2015 February
2015 February 1
Union oil workers go on strike
One of the most frustrating things about strikes is that because of ever changing inflation rates and because of the periodic changing of methods to calculate the rate of inflation, it is very hard to compare past wages with current ones and determine future projections to use in negotiations, etc. So much of this ambiguity and frustration could very easily be dramatically minimized by just ensuring that our money supply is stable and dictated by just two variables: population growth and a comprehensive price level index that is adequately representative of all goods and services offered.
Unions serve a very valuable purpose to ensure workplace safety and adequate wages. Such concerns were much more valid in the past. In the modern era, however, it appears that more and more unions believe that they are still working towards those same ends, but in many cases, they have overshot their original goals of decent working conditions and decent pay and are still fighting for even better working conditions and even better pay.
Of course, people could always find examples of anything, but here’s an example of the BART union in California’s Bay area who was demanding unreasonable pay increases. It is becoming more and more common for unions to keep demanding more and more because, I fear, it is just in their DNA. Part of it may be that unions may feel the need to justify their existence by continuing to ask for concessions from management and engage in activities that keep them in the public eye, lest people think they are not doing anything for their workers.
In order to be better able to see the true nature of the situation between workers and management, and to better see the legitimacy of labor union demands, it is essential that our inflationary money supply be taken under control so that fundamental elements of the debate are more stable for longer periods of time, allowing for clearer and more accurate reference points to be used as anchors in the debate.
2015 February 2
Suspected U.S. drone strike kills al Qaeda militants in Yemen
Drone strikes are not intrinsically wrong. However, they are definitely detrimental to our intended effect of ending this War on Terror. Without an aggressive campaign of education, economic development and friendship/bridge building, these drone attacks are like mythical Hadra, who when one head was cut off, two more grew in its place.
The bottom line is that the entire Middle East is fertile for the production of terrorists. Western intervention, clandestine and covert operations, Western sponsored coup d’etats, etc., have wrought so much pain and suffering, that it is no wonder that people there don’t particularly like us.
Basically, we need an international military organization to keep everybody in check, us and them. But this organization MUST have real power that effectively allowed them to impose rule according to a given set of principles ONLY within their delineated spheres of activity.
2015 February 3
Investigators combing social media to expose insurance scams
Here is another great money-making business! According to this proposal, anybody who have information about any crime (insurance fraud is a crime), they would be able to turn this information over to the proper authorities and get a portion (about 10%) of whatever fine in ultimately imposed on the criminal.
2015 February 4
Powerball winning numbers: Wednesday, February 4, 2015 jackpot worth $325 million
What a waste of money! Especially for just one or a few people. If instead of choosing random numbers and winning money, someone were to design a game of some sort to put human time and effort to good use, then it wouldn’t be a waste of money. Take for example the CAPTCHA types of challenge-response tests that computers use to determine whether or not the user is human. A variant of this security system also includes a digitized image from a text that has been scanned into a database but which cannot be automatically deciphered. This is only one example of perhaps hundreds in which mundane things/tasks have been harnessed to provide a valuable service to humanity. I guess many people just feel the need to waste money on a game of chance guaranteeing them that their chances of winning are virtually zero. But, hey, if they want to waste their money, at least let me benefit from it.
Instead, one valuable idea would be to go ahead and let people pick numbers, but have them pick numbers that mean something, like the high temperature for a given area on the day after the lottery cycle closes. Or perhaps they could choose a series of high temperatures for a few days or the entire week. The closer to being correct, the more money they win. In the mean time, it is likely that certain people to win consistently enough so that they could be identified as having a talent for predicting the weather more accurately than most of the rest. They could be interrogated and their talents would be harnessed by the rest of the population.
2015 February 5
Reid should be fined for his lie against Romney. The fact that he uttered it from the Senate floor should not protect him from any slander lawsuit penalties.
2015 February 6
Holding Data Hostage: The Perfect Internet Crime?
This is why it is so important for all internet traffic to be able to be traced. All emails should allow the sender to be identified by authorities, Bitcoin accounts should also have their owners identifiable, anonymizing services like the Tor network should be illegal.
2015 February 7
Corruption/bribery is a major part of the problem in Mexico. When the police can’t be trusted, what is the average resident to do? They are more likely to take the law into their own hands, but because such retributions are not socially sanctioned and because such actions tend to be more personal and tend to impart an additional ’emotional’ interest to the punishments, they tend to contribute to an escalating level of violence. In addition, falsely targeted individuals will return the attack with a vengeance, as well. But, if a working police system is in operation, then informants would be able to profit from such widespread crime by turning information over to the authorities.
2015 February 8
The leaker, Herve Falciani, would be entitled to multiple tens or even hundreds of million of dollars in compensation for his whistle-blowing activities.
All entities who broke the tax laws should be prosecuted.
2015 February 9
Putin: U.S. Hegemony at Root of Ukraine Crisis
He’s not too far off the point. It obviously doesn’t justify Russia’s takeover of Ukraine, but the U.S. doesn’t exactly not have a beam in our own eye.
2015 February 10
Stay-at-home dads putting kids before careers
Greater education of the population, especially anti-discrimination topics, is necessary to continue to remove the stigma associated with stay at home dads.
2015 February 11
Where do 2016 contenders stand on the military fight against ISIS?
Everyone should be leery of this AUMF legislation, given the history of how its been use, even though this is a somewhat limited version. We are now fighting enemies that didn’t even exist 15 years ago. Why are we continuing to dupe ourselves into thinking that we can win this War on Terror using the same darned tactics? We need to target the fundamental elements responsible for creating the environment that fertilized the rapid and enthusiastic growth of our enemies? We need to get an international military body organized, we need to educate people, we need to engage in genuine and fair economic development, and we need to quit our habit of constantly meddling in the internal affairs of foreign countries.
2015 February 12
In Rare Show of Consensus, President Signs Veterans Act Into Law
War is hell. Its after-effects are not that exciting, either. That is why so many soldiers have killed themselves. Their minds are often permanently damaged by physical or emotional experiences and these damages minds are very difficult to repair. Prevention is a heck of a lot easier than the cure. Sometimes war is necessary, but Vietnam and the Iraqi invasion, two major wars that have wreaked havoc, were not necessary, and that increases the frustration as we try to deal with all the injured humans that have resulted.
The world need a moderating influence between global power when it comes to international military relations.
2015 February 13
Boston preps for yet another big snowstorm
Looking at all this snow, I can’t help but wonder about the significant negative effects that spreading both NaCl and CaCl salts on roadways through out the whole regions would have on the ecosystem. I’ve read about well that have been polluted by salt, roadside vegetation that has been damaged, etc. Human infrastructures suffer significantly as well, like bridges and cars with corrosion induced by the salts. If people would live and work closer together and if people would shop more locally, then the demand for such extensive and constant road clearing would be minimized because people wouldn’t need to use their cars as often. People could walk to more of their intended destinations. Also, with a more complete mass transit system (namely trains) snow wouldn’t be as much of an issue.
One effective way to encourage the evolution of a society in this direction would be to eliminate the subsidies associated with fossil fuels, require all producers to internalize all their negative externalities, and then let the prices rise to what would then be their appropriate levels. If prices are then still too low, additional taxes could be imposed to further decrease demand. Most of the taxes listed here would affect fossil fuels at least somewhere along their commodity chain.
2015 February 14
One killed, three wounded in shooting at Denmark free speech talk
Another reason why religious discussions need to be more common. People of different faiths need to dialogue and check each other’s interpretations with facts and logic. This will inevitably result in the moderation of some views. Will it have helped in this particular case? All anyone can say is that the chances of something like this happening in an environment in which there is more cross-talk regarding religious issues would be lower.
2015 February 15
Armed migrant smugglers threatened Italian Coast Guard
There are two ways to solve a problem: preventing it, or correcting it once it has occurred. As is almost always the case, neither one of these approaches is always the correct one to take. However, with the case of illegal immigration, the more correct approach is to prevent the urge for people to migrate illegally. Naturally, the factors that must be changed in order for this to become a reality are all too often beyond the control of the country on the receiving end of these migrant journeys. So the point at which solutions must be implemented become at the border. Of course, all these migrants should be treated humanely at all times. This whole chapter discusses how the issue of illegal migration should be handled.
2015 February 16
American severely gored at festival in Spain
People who engage is clearly risky behavior, like bull running, should be required to pay a higher deductible for injuries suffered as a result. Similarly, people who suffer greater injuries during an accident due to not wearing a seat belt should also be required to pay a higher deductible.
2015 February 17
Fires from W. Va. derailment could burn 2-3 days
Accidents are usually preventable. In this case, better safety requirements would have prevented this accident, at least an accident of this magnitude. Although the train cars involved in this derailment were the newer, safer version of oil transport cars, these had also been criticized for not being safe enough. Because oil and other fossil fuels are associated with lots of negative consequences for the environment that are not internalized into the costs of the products, the demand for these commodities are higher than it otherwise would be if these costs were internalized and the prices were higher. Requiring the train cars to be safer would naturally increase the costs to the oil companies. These costs would be passed on to the customers causing a reduction in demand. Also, imposing a per unit pollution penalty on the train or oil company will result in higher transportation costs.
These changes would result in both a safer oil transport system as well as a reduced demand, meaning less oil being transported. Thus, the chances of an accident like this happening again would be reduced.
2015 February 18
‘Infrastructure Joe’ Visits Another 2016 Early Primary State
VP Biden lamented that the U.S. is 28th in transportation infrastructure investment. He continued by saying that the U.S. shouldn’t be 28th in the world in anything. It is unfortunate that it is so often the human tendency to want to be 1st in everything. Why can’t people just set their goals according to what is best for the people in real terms? We need to (as do all humans around the world) deflate our egos and just make decisions and set our goals according to what our needs are, not according to a perceived superior relative placement among ourselves.
2015 February 19
Do Americans want to send ground troops to fight ISIS?
This War on Terror will never end. We are now debating whether to send troops to fight yet another terrorist group in yet another country. We definitely have more terrorist groups to choose to engage with than we ever did 15 years ago. The Lernaean Hydra has grown many more head than the one we cut off in Afghanistan years ago. We need to educate these people, empower women, economically develop these regions and disengage from internal meddling.
2015 February 20
CBS News poll on vaccines and the measles outbreak
Vaccines should not be forced onto parents/children, but they should be encouraged strongly through financial means.
2015 February 21
800,000 Obamacare customers receive wrong tax info
The complications involved with these healthcare subsidies just contribute to the additional burden involved with trying to deal with the tax code and figuring out an individual’s tax liabilities. The tax code should be dramatically simplified to save all of us lots of time and frustration.
2015 February 22
HUGE Solar Blast – ‘Killshot’ will Miss Earth
It is important for humans to organize their infrastructures in such a way that prepares for the real potential threats solar flares pose to us. All these Proposals will help in both the planning and management of such disasters.
2015 February 23
DHS Secretary “confident” of enhanced security after mall threat
The terrorist who made these threat should be responsible for all costs associated with these threats. Obviously, they are not likely to just pay the bill we send to them, so they should be captured and made to work to pay off their debts. In the meantime, they should be educated and hopefully converted to ‘rational’ beings. Then they should be release back to their original areas.
2015 February 24
VA secretary: Sorry I claimed I was in special forces
In this case, the Secretary claimed that he was employed in the Special Forces, which was not true. There should be a penalty associated with this false claim. However, such a penalty should be relatively small because of the nature of way the claim had been made–in passing, on the spot, and without any clear intention to mislead but rather there being a clear intention to relate to the subject of the conversation at the time. Nevertheless, it was a lie, broadcast to millions and he should be held accountable for that lie.
The person, or perhaps the first few people who notified the proper authorities of this lie, should be entitled to a certain percentage of the ultimate fines imposed on the Secretary (perhaps 10%). I would suggest a fine amount of $0.0001 cents per person estimated to have heard this lie. I estimate that 100,000,000 people heard this lie, so the total fine amount would be $10,000. If the Secretary had been given the chance to review everything that was included in the final cut of the video clip that 60 Minutes showed, then the fine amount should be greater because he would have had a clearer opportunity to correct/revise what he said.
2015 February 25
‘Fast track’ legislation should never be allowed to be pushed through a legislative body. All legislators should have the opportunity to read and understand everything on which they vote. Furthermore, legislation should never be included as ‘riders’ on other pieces of unrelated legislation. Everything (as much as practical) should be voted on separately.
2015 February 26
What’s at stake in the net neutrality debate
The idea that certain users of the Internet should be allowed to purchase faster service seems logical. If a service provider like Netflix want to buy ‘express lanes’ on the Information Superhighway, that’s fine. As long as those who do not pay for this faster service do not regress to slower Internet speeds, there appears to be no problem with this kind of fee structure for Internet access. In other words, Internet speeds are continually rising, so whatever structure being set up should be done so in a way that no user who continues to pay the same amount for access is not forced to endure slower connection speeds.
I don’t see this as any different than consumer now who are able to decide whether they was to purchase dial-up, DSL, cable, or some other faster Internet connection speeds.
Internet Service Providers should not be the ones to determine which websites load faster. It should be a combination of the consumers who choose what connection speed to the Internet they have purchased and what the speeds purchased by the actual websites owners are.
2015 February 27
How did “Jihadi John” slip through the cracks?
The following policies would have helped prevent or moderate the extremist views held by Jihadi John. First, education and the encouragement to discuss religious ideas openly and to compare and contrast with different religions as well as the urging to scientifically test all aspects of a religion would have likely resulted in a more moderate individual.
Second, better border enforcement would have cause anyone travelling between different countries.
Third, the mass promulgation of ‘hate-speech’ is not deserving of free-speech protections, and as such, the likelihood of people being swayed by such speech for such caused is lessened.
Fourth, an effective system of crime and punishment would instill in the population the idea that it would be extremely difficult to evade capture for a crime for a significantly long period of time because informants would know that they could get a lot of money by simply turning over information about their whereabouts, plans, history, etc., and reap large rewards. Also, criminals would have a pretty good idea as to what the penalties for any given crime would be because of the more logically related nature of the punishment to the crime.
2015 February 28
Early morning shooting in Trenton tops The Trentonian Police Blotter for February 28, 2015
If this proposal were implemented, everyone would know that they would be able to earn money by reporting any significant facts to the police about any crime of which they may have knowledge. They should also be able to roughly calculate the amount they they would owe, by knowing basic facts about the crime. For example, in this crime involving a shooting injury, the shooter would likely be responsible for all injury-related costs of the victim (several thousand dollars) and a fright penalty for using a gun during during the commission of a crime (a few thousand dollars). So perhaps $10,000-$20,000 would be a good estimate for the penalty imposed for this crime. Again, the common public should know that a rule-of-thumb percentage of their share of the criminal’s penalty is 10%.
As several criminal cases get worked through the courts and punishments are meted out for all kinds of criminal cases, it will become easier for the public to predict roughly what kinds of punishments will result from any given case. Thus, any member of the public will be able to determine whether or not they think it worth it to get involved and provide information to the police.