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Population Collapse: Is (Western) Human Extinction Near?

By Selwyn Duke

Dating back to the Middle Ages, the town of Semestene in Sardinia, Italy, has quite a history — one that could come to an end within a decade. With a population that has dwindled rapidly in recent years, 54 of its 126 residents are aged 65 or over. The town has just four children under 10 years old remaining. And its last birth, a 2023 report held, was eight years earlier.

Welcome to Ghost Town Italy.

Sound like exaggeration? Well, consider that the U.S. has approximately 3,800 ghost towns, with New Mexico having about 400 alone. Italy is about the size of that state.

And it has at least 6,000 ghost towns.

“At least,” that is, because that estimate was made in 2015 — and informed that another 15,000 localities were “on the brink.”

One could in fact wonder if this is the emptiest a European nation’s towns have been since the medieval black plague wiped out one-quarter to one-half of the continent’s population. The problem now is another plague, too.

The plague of low fertility.

Why worry about this? I mean, with pasta and pizza and the like having spread throughout the world, we needn’t worry about losing our favorite buonissima(!) Italian fare. What’s more, there are in excess of eight billion people on the planet. So shouldn’t we cheer this bambini bust? Perhaps not.

Study: Democrat Men Cheat on Their Wives More — and Many Are OK With It

By Selwyn Duke

Ex-president Bill Clinton, who in 1998 said in response to questions about infidelity, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky” (even though he did), apparently isn’t alone among Democrats in having the morals of an alley cat. That’s what a new study shows, anyway.

The recently released research, from the Institute for Family Studies (IFS), found that “Republican husbands, especially religious ones, are less likely to cheat on their wives than Democratic husbands,” the organization writes.

This isn’t the first time the IFS has discovered a Dem-Rep infidelity divide. In 2022, the organization studied women and found the same phenomenon. In 2017, it revealed such a gap between Democrats and Republicans in general. And related to this, the IFS discovered in 2015 that conservative counties have more stable families than Democratic counties do.

Of course, is this surprising? Would people who tout “situational values” and shades of gray have much regard for marriage vows?

Motherhood: A Higher Calling

By Selwyn Duke

What is the most important job in the world? Is it being the president of the United States? Is it being a scientist working on cold fusion, now considered the “holy grail” of energy innovation? Is it toiling away as a researcher seeking a cure for cancer? Is it being a military general, protecting the homefront from external enemies? While all these jobs matter, a lot, they all pale in comparison to another job: That of the person who gives birth to and helps raise the presidents, scientists, researchers, and generals: mother.

This is because motherhood isn’t just a job, or even just an adventure. It’s a calling.

Daddy Issues: Fathers Make a Home Complete

By Selwyn Duke

“A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle,” goes the notorious feminist proclamation. Yet revelation, reason, and science inform that this isn’t true for those very little women, and little men, known as children. Nor is it true of the grown women who raise children. Moreover, research illustrates dads’ importance with a finding that will seem counterintuitive to many: Single fathers actually have better parenting outcomes than do single mothers. (More on that later.)