President Trump threatens to take steps to ban large institutional investors from buying single-family homes. Really!

This seems to be a really bad, populist idea by President Trump! Looks like an arbitrary, selective big government intervention into a free market economy!

"... arguing that corporate ownership has helped push housing further out of reach for everyday Americans."

Thursday, January 8, 2026 - Join The Flyover

Trump threatens to ban Wall Street investments in single-family homes

Back to textbooks: Denmark rolls back digital learning. Really!

Banning smartphones etc. is no solution! It is backwards. One extreme (too much screen time) is chasing another extreme (no screen time) for children. Bad politics!

Minimum Wage, Maximum Folly

Very recommendable! Minimum wages keep low skilled or inexperienced workers out! The road to hell is paved with good intentions! 

Indian States' Cash Transfers for Women to Cost $19 Billion with Palki Sharma

Recommendable! Are Indian states buying votes from women?

The Supreme Court Is Right to Age-Gate Internet Porn. Really!

No, these states are wrong to legally require porn sites to verify the age of their visitors! It puts a lot of burden on those sites and adult visitors will be put off!

It is also quite strange and weird that a libertarian magazine (i.e. City Journal) publishes such an article with this headline!

Such state laws are an example of excessive government paternalism!

Such state laws may also have the well known adverse effect that adult consumers of porn will resort again to other means to obtain what they are looking for or worse sexual violence against women or children may increase.

Such state laws can also be seen as attempts to roll back the so called sexual revolution of the 1960s/70s. Make love not war etc.! These state laws showcase once more the tendency towards the world famous American prudishness!

Parents can and will protect their children e.g. by making sure their devices and Internet services block access to those sites. It should be primarily left to parents to protect their children from exposure to any harmful Internet content etc..

Concerns about children being exposed to porn (e.g. including perverse sexual acts etc.) are justified, but the solution of laws requiring porn sites to verify the age of their visitors is wrong!

The US Supreme Court only had to decide whether the Texas law conforms with the US constitution. This decision is not an approval of the approach to prevent harm from children.

Caveat: I did not read the entire article.

"In a 6–3 decision issued Friday in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, the Supreme Court upheld a Texas law requiring pornographic websites to verify users’ ages before granting access. With similar laws now on the books in at least 21 other states, the ruling empowers state authorities to shield children from sexually explicit online materials—and may also open the door to regulating minors’ access to social media. ..."

The Supreme Court Is Right to Age-Gate Porn "The Free Speech Coalition decision reflects a pragmatic recognition of the Internet’s contemporary dangers for children."

France to ban smoking in beaches, parks and outside schools. Really!

How stupid is this! Prohibition was tried before! What will be prohibited next? 

It stinks (no pun intended)! Big Government! Government paternalism! This happened under President Macron! I think his old, rich wife needs to beat him more often!

I hope the French people will protest against this!

P.S. My maternal grandmother was a chain smoker, but I never smoked.

The European Union’s Due Diligence Directive Must Be Stopped

Food for thought! 

I remember this is not the first time that the EU has come up with outrageous mandates and bureaucratic nightmares like a socialist central planner (e.g. the Precautionary Principle)!

When climate change lunatics rule!

"Most Americans have probably never heard of the European Union’s (EU) recently passed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). According to the EU, the “aim” of the CSDDD “is to foster sustainable and responsible corporate behaviour in companies’ operations and across their global value chains. The new rules will ensure that companies in scope identify and address adverse human rights and environmental impacts of their actions inside and outside Europe.” ...

Under the CSDDD, all U.S. businesses, from multinational corporations to small family farms, would have to adhere to the EU’s environmental regulations that prioritize the mass adoption of expensive and unreliable so-called green energy while restricting the production of abundant, affordable, and reliable fossil fuel energy. ...

In essence, the CSDDD “is a transition plan for climate change mitigation aligned with the 2050 climate neutrality objective of the Paris Agreement as well as intermediate targets under the European Climate Law,” says the EU.

As evidence increasingly shows, the EU’s early adoption of an electric grid primarily fueled by intermittent wind and solar has not been a smooth process. For many years, European countries like Germany have struggled with chronic energy shortages.

A few months ago, the fragility of Europe’s green grid was put on full display when two solar facilities in southwest Spain experienced a sudden and severe drop in power output, which triggered a “complete collapse of the system,”  ...

the EU’s CSDDD represents a non-tariff trade barrier that Trump is intent on eliminating as his team negotiates with EU officials. ..."

The European Union’s Due Diligence Directive Must Be Stopped – RedState

World Bank Ends Its Ban, effective since 2013, on Funding Nuclear Power Projects. Really!

Good news! However, what absurdity was it for the World Bank to ban this financing in the first place!

So the World Bank has prevented human progress out of superstition and excessive government paternalism! Incredible

Germany's role in this is despicable!

P.S. Google search can not find the official news release of the World Bank! I also tried the World Bank website to no avail. What does the World Bank have to hide? Incompetence?

"“The world’s largest and most influential development bank said on Wednesday it would lift its longstanding ban on funding nuclear power projects.

The decision by the board of the World Bank could have profound implications for the ability of developing countries to industrialize without burning planet-warming fuels such as coal and oil.

The ban has been formally in place since 2013, but the last time the bank funded a nuclear power project was 1959 in Italy. In the decades since, a few of the bank’s major funders, particularly Germany, have opposed its involvement in nuclear energy, on the grounds that the risk of catastrophic accidents in poor countries with less expertise in nuclear technology was unacceptably high. ..."

World Bank Ends Its Ban on Funding Nuclear Power Projects - Human Progress

Tobacco is still public enemy no. 1

Why don't we try to get rid of unhealthy busybodies and government paternalism!

"Smoking Cessation Setbacks

The COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, conflicts, and other crises have disrupted global smoking cessation efforts, per an ASH Canada report endorsed by 57 campaign groups and released ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Saturday, reports Reuters via the Economic Times.

 

Missed target: Governments have missed the 30% reduction goal set in 2015, meaning that ~95,000 people above the targeted 1,112,400,000 are still smoking, based on a Reuters analysis.

 

Action plan: The report’s authors urge governments to redouble efforts on tobacco control policies such as tax increases and smoking bans. ..."

Global Health NOW: Smoking Cessation Setbacks; Hollowing Out American Public Health; and The Amazon’s River Clinics

Why Germany's government Wants a Retirement savings Plan starting with all Children with Palki Sharma

Food for thought! Whether children/future adults will learn more financial responsibility this way is somewhat questionable. What happens when you die early?

It also smacks of a one size fits all government solution! Government paternalism comes to mind! What is next? Mandated annual health checkups etc.

Tübingens Bürgermeister deckt auf: Im Monat 7471 Euro netto Bürgergeld im Monat für eine Familie mit 5 Kindern

In der Bananenrepublik D. laesst es sich gut Leben ohne Arbeiten zu müssen! Kein Wunder ob der vielen Einwanderer!

Ich wette, das ist kein Einzelfall!

Der helle Wahnsinn! Nobel geht die Welt zu Grunde!

Boris Palmer deckt auf: Im Monat 7471 Euro Bürgergeld für eine Familie "Das sind Beträge, von denen arbeitende Menschen nur träumen können: 7471 Euro netto erhält etwa eine Familie in Tübingen vom Jobcenter als Bürgergeld – auch deshalb, weil sie eine „teure Wohnung“ hätte. Das deckte jetzt Tübingens Bürgermeister Boris Palmer selbst auf."

RFK Jr. announces ban on all petroleum-based synthetic food dyes (total 8), including red dye No. 40. Really!

I have my serious doubts about this measure! Synthetic food coloring has been blamed for all sorts of things for several decades! How much of this is medieval superstition?

What will be used as substitutes? Natural food colors? How natural and how healthy? What is the environmental impact?

Notice also the alarmism and hysteria combined with this announcement, i.e. the claimed negative effects on children. RFK Jr. is cited  as “These poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to our children’s health and development. That era is coming to an end. ..."

Apparently, RFK Jr. did not have the patience to wait for more research results! "Partnering with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct comprehensive research on how food additives impact children’s health and development."

According to Google search no other Western country has banned so many synthetic food dyes. Most Western countries have banned only one or two such dyes.

"... Authorizing four new natural color additives in the coming weeks, while also accelerating the review and approval of others. ..."

RFK Jr. announces ban on all petroleum-based synthetic food dyes, including red dye No. 40. Here's what health experts have said about them.

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/hhs-fda-phase-out-petroleum-based-synthetic-dyes-nations-food-supply

Why are Sweden and Europe Drowning in Fast Fashion Waste? with Palki Sharma

Don't you hate it when news anchors try to give you a moral lecture you and call for more big government paternalism. How often does Ms. Sharma change her dresses? How many dresses does she have in her wardrobe? She is not exactly like Mahatma Gandhi and his minimalist wardrobe!

Website visitors prompted to accept cookies since 2002 annoyance

When will this stupid and annoying government regulation finally be scrapped! This paternalistic nonsense has been going on since 2002 or so!

One of the more reasonable solutions for adults would be a personalized configuration of the web browser with respect to cookies etc.

President Trump are you listening/reading? MAGA! Get rid of these regulations please!

Google search result:
"Websites are required to ask for permission to use cookies due to international laws like the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in the EU and similar state laws like the CCPA (California Consumer Protection Act). These laws aim to protect user data and ensure transparency by requiring websites to inform users about how their data is being collected and used, and to obtain their consent before doing so."

Belgium to become first EU country to ban disposable vape sales. Really!

The usual government paternalism! Teenagers try a lot of things! That does not mean they will become addicted etc.!

Australia Bans Social Media for Children. Will it Help? with Palki Sharma

This is clearly government overreach! It is primarily the responsibility of the parents! Phone and Internet service providers can also more easily restrict the access of children etc. when parents request it.

How to implement this is a huge problem!

To curb plastic pollution, we need to do these four things. Really!

The alarmism and hysteria about plastics is unbearable! It is being used/abused like the global warming hoax and climate change religion to impose big government!

And this ideology and indoctrination or pseudo science is spread by none other than the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Interesting also how these pseudo scientists try to link plastic pollution to climate change! Nice try!

Most of the authors of this study are affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley. Does this ring a bell?

Alert: Plastophobia is a serious disorder. Please seek immediate medical help!

Like the global warming hoax, this research also relies on what most likely are junk computer model simulations into the future.

Certainly more research is needed to find better ways to break down plastics and/or to convert them back into useful precursors. Maybe that could be e.g. incentivised as an opportunity for private businesses. I just blogged e.g. here about the catalysis of so called forever plastics (PFAS).

"Ever since the invention of plastics, humanity has been littering the planet with them. Plastic pollution has become such a huge, global issue that governments large and small have sought solutions. Now, a sophisticated model has weighed the effects of the most common proposals, finding that a combination of four strategies could reduce plastic pollution by 91% by 2050.

First, the team built a comprehensive database of the plastic lifecycle, including production, consumption, and end-of-life management, from already-available sources around the world. Then, using machine learning, they looked at how eight policy options being discussed currently might impact plastic pollution.

The single most effective option was to mandate a 40% minimum recycled content for any newly manufactured plastics,
followed by enforcing limits on new plastic production. Those two strategies plus a packaging tax and investment in waste management were the most effective combination, the team found. ...

The study arrives just as final negotiations on a global plastics treaty are about to be held in South Korea. ..."

From the abstract:

"Plastic production and plastic pollution negatively affect our environment, environmental justice, and climate change. Using detailed global and regional plastics datasets coupled with socio-economic data, we employ machine learning to predict that, without intervention, annual mismanaged plastic waste will nearly double to 121 Mt (100 - 139 Mt 95% CI) by 2050. Annual greenhouse gas emissions from the plastic system are projected to grow by 37% to 3.35 Gt CO2 equivalent (3.09 - 3.54 CO2e) over the same period. The United Nations plastic pollution treaty presents a unique opportunity to reshape these outcomes. We simulate eight candidate treaty policies and find that just four could together reduce mismanaged plastic waste by 91% (86% - 98%) and gross plastic-related greenhouse gas emissions by one third."

ScienceAdvisor

Pathways to reduce global plastic waste mismanagement and greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (open access)

Fig. 4. Projected Impacts of Potential Policies.

When former government attorneys switch Sides on the Tobacco Fight. Really!

Nothing new! This issue has been known and discussed for several decades!

It is also well known that the turnstile works in both directions!

Government paternalism is another topic associated with tobacco!

"Switching Sides on the Tobacco Fight 

As the FDA fights an “epic struggle” against the tobacco industry over next-generation nicotine products, the agency is contending with a particularly galling dynamic: lawyers who have shifted alliances. 

Nearly two dozen FDA lawyers have left the FDA’s tobacco regulation arm to advise, litigate for, or work with the tobacco and vaping industry over the last 15 years, according to a review by The Examination.

Insider advantage: The lawyers often helped craft and defend the same regulations the industry is fighting—giving them a powerful upper hand in litigation.

“It seems like every time we get sued in the tobacco industry, a former FDA lawyer is leading the lawsuit,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf told an oversight organization last year."

Global Health NOW: Lebanese Hospitals on Alert; Malaria Becomes ‘Ancient History’ in Egypt; and Switching Sides on the Tobacco Fight

Warum viele Radfahrer keinen Helm tragen und wie sich das ändern lässt. Wirklich!

Warum tragen wir nicht täglich Knieschützer?

Wie riskant ist Fahrrad fahren und wie oft passieren eigentlich Unfälle mit Kopfverletzungen? 

Als Kind und Jugendlicher sind wir sehr riskant und oft Fahrrad ohne Helm gefahren ohne schwere Unfälle und ohne Kopfverletzungen.

Widerlicher Paternalismus!

Nicht jeder ist so blöd wie der wackelige, senile, demente und korrupte 46igste Praesident der USA, der glaubte noch im hohen Alter aufs Fahrrad steigen zu müssen damit sein Sturz dann fotografiert werden konnte. Er trug einen Helm.

Warum viele Radfahrer keinen Helm tragen und wie sich das ändern lässt - ingenieur.de "Radfahrerinnen und Radfahrer verzichten oft auf Helme aus Bequemlichkeit. Anreize wie kostenlose Helme und regelmäßige E-Mail-Erinnerungen könnten das ändern und die Sicherheit erhöhen. Das ist das Ergebnis einer Studie."

Veterans Could Get Free Gun Safes Under Suicide Prevention Proposal Introduced in House

Gun safes to prevent suicides seems to be a popular subject lately. I think, it is more of a feel good measure for those who support it. Plus, it is good business for some companies.

I have very recently blogged here about this subject.

Anyone, who believes gun safes are effective to prevent suicides is a bit delusional in my opinion!

Veterans Could Get Free Gun Safes Under Suicide Prevention Proposal Introduced in House | Military.com