U.S. birthrate hits 32-year low. Here’s why that’s not (yet) a problem.

What does the downward trend mean?

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  • A report from the National Center for Health Statistics shows that 2018 saw the fewest babies born in the U.S. since 1986.
  • The reasons are plenty: After effects from the Great Recession, fewer teenage pregnancies, prohibitive child care costs, concerns over climate change and political strife, and different priorities among millennials.
  • The low birthrate isn't necessarily cause for alarm, however if it keeps declining it may be difficult for future generations to support an aging population.
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These are the world’s most fragile states in 2019

Yemen leads the list of the most fragile nations, with the U.S. and U.K. among the "most worsened."

MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images

There are some rankings no nation wants to lead.

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Politics & Current Affairs

Will choosing between too many presidential candidates paralyze voters?

With the seemingly endless growth of the Democratic primary field, social behaviorists are worried that we may suffer from choice overload.

  • The Democratic primary field has grown to be one of the largest in history, partially due to a desire to take down Donald Trump.
  • But this may backfire; social behaviorists warn that presenting people with too many choices can produce choice overload, resulting in paralysis and regret.
  • What are the negative effects of being offered too many choices? Are there any benefits to be had from this huge field of candidates?
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Free speech: The history every American should know

What can and can't you say? A brief glimpse of precedent-setting free speech cases in the United States.

  • There's a reason you're free to wear clothing with protest statements on them today. In 1968, 19-year-old Paul Robert Cohen was arrested for disturbing the peace by wearing a jacked that read "F*ck the Draft" in a California courthouse. His case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided that being offended by the jacket did not merit censorship.
  • Jonathan Zimmerman argues that the history of debate in the U.S. – of who gets to say what, and how that has evolved – should be taught to every American.
  • Zimmerman also says it's ahistorical for free speech to be cast as a conservative issue. For much of U.S. history, champions of free speech were those who fought for social justice to help the powerless keep the only power they had: their voices.
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Study: Teaching liberals about white privilege reveals 'startling' blind spot

Psychologists looked at how liberals and conservatives react after learning about "white privilege".

West Virginia men. 2018. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
  • Psychologists looked at how liberals and conservatives viewed poor people after learning about "white privilege".
  • Conservatives didn't show much sympathy for poor people regardless of race.
  • Liberals seemed to blame poor white people for their problems.
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