progressdeveloper

Ben and I were also talking about two ideas that come up over and over: 1. if a politician wants to declare war, requiring that THEIR kids be the first ones to be sent to the front lines. This seems like an airtight solid idea, IF you could require that EVERY country adopt it, which of course, would be impossible. So you would end up with the US declaring war right left and centre, and Europe having great difficulty responding. Also, way fewer people would want to be politicians, and/or people without kids would be much more willing to be politicians. (Those seem like small prices to pay). Also, I guess in the age of drone warfare, is a much less potent threat. Perhaps the disruption alone ... It still might be a decent idea, though. Maybe if people in USA knew that everyone else did this, they'd be less keen to send their own kids into the meat grinder. Maybe somehow you could craft it to only apply to offensive wars, and/or against countries that don't have the same law, or s...

Ben and I were talking about the rules around insider trading and it occurred to me that I really don't know what they are, specifically. Well, it depends how specific you want to be, it gets complicated fast as the rules differ by jurisdiction (what applies to an MP does not automatically apply to an MLA, etc.). That said, here's what I found out and now believe: 1. In general, there is no problem (MP, MLA, mayor, president of a company, etc.) for anyone to buy or sell and stocks. 2. However, people in such positions are prohibited from trading on inside information. 3. To enforce this, they are generally required to disclose anything material. In the case of MP's, they must list all their assets when they start their new job, and, keep this list up to date. BC has a similar rule which extends down to the municipalities. 4. The major exception to all this that I found (I am sure, and hopefully there are, others) are federal cabinet ministers. They must either sell everythi...

Super interesting episode on the California state election, which is WIP (primaries tomorrow). First of all, CA has term limits, which means Gavin Newsom (who almost married Trump's daughter!) cannot run again. He is widely expected to be a serious candidate in the 2028 federal election, assuning there is one. Second: under CA's system, there is a statewide primary in which anyone can vote. Normally primaries are party-specific and happen on different dates, but not in CA. The top two from the primary go on to the general. The primary is tomorrow; the general is in November. Third: bizarre as it sounds, it is entirely possible for the top two candidates to be from the same party! Though this did not happen in 2018 (there was one Democrat and one Republican). Fourth: all this applies to most high level offices - not just governor. Eg. federal senators are also elected under this system. As for the stories you hear about CA being a horribly mismanaged left wing hellscape: while t...