Search Results for: black cat alley

Earthquake in Japan shatters the peace of New Year’s Day and revives trauma from 2011 triple disasters

The powerful earthquake that shattered the peace of New Year’s Day in central Japan did not spur massive tsunamis like those that scoured the Pacific coast in 2011, killing nearly 20,000 people and forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes. The tsunamis that did roll in along the Sea of Japan, on Japan’s western coast, were mostly just a few feet high, rather than waves up to 15 feet tall predicted in alerts issued just after the magnitude 7.6 quake struck on January 1. But the alarms and evacuation orders, and the dozens of strong quakes that...

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Memorial honoring the Confederacy will finally be removed from Arlington National Cemetery

A Confederate memorial will be removed from Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia, part of the push to remove traumatic symbols that commemorate the Confederacy from military-related facilities. The decision ignores a recent demand from more than 40 Republican congressmen that the Pentagon suspend efforts to dismantle and remove the monument that celebrated White Nationalism from Arlington cemetery. Safety fencing was installed around the memorial, and officials anticipated completing the removal by December 22. But a federal judge on December 18 issued a temporary restraining order that halted its removal. A lawsuit was filed on December 17 by Defend...

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Finding relief: How a cure for epidemic of loneliness would make Americans less likely to abuse drugs

By Clay Marsh, Chancellor and Executive Dean for Health Sciences, West Virginia University A national health advisory issued by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on May 3, 2023, shed light on the urgent public health issues of loneliness and isolation. The report reflected Dr. Murthy’s personal and professional experience with the damaging health impacts of loneliness. As surprising as it sounds, social isolation and loneliness have the same effect on human health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, which is to say, it can shorten life span by up to 15 years. I am a leader in academic and...

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Free Market Lies: How Reaganomics expanded inequality and crushed stability for working families

Forty-two years ago, Ronald Reagan launched America into a great social, economic, and political experiment. It was based on the 1940s utopian thinking of a handful of conservative economists and promised to bring peace and prosperity to the entire world through a magical thing they dubbed the “free market.” Reagan and his Vice President GHW Bush, who initially called it “Voodoo Economics,” became true believers, as did Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. And, it turns out, it was based on a lie and has produced an utter disaster for America. This experiment — called neoliberalism, but...

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Civil War gold: Witnesses to mysterious FBI treasure hunt describe seeing heavily loaded armored truck

In the heart of Pennsylvania elk country, Eric McCarthy and his client, Don Reichel, got up before sunrise to scour the forest floor for so-called “brown gold,” a rack of freshly shed antlers to add to Reichel’s collection back home. One hill over, a team of FBI agents was also hunting for gold. The metallic yellow kind. The FBI’s highly unusual search for buried Civil War-era treasure more than five years ago set in motion a dispute over what, if anything, the agency unearthed and an ongoing legal battle over key records. There is so much intrigue that even...

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From Montana to Wisconsin: Mountain Biking finds a home in Milwaukee after 100 years

“Nature is not a place to visit, it is home.” These words by noted environmentalist and poet, Gary Snyder resonate deeply with me, and any who venture outdoors to hike trails, ride their bikes through a forest, or simply lay on their back to look up through the trees. Feeling at home in nature provides a sense of connection, purpose, and perspective that cannot be achieved online or engaged in a world of emojis, likes, or memes. For those not yet connected to nature, there remains an ever-present call just waiting to be heard. One that can ultimately lure...

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