Youth Advocacy
Youth Advocacy
Year 3, Week 16 (206 total reports)
10.04.2023-16.03.2024
REVIEW and ANNOUNCEMENTS
Advocating for young people as Trump and the Far Right seek to enact archaic laws dating back to the wild west—is this their idea of Making America Great Again?
Special Adolescent Care Link of the Week
An elementary school in Kansas is combating bad behavior — by putting kids to work
This is an appealing story about engaging children who have a hard time functioning in many of the systems that encompass our young people. If you have any influence on discipline techniques being used with disengaged youth, please read this article and pass it on. Brainstorm about making young people part of a team and giving them meaningful tasks.
Best Links of The Week
16.04.2024
Trump ‘dangerous’ for the LGBTQ+ community and the US, says Jill Biden
https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/04/15/jill-biden-donald-trump-2024-election/
If the Trump Republicans had their way (as evidenced in the 1864 bill passed in Arizona), LGBTQ+ orientation would be illegal and abortion would be treated more harshly than rape. Already policies across the US—and those passed this week in Idaho and supported by SCOTUS—prevent gender affirming care for any young person exploring their sexuality. Prevention of such care procedures has led to a marked increased suicide rate among teens. Why would anyone research this topic and still decide to pass those laws? What is to be gained by such cruelty, except political points among close-minded religious voters?
15.04.2024
The Fantasy of a Lily-White America
https://time.com/6966768/fantasy-white-america-eddie-glaude/
The richness of the US has always laid in diversity and plurality. There has never been a Lily-White America and there never can be. The Far Right is trying to sell a dystopian illusion that the US could be—or has ever been—a land of white males ruling over all who are not; including gender, sexual orientation, and/or race. Their delusion would be laughable, if not for so many people buying into it. A grim example of this is the 1864 abortion ban resurrected in Arizona last week. At the time of the law, women were not able to vote, in fact, only white male citizens of Arizona were allowed to vote. Other laws on the books at that time: Slavery, an blanket ban on LGBTQ+ people, age of consent at 10, and interracial marriage was illegal.
14.04.2024
Robert Reich: How To Understand Next Week’s Trump Criminal Felony Trial – OpEd
It is really important to peer behind the veil of both how the press is covering Donald Trump’s criminal trial and the way that the former president tries to portray the event (and himself). Robert Reich does a good job at peering through the fog. One distinction I read this week that I thought important was to remember that “this prosecution did not come in the middle of Trump’s campaign, but that Trump’s campaign came in the middle of this prosecution.” Trump’s crime was committed long before this campaign occurred (26 October, 2016), they have known the dates—and pushed to delay the trial—for almost a year (he was arraigned on April 04, 2023). As Reich points out, this is not a “hush money case” involving a sex worker. This is an Election Interference case. Trump has a pattern of lying to the American electorate and this is part of that pattern.
13.04.2024
Florida blocks heat protections for workers right before summer
Nothing says privilege or inhumanity more than passing a law like this. There can only be one reason for such a law, short-sighted catering to wealthy conservative business interests. The far right seems bent upon undermining its own long-term economic interests for short-term gains in politics. Could anything drive up your long term prices than people dying in your fields and on your construction sites or refusing to work in your state because of draconian practices? This is myopic maliciousness, nothing less.
12.04.2024
Suicide is on the rise for young Americans, with no clear answers
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68782177
Last week we explored how happiness scores in North America—and particularly the US—were being inhibited by the melancholy of young adults in those countries. The headline here should come as no surprise given those statistics. Many young people are feeling so helpless that they see suicide as their only way out. This article helps remind us to keep our eyes open and to make extra efforts to reach out to this vulnerable group.
11.04.2024
Jung’s Five Pillars of a Good Life
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/carl-jung-pillars-life-happiness/678009/
This brief article is a primer into some of Carl Jung’s ideas. It is a good summary for anyone looking for a jumping off point into deeper knowledge about Jung’s principles. I especially appreciate the author’s, Arthur C. Brook, use of the word “happierness” it’s a good prompt to remind us that happiness is not a state of permanence we attain and then remain. But a place we strive for (or even exist in) more often than not. Brooks is one of my favorite writers and I think you’ll enjoy his insights too.
10.04.2024
Minority Rule Is Threatening American Democracy Like Never Before
If you have not read “Tyranny of the Minority” by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, it is time to add that book to your must read list. This book points to the ways that the constitution was designed to protect minority opinions, but it also looks at how a small, radically conservative, religious, right wing is using those protections to take away the rights of others and, indeed, undermine democracy itself. This read is a playbook that reveals the power and strategies of the far right, but also give you ideas for confronting and changing the underlying problems. Reading this book (and starting with this article) then passing it on to friends, could be the first part of your stand against authoritarian rule in the world today.
This Week’s Links
16.04.2024
Trump ‘dangerous’ for the LGBTQ+ community and the US, says Jill Biden
https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/04/15/jill-biden-donald-trump-2024-election/
The Supreme Court Just Dealt a Massive Blow to the Right to Protest
https://newrepublic.com/post/180705/supreme-court-massive-blow-right-protest
Number of homicides plummets in major U.S. cities
https://www.axios.com/2024/04/16/homicide-rate-us-voters-trump
Debate an Indicted Traitor? No!
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/joe-biden-donald-trump-presidential-debate/678079/
15.04.2024
The Fantasy of a Lily-White America
https://time.com/6966768/fantasy-white-america-eddie-glaude/
Eighty-year-old psychologist reveals the one thing he would do differently if he could re-do life
Isolation: A Common Result of Surviving Family Trauma
Donald Trump isn’t on trial for paying off Stormy Daniels. He’s on trial for being stupid.
I Was a Skeptic of the Stormy Daniels Prosecution. I Was Wrong.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/04/stormy-daniels-prosecution-stronger-than-i-thought.html
Trump’s Presidential-Immunity Theory Is a Threat to the Chain of Command
14.04.2024
Robert Reich: How To Understand Next Week’s Trump Criminal Felony Trial – OpEd
The history of Arizona’s Civil War-era abortion ban
https://www.vox.com/politics/24128840/arizona-abortion-total-ban-law-roe-court-1864
Newsflash Donald Trump: Every day in America is Christian Visibility Day
Fla. Gov. DeSantis signs controversial laws limiting oversight of police
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/04/13/ron-desantis-signs-police-oversight-bills/7291713027759/
You might want to hold your tongue when watching your kids play sports - new study reveals the massive impact a parent’s sideline behaviour can have on children
How to give kids autonomy? 'Anxious Generation' author says a license to roam helps
13.04.2024
Florida blocks heat protections for workers right before summer
About 1 in 4 U.S. teachers say their school went into 'gun-related lockdown' during last school year
Right-Wing Media Are in Trouble
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/04/conservative-digital-media-traffic/678055/
Speaker Mike Johnson said noncitizen voting is a 'threat.' The facts say otherwise
12.04.2024
Suicide is on the rise for young Americans, with no clear answers
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68782177
An elementary school in Kansas is combating bad behavior — by putting kids to work
The Roots of Evil
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-of-the-darkness/202404/the-roots-of-evil
What happens if Ukraine loses?
https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/04/11/what-happens-if-ukraine-loses
Russia Is Buying Politicians in Europe. Is It Happening Here Too?
https://newrepublic.com/article/180630/russia-corruption-network-europe-buying-politicians-america
Senate Dems Finally Subpoena Supreme Court Puppetmaster
Attempts to ban books are at an all-time high. These librarians are fighting back
Playing With 5 Whole Decks: An Autism Metaphor
6 books that shaped Japanese philosophy
https://bigthink.com/thinking/6-books-that-shaped-japanese-philosophy/
11.04.2024
Jung’s Five Pillars of a Good Life
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/carl-jung-pillars-life-happiness/678009/
Attacks on election workers by Trump followers drive huge, historic turnover ahead of election
Republican Group Torches Trump With His Own Words In Damning New Video
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-own-words-against-him_n_661794d2e4b00830e9167134
The archaic Comstock laws were named for a man who also fueled the US obsession with book banning
Matt Gaetz’s teen sex scandal is back in the news & we’re thoroughly disgusted all over again
“Five Alarm Fire”: Why Arizona Ruling Is a Disaster for Trump and GOP
https://newrepublic.com/article/180606/five-alarm-fire-arizona-ruling-disaster-trump-gop
The right tried to rain on South Carolina's NCAA victory with transphobia. Dawn Staley won't let up
Biden’s Green Investments Aren’t Just Benefiting Cities
https://progressive.org/op-eds/bidens-green-investments-arent-just-benefiting-cities-money-20240409/
10.04.2024
Minority Rule Is Threatening American Democracy Like Never Before
Billionaire brothers bankroll education programs to feed misinformation to students: 'The goal ... is to gain control of levers of power'
https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/wilks-brothers-media-manipulation-billions-percentage/
US Billionaires Have Doubled Their Wealth Since 2017 Trump Tax Overhaul
80 Percent of Global CO2 Emissions Come From Just 57 Companies, Report Shows
Former teachers reveal what made them quit and it explains why there are teacher shortages
Brené Brown on the No. 1 way to combat loneliness: 'It was one of the best things that ever happened to me’
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/09/bren-brown-on-the-no-1-way-to-combat-loneliness.html
Childhood Loneliness Linked to Later Psychosis - Neuroscience News
https://neurosciencenews.com/childhood-loneliness-psychosis-25891/
'Made me smile': Jimmy Carter’s quote about homosexuality and the Bible resurfaces
https://www.upworthy.com/jimmy-carter-homosexuality-bible-viral-quote
15 Things That Scream ‘I’m a Narcissist’ (According to Psychologists)
https://thethriftyapartment.com/things-that-scream-im-a-narcissist-according-to-psychologists/