Doris O'Brien is a retired college Speech teacher and banker. She has published two books of humor (Up or Down With Women's Liberation and Humor Me a Little) and for many years contributed light verse to the Pepper 'n Salt column of the Wall Street Journal. She is an avid writer of letters to the editors.
Doris celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary in the same year she welcomed her first grandchild. She now lives in Pasadena with a great view of the San Gabriel mountains — and the annual Tournament of Roses Parade.
She can be reached by e-mail: witsendob at (@) gmail.com
Strong Evidence that Hotter Weather Increases Both Suicide Rates and the Use of Depressive Language on Social Media
The authors stress that rising temperature and climate change should not be viewed as direct motivations for suicide. Instead, they point out that temperature and climate may increase the risk of suicide by affecting the likelihood that an individual situation leads to an attempt at self-harm. “Hotter temperatures are clearly not the only, nor the most important, risk factor for suicide,” Burke emphasized. “But our findings suggest that warming can have a surprisingly large impact on suicide risk, and this matters for both our understanding of mental health as well as for what we should expect as temperatures continue to warm.” more »
Census Bureau Research: Shhh….I Make More than My Husband: Spouses Report Earnings Differently When Wives Earn More
When wives earn more than their husbands do, a puzzling thing can happen: Husbands say they earn more than they are and wives underreport their income. New Census Bureau research shows that the incomes couples report on Census Bureau surveys do not always match their IRS filings. The Census Bureau is working to improve the quality of reported earnings by comparing an individual’s survey response with their reported response from another source.
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The Impact of Trade and Tariffs on the United States Key Findings From the Tax Foundation; Steve Rattner Charts
"The Trump administration has enacted tariffs on imported solar panels, washing machines, steel, and aluminum, plans to impose tariffs on Chinese imports, and is investigating further tariffs on Chinese imports and automobile imports. • The effects of each tariff will be lower GDP, wages, and employment in the long run. The tariffs will also make the US tax code less progressive because the increased tax burden would fall hardest on lower- and middle-income households. • Rather than erect barriers to trade that will have negative economic consequences, policymakers should promote free trade and the economic benefits it brings." more »
Stateline: These Pills Could Be Next US Drug Epidemic, Public Health Officials Say
“What we’re seeing is just like what happened with opioids in the 1990s. It really does begin with overprescribing. Liberal therapeutic use of drugs in a medical setting tends to normalize their use. People start to think they’re safe and, because they make them feel good, it doesn’t matter where they get them or how many they use ... We have this whole infrastructure set up now to prevent overprescribing of opioids and address the need for addiction treatment, said Dr. Anna Lembke, a researcher and addiction specialist at Stanford University. “We need to start making benzos part of that.” more »
