Update no.1171

 Update from the Sunland

No.1171

17.6.24 – 23.6.24

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

To all,

 

The follow-up news items:

-- After the terrible Supreme Court Cargill decision—Garland v. Cargill [602 U. S. ____ (2024); No. 22–976] [1170]—a long-time friend and contributor to his humble forum sent the following URL:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c033d532354o?xtor=ES-208-[74124_COHORT+21_190624_Public_Service-_US_Election_Unspun_v2.html]-20240620-[bbcnews_lasvegassurvivorsbumpstockruling_newsus].

“Supreme Court gun ruling stuns Las Vegas shooting survivors”

by Kayla Epstein, 

Published: 14 June 2024

BBC News

To which I replied:

Far more than the survivors were stunned by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Cargill. We could add many other modifiers—flabbergasted, gobsmacked, staggered, incensed ad infinitum. It was a ridiculous ruling—not the first, and probably not the last from these justices.

Nonetheless, life goes on . . . one foot in front of the other.

 

Then, we have the Republican state government in Louisiana that dictated the Ten Commandments must be prominently displayed in every public school classroom from kindergarten to college despite the body of Supreme Court jurisprudence prohibiting such displays of religious bias in public places. Just a few of those cases:

Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States [143 U.S. 457 (1892)]

Lemon v. Kurtzman [403 U.S. 602 (1971)] [362]

Zuni Public School Dist. No. 89 v. Department of Education [550 U.S. 81 (2007)]

Carson v. Makin [596 U. S. ____ (2022)]

Kennedy v. Bremerton School District [597 U. S. ____ (2022)]

among others.

In a public statement, Governor Jeffrey Martin ‘Jeff’ Landry of Louisiana virtually begged an aggrieved party with standing to file suit against the new state law. I imagine he is betting the current rendition of the Supremes will abandon stare decisis again, as they did in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization [597 U. S. 215 (2022)] [1067, 1068].  Louisiana’s gamble may well succeed. I expect the lower courts to abide by Supreme Court precedent. I am not so confident regarding the Supremes, if the potential case gets that far. God only knows what this panel of Supremes will do with this one.

There is zero doubt in my little pea-brain that President Jefferson was spot-on correct, and Louisiana is dead wrong. This republic is not and has never been a Christian nation. The Founders / Framers sought freedom of worship for all citizens regardless of their religious beliefs or paucity of faith. Yes, history records the religious persecution so rampant in Europe and drove so many to endure the rigors of a trans-Atlantic passage acted in reverse in the New World. Fortunately, the Framers had the wisdom to avoid religious-based strife in the new nation. I also acknowledge and appreciate that Protestant Christians feel their sway and influence over the politics of this republic are waning, but that does not justify any action like or resembling Louisiana’s foolish, unconstitutional initiative. The Supremes should have no choice but to declare the Louisiana law unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

 

Another friend and frequent contributor along his article:

“Biden should welcome their hatred - Advice for Joe in his first debate with the convicted felon — one week from tonight”

by Robert Reich

Published: JUN 20 [2024]

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/biden-must-welcome-their-hatred

To which, I responded:

Once again, I think Robert Reich got it spot on correct—robber barons indeed. Reich got the history correct, and I agree with his assessment of history as it applies to our current situation.

Just a word of caution: the presidency is one issue. We must never forget that democracy is on the line. However, both chambers of Congress are the essential battleground. We must prevent MAGAts from returning to Capitol Hill. Everyone must vote.

 . . . and this follow-up comment:

“Cap, I understand your concern with propaganda. However, that could be countered with progress that people like me could perceive, as properly marketed. Biden's not addressing our concerns out here.”

 . . . with my follow-up response:

Agreed. That is the heart of the problem. If only . . . 

 

On Friday, the Supreme Court issued its 8-1 decision in another Second Amendment case—United States v. Rahimi [602 U. S. ____ (2024); No. 22–915]. The respondent, Zackey Rahimi, was a repeated domestic abuser and known for violent conduct. His girlfriend sought and received a judicial restraining order against Rahimi to protect herself and their child together. As a consequence of the restraining order and his history of violence, Rahimi was ordered to relinquish his firearms and was prohibited from possessing, holding, using, or otherwise operating any form of firearm. He protested that the order was a violation of his 2^nd Amendment rights. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the majority opinion and concluded, “[We] conclude only this: An individual found by a court to pose a credible threat to the physical safety of another may be temporarily disarmed consistent with the Second Amendment.”

Associate Justice Thomas offered the only dissenting opinion [of course he did!]. The essence of his dissent was the fact that the respondent had not been convicted of a crime. Thomas sought to replace his judgment for that of Congress and the courts. A judicially applied restraining order was not sufficient; he wanted a conviction in a court of law, which is not the threshold established by Congress and the law—Bipartisan Safer Communities Act [PL 117-159; 136 Stat. 1313; 25.6.2022] [1067, 1069].

While Rahimi is a very narrow ruling and is only a teeny-tiny step forward, it is a good decision and as it should be. I will not bore you with recounting Rahimi’s violent and threatening behavior since it is too long for this humble forum. Rest assured, Rahimi may well be a textbook case of appropriate firearm confiscation and restriction. Despite the numerous 2^nd Amendment rulings I have read, I will say it was interesting to take another pass through the history going back to English common law. This is what the physicists call progress by jerks.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1170:

Comment to the Blog:

“The ‘long arm of the law’ finally has reached a few high places. Bravo!

“I agree the Supreme Court decision on bump stocks is ridiculous. I’ve seen a local news video showing one of those in action in a crime, and it shows a function exactly like an automatic weapon regardless of the engineering distinction.

“Speaking of law enforcement in high places, hints have come through my feeds that people are working on un-redacting the Epstein Island evidence. Let’s hope that happens.”

My response to the Blog:

Bravo, indeed! We can only hope the other cases get prosecuted as well.

Yes, exactly! Like Justice Sotomayor so accurately stated, “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.” You look at any one of numerous videos about bump stocks, you clearly see what they are intended to do—kill people. The Cargill ruling joins so many other bonehead decisions in recent years.

I have not heard that, but the public deserves to know the accessories to Epstein’s crimes. We shall see.

 

Another contribution:

“Being an ‘external’ friend I have developed one or two questions on your ‘bump stocks’ article. I take it to be an assault weapon? Do send me some details please Cap.”

My reply:

No, precisely, but effectively, yes. The standard AR-15 is, by definition, not an assault rifle. Modification of the standard AR-15 with a bump stock transforms that standard rifle effectively into an assault weapon, i.e., automatic fire, multiple shots with a single trigger pull.

I tried to find a good, technical, illustrated document to explain the operation of a bump stock—no joy. This article may help a little:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump_stock

Hope this helps. If not, ask away.

 

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)

Update no.1170

 Update from the Sunland

No.1170

10.6.24 – 16.6.24

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

To all,

 

The follow-up news items:

-- [The person who shall no longer be named] had a mandatory video conference with his probation officer on Monday after he was convicted by a jury of his peers in New York City [1168]. The process will provide a sentencing recommendation to Judge Merchan before the convicted felon is sentenced on the 18^th of July. His processing as a convicted felon and his mouthing off against the system continue. We will know in a month how all this turns out.

-- Hunter Biden was convicted on all three felonious counts for making false statements on his firearm application [1169]. His sentencing is not yet scheduled. In Delaware, the pre-sentencing activities in Delaware take three to four months.

-- Alex Jones has been directed by court order to begin liquidating his assets to pay the US$1.5B judgment against him. Of course, he was whining about the “unfairness” of the whole process. My message to Alex is simple: you should not have told all those lies about the Sandy Hook families; you brought this on yourself; shut the f**k up and take your punishment.

 

The hits keep coming from this rendition of the Supremes. The latest decision is Garland v. Cargill [602 U. S. ____ (2024); No. 22–976] that affirmed a 5^th Circuit ruling that 45POTUS era ban on bump stocks for semi-automatic rifles, specifically AR-15 class weapons, was not consistent with the 2^nd Amendment. Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion and the decision of the Court. Generally, I have been with the U.S. Supreme Court through the history on 2^ndAmendment related interpretations . . . until now. The Supremes were divided along ideological lines. To be blunt, the strict constructionists turned their backs on their principles to facilitate their “interpretation” of the language in the National Firearms Act of 1934 [PL 73-474; 48 Stat. 1236] to rationalize their opinion. The majority spent pages talking about the inner-workings of the AR-15 trigger mechanism. To be blunt, again, the majority opinion is a ridiculous back-handed justification for validating the 5^th Circuit opinion, thus allowing bump stocks to be legal again, which means we will undoubtedly see repetitions of 2017 Las Vegas massacre [822]—59 killed, 527 wounded & injures. The majority did not interpret the law correct; they searched for a means to justify their ideological opinions. The minority got it spot on correct, but theirs is not the decision of the Court.

Simply put, bump stocks are simple devices intended for one purpose only, to make the AR-15 fire like an M-16, an automatic assault rifle. There is no peaceful purpose for such a modified weapon. Bump stocks were not conceived [2002] until well after the restrictions of the 1934 law passed by Congress and signed into law by the president. For those who may wish to know, there are numerous videos available on-line that demonstrate and compare the action of a bump-stock-configured AR-15 rifle.  I offer a reason video with this URL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2IOZ-5Nk5k

It is not the best video I have found, but the better videos have URLs that are far too long for this humble forum. The above URL should be sufficient to convey the action.

At the bottom line, with the Cargill decision, the Supremes have made the United States less safe to satisfy their ideological preferences and predilections. On Cargill, the Supremes have not served the law or the People. This was yet another decision that was dreadfully wrong. Justice Sotomayor got it spot on correct in her dissenting opinion, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1169:

Comment to the Blog:

“I’d like to retain the lessons of World War II. The Zionists would rather not.

“Prosecutors understand only what serves their prosecutions, including the process of addiction. Hunter Biden suffers prosecution only because of his prominent family, which is also predictable.

“The last blog’s comment thread suffered from idealistic definitions of ‘democracy.’ I’ll stand on Merriam-Webster’s meanings.”

My response to the Blog:

. . . as do I, my friend. I cannot accept such a broad accusation. Nonetheless, we certainly have evidence that some Zionists have chosen to ignore history, just as some at all colors of the full political spectrum. At least we will retain the history lessons of the past.

I tend to agree with you. This appears to be an over-zealous prosecution for political purposes. I mean, 11 days . . . really . . . with no other crime involved. That just does not seem right. But the law is the law.

Perhaps so. Your choice entirely.

 

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)

Update no.1169

Update from the Sunland

No.1169

3.6.24 – 9.6.24

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

To all,

 

On Wednesday, 07:53 [T] MST, 5.June.2024, the Boeing Starliner Crewed Flight Test, the first crewed flight of the Starliner capsule, finally launched atop a ULA Atlas V rocket with solid supplemental boosters. The launch appeared to be a nominal launch from everything I could tell. Despite a glitch with the capsule thrusters during their approach to the International Space Station (ISS), the crew used a workaround to properly control the craft to successfully dock with the ISS. The two-person crew will spend 10 days on the ISS before they perform the critical reentry portion of their mission.

 

The following day, Thursday, 6.June.2024, at 07:50 [S] CDT {05:50 [T] MST}, SpaceX launched its Superheavy Booster 11 with Starship 29 from SpaceX Starbase at Boca Chica, Texas (IFT-4). All the booster engines (33) fired up with one perimeter engine shutting down 3 seconds after ignition for reasons as yet not made public. The engine failure did not affect the flight. Hot staging seemed to occur perfectly this time. The booster landed successfully in the Gulf of Mexico, hovering for a short time to simulate landing and capture back at Starbase before it settled into the water. The flight vehicle completed it full test profile. Attitude control was stable throughout the entry and deceleration in contrast to IFT-3. We watched live the reentry from numerous onboard cameras that maintained live streaming through the hot plasma of atmospheric deceleration. Of particular note, we witnessed hot plasma burn through the trailing edge root of one forward wing, but surprisingly, the fin continued to function through reentry to landing. It is amazing that they maintained telemetry and video throughout the descent. The starship reported successful engine re-light, reoriented to the correct attitude, and settled successfully into the Indian Ocean, six kilometers from the nominal target point. IFT-4 was a significant improvement over IFT-3 [1157], although still not good enough. With their rate of progress, I suspect the next flight will be perfect, or at least good enough for service work.

 

Among the dramatic space launches, we watched the D-Day (6.June.1944) commemoration ceremonies in Normandie, France. President Biden’s speech was appropriately respectful and presidential. If anyone would like to hear and see what a real president does at a famous battlefield and associated cemetery, watch President Biden.  If you need a negative comparison to properly judge such conduct, I refer you to the previous president’s planned and scheduled but cancelled visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, France, in 2018. [Just an important FYI: many of the 4^thBrigade Marines who died in the Battle of Belleau Wood are interred at that cemetery; as a descendant of those precious Marines, I am appalled by the actions and words of POTUS45--unforgivable.] We are now celebrating the last few survivors of the D-Day invasion, most of whom are approaching or into their centenarian years.

Of particular note, the attendance of President Zelenskyy of Ukraine in the ceremony and his heartfelt gratitude to the aged veterans who were participating for perhaps the last time. Zelenskyy did not have to be there, but his presence shows the measure of the man with respect to the on-going resistance of his country against Putin’s aggression and invasion. I refuse to call it Russian because I do not believe that it is Russian aggression. This is the work of the far-right wing and their leader Putin; they are solely responsible for this terrible violation of another state’s sovereignty. Ukraine is indeed a sovereign independent nation. It is NOT a subservient separatist vassal region as Putin wants us and the world to believe.

 

A few comments on the Hunter Biden trial . . . 

First and foremost, if you break the law, you deserve to be charged and tried before a jury of your peers. If found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, you also deserve to be punished appropriately for your violation of the law. You cannot lie on a federal form. Justice will be done.

Hunter possessed that pistol for 11 days. He never used that pistol in the commission of any other crime. Reports indicate the pistol was never loaded nor used even for target practice while he possessed it. If that is not over-zealous prosecution, I do not know what it.

What is wrong with this picture?

What bothers me in the Hunter case is the broad, general, demonization of psychotropic substance consumers. To my knowledge, Hunter harmed no one and caused no property damage by his consumption. He is being pursued by an overzealous prosecutor for political reasons. Now, before the MAGAts jump all over me, Hunter Biden is not running for any political office at any level in stark contrast to Little Fingers.

We must find out ways to a more enlightened tomorrow when we can respect the private choices of our neighbors and fellow citizens. I acknowledge, understand, and appreciate that reality that many Americans strongly disapprove of psychotropic substance consumption. I respect their choices and believes. Where I object is the imposition of their beliefs and choices on those who choose a different path. We must find a way to offer treatment for those who seek it and make their consumption as safe as possible in private.

At the end of the day, I believe Hunter Biden should be prosecuted and if convicted, he should be appropriately punished. It appears to me he broke the law. His conviction would send a message to our society, do not break the law.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1168:

Comment to the Blog:

“I just posted to Facebook Robert Reich’s debunking of all the MAGAt objections to Little Fingers’ conviction. You probably already know all of that, but others might not. Again, justice delayed is justice denied.

“Someone mentioned the meaning of ‘democracy’: 

“1a 

: government by the people 

especially: rule of the majority (per Merriam Webster)

“We’re not doing that right now. What we have is properly called an oligarchy.”

My response to the Blog:

Thank you for the link. I will include it. Always a worthy opinion piece.

[I spoke to soon. Reich has so much stuff; my search keywords are not filtering sufficiently. Do you have the URL for the Reich article you noted?]

We have never been a strict democracy. We have always been a representative republic. I cannot go so far to label this republic as an oligarchy, but we are certainly closer today than we were a few decades ago. I am not sure we would ever want a genuine democracy.

 . . . Round two:

“I apologize for giving the wrong source. That was a Judd Legum (Popular Information) article.
https://popular.info/p/all-the-arguments-against-trumps

“I included the first definition of a democracy. We can fuss about the semantics of it if you like, but what we have now is an oligarchy. I will strive for a democracy per definitions 1 a and (especially) 1 b. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democracy I have no idea why Americans wouldn’t want that.”

 . . . my response to round two:

Thank you for the correct link. From my perspective, I would say Legum’s opinions are spot on correct from everything I have read and heard in the public domain. I have one minor quibble with his presentation. Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor in New York unless the crime is committed in furtherance of another crime. Thus, the key for the felonious prosecution was the “other crime,” i.e., election interference—a felony. The publicly available information leaves that latter linkage a bit vague to my liking. Nonetheless, the jury (all 12 women and men) had sufficient hard evidence to established that linkage and his felonious conviction beyond a reasonable doubt. The objections by Little Fingers and his sycophant minions are absolutely wrong and mean to obfuscate and incite his snake-oil consumption believers.

I do not dispute Webster’s definition of “democracy.” Our ‘as-is’ representative republic is one helluva lot closer to democracy than an oligarchy, thus my resistance to the oligarchy accusation toward our once grand republic. We are imperfect. We are going through a terrible rough patch right now because a conman masterfully fed the outer fringes of our society for his personal gain. His believers are freely giving him tons of money, which is exactly what that conman seeks. I will also concede that our problems with money, and especially dark money, seriously cloud our oligarchy discussion.

 . . . Round three:

“My use of ‘oligarchy’ is realistic, and the genesis of the situation goes back long before Little Fingers’ rise. It’s not an issue of who has statutory power but of de facto results. The Powell memo originated the strategy; the implementation began with the 1980 election campaign. If we look at issues around money rather than the distractions, that’s when we took this direction. By the Clinton Administration, it was well underway. Little Fingers merely took advantage of the decay in our civic life.”

 . . . my response to round three:

I understand and appreciate your argument. I do not particularly disagree. My only quibble is the stretching of the definition of oligarchy. Russia is currently governed by an oligarchy. I have difficulty stretching that definition to the United States. We are and have been in agreement regarding the deeply destructive properties of “dark money,” but that does not make us an oligarchy. Like any good, successful conman, Little Fingers saw the vulnerabilities of our flawed system of governance from election to transition like a pick pocket sees the exposures of his mark, and he exploited those flaws to his advantage. He has moved us closer to an oligarchy, but we are a long way from what goes on in Russia. Tiny wants us to be like Russia, with him in the place of Putin, but that does not make us an oligarchy.

 

Another contribution:

“One major oversight in 1168, IMHO my friend, was the omission of instruction regarding the press's insistence upon using ‘democracy’ to describe our government when you and surely most but not all of your readers know the U.S.A. is not a democracy. It is a Republic, carefully constructed as such by our prescient founding fathers. They knew from their classic educations the dangers of pure democracy and scrupulously constructed an experiment that came to be called a democratic republic. American citizens are not getting classic education, and the ‘left’ is capitalizing on this weakness. Please instruct your readers when you get a chance.”

My reply:

You are, of course, quite correct. We have never been and hopefully never will be a pure democracy. We are a representative republic. The Founders/Framers rejected a monarchy and all other forms of authoritarian government. They also rejected pure democracy, seeing it in the form of oppression by a majority. They sought a balance in the forces of state and governance. We are an imperfect republic and constantly a work in progress.

Where I will object to your statement is the implication that the affliction of ignorance, as I will call it, is limited to the “left.” The “right” is deeply infected with a different form of the same thing, it seems to me. The Founders/Framers strived mightily to achieve balance between widely divergent forces within the nation at the time and in the future they perceived.

 

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)

Update no.1168

 Update from the Sunland

No.1168

27.5.24 – 2.6.24

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

To all,

 

The follow-up news items:

-- On Thursday, 30.May.2024, [the person who shall no longer be named] was found guilty by a 12-person jury of his peers on all 34 felony counts in the People of New York v. Trump [NYSC, Cty of NY Indictment No. 71543/2023] [1107]. No one, not even a former president, is above the law!

We can now add a new moniker to his long list—convicted felon.

It took the jury less than 10 hours of deliberations to reach their verdict, a surprisingly short time. The jury was unanimous on all 34 counts. 

The Defense will surely appeal the conviction and his sentencing when it comes on 11.July.2024. As Little Fingers has done nearly every day during this trial, he came out and spewed his drivel on the Press. We listened despite our revulsion. He claimed the real verdict will come in November. I suppose so. Let us all give it to him.

While justice has been done, I feel quite saddened that [the person who shall no longer be named] has brought this once grand republic to such a low point in our history. The Founders/Framers never considered we would ever face such a situation, thus there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that precludes him becoming president again. Nonetheless, he will be listed in history and in infamy as a twice impeached, convicted felon, who might still become president again. We must vote and send him a very clear, definitive message in November. 

I must confess I felt the most likely outcome was a hung trial. It would have taken just one juror to stand on his MAGA beliefs to hang the jury. All 12—unanimous—jurors affirmed their decision on each and every count.

Of course, [the person who shall no longer be named] would not be Little Fingers conman extraordinaire without a rant to go along with his conviction. The next day, he held a ‘press conference,’ which had nothing to do with the press other than to convey his bluster and blow. Most of his hogwash was outright lies as is usually the case, but he did say something truthful. Remaining consistent to his character, Little Fingers spewed a stream of false claims and accusations on anyone and everyone other than himself. In all his erroneous twaddle, Tiny did speak one kernel of truth. He said, “Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) and hush money payments are not illegal.” In that statement, [the person who shall no longer be named] is spot on correct. Only one problem for him is, the trial was not about hush money payments. It was completely about his falsification of business records to cover-up those payments as ‘legal fees.’ Even at that, the charges would have been misdemeanors if he had not done them for the purpose of committing election fraud. The prosecution presented hard evidence that convinced the jury unanimously that he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. One of his other contentions was the judge’s dismissal of their pre-trial motion for a venue change. I imagine if it had been successful, he would have chosen to be tried in South Dakota where he felt sure they could find at least one MAGA snake-oil consumer to hang the jury. Fortunately, Judge Merchan did the correct thing.

So now, we await the sentencing on 11.July.2024.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1167:

“Good day Cap-we soldier on and hope for a government that will please us all. As you know we’re on the brink of our ‘general election’. Both parties are acceptable, aren’t we fortunate that we do not have a ‘he who cannot be mentioned.’ Democracy, that’s the word I’m searching for, does it mean ‘government of the people by the people’? Sometimes I wonder.”

My reply:

Soldier on, indeed! I don’t think any of us will ever have the government we want; nature of the beast. Democracy is compromise. We strive for balance; everyone is equally disappointed.

You and your brethren are most fortunate. I cannot make the same claim for this country. Indeed, Little Fingers and his malignant narcissism have so corrupted and contaminated our practice of governance that recovery will likely take generations. Yet, the Constitution remains our bedrock . . . so far. If Tiny happens to finagle the system as he did in 2016, God only knows what additional damage he will do or try to do. I am a firm believer in President Lincoln’s famous words, “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” We are still striving to achieve that objective and overcome the destruction of that conman who was our former president.

I believe most thinking citizens wonder, like you, whether, like Benjamin Franklin cautioned . . . “A republic, if you can keep it.” I remain committed to keep our republic and resist those forces that seek autocracy, or worse, a dictatorship.

 

Comment to the Blog:

“(I searched for ways to avoid saying “Happy” Memorial Day, which seems inappropriate. No luck there.)

“Soon we’ll see what Little Fingers’ jury has to say.

“Spain, Norway, and Ireland join much of the world outside Europe in recognizing that Palestine deserves to be a nation. Israel has killed at least 15,000 Palestinian children in just this event.

“So in ballot access issues, we have a twist here in Ohio. The Democratic Party nominee must be submitted for the general election ballot by August 7, but the Democrat National Convention, which will nominate Biden (probably), doesn’t occur until later in August. The Republican-dominated legislature likes that, but the not-MAGA Republican Governor has called a special session beginning tomorrow to try to help the hapless Democrats. 

“Also, here’s a link on one source of firearms recovered from crime scenes: https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/philadelphia-pennsylvania-police-selling-guns-atf/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email.”

My response to the Blog:

Quite so! Memorial Day is not a ‘happy.’ I use the modifier “respectful.” We are remembering those who lost their lives in the defense of liberty for all of us. The loss of loved ones is hardly a happy day.

Yes, indeed, we inch closer to a verdict. Closing arguments today. The judge’s instructions to the jury might occur today, but more likely tomorrow or the day after. Then, the case goes to the jury for their deliberations. I suspect we will not get a verdict until next week.

I have no problem recognizing Palestine as a state like any other. Where I diverge from recognition now is, recognize what? Do the Gaza Palestinians have a government? Do they have a structure of a proper state? I want the Palestinians to enjoy full statehood, but I do not want to legitimize a terrorist organization bent upon the destruction of a neighboring state and true genocide. The tracks do not meet.

I guess we must give the fBICP credit for voter suppression and corrupting the election system in Ohio. Yeah, I heard Governor DeWine’s impassioned plea for fairness. Hopefully, he will be successful. What the fBICP is doing in Ohio is wrong by any measure.

Interesting article. I did not know that, but I am not surprised. I guess the question is, what are law enforcement organizations to do with replaced weapons? Selling a firearm is quite akin to selling a used patrol car.

 . . . Round two:

“I will give Governor DeWine credit where credit is due for trying to get Biden on the ballot. It's worth noting that the Republicans are trying to add some details about voting to the bill. The responsibility for the screwup goes to people working for the Democratic Party who have the responsibility for following election rules and assuring ballot access. Loveable losers are still losers.

“Business policies call for sales of used equipment. Should that apply to police weapons that will be used to commit crimes?”

 . . . my response to round two:

Just an irrelevant note: I would have worded your first sentence differently, i.e., “give Governor DeWine credit where credit is due for trying to stop a blatant example of Jim Crow v.2.0 voter suppression in Ohio.” Indeed, lovable losers are still losers. I am truly disappointed that Ohio Democrats have not been making more noise about what the fBICP is doing and trying to do. At least, Governor DeWine is speaking publicly, clearly, and succinctly calling out his party colleagues in Ohio.

Is there a difference between a ‘police weapon’ and a non-police weapon?

Working on research for my next book. Always fun.

 . . . Round three:

“I wouldn't word my sentence differently. This is a repeating situation that the Democrats are capable of handling; they just didn't do so in this instance until now. The DNC has announced they will make Biden the official nominee without the usual bother. They have previously asserted in cases over the Sanders candidacy that they can simply choose the nominee, and they will use that ‘right.’ The Republicans would have legitimized the DNC mistake but with strings attached about citizen initiatives, which have been costing them in policy issues.

“The difference between a police weapon and a non-police weapon is responsibility. Miners and others don't dispose of dangerous ordnance by selling it to the public. Perhaps the police should follow that example.”

 . . . my response to round three:

So be it. Is there any clue why the Ohio Democrats did not respond more aggressively to the passage of Jim Crow v.2.0? I doubt such preemptive action is a ‘right.’ I am not an expert in DNC charter and rules. If so, this instance would not be the first occurrence. I am reminded of the 1944 action of the DNC replacement of Wallace with Truman as the VP candidate.

Destruction of surplus material is always an option. I do believe city councils and state legislatures must provide enabling legislation.

 . . . Round four:

“The Ohio Democratic Party is at the mercy of a Republican Party ‘super majority’ and a Republican Governor. Gerrymandering continues. The election law currently in question has not been passed as of this morning.

“I'm not sure what level of government would mandate safe disposal of dangerous equipment, but that would chip away at the massive over-supply of firearms on our streets.”

 . . . my response to round four:

As it is in more than a few states. Aside from challenging obviously illegal and unconstitutional voter suppression actions in court, they must connect with people in each state and inspire them to vote.

Perhaps so. I have no objection to destruction of surplus law enforcement weapons. The practice of selling them has an element of absurdity.

 

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)