Letters: Still time to stop Nittany Mall casino; ‘Big Lie’ about Putin’s war
Still time to stop Nittany Mall casino
A search for “college students, university students, gambling,” on Google Scholar identifies 21 scholarly articles published between 2018 and 2021. These articles are published in national and international journals by US and international experts in disciplines such as psychiatry, psychology, public health, neurology, sociology and criminology. None of them reveals positive outcomes. All demonstrate risks and dangers to young adults who engage in gambling activities; some investigate the efficacy of therapeutic interventions to treat addictive behaviors and gambling disorder.
Key findings include:
A) Gambling Disorder is classified as DSM-5 addictive disorder.
B) The likelihood of college students experiencing gambling problems ranges from 6%-14.6%.
C) Gambling and substance abuse often overlap among college/university students.
D) Certain sub-groups of college students demonstrate higher rates of problem gambling: Older students (late 20s to early 30s); student-athletes, especially male; students undergoing stressful life events
Ira Lubert (former Penn State trustee) and Bally’s Corporation proposed building a casino at the Nittany Mall, just four miles from the about 48,000 students at Penn State. College Township approved after conducting traffic impact studies and background checks, and after evaluating the potential for municipal tax revenue. The township did not solicit community feedback or review scholarly studies demonstrating long-term outcomes of gambling and casinos before making their decision.
There is still time to stop this casino from being constructed. Please e-mail your opposition to the Nittany Mall Casino to boardclerk@pa.gov, sign the online petition to stop the casino at www.ipetitions.com/petition/saynocasino, and visit SayNoCasino.org for additional ways to help.
‘Big Lie’ about Putin’s war
I’ve been a student of Russia for more than 50 years. As president of an international organization of Russia scholars, I co-hosted keynote speaker, Mikhail Gorbachev, at a conference held in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2006. But I’ve been a foe of Vladimir Putin and believe that the Russian people, in general, are as ignorant and susceptible to propaganda as Americans.
America’s latest “Big Lie,” hyped by government and media, is the lie that Putin’s war on Ukraine was “unprovoked.” In fact, assurances to Russia that NATO would not expand were belied by NATO expansion. Assurances that NATO was a defensive alliance were belied by its offensive war in Yugoslavia. Both the U.S. and NATO repeatedly dismissed complaints by Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin and Putin about the threat Russia felt from NATO expansion — as if their security concerns did not count!
Ever since the U.S.-supported coup in Ukraine in 2014, ignored by our national media, the U.S. and NATO have “supported and continued to arm militias that have been guilty of numerous crimes against civilian populations...including rape, torture, and massacres.” (Jacques Baud).
Considerable evidence indicates that neofacists like Dmytro Yarosh prevented President Zelensky from implementing the promises of peace that secured his election. Instead Zelensky retreated and authorized a troop buildup and the increased shelling of Donbas, which convinced Putin to undertake his preemptive “special military operation.”
One can lament and excoriate Putin’s decision to invade. But one absolutely cannot call it “unprovoked.” Instead call it “Can you hear me now?”
Conflicting views
How can a person be pro-life and anti-vax?
Shouldn’t life be left to natural order with no interference from anyone or thing? Hmm. I think the country has a lot more to worry about like electing good people to office.
Please someone help me out with this.