdowns.

Soon thereafter, Trump allied with Mitch McConnell and the Democrats to structure an unprecedented economic relief package which was passed by Congress on March 27, 2020. Trump signed the $2.2 Trillion Coronavirus relief bill or the CARES Act on the same day.

This was the largest single spending bill in human history and equivalent to the annual Gross Domestic Product of Russia. Within the voluminous CARES Act was $400 million to the states to legitimize, promote, and underwrite mass mail-in voting and by default, ballot harvesting.

By including this spending in the relief package, both political parties and the White House gave their stamp of approval for mass mail-in voting and the inevitable attendant abuse and manipulation. The announced initial 15 days to slow the spread of COVID-19 days became 45 days as Donald Trump, on March 30, 2020, reluctantly extended the de facto national shutdown for an additional 30 days after acquiescing to the so-called public health experts in the government. Once that extension was announced, Trump lost control of events and it became impossible for him to reverse course.

He was mercilessly mocked whenever he talked about ending the lockdowns toward the end of the 45-day period as the legacy media and the Democrats were incessantly fearmongering and the federal medical bureaucracy was deliberately inflating the infection and fatality numbers.

This cabal was secure in the knowledge that the measures outlined by Trump and the White House Covid Task Force would sink the economy and open the door to mass mail-in voting and voter fraud. Which would also be the catalyst to defeat Trump in the general election.

Accordingly, the political opposition and legacy media unrelentingly wallowed in alarmism and championed draconian lockdowns, masking and social distancing while also promoting mass mail-in voting. Thus, the extension issued on March 30th inevitably led to long-term lockdowns, massive economic dislocation, protracted school closures as the various state governors, pointing to Trump’s decisions as their justification, initiated their own lockdown regimens.

Trump was confronted with the reality that a president has no legal basis to intervene in the shutdown policies of the individual states. Instinctively, Trump knew he had made a mistake as he watched the economy implode. However, due to the upcoming election, he hesitated to remove those around him, such as the duplicitous Drs. Fauci and Birx, who were not only incompetent but in league with the Democrat/Legacy Media axis.

Trump, in his speeches, did attempt to convince the governors and federal bureaucrats to alter course, but it was too late as the damage to his presidency, the nation, and the citizenry was a fait accompli. Further, with donor and federal government funding combined with insouciance on the part of the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, the Democrat war machine relentlessly, and in some cases unconstitutionally, succeeded in changing election laws in numerous states prior to November 3, 2020.

The decisions and actions between March 16th and March 30, 2020 were the primary factor in the election of Joe Biden and the Obama-led Marxist takeover of the presidency and the Executive Branch, which has eventuated in the following:

• A de facto open border resulting in over 10 million illegal immigrants and an untold number of potential terrorists flooding the nation,

• $10.3 Trillion in new national debt since March of 2020 (in 2008 the total national debt was $10.0 Trillion),

• A potentially permanent stagnant economy and ongoing inflation resulting in one dollar in November of 2023 buying only 82% of what it did in March of 2020, while real disposable income is down 7.5%,

• A politically weaponized justice system and federal police force (FBI) targeting Trump and other political adversaries as well as everyday Americans,

• Permanent uncontrolled mail-in voting in 34 of the 50 states,

• The massive expansion of the government-sponsored censorship and domestic spying industry,

• An overwhelming erosion of confidence in the Federal health bureaucracy due to manipulating data, promoting lockdowns, and the haphazard approval and mandating of the COVID-19 vaccine,

• The funding of a never-ending and unnecessary war in Ukraine, the enriching of Iran, and the greenlighting of Chinese expansion and belligerency.

Donald Trump deserves to be recognized as an indispensable man who was the right president at the right time and prior to March of 2020 had one of the most successful presidencies in the modern era. However, when confronted by his adversaries and their manipulation of the Coronavirus Pandemic, Trump’s acquiescence and decision-making process was out of character as he was far too fixated on the upcoming election.

The decisions a president makes in times of national crises oftentimes have enormous implications for the future of the country. The decisions made in those fateful two weeks between March 16 and March 30, 2020 are the backdrop to the chaos this nation is presently experiencing.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various author’s articles on this Opinion piece or elsewhere online or in the newspaper where we have articles with the header “COLUMN/EDITORIAL & OPINION” do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints or official policies of the Publisher, Editor, Reporters or anybody else in the Staff of the Hemet and San Jacinto Chronicle Newspaper.

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The 2024 presidential election is a year away. The political landscape of America in October of 2024 will be far different than it is today. The current polling, which focuses on which candidate for president is winning and the attendant punditry, is meaningless.

Over the next twelve months there will be a significant increase in voter dissatisfaction due to unabated crime and illegal immigration as well as seismic shifts in the economy and foreign affairs which will dramatically affect the fortunes of both parties and their candidates. A September 2023 poll revealed that just 28% of Americans believe the U.S. political system is working extremely or somewhat well.

Additionally, 65% of respondents indicated that they are dissatisfied with the candidates running for president as another recent poll exposed that just 33% of American electorate has a favorable view of Joe Biden and only 29% have a favorable view of Donald Trump.

When combined with 76% of Americans believing the country is headed in the wrong direction, the darkly negative outlook of the citizenry will not improve over the next twelve months as there is virtually nothing indicating a sea change in the nation’s fortunes or politics. In fact, an unjaundiced view of the immediate future reveals ever-growing dark clouds on the horizon.

The economy is currently being propped up by unprecedented government expenditures combined with modest growth in consumer spending as Americans are paying significantly more for virtually everything. However, the current level of consumer spending cannot be sustained and will soon begin to significantly decline. This decline is inevitable due to total household debt now reaching an unheard-of $17.28 Trillion (equivalent to the annual gross domestic product of China) while real incomes continue to rapidly deteriorate due to intractable inflation.

Many have been forced to turn to borrowing, spending their savings, drawing down their retirement accounts and credit card debt to pay their bills. As a result, bankruptcies and loan and credit card delinquencies are skyrocketing, while the wealth of Americans is being rapidly depleted. The Biden Administration and its allies in Congress are determined to continue propping up the economy through massive government spending. However, due to this out-of-control fiscal policy, the government is having an increasingly difficult time convincing investors to buy long-term U.S. Treasury bonds without committing to significantly higher interest rates with each new auction.

The estimated annualized interest payments on U.S. government debt currently exceeds $1 Trillion, which represents 45.5% of all income tax revenue collected annually by the federal government and a doubling of interest expenses over the past 19 months alone. While exorbitant government spending, borrowing, and de facto money printing continues there is little chance of inflation receding. The consumer, unlike previous economic recoveries, will not be at the forefront of triggering economic growth. Thus, the reality of a severe long-term economic downturn becomes more inevitable by the month.

The general consensus of many economists is that there is at a 60-65% probability of a recession before September of 2024. However, the ongoing massive drop in shipping volume, record bankruptcies, and unprecedented layoffs in the global and domestic supply chain portends a much higher probability of a significant recession in 2024. On the international scene, chaos will continue to reign. It’s not a question of if but how much worse will it be in 12 months. It is highly likely that Iran will have nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles within the next twelve months.

As Iran will not be confronted or sanctioned by the United States or the West, they will be further emboldened to sow chaos in the Middle East by expanding their support for their terrorist proxies, increasing their influence in Iraq and Syria and targeting Saudi Arabia. Utilizing their proxies, Iran will continue to isolate and attack Israel, who, thanks to American interference, will not have fully destroyed Hamas or Hezb’allah. The Middle East will be more volatile a year from now than it is at present and the risk of American military involvement will be exponentially higher.

The war in Ukraine will be over as it will end in a stalemate with Russia permanently annexing a portion of eastern Ukraine. However, the Biden Administration will obligate the citizens of the United States to finance the bulk of the rebuilding. The Biden administration and Congress will essentially declare Ukraine a de facto American dependent while agreeing to allow Ukraine to join NATO. China will continue to expand its hegemony throughout the western Pacific region by isolating Taiwan and continuously provoking America and its allies in the region.

They will be actively engaging in governmental upheavals throughout South and Central America while threatening to cut off trade routes and selectively limiting trade with the United States. China is convinced that the Unites States is politically incapable of confronting them while also dealing with the Middle East, Ukraine, and a myriad of economic and societal issues at home. China will be an even more dangerous, aggressive, and implacable adversary a year from now.

Joe Biden will not be the Democrat Party nominee in 2024. His high unfavourability stemming from his egregious scandals, his age, his mental decrepitude, and his overall incompetence will embolden the party hierarchy to convince Biden to drop out of the race in the spring of 2024 and then resign after November 5, 2024. Thus, allowing Kamala Harris to serve as the historic first female President of color. The party will nominate someone else who can run on not being responsible for the failures of the Biden Administration while making Donald Trump the entire focus of their campaign.

Donald Trump, will in all likelihood, be found guilty of at least one felony in the January 6th “insurrection” trial as it is being adjudicated in Washington D.C. in front of a grossly prejudiced judge and a jury that will no doubt be predominantly made up of anti-Trump voters. The Republican Party and its voters will then be faced with the quandary of sticking with Trump and his historically low approval ratings with the American electorate (average of 41% from 2017-2021, and an average of 37% from 2022-2023) or replacing him with someone the Democrats cannot so easily demonize.

The old adage “a year is an eternity in politics” is perhaps more apt in this presidential election cycle than in any in modern American history as there are so many variables that will impact the outcome. But the outcome of the 2024 election will determine the fate of the nation, particularly if the Democrats again control the White House and Congress.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various author’s articles on this Opinion piece or elsewhere online or in the newspaper where we have articles with the header “COLUMN/EDITORIAL & OPINION” do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints or official policies of the Publisher, Editor, Reporters or anybody else in the Staff of the Hemet and San Jacinto Chronicle Newspaper.

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America is probably the most diverse nation on earth in terms of race, ethnicity, and religion. There is a place here for everybody who shares our values and culture, including respect for the rights of those who do not look like us or pray like us (if at all). There is, however, no place here for “diverse” value systems that support violence, discrimination, misogyny, and similar things that belong in backward Dark Age societies.

Here are a handful of the “diversities” who are “culturally enriching” us. Websites such as DontHireHate.com are compiling searchable lists for them so employers know whom to avoid hiring and landlords know to whom not to rent.

• Nejwa Ali, whose LinkedIn profile lists her as a U.S. Customs and Immigration Service adjudication officer and Department of Homeland Security asylum officer, “shared an image of a terrorist parachuting into Israel and wrote, ‘F— Israel and any Jew who supports Israel.’ She also shared antisemitic images, including of a Jewish nose.” The Daily Signal alleges further that she was once a spokesperson for the terrorist Palestine Liberation Organization. Did I mention that she was, until recently, a USCIS adjudication officer and DHS asylum officer? Am I the only one here who thinks this might be a potential security risk?

• New York University law student Ryna Workman wrote, among other things, “Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life. This regime of state-sanctioned violence created the conditions that made resistance necessary.”

• New York City emergency room doctor Dana Diab was fired after posting, among other things, “Zionist settlers getting a taste of their own medicine.”

• Diversity, inclusion, and equity (DIE) practitioner and medical doctor Abeer N. AbouYabis was placed on leave after she “took to Facebook this week to wish ‘glory to all resistance fighters’” and added, “They got walls, we got gliders.” She is not somebody I would trust with my health or physical safety due to her glorification of the terrorist gliders that helped massacre people in their own homes.

These Are Our Enemies

There is a conflict in this country between Americans of all races who share American values and de facto domestic enemies of the United States who do not. These enemies include white nationalists, black nationalists like Black Lives Matter (whose Chicago chapter posted a picture of a terrorist glider), and Hamas sympathizers and water carriers. We are a society of laws, and it is illegal to use violence against another person unless in immediate self-defense — e.g. multiple undesirables in Skokie gang-beating somebody whom they took for a Jew. That’s disparity of force. It justifies a deadly force response, and multiple thugs or goblins (Colonel Jeff Cooper’s term for violent criminals) are exactly what fifteen-round magazines are for.

If these enemies refrain from violence, though, we can use only nonviolent measures against them. Their businesses can be boycotted and badmouthed, as long as one doesn’t lie about them, all over the internet. As but one example, “Palestine” water carrier Ben & Jerry’s can be badmouthed for providing lousy value for your money, as the company will not allow you to buy its product in economical three-pint quantities. I think this is an intentional rip-off: they want to sell labels and packaging rather than ice cream. That’s my perception and opinion, and I’m entitled to share it with potential customers. Hamas water-carriers and dupes can be blacklisted by employers. Who in his right mind wants to hire a medical doctor who glorifies terrorist gliders? While landlords cannot discriminate against EEOC-protected characteristics, they can refuse to rent to those who might be physical threats to their neighbors, and expression of support for terrorists suggests exactly that.

These undesirables are not our fellow Americans. They are our enemies and potential fifth columnists, and we need to make them unemployable so they will have to go back to wherever they came from.

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The belief that reaching the American dream starts with owning a home is at the heart of an idea that emerged with post-World War II prosperity and has remained a standard ever since. But the reality is that millions of Americans in cities and states around the country struggle to afford housing, either to own or to rent.

For nearly a century, homeownership has been the largest source of wealth for most American families. Safe, traditional mortgages have been pivotal to achieving financial security and independence. But as home prices and rents skyrocket — and because outdated policies make small mortgages expensive for lenders and often unavailable for borrowers seeking low-cost homes — many families are struggling to afford reliable housing.

This is a serious problem for people across all demographics, but Black, Hispanic, rural and Indigenous households are particularly affected. And some have turned to riskier and more costly alternative financing arrangements, such as land contracts, seller-financed mortgages, lease purchases and personal property loans.

Approximately 36 million Americans have used such arrangements to purchase a home. They are pitched to potential homebuyers as a pathway to homeownership when traditional mortgages are not available. But they often result in borrowers not achieving their goal of owning and can hurt their future homeownership and wealth-building opportunities.

To examine the barriers that borrowers face when trying to purchase safe and affordable homes, The Pew Charitable Trusts studied various alternative financing arrangements. One of the most important differences among these arrangements is the question of when the buyer receives full legal ownership of a property. In mortgage transactions, the deed — and therefore, full ownership — is typically given to the buyer at closing. However, in a land contract, for example, the seller keeps the deed and retains legal title to the property for the duration of the financing term, while the borrower typically holds what is called “equitable title.” This can create ambiguity about the buyer’s rights and responsibilities, such as who pays for taxes and upkeep, and lead to quick evictions that strip buyers of any potential home equity.

Financing challenges aren’t the only roadblock to homeownership. Many Americans who want to own a home are only able to rent for now. And as rents continue to climb, many of these are finding it difficult to save for a down payment in order to get on the path toward ownership. This comes against the backdrop of a national housing shortage, stemming largely from strict zoning and land-use policies that make it harder and more expensive to build new housing, which results in higher rents and puts homeownership further out of reach.

Pew has examined several jurisdictions that updated their zoning codes to allow more housing and found that this flexibility helped these jurisdictions add new housing stock faster than new households were being formed. And while rent remains detrimentally high in many communities throughout the country, this research shows that communities updating their zoning laws in this manner kept rent growth to less than 7 percent over the most recent six-year period, even as rents rose by 31 percent nationally.

The housing shortage is a major driver of both inflation and homelessness, placing a heavy financial burden on Americans from all walks of life. There is no one solution for U.S. policymakers, but helping people obtain safe and affordable home financing is a good start toward ensuring that households capable of handling a mortgage can obtain one.

Zoning reform that allows more housing to be built is also a necessary step in solving the housing crisis and ensuring that everyone has a roof over their heads.

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The United States grew older, faster, last decade.

The share of residents 65 or older grew by more than a third from 2010 to 2020 and at the fastest rate of any decade in 130 years, while the share of children declined, according to new figures from the most recent census.

The declining percentage of children under age 5 was particularly noteworthy in the figures from the 2020 head count released Thursday. Combined, the trends mean the median age in the U.S. jumped from 37.2 to 38.8 over the decade.

America’s two largest age groups propelled the changes: more baby boomers turning 65 or older and millennials who became adults or pushed further into their 20s and early 30s. Also, fewer children were born between 2010 and 2020, according to numbers from the once-a-decade head count of every U.S. resident. The decline stems from women delaying having babies until later in life, in many cases to focus on education and careers, according to experts, who noted that birth rates never recovered following the Great Recession of 2007-2009.

“In the short run, the crisis of work-family balance, the lack of affordable child care, stresses associated with health care, housing, and employment stability, all put a damper on birth rates by increasing uncertainty and making it harder to decide to have and raise children,” said Philip Cohen, a sociologist at the University of Maryland.

There are important social and economic consequences to an aging population, including the ability of working-age adults to support older people through Social Security and Medicare contributions. The Census Bureau calculates a dependency ratio, defined as the number of children plus the number of seniors per 100 working-age people. While the dependency ratio decreased for children from 2010 to 2020, it increased for seniors by 6.8 people.

At the top end of the age spectrum, the number of people over 100 increased by half, from more than 53,000 people to more than 80,000. The share of men living into old age also jumped. Buddy Lebman, a 98-year-old in the St. Louis area, said the key to longevity is good genes and staying active. He plays bridge twice a week, leads a discussion on current events at his retirement community, and is still involved with his synagogue and a school he helped found. Up until five years ago, he went on regular bicycle rides.

“I just recently had my pacemaker checked out, and the doctor told me it’s good for 4 1/2 more years,” Lebman said. “So I have to live at least that amount.”

People reaching age 100 benefited from a century of vaccines and antibiotic developments, improvements in surgery and better treatment of diseases, said Thomas Perls, a professor of medicine at Boston University.

“Many more people who have the genetic makeup and environmental exposures that increase one’s chances of getting to 100, but who would have otherwise died of what are now readily reversible problems, are able to fulfill their survival destiny,” Perls said.

The Census Bureau released two earlier data sets from the 2020 census in 2021: state population figures used to decide how many congressional seats each state gets and redistricting numbers used to draw political districts. Thursday’s data release was delayed by almost two years because of pandemic-related difficulties gathering the information and efforts by the Census Bureau to implement a new, controversial privacy protection method that uses algorithms to add intentional errors to obscure the identity of any given respondent.

This was the first census since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015. The tally showed that more than half of U.S. households contained coupled partners or spouses who lived together, and same-sex households made up 1.7% of those households. Since the census didn’t ask about sexual orientation, it didn’t capture LGBTQ+ people who are single or don’t live with a partner or spouse.

The median age varied widely by race and ethnicity. Non-Hispanic whites were the oldest cohort, with a median age of 44.5. Hispanics were the youngest, with a median age of 30; and a quarter of all children in the U.S. were Hispanic. Black Americans who weren’t Hispanic had a median age of 35.5. The number was for 37.2 for Asians.

Utah, home to the largest Mormon population in the U.S., was the youngest state, with a median age of 31.3, a function of having one of the nation’s highest birthrates. The District of Columbia’s median age of 33.9 was a close second due to the large number of young, working-age adults commonly found in urban areas. North Dakota was the only state where the median age declined, from 37 to 35.8, as an influx of young workers arrived to work in a booming energy sector.

Maine was the oldest state in the U.S., with a median age of 45.1, as more baby boomers aged out of the workforce. Puerto Rico had a median age in the same range, at 45.2, as an exodus of working-age adults left the island after a series of hurricanes and government mismanagement. Older adults in four states — Florida, Maine, Vermont and West Virginia — made up more than a fifth of those states’ populations.

Sumter County, Florida, home of the booming retirement community The Villages, had the highest median age among U.S. counties, at 68.5; while Utah County, home to Provo, Utah, and Brigham Young University, had the lowest at 25.9.

As one of the youngest baby boomers, Chris Stanley, 59, already lives in The Villages. She said her mission in later life is to let younger generations know they can change things despite perhaps not having the same economic opportunities she did.

“I want to impart the urgency that I feel,” she said. “They can make it better.”

While people 65 and older made up 16.8% of the 331 million residents in the U.S. in 2020, the share was still significantly lower than it was in countries like Japan, Italy and Greece, where the age cohort makes up between more than a fifth and more than a quarter of the population. However, their share of the U.S. population will continue to grow as baby boomers age.

“In the long run, immigration is the only way the United States is going to avoid population decline,” Cohen said.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — An optimistic President Joe Biden declared Wednesday he is confident the U.S. will avoid an unprecedented and potentially catastrophic debt default, saying talks with congressional Republicans have been productive. He left for a G-7 summit in Japan but planned to return by the weekend in hopes of approving a solid agreement.

Biden’s upbeat remarks came as a select group of negotiators began meeting to try and hammer out the final contours of a budget spending deal to unlock a path for raising the debt limit as soon June 1. That is when the Treasury Department says the U.S. could begin defaulting on its obligations and trigger financial chaos.

“I’m confident that we’ll get the agreement on the budget and America will not default,” Biden said from the Roosevelt Room of the White House. Later Wednesday evening, negotiations resumed behind closed doors at the Capitol.

Democrat Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have traded blame for a debt-ceiling impasse for weeks. But Biden said of the latest White House session with congressional leaders that “everyone came to the meeting, I think, in good faith.”

McCarthy was upbeat, too, though contending Biden had given ground. The president said the budget talks were still separate from the debt limit issue, but the speaker said Biden had “finally backed off” his refusal to negotiate.

“Keep working — we’ll work again tonight,” McCarthy told reporters later. “We’re going to work until we can get it done.”

Biden said that every leader at Tuesday’s Oval Office meeting — Vice President Kamala Harris, McCarthy, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. — agreed the U.S. must not default on its obligations.

“It would be catastrophic for the American economy and the American people if we didn’t pay our bills,” Biden said. “I’m confident everyone in the room agreed … that we’re going to come together because there’s no alternative. We have to do the right thing for the country. We have to move on.”

He said he would be in “constant contact” with White House officials while at the summit in Hiroshima. He is canceling stops in Australia and Papua New Guinea that were to follow so he can return to Washington on Sunday.

Biden and McCarthy tasked a handful of representatives to work swiftly to try and close out a final deal. They include Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president; legislative affairs director Louisa Terrell and Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young for the administration, and Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., a close McCarthy ally, for the Republicans.

McCarthy, who has said he would personally be involved, said he planned to stop by the talks later Wednesday. He said he would be in Washington for the weekend while negotiations are underway.

Agreement by the negotiators would still leave any deal needing approval by Democratic Senate and Republican House.

Democrats are upset about the possibility of new work requirements for some recipients of government aid. And Republicans want much tougher budget restraints than the Democrats support.

The positive comments by Biden and McCarthy suggest they believe they can gain the backing of their parties’ lawmakers.

McCarthy was flanked Wednesday on the Capitol steps by some of the most conservative Republicans from the House and Senate in a feisty show of support.

The national debt currently stands at $31.4 trillion. An increase in the debt limit would not authorize new federal spending; it would only allow for borrowing to pay for what Congress has already approved.

The contours of an agreement have begun to take shape, but the details of spending cuts and policy changes will make or break whether the divided Congress can strike a bipartisan deal with the White House.

In exchange for lifting the debt limit to keep paying the bills, newly majority House Republicans are trying to extract steep budget caps of no more than 1% growth a year over the next decade, alongside bolstered work requirements.

Negotiators are preparing to claw back some $30 billion of unspent COVID-19 aid, now that the government has lifted the pandemic emergency. And they are working on a potential agreement for permit changes that would speed the development of energy projects that both Republicans and Democrats want, though the details remain daunting.

But Democrats are not at all willing to accept the 10-year cap on spending that Republicans approved in their own House bill, and the Democrats are instead pushing for a shorter window of budget cuts.

Biden is facing fierce blowback from progressive Democrats after he opened the door to tougher work requirements. But he insisted Wednesday any new work requirements would be of “no consequence” and that he’s not willing to impact health programs, presumably referring to Medicaid.

Asked about that, the Republicans behind McCarthy — who support more work requirements on Medicaid, food stamps and cash assistance programs — broke out in laughter at the Capitol.

The Republicans scoffed aloud as helicopters with the presumably departing Biden flew overhead.

McCarthy, who depended on Donald Trump’s backing to become the new speaker, still has work to do to keep his narrow House majority in line for any final deal, particularly among the hardline Freedom Caucus conservatives who almost blocked his election earlier this year for the gavel.

Former President Trump has encouraged Republicans to “do a default” if they don’t get everything they want from Biden.

“Bipartisanship is needed,” Schumer said Wednesday. “It’s the only way to go.”

As backup on Wednesday, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries launched a process that would force a vote on raising the debt limit.

It’s a cumbersome legislative discharge procedure, but Jeffries urged House Democrats to sign on to the measure in hopes of gathering the 218 majority backers including Republicans needed to put it in motion.

“Emerging from the White House meeting, I am hopeful that a real pathway exists to find an acceptable, bipartisan resolution that prevents a default,” Jeffries said in a letter to colleagues.

“However, given the impending June 1 deadline and urgency of the moment, it is important that all legislative options be pursued in the event that no agreement is reached.”

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Washington, DC

Good morning, everyone. Carl Blake, thanks for that kind introduction. More importantly, thank you for your selfless service on behalf of your brothers- and sisters-in-arms.

And let me give a quick shout out to Charlie Brown, Robert Thomas, and members of your Executive Committee. You are the leaders who make this great organization run, who bring our partnership to life, and who challenge us to make that partnership all it can be, including by holding us to account.

And to the caregivers and spouses here this morning: thank you. When your loved ones served, you served alongside them. Their sacrifice has been your sacrifice. And your service continues to this day—and every day. You are the backbone of the care team for your veteran, as critical to the care outcomes we seek as our docs and nurses.

Let me tell you about Army Veteran Dillon Cannon. While on patrol in Iraq, a sniper’s bullet ripped through Dillon’s neck … barely missing his artery but shattering his vertebrae and causing swelling in his spine. As a result, Dillon was paralyzed from the waist down. Following rehabilitation, Dillon told a Vocational Counselor at the Houston VA how much he loves racecars. So they set Dillon up with an interview at the Houston Motor Speedway Resort.

Dillon was hired on the spot. He thrived in his new job, but what happened next was life-changing. The shop’s owner—a Vietnam Veteran—decided to buy some modified racecars with hand controls. And he asked if Dillon wanted to start racing. With Dillon’s help, they started a charity, a charity to teach disabled Vets how to race. Dillon says that “racing is a blast.” “But,” he says, “I love to get other Veterans down to the track.” Veterans helping Veterans, long after they take off the uniform. There’s nothing better than that. It’s what PVA’s all about.

Now, I tell this story for two reasons. The first is to just note that nothing, not even a sniper’s bullet, could stop Dillon from pursuing his lifelong dream—shoot, the lifelong dream of every American kid—to be a racecar driver. But the second is to recognize how critically important access to adaptive vehicles is. Not just for racecar drivers. For everybody.

Still, for far too long, Vets with SCI/D were limited to using VA’s auto grant only once over the course of their lifetime. There are countless stories of Vets driving hundreds of thousands of miles until their car broke down because they were priced out of buying a new car given the astronomically high add-on costs for adaptive features. I’m happy that this law was updated this past January with the AUTO for Veterans Act, a cause you championed.

Now, eligible Vets can get a new adaptive vehicle once every ten years. Last Monday, we published interim guidance for Vets to begin applying for these grants under the new law. These grants will help Vets preserve their freedom, their independence, and their mobility while ensuring they can travel safely to and from work, to appointments, and to engagements and obligations with friends and family. Please, apply for this grant today and help us spread the word.

Updating this important program is one way that PVA has important impact on the lives of its members—and on us at VA. But it is just one. The impact that you make on behalf of Veterans every single day is inspiring. This is what our work is all about: getting the job done for Veterans, together. Whether that means providing Vets with the best care in the world, benefits they’ve earned, or a dignified final resting place that honors their service and sacrifice.

With your help, VA is delivering more care and more benefits to more Vets like Dillon than at any other time in our nation’s history. Vets had over 115 million clinical encounters in the past year, with nearly 40 million in-person VA appointments, over 31 million tele-health appointments, and 38 million community care appointments.

When it comes to benefits, we set a record last year with over 1.7 million claims completed. And we’re on track to break that record this year. We still can, and still must, be better—and do better—for the Veterans we serve. So we’re committed to collaborating even more effectively with PVA, to build on what’s working, and to fix what’s not. Here are some of the places we can most use your help and your voice.

First, the PACT Act—the new law for Vets’ toxic exposure. Since President Biden signed the toxic exposure law, Veterans and survivors have filed over 1.5 million VA claims—nearly 30% more than the same period last year. Among those are more than 500,000 claims for toxic exposure-related benefits. And over 3 million Vets have received toxic exposure screenings with their VA health care providers. As a result, Vets, their families, and survivors have received over $1 billion in earned PACT Act-related benefits to date.

This can end up being one of the biggest expansions of Veteran benefits in history. It has the potential to deliver care and benefits to millions of Vets and their survivors, bring generations of new Vets into VA health care, and increase the health care benefits of many more. But it will only be so if we—all of us, working together—get Vets to apply.

So, apply for your toxic exposure benefits right now. Don’t wait. And re-apply if you’ve ever been denied before for the VA care and benefits you’ve earned. Listen, applying on or before August 9th of this year means benefits will be backdated to August 10th of last year, the day President Biden signed the bill into law. Finally, help us spread the word. Tell Vets to learn more about the PACT Act and apply anytime by visiting VA.gov/PACT or by calling 1-800-MY-VA-411. 1-800-698-2411.

Another place we have to deepen our partnership is on our number one clinical priority—suicide prevention. All of us have to be there for Vets when it matters most, especially in times of crisis. This is particularly true for Vets with SCI/D—feelings of sadness or depression are normal reactions to the loss and stress which often occur after an SCI/D diagnosis. Vets need and deserve suicide prevention solutions that meet them where they are, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach.

So I want to quickly run through five of the solutions we’re continuing to implement this year.

First, we recently announced a final round of prizes through our Mission Daybreak challenge—totaling nearly $20 million across 40 teams. These teams are developing innovative new solutions to save Veterans’ lives.

Second, Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grants are getting resources to local suicide prevention services, grassroots programs run by people who know Vets best.

Third, VA launched Suicide Prevention 2.0. At VA—like every health care system in the country—we are badly in need of more trained mental health professionals. Suicide Prevention 2.0 is designed to recruit, hire, and train more than 100 licensed mental health providers serving Vets at high risk of suicide through telehealth.

Fourth, we’re significantly expanding VA coverage through the COMPACT Act—opening doors of emergency care when Vets need it most. That means access to any health care facility—VA or not—for free emergency mental health care.

And fifth, we’ve brought on over 1,300 peer specialists. Our peer specialists are all Vets. They’re trained to use their personal experiences with their own recovery to help their struggling fellow-Vets reconnect, find a sense of belonging, and access resources at VA and in their communities. 

Now, I know that’s a lot. But suicide prevention takes all of us pulling together in the same direction to save lives. And with all this work and more, saving lives is exactly what we’re going to do. Together, we will do it. There’s nothing more important than that.

Now, let’s talk about how our partnership can ensure we reach more Vets … with access to the world-class health care they deserve. We recognize that Vets with SCI/D have complex needs requiring personalized approaches to care across varied settings—in-home, in the community, via telehealth, and at VA Medical Centers. I have heard some of the challenges Vets with SCI/D face when seeking care in the community. Even something as fundamental as being weighed is made difficult if the facility isn’t fitted with the right equipment or its people aren’t properly trained. That’s not acceptable.

As I discussed with Carl last month, I worry a lot about what I am seeing in community care. About a third of the care we provide now is provided in the community. And what I have seen since I got here is an almost month-by-month increase in the amount of care that is going to the community. The trend is unmistakable. Now, this is happening for a lot of reasons, including the pandemic, VA’s responsibilities under the MISSION Act, and vacancies across the country—particularly in rural communities. I will get to what we are doing on vacancies in a minute and I recognize that this challenge—the challenge of ensuring that we don’t turn VA into a healthcare company that just pays the bills for care provided by someone else—is uniquely my challenge.

But I need your help, your continued vigilance, and your demands for accountability from us and from Congress in ensuring we remain the preeminent provider of care, especially for Vets with SCI/D. VA’s SCI/D System of Care is unique—it is lifelong, integrated primary and specialty care for Veterans with traumatic and non-traumatic injuries. There is simply no equivalent. No one does it as well as we do. It is not something we can refer to the community. And we will not allow anyone to think we can.

So that is why we’re investing in modern facilities to expand access to VA care. Thanks again to the toxic exposure law, we have new authorizations and funding for 31 major leases to improve access for over 4.5 million Vets. We opened 17 new CBOCs last year providing better access for 2.8 million Vets, and this year we’re awarding and completing significant major construction projects that will serve millions more. This will improve access to care for all Vets, including Vets with SCI/D.

Currently, there is only one VA center with SCI/D Long-Term Care beds west of the Mississippi. That will soon change. Two of this year’s major construction projects will expand SCI/D Long-Term Care capacity significantly. One is at the VA North Texas SCI/D Center, where they’re adding over 171,000 square feet of space and doubling the number of SCI/D beds. All of those beds will be for SCI/D Long-Term Care. The second is at VA San Diego, where they’ll add a 197,000 square foot building with 20 new SCI/D long-term beds alongside a 33-bed Community Living Center. Thank you for the dedicated expertise offered by the National PVA architecture team. PVA is a key partner in making these construction projects a reality.

Let me turn to VA’s workforce. Across the health care industry, labor shortages are constraining in-person services. To increase care and support for Veterans with SCI/D, over the past 18 months VA has expanded SCI/D Home Care, Veteran Directed Care, Home-Based Primary Care, and Home Health Aide services.

We’re also investing in the people we hire and retain here at VA. We’re increasing hiring, quickly onboarding staff, and incentivizing retention. Overall, we’ve onboarded over 27,000 new people at VHA this year, on our way to our goal of 52,000 new VHA employees. In fact, we hired more people at VHA in the first quarter of this year than in any previous year. We’ve hired 5,473 Registered Nurses, 1,009 Licensed Practical Nurses, and 1,524 Nursing Assistants, more hires in these three critical occupations than at any time in the past 20 years. These selfless public servants are the very heart and soul of everything we do at VA.

Now reaching more Vets means serving all Vets. All Vets. We at VA will stop at nothing serve every Veteran as well as they have served us. This is true for women Vets—our fastest growing cohort of Veterans—and for women Vets with SCI/D. Over the past ten years, we have seen the population of women Vets with SCI/D double. But we have not always done enough to earn their trust or meet their unique needs.

We’re committed to providing women Vets the full range of health services they need for their health and well-being; reproductive health, contraception and fertility services, family building, gender-specific cardiac care, and more. So our Women’s Health and SCI/D experts are working hard to ensure that we are providing services for women Vets with SCI/D in the most appropriate environment.

Breast cancer screening is particularly important. Thanks to your advocacy, the MAMMO Act was signed into law last June, and it’ll go a long way in addressing mammography accessibility for Vets with SCI/D. And we’re making progress on implementing this law—including the launch of a screening dashboard that displays the breast cancer screening rates for Vets with SCI/D and amputations. Right now, screening rates for women Vets with SCI/D are better than rates for the general women Vet population.

But we still have work to do, and a long journey ahead, to build trust of women Vets. We’re starting to see results from these efforts. There are good indications that women Vets are trusting us at higher levels. Trust scores are rising—too slowly, but steadily—from 81% in 2017 to 86% today. That’s good, but those scores are 4 points below average, and nearly 5 points below male Vets’ trust scores. We need to keep working together to ensure that women Veterans with SCI/D receive the care and support they deserve.

So, those are a few places where we can build on the life-changing differences we are already making, together, for Vets, and some of the places we can most use your help, your voice, your advice, and your partnership. Because there’s nothing we can’t do, together. Here’s what I mean.

Many of you know Dr. Rory Cooper. Dr. Cooper’s an Army Vet with SCI/D who’s devoted his career to serving his fellow disabled Vets. He’s a PVA distinguished professor at the University of Pittsburgh. He’s a world-class athlete with a Paralympics bronze medal and over 150 medals in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games. And he’s the founder and director of the Human Engineering Research Laboratories—a collaboration between VA, PVA, and the University of Pittsburgh—where Dr. Cooper leads research on cutting-edge technologies like assistive robots, brain-machine interfaces, virtual reality, robotic wheelchairs that climb stairs, and more. 

Later today at VA, Dr. Cooper will be recognized for a lifetime of service as one of the nation’s top scientists dedicated to Veteran health care. Here’s my point. Vets like Dr. Cooper exemplify the enormous good we can accomplish for Vets, together. In Dr. Cooper’s words, together we can help “Veterans and people with disabilities find and pursue their dreams.”

I look forward to continuing our work together, and I look forward to your questions. May God bless all of you, our servicemembers protecting our country today, and our Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors.

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Have you ever been so beset by anguish, fear, or grief that you unconsciously dropped to your knees, interlocked your fingers, and began to pray? Even for people who never embraced religious faith, that instinct seems cemented deep in their souls.

When Damar Hamlin’s heart stopped beating and he lay motionless on the field during Monday Night Football’s matchup between the Bills and Bengals on January 2, the human instinct to reach for God became impossible to miss. Not only were the players of both teams falling to their knees with their hands clasped and lips quietly pleading for intercession, but also fans throughout Paycor Stadium could be seen on national television in deep and solemn prayer. It was soon clear that social media platforms had become inundated with emotional appeals directly to God, begging Him to intervene and save Hamlin’s life.

In a time of social division and disintegration, rampant immorality, and intentional cruelty, Hamlin’s collapse may have led to the first moment since the 9/11 terrorist attacks twenty years ago when so many Americans, united in common purpose, bowed their heads and prayed together. When it finally became clear a full week later that the young player would not only live, but also most likely recover physically, Americans all over the country and from all walks of life knew they had witnessed something miraculous.

In this spiritually fallen world, where sin has been elevated above virtue and God’s blessings are routinely repudiated for the misplaced worship of evil things, weakened Americans damaged from decades of self-hatred and self-inflicted misery saw a man fall to the ground, and in remarkably selfless concern for someone they had never met, those same lost Americans threw away all the rot that clutters their minds and darkens their souls, reaching instead toward what they instinctually knew to be true. And in His mercy, God answered.

For those who have not fallen victim to the cold delusion that life is the meaningless result of deterministic events, random chaos, or Darwinian incrementalism already baked into the preordained physics of the cosmos, Hamlin’s ordeal was hauntingly familiar. So many times over the course of human history, especially when all seems lost, simple and ordinary experiences have instead produced profound effects that echo through the ages. Sometimes a stranger’s unexpected act of kindness creates a ripple effect of generosity across space and time. In other moments, relatively unknown, ordinary men speak from the heart at town hall forums, school board meetings, or community gatherings, and through their poignant yet often forgotten words, they plant the seeds for great movements of change. In this instance, a young athlete in the prime of his life suffered cardiac arrest before a nation of football fans, perhaps so that a nation in prayer could lift him back to his feet. Would it not be accurate to say that Damar Hamlin ended up spiritually healing Americans as much as their prayers helped physically heal him? God moves this world in the most mysterious ways.

Nations, like people, are only as healthy as they are morally sound. Those dedicated to principle and virtue foster civic strength that can withstand an onslaught from foreign foes. Countries rooted in moral conviction are rarely vanquished, and when they do suffer defeat, they tend to rise again another day. On the other hand, nations that cherish power over principle, mock the virtuous, and celebrate sin rot from within like a malignant cancer shredding the body politic, slowly and unnoticed. Immoral countries struggle to survive weak attacks because their people’s fortitude is hollowed and brittle — and when they go down, they do not get back up.

Where does this leave America? Considering the outrageous corruption flowing from D.C.; the ever-growing and power-hungry federal Leviathan swallowing up Americans’ rights and liberties every day; and the once-unimaginable program of government indoctrination preaching outright racism, libertinism, and religious devotion to the State, it is entirely fair to say that evil has seeped much farther into America than most Americans would have once believed. When the nation’s political leadership considers churches and concerned parents more dangerous than the systemic sexualization, barbaric mutilation, and sterilization of children, then it is clear that twisted government authorities worship before the altar of false “woke” gods. When elected officials tell conspicuous lies about everything — Russia collusion, the J6 protests against vote fraud, the origins of COVID-19, the safety of COVID “vaccines,” America’s open borders, “green” energy–inflicted inflation — then it is undeniable that truth has been abandoned for the trashy allure of fabricated “narratives.” When the Intelligence Community spies on American citizens, government-backed news media embrace censorship and propaganda, and politicians enrich multinational companies at the expense of Americans’ livelihoods, then it is obvious that Americans’ foundations in liberty and self-government have been cheaply squandered to fill the pockets of self-aggrandizing officeholders beholden to their corporate masters’ bottom line. If America someday falls, it will be because its politicians and bureaucrats mocked families, browbeat parents, ridiculed religious faith, condemned men of character, and celebrated every kind of sin.

Then there are the American people. At first blush, it might be easy to say that they are no better than the government they have allowed to represent them. “The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness,” George Orwell warned, and yet, “for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.” The American government has spent over a century expanding the welfare State into the biggest Pez dispenser in the world, providing “cradle to grave” welfare in exchange for simply handing government agents complete control over one’s life. “Sign the dotted line there,” the Marxist-socialists tell unsuspecting Americans, “and you will officially become a ward of the State.” Most who sign fail to read the fine print empowering authorities to replace personal faith with their State religion, free speech with their “politically correct” version, and individual liberty with their constant surveillance. As with all bargains with the Devil, the government always gets your soul in the end.

Is America now a population of terminally lost souls, then? Perhaps. And yet, when Damar Hamlin went down, Americans did not pray to government. They did not pray at the altars of racism, division, COVID-1984, global warming, or any other government totem used to instill fear. They bowed their heads, clasped their hands, and prayed to God Almighty. Even while surrounded by a morally decrepit culture that ridicules virtue and exalts sin, the American people still know instinctually that in the battle between good and evil, only God will do. That might not seem like much, but it is a foothold — and a foothold is all we need.

The question is sometimes asked, “When is it necessary to give in to overwhelming odds, abandon hope, and accept defeat?” The simple answer is “never.” In no contest between good and evil, no matter how weary the righteous feel or how indefatigable the wicked behave, can any moral warrior who understands the stakes allow despair to drown hope. Despair is a weight that the Devil is only too happy to place around your neck; hope is the most genuine kind of life raft that keeps the soul afloat. When people under constant attack refuse to languish and instead find within themselves the courage to carry on, many others inclined to wither find inspiration to continue, too. Faith and courage spread like wildfire when individuals of conviction stand bravely and unafraid.

Change happens quickly. Seemingly small events leave deep impressions. You never know whom God might use to accomplish great things. So be ready. It could be you.

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