"Welcome my son, welcome to the machine. What did you dream? It's alright we told you what to dream." ~ Pink Floyd

Each day, hundreds of millions of children around the world are forced to engage in boring school activities, to memorize disconnected bits of information without being given the opportunity to enjoy learning, develop useful life skills or maximize their creative potential. What is the purpose of such institutionalized schooling and is this really the best way to educate children?

In most nations, educational systems are set up the same way animals are trained, where children who comply with adult demands are given a pat on the head and rewarded. Those who endure the training process increase their chances of getting into "good" colleges, and hopefully moving on to "good" jobs in the global economy.

Although the world has been shocked by images of drowned refugee children washed ashore, international organizations and journalists have long been raising the alarm, warning that the Mediterranean has become a mass graveyard on Europe's doorstep.

Tens of thousands of people have drowned in the Mediterranean over the past decades while fleeing to Europe in hopes of finding a better life away from their war-torn and poverty-stricken homelands in the Middle East and Africa. The number of deaths has considerably increased recently, as migrants resort to the more dangerous sea routes to reach Europe, various reports show. According to one recent EU estimate, four out of five illegal immigrants may have arrived on the continent by sea.

Prominent American sportsman Roy Jones Junior had his wish for a Russian passport come true, as Vladimir Putin granted citizenship to the champion of four weight classes, who was once called the world's best boxer.

A decree granting citizenship to Jones, a former Olympic silver medalist and winner of multiple world championship titles, was signed by Vladimir Putin and then officially published on the Kremlin's website on Saturday.

Putin and Jones met in Crimea in August, where the latter had come to be a guest on a boxing TV show., Jones brought up the matter during friendly talk over a cup of tea.

He said that it would be a win-win situation: the citizenship would be good for him and his business in Russia, and thus allow it to make a valuable contribution to the country's economy.

When Putin warned Jones that he would have to spend much of his life in Russia, he said that he was hoping the sport would "build a bridge" between the two countries, according to Associated Press.

What does it take to make you sit up and take notice of the problems surrounding society today? What will it take to make you respond to the many crises taking place today? You have eyes so you can see and ears so you can hear but for many people any negative news is a reason to tune out the world and only think good thoughts.

The problems we face continue to pile up and doing nothing is not an option if you expect to survive the next few years in tact. Prior planning and execution of a plan is now required to stay out of the flood zone when the dam breaks and everyone starts to drown. It does not matter what kind of person you are. You have to be able to save yourself before you have the ability to help others including your own family.

You cannot protect your family if you cannot protect yourself from dangerous situations or people. You cannot protect your family if you are too weak from lack of water or food to get others to safety. You cannot protect your family from the elements if you have no cover for them due to sudden loss of your shelter.

On Friday, the Donetsk News Agency published incomplete results to polling appearing show that less than a third of the population of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic actually supported the republic. Ukrainian media and their liberal Russian allies quickly jumped at the chance to stick it to the DPR. But what did polling really reveal?

The Donetsk News Agency, considered the official news agency of the fledgling Donetsk People's Republic, bungled the release of polling data collected by the Special Status Sociological Research Center. Figures released on Friday appeared to show that only 29 percent of the republic's residents had declared their antipathy to post-Maidan authorities in Kiev, which Ukrainian and Russian pro-Kiev liberal media took to mean that the DPR had no real support among the population.

Suspects are still at large after storming a Texas gun store by ramming it with a truck, and making it out with nearly 100 handguns and assault rifles. They were caught on CCTV footage. Police still don't know the thieves' motives.

The smash-and-grab occurred in the city of Plano, on W. 15th Street, at around 3:45 a.m. on Wednesday, according to NBC.

The California State Senate has approved the so-called right-to-die bill following its passage in the State Assembly, despite opposition from religious and disability rights groups. The bill is now awaiting approval from California's Democratic Governor.

The Senate approved the End of Life Option Act in what co-author of the measure Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) called a "historic effort." Lawmakers approved the bill on a 23-14 vote after heated debates on Friday, the legislative session's final day.

The Senate has now sent the bill to Governor Jerry Brown. If signed into law, it would allow physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill Californians upon their request.

"Californians want us to act to eliminate the needless pain and prolonged suffering of those who are dying," Wolk told legislators, as cited by the Los Angeles Times.

Wolk predicted earlier that Brown, a lifelong Catholic, would "struggle with this issue" given that the bill has been widely opposed by the Roman Catholic Church and disability rights groups, as well as some doctors and politicians.

"Let's call this what it is. It's not death with dignity. It's assisted killing," said one of the opponents, Republican Senator Robert Huff of San Dimas, as quoted by the Times.

The day the Short family was found murdered in their home I saw the story on the news. I didn't feel like going down another rabbit hole so I didn't even do a search on what Mr. Short did for a living. After a half dozen followers have now sent me the articles I could not help but look. It didn't really come as a surprise when I saw he owned a high traffic health social networking website.

My heart goes out to all friends and family, and I sat here all evening deciding whether to do a story on this, but the very first time I saw the CNN video (see youtube video above) as to what allegedly happened - I just felt something wasn't "quite right" Apparently my readers and followers of the website agreed. We'll just stick with the facts (like usual) like I have with the holistic doctors stories I broke along with the 29 poisoned holistic doctors who survived (yes, German news confirmed some were doctors) and naturopaths at a holistic health conference.

Brian Short was the founder of a very high traffic website called AllNurses.com with millions of unique visitors a month. You can look at the video on the site to see how it linked other nurses together so that they could network and share information. (If anyone has other information on this please contact me - the easiest way is to send me a message to my Facebook page. You can send me tips there as well on any stories, as that's how I end up with much of my work that I end up publishing.

From the Yahoo article about the Short family:

The founder of a social networking service for nurses used a shotgun to kill his wife and three children before turning the gun on himself, police said Saturday after the release of autopsy reports.

Investigators believe Brian Short killed his wife, Karen, and their three teenage children in their Greenwood home late Monday or early Tuesday, Mike Siitari, the interim chief of the South Lake Minnetonka's police department, told The Associated Press.

"All evidence indicates Brian Short killed his family members in their bedrooms before turning the gun on himself," the department said in a news release.

Officers found the dead family members Thursday during a welfare check at their home. A co-worker of Brian Short told police they hadn't been heard from in days. The children hadn't reported to school since it resumed on Tuesday.

Police found Karen Short, 48, and the three children — Cole, 17, Madison, 15, and Brooklyn, 14 — dead in their bedrooms. Brian Short, 45, was found dead in the home's eight-car garage.

The Hennepin County medical examiner ruled Saturday that all five died from shotgun wounds to the head and that only Brian Short's wound was self-inflicted.

No motive has been discovered and no further information will be released this weekend, the police department statement said.

The House of Commons has rejected the Assisted Dying bill by 330 votes to 118, a majority of 212, after an emotional debate Friday afternoon.

The bill proposed giving terminally ill patients the right to request a lethal injection from doctors if their case receive approval from two doctors and a judge.

But the controversial bill, which had been criticized by both the church and campaigners, was voted down on its second reading.

The free vote was the first time the Commons had voted on the issue since 1997.

Throughout the debate, MPs spoke about their personal experiences and used anecdotal evidence to make their case. Many arrived in the chamber saying they were not sure how they would vote.

The bill was based on Oregon law, which opponents said had led to a rise in assisted suicides in the US state since the law was introduced.

MP for Wolverhampton South West Rob Marris told the House that while he could understand why sick individuals found comfort in assisted dying, he could not say whether he would use the service himself.

The mainstream media often portrays the unfortunate random killing of police officers as analogous to a larger "war on cops." The reality is that there is a concerted public relations effort underway, on the part of law enforcement, with the intention of stemming the growing public calls for more oversight and accountability.

If law enforcement were genuine about wanting to save the lives of cops, they would begin by attempting to put focus on the out of control epidemic of police suicides, which dwarfs the number of cops fatally shot the line of duty.

The last year on public record for police suicides was 2012, with a staggering 126 officers reported to have intentionally killed themselves. Compare that with the number of police fatally shot in the line of duty last year; 47.

Let that sink in for a moment. American police are 300% more likely to kill themselves than be shot and killed by another individual.

These statistics drive home the fact that the "war on cops" narrative is simplistic police propaganda, which utilizes the mainstream media as a mouthpiece in an effort to deliver the message to middle America.

The stark reality is that were 47 cops shot in the line of duty in 2014 and this year the number is estimated to be even lower, projected at 43 shooting deaths if the current projections hold steady through the end of the year.

While even one death is a tragedy, the reality is that now is one of the safest times to be a cop in the past 30 years.

"Firearms-related fatalities among law enforcement officers have decreased each decade since the 1970s, according to the memorial fund's data. In the 1970s, an average of 127 officers were killed with guns annually. That dropped to an average of 87 officers a year in the 1980s. Last year, firearms deaths rose from 32 officers in 2013 to 50 in 2014 - a 56 percent increase, but still below this decade's average of 53 officers a year." - Center for Investigative Reporting

Over the past three decades, the number of police killings has decreased substantially, with 2015 being on pace to register even fewer deaths than last year, as well as fewer than the current decadal average.