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Report: Suicide Now the Second-Leading Cause of Death Among America’s Teenagers

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Risk Factors Include Abuse, Bullying, Being LGBT – Firearms Are the Second Leading Method of Suicide

Editor’s note: This article is being published to help our readers become more aware of the risk factors associated with suicide in the hope of helping reduce and prevent it. See the list of resources at the bottom for more.

Suicide is now the second leading cause of death among teenagers, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released Monday, which updates guidelines to pediatricians for helping teens manage risk factors for suicide. In 2007, suicide was the third leading cause of death among teens.

A USA Today article also published Monday, “Pediatricians urged to screen for suicide risks among teens,” notes, “Christine Moutier, chief medical officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the nation’s largest suicide prevention network, commends the report for shining light on the pediatricians’ role in having the right conversations with patients about mental health and providing practical examples of how to ask the right questions that keep adolescents engaged.”

Suicide risk factors listed include a history of physical or sexual abuse, mood disorders, drug and alcohol use, self-harm, being LGBT, and bullying, including cyberbullying.

Firearms in the home may also increase risk of suicide, and the AAP recommends that the families of at-risk teenagers remove any guns stored in the house. Firearms were the second leading method of suicide, increasing risk of completed suicide attempts no matter how they are stored.

USA Today adds, “Ben Shain, author of the report and head of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NorthShore University HealthSystem, says suicide rates may have increased due to the stresses and anger levels induced by electronic media and a reluctance to use antidepressant medication.”

In fact, frequent internet use was also strongly associated with a higher risk of suicide. Staying online more than five hours per day correlates with an increased risk for depression and suicidal thoughts and actions, although social networking sites mitigate this risk by providing greater social support.

Pediatricians should be looking for other health concerns, including typical symptoms of mental health issues like negative feelings, fatigue, and insomnia, as well as behavioral problems and physical symptoms like chest pain, headaches, weight loss, and lack of energy.

Additionally, learning about another person’s suicide can be a risk factor for people already at risk.

Adolescent girls have a higher rate of attempted suicide than boys, but boys have a success rate nearly three times as high as girls. According to the AAP, this is because girls choose less lethal methods than boys do.

The report also gives guidelines for doctors to help struggling teens. Suicide screening should include questions about symptoms of depression, as well as asking about risk factors and past attempts. Screening was not found to correlate with suicidal thoughts; in other words, asking teenagers about suicidal thoughts does not cause them to have suicidal thoughts, even if they are already at risk. Screening should also be done without a parent present, although parents should be given information to help their child if they are at risk.

The AAP also addresses the black box warning associated with antidepressant medications. The FDA requires labels on medications that were found to lead to an increased risk in suicidal thoughts and behavior through clinical trials. Although, as the AAP report says, “Subsequent studies have addressed the validity of the black-box warning and suggest that, for appropriate youth, the risk of not prescribing antidepressant medication is significantly higher than the risk of prescribing.” The FDA has not changed its guidelines on the black box warning, and the AAP guidelines say that the warning should be discussed when medication is prescribed.

 

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, there are many people available to help. Call 911 if there is an immediate risk. 

You can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, or call them at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

States offer federally-funded free or low-cost mental health services. Use the SAMSHA locator or call 1-800-662-4357.

The Trevor Project helps LGBTQ young people 13-24. Visit them online or call 1-866-488-7386. The Trevor Project is also on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Image by justine-reyes via Flickr and a CC license

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‘What First Amendment?’: 140 EPA Workers Suspended After Opposing Trump Agenda

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Roughly 140 Environmental Protection Agency employees have been placed on administrative leave after signing a letter warning of political interference in the agency’s work—prompting critics to accuse the Trump administration of ignoring their First Amendment rights.

Calling the letter “a remarkable rebuke of the agency’s political leadership,” The New York Times reported on Monday that more than 270 EPA employees had signed the public letter “denouncing what they described as the Trump administration’s efforts to politicize, dismantle and sideline the main federal agency tasked with protecting the environment and public health.”

On Thursday, the Times reported that 144 workers had been suspended, other news outlets put the number at 139.

In that public letter, signatories said they are joining in “solidarity with employees across the federal government in opposing this administration’s policies,” and that they “stand together in dissent against the current administration’s focus on harmful deregulation, mischaracterization of previous EPA actions, and disregard for scientific expertise.”

READ MORE: ‘Stop Talking’: Johnson Suggests Jeffries Is Lying in Marathon Budget Speech

They detailed their five primary concerns, including, “Undermining public trust,” “Ignoring scientific consensus to benefit polluters,” “Reversing EPA’s progress in America’s most vulnerable communities,” “Dismantling the Office of Research and Development,” and “Promoting a culture of fear, forcing staff to choose between their livelihood and well-being.”

On Thursday, the 140 or so employees who allegedly had signed the letter with their official titles received emails saying they had been placed on leave for two weeks “pending an administrative investigation,” The New York Times reported.

“The Environmental Protection Agency has a zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting the administration’s agenda as voted for by the great people of this country last November,” Brigit Hirsch, an EPA spokesperson, said in a statement, according to Bloomberg Law News.

“The letter, addressed to EPA head Lee Zeldin, alleged the agency has used its communication platforms to ‘promote misinformation and overtly partisan rhetoric,'” Bloomberg added. “One example the signatories cited was a March statement laying out the administration’s deregulatory agenda, in which Zeldin referred to ‘the climate change religion.'”

READ MORE: Democratic Strategist Warns Trump Could Try to Impose Martial Law Before 2026 Midterms

Nicole Cantello, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 704, called the move “blatant retaliation,” The Hill reported.

“We don’t swear an oath to the Trump administration, we swear an oath to the Constitution and so we don’t feel like we violated that oath or that we did anything wrong by signing this letter,” she said.

Cantello, on social media, wrote that EPA workers “have the right to freedom of speech, just like every other American.”

Addressing EPA Administrator Zeldin directly, she said: “See you in court.”

Some denounced the administration’s move.

Attorney Mark Zaid, who handles national security and whistleblower cases, wrote: “Apparently retaliation has already begun. This is what defines this Administration.”

He also offered to “provide pro bono consultation to examine current situation.”

The New York Times’ Trip Gabriel asked, “What First Amendment?”

READ MORE: Trump Appeared Unaware His Budget Bill Cuts $1T From Medicaid: Report

 

Image of Lee Zeldin via Shutterstock

 

 

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‘Stop Talking’: Johnson Suggests Jeffries Is Lying in Marathon Budget Speech

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House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, in an apparent attempt to prevent the Republican Speaker, Mike Johnson, from passing President Donald Trump’s massive budget bill in the dead of night, has been delivering a speech on the floor for over six hours, and may break the record of 8 hours and 32 minutes set in 2021 by then GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Speaker Johnson reportedly allowed minimal time for debate on what Trump calls his “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which cuts Medicaid by about $1 trillion, and forces cuts to Medicare and SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, by hundreds of billions of dollars while carving out tax breaks that largely favor the wealthy. An estimated 17 million people could lose insurance as a result of the legislation.

Once Leader Jeffries concludes his remarks—which he began around 5 AM—Johnson will put the bill to a final vote, and he’s anxious to get the legislation to the President’s desk before Trump’s arbitrary July 4 deadline.

READ MORE: Democratic Strategist Warns Trump Could Try to Impose Martial Law Before 2026 Midterms

“What is contemplated in this one big, ugly bill is wrong,” Leader Jeffries said, as NBC News reported. “It’s dangerous, and it’s cruel, and cruelty should not be either the objective or the outcome of legislation that we consider here in the United States House of Representatives.”

Jeffries also called it “cruel” to cut Medicaid.

“Republicans are trying to take a chain saw to Social Security, a chain saw to Medicare, a chain saw to Medicaid, a chain saw to the health care of the American people, a chain saw to nutritional assistance for hungry children, a chain saw to farm country and a chain saw to vulnerable Americans,” Jeffries added.

Speaker Johnson, speaking to reporters, appeared displeased.

“If Hakeem will stop talking, we’ll, we’ll get the job done for the American people,” Johnson, using the Democratic Leader’s first name, told reporters.

“It takes a lot longer to build a lie than to tell the truth,” Johnson claimed. “So he’s really spinning a long tale in there, but we’re excited. The people will see the effect of this bill—the extraordinary legislation.”

Johnson offered no evidence to support his accusation.

READ MORE: Trump Appeared Unaware His Budget Bill Cuts $1T From Medicaid: Report

“It’s going to get the economy humming again, really, at a record pace, and it will help every American,” he added.

“So the sooner we can get to it, the sooner the Democrats will stop talking, we’ll get this bill done for the people, and we’re really excited about it.”

Critics blasted Speaker Johnson.

Walter Kimbrough, a three-time HBCU president, responded by posting a meme quoting the famous historian Alexis de Tocqueville, that reads: “It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Special Place in Hell’: Top Dem Slams ‘Cult’ of ‘People Who Take Food Away’ From Kids

 

Image via Reuters 

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Democratic Strategist Warns Trump Could Try to Impose Martial Law Before 2026 Midterms

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Well-known veteran Democratic strategist James Carville is out with a second dire warning about President Donald Trump and the 2026 midterm elections.

Earlier this week, Carville, a political consultant and strategist since the 1970s and now a political commentator, warned that Trump might try to rig the 2026 elections in one way or another—including, he suggested, by possibly trying to cancel them.

On Wednesday night, he offered up another possibility: martial law.

On NewsNation (video below), Carville predicted a “Democratic blowout” in this November’s gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, and that President Trump will be forced to see the writing on the wall.

READ MORE: Trump Appeared Unaware His Budget Bill Cuts $1T From Medicaid: Report

“I think he’s gonna read the election,” Carville said. “And I think he’s going to see this big, beautiful bill, is about 25 points underwater. It’s going to be 30 points underwater,” Carville added, referring to the Republican budget bill that guts Medicaid and Medicare, and is likely to pass the House and head to Trump’s desk for a July 4 signing.

“He’s going to see a massive defeat coming, and he’s going to try to do anything he can to extricate himself in that defeat,” Carville warned.

“And I would not put it at all past him to try to call martial law or declare that there’s some kind of national emergency in the country, or anything like that, because the hoofprints are coming, you can hear ’em, and they’re gonna get a shellacking in November of ’26.”

READ MORE: ‘Special Place in Hell’: Top Dem Slams ‘Cult’ of ‘People Who Take Food Away’ From Kids

Mediaite noted that “Bill O’Reilly and Stephen A. Smith also joined the panel discussion, with O’Reilly mocking Carville’s mention of ‘martial law,’ calling it a ‘scare tactic’ and arguing the economy will dictate the midterms.”

On Tuesday, Carville spoke about Trump with former CNN journalist Jim Acosta.

“I don’t put anything past him, nothing,” Carville warned. “To try to call the election off, to do anything he can. He can think of things like that that we can’t because we’re not accustomed to thinking like that.”

“You know people come up to me all the time and say, ‘James. I’m really scared,’” Carville told Acosta on “The Jim Acosta Show.”

“I said, ‘you should be, you have every reason to be scared. Don’t kid yourself,’” Carville added.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump Threatens to Block NYC Democratic Mayoral Nominee He Calls a ‘Communist Lunatic’

 

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