Monumental Impact – July 18, 2022 – One of his most famous installations, erected in 1976 — the bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence — is “Clothespin,” a 45-foot-high, 10-ton black steel sculpture of precisely what the title indicates, complete with a metal spring that appropriately evokes the number 76 in Philadelphia. more@NYT
Author: Leonard Buschel
A VERY CATCHY DIRGE? – July 11, 2022 – “I thought she shouldn’t be doing that. Who is this, this Amy Winehouse? I got to look her up. And then I started thinking more about it,” Jordan told host Dave Cobb. “If you listen close to it, it’s a plea, just kind of I’m going to listen to my daddy, I’m going to listen to this, I’m not quite ready to go. And I thought, you know what? That’s the real essence of recovery right there. That’s the essence of recovery. You can lead a horse to water. You…
STICK WITH THE WINNERS! – July 8, 2022 – York’s award winning animation is as unique as he is. Each frame of York’s animation is a piece of art in itself, drawn by York and added to the timeline to create a moving piece of art (the old fashioned way). Combined with York’s story telling abilities, all make for an animation style, different than any other and makes for great entertainment. This was proven at the 2010 Beverly Hills Film Festival, where York beat out his high-tech (pixar-style) competitors for “Best Animated Short” for his own production, 7 “Weaks”. …
IT WASN’T JUST PURDUE – July 11, 2022 – In a court filing, Attorney General Letitia James said new evidence showed that a senior Teva tax executive had in a sworn affidavit made “demonstrably false” representations that the parent did not promote or sell opioids in the United States, or control Teva Pharmaceuticals USA’s finances or activities. “This new evidence shows an even greater disregard for the pain and destruction that this company fueled,” and may constitute a “fraud on the court,” James said. The attorney general also said Teva’s use of offshore accounts to shelter potentially large sums of…
GANG OF FOUR – June 30, 2022 – In a major blow to the government, a federal jury acquitted Dr. Bothra and three other doctors of all charges this week, with Bothra going home a free man, stopping first at McDonalds for his first meal out of prison in almost three years. “He was in tears at the verdict,” Weiss said of his client. “He’s still in a state of shock. He lost three and-a-half years of his life unnecessarily.” Bothra, 80, a well-connected Bloomfield Hills surgeon and philanthropist who did work with Mother Theresa, adopted a child from…
AUDIO – IT ALL STARTS WITH WORDS ON THE PAGE – July 12, 2022 – “It’s really great to see the show getting accolades,” Macy said. As one of the executive producers of her show, Macy will get to personally take home a trophy if “Dopesick” wins the outstanding limited or anthology series category. The Emmys will air at 8 p.m. Sept. 12 on NBC. The winner of the outstanding limited or anthology series category figures to be either “Dopesick” or HBO’s “The White Lotus,” which received 20 nominations Tuesday. “The White Lotus” is a comedic limited series about the…
THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD… – July 12, 2022 – A hole in a chain-link fence around the restaurant parking lot opened onto a ragged train of tents. They clung to a steep embankment above eight lanes of whooshing traffic on the 101 Freeway. From her vantage point, Mckenzie should have been able to see her encampment. But while she was in court, a Caltrans crew had cleaned her out. Everything was gone: the tent with built-in lights, a blow-up mattress, a new laptop, her birth certificate, housing papers and prenatal vitamins. “I was like, ‘No, no,…
INJUSTICE WINS – July 12, 2022 – “They’re offering people time off their sentences for intolerable conditions in the HMP, but yet my brother is passed away … it don’t make sense,” she said. “My brother did not need jail; he should still be here.” In last week’s decision to reduce an inmate’s sentence, the Supreme Court judge pointed to other instances where inmates received credit due to conditions at the prison. Those poor conditions weren’t news to Gregory’s family; he frequently told them about issues ranging from bed bugs to “intolerable” food, to him once contracting the superbug MRSA.…
AUDIO – WALLS Melt on Wall Street – July 13, 2022 – Empath has since raised $2.1 million of a $10 million target for its first fund and made 10 investments. Portfolio companies include Mindstate Design Labs, which develops new psychedelics, and Wavepaths, a company that designs smart music software to help therapists steer clients’ trips. The firm is one of a small but growing cadre of investors, including JLS Fund and billionaire Peter Thiel, taking interest in psychedelics. Psychedelics are making the jump from party drugs to prescription drugs because some clinical research shows they are effective at…
VIDEO – TEXT FOR LIFE – July 16, 2022 – National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. We can all help prevent suicide. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress… more@SAMHSA
WHO DOESN’T NEED MEDS NOW? – July 10, 2022 – Their pediatrician recommended she come off the Adderall to determine whether the Paxil worked. While she was off the Adderall, her grades slipped. She recently started taking it again. She said the main downside of Adderall came at meal times. “Last year, when I was on it,” she said, “I couldn’t eat anything, so my sister would make me smoothies so I didn’t have to chew.” “I just felt too productive to eat,” she added. “I had no appetite, instead, my brain was like, ‘You have to do everything right…
IF YOU FEEL, YOU HEAL – July 11, 2022 – “The association between CPA [childhood physical abuse] and 2 mental health and 5 physical health conditions remained significant, even after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors and other ACEs [adverse childhood experiences],” the authors explain. “Further research is needed to investigate potential pathways through which childhood physical abuse is linked to a wide range of later-life health problems.” One of the study’s co-authors expressed hope that therapy may be a good way to alleviate some of the negative impacts of being abused as a child. “Health professionals serving older…
AUDIO – SOBRIETY’S ROLLER COASTER RIDE – July 12, 2022 – In addition to struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, the Dukes of Hazard actress has also endured public scrutiny of her body since the early days of her career. In her memoir, the “Take My Breath Away” singer claims her first record label told her to lose 15 pounds when she was 17 tears old and weighed 118 pounds. “I looked at my parents. They said nothing,” she wrote. The damage done to the Texas native’s self-esteem continued into her adult life. When she was 35, Simpson scheduled a…
CHANGE IS GOOD – July 15, 2022 – Tom also celebrated five years of sobriety on Friday (15.07.22), taking to Instagram to reflect on the milestone. He told fans beneath a photo of himself with his kids on a beach: “I’m 5 years clean and sober today. 5 years of being present everyday for my kids. I’ve also been my best self dealing with a couple health cares, financial issues and a high conflict divorce.” Tom, who finalised his divorce from Ashley Groussman in 2020 and who has been married to Roseanne Barr, added: “I’m blessed and full of love…
“If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re probably on the menu.” – Elizabeth Warren
IN THE CENTER OF THE PACK – July 3, 2022 – “In the eight and a half, nine years that this was going on, not once did anybody ever come and say Randy why are you slurring your words or Randy why are you nodding off in meetings”, recalls the former Bucs Center. The last two years of Grimes career, the addiction got so bad, the Bucs center was playing games in complete blackouts. When his career ended in 1992, his addiction was raging out of control and for the next 17 years he would lose everything. Randy would…
FROM POINT GUARD TO GUARDIAN ANGEL – July 4, 2022 – Odom has battled drug addiction and depression. Not only did it cost him his NBA career, but it also ruined his marriage to Khloé Kardashian. At one point it got so bad for Odom he was comatose in a Las Vegas hospital for three days after being found unconscious at a brothel. In the years since Odom released a documentary, “Lamar Odom: Reborn,” detailing his experimentation with psychedelics to treat his depression and drug addiction. He’s been very open and honest about his addictions and the depths to which…
VIDEO – IS IT ANY WONDER? – July 4, 2022 – Talking to The Insider about her move towards recovery, she said: “My husband asked me … ‘Can’t you just stop this for the children and for me?’ “I needed help – I begged God in heaven to help me figure this out.” The publication reported that her husband’s plea encouraged Carter to seek out help at a rehabilitation centre near Washington D.C. She told the Oprah Winfrey Network back in 2013: “I think I drank because there was unhappiness in my first marriage and I would have a…
Call Centers Becoming Obsolete? – July 12, 2022 – Amee Gray found herself in a situation foreign to her but intimately familiar to so many. A family member had survived a drug overdose, and she was trying to find a suitable rehab facility for him. This is, sadly, a profound problem playing out in an ever-widening swath of living rooms, hospital rooms and courtrooms across the country. And as she went about finding an appropriate treatment option for her loved one, Amee realized the solution was as confounding as addiction itself. more@AddictionRecoveryeBulletin
A REASON TO CELEBRATE – 7/1/2022 – In a video shared to Reddit under the name nameless-manager, the manager is seen sitting in his office when his employees come in and spray him with silly string while congratulating him on the milestone. The clip was shared with the caption: “Five years clean and sober today. My wife told my employees and they ambushed me.” It received 10,400 votes and nearly 350 comments with several users congratulating the manager on his achievement. “You clearly have a lovely wife and you’re a good boss who treats his employees well, or they wouldn’t…
HARMONY AND TEMPO – July 3, 2022 – Music therapy is an evidence-based therapeutic method. It can help to reduce anxiety and improve heart rate and learning. Depending on your reasons for getting music therapy and on your practitioner, you may do different practices in your sessions including playing, singing, listening, or dancing to music. We will talk about some of the benefits of music therapy which are relevant to addiction recovery. However, it is worth noting that even without music therapy, you may still experience some of these benefits from playing and listening to music yourself. In order…
WALL STREET KNOWS THAT SO WELL – July 4, 2022 – Large shipments continue to be detected that are transported using methods that often exploit commercial infrastructure, particularly intermodal container shipments. This has been accompanied by innovation in respect to new trafficking routes, methods for concealment and new production processes. The European Union has also become a significant producer of some drugs, both for domestic consumption and for the global market. This is indicated by the dismantling of over 350 drug production facilities in the European Union in 2020. Globalisation appears to be driving some of these changes, with a…
CHAOS IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS – July 4, 2022 – Opium production worldwide grew seven per cent between 2020 and 2021 to 7,930 tons—predominantly due to increased production in Afghanistan. However, the global area under opium poppy cultivation fell by 16 per cent to 246,800 ha in the same period. In many countries in Africa and South and Central America, the most significant proportion of people in treatment for drug use disorders is there primarily for cannabis use disorders. In Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and Central Asia, people are most often treated for opioid use disorders. In the United…
THE ELEPHANT IN THE TRUCK – July 9, 2022 – Detectives from the Sheriff’s Department’s border crime suppression team followed the truck. First, the person who drove it across the border stopped in Otay Mesa and handed over the keys to another man, Scott wrote. The second driver then headed west on state Route 905 and north on Interstate 5 toward National City. Sheriff’s detectives also made note of a white Hyundai hatchback with three occupants and Baja California license plates staying close to the truck, Scott wrote. With detectives following the two vehicles, and a sheriff’s helicopter tracking their…
EVERYONE HAD THE RIGHT TO BE STRONG – July 3, 2022 – Ross insisted the legislation his party has put forward could be a “game-changer” in tackling Scotland’s drugs deaths problem. And he called on SNP and Green MSPs in the Scottish Parliament to get behind his Member’s Bill, as it was confirmed that it has achieved the necessary support to be debated at Holyrood. The proposed legislation has now won the backing of 33 MSPs – including both Monica Lennon and Jackie Baillie of Scottish Labour – guaranteeing that it will come before the Scottish Parliament. The Right to…
VERY BUSY – July 4, 2022 – The concept of self-reinforcement shows how the first experience with drugs, sex, cigarettes or alcohol can lead to the second. It takes a memory of the experience as being at least partly pleasurable. Self-reinforcement doesn’t make the second experience inevitable, but it is necessary for addiction to occur. Self-reinforcement also reinforces socially approved habits not generally considered addictions. You may become a chronic novel reader after finding your first reading experience enjoyable. Personal experiments with socially disapproved behavior don’t always begin in isolation, although all of them have to be thinkable before they…
BETTER MATH SKILLS? – July 4, 2022 – Joe was 13 when he started gambling with friends. In college, he became a bookie. “People would text me their bets. I kept a spreadsheet,” he said. “There were many Mondays when I would wake up and owe $1,000.” In college, gambling took over Joe’s life. “We’d make ourselves miserable,” he recalled. “I used to gamble with my best friend until 5 a.m. and one of us owing the other thousands of dollars and being completely broke or in debt.” Joe knew his gambling was out of control but after college…
AND PUT IT IN WHICH ROOM? – July 5, 2022 – The Gorgosaurus was an apex carnivore that lived in what is now the western United States and Canada during the late Cretaceous Period. It predated its relative the Tyrannosaurus rex by 10 million years. The specimen being sold was discovered in 2018 in the Judith River Formation near Havre, Montana, Sotheby’s said. It measures nearly 10 feet (3 meters) tall and 22 (6.7 meters) feet long. All of the other known Gorgosaurus skeletons are in museum collections, making this one the only specimen available for private ownership, the auction…
READ A BOOK – July 7, 2022 – “There are so many things that so many people go through in this world that I wanted to try my hardest to shine light on, whether it be drug addiction, living in poverty, coping with mental illness and all other types of things,” Silva said. Silva, 29, grew up in Fall River. When he was growing up, both of his parents struggled with opioid addiction and his sister, just 16 years old at the time, “had to pretty much raise” him. “Unfortunately, my father ended up passing away from an overdose three…
CELEBRITY SOBRIETY – July 6, 2022 – Jane Lynch The Glee alum recalled her struggles with alcohol addiction during an interview with The Guardian in February 2022, revealing she got sober for a second time after relapsing years ago. Lynch explained that after going to AA for years, having a successful career and doing therapy, she began drinking again — and quickly learned she couldn’t just have one drink. “I became a connoisseur of wine in a way that only an alcoholic can,” she shared of her relapse, noting she drank while starring on Paramount+’s The Good Fight, which…