ST. PAUL — Kris Bolle is living the “van life” these days with Annie, his mini Australian shepherd. Bolle, 46, bought a 2020 Dodge Ram ProMaster cargo van this past fall. The Hayfield resident planned, essentially, a studio apartment inside. The van with a high roof has room for a full bed, a small kitchen area and a writing desk. He saves money by forgoing rent, but there is a cost — isolation. It’s a lifestyle he’s grown accustomed to since he had to hide his sexuality over the years, including in the Navy under the now-defunct “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which allowed gay and lesbian service members to stay in the military as long as they weren’t out, he said. “I had to be very, very tight-lipped about me ... so I’m used to it,” Bolle said. “But yes, it wears on you. It wears you down, and you feel isolated and you feel left out.” About 48% of Minnesotans feel left out some of the time or often, according to the “Minds of Minnesotans” survey conducted by APM Research Lab. The poll also finds that about half of Minnesotans feel lonely, at least some of the time. More specifically, 13% say they “often” lack companionship and another 35% lack companionship “some of the time.” Results were similar when Minnesotans were asked how often they feel left out and isolated from others. Bolle was one of 3,399 participants surveyed by the firm Lumaris. He said he often feels a lack of companionship as well. He hasn’t been in a relationship since 2009. He often feels left out and sometimes feels isolated. “I’m isolated in the sense where I really can’t find a suitable partner,” he said. His social connections are at his nursing assistant job, which he looks forward to, Bolle said. He’s never thoroughly enjoyed a job as much as his role at a skilled nursing facility, he said. “Work is great. I get to see people, I get to interact with people. I get to chat and talk and all the things that you know, that people do,” Bolle said. “That’s really hard to find.” The loneliness epidemic The APM Research Lab included these questions in the survey, conducted this year between July 20 and Nov. 22, to better understand what the U.S. Surgeon General has called “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation.” The three questions used in the APM Research Lab survey were replicated from the widely used UCLA Loneliness Scale to help assess Minnesotans’ state of mind in the post-pandemic era, and possibly to help identify groups of Minnesotans that are faring better or worse with feelings of loneliness and isolation. In 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a report calling loneliness an epidemic, posing significant health risks akin to tobacco usage, obesity and addiction. Loneliness intersects with various aspects of people’s lives, said Carrie Henning-Smith, an associate professor in the Division of Health Policy and Management at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. “Social isolation and loneliness have profound impacts on health, on mortality risks, on all of the ways that our lives play out within health, within that sphere, but in so many other ways, too,” said Henning-Smith, who conducts research on rural populations as the co-director of the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center and the Rural Health Program. According to the U.S. Surgeon General report, “the physical health consequences of poor or insufficient connection include a 29 percent increased risk of heart disease, a 32 percent increased risk of stroke, and a 50 percent increased risk of developing dementia for older adults.” A lack of social connections increases the risk of premature death by more than 60%, the report added. Mary Jo Kreitzer, the founder and director of the Earl Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota, said the report is significant. “Just by him [Murthy] touching that subject, everybody remembers that he did,” she said. “People remembered that. Because I’m sure that everybody has somebody like that in their life, or they themselves are feeling lonely.” There’s also a stigma surrounding the idea of loneliness. “People are reluctant to admit that they feel lonely. It somehow means like that you’re unlikable or unlovable or there’s something wrong with you,” Henning-Smith said. “It’s important to have these conversations, because the truth is, just about everyone will feel lonely at some point in their life.” she added. “It's a universal part of being human.” Kreitzer said the data reported by APM Lab is comparable to other global and U.S. data on the subject. “Other studies, like this one found that loneliness peaks in younger age groups,” she said, calling it “a very interesting finding.” The survey found that the Gen Z cohort of 18 to 27, were the most lonely. “That surprises a lot of people, but I think it’s consistent with other data,” Kreitzer said. She said people assume that older people suffer from loneliness because they lack the social connections they once had earlier in their lives. The survey data, instead, showed that baby boomers, currently aged 60-78, are the least lonely of adult-age generations in Minnesota: 63% score as “rarely lonely” and only 7% indicated frequent loneliness. “Sometimes, like in the boomer generation, when people have retired, they actually have more time to build and strengthen connections,” Kreitzer said. “Boomers can be great at joining groups, pursuing interests, be that hobbies or fitness activities or book clubs or volunteering, and all of those are ways that can really help us build social connections.” She said her local YMCA in Grand Rapids is a hub of activity with engaged older folks. She sees them playing cards, working out, swimming and more. Gen Zers, however, are experiencing numerous life transitions. “During that age, they’re expected to separate from their family, to find a partner, to launch a career,” Kreitzer said. “So there’s been a lot of disruption in social connections that they probably have had in their life for a long, long time.” Henning-Smith called the loneliness rates among young adults “concerning.” Social media and technology may explain part of the higher rates. “People who live their lives online, people who are digital natives and were born into a world where they’re living their lives online, have fundamentally different ways of connecting with other people,” Henning-Smith said. “I worry that some of those skills and some of the infrastructure for connecting with people in meaningful ways and in-person connections might be lacking for some folks in younger generations.” Kreitzer suggests to those who may have frequent bouts of loneliness to acknowledge the feelings. Don’t ignore them. She advises them to reach out to family and friends to try to build or rebuild social connections. She also encourages people to join groups based on their interests. Kreitzer highly recommends volunteering because of the health benefits associated with it. “There’s actually research on that that, like, volunteering helps improve our own well-being,” she said. “It can actually improve our overall positive outlook, our mental health and well-being.” Rugged yet lonely individuals Back in Hayfield, Bolle said he tries to find community to fend off his loneliness. His location is a challenge because he finds groups in the Twin Cities some 90 miles away. He belongs to a spiritual group that meets once a week in Rochester, but that’s a 52-mile round trip, so he only goes from time to time. Bolle also prepares himself to encounter situations that bring on feelings of loneliness when he goes to Rochester on his weekends to run errands. “When I see families out having fun together, or groups of people, groups of young people, you know, out together and having fun, that can trigger pangs of loneliness,” he said. “I just feel like I’m missing out on human connection.” He said when he was younger, he bought into society’s emphasis on rugged individualism. “But it just doesn’t work, because you will almost ultimately, always end up feeling lonely,” he said. When he traveled the world with the Navy, Bolle said he saw community and family as top priorities in other countries as well as in the Mexican and Latino communities of Southern California where he grew up. “You really do need that connection with other people,” he said. “It’s almost as important as food and shelter, you know?” The data and the heart appear to agree. This story was originally published on MPRNews.orgbet777 slot 。

Former president Rodrigo Duterte warned the public about messing with his daughter, Sara Duterte, in a speech before a gathering of businessmen in October 2018. Five months later in March 2019, he told a gathering of barangay officials that “Inday is worse than me,” referring to his daughter. Duterte disclosed that he “could not control his daughter” as she was “really hard to deal with.” In January 2024, self-confessed Davao Death Squad assassin Arturo Lascañas told the media that he submitted a 186-page affidavit to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which he said contains information on the involvement of VP Sara in the extrajudicial killings in Davao City. Lascañas disclosed that it was the Vice President who initiated “Oplan Tokhang” when she was Davao City mayor in 2012, and she did so in tandem with Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who was then the city police chief. Lascañas also revealed that the total number of extrajudicial killings in Davao City is more or less 10,000. Lascañas then called on President Marcos to be careful and not to trust the Duterte father and daughter whom he branded as “traitors.” Just a month ago on Oct. 18, 2024, VP Sara threatened to dig up the remains of Mr. Marcos’ dictator father and throw them into the sea. She revealed that she “imagined herself cutting off his head,” referring to the President. And then last Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, VP Sara went on a verbal rampage, disclosing that she gave orders that, in the event she is killed, an assassin she hired would kill Mr. Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez. If Duterte’s personality is an indication of the temperament inherited and grown into by his children, then intemperate words are followed through with dreadful deeds. Verbal threats made by the Dutertes are figuratively the tip of the iceberg. Beneath the surface lies colossal rage raring to emerge as a monstrosity of wrongful conduct. At his final campaign rally for the presidency in May 2016, Duterte gave advance warning to the nation when he said: “Forget the laws on human rights. If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because I’d kill you. I’ll dump all of you into Manila Bay, and fatten all the fish there.” After he assumed the presidency, Duterte transformed his words into bloody deeds and 30,000 lives of mere drug suspects, mistaken identities, palit-ulo victims, collateral fatalities, and casualties of brazen rubouts by police rascals, were lost. Now comes Mr. Duterte’s daughter—whom he describes as a worse version of him—verbalizing vile intent. We can strongly sense wrath wanting to be transformed into deeds. There’s now a crescendo of talks that, in addition to criminal charges, VP Sara will face impeachment. If successful, she will not only be removed as vice president, but will be permanently disqualified from any public post. That will obliterate the Dutertes’ chances of regaining the presidency in 2028. The specter of impeachment gives the Dutertes critical reasons to obsess on ousting the Marcoses, by fair or foul means. It will fast-track their return to Malacañang because VP Sara will succeed as president. Once they manage to get a backdoor reentry to Malacañang before 2028, it will be a cinch for them to extend their reign for six more years until 2034. Also, the removal of the Marcoses will ensure their political survival, which is now facing an existential threat. Even Duterte is now openly calling on the military to launch a coup d’état to oust Mr. Marcos. Will all these result in the conviction and imprisonment of Duterte and VP Sara via domestic prosecution? Fat chance. All these efforts will only be used to deflate the ambitions of the Dutertes and cut them back to size as political pygmies. The only objective is to preserve and lengthen the reign of the Marcoses and their chosen successors. Once this is ensured, the Dutertes will be set free. Our country’s political elite are too cliquish and clannish to allow the permanent punishment of one of their own. We have repeatedly seen this in the fates of Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla, among others. The Marcoses owe the Dutertes big time because of their patriarch’s entombment in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, and the huge political capital loaned by the Dutertes to the Marcoses that proved pivotal in their reconquest of Malacañang. There’s humongous utang na loob to repay. Besides, the Dutertes can use their command votes as currency to buy their freedom from succeeding administrations, because they will be useful as co-opted political deputies in southern Philippines. In the end, it will only be the drug war lieutenants, the education secretary’s alter egos, and the vice president’s gofers, who will fall by the sword. —————- Comments to [email protected] Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy .Eagles look to clinch NFC East title while Cowboys hope to play spoilerMeet Olivia Ponton, Model Who Called 911 To Report Joe Burrow's Home Break-In

The Eagles added a knee injury for wide receiver A.J. Brown to the practice report Thursday. Brown did not practice Tuesday in the team’s first practice of the week, but it was listed as only a rest day for him. He was limited Thursday. Brown originally injured his left knee last Thursday, and Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports Brown was wearing a soft brace on his knee after today’s practice. Brown played all 74 snaps in Sunday’s loss to the Commanders. He has 64 receptions for 1,043 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games this season. Quarterback Jalen Hurts (concussion/left finger) and running back Will Shipley (concussion) remained out of Thursday’s practice. Linebacker Nakobe Dean (abdomen) and outside linebacker Josh Sweat (ankle/rest) were limited after not practicing Tuesday. Sweat was not listed with an ankle injury until Thursday. Quarterback Kenny Pickett (ribs) was a full participant after limited work Tuesday. He will start if Hurts isn’t cleared from concussion protocol, which seems likely.