2016 August
2016 August 1
Lower courts are emboldened by a 4–4 split and the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling to strike down specious voting laws
Voters should be told that if they vote while they are are not legally allowed to vote, they will be punished to an extent making them wish that they did not attempt to vote.
2016 August 2
Trump Continues to Argue Against NATO
NATO should be disbanded. It was an organization designed for a specific purpose and that purpose has been accomplished. Now these military unions must evolve into a wider geographic area, including globally.
2016 August 3
Obama Calls on Republican Leaders to Withdraw Endorsements of Trump
Voters need to be more educated so that candidates like Trump cannot get so far.
2016 August 4
Trump labels Clinton ‘the devil’ and suggests election will be rigged
Trump’s claims of a ‘rigged’ election should require some evidence to back up those claims. If there is no evidence, he should be required to pay a fine for spreading false information.
2016 August 5
Delaware Supreme Court Finds State’s Death Penalty Law Is Unconstitutional
Only juries should be the ones that decide what punishments should be.
2016 August 6
US sent plane with $400 million in cash to Iran
The US froze billions of dollars in after the fall of the Shah, around half of which will be returned after legal claims have been subtracted, and this $400 million transfer as part of a fund that was supposed to go towards Americans that won lawsuits against Iran over the years.
Arms should not have been sold to Iran in the first place, and money should not have been exchanged as part of any nuclear deal. Because of politics guided by personal relations or individual situations, and too many case-by-case basis, logical irregularities result and seemingly ridiculous arrangements occur. We need more principles-based policymaking policymakers so that there could be a greater measure of predictability in global affairs.
2016 August 7
‘Junk DNA’ has value for roundworms
Although this specie of worm is not threatened, many other species of all kinds are rapidly becoming extinct. And the resultant lost of DNA material to study would negatively affect human understandings of our natural environment. This rapid rate of extinction makes it all the more imperative to institute policies that rapidly impose the true costs of producing goods and services so that the degree of environmental habitat destruction is rapidly curbed.
2016 August 8
Missing Footage in Police Shooting of Unarmed Teenager Upsets Chicago Community
Unfortunately, the robber died and so he is not able to pay all the costs that would have been assigned to him. However, all of his possessions should be confiscated by the authorities and used to pay off as much as possible. The officers who violated policy should be punished.
2016 August 9
Police shooting victim files lawsuit against North Miami officer
The officer was clearly an idiot (he seems to understand that) for shooting the caretaker since all the information surrounding the situation indicated that this was not a dangerous situation (except for the initial call that claimed that there was a man armed with a gun). The therapist was clearly following all officer instructions, acted very calmly and putting his hands up in a manner that could not have been clearer. The mentally challenged boy was clearly not a threat (unless the officer thought he might have an explosive device or trigger, although there was nothing to suggest that). This was perhaps the world’s clearest case of an unjustified officer shooting. That officer should be punished by having his gun license revoked, should not be able to work in the field for at least 10 years, should be required to pay for the entire medical bill for this injury (for life) of the victim (plus a high punitive multiple). All the officers on the scene should be punished to some degree for not taking steps to deescalate the situation (it was only the officers that needed to be deescalated). Handcuffing and not rendering aid fast enough were both unjustified, to say the least.
2016 August 10
Susan Collins: Donald Trump will make the world ‘more dangerous’
That’s an understatement. The basis of a secure democracy is an informed citizenry. So here’s an idea to create and maintain an informed citizenry. Basically, this only involves talking about various issues. When people know that other human beings hold views different that there own, people will be more likely to not treat people who disagree as stupid aliens, and the ‘us vs. them’ mentality of many people will weaken, allowing more civility and communication. These elements will naturally lead to a more informed citizenry.
2016 August 11
Baltimore police have racial bias, Justice Department reports
Police departments should compensate people who have been stopped and then found to not have a valid basis for the stop. Furthermore, police departments and other law enforcement agencies should be allowed to work under a type of credit system in which agencies with good credit are allowed greater leeway in stopping, searching, or arresting people without ‘valid’ concerns.
2016 August 12
DEA rules marijuana is still a schedule 1 drug, as dangerous as LSD
This is a big and costly mistake. Marijuana is nowhere near as dangerous as most of the other drugs it is in the same Schedule 1 category with and there is sufficient medical evidence of its utility in medicine.
2016 August 13
Hillary Clinton Releases Tax Return, Pressuring Donald Trump to Follow
These tax returns and other financial documents should be released to the public or at least certain people across government as a precondition of becoming an elected official. The need for transparency to minimize the potential for corruption in at least this one area of finances, is critical.
2016 August 14
Trump spokeswoman: Afghanistan was ‘Obama’s war’
This is why policy needs to be written. Talking ‘live’ on talk shows makes it too easy to say things incorrectly, be misunderstood, mis-emphasize certain things, etc. People, the public in general need to be training to get their information from more authoritative, written official documents like policy position papers of the candidates and politicians. Otherwise, the population will waste endless time arguing over what the intonations meant and over every mis-speak of every word. This example here is a case in which the emphasis trying to be made was lost because of the hang up in the actual wording or her sentences. How frustrating, fer her, but also for people who care about the quality of political discussions. In addition, everyone should be extremely careful about what they say and make sure they got it right. This would mean that less stuff will get published. But this would be good, because there is far too much non-sense circulating in the world today.
2016 August 15
Pelosi bombarded with ‘obscene and sick’ calls, texts after cyber attack
It should be impossible for people to be able to make telephone calls while having their numbers blocked unless they have valid reasons to do so and get special permission from the government. Emails and text messaging, the same. People who send these communications should be able to be found. If they abuse these media, they should be punished.
2016 August 16
Chad Copley: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
The reason a significant number of people are so frustrated with noisy people and parties late at night is because the police do not do enough to punish the violators of these noise ordinances. The police (at least in Los Angeles) usually give warnings to noisy people at 1 am. That is ridiculous. When people are being annoyed by behavior that should be very easy to alter (noisy parties, loud car stereos, etc.) the police need to put a stop to that, with fines. No wonder people get upset to the point of violence. Add race to the mix and then you have a really volatile and unpredictable situation. Chad Copley obviously didn’t do what was right, but his anger should be very understandable. The police nationwide need to solve these irritant situations before further violence occurs.
2016 August 17
Mothers at US immigration center on hunger strike to protest year in custody
Illegal immigrants should not be detained unless they pose a security risk. Normally, they should be released on the condition that they will either show up at court or leave the country within a certain amount of time.
2016 August 18
Aetna to Leave Public Healthcare Exchanges After DOJ Blocks Merger
The government should not say a word concerning whether or not companies should merge with each other. The government should only create the rules of the game and let the participants decide how they want to play.
2016 August 19
Brazilian Police Accuse 4 U.S. Olympic Swimmers of Vandalism, False Robbery Claim
These Olympians should be required to naturally pay for all damages with heavy punitive multiples because of the additional significance of representing the US in Brazil.
2016 August 20
Justice Department says it will end use of private prisons
There should be no blanket ban on the use of private prisons, but the economic incentives need to be properly constructed so that the outcomes are more in line with what was originally intended. First, we need to understand that most people in prison should not be in prison because the crimes they committed should not have required incarceration. Prisons, including private prisons, should have as their primary purpose, the rehabilitation of prisoners. Prisoners should also be allowed and encouraged to use their talents and skills to help pay off their criminal fines.
2016 August 21
Feds Take Stand Against Ga. City’s Bail Policy
Bail should be illegal. It serves no valid purpose that cannot be served in other ways, like merely freezing a suspect’s bank accounts, garnishing wages, or simply pulling a warrant for their arrest. It is also more expensive for the government to imprison people at rates of well over $100 per day at a facility when the alternative is leaving them free on the streets.
2016 August 22
Report: Pills in Prince’s home mislabeled, contained fentanyl
Possible ways to have reduced one aspect possibly contributing to the likelihood of this event from having occurred may have been to institute a progressive income and business tax structure, a profit tax and other taxes that would have reduced the chances of so much pressure bearing down on the performer. Having less of a profit at higher earning levels may have, over a lifetime, dissuaded Prince from working as hard as he did, and may have possibly resulted in at least a delay in his death.
2016 August 23
El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala launch force to confront gangs
These countries should be joined by the United States in their cooperation. The United States definitely has a vested interest in seeing a successful resolution to the out-of-control crime problems in Central America and the US should provide a significant amount of funding towards these efforts so that emigration pressures could be dramatically reduced. The energetic young people need to remain within these countries if they are to succeed.
2016 August 24
New Orleans Still Vulnerable To Storms
Altering the natural environment just inevitably leads to a greater susceptibility to damaging natural events.Humans need to understand that nature needs to be preserved as much as possible. The number one way of doing that is to reduce population pressures (through contraception/euthanasia, sterilization, immigration restrictions) namely reducing the population by means of reducing the birthrates. The best way to do that is so educate people, empower women and create environment that are conducive to the generation of economic opportunities for all.
2016 August 25
Abu Zubaydah, Tortured Guantánamo Detainee, Makes Case for Release
The United States should cut its losses now and release all prisoners against which it does not have sufficient charges to keep. Yes, some may turn around and attack the US, but that is just the way it works when a just organization (the US) is fighting against people who do not follow rules. The reputation and future trust upon which the United States must understand to be much more important to preserve, should take precedence over the potential harm caused by the release of these individuals.
2016 August 26
Newark, NJ, Police Chased 10-Year-Old Boy With Guns Drawn in Case of Mistaken Identity
This boy should be compensated for the trauma that was caused him, to the tune of several thousand dollars. However, the boy should not have run from the police. He should have just stayed in place with his hands up. He had bad and potentially deadly instincts.
2016 August 27
Maine governor: The ‘enemy’ is people of color
Statistically, it is true that minorities comprise a larger share of criminal behaviors than the majority population. This phenomenon is generally true in any part of the world because it is usually the minorities that are the poorest, and the poorest are usually the segment of the population with the statistically highest chances of engaging in crime. To prevent police departments from abusing their search and arrest privileges, they should operate under some kind of credit system.
2016 August 28
French court suspends burkini ban
Clearly, this ban should have never occurred. People should be allowed to wear anything they choose, so long as it does not pose any kind of security threat.
2016 August 29
U.S. MILITARY NOW SAYS ISIS LEADER WAS HELD IN NOTORIOUS ABU GHRAIB PRISON
People will undoubtedly claim that because Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was at that prison, that the torture that occurred there was justified. How0ever, this is a logical fallacy, because just because one (or undoubtedly a few) people were guilty (or will have become guilty afterwards) it does not mean that everyone there should have been assumed to be guilty. Undoubtedly, the poor treatment of those many prisoners at Abu Ghraib lead to the hardening of the majority of those prisoners. Though not all, a great deal of the low morale throughout the world could be alleviated by allowing all significantly distinct cultural groups to have their own independent countries. This would result in fewer people being willing to engage in terrorism activities.
2016 August 30
Obama creates the largest protected place on the planet, in Hawaii
Because negative human influences are continually putting incredible pressures on the natural environment, it is imperative that as many areas as possible around the world be protected from increased human activities.
2016 August 31
White Lives Matter to Be Declared a Hate Group by the Southern Poverty Law Center
It is very unfortunate that people could be so racists to create a group not just with the title of White Lives Matter, but that its stated goal is to preserve the white race. Based on the name only, Black Lives Matter could be interpreted to be a racist movement as well. People, from birth, need to be educated to immunize them against such basic racist views.