Society's ChildS


Pistol

Nine dead after attackers dressed as police enter Mexican prison

Lizbeth Diaz and Julia Symmes Cobb
Reuters
Fri, 03 Jan 2014 17:53 UTC
Image
© Pardaphash.com
Nine people were killed during a gunfight at a prison in Mexico's violent Guerrero state, after a gang dressed as police officers gained entry on Friday, authorities said.

Six gunmen wearing police uniforms were allowed to enter the prison by unsuspecting guards who believed the men were delivering another prisoner, state prosecutors said.

"Once inside the prison, the armed group began an attack on inmates and then on guards in a security tower, where four prisoners and five attackers were killed," the attorney general's office of Guerrero said in a statement.

A prison guard and one of the alleged gunmen remained hospitalized with gunshot wounds.

Prison unrest is common in Mexico, where the government's human rights agency has drawn attention to the killing of dozens of inmates and prison guards as well as the presence of criminal gangs attempting to take over correctional facilities.
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Ambulance

Updated tally of all the people who have ever died from a marijuana overdose (Hint: it's less than 1 and more than -1)

Nick Wing
Huffington Post
Fri, 03 Jan 2014 17:36 UTC
MJ Deaths
© Metapicture
With recreational pot now for sale in Colorado and widespread confusion over a recent satirical story that jokingly claimed 37 people had already died of a marijuana overdose, we figured it might be about time to update our weed death count.

So, here's a a GIF that still accurately shows all of the people who have died after overdosing on pot:

(See original article for GIF of pandas rolling around ~ editor)

Yeah, not a single person has ever died from a weed overdose. We don't have numbers on pandas, but we're guessing it's about the same. According to one frequently cited study, a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times the amount of THC in a joint in order to be at risk of dying.
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Health

Chicago: Doctor's office spends 2 hours on hold with health insurer


CBS News - DC
Fri, 03 Jan 2014 08:19 UTC
Image
© Shutterstock
The new year brought relief to some Illinois patients newly insured under the nation's health care law. Others still weren't sure whether they were covered, despite their best efforts to navigate the often-balky new system.

The major benefits of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul took effect Wednesday, the first day of 2014. By Thursday, the first business day of the new insurance system, it became clear that snags in the rollout of the Affordable Care Act still remained.

On the plus side, the law's protections mean consumers can no longer be denied coverage if they're in poor health. New limits on how much insured patients must pay for care will mean fewer bankruptcies after catastrophic illnesses. Insurance plans must offer a minimum level of essential benefits, and care such as flu shots and mammograms will be fully covered without cost to patients.

But early problems with the federal HealthCare.gov website led many people to wait until last week to sign up, and insurers are still processing enrollment forms.

Paperwork problems almost delayed suburban Chicago resident Sheri Zajcew's scheduled surgery Thursday, but Dr. John Venetos decided to operate without a routine go-ahead from the insurance company. That was after Venetos' office manager spent two hours on hold with the insurer Thursday, trying to get an answer about whether the patient needed prior authorization for the surgery. The office manager finally gave up.
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Arrow Down

'Mystery Lake', miracle cures and the looming epidemic in Enugu State, Nigeria

Leo Igwe
Modern Ghana
Sun, 05 Jan 2014 11:40 UTC
Mystery Lake in Nigeria
© YiutubeSnapshot from video below.

I urge the government of Enugu State to act immediately and prevent the looming epidemic in Nanchi and the surrounding communities. According to an 8 minute video circulating on the internet, miracle seekers are trooping in their hundreds to this village to bath, swim in the so called mystery lake.

The video reveals disgusting images of people diving, swimming, bathing and fetching dirty, stinking water from this lake in an apparent quest for miracles. Personally I wonder if this is a 'miracle quest' to live or to die.

According to a local reporter, some Fulani herdsmen heard an explosion on the evening of November 11. And on getting to the point where the explosion occurred they saw some water gushing out of the ground.

The herdsman said it was some 'miracle water' prophesied in Mecca! They gave some of the water to a blind colleague who reportedly got healed.

Since this incident, the Nanchi mystery lake as it is now called has turned to a pilgrimage center. Hundreds of people visit the dirty polluted lake to bath and swim with the hope of experiencing some miracles. Family members take their sick relatives there for healing. Some testified knowing some people who were healed after bathing in the lake.

From all indications, people who come to swim in this'mystery lake' will end up going home with diseases, not cures. Nanchi and the neighbouring communities should brace up for an out break of cholera and other infections in the months ahead unless the government brings this hazardous situation under control.
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Music

U.S. Customs officials explain why they destroyed musician's prized flutes

Scott Kaufman
The Raw Story
Thu, 02 Jan 2014 23:19 UTC
Image
© Customs and Border Patrol
Thursday afternoon, U.S. customs officials responded to its employees' destruction of 11 rare flutes belonging to Boujemaa Razgui.

Last week, Customs officials destroyed the rare flute collection of the Canadian prodigy, claiming that they were "agricultural products." Today, a Customs spokesperson told Foreign Policy that the officials were correct to destroy the instruments, as they could have been carrying "exotic plant pathogens."

"CBP is responsible for detecting and preventing the entry into the country of plant pests and exotic foreign animal diseases that could harm America's agricultural resources," the spokesman said.

"The fresh bamboo canes were seized and destroyed in accordance with established protocols to prevent the introduction of plant pathogens into the United States," he continued.
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Apple Green

Fruits of the Western invasion: Brutality against Afghan women at record level: 'Cutting the nose, lips and ears'


RT
Sun, 05 Jan 2014 04:30 UTC
Afghan women
© AFP Photo / Shah Marai
Violent crimes against women in Afghanistan reached an unprecedented level of brutality in 2013, an Afghan human rights watchdog has announced as the US-led coalition prepares to withdraw.

Chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), Sima Samar, told Reuters that the pace and the hideousness of attacks on women intensified in 2013 with a 25 per cent surge in cases from March through September.

"The brutality of the cases is really bad. Cutting the nose, lips and ears. Committing public rape," Samar said. "Mass rape... It's against dignity, against humanity."

The spokeswoman noted that as the withdrawal deadline draws near for international troops, women in tribal areas are less protected, leaving them vulnerable to violent assaults.

"The presence of the international community and provincial reconstruction teams in most of the provinces was giving people confidence," Samar said. "There were people there trying to protect women. And that is not there anymore, unfortunately."


Comment: It may be that the international presence and reconstruction teams have brought confidence to some people, but the support for and the hardening of the extremist in that country is due to the destruction of the infrastructure and the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians by the Western led alliance. This was forseeable before the invasion, but the war industry and geopolitical goals had priority. Now the fruits of the invasion is there for all to see.


Comment: Hamid Karzai has been under pressure to sign a security pact with the US, giving the US troops immunity from prosecution. Now the US is using the various NGO's to push for the signing of this "security pact".

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Stock Down

Stock Market Crash in 2014?

Tomi Kilgore
Wall Street Journal
Fri, 03 Jan 2014 00:32 UTC
Wall Street
© Bloomberg
In what may be the bearish call to end all bearish calls, one technician believes 2014 will be the year of "major reversals," with the Dow Jones Industrial Average expected to start a two-year decline that could eventually take it down more than 70% to below 5000.

United-ICAP chief market technician Walter Zimmerman said the Dow Industrials could still rally another 4% or so first, to a high around 17150, before the great reversal begins. And for those who thought 2008 was the worst bear market they will ever see, just wait.

"Based on our longer-term time cycles the present stock market rally must be considered the bubble to end all bubbles," Mr. Zimmerman wrote in a note to clients.

He doesn't believe the Dow Industrials will hit a long-term cycle low until 2016, somewhere in the 5770 to 4650 range. The Dow hasn't seen those levels, which are 65% to 72% below current prices, since late-1995 to mid-1996.
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Airplane

Small plane makes emergency landing on Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx

Denis Slattery, Kerry Burke,Thomas Tracy and Stephen Rex Brown
The New York Daily News
Sat, 04 Jan 2014 10:40 UTC
plane
A single-engine airplane made a miraculous emergency landing on the Major Deegan Expressway Saturday, the Fire Department said. A man and two women emerged from the stalled plane just after 3:20 p.m. with only one minor injury between them, according to police.

'It's flying low! It's low!' Jarel Paul recalled his friend exclaiming, as they spotted the plane coming down while cruising on the Major Deegan.


ny plane landing major deegan
© Michael Schwartz/New York Daily NewsThe wheels nearly broke off the small plane upon landing.
A 50-year-old man and two women, aged 43 and 20, emerged from the fixed-wing Piper PA28 Cherokee that lost power just after 3:20 p.m. with only one minor injury between them, according to authorities and a police source.

The plane had departed Danbury Airport in Connecticut for a loop around the Statue of Liberty, Mayor de Blasio said.

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Bandaid

Obamacare confusion reigns as frustrated patients walk out of hospitals without treatment

David Martosko
The Daily Mail
Fri, 03 Jan 2014 15:24 UTC
Image
One patient left the hospital without being admitted for chest pains after she was warned she might have to pay full-price. She asked MailOnline not to publish a photograph of her face.
'They had no idea if my insurance was active or not!': Obamacare confusion reigns as frustrated patients walk out of hospitals without treatment
  • MailOnline spoke with patients who were told they would have to pay their bills in full if they couldn't prove they had insurance
  • One was faced with a $3,000 hospital room charge and opted to leave the hospital after experiencing chest pains
  • 'Should I be in the hospital? Probably,' she said
  • Another, coughing in the cold, walked out without receiving a needed chest x-ray
  • Consumers face sticker-shock from medical costs under the new Obamacare system, made worse if they can't prove they're insured
  • As many as one-third of new enrollees' applications have seen problems when the government transmits them to insurance companies
Hospital staff in Northern Virginia are turning away sick people on a frigid Thursday morning because they can't determine whether their Obamacare insurance plans are in effect.

Patients in a close-in DC suburb who think they've signed up for new insurance plans are struggling to show their December enrollments are in force, and health care administrators aren't taking their word for it.
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Handcuffs

11-year-old Dallas girl arrested after stabbing family member nine times

Matthew Watkins
Dallas News
Sat, 04 Jan 2014 12:18 UTC
cuffs
Dallas police said they arrested an 11-year-old girl early Saturday who is believed to have stabbed a family member nine times in an Oak Cliff apartment.

The victim, 41-year-old Toshia Edmonson, survived the stabbing and remained in at Methodist Dallas Medical Center on Saturday. Police said they couldn't release the nature of Edmonson's relationship to the child. They also wouldn't give out the girl's name. That information is kept private when the arrested person is a minor.

"It's family violence. That's all I can say," said Cpl Monica Cordova, a department spokeswoman.

According to a police report, the girl was dropped off at Edmonson's apartment on Village Fair Drive near Interstate 35E and Ledbetter Drive at around 11:45 p.m. Friday. The girl told police that she was angry to be home. She said that Edmonson reacted by shoving her into a sofa and threatening to give her away, the report said. The girl then waited for Edmonson to go to sleep, grabbed a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her in the head, neck and shoulder, the report said.
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