The TPP, the Trans Pacific Partnership, recently caught the public's attention after Wikileaks leaked documents pertaining to it. Apparently, the TPP is an attempt by a number of countries and corporations to radically alter copyright law in the United States and in other nations. The United States already has some of the toughest copyright laws in the world and the TPP would make them even harsher. It would extend the time that copyrights are viable for from 80 to 100 years, allow for the patenting of plants and animals, copyright and patent many works in the public domain, and eliminate fair use. It would effectively transform the currently semi de-centralized Internet into something similar to TV where the Internet Service Providers(ISPs) hold all the power as to what consumers can do. With the loss of Fair Use no one will ever be able to use a song or clip from a video without the creator's permission. No matter lyric videos for songs on YouTube. Now those are illegal. Not only that, but it also makes any future copyright reform impossible. The TPP is one of the most dangerous pieces of legislation ever created. Thankfully, other nations are pushing it back against it. Hopefully the American public becomes aware of this legislation and fights back against it as well. It must be stopped to make sure we don't lose the
Recently, Guns and Ammo, a widely read firearms magazine, released an editorial in support of gun control. That, combined with a number of recent shootings, has somewhat reignited the desire for gun control. What I find interesting, is the amount of attention we give to guns when there are many other preventable things that cause many more deaths each year than shootings. Drugs, drunk driving, and even the flu kill more people each year than guns do. So why doesn't the country get riled up every time a drunk driver kills someone, or someone dies from the flu? Maybe because we have become numb to these deaths. In our eyes, they are "supposed to happen" and are a "normal part of life." On the other hand, mass shootings should not happen. While it is true that some forms of gun control and regulation should probably be enacted, such as universal background checks and sanity checks, the amount of regulations some congressman want to put on guns is absurd. Instead, let's focus on curing the flu instead of trying to punish every lawful gun owner in the country in order to stop mass shootings, which are not
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