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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Now for the Good News: Ten Problems America Has Largely Solved |
| 2026-09-11 |
| [National Review] Listed below. Lengthy discussions at the link. One: Islamist terrorism a shadow of its former self. Two: The terrifying spike in violent crime from during the pandemic is . . . largely fixed? Three: Drug overdose deaths are declining rapidly. Four: The teen birth rate hit another record low in 2025. Five: The sharp rise in cancer survivorship. Part 2 Six: The U.S. border with Mexico is secure, or about as secure as it can get. Seven: After an unnerving dip during the Covid years, U.S. life expectancy has risen to the highest in American history. Eight: An astounding pace of new medical breakthroughs. Nine: High school graduation rates are at or near record highs. Ten: Much like the mortality rate, the fatal accident rate spiked during and immediately after the pandemic but has now dropped to record lows. There were a couple other positive developments I didn’t put on this list of ten, because they’re long-developing trends: The adult smoking rate is down, below 10 percent for the first time ever. AIDS is barely discussed anymore, "HIV-related mortality rates (deaths with HIV noted as the underlying cause of death), rose steadily through the 1980s and peaked in 1995, but have dropped by 9-fold since then, and by over half since 2010." Diagnoses are down, lifespans with the virus are longer, and for those infected, the risk of transmission can be greatly mitigated through prescription medication. Whatever you think of Americans’ declining consumption of alcohol, a decline in alcoholism is welcome: "The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, released late last month, found that the share of people 12 and older who qualified for a diagnosis of alcohol use disorder fell to 8.9 percent in 2025 from 10.6 percent in 2021 — or by about 4 million people." |
| Posted by:Bobby |
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| Posted by: Adriane the Critic . . . 2026-09-11 21:43 |
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| Posted by: SteveS 2026-09-11 19:01 |
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| Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2026-09-11 10:36 |
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| Posted by: Super Hose 2026-09-11 10:34 |
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| Posted by: Procopius2k 2026-09-11 09:26 |