Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/08/07/crimeaday-tweets-one-federal.html
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Unintended Consequences:
Here’s a weird one that I had never heard of before today: The Jones Act or The Merchant Marine Act of 1920.
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (P.L. 66-261), also known as the Jones Act, is a United States federal statute that provides for the promotion and maintenance of the American merchant marine.[1] Among other purposes, the law regulates maritime commerce in U.S. waters and between U.S. ports. Section 27 of the Jones Act deals with cabotage and requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents.[2] The act was introduced by Senator Wesley Jones.
As a result more trucks on the road and more traffic. Lots more.
Clearly a lobbying piece but, wow, that’s weird.
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There is supposedly a valid reason behind every one of those1), but taken out of context like this, they remind me of Red Dwarf’s Space Corps Directives a lot.
1) There is bound to be the odd law/paragraph that has been rendered obsolete or is now deviating from the original intention due to new technologies, cultural changes or simply time.
“to sell ketchup and call it something else” I recently saw a TV ad where Heinz was fooling people into putting ketchup on their hotdogs by labeling it “Hot Dog Sauce”.
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Some of these sound quite silly, but what’s silliest of all is that a something grown on your own property and consumed on your own property, that is neither sold nor crosses state lines, is illegal on the basis that it is interstate commerce.
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my cat mocks your authorization
“Reasonably free of poop and cobwebs” sounds very subjective. I wonder if there were lengthy heated debates about what the proper poop : cobweb ratio should be.
I knew that was a crime, but I assumed it would just be in the city of Chicago and not federal.
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