Prepare For The Storm
Major depression rising; Leopards are feasting; Don't F with nurses
This week’s dispatch is a grab bag of hard truths, brutal ironies, and corporate bullshit wrapped in plastic, literally. From skyrocketing depression in teens to greedy health systems squeezing nurses, and voters learning the hard way what tariffs and deregulation mean, it’s getting harder to pretend the system isn’t eating itself.
But don’t worry, we’ll slap a “free market” sticker on it and call it freedom. Meanwhile, the plastics are in our bloodstreams, and the billionaires are still bottling hope and selling it back to us at a markup.
Major depression on the rise
Granted, this might not have been the best choice for the first link to share, but it's an important topic to discuss. It appears that major depression is rising fast in all age groups across the country, with the fastest among teens and young adults.
Maggie Fox
What’s behind the increase?
“Many people are worried about how busy they are,” said Dr. Laurel Williams, chief of psychiatry at Texas Children’s Hospital.
“There’s a lack of community. There’s the amount of time that we spend in front of screens and not in front of other people. If you don’t have a community to reach out to, then your hopelessness doesn’t have any place to go.”
While cautioning not to pin the responsibility on social media, you can't deny just how isolating it can be. I think it's many things, including just how messed up the healthcare system is in this country.
Don't F with the nurses
There's a saying in my circles that you should never F**k with nurses and librarians. Nurses work their asses off to care for the sick and injured, only to be shit on by the healthcare providers and administrators.
In response to the government's proposed 3.6% pay increase for 2025/26, an overwhelming 91% of RCN members voted to reject the offer, citing that it would be entirely absorbed by inflation and would not alleviate the financial strain they are experiencing. The union has warned that without significant improvements, it will escalate the situation through formal industrial action ballots.
I always laugh when corporations and agencies spout off on the free market and setting rates. They're all ok with jacking up prices, but then pay their workers a small raise that's supposed to take into account inflation. This is why they're so scared of unions. Unions will fight for the workers so they can grow beyond inflation and get ahead. That's the free market going both ways.
From the Leopards are eating my face series
You are a dumbass if you believe that Trump will fix your problems. He only cares about himself, and he will throw you to the wolves to suit his needs. Here's a dumbass who didn't believe he was going to be hurt by Trump's tariffs.
Charlotte Bennett
The political gamble is clear: Trump aims to portray these tariffs as a win for American strength on the global stage, but the real test will be whether factory towns see a resurgence and whether everyday Americans feel economically secure.
For Smith, the dilemma is immediate and frustrating. “I would love to buy American-made grinding machines, but they don’t exist,” he said. “Only two companies in the world make them, and both are in Germany.” As a result, the machine’s new 15% import tax represents a cost that could have funded a new hire at his company.
On top of this 15% import tax, he had to source steel from Sweden and pay a 20% tariff. What's he going to do now? Cut into his profits or pass the costs onto his customers? I think he should pull himself up by the bootstraps.
And another one from the Leopards eating my face series
It seems that Canadians were keeping the bourbon industry afloat for years. They love our whisky; they love their country far more.
K. Frost
Three major distilleries filed for bankruptcy within eight months, affecting the industry and thousands of jobs in America’s whiskey heartland. The industry supports over 23,000 Kentucky workers and has an annual payroll of $1.6 billion.
Beyond bankruptcies, established whiskey giants are purging workforces. According to Fortune, Brown-Forman cut 700 jobs in January.
Green River Distilling eliminated 26 positions—25% of its workforce—reported The Spirits Business. Diageo paused production at its Lebanon facility through June 2025, affecting additional workers statewide.
I sure love a good dose of schadenfreude, and my support goes out to the voters who voted for Harris-Walz. All others, you can go pound salt. This is what you voted for.
We need to ban plastics - it's getting out of control
We need to ban plastics because they're disrupting our environment and our bodies. Microplastics are showing up everywhere, and we know that's not good.
Damian Carrington
Plastics are a “grave, growing and under-recognised danger” to human and planetary health, a new expert review has warned. The world is in a “plastics crisis”, it concluded, which is causing disease and death from infancy to old age and is responsible for at least $1.5tn (£1.1tn) a year in health-related damages.
Yes, they might be heavier to carry around, but I'm ok with reusable glass jars and containers.
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