Rise in U.S. suicide rates between 1999 and 2016, by state. Data: CDC National Vital Statistics System / CDC Vital Signs, June 2018. Graphic: CDC

All-American Despair: For the past two decades, a suicide epidemic fueled by guns, poverty, and isolation has swept across the U.S. West, with middle-aged men dying in record numbers

By Stephen Rodrick 30 May 2019 (Rolling Stone) – Toby Lingle was cremated in a 49ers cap, a Star Wars T-shirt and sunglasses shortly after his funeral at Highland Park Community Church in Casper, Wyoming. He was 43. The outfit was the daily wear for an aggressively coarse and casual man. Lingle was that guy, […]

A TV reporter interviews self-employed logger Bridger Hasbrouck, of Dallas, Oregon, outside the Oregon State House in Salem, Oregon, on Thursday, 20 June 2019, the day the Senate is scheduled to take up a bill that would create the nation's second cap-and-trade program to curb carbon emissions. Senate Republicans, however, walked out so there wouldn't be enough lawmakers present for a vote on House Bill 2020, which is extremely unpopular among loggers, truckers and many rural voters. Photo: Gillian Flaccus / AP Photo

The insanity in Oregon over climate legislation is a glimpse of our very dark future – People with guns block carbon market bill with threats of violence

By Charles P. Pierce 24 June 2019 (Esquire) – In these times, everything looks like an ill omen. The capitol is crowded with crows. But it is not an exaggeration to say that if you’re not following the ongoing insanity in Oregon, you are missing a look into a very dark future. It begins with […]

Trump EPA official William Wehrum announced his resignation as the EPA's top air policy official on 26 June 2019, after the Energy and Commerce Committee launched an ethics inquiry. Wehrum served as one of the chief architects of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the ambition and reach of the EPA, and to retreat from President Obama’s push to slash emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. He oversaw efforts to ease regulation of the coal industry, slow requirements that cars and trucks become more fuel efficient and overhaul how the agency calculates costs and benefits to favor industry. Photo: Eric Vance / USEPA

Trump EPA official resigns amid scrutiny over possible ethics violations – “William Wehrum was emblematic of the administration’s struggles to remain ethical”

By Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis 26 June 2019 (The Washington Post) – Bill Wehrum spent only a year and a half as the Environmental Protection Agency’s top air official before announcing plans to resign Wednesday amid scrutiny over possible violations of federal ethics rules. But during that time, Wehrum served as one of the […]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/22/us/extinction-rebellion-new-york-times-arrests/index.html

70 people arrested at climate protest outside The New York Times offices

By Madeleine Thompson and Dakin Andone 22 June 2019 (CNN) – Seventy people were arrested outside of The New York Times building in Manhattan on Saturday, according to a New York Police Department spokesman, during a protest to call attention to the way news outlets cover the climate crisis. Charges against the protesters are pending, […]

Immigration Customs and Enforcement dropped off more than 100 migrants mostly from Guatemala at the Phoenix Greyhound bus station at 2115 E. Buckeye Road. Roberto Ramirez, 6, was in ICE custody with his father, Gaspa Ramirez. He claims that treatment by officers was bad and children were getting sick because of cold weather. Photo: Nick Oza / The Arizona Republic

Flu, lice, and open toilets: What attorneys saw at migrant child processing centers in Texas – “In my 22 years of doing visits with children in detention, I have never heard of this level of inhumanity”

By Gaby del Valle 22 June 2019 (Vice News) – Attorneys who work with migrant children recently visited two Border Patrol processing centers along the U.S.-Mexico border — and what they saw paints a bleak picture of the Trump administration’s treatment of child migrants. [It seems Desdemona’s worst fears are being realized: Children of Men, […]

Total U.S. consumer debt, 2003-2019. Data are through the first quarter of 2019. Data: New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax. Graphic: MarketWatch

U.S. consumer debt is now above levels hit during the 2008 financial crisis

By Mark DeCambre 21 June 2019 (MarketWatch) – Consumer debt is growing to worrisome levels. Ben Mohr, senior research analyst of fixed income at investment consultant Marquette Associates, calculated that total U.S. consumer debt hit $14 trillion in the first quarter of 2019, surpassing the roughly $13 trillion of leverage accumulated in credit cards, auto […]

A truck moves around the Oregon state Capitol during a protest against climate bills that truckers say will put them out of business, in Salem, Oregon on 12 June 2019. Photo: Sarah Zimmerman / AP Photo

Threats from militia groups shut down Oregon capitol a day after GOP lawmakers fled over climate bill: “safety of legislators, staff, and citizen visitors could be compromised”

By Nicole Einbinder 22 June 2019 (Insider) – Oregon lawmakers have shut down the state capitol after receiving threats from militia groups who are vowing to protect Republican senators who bolted earlier this week to prevent the passage of climate change legislation. Conflict first arose on Thursday when 11 GOP senators went into hiding to block the […]

Statistically significant drug overdose death rate increase from 2016 to 2017 U.S. States. Graphic: CDC

12 million pills and 700 deaths: How a few pill mills helped fan the U.S. opioid inferno – “There was just so much money”

By Del Quentin Wilber 14 June 2019 (Los Angeles Times) – Soon after he took over as medical director of the Urgent Care & Surgery Center in eastern Tennessee in 2012, Dr. Marc Valley realized he was supervising illegal drug dealers in lab coats. Platoons of patients socialized in the parking lot, none seemingly afflicted […]

Conoce tus derechos si te encuentras frente a ICE. Know your rights if you encounter ICE, 21 June 2019. Graphic: FIRM

#TrumpRaids are coming: ICE raids and mass deportations as early as Sunday in 10 U.S. cities – Los Angeles and New York City to resist “immoral and unconscionable act by a president hellbent on dividing our country”

By Xeni Jardin 21 June 2019 (BoingBoing) – Here are the 10 U.S. cities where ICE, CBP, DHS, and other agencies plan to execute mass raids. Immigration agents will target Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, and San Francisco this weekend, congressional and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sources […]

Warming stripes for Washington state, 1895-2018. Graphic: Climate Central

Show your stripes: Iconic global warming imagery goes local

By Bob Henson 20 June 2019 (Weather Underground) – The summer solstice arrives on Friday, 21 June 2019, and so does the second year of “warming stripes”. Launched in 2018, this growing campaign builds on a set of imagery developed by University of Reading climate scientist Ed Hawkins: colored stripes that portray a century-plus of global […]

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