Society's ChildS


Bandaid

Daesh terrorists covertly treated at Turkish hospital, non-life threatening injuries

Daesh patient
© SPUTNIK/ HİKMET DURGUNTurkish hospital secret treatment.
Four wounded Daesh fighters have been treated at the Ersin Arslan regional hospital, located in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, an unnamed source told Sputnik. They were admitted on May 5, the medical worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added.

One of them, named Bagur Ferhad, is an Afghan national born in 1993, the source said. "I examined Daesh fighters. They had gunshot wounds. None of them received life-threatening injuries," the medical worker detailed.

Earlier, Turkish forces opened fire when a group of foreign fighters tried to cross into Syria near Oğuzeli, a city in the Gaziantep province. Three militants were killed, 11 were injured. Four of them were brought to the Ersin Arslan regional hospital. No record of their stay has been made.

"I think that the hospital's authorities don't want the public to find out that these people received medical treatment here. Doctors and health workers working here don't want to treat Daesh fighters. Some of the doctors come from Kilis, a town that is daily shelled from Syrian territories under Daesh control," the source explained.

The Gaziantep province shares a 50-kilometer-long border with Syria. Its capital city, located less than 100 kilometers north of Aleppo, has long served as a staging post for those, who wanted to fight in the war-torn Arab country.

Turkey has long been suspected of offering medical assistance to the militants, who are fighting to overthrow Bashar al-Assad. Iraqi MP Mowaffak al-Rubaie told RT as much last December. "There is evidence that some of these high value individuals of Daesh when they get wounded in Iraq and Syria, they cross the border and get treated and operated on in Turkish hospitals," he lamented.

Cassiopaea

How some in the U.S. are preparing for the 'end of the world'

end of america
Deep inside, most of us know that something is coming. Many of us may not know exactly what it is that is heading our way, but there are millions of Americans that feel so alarmed about what they sense is on the horizon that they are taking extreme measures to get prepared. Of course the list of potential catastrophic disasters is endless - economic collapse, civil unrest, historic earthquakes, power grid failure, Islamic terror, Hillary getting into the White House, etc. There are so many things that could bring this country to its knees, and there are lots of preppers out there that are feverishly preparing their homes and their families for doomsday. But there are others that are taking very different approaches. As you will see below, some preppers have decided that the best thing to do is to run for office, while others are getting out of the United States completely.


Comment: "Islamic terror" as written above should, of course, read as "U.S. and Western-manufactured synthetic terror".


In this article, I do not intend to tell you which approach is best for you and your family. In the end, each one of us needs to do what we feel is best for those that we love. And for many Americans, that means finding a property that is "off the grid" and that is far away from large population centers. According to realtor.com, sales of prepper properties are really surging right now...

Comment: Different strokes for different folks and all that. But which stroke is yours? Are you aware enough to know that profound change is upon us? And if you are, dear reader, do you realize to just what extent these changes can and will occur? A difficult question to be sure: "What am I missing?" - if I dare ask such a question? A suggestion: When you're ready, take a moment to reflect on the distinct possibility that nothing - nothing will be the same in the near future as we now, collectively, experience the tumults, convulsions, death rattles and birth pangs of a world in rapid and drastic flux.

We at Sott are not about wishing things better so much as we are about seeing things exactly as they are - whatever they are, and acting and responding constructively to it. But to do that we must be willing to observe and understand 'objective reality' and our place within it first, and as much as possible; seeing ourselves not merely as subjects to the developments we see around us, but also as active participants; actors on a grand stage that is much larger and more complex than anything we've been led to believe - and we can't underestimate or give short shrift to the importance of this participation. Each and every one of us with everything that we think or do.

But before we can do this, we must gain knowledge of the stage.


USA

Best of the Web: Cultural insanity: Ponerized Western consumer culture is creating a demoralized man in psycho-spiritual crisis

consumer culture
© Robin Heighway-Bury/Alamy
Western consumer culture is creating a psycho-spiritual crisis that leaves us disoriented and bereft of purpose. How can we treat our sick culture and make ourselves well?

Our descent into the Age of Depression seems unstoppable. Three decades ago, the average age for the first onset of depression was 30. Today it is 14. Researchers such as Stephen Izard at Duke University point out that the rate of depression in Western industrialized societies is doubling with each successive generational cohort. At this pace, over 50 per cent of our younger generation, aged 18-29, will succumb to it by middle age. Extrapolating one generation further, we arrive at the dire conclusion that virtually everyone will fall prey to depression.

By contrast to many traditional cultures that lack depression entirely, or even a word for it, Western consumer culture is certainly depression-prone. But depression is so much a part of our vocabulary that the word itself has come to describe mental states that should be understood differently. In fact, when people with a diagnosis of depression are examined more closely, the majority do not actually fit that diagnosis. In the largest study of its kind, Ramin Mojtabai of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health sampled over 5,600 cases and found that only 38 per cent of them met the criteria for depression.

Contributing to the confusion is the equally insidious epidemic of demoralization that also afflicts modern culture. Since it shares some symptoms with depression, demoralization tends to be mislabelled and treated as if it were depression. A major reason for the poor 28-per-cent success rate of anti-depressant drugs is that a high percentage of 'depression' cases are actually demoralization, a condition unresponsive to drugs.

Attention

3 dead in Amtrak accident in Madera County, California

train accident
© Mike Blake / Reuters
Three people died when their pick-up truck was hit by an Amtrak train in Madera County, California, just northwest of Fresno. The train conductor suffered minor injuries. No passengers were hurt.

The fatal accident took place around 1:00pm local time, when a pick-up truck tried to go around a stopped freight train on Avenue 9 in Madera County, said the California Highway Patrol (CHP), according to Fresno's KFSN-TV.

Comment: See also: Two killed, 30 injured in Amtrak crash near Philadelphia
  • Amtrak train with over 140 on board derails in Kansas, nearly 30 injured



Pistol

Psycho-nation: US 'Justice' Dept returns gun used to lynch black teen Trayvon Martin to George Zimmerman - Killer puts it up for auction

Zimmerman
Zimmerman continues livin it up in Psycho-Nation
George Zimmerman wants to sell the gun he used to kill Florida teenager Trayvon Martin to the highest bidder in an online auction.

The firearm was initially placed on a listing on GunBroker.com, and included a description written by Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch captain acquitted by a jury in the teen's 2012 shooting death. The killing sparked a national conversation about race and "stand your ground" laws.

But around 11 a.m. ET — just as the auction was set to open — the page displayed a notification saying the "item you have requested is no longer in the system."

The firearm listed was a 9 mm Kel-Tec PF-9 pistol, and bidding was to start at $5,000. Zimmerman's post had described the firearm as "a piece of American History."

Zimmerman's brother, Robert, earlier confirmed to NBC News that the gun sale was "legit."

Eye 1

Ninth-grade teacher moonlighted as a black-market gun dealer and traded sex for A's

Phillip Smith III
© Birmingham Police Department
An Alabama teacher who allegedly preyed on female students was also a convicted felon who took a leave of absence from the school to serve his prison sentence.

An Alabama history teacher who allegedly offered A's in exchange for sex also moonlighted as a black-market gun dealer, records show.

Phillip Smith III, of Birmingham, was indicted on federal gun charges while teaching social studies in 2004. Yet the school district never knew, even as the high school instructor took a seven-month leave to serve his prison sentence.

Now the 43-year-old is facing a lawsuit from the family of a female student, who claims Smith cornered her in class and solicited sex.

The complaint also alleges Smith operated a "sex for grades" scheme that targeted children who struggled in school. Birmingham City Schools and the city's board of education, accused of negligence, are also defendants in the lawsuit.

"He kind of liked to dance around the classroom," the unidentified student told AL.com, which first revealed the creepy teach's tactics.

"My friends told me to have my boyfriend walk me to his class," the girl added.

Smith allegedly put the moves on the student in December 2013, when he was administering a history exam at Huffman High School.

The convict teacher—who was also a women's volleyball coach at the school—was later fired and criminally charged as a result of the girl coming forward, her attorney, Julian Hendrix, told The Daily Beast.

While Hendrix's client wasn't sexually assaulted by Smith, authorities allegedly found a 14-year-old girl who was, according to a 2014 AL.com report.

Alarm Clock

Julie Smolyansky: Campus rape & 400,000 unexamined rape kits

untested rape kits
© Shutterstock
Julie Smolyansky discusses campus rape and the outrage of untested rape kits.

Swabs for wiping the lips, face, thighs, vagina and anus. A comb to collect fibers and hair. A pick for scraping debris from under fingernails. A blood sampling device and microscope slides. Baggies for underwear. Documentation forms and labels.


These are just some of the items in the standard sexual assault evidence collection kit, or rape kit, used by American hospitals and police departments. Sexual assault turns the victim's body into a crime scene and the process of evidence gathering—prodding, swabbing and questioning—can take hours. Victims who subject themselves to this ordeal do so in the hope of justice and the hope that the perpetrator will be stopped from hurting anyone else. But over the last 30 years as many as 400,000 rape kits have piled up, untested, in back rooms and storage lockers across the country. Stacked together they would fill a warehouse the size of a football field and three stories tall.

Arrow Down

Dangerous precedent: Maine judge gives Nestle control of towns' groundwater for up to 45 years

water protest Maine
© FacebookFood & Water Watch - Maine
Nestlé has secured the rights to the groundwater under the Maine town of Fryeburg for up to 45 years, thanks to the efforts of the state's Tea Party Republican Governor Paul LePage.

Maine's Supreme Judicial Court quashed activists' efforts to appeal the deal by ruling in favor of Nestle on Thursday.

The advocacy organization Food and Water Watch along with local resident Bruce Taylor appealed the 2014 decision, claiming the long contract is outside the authority of the water district and highlighting the fact that three commissioners had to recuse themselves due to ties with Nestlé.

US Uncut reports this is the first US contract to grant water access for such a long period of time and activists are concerned it will set a dangerous precedent for future corporate contracts on natural resources.

"Today's decision by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court paves the way for a private corporation to profit from a vital public resource for decades to come," Food & Water Watch's Nisha Swinton said in a statement.

Comment: The US is on the verge of a severe water crisis and over two-thirds of the world's population is facing severe water shortages. Water privatization is enabling corporate psychopaths to exploit this looming disaster for their own benefit.


Sheriff

Flashback Former Baltimore cop spills the beans on police corruption

baltimore riot police
© Jabin Botsford/The Washington PostOfficers stand guard during protests over the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Md. on Friday May 01, 2015.
On Wednesday, a former Baltimore Police Department officer named Michael Wood caused a stir online when he began tweeting some of the horrible things he claims to have seen during his 11 years on the job. I spoke with Wood Wednesday afternoon for a phone interview. Here's a transcript, interspersed with some of Wood's tweets.

Balko: So how long were you a cop in Baltimore? When and why did you leave?

Wood: Eleven years. I joined in 2003. I was a sergeant when I retired. I started by walking the Western District on foot. That's where Freddie Gray was killed. That was my first beat. I also worked in the Southern and Northern districts for a while. Then I was promoted to the Violent Crime Division. I did street work with a narcotics division for six months. Then I was promoted to Major Crimes. I left in January 2014 due to a shoulder injury. I wish I could say my injury came with an interesting story, but it's pretty boring.

Comment: If only more police officers would wake up and grow a conscience.


Heart - Black

Woman accidentally records her own death after fight with boyfriend escalates into murder

wesley webb
© gofundme.com
A Pennsylvania mother inadvertently recorded her own death at the hands of her boyfriend who shot her while her young children were in the house. The suspect then attempted suicide, shooting himself in the face.

On May 2, Wesley Webb was fighting with her boyfriend, Keith Smith, in their Pennsylvania home when she decided to start recording their argument on her phone. Things escalated quickly when Webb, 40, told Smith, 43, that she and her two children wanted to leave.

In the audio recording, which is now in possession of police, Smith can be heard yelling, "You want to record it now, b***?" according to the Timesof Chester County.

Smith, authorities said, pulled out a single-shot, 12-gauge shotgun and fired on Webb, striking her in the chest, as she sat on the couch.