SEATTLE RED

The biggest threat to our national well-being

Dec 2, 2019, 5:54 PM

health care, life expectancy, new health insurance law, Virginia Mason...

(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Despite strong economic growth of recent years, an even more important number tells a much less encouraging story.

For three years in a row now, we’ve suffered an unprecedented decline in life expectancy—with self-inflicted harm striking more Americans in the prime of life. The lead author of a new study for the American Medical Association says, “the whole country is at a disadvantage compared to other wealthy nations.”

Pete Buttigieg too young for the presidency?

While people around the world enjoy steady increases in longevity, America has been moving in the wrong direction for the first time in a century.

Experts say prime causes are drug overdoses, suicides, and alcoholism—“deaths of despair” that inflict a horrible toll, despite declining rates of crime and poverty, and dramatic improvements in medical care.

Prospective leaders in an election year must confront this threat to our national well-being that prematurely steals spouses, parents, neighbors and work colleagues from those who need them.

White House border czar Tom Homan speaks with reporters outside the White House, Monday, July 20, 2...

Associated Press

Trump’s border czar says vetting of ICE officer is under internal review after Maine shooting

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s border czar said Sunday that the vetting of an immigration officer involved in the deadly shooting of a Colombian native in Maine is under internal review after relatives revealed to The Associated Press that he had a history of serious mental health struggles and violent behavior. Tom Homan said […]

3 minutes ago

The Modrite Fire, in northeast Washington state, has grown to more than 9,000 acres. (Photo Courtes...

Tom Brock

Washington state wildfires growing in size, forcing evacuations

Dry conditions across the state have prompted Red Flag Watches and Warnings, as a series of wildfires continues to grow across Washington.

54 minutes ago

President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and others, salute as a U.S. Army carr...

Associated Press

Pentagon’s official Iran war death toll no longer lists 4 troops killed during renewed fighting

WASHINGTON (AP) — The four American troops killed during renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran in recent weeks are no longer listed as part of the Iran war death toll in the Pentagon’s official casualty count but have been placed in a new, separate category. It is raising questions about properly counting the impact […]

1 hour ago

This satellite image released by NOAA shows Hurricane Fausto, center, and Hurricane Genevieve off t...

Associated Press

Genevieve becomes a major Pacific hurricane off Mexico, but no direct threat to land is forecast

MIAMI (AP) — Genevieve has strengthened into a major hurricane in the Pacific Ocean and is expected to intensify well southwest of Mexico but stay far out to sea on a course roughly parallel to the coast. Genevieve had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph), making it a Category 3 hurricane, according to […]

2 hours ago

A Kent Police Department vehicle (Photo courtesy of Kent Police Department)...

Tom Brock

Dispute at a family graduation celebration ends with deadly shooting

One man is dead, and another is in police custody after a family celebration in Kent ended with a shooting. Police arrested a 40-year-old suspect at a family graduation celebration after a 41-year-old man was shot multiple times. It happened at a home in the 900 block of E. Cherry Hill St., a half mile […]

2 hours ago

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the state memorial for Ze'ev Jabotinsky, at Mou...

Associated Press

Netanyahu accuses Mamdani of ‘fomenting hate’ and calls ICC war-crimes charges ‘bogus’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is “fomenting hate” by calling the prime minister a war criminal who should be arrested over the war in Gaza if he visits the city for the United Nations General Assembly. Netanyahu said he intends to be in New York in […]

3 hours ago

The biggest threat to our national well-being