Society's Child
The number of shootings during the Fourth of July weekend in Chicago is usually high, but this year it skyrocketed, police data shows.
Last year, 66 people were shot, four of them killed, over what turned out to be a three-day weekend as the Fourth of July fell on a Monday.
However, the number of shootings this year is much higher than over the last four-day weekend which was in 2013. Then, 72 people were shot across the city.

An Israeli police officer surveys the scene of a fire at the Church of Loaves and Fishes on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel June 18, 2015.
The Nazareth District Court found Reuveni guilty of the 2015 attack on the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes in Tabgha, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
The fire destroyed a building on the 5th century church grounds and Hebrew graffiti at the scene read: "Idols will be cast out or destroyed." A monk and a volunteer were hospitalized after suffering smoke inhalation.
A report by Theos, a think tank focusing on religion, found that experts were concerned that the "booming industry" in exorcisms was putting Christians' mental health at risk.
The report, which examines the relationship between Christianity and mental health, said: "Exorcisms are now a booming industry in the UK, with a number of interviewees noting the astonishing increase in demand - often, as one noted, in defiance of any actual rules or procedures put in place by any church."
I'm unsure what feelings and images those two words conjure deep in your being?
For me, it's the power, strength, and sacredness of the feminine; the creation of balanced and beautiful relationships with men and women; sacred union; conscious birth, mothering, grand-mothering; the menstrual cycle; fertility; study of archetypes and Goddesses; the tales and practices of our ancestors; the seasons; the elements; nutrition and herbal medicine; stages of life such as maiden, mother, crone; death and rebirth; and the protection of our precious Earth.
That's what the study of women means to me. It speaks to our innateness, our deep-seated capacity for creation. It's powerful, magical, and mysterious — just like we are.
It's an understatement to say I was shocked to discover what modern day Women's Studies (also known as Gender, Sexuality, Feminist, or Social Justice Studies) courses verily teach. I had journeyed for six months, searching for sisters yearning to share openly about the intrinsic nature of women, the beauty of our strength, the potency of healing as a collective. I found a sprinkling of precious diamonds who I now hold close, but mostly I found overwhelming anger, a victim mentality, and buzzwords — lots of buzzwords.
Speaking to RT, Seyran Ates, a women's rights activist and lawyer who is one of the unusual prayer site's seven founders, said she is not surprised by the reaction, as she is the "heart" of a movement that is infringing on patriarchal values.
"I expected such a reaction. I expected that not everyone would like it. In general, of course, I knew that men wouldn't give up the patriarchate so easily, because these are the patriarchal structures that we are attacking," Ates told RT.
"At the moment I've only got threats, because I'm the theorist and, so to speak, the heart of the movement. But this is a movement and people should know that," she went on, adding that, even if someone manages to silence her, the movement will continue on, as many people around the world already "have mobilized."
Those words were written by Samuel Girod in a document filed in a Kentucky federal court in June. Girod is an Amish farmer who was convicted in March of selling herbal health products that, as reported by the Lexington Herald-Leader on Friday, "were not adequately labeled as required by federal law."
According to the government, the Amish man broke the law by growing, processing, and bringing to market his own herbal supplements without FDA approval. US News reported that Girod manufactured salves and skin treatments, one of which the FDA claims could be harmful to the skin. He also claimed one extract could help cure cancer, which the FDA disputed. In 2013, Giron ignored orders from the FDA to stop selling his products.
Nevertheless, he rejected the notion that he deserved six years in prison for being at odds with the federal agency (which, itself, approves numerous dangerous drugs).
"Spending my 4th in meetings all day. #ThanksNorthKorea," Nikki Haley tweeted on Tuesday, following North Korea's testing of a long-range missile. That required her hasty arrangement of a meeting between the US, Japan and South Korea.
Since the start of the war in east Ukraine up to 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers, veterans and draftees have killed themselves. This is a staggering number considering that by official figures in the entire war 2,275 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in action.
For every two or three soldiers killed by enemy action another soldier, veteran or conscript has taken his own life.
The flat belonged to the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is in charge of tackling clerical sexual abuse.
Reports in Italy claim the occupant of the apartment is allegedly the secretary to Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio - a key aide to the 80-year-old Pope.
Coccopalmerio heads the Pontifical Council for Legislative texts and was said to have once recommended his secretary for a promotion to bishop.
The explosive claims were made in the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.
In March the Vatican was hit with a wave of lurid accusations of misbehaving priests across Italy with scandals involving orgies, prostitution and porn videos. The claims were embarrassing to the Vatican, which under Pope Francis has attempted to demand high standards of the clergy.
Francis has tried to clamp down on unethical behaviour ever since being made Pope in 2013 and has often spoken out against the pitfalls of 'temptation'.
Comment:
- Vatican buys share in apartment block housing Europe's biggest gay bathhouse and sauna
- More Vatileaks scandal: Vatican owned properties used as brothels and massage parlors where priests pay for sex
- More cover-ups and stalling: Pope Francis admits backlog in processing sex abuse cases against pedophile priests
- Pope's clemency for pedophile priests under scrutiny following latest scandal

NYPD Officer Miosotis Familia was killed when a man shot her in the head as she sat in her marked NYPD car on Wednesday, July 5, 2017, police said.
Miosotis Familia, 48, was shot in the head shortly after midnight while she and her partner were sitting in a marked police vehicle. She was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where she died, the New York Police Department said. Familia was "assassinated in an unprovoked attack on cops" when a suspect shot through the window of the officer's vehicle, said James O'Neill, the New York police commissioner.
Police encountered a male suspect, identified as Alexander Bonds, 34, running about one block from the scene. The suspect allegedly drew a revolver as officers confronted him, and he was shot and killed by police, O'Neill said. A silver revolver was recovered at the scene, police said. Dispatch audio of the moments after Familia was shot reveal her partner frantically calling for help.
"Shots fired!" the officer's partner says. "Give me a f****** bus!" Police said Familia worked in the 46th Precinct, which tweeted out a photo of the officer.
An apparent bystander also was struck by a bullet during the encounter, police said. The person, who was not identified, is in stable condition at a hospital.
Comment: Of course no mention on who fired the bullet that struck the bystander. The NYPD has a history of hitting innocent victims on the sidelines with their stray bullets...
Comment: Unfortunately attacks on police only increase as police themselves become more violent, furthering the cycle of violence. As police feel more threatened, they are more likely to use deadly force, upsetting relatives and their communities. When attacks on police happen, they are used as justification for more and more use of deadly force against civilians. Also notice the style in which the story was relayed by CNN, we have the police narrative being accepted uncritically and the alleged suspect's criminal history shared. It would be interesting to discover if Familia had made any complaints of corruption recently, given the NYPD's history of retaliation against whistleblowers.













Comment: Post-nihilism, a template for where we are heading: