George Rebane
Hallelujah! Judge Neil Gorsuch was confirmed by the Senate and will now fill the ‘Scalia seat’ on SCOTUS. This brilliant constitutional jurist is just what the country needs to slow our headlong rush to socialism, and assure us all that the high court will fulfill its constitutional role without encroaching on Congress or acting in its silence as an extension of the Executive.
The ‘Nuclear Option’ used to confirm Judge Gorsuch does not spell the end of federal governance as we know it, no matter the gnashing of teeth and rending of garment by the Dems. After all, it was they who came up with that little piece of weaponry in the legislative arsenal. We are also reminded that the Senate’s 60-vote cloture rule did not come down from Sinai, nor is it ensconced in the Constitution. Our senators can pretty much do what they like when they cobble together or mend the rules which guide their proceedings. But having gone nuclear should now make elections and party control of Congress much more interesting, important, and volatile.
Tomahawks over Syria, about time. Without parsing the exact see-saws of Trump’s or even Washington’s wisdom about escalating the conflict in that part of the Middle (actually Near) East, it is good on its own that the US again showed the willingness to use its tooth and claw. No matter whether/how the bombardment of Assad’s Syria continues, it is important for bad actors from Putin, through Iran’s mullahs, to the fat kid in North Korea to see that there’s a new order and resolve in Washington. And the constant carping about ‘consistency’ by our Dems be damned. Under Obama the world came to know us as consistently lame; now a little sampler of inconsistency should make people appropriately apprehensive about how this man will play the hand he was dealt.
[8apr17 update] ‘Where Non-Techies Can Get With the Programming’ reports on the growing popularity of computer programming courses across the nation. These courses range from the introductory/survey type all the way to multi-month programs that pump out certificated coders who are ready to earn a living in industry. Almost all universities now have programming courses for their non-STEM majors, and for-profit training factories charge in the tens of thousands to make a programmer out of you in three to six months.
The importance of algorithms and the ability to algorize has finally been recognized by our non-techie business and (gasp!) humanities communities as a pre-requisite for critical or systems thinking. This gospel has been preached here for years, and now it has bubbled up to the level where even folks at the NYT appreciate how algorizing is actually a fundamental skill that is also the foundational common denominator of creativity (more here). Everyone who learns to code becomes an algorist, and can eventually learn to think thoughts denied to mere mortals (cf. Sapir-Whorf and all that). For those heading for STEM careers, computer programming is a natural gateway to the systems sciences the tools of which many of us have come to know open up more than a lucrative livelihood for their practitioners. Here is something I wrote years ago as a short intro to algorithmics at a time when using the word algorithm was beyond the communal ken and thought to be only obscure jargon and propeller-head talk. The times they are a’changin’.
[10apr17 update] Regarding this morning’s shootings at a San Bernardino elementary school about which we at this time know very little, but which is again raising all the gun control questions in the minds of our left-leaning neighbors. A commenter below asks for my “pragmatic approach to the 2nd Amendment” in view of this latest tragedy, and the question deserves a more considered answer. For the present let me just reiterate that the 2nd Amendment is not about duck hunting, and that the right of a large free peoples - now sheltering under a gossamer social contract while sharing fewer cultural assets than ever - to possess firearms does not come without a palpable price. And that price should be viewed as calmly and reasonably as possible when from time-to-time it must be paid. For recent readers and those who may have forgotten, my past scribblings – philosophical, pragmatic, and practical – on the private ownership of guns can be reviewed here, here, here, here, and here.
[11apr17 update] In days of yore when a store had to order some out of stock item for you, the typical wait was usually somewhere between 2-4 weeks. And we were OK with that. Today, it’s a given that an online order will arrive tomorrow or the next day; and from a brick and mortar outlet the pressure is to replicate that service or the customer will go elsewhere. Now that Amazon has set the new standard, there have sprung up dozens of new shipping companies to serve the small retailers desperate to compete. And the new paradigm is that these shipping companies are offering inventory stocking warehouses to which retailers can have their suppliers deliver the designated SKUs for rapid fulfillment. (more here) Ever wonder if UPS and FedEx missed the march by not expanding their package shipping/distribution centers to also offer inventory stocking services? Big online retailers like Amazon are not shy in also entering the shipping business. Changing times.
[13apr17 update] Softballing the opioid epidemic. Fox News’ decline as a hard-hitting right-oriented network proceeds apace. They now want to enlarge their audience from the sea of double dummies. Covering the opioid epidemic which is reported to kill 91 Americans per day, FN goes into hyper-anecdotal mode reporting on the tragic death of a good looking 20-something young man by sticking a mike into the faces of his bereaved parents. Opioids have a tremendous salutary effect as a prescribed pain killer that is used properly by millions of Americans. We can only put the ‘epidemic’ in perspective if given the ratio of opioid abusers (including gateways to heroin) to those consuming it properly to alleviate pain. But that stat is considered a yawn by the likes of FN. We already know how to do such tradeoffs for societal benefit. Traffic accidents also kill about 90 people a day, yet no one is proposing to curb the use of vehicular traffic in the US. Somehow those deaths are worth the price for the benefit we derive from a facile, low cost transportation system.
So true Dr. R, Schumer blew it but it makes our life easier going forward and there is bound to be another opening perhaps two on the high court. Now we can get a hard ass in the next time and we can be assured that the SCOTUS will be grounded in the law for the remainder of our lives. ;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 07 April 2017 at 04:01 PM
I'm with Don on that. But I hope the rule gets changed back before the next questionable election. Otherwise it can come back to bite. That was Dirty Harry's mistake.
Posted by: Walt | 07 April 2017 at 05:03 PM
Concerning Syria, I agree with Dr. R's point.
There will be arguments if that was really Siran gas (which kills in seconds not minutes) or some other chemical agent, arguments of Congressional approval (I don't see cargo planes loaded with troops and hardware heading to Syria to commence the usual building up to a fullbore assault), arguments and debates over this and that. Arguments over whether this strike was based on a false flag or whether we are starting WW3. Those debates are happening now as the TV viewer will be flooded with quotes from both John McCain and Rand Paul. Pro and con all day long.
The strategic strike is a game changer. Talk about real change, this is it. The message is America is back leading once again and we ain't going be leading from behind.
My reaction can best be surmmarized with this story. The morning after we bombed Gaddafi's bedroom, I was somewhere reading the papers over bacon and eggs and a Bloody Mary. The French press put it best. It said the "cowboy Reagen just put Jimmy Carter's foreign policies in the antique closet". That is the bottom line. Thank you President Trump.
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 07 April 2017 at 06:54 PM
The left is freaking out over Gorsuch. Justice Kennedy is considering retirement which means Trump could appoint another Gorsuch! The SacBee had a article today about his possible impact on cases like "cake making", and which cases will be taken up. Love it!
For Russ, check page 2B in the SacBee today. The brainiacs of global warming are just finding out that CO2 is making the plants grow. And when one reads these articles one sees these people don't have a clue. And they are the sceintists!
Posted by: Todd Juvinall | 08 April 2017 at 09:42 AM
Interesting that the word nuclear came up in two scenarios happening about the same time. Was the 'Nuclear Option' about the SCOTUS nomination or were they talking about a new policy towards North Korea? Either way, the Dems got nuked. Once in the Senate and once again when Trump nuked the "He's a Russia surrogate (hyperventilate) that had treasonously plotted with the Rooskies to derail momentous juggernaut of the Coronated One's Inevitable Victory March to Washington." Trump nuked the Commie bastards collusion narrative to smithereens. Big Boom, twice. Still, all in all, nothing to see here. :)
What others are saying. Hmmmm. 'Misogyny' is back In play.
https://patriotpost.us/posts/48424
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 08 April 2017 at 11:50 AM
In reference to the 8 April Update:
GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy introduces bill to provide free high-tech courses to vets," by USA Today's Donovan Slack: "The California lawmaker is introducing legislation Thursday giving the Department of Veterans Affairs $75 million to start a pilot program to provide accelerated computer courses in everything from robotics and basic programming to artificial intelligence and virtual reality."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/05/kevin-mccarthy-wants-va-provide-free-high-tech-courses-vets/100096868/
Posted by: Russ | 08 April 2017 at 12:49 PM
George
What is your view on the Constitutionality of our bombing the sovereign nation of Syria without congressional approval? Also in your view what are our essential nationalist interests in Syria that may justify such an invasion. There is no way our sovereignty is being threatened by Syria. The chemical attacks are horrible but the genocide on the Syrian people has been going on for years with millions being killed and forced to leave the country with no response by Obama or Trump. I just don't get it as to why now.
Posted by: Paul Emery | 08 April 2017 at 01:42 PM
???"with no response by Obama or Trump. I just don't get it as to why now." "O" didn't,, you got that right. Uh,, Trump? He just did. Did you mean Bush? Were chem weapons used when Bush was around? I don't think so.
"O" was a coward. Remember the "red line"?(guess not) They KNEW "O" was a paper tiger.
Putin knew it too.
Posted by: Walt | 08 April 2017 at 02:14 PM
PaulE 142pm - Those points are, of course, the big topic of discussion as Trump's foreign policy becomes existential. I think the world is sufficiently different today, and that going forward the entire definition and role of what we have traditionally thought of as 'war' is or has already changed. Actually, declaring war in the 21st century may have become an arcane exercise to be ignored for all intents and purposes by nation-states. Let me think about it and come up with a more substantive answer - extension of Rebane Doctrine ;-)
Posted by: George Rebane | 08 April 2017 at 02:23 PM
With the "nuke" button pushed things will get wild when one of the Lefty justices needs replacing. (Ginsburg maybe?) You can bet the farm that the Progressives will demand a Progressive be confirmed to fill that spot. I hope to GOD that doesn't happen. I do hope that another Right leaning Justice fill that void. We know how the Left thinks. Take the 2ND Amed. for example. We have been one vote away from losing it for years.
Trump needs to start appointing Conservative judges to the lower courts. the 9TH in particular.
Posted by: Walt | 08 April 2017 at 02:24 PM
Administrivia - I just found a very thoughtful comment by Ms BonnieM in the TypePad spam folder, and immediately posted it. If your comment does not post, please, please, please, post another short comment telling me to look in the spam folder. I don't want both of us to be frustrated by good thoughts languishing unread because of some dumb TypePad algorithm. Thanks.
Posted by: George Rebane | 08 April 2017 at 02:28 PM
Po' ol' party parrot PE @142 ignoring the objective fact that the swath from Lebanon to iran is in hot conflict and we are on the ground there. What sovereign Syria, the coast and Damascus with Russians, asad, iran and hezbollah, the ISIS in raqua, the Kurds? Save your pearl clutching. Its all the same war on terror and that resolution still has the force of law. While I like the antique closet phrase I think the garbage pile of history is a better place for 0's policies. ;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 08 April 2017 at 03:38 PM
Paul, we have advisors on the ground in Syria. Human beings, US citizens. Chemical weapons are portable. They are a threat to our people on the ground as well as the Iraqi and rebel forces we support to fight Assad. Those weapons can be transported to Europe and threaten NATO and our allies as well.
Assad and Russia are responsible for destroying all chemical weapons. Period. UN declarations and signed agreements and all that stuff. If they don't destroy them all, we will. We will unilaterally. They are unacceptable and a threat to our men and women as well as many countries and civilian populations. We are taking out the chemical weapons in Syria to save Muslim lives.
Saddam had a full nine months to get all chemical weapons (WMDs) out of Iraqi before we moved in. None were found (just reside of where they were stored) although numerous Intel reports revealed convoys of trucks making a bee line to the Syrian border carrying WMD. Some chemical weapon containers were also transported via air and helicopters to avoid violating the no fly zones with big military planes. Top Iraqi bigwigs captured after we invaded Baghdad confirmed this.
To be fair to the monster Assad, German intelligence picked up numerous phone requests from Syrian commanders to Assad to use chemical weapons. Assad refused permission. So, whether it is rouge military Syrian brass, commanders in the field, Assad himself, or even Putin, it does not matter. Whether the WMDs are old from Saddam or manufactured recently, it does not matter. The only thing that matters is they exist on Syrian soil, a violation of the promises made to the world by the Syrian government and the responsibility of Russia to ensure ALL chemical weapons are removed from Syrian soil.
This is not a war. This is enforcement of UN brokered deals to prevent invasion by the US and her allies. Like drone strikes or the killing Osama Bin Lying in Pakistan. A mission if you will. A surgical tactical enforcement of existing law and EOs.
But, why now? Simple my good man. There is a new Sheriff in town. The answer is Trump is ournew President now. The new President got his team in order and they are beginning to hit their stride. Trump has listened carefully to them, learned new information, and has made an informed decision based on their best advice. If Russia does not get rid of them, we will.
The first Seal Mission under Trump resulted in an ambush with one of our men killed in action. Trump learned. Maddog won't be trusting the previous Obama boys again. This time Trump, Maddog the Warrior Monk, and the Team are taking full advantage of the element of surprise. Surprised even you, apparently.
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 08 April 2017 at 03:48 PM
LIB news just doesn't know when to quit. Trump does what needed to be done, and this is how LIB news reports it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/04/08/msnbc-hosts-conspiracy-theory-what-if-putin-planned-the-syrian-chemical-attack-to-help-trump/?utm_term=.1c7148e6d196
Posted by: Walt | 08 April 2017 at 04:29 PM
Walt @ 4;29 pm. The new conspiracy! I saw a meme the other day that had a pic of some guy saying the he believes it because NBC-CNN-MSNBC said to NOT to believe it or pay it no mind. Liberalism is indeed a sickness of the soul as well as the mind. Alas,a mind is a terrible thing to waste. But, but, but....they have so much invested in Russiagate. It explains why Trump is President. Every second they focus on Trump being Putin's pool boy in the basement is one more second they will not look at why they starting getting stomped from sea to shining sea since around 2004 at the precinct level.
Always a silver lining.
https://www.facebook.com/UncleSamsChildren/photos/a.169953786533962.1073741830.169676909894983/662611413934861/?type=3&theater
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 08 April 2017 at 08:09 PM
I know Dr.R,, It's kinda like the old corner bar closing down. The laughs, the bar fights, but somethings must come to a screeching halt. Thanks for the fun and games.
Time will tell if hanging the catbox shingle over at Todd's do's.
Posted by: Walt | 08 April 2017 at 08:36 PM
Have any readers noticed the crickets from the Left about Obama's lies concerning Assad's WMDs? Most of us at the time knew that the sumbich (Assad that is) didn't get rid of all of them as O and the Russians claimed. The lies told were a purposeful intent to deceive, and not just passing on widely believed misinformation which the Left here and elsewhere likes to label as lies. The Syrian WMD lies were again abetted by Susie Rice, O's loyal apprentice in spreading crap and propaganda over the media. The main point here is that Team O had NO confirming intelligence that the WMDs were surrendered/destroyed, so they just made stuff up to claim an accomplishment in an already dismal foreign policy.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-wmd-intelligence-failure-1491605634
Posted by: George Rebane | 09 April 2017 at 08:49 AM
....and just like that Trump probably becomes a one termer!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-09/us-ambassador-un-regime-change-syria-now-top-priority-trump
Posted by: fish | 09 April 2017 at 10:51 AM
Fish. This will be forgotten within weeks, let alone three years from now.
By then there will be something else to bitch about.
Posted by: Walt | 09 April 2017 at 11:33 AM
Posted by: Walt | 09 April 2017 at 11:33 AM
What will be forgotten? The Tomahawk attack? If he ends it here then yes you're probably right! If he lunches into another expensive middle eastern fiasco he's done!
Posted by: fish | 09 April 2017 at 11:39 AM
.... If he lunches
lurches! Autocorrect is so stupid!
Posted by: fish | 09 April 2017 at 11:40 AM
Fish, the thing is he came into office with our guys being on the ground in Syria already. If you look at a map, the flight time from this nerve agent attack to where we are is not much. This posed a direct threat to our guys too. In this time of cell phones, bombing the hospital with the victims of the nerve gas to destroy evidence shows the Russians and Syrians are looking at things like they used to be not as they are. ;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 09 April 2017 at 12:09 PM
Posted by: Don Bessee | 09 April 2017 at 12:09 PM
Don I don't care if a small cadre of special forces are in country. US special forces are already pretty much in every Shitholeistan on the planet. If he gets us tied down in an Iraq/Afghanistan level scrap he's done!
Posted by: fish | 09 April 2017 at 12:17 PM
Under Mattis and McMasters I think you will find a mix of very special skill set teams like the marine heavy artillery unit that's acting as a blocking force for the Kurds in Syria. In the near terms we will see more of that kind of uptick in the region. Not Corp or division size elements but a company here and there filling capability gaps to close the deal on pushing isis out of Iraqi territory. Right now the AF is chewing up the roaches fleeing Mosul. We have to establish some stability and it looks like the Arabs and Trump made the deal on safe zones last week. Its got a lot of blood to go to clean up 0's cut and run too soon strategic error that gave us isis. ;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 09 April 2017 at 12:41 PM
Fish and Mr. Walt:
So far, so good. Now, IF he bends an ear to the Neo-Cons, he is toast. Crispy critter. But, he may just have to walk softly and carry a big stick. Can Trump walk softly? Well, no matter, you know what I mean.
When I watched the Inauguration speech, there was one part Trump stumbled on the TelePrompter for a beat and added a line. I searched the transcripts twice and never found it. Just a few words when he was talking about no more senseless expense wars that have no American national interests....when he went off script and added something like 'no more wars we don't win'...or only we can win......something like that. I thought I saw Obama's shoulders tighten in reflex when Trump said that. "To win."
Gunboat diplomacy works for me. Now folks, I don't believe regime change is the new/old recycled goal. Maybe down the line. Russia is strafing our US trained/backed Syrian rebels and wiping them out. ISIS is an lower priority currently to the Russo-Assyrian alliance. Putin and has put their new generation of anti-aircraft batteries in Syria and Iran and Iran, in turn has armed Hezobollah to the teeth with missles than can rain down on Israel. The place is still a mess, not to mention Iran taking over more land mass in Iraq. At least the Iranians are putting the hurts on Sunni ISIS. Think before you leap, Mr. Trump.
Neither the neo-cons of either party, the moderates, nor the Buttercups put Trump in office. Things change when new information or situations arise, but I can see Trump resist regime change in Syria and, of course, the Lefties eternal hope for an immediate regime change back here in the USofA. :). Trump just got to answer to the Deplorables and he will be just fine. Sure, Nikki is ripping the Russians a new one at the UN (great stuff, ignored by the Alt-Left MSM per true to their form) and rumors and official statements fly. I don't buy into regime change, no matter how big of a woodie McCain gets.
https://www.facebook.com/lastamericapatriots/photos/a.235087906641439.1073741826.
235086849974878/829413117208912/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/lastamericapatriots/photos/a.235087906641439.1073741826.235086849974878/829409243875966/?type=3&theater
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 09 April 2017 at 12:43 PM
Well, Trump inherited a conflict "O" through gas on. Proof positive doing nothing is worse than doing something.
"O" plan of talking and apologizing to our enemies sure worked out swell.
Our enemies now view us as weak. Including Russia. ANY enemy will exploit that. The ragheads sure did, Russia did, with their own land grabs, and "O" let them.
A "strongly worded letter" sure did the trick. "O" said "don't you do it!" Putin said "really?,, well watch THIS!"..." Now what you going to do?" "O" went and played golf.
Posted by: Walt | 09 April 2017 at 12:45 PM
It looks like Putin saw a chance to have Trump lose face in front of xi and it all went spectacularly wrong. Now fat kim, xi, Putin and the mullahs have big shadows of doubt on what pushing Trump will get them in response. That's a good thing. ;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 09 April 2017 at 01:11 PM
Good ol' Vietnam. all over again. The DEMS now, just like then, tried to run the battles from the stuffed, high backed chairs in D.C., informed the Commies when and where we would strike. "O" and Co. did exactly the same. The Russians helped those wearing Black pajamas, and we supported the white pajamas. By the time the war was dropped in Nixon's lap, the war was too far gone. Again I say,, DEMS proved they know how to lose a war then, and chiseled that in stone with this one.
When there is a war, no matter who it's against, you release the hounds and let them do their job. Kill anyone with a gun, break all their toys,then stick around till everyone plays nice.
Now speaking of toys in that big sandbox, look at what showed up in one of those captured toys.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/09/tanks-bullion-man-finds-gold-bars-buried-in-military-vehicle.html
Posted by: Walt | 09 April 2017 at 01:19 PM
What I really like about McMasters is that he came up training to fight the Russians on the German boarder. Then he made history as a tank commander when his small mechanized unit took out a republican guards tank division who were dug in well.
Then he was back in Iraq learning the newest lessons taking Tal Afar (sp?). Now as the bridge between Mad Dog and the Prez he has the kind of wide perspective and field experience not often seen in govt. Give that boy a 4th star! ;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 09 April 2017 at 01:42 PM
https://www.facebook.com/lastamericapatriots/photos/a.235087906641439.1073741826.235086849974878/829084830575074/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/lastamericapatriots/photos/a.235087906641439.1073741826.235086849974878/828689997281224/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/lastamericapatriots/photos/a.235087906641439.1073741826.235086849974878/828484747301749/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/lastamericapatriots/photos/a.235087906641439.1073741826.235086849974878/828493633967527/?type=3&theater
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 09 April 2017 at 03:02 PM
No, Gorsuch does not "assure us all that the high court will fulfill its constitutional role without encroaching on Congress or acting in its silence as an extension of the Executive"... but it's a good bet we'll be closer to it than with a Garland, or especially another Ginsberg, a Sotomayor, a Breyer or a Kagan.
Back when Bork was in the process of getting borked, I worked at a smallish US company in SoCal that had substantial French ownership and their engineering was a real international polyglot of mostly Jewish/English South Africans with a smattering of Israeli and English. Not to mention enough Swedes in marketing, sales and production to have a Swedish choir for holidays and birthdays. I recall one catered engineering lunch where one of the few US born engineers (a nice Jewish boy from NYC who had converted, a born again Sikh named Balwant) asked me what my take on Bork was...
Before I could answer, the Jewish/English/South African immigrant VP of Engineering piped up with his usual smiling, self assured authority... "he's a right wing Nazi!". I doubt my more sober answer to Balwant that it was the usual, partisan politics run amok, made a dent on the VP's understanding but I did have a great last laugh with another of the Israeli/SA contingent, a software engineer who poked his head in my office to berate me for the latest ruling by the SCOTUS that there was no right to privacy in the Constitution when overturning a prior SCOTUS ruling. What had happened to settled law?
I then asked David if he'd heard who had successfully argued the original winning case in front of the SCOTUS for the Attorney General's office... probably with the beginnings of a big smile, and he looked at me with the saddest eyes, saying "Don't tell me it was Bork!". I don't know if my "yes" made it through the belly laugh but the message was clear.
No, he wasn't the right wing extremist the Democrats were claiming. And neither is Gorsuch.
What the immigrants had picked up was that all the bad guys (real or imagined Nazis and racists) were Republicans, and all the good guys were Democrats. David was also surprised when a bright young engineer from the east coast office was there to back me up that all those white folk they'd seen on TV waving axe handles and baseball bats chasing black kids out of "their" schools in the south had been Democrats, adding that the racist whites in South Boston doing the same sorts of things were also Democrats who sounded more like JFK than Foghorn Leghorn.
I'd had a few in depth chats with David and also a Frenchman named Gilles... and they once had a big disagreement about me... David was labeling me a conservative while Gilles was just as adamant "but he is a liberal". I doubt either had heard me ever claim those labels, but David and I disagreed on basic economics (I was deluded into thinking wealth was created when farmers grew crops or engineers wrote useful code that customers wanted, while David and friends knew wealth was created when the government spent money) and Gilles knew I was more liberal than the average Frenchman regarding social freedoms. Had I been more aware of Bastiat, I suspect that would have rung Gilles' bell.
Posted by: Gregory | 09 April 2017 at 06:18 PM
DAMN G,, a victim of spin the bottle politics.
Posted by: Walt | 09 April 2017 at 09:23 PM
A victim? Don't think so, Walt.
How many folk noticed not only did a Jeffersonian textualist get confirmed for the Scalia chair on Friday, but the challenges to the "travel ban" were set in motion. I expect no one thinks that is coincidence.
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/04/07/trump-files-9th-circuit-appeal-hawaii-travel-ban-case/
I take it Gorsuch was sworn in about a half hour ago, by Justice Kennedy, the current occupant of the Bork chair.
A number of civil libertarians were clear that while they didn't think the travel ban was good policy, the letter of the law in place, both Constitutional and by statute, clearly gave the President the authority to issue the orders as written. Now, with the former SCOTUS balance restored, the AG's office is resuming their push to assert the authority claimed.
What the ranting Progressive left have missed is that when you expect the SCOTUS to enforce their sense of justice rather than stick with the letter of the law (not that there can be a complete separation of the two), what you can get are travesties such as the Dred Scott decision where the slavers on the high court just couldn't accept the idea of freed slaves being free to roam wherever a white could roam, free to say what they wanted to say, while carrying their gun. Or you get the incarceration of native born Americans in concentration camps because folks with the same sorts of last names just bombed Pearl Harbor, a pet project of Governor Earl Warren before he became Chief Justice Earl Warren.
Posted by: Gregory | 10 April 2017 at 09:03 AM
George writes: "I think the world is sufficiently different today, and that going forward the entire definition and role of what we have traditionally thought of as 'war' is or has already changed."
George, I can understand your pragmatic approach to the question of congressional approval of military action against sovereign states without direct approval. I'm wondering if you also have a pragmatic approach to the 2nd amendment taking into consideration the tragic number of gun related deaths again illustrated this morning in San Bernardino?
http://ktla.com/2017/04/10/multiple-gunshot-victims-at-elementary-school-in-san-bernardino-amid-report-of-active-shooter-officials-say/
Posted by: Paul Emery | 10 April 2017 at 12:35 PM
PaulE 1235pm - Indeed I do, and I'll address that as soon as I post my more complete answer to the important 'war question' you asked. Please remind me if too much time passes.
Posted by: George Rebane | 10 April 2017 at 12:47 PM
What about the sign outside the school stating it's a "gun free zone"?
Posted by: Walt | 10 April 2017 at 12:50 PM
Posted by: Paul Emery | 10 April 2017 at 12:35 PM
What would be your solution to this mornings unpleasantness Paul?
Posted by: fish | 10 April 2017 at 01:11 PM
Oh what the hell, take a look at the 10ap17 update above for a quick response to PaulE's 1235pm. And I join with other readers above in the (usually futile) attempt to pry a cogent response out of Mr Emery ;-)
Posted by: George Rebane | 10 April 2017 at 01:39 PM
Not sure if it's within the purview of "Ruminations" but I leave this here for you and wonder if the usual suspects will again try to defend the current business climate in California in light of this development?
http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article143799644.html
Posted by: fish | 10 April 2017 at 02:39 PM
So George my assumptipn to your comment " to possess firearms does not come without a palpable price." Seems to imply that we just have to live with it. Am I close to the mark?
Posted by: Paul Emery | 10 April 2017 at 03:48 PM
See Fish, you are right again, the po' ol' PE CCC is in full effect. ;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 10 April 2017 at 03:56 PM
Posted by: Paul Emery | 10 April 2017 at 03:48 PM
So I guess this means you have nothing helpful to contribute re my 1:11p post?
Posted by: fish | 10 April 2017 at 03:57 PM
It didn't take long for folks to dip their hands in blood and scream for someone else to finally fix human nature once and for all. Paul, what about just passing a law that states "Thou Shalt Not Murder" carved into stone?
Japan even has sword control, yet their violent death rate (murders and suicides) is higher than ours. A further alternative fact is that immigrants from Japan to the USA kill others at a lower rate than their brethren left behind.
The sad fact is that in the USA, the reactionary majoritarians among us (usually Democrats) have sought to curb murders by the restricting of Constitutional rights to self defense of folks who have never committed a violent crime of any sort. How is that working for you?
Posted by: Gregory | 10 April 2017 at 04:14 PM
Just trying to get at the heart of Georges response before I comment further on it.
Well here I go anyway Fish
I believe the right to bear arms is contingent on strict training, evaluation and regular renewal. Might stop a few of the crazies with guns.
Posted by: Paul Emery | 10 April 2017 at 04:28 PM
You must have a newer version of the constitution there ya po' ol' party parrot PE. ;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 10 April 2017 at 04:32 PM
Same Constitution that requires Congressional approval of any invasion of a sovereign nation Don.
Posted by: Paul Emery | 10 April 2017 at 04:42 PM
Posted by: Paul Emery | 10 April 2017 at 04:28 PM
Interesting! Feel that way about the rest of the Bill of Rights?
Posted by: fish | 10 April 2017 at 04:47 PM
Works great for drunk drivers who lost their licences, right Paul?
Laws against cell phones and driving, Those have worked great.
Think dopers will stop selling dope without permits or licences paul?
But keep those blinders on.
Heck. I bet you believe Gov. Moonbat and the boys in Sac. won't rob the new gas tax like they have with the others.
Posted by: Walt | 10 April 2017 at 04:48 PM
The terror war resolution is still in full force and effect. ;-)
In a disturbing report out this afternoon, it appears the Navy is prosecuting an underwater contact off of SOCAL. There has been an ongoing circling of the same spot since last night. So far there have been US P-3's, P-8's and even a Canadian sub hunter who have been doing handoffs over the same spot. There are no exercises going on at this time. ??
Posted by: Don Bessee | 10 April 2017 at 04:58 PM
Walt
It helps against drunk drivers but of course is not 100 %. There is no doubt drunk driving laws save lives. Do you dispute that Walt?
Posted by: Paul Emery | 10 April 2017 at 05:03 PM
Posted by: Paul Emery | 10 April 2017 at 05:03 PM
Interesting! Feel that way about the rest of the Bill of Rights?
No comment?
Posted by: fish | 10 April 2017 at 05:12 PM
Not really Fish. Just talking about these two issues right now.
Posted by: Paul Emery | 10 April 2017 at 05:30 PM
PaulE 428pm - "I believe the right to bear arms is contingent on strict training, evaluation and regular renewal. Might stop a few of the crazies with guns." In fact, it is not. But you and others are imposing those additional restrictions. More important is your the restatement of a liberal's values on bearing arms - you're willing to constructively remove the 2nd amendment to see if it "might stop a few crazies with guns." On the price question I raised you are, of course, silent.
Posted by: George Rebane | 10 April 2017 at 05:58 PM
Hmm...lets see, Don is [was?] the Director of SAM; SAM is a campaign finance violator....enough said.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-national-anti-pot-group-faces-fines-for-1491849434-htmlstory.html
Posted by: Steve Frisch | 10 April 2017 at 06:41 PM
Nice try Paul. People still drive drunk. Dope will still be sold without paying the soon to be taxes. Felons will still acquire guns. Take the car away from a drunk driver, he or she will find another one. But bitch about guns. BTW... How many gun laws are on the books?
OH Yaa.. Ca. reduced the penaltys for gun crimes. Imagine that.
Posted by: Walt | 10 April 2017 at 07:17 PM
Pardon me. I have yet to hear Paul throw a hissy fit about bars with parking lots.
A car becomes a cruse missile with a messed up guidance system. Guns are just easier to complain about.
Posted by: Walt | 10 April 2017 at 07:27 PM
Yes sf, still SAM I am. Being exec director is not the same as head of or officer of the fppc campaign committee. ;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 10 April 2017 at 07:36 PM
George
We are not likely to break new ground in discussing our divergent values concern the 2nd Amendment. I'm still interested in your view of the Presidents ability to engage in an act of war against a sovereign state without congressional approval. What is the defination of your pragmatic view on this matter that in your view gives Trump the right to bomb the Syrian military without Congressional approval? Could he continue bombing just because he wants to?
Posted by: Paul Emery | 10 April 2017 at 08:25 PM
Keep whipping that dead horse Paul. I gave you proof that "O" did it without a gripe.
As they say, what's good for one. Besides. " News reports quoted U.S. officials as saying Trump had the right to use force to defend national interests and to protect civilians from atrocities."
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2017/apr/07/mark-pocan/mark-pocan-wrongly-claims-donald-trump-had-no-lega/
Now remember. this is NOT a deceleration of war. That requires approval. As a news man you should know where to find that.
Posted by: Walt | 10 April 2017 at 08:35 PM
I would think Walt that bombing the airfield of a sovereign nation would be an act of war and would need congressional approval.
Posted by: Paul Emery | 10 April 2017 at 08:53 PM
Well, only the US Congress can declare war. But Congress would rather let someone else (like a POTUS) do the tough calls for awhile now. Congress was been ducking their duties for too long, IMHO.
With that said, there are 150 incidences where former Presidents have done exactly the same thing as Trump and no violation of the law. Now, if the Prez is going to send our men and women in uniform to some foreign shore and the operation will take some time, then that be War as war has been interpreted.
Protocol calls for POTUS to inform Congress of his intentions and see if it was a one off, a reasonable courtesy after the strike. Loose lips and all that stuff requires secrecy before the strike. Found it odd that My Gal Hillary called for bombing their airfields hours before the Tomahawks became airborne. Figured somebody tipped her off, or it could have been one heck of a coincidence. Go figure. She is still getting bad Intel though. You don't use Tomahawks to destroy airfields. Ain't designed for that. Geeze Louise.
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 10 April 2017 at 09:05 PM
PaulE 825pm - My view on war declarations will greet you in the morning.
SteveF 641pm - Perhaps you missed it, but this kind of comment belongs in a sandbox somewhere. Todd Juvinall has one up and running on his blog. Please continue this thread there or elsewhere.
Posted by: George Rebane | 10 April 2017 at 09:08 PM
As far as the Apr 10 Update goes, all I can say is The Matrix is not perfect.....but it is irrevocable. Preceeds government. It's a cultural thang...goes way back. Now government, back I say, back. Down greedy dog, down!. Sit.
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 10 April 2017 at 09:21 PM
They get it
https://heatst.com/culture-wars/oregon-lawmakers-suggest-repealing-the-ban-on-gun-duels-between-public-officials/
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 10 April 2017 at 09:32 PM
Paul Emery 428
"I believe the right to vote is contingent on strict education, literacy testing and regular renewal fees".
Yes, I changed that just a bit... but how is that different? Voting is a right, owning and carrying guns is a right. In fact, it's a whole lot easier to learn everything you really need to know about guns... always assume it's loaded, and don't point it at anything living unless there's a good and ethical reason you might need it to stop living and you are willing to go to prison or worse if a jury of your peers disagree.
See? It's all very simple.
How did that song by Tom Lehrer go? "Poll tax, how I love ya, how I love ya, my dear old poll tax". And of course, that dicta in the majority opinion in the worst SCOTUS ruling in our history, Dred Scott v Sanford:
Gorsuch is sitting in the Scalia chair; maybe the chair stolen from Bork being warmed by Kennedy will be next...
Posted by: Gregory | 10 April 2017 at 11:39 PM
Hmmm.....not a soul upset about Aerojet punching out? Then there shouldn't be any issue at all with this.....
http://www.weaselzippers.us/333396-kubota-tractor-moves-headquarters-to-texas-from-california/
Posted by: fish | 11 April 2017 at 12:55 AM
Yes Paul....more training would have helped matters immeasurably!
Extra special bonus points for the "No Trespassing" and "No Firearm" signage on the chain link fence!
http://www.sfgate.com/news/education/article/Official-Multiple-shot-at-San-Bernardino-11063242.php
Posted by: fish | 11 April 2017 at 08:58 AM
Nice find there Bill. The Left won't allow duels. 9 times out of 10, the Lefty would lose that gun fight. First off, they would be hard pressed to understand which end the bullets come out of.
Posted by: Walt | 11 April 2017 at 09:12 AM
https://www.facebook.com/PatriotPost/photos/a.82108390913.80726.51560645913/10154610691055914/?type=3&theater
SCOTUS: Bless their little hearts. Everything they do blows up in their faces.
https://www.facebook.com/PatriotPost/photos/a.82108390913.80726.51560645913/10154610691055914/?type=3&theater
What ever happened to the Putin-Trump bromance story.? Odd. Maybe they just took a few days off. I am certain it will be back on the front page soon enough.
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 11 April 2017 at 09:50 AM
Posted by: Don Bessee | 10 April 2017 at 07:36 PM
SAM I am: of course it's different...how kind of you to point out that it is...we all know that associations one has with entities that do things we might occasionally disagree with are common in an interconnected world and that we are not individually responsible for those....a concept that others here, yourself included, might want to remember occasionally and correct in our fellows :)
Posted by: Steve Frisch | 11 April 2017 at 11:11 AM
Fish
Many gun deaths are caused by accidents or irresponsible availability of guns to children.
"Using information collected by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonpartisan research group, news reports and public sources, the news media outlets spent six months analyzing the circumstances of every death and injury from accidental shootings involving children ages 17 and younger from Jan. 1, 2014, to June 30 of this year — more than 1,000 incidents in all."
https://www.usatoday.com/news/
Posted by: Paul Emery | 11 April 2017 at 11:47 AM
PaulE 1147am - Assuming that the cited stat has a connected point re the Second Amendment, I would dearly like to hear it.
Additionally, it would be instructive for some of our brethren (and cistern) to view a smattering of similar deaths of young people from other accidents to see if the same people suggest equivalent preventatives.
To constructively further restrict gun availability, ownership, and usage based on 'saving the young' needs to be weighed with a host of other factors and causes, starting with gang banging and drug overdoses. The former having no relation to the legal ownership of guns.
BTW, I believe it was you who here and elsewhere have been a voluble opponent of booking unenforceable laws.
Posted by: George Rebane | 11 April 2017 at 12:10 PM
Posted by: Paul Emery | 11 April 2017 at 11:47 AM
Many gun deaths are caused by accidents or irresponsible availability of guns to children.
Neither of these things had anything to do with yesterdays tragedy! A tragedy that you used as a pretext to call in to question the legitimate exercise of the 2nd amendment.
Posted by: fish | 11 April 2017 at 01:12 PM
What specific laws are you referring to George ?
I do believe that the right to bear arms assumes responsibilities. One of those responsibilities would be storing guns in a place and manner that makes them on available to children A clear understanding of that responsibility would be part of gun use training that in my view should be a prerequisite for anyone owning a gun
Mental fitness in my view is another requirement. A good friend of mine recently went through an experience where her daughter wasvirtually held captive by a Veteran Who had a long history of PTSD who was under treatment as a veteran but was still was able to purchase an assault rifle and a large stash of ammunition She managed to escape and the soldier was eventually restrained and is receiving proper medical treatment In my view he should not have been able to legally purchase an assault rifle
Posted by: Paul Emery | 11 April 2017 at 01:13 PM
How many people are killed in auto accidents and guns?
Posted by: Todd Juvinall | 11 April 2017 at 01:20 PM
Lots of auto deaths Todd. Are you proposing there shouldn't be drivers licenses in order to drive a car ?
Posted by: Paul Emery | 11 April 2017 at 01:32 PM
Posted by: Paul Emery | 11 April 2017 at 01:13 PM
Mental fitness in my view is another requirement. A good friend of mine recently went through an experience where her daughter wasvirtually held captive by a Veteran Who had a long history of PTSD who was under treatment as a veteran but was still was able to purchase an assault rifle and a large stash of ammunition She managed to escape and the soldier was eventually restrained and is receiving proper medical treatment In my view he should not have been able to legally purchase an assault rifle
There is a "Mental Fitness" qualifier on the ATF Form 4473, Firearms Transaction Record revised Oct 2016. Evidently this person wasn't formally adjudicated (though I'm absolutely sure that the left would like nothing more than to make the pursuit of gun ownership prima facie evidence of mental illness) as a mental defective or having been committed to a mental institution. Either of those would have been disqualifying.
Posted by: fish | 11 April 2017 at 01:40 PM
either way this person was able to purchase an assault rifle and a large amount of Ammunition legally under current laws.
Posted by: Paul Emery | 11 April 2017 at 01:43 PM
Posted by: Paul Emery | 11 April 2017 at 01:43 PM
Well I'm sure that just one more law on the books would have solved your friends problem.
Posted by: fish | 11 April 2017 at 01:58 PM
So Fish you have no problem with a person being legally mentally disabled and being treated for severe PTSD under doctors care being able to buy an assault weapon?
Posted by: Paul Emery | 11 April 2017 at 02:21 PM
Paul E, an "assault rifle" is, under civilian law, a machine gun and has never been available for sale to civilians in California. Where was this?
Fish, coercive Utopians of both the right and the left think all you need to do is hire a good person to decide on a case by case basis who gets a gun and who doesn't. When this was first put into practice in the USA it tended to be poor blacks in the south who just did not merit the right to own and carry a gun.
Posted by: Gregory | 11 April 2017 at 02:23 PM
Posted by: Paul Emery | 11 April 2017 at 02:21 PM
Paul he either wasn't legally adjudicated as "Mentally Defective", there was no formal committal to a mental institution (formal language from the regulation). Had either of those things been in his background the purchase should have been stopped by the NICS process. Why it didn't catch this person....not a clue?
Still this is the system that we have to deal with right now. If you think it should be stricter than I urge you to contact your state and federal legislators and ask them to make the check more stringent.
Posted by: fish | 11 April 2017 at 02:29 PM
PaulE - You have waxed eloquent on the futility of all kinds of unenforceable laws ranging from MJ production and consumption to specific building codes imposed on the homeowner.
And a more useful response from you re gun control would be to leave the arena of the anecdote, and instead cite the aggregate tradeoffs you are promoting with new gun laws viz the purpose and intent of the constitutional right to bear arms. As long as you propose nothing specific, your endless stream of questions (some obviously gotchaesque) competes well with tedium.
Posted by: George Rebane | 11 April 2017 at 02:37 PM
"So Fish you have no problem with a person being legally mentally disabled and being treated for severe PTSD under doctors care being able to buy an assault weapon?"
'Assault weapon', a tricky definition to be sure. How about just 'gun'?
Should a legally mentally disabled/PTSD person be able to vote? buy alcohol? drive a car? pull jury duty? This is actually a valid question.
Posted by: ScenesFromTheApocalypse | 11 April 2017 at 02:52 PM
Scenes, there is also a difference between being a certifiable loon, and being certified a loon.
The rants I take least seriously are the ones that start with "gun deaths", signaling they are mixing suicides with criminal homicides (yes, Martha, there are also justifiable homicides and even accidental homicides that don't involve criminal negligence) to get a scary number... and then rant about large magazines.
Perhaps someone can point out a gun suicide where more than one shot was fired.
I also think it was Senator Clinton who was challenging people to tell her why they needed a large capacity magazine, but I never got to ask her what the capacity of the magazines carried by her body guards was.
Posted by: Gregory | 11 April 2017 at 03:19 PM
Not all questions George. I'm looking for solutions to the annual slaughter caused by irresponsible gun possessors. Also you have expressed opposition to MJ illegality and the glut of regulations imposed on business and homeowners. I thought that was something we agreed on.
Scenes
In this case it was a military assault rifle by definition and it is legal to sell those in Arizona, where this incident happened.
Posted by: Paul Emery | 11 April 2017 at 03:26 PM
Paul. Provide proof of said "full auto" capability. You have any idea of how much those cost? The hoops one has to go through to get that FFL licence? Sorry dude, I don't buy your story. No, you can't walk in and buy a full auto weapon. Not even in AZ.
But any idiot can buy a car. Today. Cars kill more people than guns. Yet no gripe from you.
Not a peep about bars with parking lots.(why not Paul?)
http://www.vpc.org/regulating-the-gun-industry/gun-deaths-compared-to-motor-vehicle-deaths/
Not long ago people got mowed down on the Vegas strip.(by a car) Funny, I don't remember you fussing about that.
Nope, I'm not giving up my guns because you don't like them.
Posted by: Walt | 11 April 2017 at 04:11 PM
Well Walt some stupid newspaper in Sweden actually advocated for banning cars from city centers in response to jihadi truck attack. No, seriously, we laughed at that prospect some time back yet here it is in the real world. Well as real as the PC political set in Sweden can be. ;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 11 April 2017 at 04:19 PM
I think they got the idea from Frisco. But for different reasons. Frisco believes cars are rolling gas chambers.(not the inhabitants of the car, the people on the street.) You know,, those planet killers.
Posted by: Walt | 11 April 2017 at 04:45 PM
re: PEmery @ 3:26PM
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/assault-rifle
Notice the 'military' part of the definition. In any case, getting wound up in gun definitions is a loser's game. Anyone wanting to do serious damage would use a couple of large capacity handguns and maybe a 1100 Remington just for the heck of it. Just view it all as putting a dangerous amount of kinetic energy downrange.
So, let's say that the second amendment (and it's living backers) didn't exist. What would you suggest? Perhaps an easy answer would be to define groups of people who are more likely to cause problems with guns and restrict ownership of firearms to people who don't belong to those groups. What do you think? Would reducing death rates to roughly those seen in Western Europe be a reasonable drop?
Posted by: ScenesFromTheApocalypse | 11 April 2017 at 05:28 PM
Some lite reading for Paul.
http://smartgunlaws.org/gun-laws/policy-areas/classes-of-weapons/machine-guns-automatic/
Posted by: Walt | 11 April 2017 at 07:41 PM
Re PaulE 326pm - Readers should note that for the Left to claim private ownership of military weapons, it has to be done only by the fiat of "definition", since in actuality they cannot qualify as a modern military style weapon, assault or otherwise.
Posted by: George Rebane | 11 April 2017 at 09:29 PM
George would you consider an M-16 military style rifle?
Posted by: Paul Emery | 11 April 2017 at 10:02 PM
George would you consider an M-16 a military style rifle?
Posted by: Paul Emery | 11 April 2017 at 10:04 PM
Paul, the M-16 was a military assault rifle. Selective fire (semiauto, 3 shot burst, full auto). Legally a machine gun. Never sold in California to civilians.
Posted by: Gregory | 11 April 2017 at 10:23 PM
Paul, a legally possessed *real* M16 (or any other NFA firearm) would have been only after the equivalent of a Secret Clearance investigation and yes, since the freezing of the total number during the Clinton administration, the prices have gone sky high.
I vaguely recall one has never been implicated in a crime.
Posted by: Gregory | 11 April 2017 at 10:49 PM
re: [email protected]:23
Movie companies usually have a papal dispensation.
re: [email protected]:04PM
My gift to you. I don't believe that this includes the latest half dozen laws which are guaranteed to Make California Great Again. It's probably best to get all this pew pew pew machine gun business out of your head, they're rare and expensive.
http://www.calguns.net/caawid/flowchart.pdf
Posted by: ScenesFromTheApocalypse | 12 April 2017 at 07:01 AM
PaulE 1004pm - Are we now walking this discussion back to a firearm's "style", which has nothing to do with literally anything germain here. If the civilian AR looks from a distance like a M-16, so what? Throughout American history civilians have carried and used arms that looked like their contemporaneous military counterparts. (Often the civilian firearms were even more capable than what then was military issue.) Today people (I know) still hunt with the WW1 Springfield, the WW2 Garand M-1 and the M-1 Carbine, and, of course, the AR version of the M-16. So what?
Posted by: George Rebane | 12 April 2017 at 07:51 AM
scenes 701am - Than you Mr scenes for that link. Readers who want to know literally anything about shooting guns in California are invited to peruse Calguns website -
http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/index.php
I have no idea why we are recircling this barn again and again without bringing anything new to the discussion. The bottom line for understanding all gun laws passed in the last 75 years is that they are intended to constructively abrogate the Second Amendment bit by piece. The obvious intent has always been to make the law abiding American citizen helpless to resist the state in whatever form it may take over time.
The laws have no effect on criminals and ideological terrorists, and extract a minimal societal cost from killers motivated by episodic emotions and/or psychological impediments. So what's new when the most recent of these tragedies take place, other than the statists' desire to use them for tightening the ratchet another notch on an once free people?
Posted by: George Rebane | 12 April 2017 at 09:58 AM