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Scaring Ourselves to Death 0
- Culture
- December 7, 2020
As a child, I was hospitalized for a month with the “Hong Kong Flu.” The doctors couldn’t cure me; I was discharged but still sick. They were surprised I recovered. From my early brush with illness, I developed a longstanding interest in why some people with possibly fatal illnesses die and others recover. As an
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WikiLeaks 1941 0
- History
- December 7, 2020
(This story was originally published by Chronicles on December 7, 2010.) Over 2,400 American sailors, soldiers and airmen were killed in Pearl Harbor 69 years ago today. Had we had an equivalent of WikiLeaks back in 1941, however, the course of history could have been very different. FDR would have found it much more difficult
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Ignoring the War Risks of Red Lines 0
- International
- December 4, 2020
In early August 1990, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded and occupied Kuwait and declared it to be his nation’s lost 19th province. Said George H. W. Bush, “This will not stand!” Translation: Get out of Kuwait, Saddam, or we will come over there and throw you out. Six months later, after a five-week air assault
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South Korea Started Shrinking in 2020 0
- Culture
- December 4, 2020
It is usual for the two East Asian giants, China and Japan, to hog the demographic headlines, especially those bearing bad news. China is struggling with the fallout of its self-inflicted one child policy disaster, while Japan is in a sustained demographic decline. But sandwiched between these two is a smaller nation with a similar
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Homeschooling More Than Doubled During the Pandemic 0
- Education
- December 4, 2020
Many families took one look at their school district’s remote or hybrid learning offerings this fall and said “no, thank you.” That’s the message gleaned from national and state-specific data on the surging number of homeschooled students this academic year. Prior to the pandemic and related school closures last spring, there were just under two
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Light at the End of the Pandemic 0
- Culture
- December 4, 2020
When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March, most people never imagined the government-imposed restrictions would be as harsh and arbitrary as they have been, nor that the entire affair would drag on into the new year. Yet glimpses of hope are arriving this week, small pieces of good news we can joyfully carry throughout Advent
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