New Year's Eve Toon Roundup 3: The Rest

Flood







Police











War


Terror





Drunks


Drones




Crooks











Counter


Here's hoping for a better 2016

New Year's Eve Toon Roundup 2: Snake Oil

New Year's Eve Toon Roundup 1: New Year Coming

Two Australian surfers just came up with a really neat way to help clean the ocean

It's called the Seabin, and it's the brainchild of Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski. They call it "a simple solution to our oceans' pollution."


Here's how it works.
Water and trash flow through the bin. The trash gets caught in the bin, while the water gets pulled up through a pump on the dock. Then a water pump separates oil from the water, and the water flows back down where it started, sans trash.



The trash is collected by simply pulling the Seabin out of the water and dumping it out.

more

http://www.upworthy.com/a-very-low-tech-approach-to-cleaning-the-ocean-could-have-big-results?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+upworthy+%28Upworthy%29

It’s official: There never was a ‘war on cops’

This year will go down in the record books as one of the safest for police officers in recorded history, according to data released this week from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. There were 42 fatal shootings of police officers in 2015, down 14 percent from 2014, according to the organization.

Overall, 124 officers were killed in the line of duty this year. More than one third of those deaths were due to traffic accidents, the largest single cause of officer fatalities. Thirty other officers died of a variety of other causes, including job-related illnesses.

https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=1484

The memorial fund's numbers square with figures put together earlier this week by Mark Perry of the American Enterprise Institute, who found that "this year (2015) is on track to be the second-safest year for U.S. police officers in history (0.1112 gun-related police deaths per 1 million population), second only to a slightly safer year in 2013 (0.097 deaths per 1 million)."

https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=1484

But they contrast sharply with a narrative we've been hearing about a "war on cops" in the wake of demonstrations in Ferguson, Mo., and elsewhere in protest of fatal shootings by police. The narrative has been especially popular among Republican presidential contenders: In September, Chris Christie blamed the Obama administration for "police officers that are being hunted." In October, Mike Huckabee claimed that a "war on cops" was responsible for a "surge in crime" across the country. In November, Ted Cruz held a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing he called "The War on Police" and blamed the Obama administration for creating "a culture where the men and women of law enforcement feel under siege."

more

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/30/its-official-there-never-was-a-war-on-cops/

Oregon's marijuana sales tax holiday ends Monday

Recreational marijuana consumers in Oregon should prepare for sticker shock starting Monday when a 25 percent sales tax kicks in.

The Oregon Legislature this year signed off on allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to sell recreational pot to anyone 21 and older. Those sales, which began Oct. 1, have been tax free. But that holiday comes to an end Jan. 4, when the state will impose a sales tax that extends until the end of 2016.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission, the agency regulating the recreational marijuana industry, isn't expected to open stores until late 2016. Once the liquor commission's program is up and running, the 25 percent tax will be replaced with a permanent 17 percent sales tax.

more

http://www.oregonlive.com/marijuana/index.ssf/2015/12/oregons_marijuana_tax_holiday.html


Stock up!

Legal Marijuana In The United States Hurting Mexican Drug Cartels, Farmers

Small-scale Mexican marijuana farmers say the loosening of marijuana laws across the U.S. has increased competition from growers north of the border and could put them out of business. The Mexicans used to get $100 per kilogram for their illegal crops, but that price has crashed to $30 per kilogram in the last four years, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

"I've always liked this business, producing marijuana," one 50-year-old farmer from the northwestern state of Sinaloa told the LA Times. This season’s crop will be his last, he said.

The price declines have prompted a notable decline in marijuana production in Mexico, along with a drop in illegal trafficking to the U.S., according to officials on both sides. Just six years ago, Mexico provided two-thirds of the marijuana consumed annually in the U.S., according to the Rand Corp. think tank’s drug policy research center.

The U.S. and Mexican governments have tried for decades to reduce marijuana cultivation by paying farmers to grow legal crops and periodically destroying marijuana fields. Mexican officials said they were on pace to eradicate approximately 12,000 acres of marijuana in 2015, down from the 44,000 destroyed in 2010, according to the LA Times.

more
http://www.ibtimes.com/legal-marijuana-united-states-hurting-mexican-drug-cartels-farmers-2244096

Wednesday Toon Roundup 4- The Rest

Freaking Out





Murdoch



Economy



Climate











New Year












Bloom

Wednesday Toon Roundup 3- Mass Shootings

Wednesday Toon Roundup 2- Shoot to Kill