A sleeping State: when being right could be wrong

PHOTO CREDIT: Zulmaury Saavedra, Unsplash
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"Hastings sought DNA testing in 2000 but at that time the DA's office denied the request. Hastings submitted a claim of innocence to the DA's Conviction Integrity Unit last year and DNA testing last June found that the semen was not his."
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https://news.yahoo.com/dna-evidence-frees-california-man-213727536.html
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While this gentleman is not bitter and while he is not pointing fingers at anyone and while he only wants to enjoy the time he has with whatever life he gets to live - a very wholesome and healthy view for him to have - the DA's office in this story should be looked at very closely.   In 2000, 22 years ago,  when DNA could have freed this gentleman,  his request for it to be tested was denied.   This man has spent 38 years of his life in prison - innocent.
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The justice system did not work in this case.  We have nothing to be proud of here.  That Mr. Hastings has peace in his thought and feeling about it all, that his prayers and long suffering were both answered and ended speaks to him,  his resilience, his mental health and his persistence in his goodwill - it however does not extend to the DA or the "justice system" - It failed - again. Had Mr. Hastings resigned in 1983 (let that year sink in for a moment) to what was indeed his 38 year destiny he would have depressingly, angrily and hopelessly never have made it to what, as of 10/22/22, is his freedom.
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I remain convinced that winning and appearing right are what drives our legal system, political system,  educational system,  systems of faith, economic systems and many other "systems" (large and small). Winning and being right are driven by biases. Biases create a refusal to look at other options.  Here the DAs refusal to test DNA 22 years ago (already after Mr. Hastings was in prison for 20 years prior in 2000 when his legal team asked for it) is a tragedy.
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Abandoning being right and winning, driven by a fear of being wrong (usually about how we judge others) shows insecurity, ego anxieties and a sleeping consciousness that would be counted as actual denial.
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I love,  as a mental health professional particularly and as an author regarding the biases of life in PsychoBabbleJabble, that Mr. Hastings is literally and psychologically free.  His life offers much to learn from in regards to the 38 years in prison as a rapist and murderer, convicted and re-convicted and re-convicted - so free as he is and has been in persistence alone.
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That the DAs office in this case is not under investigation for their mistakes,  that they are not being forced to dole out millions to Mr. Hastings, that they are not being considered as criminals themselves may too go back to Mr. Hastings, the gentleman and the man so free as he.

When hurting people is hurting people. Period.

          PHOTO CREDIT: Jair Lázaro, Unsplash

This quote,  in reference to the hammer beating of the husband of Nancy Pelosi may provoke a "pause" to reflect, consider and then change something about a system so flawed as ours:

"There’s no room for violence anywhere, but we’re going to send her back to be with him in California.”

Those words are spoken on a campaign trail speech to voters by a person seeking a top re-election office.

I recall living in DC passing the National Cathedral where John McCain was lying in state and protesting signs were being held up as the motorcade drove by ... this where a spouse and child of their loved one would have to read or be exposed to damning words of their family member.

Police are killing citizens and citizens are killing police.

Lawyers are bringing down lawyers and dirty laundry is flying about everywhere.

Our country is so divided that even the lives of humans are sacrificial to supposed winning and losing causes.

When will the sides stop and the people become a we?
Have "we" ever really become a "we" in the US?
How is it that winning is the goal - almost only?
How is it that hating is justified - to counter hating?

Real people - hurting real people is hurting people.

These words, regardless of what side you're on or what race you're in or what top office you hold are not >the< problem - to be clear.  They are definitely wrong.

A moral judgment here?  Yes. Wrong, as I am calling it, is the right word, when the spouse of an attacked 82 year old spouse is flying home to a brain operated attack victim - and a governor wanna be simultaneously speaks about "...sending her home to be with him in California" in election jargon which was not endearing at all.

Not sure you agree? 

Read the Yahoo story and look at the context with which these words were spewed ... during a life and death kind of day for a married couple in the US.

Burnout or moral Injury?

A phenomenal read...burnout is not the only issue impacting mental healthcare.... here the concept of "moral injury" is addressed... not for patients,  but for providers.  A disconnect is noted between payors, administrators and providers - trickling down to patients.  This author highlights the micro and macro perspectives that intersect in both hope and change.... and mostly in change. 

 

PHOTO CREDIT: Jackson Simmer, Unsplash.

https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/practice/moral-injury-broken-system/

Research discussing healthcare debt ...

Photo Credit: Towfiqu Barbhuiya, Unsplash

The healthcare and health insurance debate in America seems to overlook this very significant detail.    I've said it for years,  in my podcasts,  in my blog,  in my book,  in many posts for many many years the insurance debacle is making people sick.   Something must change.

https://news.yahoo.com/1-5-households-medical-debt-173420850.html

Mental health and law enforcement - slowing down will be part I ...

       PHOTO CREDIT: Josh Couch, Unsplash

This story is an escalation if it's own - readers will jump in and pick sides....but the last 8 words of this one quote is worth a second take:

"De-escalation tactics are no longer suggested or preferred — they are mandatory prior to using force to effect an arrest unless it would be unreasonable to do so..."

Mental health professionals on the ground with crisis phone calls makes sense but this mental health and de-escalation campaign (and again, I'm all for it) must be grounded in the reality of science.   The brain takes over when death or the threat of death is real ... for all humans.   You cannot untrain an automatic trauma take over of the logical brain when adrenaline,  cortisol,  and norepinephrine take over during life threatening events.  This is not trainable.  What is trainable is slowing down.   I'll say that again ... what is trainable is slowing down.   

That slowing down thing is about all humans,  particularly in the US.  High stress is a disaster for everyone.   Now add unsafe careers to the mix of high stress.  Then add a 911 call for the police.   Next add a grab for a gun.  This is a horribly tragic tragic story.  And it saddens me immensely. 

To summarize this event,  by media,  political action and/or by race is only a few factors that,  to me,  makes this story even more depressing (to an already very depressed culture).  To call it a mental health only thing,  a de-escalation only thing is also yet another factor. 

In my own training of de-escalation to schools,  teachers,  to patients going back over a decade... this technique works where the safety (and the safety perception) is present. If someone, even a well trained de-escalation seasoned professional is unsafe - or perceives being imminently in harms way - deescalation techniques will fail as the literal (not fear or scared or uncertainty or even bias) biological hijack of fight/flight hormones splashes the logical brain making it largely - well - kind of dumb if you will.  

The only if I can see time and again in these kinds of stories is that ... IF EVERYONE COULD SLOW DOWN A BIT IN ALL HUMAN INTERACTIONS  this stress response will drop.  

Bias training will help.   De-escalation training will help.   Mental health will help.  

This is not an all or nothing thing.   And the saddest thing of all is that people are dying. 

https://news.yahoo.com/police-video-fatal-encounter-shows-233117194.html 

Insulin price caps - making the news: the argument is wasted money frankly.

For the past week there has been this ruckus over price caps on insulin.  The two party system is blaming the other as bad.  And the masses seem to be on board with the two party blame game.  Here's a different perspective .... there was a report that the pubs voted to block a $35 cap on insulin. Presumably the good idea here was the price cap and presumably it was from the other side ... the dems. Now consider this two party solution for a moment.  $35 for insulin isn't a really a cap; it's still a rip off.  If the pubs voted no,  and the dems put this on the table,  neither set of "representatives" were intending on making a change here.   You see,  $35 isn't the item that should have been in the law ... $8 would be reasonable (and still high frankly).  When the pubs are pushing for change and when the dems are too (#workingtogether) then real laws will be voted on.   It seems like we're continuing to look at the two parties as if they (either one) are really helping the people.     That's not a dem or a pub debate you know?  Helping people; that this is even a debate is telling too, isn't it?  Think about it... people are arguing about a cap that is not affordable for the most vulnerable and most in need... as if excluding some people from needed medical care is reasonable?!?  It's time for real change - like we the people seeing us as allies, not foes.  Narratives are just that ... pitches to convince and sway.  If you had a job for two years and you couldn't improve things ... would you still have that job?  If you had a 77,000 page tax code as your direction manual - could you even begin to get something done?  The ping pong of one side or the other bashing it out closer to elections where billions (read that again - billions) are trashed (into "the other side sucks" marketing) could be changed. Billions into people programs would destroy a BS price cap argument by both parties. Idealistically, we the people could consider that what is being placed into the media narratives continues to divide us as we lash out at one another.   Help is only helpful when it helps.  Can you and I and help? PHOTO CREDIT: Towfiqu barbhuiya, unsplash.

Equality, idealism, mysticism - the law and politics

Equality is so much simpler than our country - myself included - make it.   As PRIDE  and protests abound on this very day -  I simply long for equality.   For you,  for my neighbors, my friends, my family - and for me too.  Idealism, a personality trait that at times seems to hinder and feed my passions of care, and then the nostalgia of my high school youth studying constitutional law and things like indepedence and revolutions for freedoms - I have come to realize how sacred mysticism can blind a soul.  As you and I post hate messages, as we say divisive words against one another we overlook our majority power - caused by a few.  Let that sink in a moment ... "caused by a few" I said.  You see privileged, seasoned, lifetime positioned lawyers and lifetime positioned men and women of wealth on any side of the aisles - a few unaware people of power who cause our collective and cyclical divides. Equality is too too simple - even if some document of anitquity espoused that all are equal - all have inalienable rights ...  The problem is that "all" with any exceptions (and there are so so many exceptions in the rules of law and in the rules of politics - ran by a so very few people) makes equality a falsehood - not an ideal - not a passion - not a truth. And we continue to divide.  Our hate spewing, our side taking and our rock throwing enables the few to continue.   Ideally, we,  the majority would gather in hand holding,  in equal judgements for the greater collective -US- and being to tell the few that they no longer have the power.   We do - as a majority of equals - who when blame is quieted - can begin to see our role in creating change. #equality

~Kurt LaRose

In Her Words and Not Theirs; A Supreme Court Justice Speaks

      PHOTO CREDIT: Anna Sullivan and Unsplash

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These words are so powerful...[I have tried to do my] “best to stay in my lane and to reach a result that is consistent with my understanding of the law and with the obligation to rule independently without fear or favor.”  Supreme Court Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson.  

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Note: I did not hear these words myself ... I read them in an online article that I chose not to reference due to its political spin.  I do believe these are her words however ... that was credible enough.   I also found these words powerful ... while the slant in the media article tragic.