Tragedy again strikes in America - Gunman kills nine in Charleston, SC Church

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Once again, there was another mass killing and once again, the racial activists, social activists, and the news media labeled it another "Hate Crime."

We have now had 70 such killings since 1982.  Here was the news bulletin. 

A devastating attack took place on Wednesday night at a historic black church in Charleston.

From the New York Times:

A white gunman opened fire Wednesday evening at a historic black church in downtown Charleston, S.C., before fleeing, the police said, and nine people were killed. The Charleston Police Department said the shooting occurred at the Emanuel A.M.E. Church about 9 p.m.

Officials did not release information about possible victims. The police described the gunman as a clean-shaven white man about 21 years-old who was wearing a gray sweatshirt, bluejeans and Timberland boots.

According to the Post and Courier, Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen said at a press conference late Wednesday night, "I do believe it's a hate crime."

Most mass shooters in the United States have been white males, as our investigation of three decades worth of data shows. In most cases, the killers obtained their guns legally.

At least one other mass shooting was carried out in recent years at a house of worship, in August 2012 at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. And in April 2014 in Kansas City, a white supremacist opened fire in a Jewish retirement community, killing three.

As of early Thursday morning, the suspect in Charleston remained at large, and none of the victims had yet been publicly identified.

Before they even caught the killer the news media, law enforcement, and social activists already called it a hate crime and raised the issue of gun control.

Well I beg to differ with all of them.  The mass killing sprees plaguing America are far more likely to be the result of the horrendous over-prescription of legal drugs by our medical community.

There is no way to judge the actions of a mass murderer to a hate crime because in this nation nothing, not even prejudice, can justify murder.  There will always be the occasional nut case who gets carried away but mass murder is a real distraction from the truth.

The truth is nearly two-thirds of Americans are taking legal prescriptions of anti-psychotic and anti-depressive drugs, or other dangerous drugs, to get off their addiction to legal drugs.          

One of the key side effects of these prescription drugs is to amplify paranoia, delusion, or suicide tendencies.  Our failure to address mental health as a key cause of mass killings, a state of mental health intensified in the dark side by legally prescribed drugs, ignores the realities of the mass killings.

Today I want to expose all the scientific evidence that our prescription happy society is triggering mass murders at an ever-increasing rate.  A follow up article will address how this destabilization of the brain by prescription drugs opens the mind to an invasion from the dark or evil side of life.

Here are excerpts from a series of articles about mass killings and prescription drugs in America.  If you pay attention, you will note the connections between the side effects of drugs and the hideous acts of violence from legal drug users. 

Mother Jones

A Guide to Mass Shootings in America

There have been at least 69 in the last three decades—and most of the killers got their guns legally.

By Mark Follman, Gavin Aronsen, and Deanna Pan

Updated: Sat May 24, 2014, 10:45 PM EDT

It is perhaps too easy to forget how many times this has happened. The horrific mass murder at a movie theater in Colorado in July 2012, another at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin that August, another at a manufacturer in Minneapolis that September—and then the unthinkable nightmare at a Connecticut elementary school that December—were some of the latest in an epidemic of such gun violence over the last three decades.

Since 1982, there have been at least 69 mass shootings across the country, with the killings unfolding in 30 states from Massachusetts to Hawaii. Thirty-two of these mass shootings have occurred since 2006. Seven of them took place in 2012, and another five occurred in 2013, including in Santa Monica, California, and at the Washington Navy Yard. The first five months of 2014 brought major gun rampages at Fort Hood and in northern and southern California.

We've gathered detailed data on more than three decades of cases and mapped them below, including information on the shooters' profiles, the types of weapons they used, and the number of victims they injured and killed. The below analysis covers the cases from 1982 through 2012, and the map and database have been updated with cases through 2013.*

Weapons: Of the 143 guns possessed by the killers, more than three quarters were obtained legally. The arsenal included dozens of assault weapons and semi-automatic handguns with high-capacity magazines. (See charts below.) Just as Jeffrey Weise used a .40-caliber Glock to slaughter students in Red Lake, Minnesota, in 2005, so too did James Holmes, along with an AR-15 assault rifle, when blasting away at his victims in a darkened movie theater. In Newtown, Connecticut, Adam Lanza wielded a .223 Bushmaster semi-automatic assault rifle as he massacred 20 school children and six adults.

The killers: More than half of the cases involved school or workplace shootings (12 and 20, respectively); the other 30 cases took place in locations including shopping malls, restaurants, and religious and government buildings. Forty four of the killers were white males. Only one of them was a woman. (See Goleta, Calif., in 2006.) The average age of the killers was 35, though the youngest among them was a mere 11 years old. (See Jonesboro, Ark., in 1998.) A majority were mentally troubled—and many displayed signs of it before setting out to kill. Explore the map for further details—we do not consider it to be all-inclusive, but based on the criteria we used we believe that we've produced the most comprehensive rundown available on this particular type of violence. (Mass shootings represent only a sliver of America's overall gun violence.)

Our focus is on public mass shootings in which the motive appeared to be indiscriminate killing. We used the following criteria to identify cases:

The shooter took the lives of at least four people. An FBI crime classification report identifies an individual as a mass murderer—versus a spree killer or a serial killer—if he kills four or more people in a single incident (not including himself), typically in a single location.

The killings were carried out by a lone shooter. (Except in the case of the Columbine massacre and the Westside Middle School killings, which involved two shooters.)

The shootings occurred in a public place. (Except in the case of a party on private property in Crandon, Wisconsin, and another in Seattle, where crowds of strangers had gathered.) Crimes primarily related to gang activity, armed robbery, or domestic violence in homes are not included.

If the shooter died or was hurt from injuries sustained during the incident, he is included in the total victim count. (But we have excluded many cases in which there were three fatalities and the shooter also died, per the above FBI criterion.)

We included a handful of so-called "spree killings"—cases in which the killings occurred in more than one location over a short period of time, that fit the above criteria.

For more on the thinking behind our criteria, see our mass shootings explainer. Plus: more on the crucial mental illness factor, and on the recent barrage of state laws rolling back gun restrictions across the US. And: Explore the full data set behind our investigation.

Here are two charts detailing the killers' weapons:

Antipsychotic Drug Definition

Antipsychotics are drugs used in the treatment of brain disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and severe depression. According to the New York Times, antipsychotics are one of the largest types of prescribed drugs in the United States with over 3.1 million Americans accounting for a market worth USD 18 billion in 2011 itself. Global estimates suggest that over 1.25% of the global population suffers from psychosis and related disorders. This brings a market of about 7.5 million people suffering from combined disorders of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, dementia, depression among other rare conditions. Several recent studies have suggested instances of drug abuse and over prescription of these drugs in the market, particularly in North America. Clinical studies have shown severe drawbacks and addiction to antipsychotic drugs. A serious side effect observed is tardive dyskinesia which is a potentially irreversible movement disorder. These drugs are prescribed for mild symptoms as well, increasing the market for the drugs tremendously.

WND EXCLUSIVE

70 million Americans taking mind-altering drugs

Exclusive: David Kupelian tells untold story of nation's rapidly escalating drug dependence

Published: 02/09/2014 at 4:25 PM

The heroin-overdose death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has caused the media to focus, however fleetingly, on America’s drug problem.

News accounts of the Oscar-winner’s tragic demise typically reference the startling increase in heroin-related deaths in the last four to five years. The problem, reporters explain, is the vast number of Americans addicted to prescription pain meds like OxyContin, many of whom discover heroin to be both cheaper and easier to obtain than the prescription opioid drugs to which they initially became addicted.

That’s accurate as far as it goes. But by following the trail further, we arrive at a place far more shocking and consequential. We discover that not only has the traditional distinction between illegal “street drugs” and legal “therapeutic prescription drugs” become so blurred as to be almost nonexistent, but between America’s twin drug epidemics – one illegal, the other legal – well over 70 million Americans are using mind-altering drugs. And that number doesn’t include abusers of alcohol, which adds an additional 60 million Americans. So we’re really talking about 130 million strung-out Americans. How is this possible?

Examples of opioids are: Painkillers such as; morphine, methadone, Buprenorphine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone. Heroin is also an opioid and is illegal. Opioid drugs sold under brand names include: OxyContin®, Percocet®, Palladone®(taken off the market 7/2005), Vicodin®, Percodan®, Tylox® and Demerol® among others.

Opioids are medications that relieve pain. They reduce the intensity of pain signals reaching the brain and affect those brain areas controlling emotion, which diminishes the effects of a painful stimulus. Medications that fall within this class include hydrocodone (e.g., Vicodin), oxycodone (e.g., OxyContin, Percocet), morphine (e.g., Kadian, Avinza), codeine, and related drugs. Hydrocodone products are the most commonly prescribed for a variety of painful conditions, including dental and injury-related pain. Morphine is often used before and after surgical procedures to alleviate severe pain. Codeine, on the other hand, is often prescribed for mild pain. In addition to their painrelieving properties, some of these drugs—codeine and diphenoxylate (Lomotil) for example—can be used to relieve coughs and severe diarrhea.

The abuse of and addiction to opioids such as heroin, morphine, and prescription pain relievers is a serious global problem that affects the health, social, and economic welfare of all societies.  It is estimated that between 26.4 million and 36 million people abuse opioids worldwide, with an estimated 2.1 million people in the United States suffering from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers in 2012 and an estimated 467,000 addicted to heroin.  The consequences of this abuse have been devastating and are on the rise.  For example, the number of unintentional overdose deaths from prescription pain relievers has soared in the United States, more than quadrupling since 1999.  There is also growing evidence to suggest a relationship between increased non-medical use of opioid analgesics and heroin abuse in the United States.

CERTAIN MEDICATIONS TAKEN ROUTINELY BY A HUNDRED MILLION AMERICANS FOUND T0 CAUSE USERS TO COMMIT MURDER AT HIGHER RATES

06-01-2015 7:45 pm - Mike Adams - Natural News

Just as Natural News has warned for over a decade, mind-altering medications such as tranquilizers and psychiatric drugs (SSRIs) have now been confirmed to increase the risk of a person committing murder.

A new study published in the journal World Psychiatry (June 1 edition, not yet found on the web) found that several classes of prescription medications -- including antidepressant drugs, tranquilizers and anti-inflammatory painkillers -- markedly increased the chances of someone murdering another human being.

This link has long been suspect in antidepressants, which have been repeatedly linked to mass school shootings in the United States.

"I think that these chemical substances affect the impulse control of the person," Dr. Jari Tiihonen, lead author and a professor, told Medical Daily. "The only surprising result was that painkillers also increase the risk."

According to the study's findings:

• Antidepressant drugs increased the risk of committing homicide by 31%.

• Tranquilizers increased the risk of committing homicide by 45%.

• Opioid pain relievers increased the risk of committing homicide by 92%.

• Anti-inflammatory painkillers increased the risk of committing homicide by 200%.

We were right all along: These mind-altering medications turn some people into cold-blooded killers

For years, the New Media / Independent Media has been warning about the dangers of psychiatric drugs causing violence. The mainstream media, which now receives as much as 70% of its advertising revenue from drug companies, has all but censored this story, largely ignoring the mass deaths taking place right in our local communities.

Years ago in 2009, I wrote the rap song, "S.S.R.Lies" which exposed this link between psych meds and school violence. Since then, Natural News and other media sources have continued to cover the link between psychiatric drugs and violence, including this story: Prescription drugs are connected to school shootings and other violence, yet more drugs are touted as the solution.

(Also since 2009, I've published fourteen songs and music videos, each of them covering key issues of social justice, liberty and food freedom. Click here to hear the fan-favorite song "Be Divergent" or one of my personal favorites Revolution of the Heart.)

Is Big Pharma contributing to the wave of homicidal violence sweeping America?

America is presently experiencing a massive crime wave, with gangs running loose in the streets of cities like Baltimore and Chicago. The number of shootings that took place in Baltimore over just the Memorial Day weekend -- 32 -- is larger than the total number of shootings that take place in an entire year in many other countries.

In the month of May alone, there were 300 shootings in Chicago, with 35 deaths.

Here's the question of the day: How many people in Baltimore and Chicago are on antidepressant drugs? How many are taking anti-inflammatory painkillers? How many people who participated in the recent riots were operating with medicated brains? What role does medication play in the escalating violence now spiraling out of control across many of America's cities? (A medicated population is not a rational population... where will this lead next?)

Gun control advocates point to firearms as the cause of such violence, but the logic doesn't pan out. Guns don't shoot by themselves. (I tried it with a magic wand over and over, and I could never get my rifle to fire unless I deliberately pulled the trigger.)

Firearms require a person to make a decision in order to unleash a high-velocity bullet in the direction of an intended target. That decision-making process is precisely what's compromised by mind-altering medications. SSRIs can push some people over the edge, causing them to illegally use a firearm in a way its manufacturer never intended. In much the same way, someone can drink a lot of alcohol and use a vehicle to commit mass homicide, too. Both of these are chemically induced homicides using mechanical tools (cars or guns) which were never meant to kill innocent people.

What they both have in common is inhibited cognitive function caused by chemicals. "Medicated driving" is just as dangerous as "drunk driving..." and possibly even more so.

Pharma-funded media tries to downplay link between SSRIs and homicide.

The mainstream media is predictably trying to downplay the increased risk homicidal behavior among people medicated with antidepressants, claiming a 31% increased risk is only a "slight" risk. Of course, this is the same media that, if presented with a press release from the CDC claiming unvaccinated children had a 31% increased risk of contracting measles in Disneyland, would be screaming bloody murder and causing a nationwide infectious disease panic. "Thirty-one percent increased risk!! Get your damn kids vaccinated!"

Example of the total dismissal of the risk factors documented in the study: "When asked about the practical implications of these findings, Tiihonen said that people should not be worried about the risk of violence associated with antidepressant use," reports LiveScience.com, which also downplays any link between antidepressant drugs and violence.

Why, exactly, should we not be worried about medicated people committing mass murder? Maybe because that worry would call into question all the lies we've been told about drug safety by the FDA and Big Pharma.

Even if the increased risk seems small on an individual basis, you have tens of millions of Americans taking these drugs. A small risk multiplied by tens of millions of people results in the inevitability of a drug-induced homicide or mass murder... much like what we saw in Columbine, Colorado, and other school shootings. According to CDC statistics, almost 30 million Americans aged 12 and over are now taking antidepressant medications. That's 30 million would-be killers... ticking time bombs of violence if the drugs trigger homicidal violence in their brains.

There are almost a hundred million more people who take anti-inflammatory painkillers, too, according to this Consumer Reports document. On top of that, there are presently about 60 million prescriptions written each year for tranquilizer-class medications. Clearly, we're talking about more than one-third of Americans taking these risky medications that can cause homicidal behavior. That's not a small deal by any measure.

Furthermore, both the government and mainstream media have loudly raised the alarm on many other issues that pose a far smaller risk of public harm than psychiatric drugs. For example:

• There is virtually zero risk of being harmed or attacked by a terrorist anywhere in the United States. Yet the entire Patriot Act surveillance state / TSA / police state / militarized police infrastructure that has been put into place since 2001 was based on the heavily marketed fear that terrorists were hiding around every corner, waiting to kill us all. In truth, almost no one in America has even seen a terrorist, much less been killed by one.

• There is almost ZERO risk that a healthy, unvaccinated child exposed to measles will be killed by measles. Even in the heavily propagandized Disneyland outbreak, not a single child died. Some got the measles, built their own immune system antibodies, and recovered naturally.

• Almost no one dies from raw milk consumption in America, yet the FDA and state "food Nazi" thugs wage surveillance wars and arrest people like James Stewart at gunpoint (SWAT style) for distributing raw milk to health-conscious parents who desire the wholesome beverage.

Get off the mind-altering meds.

The most important take away message from all this is to get off the mind-altering meds. If you're taking psychiatric drugs or tranquilizers, you run the risk of "snapping" and turning into a homicidal maniac who kills other people. That's precisely what this study documented.

It also calls into question the escalating violence in a country that's the most medicated nation in the world: America. When you combine the scourge of mind-altering medications with the cognitive-harming effects of fluoride, glyphosate, pesticides and urban air pollution, is it any wonder things keep getting worse among the voters?

Sources for this article include:

Study: Tiihonen J, Lehti M, Aaltonen M, Kivivuori J, Kautiainen H, Virta L, Hoti F, Tanskanen A, Korhonen P. Psychotropic drugs and homicide: a prospective cohort study from Finland. World Psychiatry. 2015.
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June 17, 1885 the Statue of Liberty Arrives in America from France

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Liberty Enlightening the World; French: La Liberté éclairant le monde

It was 130 years ago today, June 17, 1885 that the Statue of Liberty arrived in America as a gift from France.  It took the French over a decade to assemble the pieces for shipment to America.

Origins of the Statue of Liberty

Around 1865, as the American Civil War drew to a close, the French historian Edouard de Laboulaye proposed that France create a statue to give to the United States in celebration of that nation’s success in building a viable democracy. The sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, known for largescale sculptures, earned the commission; the goal was to design the sculpture in time for the centennial of the Declaration of Independence in 1876.

In 1885, Bartholdi completed the statue, which was disassembled, packed in more than 200 crates, and shipped to New York, arriving that June aboard the French frigate Isere. Over the next four months, workers reassembled the statue and mounted it on the pedestal; its height reached 305 feet (or 93 meters), including the pedestal. On October 28, 1886, President Grover Cleveland officially dedicated the Statue of Liberty in front of thousands of spectators.

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Obamaville June 17, 2015 - Sports Trumps politics and Trump - Golden State

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On a day when The Donald showed up with his hair in Trump Tower to announce he has decided to let the people finally have a chance to vote for him, Trump's event was trumped by the largest crowd since the glory days of Michael Jordan.

The Golden State Warriors trumped LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA finals while Trumping Trump and all the politicians for headlines.

In the process Stephen Curry and the Warriors brought home their first title in 40 years while Coach Steve Kerr, who was a teammate with Michael Jordan when MJ won his last of six titles in 1998,  became the second coach in history to win the championship his first year coaching.

As if that was not enough, this year the television ratings soared, up by around 25%, as the games surpassed 20 million viewers and most likely it was the second largest audience in history to, yes, the Michael Jordan 1998 title.

The only drawback to the rags to riches story of the Warriors was the media fascination with crowning LeBron James King James.  There is no doubt James is exceptional, but the media tended to go brain dead from a historical standpoint and were very biased against the feel good team from out west.

Crowning LeBron the best ever showed total ignorance of some mighty powerful facts.  Bill Russell won 11 NBA titles in 13 years including eight in a row and ten out of twelve over one span.  Thirty-eight players have won four or more titles.

LeBron has been to the finals six times and walked away with two titles.  Michael Jordan won all six title games in which he played.  Most likely LeBron is the greatest player currently playing but he is yet to elbow his way into the "greatest of all time" club.

Golden State did have one of the greatest records of all time for the season and the discipline, depth, desire, and drive of the team made them the consensus favorite contrary to the media preoccupation with LeBron.  Golden State delivered when it counted.

In terms of side stories and intensity, it was one of the greatest series of games played in the championship series and a far cry from the scandals plaguing other teams and sports.

Along with the Triple Crown victory of American Pharoah, the first in thirty-seven years, it was a good month for sports to knock politics out of the headlines and consciousness of America.

America thanks you American Pharaoh and Golden State.

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Obamaville June 11 - Why do you stand alone in trying to be healthy - American Health Care does not Really Care

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Well here is the answer why.

• Pharmaceutical companies make billions of dollars when you are on prescription drugs.

• Local drug stores and pharmacies make money when you fill prescriptions.

• Obamacare makes sure you get subsidies and assistance if the drugs are too expensive.

• Big Pharma pays a kickback to your doctor for prescribing their drugs to you.

• The President and Congress refuse to change the law so you can get off the drugs.

• Where do all the kickbacks, over charges and over prescribed drug revenues go, to keep the politicians in office.

Call it what you like, there is no such thing as health care improvement in our system of health care.  Through doctors, clinics, and emergency rooms, drug companies treat your diseases and disorders with drugs that help manage the disease.

No one pays for you to get you well.

No one pays for a nutritional evaluation so you know the cause of the problem.

No one pays for proven herbal treatments used for nearly 5,000 years to eliminate the problem that caused the disease in the first place.

No one pays for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treatment including herbs, acupuncture, physical training, and working knowledge of the Five Elements.

What is Traditional Chinese all about?  What are the five elements upon which it is built?

The Five Elements of TCM are a comprehensive template that organizes all natural phenomena into five master groups or patterns in nature. Each of the five groups—Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water—include categories such as a season, a direction, climate, stage of growth and development, internal organ, body tissue, emotion, aspect of the soul, taste, color, sound . . . the categories are seemingly limitless. The Five Elements reflect a deep understanding of natural law, the Universal order underlying all things in our world.

Traditional Chinese Medicine reflects a principle unknown in America, the principle of healing patients rather than maintaining and managing illness and disease.

Ironically, ignoring nearly 5,000 years of TCM experience, our health care system refuses to recognize the body of TCM work and refuses to make insurance companies pay to heal you using these techniques.

The same is true of other forms of natural health care through hundreds and even thousands of years of history including Native American medicine people, shamans and healers, indigenous people of many cultures, and folk medicine passed down through the generations.

Yet another body of ancient healing is the Celtic and Druid cultures and like the others, it is not recognized as legitimate by our medical, health, or insurance programs.

Finally, there is the outbreak of drug resistant diseases incluing eBola and others.  Here is what the FDA says about them.

FDA

Antibiotics and similar drugs, together called antimicrobial agents, have been used for the last 70 years to treat patients who have infectious diseases. Since the 1940s, these drugs have greatly reduced illness and death from infectious diseases. However, these drugs have been used so widely and for so long that the infectious organisms the antibiotics are designed to kill have adapted to them, making the drugs less effective.

Each year in the United States, at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections.

Maybe there is hope however.  Take the case of the use of a banned drug, cannabis, for medical purposes.  Over half the states in America have ignored the pressures from pharmaceutical companies to prohibit using marijuana to treat many illnesses.

These states have ignored the pressure from the politicians owned by these companies through campaign contributions and outrageous speaker fees.  The states have even ignored the federal government regulatory laws from the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by legalizing the use of the herb cannabis, better know as marijuana, for medicinal purposes.

That is a start toward meaningful health care reform.  You see, marijuana works, is not addictive, has never resulted in a death from an overdose, is substantially less expensive than Big Pharma drugs, and is not controlled by the richest corporations in America.

Of course, marijuana should be decriminalized; release the tens of thousands of people in prison for using it and save hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer costs.  It deserves approval nationwide for medicinal use and states should continue to approve it for recreational use since it has none of the deadly effects our legal drugs called alcohol and tobacco have wreaked on the public.

Far less controversial, and far more significant to improving health, would be to have the federal government require the insurance companies to pay for nutritional examines for all individuals and treatment for nutritional deficiencies.

At the same time, the federal government must approve the use of TCM by certified practitioners and order the insurance companies to cover it.

If the administration and congress can act in the public interest and do this, America will rapidly become a far healthier nation and lead the work in making use of all possible techniques to manage nutrition and get well.

Demand this action from your representatives in Washington, D.C. as they have demonstrated no ability to help you get well.

Hey dude, you know your fire truck is melting away.

You save some of that for me Bill!

Besides, for the first time in our history our last three presidents all admit to smoking marijuana.  It must not be that bad.

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