2016 January
2016 January 1
Obama’s proposals to require all gun sales to be conducted by licensed gun dealers and require background checks for all gun buyers are very reasonable and useful for helping ensure that every gun in circulation is accurately registered to its proper owner and to help make sure that people with histories not conducive to gun safety are prevented from owning a gun.
2016 January 2
Home fire fatalities in the news
Instances of death and damage during structure fires could be reduced if firefighters were to have access to and able to review floor plan information for the structures that they are en route to. Although, fewer firefighters are justified in the modern era of safer materials, design and regulations, deaths and damage have consistently continually declined in recent decades.
2016 January 3
Auto Industry Looks for Bumper Year in 2016
It is truly amazing that nearly 18 million vehicles are sold in the US every year. that is one vehicle for every 18 people (men, women and child) children under 16. If we consider that around 70 million people are 15 years old and under, that leaves around 250 million people that are of driving age. From this number we should subtract the elderly and some other small groups that do not drive. This 18 million vehicle figure is likely to include trucks, buses, police cars, etc, but even considering these purchases, it seems that one vehicle for every 14 people of driving age in the United States seems to be too much.
The number of motor vehicles (including absolutely all types) per capita in the US is significantly higher than all other significantly-sized countries.
Some of the policies that would ‘naturally’ reduce demand would be a disposal fee on a per pound basis for cars being thrown away, and increase in the gasoline tax rates, a mileage tax structure, pollution tax, parking restrictions, etc.
2016 January 4
2016 January 5
2016 January 6
North Korea says it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb
Only an international military organization has the logical legal and moral authority to effectively control North Korea’s actions. Though there is no guarantee that the North will abide by such an organization’s mandates, any efforts made to enforce those mandates will be fundamentally supported by far more members of the international community than the very same efforts brought about by just a few countries alone.
2016 January 7
TransCanada Seeks $15 Billion From U.S. Over Keystone XL Pipeline
The loss of our sovereignty as a result of entering into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is evident by this lawsuit the company is filing against the US into seeking unrealized profits that would have resulted if this project was completed. Every country should have the right to set its own internal policies.
2016 January 8
All these scientific studies often go back and forth regarding benefits or drawbacks regarding food health. So much industry funded studies have skewed the research so much over the years, that all this back and forth is producing evidence of the tension between facts and industry, leading the public to become desensitized to these studies. In order to rebuild public confidence, we need to more effectively sever the relationship between industry and its research by not allowing selective studies to be published and by requiring more transparency relating to researchers’ identities and their other works. Predatory publishers should also be weeded out of existence.
2016 January 9
2015 second hottest year on record
Global warming is a problem that cannot be addressed directly. It is an effect with multitudes of individual natural and anthropogenic causes. The best way to cut through the complexity of the situation while still providing an unambiguously phenomenal amount of environmental benefit, is to ensure that all businesses internalize all of their negative externalities. Even without a specific carbon tax, just following this principal for all other pollutants will guarantee a drastic reduction in the amount of fossil fuel (and animal food) consumption. Once the free markets work as they were intended with the requisite types of regulations, then people would be able to see clearly enough to more certainly figure out what the next steps, if any, should be.
2016 January 10
Mexican official: Sean Penn led us to El Chapo
Sean Penn should get a huge reward for his efforts. This reward should be broadcast to everybody so that everyone knows that if they submit (in an ideal world) information that helps or leads to the resolution of a crime, such people will be rewarded greatly, such as by being given 10% of what the total criminal’s fines would be.
2016 January 11
Catalonia’s New Leader Vows to Continue Secessionist Drive
These people qualify for independence because they are culturally distinct enough.
2016 January 12
Oil Prices Slide Again, and the Bottom Is Not Yet in Sight
One of the worst things for environmental protection is low fossil fuel prices. Businesses (including fossil fuel companies) should internalize many effects that they currently do not have to pay for (negative externalities).
2016 January 13
2016 January 14
Al Jazeera America to Shut Down by April
This was a very reputable source for news and it is a shame that it could not survive in the US market. A way to help smaller media companies to compete in this marketplace would be to have properly constructed tax structures the make it a little harder for larger companies to operate. This will help ensure a diversity of outlets.
2016 January 15
Turkey’s Kurdish Rebels Attack Police Complex, Leaving At Least Six Dead
The Turks need to have their own independent country because they are a distinct group of people.
2016 January 16
Dow Sinks 390 Points in Global Selloff, Crude Falls Nears $29
2016 January 17
Obama Declares State Of Emergency Over Flint’s Contaminated Water
Sometimes it’s difficult to determine punishment levels for problems as widespread as this. However, clearly the actual individuals who authorized this switch an those who are charged with ensuring the safety of the water supply should be among the first to be targeted. Anyone who inhibited any process used to ensure water safety or who blocked efforts towards that end should be punished most severely.
2016 January 18
Unmuzzling Himself, Ted Cruz Tells Voters to ‘Doubt the Credibility’ of Donald Trump
Too much attention is given to what people/candidates say on the stump rather than on what their written policy positions are. Candidates should be required to write down their policy proposals so that it is on paper for everyone to review. Voters, the public and the media in general should be conditioned to continually ask what a candidate’s written positions are and judge them on what they have written.
2016 January 19
Video game based on Peshawar school attack pulled
These games should be rated and fined according to the regulations proposed to be applied to all media for violence, sex, language, etc. Such regulations would make such games more expensive and will likely not be the ideal solution that would dramatically reduce consumption.
2016 January 20
San Jose bus crash: Greyhound driver admits to fatigue before deadly overturn
Human driver fatigue on long-distance trips is something that could be addressed by installing a long-distance mass transit system that is more automated. Other technological fixes like eye readers, are also surely being developed.
2016 January 21
Walmart to hike wages of 1.2 million workers
In order for the minimum wage to not be a political football every few years, it should be pegged to a certain standard deviation of the total local population’s earnings.
2016 January 22
Putin ‘Probably Approved’ Litvinenko Poisoning, British Inquiry Says
If it turns out that Putin (or whoever) really directed the death of Litvinenko, then such people should be charged with the murder and given the death penalty.
2016 January 23
Officer Daniel Holtzclaw Sentenced to 263 Years in Prison
The just penalty should at least be castration and possible removal of his reproductive organ, in addition to financial compensation for the ‘pain and suffering’ associated with his actions.
2016 January 24
Biden slams ‘outrageous’ PKK, hails Turkey help in IS fight
Biden says that there is a military solution to the problem in Syria, which is, of course, true. The questions is how much military resources will be necessary to accomplish that objective? It is far easier and cheaper to prevent these types of problems than it is to deal with them afterwards.
2016 January 25
Major earthquake hits south Alaska, tremors felt in Anchorage
The damage from natural disasters need to be made a little more predictable by requiring political jurisdictions to set aside finds equivalent to the average of a certain number of years.
2016 January 26
Air Force to examine ‘jet debris’ amidst MH370 conjecture
If airliners had live broadcasts of flight data, the degree of intensity directed towards searches and analysis of debris could be lessened.
2016 January 27
Planned Parenthood cleared, but 2 indicted over videos
Everybody who had produced demonstrably false factual information regarding this story should be fined for contributing to the degree of misinformation promulgated.
2016 January 28
Denmark adopts controversial law to seize asylum seekers’ valuables
This is a perfectly acceptable policy and definitely with Denmark’s sovereign right, but it does give the superficial impression of Denmark acting like a mean-spirited host.
2016 January 29
France’s Justice Minister Resigns Following Controversial Anti-Terrorism Proposal
Minister Taubira’s resignation is based on an unfounded perception of negatively targeting those with dual citizenship. This proposed measure would have denied French citizenship to people with dual citizenship convicted of terrorism. These doesn’t seem to be anything bad this proposal. Any negative impressions must be based only on perceptions and associations of similar proposals in the past. Any country that gives citizenship, also has the right to determine under which conditions that citizenship is revoked (if there is another citizenship that individual can default to).
2016 January 30
Emails Show MI Officials Trucked Clean Water to State Building in Flint Last January
Every official who could be proven to have lied about when they knew about the polluted water should be fined heavily for lying.
2016 January 31
At least two dozen suspected Sinaloa Cartel members arrested in border sting
The corruption in Mexico is largely due to the corrupting influence of drug money. By extension, the demand from the US is one of the largest reasons for all this drug trafficking through Mexico. One of this things we could do to lessen these problems is to legalize and regulate some of the drugs. We could also voluntarily sterilize drug addicts and others. This would have the effect of slightly decreasing the number of people (mainly future generations) of consuming illegal drugs. it would also generally result in savings due to the likely reduction in the number of people in need of social rehabilitative services.