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Dr. Hugh McTavish Enters Minnesota Governor Race With Innovative ‘Jury Democracy’ Proposal

Dr. Hugh McTavish Enters Minnesota Governor Race With Innovative ‘Jury Democracy’ Proposal

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing.)

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In his public declaration of his candidacy, Hugh McTavish, Ph.D., said, “I am running because I want to really create a government that is, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, ‘of the people, by the people’ and ‘for the people.’” He went on to add, “Instead, we have government that is of the elites and the corporations, by the elites and the corporations, and for the elites and the corporations.”

McTavish is a scientist, entrepreneur and author of COVID Lockdown Insanity. He is running for governor of Minnesota with the Independence-Alliance, the successor to the Independence Party that elected Jesse Ventura. 

His innovative proposal, Jury Democracy, involves having large, statistically valid juries of 500 to 2,000 randomly selected voters come to the capitol, hear arguments for and against a particular bill or proposal, deliberate on it, and then vote on that one bill or proposal.

According to McTavish, Jury Democracy would impact public debate and transform political power and how the government makes decisions.

“As governor, before I sign any important or controversial bill into law, I will submit it to a citizen jury of at least 500 people,” he added.  “If the jury approves the bill, I will sign it into law; if it rejects the bill, I will veto it. Effectively, I will not be governor—WE ALL WILL BE! I will give the power to you!”

A Ph.D. biochemist and immunologist, patent attorney, entrepreneur and author, McTavish has authored 18 refereed scientific journal articles and is the inventor of 21 U.S. patents. He has also written three books: Ending War in Our Lifetime, COVID Lockdown Insanity and Wild Plants of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Area. He has started two pharmaceutical companies off his own inventions. He lives near St. Paul, Minnesota. Now he is running for governor of Minnesota, primarily to bring the innovation of Jury Democracy to Minnesota and the world.

Besides hoping to positively impact government, McTavish entered the governor’s race because, in his words, “Everyone’s life matters.” McTavish has been outspoken about the harms of the lockdown response to COVID and how those harms vastly exceeded the benefits, sharing the science behind his claims in his thought-provoking book, COVID Lockdown Insanity (West Fork Press;ISBN-13: ‎978-1737327110).

For more information about his candidacy, please visit https://www.mctavish4mn.org/, and follow him on Twitter at @McTavish4MN.

Trish Stevens
Alex Spencer
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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One Man’s Path to Redemption Leads Through Local Watering Holes

One Man’s Path to Redemption Leads Through Local Watering Holes

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing.)

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Jack Current isn’t just hoping to drown his sorrows during his evening pub crawl through downtown Cincinnati’s Over the Rhine neighborhood; he’s hoping to actually drown — in the Ohio River. But not until he has poured his heart onto paper in the dollar store notebook he’s got with him. Aptly referred to as The Drunk Log, Jack’s notebook contains the secret to his pain, and a bartender with a sixth sense will sneak a peek, just in time.

Author Mark E. Scott’s compelling story of one man’s last hurrah, Drunk Log, invites readers to follow a relatable protagonist who, in the midst of buckling under oppressive guilt, embarks on one last bar crawl before he plans to end his own life.

In his notebook, Jack documents the evening, ruminates on his existence and remembers his 7-year-old nephew, who died exactly a year earlier. It is a loss for which Jack feels responsible — a lapse in judgement for which there is no forgiveness. Jack’s plan is to jump off the scenic suspension bridge spanning the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Covington, Kentucky.

Drunk Log is a darkly humorous, deeply introspective exploration into one man’s attempt to find peace in the face of unrelenting pain. Told with a fast clip, the entire book covers about 8 hours and deftly avoids becoming an ominous dirge through relatable — and flawed — characters, unexpectedly funny situations, a budding romance and the wobbly balancing act of a man who must remain sober enough to write in his journal and finish what he started, but drunk enough to jump off a bridge.

Readers follow Jack as he begins the evening at his local watering hole, where a gregarious bartender named Aria, with whom he shares a mutual attraction, takes a surreptitious peek at Jack’s journal. Sensing Jack is headed to the same doom that claimed her sister, Aria decides to intervene.

Tracking him down in the middle of a winter storm, Aria finds Jack on the freezing, snowy bridge. Can they emerge from their individual cocoons of loss and suffering, save each other and rewrite their stories?

Drunk Log is the first installment in Scott’s three-part, Day in the Life series, in which the unexpected, twisted saga of Jack and Aria unfolds over a combined period of 24 hours.

Born in the small manufacturing town of Galion, Ohio, author Mark E. Scott lived in various burgs in Ohio and Michigan before joining the Navy and spending four years traveling the world aboard the USS Mount Whitney. Upon returning home to southwest Ohio, he enrolled at Miami University and completed a degree in Education, only to become a banker soon thereafter. Scott now lives happily in a condo in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati. In his free time, he enjoys writing, finding new and creative ways of tricking his children into answering their phones, and anything related to travel and outdoors, of late including tumbling down snow covered mountains while dragging otherwise perfectly good skis behind him.

For more information, please visit www.markescottauthor.com, or connect with him on Instagram (markescottauthor), Facebook (@markescottauthor) or Twitter (@MarkEScott3).

Drunk Log
Publisher: Speaking In Volumes, LLC
ISBN: 978-1645405559
EISBN: 978-1645405542
Available from Amazon.com

Trish Stevens
Rylee Cooper
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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Angel Faces Retreats Facilitate Emotional Healing for Women Disfigured by Trauma

Angel Faces Retreats Facilitate Emotional Healing for Women Disfigured by Trauma

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet or used by any means of social media sharing.)

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Since 2003, the nonprofit Angel Faces has helped transform the lives of adolescents and young women who have suffered severe, permanent scars and disfigurements from burn injuries and traumatic events through intensive, residential retreats, and ongoing support.

Founder Lesia Cartelli was severely burned by a natural gas explosion when she was just 9 years old, and as an adult, she recognized the psychosocial needs of adolescent girls and young women with disfigurements.

The next retreat takes place June 11-16 on a private compound (courtesy of an anonymous donor) on lake Winnipesaukee in beautiful Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.

The theme for this retreat is “Let it Roll,” and sessions led by licensed mental health professionals will focus on managing healthy relationships, boundaries, post traumatic growth and understanding the impact of trauma on our lives.

Professional artist Kate Lemay will lead an art project, “Let It Scroll,” during which participants will create beautiful scrolls on canvas decorated with both words of forgiveness for their past selves and motivational messages for their budding, future selves.

Additional program elements include yoga, climbing and journaling, plus one-on-one instruction from professionals in the cosmetics industry to teach the women how to minimize scarring while enhancing their individual beauty.

“Our six-day retreat is a unique gathering of women who have been left marred by severe trauma (abuse, car crashes, bonfires, explosions, war and house fires) to find the courage to heal,” Cartelli said. “We encourage the participants to not waste their pain, and to use their trauma as a gift to discover their resilience and strength. Time at the retreat is inspiring for attendees and those who are privy to volunteer.”

Angel Faces Founder Lesia S. Cartelli has witnessed and experienced the struggle with social interactions, boundaries, and self-esteem issues that plague adolescent girls and young women with scars. In her 40 years of experience in developing educational and psychosocial programs supporting trauma victims, she became aware of the intense need for a more in-depth program. She created Angel Faces to inspire and empower adolescent girls and young women with burn/trauma injuries to reach their optimum potential and develop meaningful relationships with themselves, their families and their communities.

Cartelli is also the author of Heart of Fire (Carlyle Publishing; ISBN-13: ‎978-0990430711), in which she shares the details of her own traumatic experience and the path that led to her founding of Angel Faces.

For more information and a schedule of 2022 retreats, please visit www.angelfaces.com, or follow the organization on Instagram and Twitter at @angelfacesinc.

Trish Stevens
Beverly Moore
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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A Biblical Recipe for Marital Success

A Biblical Recipe for Marital Success

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing.)

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Counseling is a significant aspect of pastoring, and marriage counseling is the most common form of counseling for many clergy. To address the needs of husbands who come to him for marriage counseling, Pastor Scott LaPierre says the first thing he looks at is the man’s relationship with Christ.

“Our relationship with our wives, our relationship with our children, is a reflection or outpouring of our relationship with Christ,” La Pierre said in a recent interview. “And it’s our relationship with Christ that we need to draw on at those times when we’re upset.”

In his new book, Your Marriage God’s Way, LaPierre distills lessons from scripture, carefully examining the principles for building a strong, biblical marriage—one in which your relationship with Christ brings guidance and blessing into your relationship with your spouse.
“God is the author of marriage. He designed the roles and responsibilities for husbands and wives,” LaPierre writes in his book. “He knows what couples need so they can experience healthy, joyful, Christ-centered relationships, and He provided the principles in the Bible.”

LaPierre gives readers the tools to:

  • Understand the unique roles and responsibilities of husbands and wives
  • Recognize and resolve conflicts with a heart of hope and compassion
  • Follow God’s worthy command to love and cherish your spouse unconditionally

A companion workbook is also available (LaPierre’s Your Marriage God’s Way Workbook) to help couples apply biblical principles to their own marriage.

The workbook aims to help couples:

  • Understand the unique roles God has given each person
  • Identify ways to better help, encourage, and support each other
  • Make serving God the focal point of the marriage

“Let’s journey together, with the Bible as our guide, to experience the blessings of a Christ-centered relationship,” LaPierre writes. “Whether you’re at the beginning of your journey or you’ve been on the road together for years, Your Marriage God’s Way will provide the helpful and encouraging insights you need to experience marriage as God intends it.”

About the Author
Scott LaPierre is the senior pastor of Woodland Christian Church in Woodland, WA, an author, and conference speaker. He holds an MA in Biblical Studies from Liberty University. Scott and his wife, Katie, have nine children, and they are passionate homeschooling advocates. Scott is a former schoolteacher and Army officer.

To learn more about Pastor Scott LaPierre, please visit www.scottlapierre.org, or follow him on Twitter (@PastorWCC), Instagram (@pastorwcc) or Facebook (@SctottLaPierreMinistries).

Your Marriage God’s Way: A Biblical Guide to a Christ-Centered Relationship
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
ISBN-10: ‎ 0736983961
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0736983969
Available from Amazon.com

Your Marriage God’s Way Workbook
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
ISBN-10: ‎ 0736983988
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0736983983
Available from Amazon.com

Trish Stevens
Mandy Sullivan
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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And Suddenly Life Will Never Be the Same: Almost Like Praying a Contemporary Family Drama

And Suddenly Life Will Never Be the Same: Almost Like Praying a Contemporary Family Drama

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing.)

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What would happen if a suburban woman with a hard-as-nails façade and a detailed life plan was suddenly saddled with caring for a 6-year-old girl from the Bronx?

Such is the dilemma facing Dolores Farrell in Almost Like Praying, the intriguing new novel from author Joel Samberg. But the 6-year-old girl is just the tip of Dolores’ family-centered iceberg. When readers first meet her, she is a woman with a future all planned out: She’ll marry an attorney, have sons who will become attorneys, daughters who will become patrons of the arts, and live in the shadow of Harvard University, thereby continuing her privileged, purebred Irish-Catholic legacy.

Instead, Dolores must watch as each of her children adopts a lifestyle quite different from what she had envisioned. One daughter becomes a waitress, another a shock jock. One son becomes a cop (a troubled one at that), another a cartoonist. Much to his mother’s dismay, the cartoonist is also missing a leg due to a terrible childhood accident. That, of course, had not been part of Dolores’ original plan.

Almost Like Praying, which fictionalizes some real thoughts and memories, is told through a trilogy of stories reconstructed by a curious journalist who, as a boy, lived across the street from the family at the heart of the book. One day from his old bedroom window, the journalist sees Dolores on her front step hugging a dark-skinned little girl named Maria, and smiling—something he feels the grim-faced Dolores would never do. That’s what prompts him to research and write the stories.

“The novel sprung from my own roots,” Samberg said. “Growing up on Long Island, one of my best friends had a mother who to me seemed humorless and severe. I had always wondered about her. She became Dolores. Also, whenever my family drove through the Bronx, I’d look at the ramshackle apartment buildings and wonder how the kids who lived there would fare in my own middle-class neighborhood. One of them became Maria.”

Featuring flawed, relatable characters, Almost Like Praying offers a compelling message that likely will resonate with readers everywhere.

Author Joel Samberg decided to become a writer as a boy. He wrote a screenplay when he was 12 and sent it to MGM, and although the studio turned it down, an executive’s encouraging note suggested that he never give up on his dream to be a writer. Two years later, his English teacher sent a nasty note home to his parents falsely accusing him of plagiarizing a book report because she said it was too well-written for an eighth-grader. That settled it: from that point on, he has never given up.

Samberg has written for dozens of magazines and has published seven fiction and nonfiction books, including Some Kind of Lonely Clown: The Music, Memory, and Melancholy Lives of Karen Carpenter.

For more information, please visit https://almost-like-praying-new-novel.blogspot.com/, and follow the author on Twitter at @JoelSamberg.

Almost Like Praying
Publisher: Black Rose Writing (http://blackrosewriting.com)
Release Date: April 28, 2022
ISBN-10: ‎ 1685130097
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1685130091
Available from Amazon.com, Black Rose Writing and other online booksellers.

Trish Stevens
Parker Wilson
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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Proactive Patient Education Empowers Consumers to Be Better Partners in Their Care

Proactive Patient Education Empowers Consumers to Be Better Partners in Their Care

If you need an immediate response, please text or call Dr. Wilcox at 816.885.9214.

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet or used by any means of social media sharing.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

If you’ve postponed any nonurgent procedures or doctor visits over the past couple of years, now is the time to educate yourself before wading back into the murky waters of the American healthcare system.

“Proactively educating yourself on the American Healthcare System means you will have more control over the care you receive,” said David Wilcox, a patient advocate and doctorate prepared nurse with 28 years in health care. “There are things you can do as an individual to make sure you’re getting the best health care possible.”

In his important new book, How to Avoid Being a Victim of the American Healthcare System: A Patient’s Handbook for Survival, Dr. Wilcox shares a behind-the-scenes look at many facets of our healthcare system and provides insider tips to help patients and family members navigate through the morass, avoid surprise bills and ultimately achieve better outcomes.

Of note, he encourages consumers to research doctors and hospitals, and gain an understanding of the risks and benefits of any recommended procedure. Dr. Wilcox also explores what to do if you have to go to a hospital, how to handle a denied insurance claim, how to find alternatives to high-priced prescriptions and why the current pay-for-fee system is inadequate. Readers will also discover the direction the healthcare system needs to move in, to holistically care for patients — information that he says the health care entities would prefer you didn’t know.

His goal in writing this book, he said, was to level the playing field, enabling consumers of health care to understand how to avoid getting caught in the systemic net.

“Entering the American healthcare system, one has to have a basic knowledge of it to be safe,” he said. “Not being prepared and knowledgeable means you will have little control over the health care you receive.”

Dr. David Wilcox is an Amazon international bestselling author and health care professional who believes proactive patient education enables those accessing the healthcare system to be better partners in their health care. He also believes that everyone has the right to access the American Healthcare System safely. A Doctorate-prepared nurse who also holds a Master’s in Health Administration and is Board Certified in Nursing Informatics, Dr. Wilcox has nearly three decades of health care experience as a bedside nurse, hospital administrator and in health care information technology, which has helped him to develop his unique perspective on the American Healthcare System. For more information, please visit https://drdavidwilcox.com/.

How to Avoid Being a Victim of the American Healthcare System: A Patient’s Handbook for Survival
Publisher: Here for You Publishing
ISBN-10: ‎ 0578878364
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0578878362
Available now at https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578878364

Trish Stevens
Alex Spencer
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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Moments That Defined the Extraordinary Partnership of Barack Obama and Angela Merkel

Moments That Defined the Extraordinary Partnership of Barack Obama and Angela Merkel

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet or used by any means of social media sharing.)

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Today, former U.S. President Barack Obama and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel are known as two of the world’s most influential leaders, together at the center of some of the biggest controversies and most impressive advancements of the modern world. But while their friendship has been the subject of both scrutiny and admiration, few know the full story.
“Their relationship was by no means linear. They had their differences. The important thing is that despite their differences, they came out on top; they came out stronger because they had enough respect for one another,” said political activist and author Claudia Clark during a recent interview.
Clark’s new book, Dear Barack: The Extraordinary Partnership of Barack Obama and Angela Merkel, is a thoroughly researched exploration of the parallel trajectories that led to Obama and Merkel meeting on the world stage, and the trials—both personal and political—that they confronted in office. At times, in the leaders’ own words, the book details such events as Merkel’s historic acceptance of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and the 2013 NSA spying scandal, demonstrating the highs and lows of this extraordinary alliance.

Taking office at the height of the 2008 global recession, Obama was keenly aware of the fractured relationship between the U.S. and Europe, Clark explains in the book. And for her part, Merkel was suspicious of the charismatic newcomer who had captivated her country.
Faced with the challenges of globalization, the two often clashed over policy, but—as the first Black president and first female chancellor—they shared a belief that democracy could uplift the world. United by this conviction, they would forge a complicated but inspiring partnership.
A story of camaraderie at a global scale, Dear Barack is a “fit-all” in terms of politics and shows that it is possible for political adversaries to establish bonds of respect—and even friendship—in the service of the free world.

Claudia Clark is an author, speaker and activist focused on social justice and democracy. In 2017, Clark and her husband moved from California to Germany, where she served as the national Get Out the Vote (GOTV) coordinator for the Democrats Abroad Germany chapter from January 2019 to May 2020. Clark has several advanced degrees, with a focus on social work, women’s history and labor relations. She currently lives in Berlin, where she is conducting research for her next book which will compare the experiences of the Northern Irish during the height of the IRA conflict with the East Germans during the Cold War.

For more information, please visit https://www.claudiaclarkauthor.com.

Dear Barack: The Extraordinary Partnership of Barack Obama and Angela Merkel
Publisher: Disruption Books
ISBN-10: ‎ 1633310574
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1633310575
Available from Amazon.com, Disruption Books and Claudiaclarkauthor.com

Trish Stevens
Sydney Wells
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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