Baylor University Medical Center – by Robert F. Reilly, MD

This review describes medical and surgical care during the American Civil War. This era is often referred to in a negative way as the Middle Ages of medicine in the United States. Many misconceptions exist regarding the quality of care during the war. It is commonly believed that surgery was often done without anesthesia, that many unnecessary amputations were done, and that care was not state of the art for the times. None of these assertions is true. Physicians were practicing in an era before the germ theory of disease was established, before sterile technique and antisepsis were known, with very few effective medications, and often operating 48 to 72 hours with no sleep. Each side was woefully unprepared, in all aspects, for the extent of the war and misjudged the degree to which each would fight for their cause. Despite this, many medical advances and discoveries occurred as a result of the work of dedicated physicians on both sides of the conflict.

Continue reading “Medical and surgical care during the American Civil War, 1861–1865”

Denver Post

Thousands of court cases across Colorado — hundreds of them involving violent felonies — are hidden from public view, concealed behind judges’ orders that can remain in effect for years, The Denver Post has found.

More than 6,700 civil and criminal cases have been restricted from public access since 2013, usually by judges who agreed to a request from prosecutors or defense lawyers to shield them, The Post found. Of those, 3,076 are still under suppression orders that keep the details away from the public — 345 are felony criminal cases — as they work their way through the legal system, according to state computer records.   Continue reading “Shrouded justice: Thousands of Colorado court cases hidden from public view on judges’ orders”

Forbes

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the 21 youth plaintiffs in the constitutional climate change lawsuit filed against the federal government, Juliana v. United States.

The plaintiffs allege that the United States government’s affirmative actions caused climate change, violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, and failed to protect essential public trust resources.   Continue reading “Children Change The Climate In The US Supreme Court — 1st Climate Lawsuit Goes Forward”

Daily Mail

This is the emotional moment when a mother was ordered to hand over custody of her young son to child protective services because she tried to hald the boy from undergoing chemotherapy.

An emotional Candace Gunderson hugged her son Nick, 13, in a New York airport just days after the boy failed to show up for a scheduled treatment at an NYU hospital, prompting  Suffolk County Child Protective Services to obtain a court order forcing him to receive chemotherapy.   Continue reading “Mother loses custody of her leukemic son, 13, to child services after she tried to put a stop to his chemo once he was in remission”

MSN

FALFURRIAS, Tex. —Gun-carrying civilian groups and border vigilantes have heard a call to arms in President Trump’s warnings about threats to American security posed by caravans of Central American migrants moving through Mexico. They’re packing coolers and tents, oiling rifles and tuning up aerial drones, with plans to form caravans of their own and trail American troops to the border.

“We’ll observe and report, and offer aid in any way we can,” said Shannon McGauley, a bail bondsman in the Dallas suburbs who is president of the Texas Minutemen. McGauley said he was preparing to head for the Rio Grande in coming days.  Continue reading “U.S. militia groups head to border, stirred by Trump’s call to arms”

Library of Congress

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on July 9, 1868, and granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed. In addition, it forbids states from denying any person “life, liberty or property, without due process of law” or to “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” By directly mentioning the role of the states, the 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans and is cited in more litigation than any other amendment.   Continue reading “14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution”

The Intercept – by Emma Whitford

RONALD SYLVAIN WAS feeling confident as he approached the U.S.-Canada border crossing in Champlain, New York in a taxi with his wife and their 9-month-old son last July. The 36-year-old Haitian national had been assured that it was best to “do it legally.” After all, they are professionals: Ronald is an economist and his wife Pamela is a nurse. While other refugees opted to roll their suitcases into Canada over a narrow dirt path five miles to the west at Roxham Road, border agents would surely understand Ronald’s asylum request, based on the fact that gangs in Haiti had threatened him.   Continue reading ““The United States Is Not A Safe Country”: Canadian Advocates Want To End A Policy That Turns Asylum-Seekers Back To U.S.”

PIX 11

NEW YORK — A broadcast described as a radio version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying boo. But it was more of a scream on the night before Halloween 80 years ago tonight — and it frightened everyone half to death.

“Ladies and gentlemen I have a grave announcement to make,” the announcer intoned at the time. “As incredible as it may seem, those strange beings that landed in the Jersey farmlands tonight are the vanguard of an invading army from the planet Mars.”   Continue reading “‘War of the Worlds’ radio broadcast sparked panic across country 80 years ago”

WCAX

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) University of Vermont officials are preparing for the worst Tuesday by working with the FBI to prepare for a mass shooting event.

The FBI says it’s valuable for the bureau to work with local law enforcement because they are exposed to many different types of emergency events.   Continue reading “UVM working with FBI on active shooter training”

LA Times, Dec 18, 2008

Dr. D. Carleton Gajdusek, the brilliant yet deeply flawed pediatrician, virologist and anthropologist who won the 1976 Nobel Prize in medicine for his identification and description of kuru, the exotic disease of a remote tribe in New Guinea that was caused by a family of mysterious agents called prions, died Dec. 12 at the hotel where he lived in Tromso, Norway. He was 85.

No cause of death has been released, but he had suffered for years from congestive heart failure, according to his biographer and former student, Dr. Robert Klitzman of Columbia University.   Continue reading “Regarding the study of Kuru and Cannibalism: D. Carleton Gajdusek dies at 85; Nobel Prize winner identified exotic disease, was unrepentant pedophile”

Daily Mail

Anti-vaccine billboards claiming routine childhood shots are deadly are popping up across in several states

Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia are just a few of the states with billboards that declare ‘vaccines can kill’ and ‘there is no such thing as a safe vaccine’.  Continue reading “Anti-Vaccines on Billboards in many States”

AP

BELLMAWR, N.J. (AP) — A quick eye by Goodwill workers in southern New Jersey turned up framed pages from an original 1774 Philadelphia newspaper with an iconic “Unite or Die” snake design on the masthead.

The frayed Dec. 28, 1774, edition of the “Pennsylvania Journal and the Weekly Advertiser” boasts three items signed by John Hancock, then president of the Provincial Congress, who pleads for the Colonies to fight back “enemies” trying to divide them.   Continue reading “Goodwill workers in NJ find original 1774 ‘rebel’ newspaper”

Seven Days – by Paul Heintz

Corey Bertrand’s home security camera caught an unexpected visitor poking around his Franklin property last November: Gov. Phil Scott.

Earlier that fall, the governor had learned that state regulators were planning to force Bertrand to remove the 4,800-square-foot house he’d built in a protected wetland. Scott had asked his staff to look into the situation, but when he found himself in the neighborhood, he figured he’d check it out himself.   Continue reading “Drain the Swamp? Scott Wades Into State Wetland Dispute”

Delaware Public Media – by Nick Ciolino

A Superior Court judge ruled against regulations on carrying guns in Delaware State Parks last week.

The Delaware Supreme Court declared a ban on non-hunting firearms in state parks and forests unconstitutional last year.   Continue reading “Judge overturns regulations on guns in Delaware State Parks”

Jamestown Sun

DRY CREEK, Fla.- Up a red dirt road in the center of the Florida Panhandle, past fields of ripening cotton, the piney woods looks like pick-up sticks. Some trees are bent like praying mantises, and the few power poles still standing lean at precarious angles, their wires doing loop-the-loops around outstretched limbs.

Until Saturday, when neighbors broke through with chainsaws and an excavator, the Lipford home, sitting on 160 acres the family has owned since the Civil War, was cut off from civilization. The only way into the property was on an all-terrain vehicle crossing the waterlogged pastures and over bridges built of wooden pallets. Continue reading “‘We’re back to frontier days’: Michael’s aftermath in Florida”

Maine Public – by Ed Morin

The idled Old Town Mill has a new buyer.  ND Paper LLC says it’s purchasing the paper mill, which has had several owners in recent years.  It’s currently owned by OTM Holdings LLC.

ND paper, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China-based Nine Dragons Paper, also owns a paper mill in Rumford.  The company says it plans several changes to the Old Town operation it expects to substantially lower manufacturing costs.    Continue reading “Idled Old Town Paper Mill Being Bought By China-Based Owner Of Rumford Mill”

Delaware Public Media

Wilmington City Council has passed an ordinance that aims to limit children’s consumption of sugary beverages.

The new ordinance limits the default beverages served with children’s meals at restaurants in the city to water or flavored water with no added sweeteners, milk — including flavored milk— or fruit juice with no added sweeteners.   Continue reading “Wilmington City Council approves sugary drink limits”

North Country Public Radio

Fourteen-year-old Caydden Zimmerman’s school days start early and end late.

He has a 90-minute bus ride to get from the homeless shelter where he is staying in Boise, Idaho, to his middle school. He wakes up at 5:45 a.m., quickly brushes his teeth and smooths some gel in his hair, and then he dashes downstairs to catch his school bus.   Continue reading “Trying Not To Break Down — A Homeless Teen Navigates Middle School”