Shared by Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American on October 17, 2020 

"He wantonly tears at the fabric of our democracy without care or concern for the destruction he causes. Cultural divides, racial unrest, economic disparity and constitutional abuses are just tools to be used to feed his narcissism, advance his political ambitions and line his pockets" ..... "Trump or America,” she wrote. “We cannot have both.” .... Read the complete article on USA Today

The building has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. It became known as the “White House” because because its white-gray freestone contrasted strikingly with the red brick of nearby buildings. 

Designed by Irish-born architect James Hoban in the neoclassical style. The original construction took place between 1792 and 1800. During the War of 1812, the mansion was set on fire by the British Army in the Burning of Washington, destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior. Reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed Executive Residence in October 1817... Read more

Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American

Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of Hands) Located in the Valley of the Pinturas River, province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, The art in the cave dates from 13,000 to 9,000 years ago. Bone-made pipes were used for spraying the paint on the wall of the cave to create silhouettes of hands. Read more  --   See more images and learn more 

Finding yourself in a mismatched career can be a distressing situation, but even more worrisome is not even being aware your career is wrong for you. Perhaps you’ve been suspecting it for some time or maybe not at all. Regardless, there are a few signs to watch out for that are indicative of the fact that your career is wrong for you.

Above all else, when determining whether or not a career is right for you, it is important to understand that a period of introspection will be required. The downsides of ending up in the wrong career can lead to an unhealthier lifestyle, so it is important to be honest with yourself if you suspect you aren’t in the correct career. 

Do You Get Bored Easily at Work?

There’s nothing wrong with being bored at work. In fact, Udemy published a study that found up to 43 percent of American office workers are bored at their job. It’s unrealistic to assume that every second of your job will capture your undivided attention. With that said, if every second of the day seems boring to you, then there may be an undiscussed problem. 

When it comes to some of the top reasons for leaving a job, a lack of a challenge is high up on the list. As counterintuitive as it may seem, people enjoy work that makes them think. The brain is a muscle and it needs to be trained like the rest of the muscles in your body. Having a mindless job can quickly lead to burnout and contribute to greater stress in your life.

Boredom at work is only natural, but there should be plenty of aspects of your job that keeps you interested and excited to come to the office each and every day. Don’t settle for a job where your mind can simply go on autopilot—find a path that challenges you.

Are Your Skills Underutilized?

Something that can quickly lead to feelings of a mismatched career is a mismatched skillset. If you studied a certain field and graduated expecting to go into it, it can be disheartening to discover you’ve landed a job that uses almost none of those developed skills.

A good sign that you are in a career that is a good fit for your skills is that you feel challenged to a healthy degree while at work. Otherwise, it’s possible that your job may actually not be stimulating to you. In a study, the Washington Post found that only 27 percent of new graduates land a job related to their major. Now, surely, a fair number of the other 73 percent could potentially have chosen a different path, but it is more likely that they accepted a career which presented itself to them.

Landing a job that does not use your skillset is a quick way to grow tired of the job. Try not to stay in a career that simply doesn’t fascinate you. If your skills are underutilized, it’s worth brushing up on how to write a resignation letter and searching for a new path immediately.

Have You Found Yourself Complaining About Your Job?

One of the easiest ways to discover that your career path isn’t for you is by reflecting on whether or not you are that friend who is always complaining about work to other friends. However, there is an important distinction to be made here. If you complain about your work, try to discover if it is the specific job you have or the actual career path.

If it is the latter that bothers you, then you have your answers for whether or not the career you’re in is right for you. Everybody complains about work but doing so every day without any improvements is a huge sign that your career is not right for you. Should you find yourself in this position, consider making a career switch to a path that may better suit your interests and skills.

When it comes to changing careers, discovering the optimal path can seem daunting. However, make use of resources such as coding bootcamps that offer intensive courses in new fields and can potentially prepare you for a new career.

Conclusion

Regardless of whether or not you currently think your career is a mismatch, it’s important to be completely honest with yourself. Your work will make up a large part of your life and should not be something that you simply settle on. Being passionate and enjoying your work is the greatest path to career success. However, you’ll never be passionate about your work if you are in the wrong career. For that reason, don’t stop searching for work until you find a path that lights a fire in your heart.

A plea from Frank W. Fox, professor of American history, life-long conservative, and patriot, to members of the LDS faith:

Dear Sister or Brother,

My name is Prof. Frank W. Fox. I taught American History at Brigham Young University until my retirement in 2006, and, along with my colleague Clayne Pope, created the university’s American Heritage Program, under the guidance of the First Presidency. Some of you may have been my students. I also wrote a biography of President J. Reuben Clark, also under the direction of the First Presidency.

Both of these experiences grew out of my love for our country and my lifelong devotion to American ideals. For those same reasons, I am writing this letter to share with you my deep concern about the approaching election. Although I am a conservative Republican, I will not be voting for Donald Trump in November. I would like to explain why.

For me, the choice is not between Republican or Democratic policies, nor between Liberal or Conservative principles. It is a choice growing out of the very nature and being of our democracy—which is far more fragile than most Americans realize. Democracy depends on more than party preferences or individual interests, it depends on critical qualities of mind and spirit. Our Founding Fathers knew this profound truth in the marrow of their bones.

I have the gravest misgivings about certain of those qualities of mind and spirit. I would like to set down a few of these for your consideration.

First, there is the matter of truth-telling. No President of the United States can make falsehood a common, daily practice. No free government can stand on a foundation of lies. False-speaking in the public square will destroy the soul of America as surely as it destroyed the souls of Italy and Germany before World War II. The first requirement of any would-be dictator is the ability to lie convincingly, and the first attribute of a people he intends to enslave is their willingness to believe his lies.

Second, Mr. Trump has preached fear and divisiveness among the American people, then used these raw emotions to create a mindless, militant personal following. With this private army, which believes every word he utters, he holds the Republicans of both houses under his thumb—some of them in sheer terror— thus destroying the Constitution’s single most important check and balance. This is precisely how democracies have met their end from ancient times to the present.

Third, in a democracy no one can be above the law, not even the President. Mr. Trump seems to reject this crucial principle. He has violated the laws of the United States in large ways and small ones, often with disastrous results. People have gone to prison for the violations he instigated—one of them cynically pardoned by himself! He was impeached for violating the law and would have been convicted if Senators had been free to vote their consciences.

Fourth, no American patriot can maintain an intimate, secret, and possibly dependent relationship with a foreign adversary. It is absolutely unthinkable. There is overwhelming evidence that our President does in fact have such a relationship with Vladimir Putin, and that this relationship has resulted in the undermining of our most sacred institution, free elections. It is so well documented that it is virtually beyond question.

Finally, no President in our history has been guilty of shirking the Chief Executive’s single most important responsibility—that of protecting the people. President Trump’s handing of the COVID pandemic cannot be seen in any other light than a callous disregard for the safety of the American people in the sole interest of furthering his own political advantage. I have studied his every move in this regard, and I have listened to his every excuse. None of them works.

These things are not “just politics.” They are not incidental and harmless. They are not “fake news.” They are beyond all constitutional limits and outside of all historical precedent. I can scroll through every President from George Washington to Barrack Obama without finding a single instance (including Watergate) of misconduct on this scale.

The death of every democracy begins with a stolen election. The tyrant simply rejects the voice of the people and turns instead to power for its own sake— always claiming that the election was “rigged.” If he cannot win legitimately, he will win by any means available to him, and then just keep right on “winning.” That was what happened to Putin’s Russia.

One final comment. It was recently reported that Vice President Pence, in visiting Arizona, intimated that the General Authorities of the LDS Church were quietly supporting the President. I will bet my eternal salvation against that. The values of patriotism, truthfulness, justice, honor, decency and respect for the law are deeply ingrained in LDS culture. Few church members in full possession of the facts would condone what I have described above.

For these and other reasons, my vote is going to Joe Biden in this election—for his balance, for his wisdom, for his humanity, and more than anything else, for his power to heal. Our country is sorely in need of that.

If any of this touches your heart, please help me to spread this vitally important message. The future of our democracy depends on it.

Sincerely, Frank W. Fox

If you have further interest in exploring these issues, please consult the website SaveOurElection.org

When it comes to health care, President Donald Trump has promised far more than he has delivered. But that doesn’t mean his administration has had no impact on health issues — including the operation of the Affordable Care Act, prescription drug prices and women’s access to reproductive health services............ Continue Reading

All elections are important. Make your vote count

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020) - Wrote an essay when she was 13 years old which was published in her synagogue bulletin urging congregants to rid themselves of hate and prejudice. The essay, dated June 2, 1946 and titled "One People" was published in Ginsburg’s 2017 book “My Own Words”, which contains a collection of her speeches and writings as well as her thoughts on growing up in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood.

One People

The war has left a bloody trail and many deep wounds not too easily healed. Many people have been left with scars that take a long time to pass away. We must never forget the horrors which our brethren were subjected to in Bergen-Belsen and other Nazi concentration camps. Then, too, we must try hard to understand that for righteous people hate and prejudice are neither good occupations nor fit companions. "Rabbi Alfred Bettleheim once said: 'Prejudice saves us a painful trouble, the trouble of thinking'.” In our beloved land families were not scattered, communities not erased nor our nation destroyed by the ravages of the World War.

Yet, dare we be at ease? We are part of a world whose unity has been almost completely shattered. No one can feel free from danger and destruction until the many torn threads of civilization are bound together again. We cannot feel safer until every nation, regardless of weapons or power, will meet together in good faith, the people worthy of mutual association. 

There can be a happy world and there will be once again, when men create a strong bond towards one another, a bond unbreakable by a studied prejudice or a passing circumstance. Then and only then shall we have a world built on the foundation of the Fatherhood of God and whose structure is the Brotherhood of Man.

So the Covid-in-Chief knew how deadly the virus was back in the beginning, just didn’t want to scare us. The Head Cheerleader wanted to paint a smiley face on the coronavirus, tell us it would fade away, tell us it was contained, tell us we didn’t need to wear masks or avoid crowded bars, assure us there was nothing to fear here. Right. This from the Town Crier whose doom and gloom messages about everything from immigrant caravans to socialist takeovers are intended to scare the pants off every undecided voter in the country. Continue reading

https://medium.com/swlh/2020-a-turning-point-for-humane-technology-6ba788d2a7f5

Where do we want to live in the years ahead? Older adults are asking this question anew in light of the ongoing toll of the coronavirus pandemic — disrupted lives, social isolation, mounting deaths. Many are changing their minds............ Continue reading

The best one could say is that it is another demonstration of carelessness. Read the Politico article

At least 115 people were injured this summer when police shot them in the head or neck with so-called “less-lethal” projectiles at protests over racial injustice and police brutality, according to a report published Monday.

It’s the most comprehensive tally of such injuries to date, with about twice as many victims as KHN and USA Today cited in a July examination of how police across the U.S. wielded the weapons to control crowds.

But Physicians for Human Rights, the organization that compiled the incidents, believes even its figures are an undercount because its analysis is based on publicly available data and excluded some reports without adequate evidence.

The organization identified Austin, Texas; Portland, Oregon; and Los Angeles as hot spots during the period studied, May 26 to July 27.

Abigail Rodas, who was shot in the jaw with a rubber bullet on May 30, was one of the victims in Los Angeles, according to a lawsuit filed against the city and the police chief on behalf of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Community Action Network and 14 people, including six who were struck with projectiles.

According to the suit, Rodas was leaving a protest when she “was struck in the face by a projectile and momentarily lost consciousness.”

A steel plate was used to repair her jawbone, the lawsuit says. She couldn’t talk for about 10 days and could drink only liquids for a week, it says.

“Nearly three weeks after the injury, she has screws in her gums and rubber bands to immobilize her jaw while the bones rejoin,” the suit says.

The city denied the allegations in a court filing, saying any use of force “was reasonable and necessary for self-defense.”

Protests Shine Light on Use of ‘Less-Lethal’ Weapons

The sheer number of incidents in those two months was shocking, said Dr. Rohini Haar, lead investigator for the analysis and an emergency physician in Oakland, California.

“It seems systematic,” Haar said. “It seems like there needs to be a reckoning with the use of force in protests.”

The projectiles in question are often called “rubber bullets,” but in law enforcement they’re known as “kinetic impact projectiles.”

They include plastic projectiles tipped with hard sponge or foam, “bean bag” rounds that consist of fabric socks containing metal shot, and “Sting-Balls” — grenades that spray hard rubber pellets. The report also cites incidents in which tear gas canisters were fired at people.

Though the weapons are referred to as “less lethal,” Haar said, there should be a shift to language that acknowledges how dangerous they can be. “Weapons are just as lethal as somebody wants them to be,” she said.

A study published in 2017 in the medical journal BMJ Open, which Haar co-authored, found that 3% of people hit by projectiles worldwide died. Fifteen percent of the 1,984 people studied were permanently injured.

In a letter to the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, a group of Austin doctors said 19 patients were treated for bean bag-related wounds at the downtown hospital closest to the protests over two days in late May.

For its analysis, Physicians for Human Rights searched social media, news accounts, lawsuits and other publicly available sources. They counted incidents on social media only if they were documented by photos or videos, and included news reports without visual evidence only from major newspapers or local affiliates of major outlets.

Physicians for Human Rights identified by name most of the people who were struck.

Among the group’s recommendations are banning weapons that release scattershot or multiple projectiles from a single canister because they can hit people indiscriminately, Haar said. Metal projectiles are particularly dangerous, she said.

She called for more training and adherence to departments’ rules on the use of such weapons.

“One of the findings of our study is police do not even appear to be following their own protocols for how to use these weapons or when,” Haar said.

There are no national standards for police use of less-lethal projectiles and no comprehensive data on their use, USA Today found.

Demonstrators in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, San Jose, Denver and Dallas told USA Today they were shot with less-lethal projectiles even though those departments don’t allow the weapons to be used against nonviolent people. Some witnesses said police aimed at faces or fired at close range.

Police have said they fired the weapons to protect themselves and property in chaotic, dangerous situations.

‘Protesters Feel Like They’re Being Attacked’

Haar, who has been studying these projectiles since 2014, said they have no place in crowd control. “Even before you get to the use of weapons, there needs to be a change in how we engage with protesters in terms of communication,” she said.

For example, police can get the phone number of a protest leader, opening the lines of communication. Police have other options besides firing projectiles, Haar said, such as “arresting the person that is actually violent, not just dispersing the entire crowd, or changing what you decide is an illegal assembly.”

Haar said the use of these projectiles tends to escalate tensions, “where the protesters feel like they’re being attacked.” Those who aren’t struck, she said, “are often incited. It’s not until that full crowd is dispersed that the anger goes away. The volatility has a cumulative impact that can last weeks or months.”

At least seven major U.S. cities and a few states have enacted or proposed limits on the use of less-lethal projectiles.

However, similar efforts have stalled in the face of opposition from police agencies or other critics. And as the summer stretched on, local and federal law enforcement agencies continued to use less-lethal weapons when confronting protesters.

Haar said city councils have reached out to her recently, showing they are “really trying to reckon with what they want in their communities.”

“I see more hope now than I have in all of my years of research,” she said. “I think the attention now is remarkable, and we actually have a really good chance of getting some actual, meaningful change.”

USA Today’s Kevin McCoy contributed to this report.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

"Most of the plastic we recycle will not be turned into new plastic things. It is buried..... And what's more, the makers of plastic — the nation's largest oil and gas companies — have known this all along, even as they spent millions of dollars telling the American public the opposite. Analysts now expect new plastic production to triple by 2050" Click to read the NPR article by Laura Sullivan

n documents dating to 2006, government officials predicted that a pandemic would threaten critical businesses and warned them to prepare. Meatpacking companies largely ignored them, and now nearly every one of the predictions has come true...... Continue Reading

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This fall’s elections are the latest chapter in the slow-motion collapse of the U.S. Postal Service, one of America’s most venerated institutions........... Continue Reading

By June 1920,  the 19th amendment was ratified by 35 of the necessary 36 state legislatures. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee was the last of the necessary 36 ratifying states to vote and secure adoption.  Representative Harry B Harry Burn, a 24 -year-old Republican, voted yes. Burn said he supported women's suffrage as a "moral right", but had voted against it before because he believed his constituents opposed it. In the final minutes before the vote, he received a note from his mother, urging him to vote yes. 

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