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    Held Involuntarily in a Psychiatric Hospital

    More from our inbox:The Debate Over Taxing TipsNonpartisan ElectionsSitting Still in SchoolAcadia Healthcare’s Park Royal hospital in Fort Myers, Fla., and Florida is among those that wrongly held some patients against their will.Michael Adno for The New York TimesTo the Editor:Re “Patients Held Against Will by Hospitals” (front page, Sept. 2):Thank you for your hard-hitting exposé of Acadia Healthcare, a chain of psychiatric hospitals, which revealed Acadia’s corrupt financial practices. The authors report on the toxic effects — including but not limited to driving people away from treatment — of these unscrupulous procedures.But even when hospitals have pure motives, inpatient psychiatric care — especially when it is involuntary — can be traumatizing, and may lead to an increased risk of suicide: In one meta-analysis, “the postdischarge suicide rate was approximately 100 times the global suicide rate during the first 3 months after discharge.”The key to helping people is funding community-based, evidence-based programs. For example, “Peer-run respites provide a voluntary alternative to an emergency department visit or inpatient hospitalization for people experiencing a psychiatric crisis,” as was noted in a recent article in Psychiatry Online.With so much evidence to support the benefits of community-based mental health care, I believe that a paradigm shift in the mental health system — away from hospitalization and toward community-based treatment, including peer support — is long overdue.Susan RogersCherry Hill, N.J.The writer is the director of the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse.To the Editor:The motivation for this atrocious behavior is cited in the first paragraph of the article, where it is noted that Acadia Healthcare’s stock price has more than doubled. This is an example of the perverse results of the use of private equity to finance health care. There are other such examples.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    See Where Abortion Is on the Ballot Across the U.S.

    States voting on abortion One measure Two measures Voters in a record 10 states will decide whether to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions this fall. In Nebraska, voters face two measures: one favoring abortion rights and another that would ban abortion after the first trimester. Supporters of abortion rights hope to continue their […] More

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    Con Edmundo González asilado en España, las esperanzas de democracia se reducen en Venezuela

    La decisión del candidato opositor de solicitar asilo en España y el antagonismo del líder autocrático, Nicolás Maduro, hacia las potencias regionales reducen las posibilidades de una transición política.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]La noticia de que Edmundo González, candidato de la oposición venezolana, había huido del país en un avión de la Fuerza Aérea Española este fin de semana tomó al país, y al mundo, por sorpresa.El año pasado estuvo marcado por meses de represión que desembocaron en unas disputadas elecciones presidenciales. A la votación siguió una brutal represión por parte del gobierno autoritario de Nicolás Maduro.Aun así, muchos venezolanos mantenían la esperanza de que, mediante una salida negociada, el gobierno de inspiración socialista pudiera hacerse a un lado y dejar que González, un exdiplomático de voz suave, asumiera el poder.Su partida el sábado redujo aun más esa remota posibilidad. Y se produjo mientras las fuerzas de seguridad venezolanas rodeaban la residencia diplomática argentina en Caracas, donde seis altos dirigentes de la oposición se han refugiado desde marzo.Según algunos analistas, Maduro se ha afianzado en el poder, aunque muchos venezolanos y gobiernos de todo el mundo no han reconocido su afirmación de que fue reelegido para la presidencia en los comicios del 28 de julio.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Edmundo González Flees Venezuela for Spain, and Hopes for Democracy Dim

    The opposition candidate’s decision to seek asylum in Spain and the autocratic leader’s antagonism toward regional powers lessen the chances of a political transition.The news that Edmundo González, Venezuela’s opposition candidate, had fled the country on a Spanish Air Force plane this weekend took the country, and the world, by surprise.The past year has been marked by months of repression leading up to a disputed presidential election. The vote was followed by a brutal crackdown by the authoritarian government of President Nicolás Maduro.Still, many Venezuelans held out hope that through a negotiated exit the socialist-inspired administration might step aside and let Mr. González, a soft-spoken former diplomat, assume power.His departure on Saturday narrowed that slim possibility even further. And it came as Venezuelan security forces surrounded the Argentine diplomatic residence in Caracas where six top opposition leaders have been taking shelter since March.Mr. Maduro has solidified his hold on power, some analysts say, even if many Venezuelans and governments around the world have not recognized his claim that he was re-elected to the presidency in the July 28 election.Efforts by countries in the region, including Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, to broker a resolution to the conflict have gone nowhere, and the opposition, which has called on the global community to rally behind it, has seemingly few options.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    MAGA Is Nothing Without Trump

    I spent the Labor Day weekend in Chicago, America’s greatest summer city. Sunday afternoon in particular was glorious. The temperatures were moderate, the skies were clear and the tourist sections of the city were teeming with happy Pearl Jam fans who’d just attended Saturday’s concert at Wrigley Field. My wife and I took our grandchildren to Navy Pier to visit the Chicago Children’s Museum, and as we walked back toward Michigan Avenue we saw the same sight we see every time we visit Chicago — an impressive, towering skyscraper with the name “Trump” emblazoned in immense letters across the building’s facade.I was reminded once again that Donald Trump is a singular figure in American politics. There is no one like him, and that means that no one can replace him. While it’s always perilous to make predictions about American politics — or anything else about the future — here’s one that I’m almost certain is correct: If Donald Trump loses in 2024, MAGA will fade. He is the irreplaceable key to its success.Last month, I wrote a column that generated intense blowback on the right because I argued that as a pro-life conservative I am voting for Kamala Harris. That was controversial enough, but what really seemed to make people angry was one of my stated motivations: that I am voting for Harris to try to save conservatism from MAGA. Defeating Trump, I said, gives conservative Americans a chance to “build something decent from the ruins of a party that was once a force for genuine good in American life.”The MAGA response was, in essence, you’re fooling yourself. Trump or no Trump, we own the party now.In fact, this argument is one way that MAGA keeps other Republicans in line. Like it or not, they say, this is the modern Republican Party. You can choose it, or you can choose the Democrats, but don’t think for a moment that a different party is possible.But is that correct? We’re nine years into the Trump era of the Republican Party, and we can see a different reality: attempts to mimic Trump succeed in Republican primaries and deep red jurisdictions, but they fail in swing states and purple districts. Trump is MAGA’s most popular figure, and if he loses, then MAGA has nowhere to go but down.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Michigan Reveals Winning ‘I Voted’ Sticker Design Following Competition

    A contest for the state’s next “I Voted” sticker yielded several winning designs, but a seventh grader’s stood out from the rest.Plenty of the submissions in a statewide contest to design Michigan’s next “I Voted” sticker featured cherry blossoms or American flags fluttering in the wind.Only one entry, however, depicted a werewolf clawing its shirt to tatters and howling at an unseen moon. A smattering of stars and stripes poke out from behind its brawny torso.“I Voted,” reads a string of red, white and blue block letters floating above the creature’s open maw.The illustration, which was created by Jane Hynous, a 12-year-old from Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., was revealed on Wednesday as one of nine winning designs that the Michigan Department of State will offer local clerks to distribute to voters in the November election.The werewolf sticker received more than 20,000 votes in the public contest, beating every other entry by a margin of nearly 2,000 votes, said Cheri Hardmon, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of State. The design gained traction on social media among those who found it fitting for an intense, and at times bewildering, moment in national politics.“If there is ever a year to have an unhinged werewolf ripping its shirt off as the “I Voted” sticker … it’s 2024,” Derek Dobies, the chief of staff of the Michigan A.F.L.-C.I.O., wrote on X.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Protestas en Venezuela: nuevo informe vincula a las fuerzas de seguridad con 6 muertes

    Un informe de Human Rights Watch es el primer esfuerzo de una importante organización internacional por verificar algunas de las dos decenas de muertes registradas en las protestas desde las controvertidas elecciones presidenciales de Venezuela.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]Las fuerzas de seguridad venezolanas y grupos armados afines al Gobierno cometieron actos de violencia generalizados contra manifestantes y mataron a algunos de ellos tras las disputadas elecciones presidenciales del país, según un informe publicado el miércoles por Human Rights Watch.Organizaciones y medios de comunicación venezolanos denunciaron 24 asesinatos durante las manifestaciones, pero el reporte es el primer esfuerzo de una organización internacional por verificar algunos de ellos.El presidente de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, ha enfrentado una amplia condena nacional e internacional por su afirmación de que ganó las elecciones presidenciales del 28 de julio, y la consiguiente represión violenta de las manifestaciones de protesta contra esa afirmación.El gobierno aún no ha publicado ningún recuento de votos que demuestre la victoria de Maduro. Los recuentos de los observadores electorales publicados por la oposición muestran que perdió de manera contundente.El informe de Human Rights Watch, una organización de investigación y defensa sin fines de lucro con sede en Nueva York, detalla los casos de seis personas que murieron durante las protestas a manos de las fuerzas de seguridad del Estado o de lo que parecían ser grupos de milicias armadas llamados colectivos.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Why Trump’s Unity Picks Are Not Very Unifying

    Trump is betting that the political fringe will help him win.It is a time-honored political strategy for presidential candidates: Win your primary, hold your convention and then pivot to the center as you work to unite a broad coalition of voters around your cause.Or not.With nine weeks to go until the election, former President Donald Trump is showcasing his support from a coterie of divisive public figures, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the country’s most famous anti-vaxxer; Tulsi Gabbard, a former congresswoman who drew support from white nationalists when she ran for president in 2020; and Elon Musk, who is probably the world’s most polarizing tech billionaire.Trump has bubble-wrapped those three people in a valence of unity, calling them “former Never Trumpers” in a Monday fund-raising email that presented them as evidence he was “rallying Americans of all political stripes together like never before.”But if that group aligns him with anybody, it’s the political fringe — and in a tight election, Trump is betting that it’s the disaffected, low-propensity voters who supported candidates like Kennedy who will help him win.“They are low-information voters, they’re not really interested in the election, and they don’t see the election really impacts them that much,” said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster. “It’s an effort to try to get to those voters, get them to vote and get them to vote for the former president.”‘He beats to his own drum’Trump and his aides spent weeks delicately courting Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who has long espoused anti-vaccine views and who initially entered the Democratic presidential primary before switching to run as an independent. Kennedy dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump last month; last week, Trump named him and Gabbard to his transition team, which binds them more tightly to his political operation and could give them power to shape a second administration.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More