Society's ChildS


Handcuffs

Indentured servitude: UK university students will be repaying loans into their 50s

Students graduating
© Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesA middle-earning graduate will still owe about £32,000 by the time they reach 50, researchers found.
Government urged to rethink fees and loans system after study finds average student will graduate more than £44,000 in debt

The majority of undergraduates now at university will be paying off their student loans well into their 40s and 50s, with three-quarters of them unable to clear the debt before it is written off after 30 years, according to an analysis published on Thursday.

The report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Sutton Trust estimates that the average student will leave university more than £44,000 in debt.

A middle-earning graduate will still owe about £39,000 at today's prices by the age of 40, and will still owe about £32,000 by 50.

"For many professionals, such as teachers, this will mean having to find up to £2,500 extra a year to service loans at a time when their children are still at school and family and mortgage costs are at their most pressing," said Conor Ryan, the Sutton Trust's director of research.

Gift

Pope Francis gives Queen unusual present to baby George, as she gives him whiskey

Image
© IndependentThe unusual, and not very child-friendly, gift was presented to the Queen by Pope Francis at their first meeting at the Vatican this afternoon
What to get the eight-month-old who has everything? A lapis lazuli orb decorated with a silver cross of Edward the Confessor, the 11th Century English King who was made a saint, of course.

The unusual, and not very child-friendly, gift was presented to the Queen by Pope Francis at their first meeting at the Vatican this afternoon.

Pope Francis gave the Queen a present for her great-grandson Prince George as she apologised for a delay in meeting him at the Vatican.

The Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, shook hands with the leader of the Catholic Church and said: "Sorry to keep you waiting, we were having lunch with the president", before heading into a private meeting with the pontiff.

The private conversation between the royal couple and the Pope lasted around 17 minutes and was followed by a formal exchange of gifts.

Cow

Police state America: Nevada rancher's land surrounded by heavily-armed federal agents, his cattle confiscated

Cattle
© Reuters / Brian Snyder
After 20 years of battling the US government for use of his family's land, a Nevada rancher's "one-man range war" may soon end. The family says heavily-armed federal agents have surrounded the ranch as "trespass cattle" are removed from the disputed land.

Cliven Bundy - the "last rancher in Clark County, Nevada" - has since 1993 refused to pay fees to the federal government for the right to raise cattle on land his family has ranched since the 1870s, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

After years of legal wrangling, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) attained a federal court order to have Bundy's nearly 1,000 head of cattle removed, according to the family.

Bundy says the government is taking the task seriously, arming the agents with military-style weaponry.

"They're carrying the same things a soldier would," he told the Free Beacon. "Automatic weapons, sniper rifles, top communication, top surveillance equipment, lots of vehicles. It's heavy soldier type equipment."

Carol Bundy, Cliven's wife, said hundreds of armed BLM and FBI agents are set up around their property, as helicopters circle the area, and nearby roads remain off limits.

"We're surrounded," Carol Bundy said. "We're estimating that there are over 200 armed BLM, FBI. We've got surveillance cameras at our house, they're probably listening to me talk to you right now."


Coffee

10 reasons why you could quit your job

employee
© Yuri via Getty Images
This was going to end badly.

My boss screamed at me in front of my colleagues. I had done something wrong of course. I had sent a product to the client without debugging it thoroughly. It was my fault. But I don't like being yelled at.

And fortunately I was sitting on a job offer that I decided to take that moment. So the next day I said the magic words, "I quit."

And then a few years after that, I quit again, and never went back to work in the corporate world.

And now it's too late. Now the course of history has finally written its next chapter. There's no more bullshit. I'm going to tell you why you have to quit your job. Why you need to get the ideas moving. Why you need to build a foundation for your life or soon you will have no roof.

Comment: While this article gives good inspiration, nothing is black and white. Sometimes is it necessary to stick to one's job as a means to attain an aim separate from it. Each situation is different and requires unique course of action.


Heart - Black

Rhino poaching increasing in South Africa, with 277 killed this year

Image
© AFPApproaching extinction: Rhinos graze in South Africa.
Rhino poaching is on the rise in South Africa, with 277 of the endangered animals killed this year despite government attempts to clamp down on poaching, the environment ministry said Wednesday.

Illegal hunting is up more than a third compared to the same time a year ago, when 203 of the giant animals were slaughtered by poachers, the ministry said in a statement.

More than half of the attacks were in Kruger National Park, where 166 animals were killed in the first three months of 2014, despite the deployment of troops to protect them.

Authorities in the vast national park, which borders Mozambique, have been battling to curb the scourge of rhino poaching that threatens to drive the endangered species into extinction.

Video

"Please God, don't bless America any more" - An open letter to Obama from a Christian priest in Syria

US tyranny
© Unknown
A appeal to Obama from a Christian priest in Syria.


Stormtrooper

California cop puts crying boy in chokehold, yells: 'stop speaking Spanish!'

santa ana
© Elvia Fernández
A Santa Ana, California School Police Officer was recently filmed by Elvia Fernández, putting a crying 14-year-old boy in a chokehold.

To make matters worse, the officer yelled at Fernández when she tried to reassure the boy.

Elvia filmed the clip on her cell phone. She speculates that the boy was 10. Amidst the child's screams, Fernández tried calming him down in a mix of English and Spanish, saying, "No te muevas", "Relájate", and "Aquí estamos nosotros". In translation, she was saying: "Don't move", "Relax," and "We're here."

This apparently enraged the officer, who yelled "Stop speaking Spanish!"

Another man yells to the officer: "You're choking him".

The motionless boy screams: "Help me! Help me!"

The officer yells: "Stop fighting me!"

The boy responds, choking out the words: "I'm not fighting you!"

The Chief Communications Officer for the Santa Ana Unified School District, Deidra Powell forwarded an official statement to the OCWeekly, saying "Safety is our number one concern. We are investigating this matter involving a Santa Ana School Police Officer and a 14-year-old juvenile. We don't want to speculate on the case because it may compromise the integrity of the investigation and we want to be fair to all parties."

Arrow Down

Iowa city with a population of 7,000 will receive armored military vehicle

I've covered the militarization of the domestic police force on several occasions on this website. For those of you who need a refresher, I suggest reading the following:

There are Over 50,000 SWAT Team Raids Annually in America

Retired Marine Colonel to New Hampshire City Council: "We're Building a Domestic Army"

Video of the Day - Thuggish Militarized Police Terrorize and SWAT Team Iowa Family.

Moving along to the subject of today's absurdity, the tiny city of Washington, Iowa with a population of 7,000 and 11 police officers, will be receiving a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle. Yes, they will be employing one of these in the field:
MRAP
© Liberty Blitzkrieg

These things normally cost $500,000, but will be given to Washington, Iowa for free under a Defense Department program that gives surplus military equipment to domestic law enforcement.

Rainbow

Mozilla's CEO resigns under pressure - he was anti-gay rights

Image
© Reuters/MozillaOutgoing Mozilla chief executive Brendan Eich.
Tech workers in Silicon Valley debated on Friday whether Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich got the comeuppance he deserved or was himself a victim of intolerance when he resigned under pressure this week amid outrage over his opposition to same-sex marriage.

Some, especially a dating website that had urged its users to boycott Mozilla's popular Firefox web browser, cheered Eich's resignation after less than two weeks as CEO of the nonprofit software company. Others viewed him as a victim and called his critics intolerant of people with different views.

Mozilla co-founder Eich, who invented the programming language Javascript, donated $1,000 in 2008 to support Proposition 8, which sought to ban same-sex marriage in California. Voters approved the measure, but it was struck down last June by the U.S. Supreme Court.

USA

Symbolic? Atlanta Braves accidentally torch American flag during opening game

Before their home opener Tuesday night, the Atlanta Braves paid tribute to baseball legend Hank Aaron on the field. Meanwhile, the organization set off a fireworks display at the back of the stadium that went... just a tad awry.

The explosives somehow drifted into the vicinity of Old Glory and lit it ablaze, making for a PR executive's nightmare: a burning American flag.

Julie Paulk, a fan who attended the game posted an image of the flag to her Facebook page:
flag burning
© twitter