Well, it is officially June, after all. Here is a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, from the 1956 film version of Carousel: “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over”:
Almost 9 minutes of nothing but singing and dancing; starting at 4:01, there is a dance contest between two groups of men: sailors wearing the “Dixie cup” hats of the USN who have just pulled up to the dock, and the fishermen from the Maine coastal town where the drama is set. The dancing gets pretty athletic. Neo can doubtless say more about the choreography of this number from the musical, but it’s fun to watch in any case.
The other thing I noticed is that the lyrics of the song are pretty suggestive– for the immediate postwar period, at any rate; the stage version of the musical was first performed in 1945. It’s an unapologetic celebration of the gender binary, which means that the woke folk won’t revive Carousel any time soon.
Great article from WUWT on New England energy costs. Maybe PA+cat and Neo can confirm.
I know when we left CT 2 years ago we were paying about $900 in January and about $200 in July. We had a geothermal heat pump which avoided the heating oil costs but was balanced by the rising kWh rates. When we left, the actual kWh cost, taking the total bill (taxes et al) divided by the kWh for the month, was close to 27 cents/kWh. I know Eversource has been getting even more rate hikes.
Here in FL we also have a heat pump, though air sourced as almost every house here is. For FL the highest usage is July and we had a bill of just about $110. The FL house is only 13% smaller than the CT house.
The article states the average monthly cost this past winter in New England was about $1000; and it was an extremely mild winter. Once again, Democratic policies show their failure.
That somewhat rare bird, the Yellow-Vested Peacekeeper, showing up in Chicago recently, had a rough maiden flight. Memorial Day weekend yielded 12 people shot and killed and more than 50 wounded by gunshot. The killings matched the highest for that 3-day weekend since 2015. All this according to heyjackass.com.
Nothing yet said about how many additional “incidents” were defused by the Yellow-Vest crowd.
not like the norwegian blue at all, the mother country seems to be very cramped, but it’s not what it used to be,
Marjorie Taylor Greene says McCarthy will give “unfettered access” to the J6 tapes to John Solomon (Just the News), Julie Kelly (American Greatness) and one other unspecified outlet.
And more good news from North Carolina: The UNC Board of Governors has prohibited “compelled speech” for admissions, job applications, or tenure. No more DEI statements. And now the UNC Medical School is dismantling its DEI task force, with its recommendations not implemented.
physicsguy,
As I’m sure you know, the soaring cost of energy is a feature, not a bug. A while back (5 years maybe a few more) a climate blogger in Europe had a post based on official records in the UK. Both Germany and the UK had enacted draconian climate policies that dramatically increased the cost of energy (to save the planet, although the physics and economics prove they would have zero benefit even assuming the incompetent climate science was accurate).
Tens of thousands of elderly poor are dying in winter because they can’t afford both food and heat. In each country. The UK govt actually put together estimates on the numbers of excess deaths although they were buried deep in some footnote.
Think about the mindset that is comfortable with that. Climate warriors are a death cult. They know they kill large numbers of people in the developed world and millions every year in the third world. And they celebrate the sacrifice of these people. They congratulate each other on their superior moral virtue for promoting these policies of death. Disturbing. Seriously disturbing.
There was a story out this week about lefties and mental illness. While I’m always skeptical of the announced findings of any academic study and especially so if it has political uses, I’m inclined to believe that it is true. The last century provides more evidence than any person should need.
When hatred somehow provides feelings of moral superiority and combines with narcissism to justify their playing God with the lives of others, evil is the result.
The same mindset in climate warriors allows them to feel morally virtuous while knowingly adding to the enormous numbers of the dying.
Texas Gov. Abbott is preparing to sign a bill barring universities from creating diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, hiring employees charged with working on DEI, or requiring DEI trainings for faculty, staff, or students. The bill also codifies a ban on diversity statements in hiring.
Good news on Texas. I forgot to add that the UNC Board prohibits required belief in any social theory as a condition for grades.
Trump is now speaking in Urbandale, Iowa. It’s being carried by Fox News. He’s being the sane guy we had come to love.
I hear Chris Christie and Mike Pence are each launching presidential campaigns. Not sure if they’re delusional or really just running for VP (lol), but they seem very eager to waste lots of time are resources in these quixotic endeavours.
I love that Neo gives us dance videos. I especially loved the guys dancing with the swords and sparks last week. So I saw this guy dancing to Van Halen’s “Dancin’ in the Streets,” and challenge anyone to watch it without tapping their feet! Things are pretty depressing, but just watching his exuberance cheers me up.
I rarely comment anymore, but today is so momentous, yet under the radar for most, that I cannot keep my trap shut. As of today, June 1st, 2023, millions of Americans have become instant federal felons! Not because of a new law passed by Congress, but the arbitrary and capricious whim of unelected bureaucrats.
Previously approved AR pistol braces are now illegal. The penalty for possession of each one is up to 10 years in prison. No one knows how many were sold – estimates range up to 40 million. Owners had until today to file with the BATF to apply to convert braced pistols into registered short barreled rifles. A tricky, invasive process that imposes many restrictions on use, travel and resale.
Until we know how many applied for the conversion before today’s deadline it is unknowable the number of brace owners now at risk. Based on conversations within the gun owner community and the number of casual brace owners who bought one because they looked cool and have no idea this change occurred, I expect the percentage to be quite low. My ballpark WAG is the low single digits.
Court injunctions have stayed arrests for now and the ATF ruling may be reversed. But if not, what then?
Stan,
All you write is true. If you go to the article I linked the best graphic is the map of the US with the state average electric rates. Except for California, the Northeast averages almost double that of the rest of the country. Unsustainable, to use a climate word. Yet, like Neo’s dinner “friends” they just keep voting for the same even as they pay $1000++/month to heat their homes. Never mind the tax burden; they just don’t seem to care. Or like many Californians, they do care but then move to Colorado and turn it into the hellhole they just left. It does seem to be a mental disease.
CapnRusty on June 1, 2023 at 1:02 pm
Thanks, Russ. Great!!
Uffdaphil on June 1, 2023 at 1:32 pm
Damn!
Saw Ron DeSantis yesterday in CB. Liked him lots. He’s a normal guy.
My dream ticket would be Ron and Vivek. Give Vivek a portfolio like Bush gave to Cheney. Eight years of Ron and then 8 years of Vivek. We should be so lucky!
Ira, it gets worse. From today on anyone with a braced AR pistol could also be charged with failing to pay the $200 tax stamp required to register a short barreled rifle.
Conveniently, the IRS will soon have tens of thousands of additional thugs to raid scofflaws. No telling how many three letter agencies will show up for the party.
Yesterday NASA held a televised 4 hour panel discussion of the UFO issue (and without apparent dissent, one speaker wanted to make it clear that they did not consider these UFOs to be of extraterrestrial origin this, ironically, before any research had apparently even been undertaken) and how NASA was going to go about determining what steps/equipment will be necessary to effectively do research on them. (Do they really care about investigating UFOs or, is this just a ploy to get more money and shiny new equipment for NASA?) *
Pretty much a snoozethon, and I only actually watched the first half of it, but one of the early presenters was Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the head of ARRO–the newly formed agency within DOD which, by law, is mandated to have access to and to collect both classified and unclassified data on UFOs from all of the U.S. government’s military and intelligence organizations–and his presentation, pretty much a recapitulation of his recent Report to Congress–did contain a couple of interesting nuggets.
The first of them was just mentioned in passing and, then, Dr. Kirkpatrick moved on, as if this was of no consequence.
He presented a slide illustrating what ARRO had found to be the usual and common characteristics of the UFOs they had looked at, which included a HEAT map of the world, showing the intensity of sightings and the locations where the UFO sightings they were examining came from.
Then Dr. Kirkpatrick just casually said, “this map does not include any Air Force or Navy data,” i.e. neither the Air Force nor the Navy were/are cooperating and sending AARO the data they are mandated to send to that organization.
The other nugget he dropped was in response to a question about the video of a small silver sphere, flying over an active combat area in the Middle East, which he showed at the recent Congressional hearing and showed again yesterday.
In talking about this sphere—which he definitively said was real, and not a reflection, not a glitch in the recording equipment, or any other artifact—he just casually mentioned that these spheres “are being seen all over the Earth.”
It’s that clause is the Second Amendment that screws things up: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, . . . .”
Without it, one could argue that even requiring mere registration of arms is an unconstitutional infringement.
As far as closets go, part of that is that most american homes are much newer than brit homes, and the extra work in construction is more common in newer homes. I would bet if you compared 1800s American homes to brit homes, they, too, are less likely to have built-in closets. Even for more modern buildings, the US has generally been wealthier, and so, again, the extra construction cost involved in putting in closets is more likely to be done in the USA than the UK.
I’m guessing at all the above to a limited extent, but it’s based on some knowledge of history as well as reasonable extension of related knowledge.
As to hot water bottles — even more so was the classical “Bed Warmer”
You put hot stones or even embers from a fireplace in it, and then slid it through the bed under the covers to pre-warm the sheets.
}}} Beds. Fine… I’ll stick w/Futon : )
Non-pejorative: You must be a lot shorter than I am
I was looking at Futons a few years ago, could not find a single one of them that would not have had me, @ 6’1″, bent constantly, because every damned one was shorter than 5’9″. Are you supposed to sleep diagonally on them? 😀
I want to write this high enough so that someone might actually read it. Otherwise I’d try to be more articulate.
Above, Ira said (5:52): It’s that clause is the Second Amendment that screws things up: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, . . . .” Without it, one could argue that even requiring mere registration of arms is an unconstitutional infringement.
My View: To the contrary. Our Founding Fathers meant every word they added to something. It’s not what you think.
The words “A well-regulated militia” do not mean simply a militia with good regulations. It’s a “Term of Art”, and it is the key to the whole thing.
A “POORLY-REGULATED MILITIA” is one that comes into your town, forces you to put troops in your home and feed them at your own expense (“billeting”), forces you to give them livestock and supplies without compensation, arrests you without warrants, etc. If you have what the Amerncment says—“a free state”—FREEDOM—it is necessary to guarantee that FREE SECURITY.
The Amendment actually says that, in order for the United States citizens to ensure that any interaction they have with an armed government agent or officer, in other words, a government militia member, the citizen needs to have the same weaponry—even warships and cannon at that time, which private citizens had—that the government officials show up with so that the government officials are forced to behave in a “well-regulated” way.
Remember that Paul Revere and others rode that night to warn that the British were on their way to confiscate weapons and ammunition. The Brits were doing that so that they wouldn’t need to worry about being well-regulated.
Yes. I know, this is just my reasoning from reading the history of the time, (including about all sorts of concurrent warfare like the Napoleonic War(s), 1812, etc. Even reading back such as to Herodotus, Thucydides, Polybius, etc. shows us that the perennial problem in history was mis-behaving armed government officials showing up.)
“Poorly-Regulated” was a term in use at the time of the Revolutionary War, to criticize official thuggery
But it makes a lot of sense if you think about our Founding Fathers and the Federalist Papers. And the addition of the sparse phrase clarifies the Amendment perfectly.
To add to my comment above:
North Korea is a secure state. It is not a FREE, secure state.
I’ve actually been collecting music for a while, planning to post up a collection called “Wake the Eph Up!!”
A few for your consideration (no promises you’ll like them, but they are posdef things to get the blood flowing in the morning) — these were all from 80s music, so guessing you’ll like them:
Minta, the thing is, that anyone who has NOT seriously engaged people on the question of what “well regulated militia” means is showing their general ignorance on the topic.
At the time of its writing, the term had a specific meaning to the Founders and the citizens who voted for the Constitution. You can’t really argue over what it means until you know what the FOUNDERS meant by it.
More critically, any foolish argument over what it meant is irrelevant in the face of The Federalist Papers, particularly #46, which specifically covers what the 2nd, and “the militia” is about at all.
This also goes hand-in-hand with many of the writings of the Founders of the time:
Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man gainst his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of Americans.
— Tench Coxe
“I ask who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers.”
— George Mason, Address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 4, 1788
As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize,… The people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep and bear arms.
— Tench Coxe
“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”
— Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776
“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops.”
— Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, October 10, 1787
“I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.”
— Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, January 30, 1787
“A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves…and include, according to the past and general usuage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms… “To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”
— Richard Henry Lee, Federal Farmer No. 18, January 25, 1788
It is exceptionally CLEAR to anyone not a quack or a charlatan what the 2nd was meant to be about.
I took the time to watch the video. Whenever I have visited any European country, I have hated the duvet without a top sheet, because until the current energy problems, European hotels were always overheated. With the duvet, it seemed they were trying to bake me. Several American hotel chains have now gone to duvets as well, forcing me to take the quilt out of the duvet cover to sleep with only the cover, sans quilt.
Just when you thought Xi couldn’t stoop lower. War graves pillaged for pre-WWII steel. Can Do! Bastards.
Chinese Vessel Illegally Salvaged HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse | What is the Law?
To supplement the post of OBH, above, here is an excerpt from the Militia Act of 1792…. The Congress made it mandatory that those 18 and older (up until 45 years of age) were required to register for the militia, AND specified the equipment, including weaponry, they were required to acquire and maintain.
[…]
” And it shall at all time hereafter be the duty of every such Captain or Commanding Officer of a company, to enroll every such citizen as aforesaid, and also those who shall, from time to time, arrive at the age of 18 years, or being at the age of 18 years, and under the age of 45 years (except as before excepted) shall come to reside within his bounds;
[…]
That every citizen, so enrolled and notified, shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch, with a box therein, to contain not less than twenty four cartridges, suited to the bore of his musket or firelock, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball; or with a good rifle, knapsack, shot-pouch, and powder-horn, twenty balls suited to the bore of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder; and shall appear so armed, accoutred and provided, when called out to exercise or into service, except, that when called out on company days to exercise only, he may appear without a knapsack. ”
[…]
The references to “Commanding Officers”, etc, are also in the Act (link below). This link will take you to the full test of the act, and some history, should you need further information:
This is the kind of historical record of firearms regulation that Justice Clarence Thomas had in mind when writing the Breun decision, in my opinion, of course.
Hi, OBloodyHell! How nice for you to point out that “It is exceptionally CLEAR to anyone not a quack or a charlatan what the 2nd was meant to be about.” How kind of you!! Apparently you and others are referring to able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 45.
I thought I said it was MY VIEW, not arrogating that of the Founding Fathers. I did not at any place in my writing say otherwise. I enjoy seeing terms like “well-regulated” and running with them.
I was offering a comment that might make some people think and that covered more territory than that limited by the time the Amendment was developed, especially since by your argument about “those who voted for the Constitution” and “those who could be members of the Militia”, all people who share my sex were left out, and there were age restrictions. Depending on the Founding Father.
Are you saying we who were left out weren’t meant to have the right of the Amendment? You quote Richard Henry Lee: “A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves…and include, according to the past and general usuage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms”. The use of “people” here, as so often, excluded women.
I guess that leaves out a vast number of people who can’t own guns, including also those who are incapable of carrying a rifle due to some physical imperfection but who can man a cannon or set an explosive. Yes, I’m being snarky about “able-bodied”.
Tench Cox refers to “Each man” and “the soldier”. Again, not women. I guarantee he was not speaking about women.
According to Another Mike, “To supplement the post of OBH, above, here is an excerpt from the Militia Act of 1792…. The Congress made it mandatory that those 18 and older (up until 45 years of age) were required to register for the militia” if you’re under 18 or over 45, that pesky definition disarms you, although it also ignores all females of any age, and together the majority of the populace.
I am always ready to submit arguments, even foolish ones (though I have never viewed myself as either quack or charlatan, being neither doctor nor pretending anything beyond MY VIEW, and believe your loose usage of the terms paints you as something sad and pompous). If you saw nothing in my comment about what the term “poorly-regulated” meant, and how it expanding thinking about the terms and can thus enhance the meaning of the Amendment, just like including all men of any age and all women can, then so be it.
I was not writing a thesis, I was proposing a comment that might enliven a discussion. I specifically wrote the words MY VIEW. I wasn’t dictating thought, I was suggesting an interesting addendum to a possible range of interest.
I find it sad that if I take only your arguments limiting my thoughts to your select quotes, more people are eliminated from the Amendment at the time it was written than captured or captivated by it.
I am never afraid to be foolish. Sometimes people catch my pass and run with it, to the entertainment of those who choose to think for a moment about possibilities.
I await your choice of possible future insults with interest and amusement. Please try to be more original.
@ Snow > “neither the Air Force nor the Navy were/are cooperating and sending AARO the data they are mandated to send to that organization.”
@MMM : The amendment says “… the people…” where the Militia Act of 1792 enumerates who is included in the militia, and therefore is *required* by the Act to possess the requisite equipment for militia service. It does not say that only those designated for militia service may keep and/or bear arms. The militia as defined is a sub-group of “the people”. You are getting out too far over your skis on this.
to put it another way, so called blm and antifa are unregulated militia, they attacked numerous locations from 2016-2020, including connecticut avenue where they fire bombed a limo, on inauguration day, st johns church on june 1st, portland’s court house for 90 consecutive days, our little taste of beirut,
cb on June 1, 2023 at 7:21 pm said:
We knew this would happen… on how big a scale is the question:
“Vice” magazine has updated this story. It was a misunderstanding.
“A USAF official who was quoted saying the Air Force conducted a simulated test where an AI drone killed its human operator is now saying he ‘misspoke’ and that the Air Force never ran this kind of test, in a computer simulation or otherwise.” (https://tinyurl.com/abthewzr)
RE: UFOs–Referring back to my comment above on June 1 at 5 P.M.–The fact that the Air Force, in particular, has apparently not sent the data on UFOs it has to ARRO is a big deal, indeed, since it is very likely that the Air Force–given the mission it has to monitor and to defend our airspace and, now, this mission to include space, and since it has a wide array of monitoring equipment, ground and air based radars, aircraft in the skies, NORAD and it’s monitoring capabilities, and various satellites systems–has gathered the most data on UFOs.
Keep in mind that, over the last almost 80 years, the Air Force has been the military service most resistant to revealing any information about UFOs, and the apparent source of a decade’s long UFO disinformation campaign.
The fact that the Navy has also apparently not sent the mandated data to AARO is also significant, since AARO is also tasked with investigating the UFOs observed going in and coming out of our oceans, and traveling underwater, and in addition to it’s surface ships and submarines our Navy has also reportedly deployed a world-wide network of underwater sensors; all sensor systems which have reportedly detected underwater UFOs.
Cornflour–Could it be that this rogue AI story has just gotten too much attention, raised too many hackles, caused too much alarm, was too strong a scent on the wind–i.e. “the sheep look up,” so it had to be negated, quashed, declared a “mistake,” given the Emily Litella “never mind” treatment.
well forbin project, skynet the animatrix, the ai in eagle eye and i robot, ultron, most recently singularity, you get the message,
Snow on Pine:
Could the AI drone story be true, despite the government’s denial?
Well, Neo just wrote a short post on how we’ve become a low-trust society, and the military has a long and notorious history of misleading our country’s citizens, so that means doubly low-trust, but I’m old-fashioned and still try to work from evidence. In this case, I have none.
Everyone: I believe the Amendment is for EVERY man and woman, including the young who should learn early usage. I was broadening the vision, saying the Amendment exists to stop the government (and others) from tyranny, not just to arm a militia.
I was pointing out that the criticism of my words did not refer to the actual discussion I made about the term “well-regulated”, and not at all about militias and what that means other than to avoid a “poorly-regulated” one.
The attack on me was itself limiting, trying to show me that militia was the important word, and the quotes themselves chosen by the attackers were the limiting ones.
STOP limiting the Amendment to “militia”. Everyone, men and women, is entitled to the Right. I was pointing out the level of argument against my words ignored my ENTIRE point to make another that was exclusionary.
By focusing on the word “militia” you ignore the term “well-regulated” and what it could mean. They could have used a thousand terms. They were specific. Not one of you actually addressed the ONLY point I was making, and instead keep harping on “militia”, to the detriment of the Amendment.
My last statement:
The Amendment does not exist so that America could have a lot of people proficient in weaponry and thus they should have guns to practice and get skillful in case the (men by definition at the time) need to be a militia.
The Amendment exists to prevent TYRANNY. When that comes, it usually comes from the government, but it can also be lawless people in the immediate environment, who have nothing to do with the word “militia”.
All the examples against my comment ignored my comment and harped on the militia.
Stop giving our enemies the word-weapons to use against us.
If the Second Amendment is ever taken down, it will be by people who successfully argue that the word “militia” is the imperative in the language. My argument was that the important part is the insistence that all weaponized interactions be “well-regulated” and therefore legal AND be seen to be justice, not just imbued with the current (possibly law-fare) “legal”.
And that MEANS that every person should have the weapons to defend themselves, with no concern about militias other than that they be lawful and behave if they show up.
It is no accident that more than a million gun sales per month have been common these several last years, to the point that a recent report was that 42% of all U S. households had at least one gun.
If that isn’t a major sign of lack of trust I don’t know what is.
Minta, thank you for proposing an interesting thought experiment about just what the real meaning of a “regulated militia” might mean.
I am still inclined to accept the more conventional meaning(s) suggested by others herein, but I am not educated enough about the historical details to know for sure just what the (adult male) people ratifying the Amendment by Dec., 1791 understood that language to mean. I concur with you that it fulfills a natural law/ natural right to self preservation and thus to self defense, both as to personal danger or attack and to communal danger from enemies foreign or domestic (aka tyranny).
If we were to rewrite the Amendment in today’s language, hopefully we would make it clear the right to bear arms was held by all the people, and covered both personal use and self defense, and joint use to resist tyranny at such time that enough people were convinced we had been subjected to a severe “train of abuses”. [That does not necessarily end up meaning a real shooting civil war, as the threat of such a war might be enough to achieve the resistance and changes desired; but of course it could.]
The role of a citizen militia vs. a governmental military or mercenary militia might be ignored in a modern rephrasing, or given more detailed explanation. I am not sure how that would be worked out. But for those of us who do support this right, I have had an idea that perhaps the federal government can and should find a way to incentivize the states to provide some form of weapons training, possibly augmented with some exposure to military squad or similar tactics, etc., to show that at least 50% of the able bodied men and (say) 25% of the women in each state have received such training and are maintaining some level of proficiency with continued training. The governors would have to certify this each year to obtain whatever “sugar” the federal government would grant to them, to show they are complying with a goal behind the 2nd Amendment, to at least approximate a “people’s militia”. LEO and National Guard and related training might be substituted, etc., and the states might provide the weapons used for this training (not require gun ownership, per se). The details of this scheme are incidental to the main aim of providing a populace that is comfortable with these weapons and will provide a solid deterrence against those potential foreign or domestic enemies.
Clearly the states really ought to do this on their own initiative, regardless of any federal incentives.
Thank you R2L! I’ll check out that book. I love to learn things.
How about a sophisticated version (NOT law fare) of something like: Freedom from both Government and Citizen Tyranny, being necessary to the security of a free State, the Right of the People to keep and bear Arms to individually prevent such Tyranny, shall not be infringed.
And then add something as a completely separate clause or even amendment about Militias if you want. They did that for billeting.
Moreover, the issue of militias themselves needs to be dealt with because of problems like that of Quantrill’s Raiders , who were deemed not legitimate enemy military units. Not to mention BLM and Antifa. The matter is cloudy, and needs its own amendment and careful definitional desiderata.
I am just throwing out ideas. My knowledge base is primarily Mathematics and Physics (UCLA), with a love of History.
the founders certainly saw militia as effective opposition to standing armies like the british army which were largely conscripts and some mercs, as you say the quantrills did some holding actions against union forces, we saw this in the phillipines, and we employed similar actions some 40 years later against the Japanese,
Miguel Cervantes: how true! The whole issues of militia and military and guerrillas are fluid.
As I said above somewhere, the issue cannot be about militias and security, because all tyrannies are (while they last) secure. See North Korea. Civilian weaponry is to maintain FREEDOM, not just Security. Mixing them with the idea of government-needed armaments and manpower is a problem.
So is the definition of whose guerrillas are patriots and whose are vicious thugs who need to be hanged. (This one is probably unresolvable. Reading the memoirs of Brits, such as Sir Harry Smith, who fought in the Peninsular Campaigns against Napoleons troops, and who then participated in the Brit burning of the White House and in the Battle of New Orleans before returning to fight in Waterloo, gives me a rollercoaster of emotions. Of course, two of my brothers were Marines in Viet Nam 1968-1969) because we know what side we’re on in this world. Semper Fi)
Thank you both, R2L and Miguel Cervantes, for taking the time to see the point I was trying to make.
i didn’t know about harry smith’s pedigree,
in my parents native country, the mambises were the main force against the spanish standing army, headed by weyler who waged a ruthless counterinsurgency campaign, among his number was a young soldier who settled down to run a plantation after the war, his name was angel castro, of course you know his bastard son’s deeds more than his own rep, that would be fidel
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Well, it is officially June, after all. Here is a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, from the 1956 film version of Carousel: “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khL3AVmPj24&ab_channel=JohnDoyle
Almost 9 minutes of nothing but singing and dancing; starting at 4:01, there is a dance contest between two groups of men: sailors wearing the “Dixie cup” hats of the USN who have just pulled up to the dock, and the fishermen from the Maine coastal town where the drama is set. The dancing gets pretty athletic. Neo can doubtless say more about the choreography of this number from the musical, but it’s fun to watch in any case.
The other thing I noticed is that the lyrics of the song are pretty suggestive– for the immediate postwar period, at any rate; the stage version of the musical was first performed in 1945. It’s an unapologetic celebration of the gender binary, which means that the woke folk won’t revive Carousel any time soon.
Great article from WUWT on New England energy costs. Maybe PA+cat and Neo can confirm.
I know when we left CT 2 years ago we were paying about $900 in January and about $200 in July. We had a geothermal heat pump which avoided the heating oil costs but was balanced by the rising kWh rates. When we left, the actual kWh cost, taking the total bill (taxes et al) divided by the kWh for the month, was close to 27 cents/kWh. I know Eversource has been getting even more rate hikes.
Here in FL we also have a heat pump, though air sourced as almost every house here is. For FL the highest usage is July and we had a bill of just about $110. The FL house is only 13% smaller than the CT house.
The article states the average monthly cost this past winter in New England was about $1000; and it was an extremely mild winter. Once again, Democratic policies show their failure.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/05/31/surging-new-england-energy-prices-no-surprise/
Beds. Fine… I’ll stick w/Futon : )
That somewhat rare bird, the Yellow-Vested Peacekeeper, showing up in Chicago recently, had a rough maiden flight. Memorial Day weekend yielded 12 people shot and killed and more than 50 wounded by gunshot. The killings matched the highest for that 3-day weekend since 2015. All this according to heyjackass.com.
Nothing yet said about how many additional “incidents” were defused by the Yellow-Vest crowd.
not like the norwegian blue at all, the mother country seems to be very cramped, but it’s not what it used to be,
Another Mike:
Defused- unknown
Active Participant in Violence- 1 so far
https://cwbchicago.com/2023/05/chicago-man-wearing-peacekeeping-vest-charged-beating-robbing-victim-little-village.html
Marjorie Taylor Greene says McCarthy will give “unfettered access” to the J6 tapes to John Solomon (Just the News), Julie Kelly (American Greatness) and one other unspecified outlet.
And more good news from North Carolina: The UNC Board of Governors has prohibited “compelled speech” for admissions, job applications, or tenure. No more DEI statements. And now the UNC Medical School is dismantling its DEI task force, with its recommendations not implemented.
physicsguy,
As I’m sure you know, the soaring cost of energy is a feature, not a bug. A while back (5 years maybe a few more) a climate blogger in Europe had a post based on official records in the UK. Both Germany and the UK had enacted draconian climate policies that dramatically increased the cost of energy (to save the planet, although the physics and economics prove they would have zero benefit even assuming the incompetent climate science was accurate).
Tens of thousands of elderly poor are dying in winter because they can’t afford both food and heat. In each country. The UK govt actually put together estimates on the numbers of excess deaths although they were buried deep in some footnote.
Think about the mindset that is comfortable with that. Climate warriors are a death cult. They know they kill large numbers of people in the developed world and millions every year in the third world. And they celebrate the sacrifice of these people. They congratulate each other on their superior moral virtue for promoting these policies of death. Disturbing. Seriously disturbing.
There was a story out this week about lefties and mental illness. While I’m always skeptical of the announced findings of any academic study and especially so if it has political uses, I’m inclined to believe that it is true. The last century provides more evidence than any person should need.
When hatred somehow provides feelings of moral superiority and combines with narcissism to justify their playing God with the lives of others, evil is the result.
From this story today on the corrupt DOJ, “they are a bunch of high-level bureaucrats who believe that they have the wisdom and the power to run the country, all the way down to what you are allowed and not allowed to say.” https://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/05/31/how-corrupt-is-the-doj-this-corrupt-n554646
The same mindset in climate warriors allows them to feel morally virtuous while knowingly adding to the enormous numbers of the dying.
Texas Gov. Abbott is preparing to sign a bill barring universities from creating diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, hiring employees charged with working on DEI, or requiring DEI trainings for faculty, staff, or students. The bill also codifies a ban on diversity statements in hiring.
Good news on Texas. I forgot to add that the UNC Board prohibits required belief in any social theory as a condition for grades.
Trump is now speaking in Urbandale, Iowa. It’s being carried by Fox News. He’s being the sane guy we had come to love.
I hear Chris Christie and Mike Pence are each launching presidential campaigns. Not sure if they’re delusional or really just running for VP (lol), but they seem very eager to waste lots of time are resources in these quixotic endeavours.
I love that Neo gives us dance videos. I especially loved the guys dancing with the swords and sparks last week. So I saw this guy dancing to Van Halen’s “Dancin’ in the Streets,” and challenge anyone to watch it
without tapping their feet! Things are pretty depressing, but just watching his exuberance cheers me up.
I rarely comment anymore, but today is so momentous, yet under the radar for most, that I cannot keep my trap shut. As of today, June 1st, 2023, millions of Americans have become instant federal felons! Not because of a new law passed by Congress, but the arbitrary and capricious whim of unelected bureaucrats.
Previously approved AR pistol braces are now illegal. The penalty for possession of each one is up to 10 years in prison. No one knows how many were sold – estimates range up to 40 million. Owners had until today to file with the BATF to apply to convert braced pistols into registered short barreled rifles. A tricky, invasive process that imposes many restrictions on use, travel and resale.
Until we know how many applied for the conversion before today’s deadline it is unknowable the number of brace owners now at risk. Based on conversations within the gun owner community and the number of casual brace owners who bought one because they looked cool and have no idea this change occurred, I expect the percentage to be quite low. My ballpark WAG is the low single digits.
Court injunctions have stayed arrests for now and the ATF ruling may be reversed. But if not, what then?
Stan,
All you write is true. If you go to the article I linked the best graphic is the map of the US with the state average electric rates. Except for California, the Northeast averages almost double that of the rest of the country. Unsustainable, to use a climate word. Yet, like Neo’s dinner “friends” they just keep voting for the same even as they pay $1000++/month to heat their homes. Never mind the tax burden; they just don’t seem to care. Or like many Californians, they do care but then move to Colorado and turn it into the hellhole they just left. It does seem to be a mental disease.
CapnRusty on June 1, 2023 at 1:02 pm
Thanks, Russ. Great!!
Uffdaphil on June 1, 2023 at 1:32 pm
Damn!
Saw Ron DeSantis yesterday in CB. Liked him lots. He’s a normal guy.
My dream ticket would be Ron and Vivek. Give Vivek a portfolio like Bush gave to Cheney. Eight years of Ron and then 8 years of Vivek. We should be so lucky!
Ira, it gets worse. From today on anyone with a braced AR pistol could also be charged with failing to pay the $200 tax stamp required to register a short barreled rifle.
Conveniently, the IRS will soon have tens of thousands of additional thugs to raid scofflaws. No telling how many three letter agencies will show up for the party.
Uffdaphil on June 1, 2023 at 1:32 pm
Thanks! Doubt if any ‘news outlet’ covers this.
https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2023/06/01/fpc-saf-members-included-in-injunction-against-atf-new-pistol-brace-rules-n71010
Neo, please excuse ‘over posting’ on this:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/federal-judge-texas-blocks-biden-atf-pistol-brace-rule-day-deadline-register-weapons
RE: UFOs-
Yesterday NASA held a televised 4 hour panel discussion of the UFO issue (and without apparent dissent, one speaker wanted to make it clear that they did not consider these UFOs to be of extraterrestrial origin this, ironically, before any research had apparently even been undertaken) and how NASA was going to go about determining what steps/equipment will be necessary to effectively do research on them. (Do they really care about investigating UFOs or, is this just a ploy to get more money and shiny new equipment for NASA?) *
Pretty much a snoozethon, and I only actually watched the first half of it, but one of the early presenters was Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the head of ARRO–the newly formed agency within DOD which, by law, is mandated to have access to and to collect both classified and unclassified data on UFOs from all of the U.S. government’s military and intelligence organizations–and his presentation, pretty much a recapitulation of his recent Report to Congress–did contain a couple of interesting nuggets.
The first of them was just mentioned in passing and, then, Dr. Kirkpatrick moved on, as if this was of no consequence.
He presented a slide illustrating what ARRO had found to be the usual and common characteristics of the UFOs they had looked at, which included a HEAT map of the world, showing the intensity of sightings and the locations where the UFO sightings they were examining came from.
Then Dr. Kirkpatrick just casually said, “this map does not include any Air Force or Navy data,” i.e. neither the Air Force nor the Navy were/are cooperating and sending AARO the data they are mandated to send to that organization.
The other nugget he dropped was in response to a question about the video of a small silver sphere, flying over an active combat area in the Middle East, which he showed at the recent Congressional hearing and showed again yesterday.
In talking about this sphere—which he definitively said was real, and not a reflection, not a glitch in the recording equipment, or any other artifact—he just casually mentioned that these spheres “are being seen all over the Earth.”
* See https://www.popsci.com/science/nasa-unidentified-anomalous-phenomena-panel/
It’s that clause is the Second Amendment that screws things up: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, . . . .”
Without it, one could argue that even requiring mere registration of arms is an unconstitutional infringement.
As far as closets go, part of that is that most american homes are much newer than brit homes, and the extra work in construction is more common in newer homes. I would bet if you compared 1800s American homes to brit homes, they, too, are less likely to have built-in closets. Even for more modern buildings, the US has generally been wealthier, and so, again, the extra construction cost involved in putting in closets is more likely to be done in the USA than the UK.
I’m guessing at all the above to a limited extent, but it’s based on some knowledge of history as well as reasonable extension of related knowledge.
As to hot water bottles — even more so was the classical “Bed Warmer”
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/78/1f/a1/781fa1dec674106d886c9e8a862c9337.jpg
You put hot stones or even embers from a fireplace in it, and then slid it through the bed under the covers to pre-warm the sheets.
}}} Beds. Fine… I’ll stick w/Futon : )
Non-pejorative: You must be a lot shorter than I am
I was looking at Futons a few years ago, could not find a single one of them that would not have had me, @ 6’1″, bent constantly, because every damned one was shorter than 5’9″. Are you supposed to sleep diagonally on them? 😀
I want to write this high enough so that someone might actually read it. Otherwise I’d try to be more articulate.
Above, Ira said (5:52): It’s that clause is the Second Amendment that screws things up: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, . . . .” Without it, one could argue that even requiring mere registration of arms is an unconstitutional infringement.
My View: To the contrary. Our Founding Fathers meant every word they added to something. It’s not what you think.
The words “A well-regulated militia” do not mean simply a militia with good regulations. It’s a “Term of Art”, and it is the key to the whole thing.
A “POORLY-REGULATED MILITIA” is one that comes into your town, forces you to put troops in your home and feed them at your own expense (“billeting”), forces you to give them livestock and supplies without compensation, arrests you without warrants, etc. If you have what the Amerncment says—“a free state”—FREEDOM—it is necessary to guarantee that FREE SECURITY.
The Amendment actually says that, in order for the United States citizens to ensure that any interaction they have with an armed government agent or officer, in other words, a government militia member, the citizen needs to have the same weaponry—even warships and cannon at that time, which private citizens had—that the government officials show up with so that the government officials are forced to behave in a “well-regulated” way.
Remember that Paul Revere and others rode that night to warn that the British were on their way to confiscate weapons and ammunition. The Brits were doing that so that they wouldn’t need to worry about being well-regulated.
Yes. I know, this is just my reasoning from reading the history of the time, (including about all sorts of concurrent warfare like the Napoleonic War(s), 1812, etc. Even reading back such as to Herodotus, Thucydides, Polybius, etc. shows us that the perennial problem in history was mis-behaving armed government officials showing up.)
“Poorly-Regulated” was a term in use at the time of the Revolutionary War, to criticize official thuggery
But it makes a lot of sense if you think about our Founding Fathers and the Federalist Papers. And the addition of the sparse phrase clarifies the Amendment perfectly.
To add to my comment above:
North Korea is a secure state. It is not a FREE, secure state.
Our Founding Fathers meant every word.
We knew this would happen… on how big a scale is the question: https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a33gj/ai-controlled-drone-goes-rogue-kills-human-operator-in-usaf-simulated-test
Do you suppose ‘legal’ pot shops provide camera footage to the Feds? Wait for it … *knock knock* You bought pot, give us your guns.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/atf-until-recreational-cannabis-is-federally-legalized-pot-users-cannot-own-guns/ar-AA1bUgeD
}}} Cap’n Rusty:
That guys a pretty energetic dancer… he’s got his own channel, Neo might appreciate, even though she’s shown more interest in ballet:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=just+some+motion
I’ve actually been collecting music for a while, planning to post up a collection called “Wake the Eph Up!!”
A few for your consideration (no promises you’ll like them, but they are posdef things to get the blood flowing in the morning) — these were all from 80s music, so guessing you’ll like them:
The Call-Let The Day Begin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to2KasivROc
Stray Cats – Stray Cat Strut
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEtbfzMLVWU
Scritti Politti – Perfect Way
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLxIB_lrwk0
XTC – Senses Working Overtime
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrcemZpOmpI
King Crimson — Sleepless
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxjRU81UnC0
The Cure – Hot Hot Hot!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWTooBL_EGU
Burning Sensations – Belly Of The Whale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeqCqxhxLtc
Joan Armatrading-Drop The Pilot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifARMmcqhD8
English Beat: “Save It For Later”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bM0wVjU2-k
Robert Palmer – Addicted To Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcATvu5f9vE
I’ve got a lot more, and not just 80s…
Minta, the thing is, that anyone who has NOT seriously engaged people on the question of what “well regulated militia” means is showing their general ignorance on the topic.
At the time of its writing, the term had a specific meaning to the Founders and the citizens who voted for the Constitution. You can’t really argue over what it means until you know what the FOUNDERS meant by it.
More critically, any foolish argument over what it meant is irrelevant in the face of The Federalist Papers, particularly #46, which specifically covers what the 2nd, and “the militia” is about at all.
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-10-02-0261
This also goes hand-in-hand with many of the writings of the Founders of the time:
Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man gainst his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of Americans.
— Tench Coxe
“I ask who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers.”
— George Mason, Address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 4, 1788
As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize,… The people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep and bear arms.
— Tench Coxe
“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”
— Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776
“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops.”
— Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, October 10, 1787
“I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.”
— Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, January 30, 1787
“A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves…and include, according to the past and general usuage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms… “To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”
— Richard Henry Lee, Federal Farmer No. 18, January 25, 1788
It is exceptionally CLEAR to anyone not a quack or a charlatan what the 2nd was meant to be about.
I took the time to watch the video. Whenever I have visited any European country, I have hated the duvet without a top sheet, because until the current energy problems, European hotels were always overheated. With the duvet, it seemed they were trying to bake me. Several American hotel chains have now gone to duvets as well, forcing me to take the quilt out of the duvet cover to sleep with only the cover, sans quilt.
Just when you thought Xi couldn’t stoop lower. War graves pillaged for pre-WWII steel. Can Do! Bastards.
Chinese Vessel Illegally Salvaged HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse | What is the Law?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjbwwrLUZ-o
To supplement the post of OBH, above, here is an excerpt from the Militia Act of 1792…. The Congress made it mandatory that those 18 and older (up until 45 years of age) were required to register for the militia, AND specified the equipment, including weaponry, they were required to acquire and maintain.
[…]
” And it shall at all time hereafter be the duty of every such Captain or Commanding Officer of a company, to enroll every such citizen as aforesaid, and also those who shall, from time to time, arrive at the age of 18 years, or being at the age of 18 years, and under the age of 45 years (except as before excepted) shall come to reside within his bounds;
[…]
That every citizen, so enrolled and notified, shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch, with a box therein, to contain not less than twenty four cartridges, suited to the bore of his musket or firelock, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball; or with a good rifle, knapsack, shot-pouch, and powder-horn, twenty balls suited to the bore of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder; and shall appear so armed, accoutred and provided, when called out to exercise or into service, except, that when called out on company days to exercise only, he may appear without a knapsack. ”
[…]
The references to “Commanding Officers”, etc, are also in the Act (link below). This link will take you to the full test of the act, and some history, should you need further information:
https://www.mountvernon.org/education/primary-source-collections/primary-source-collections/article/militia-act-of-1792/
This is the kind of historical record of firearms regulation that Justice Clarence Thomas had in mind when writing the Breun decision, in my opinion, of course.
Hi, OBloodyHell! How nice for you to point out that “It is exceptionally CLEAR to anyone not a quack or a charlatan what the 2nd was meant to be about.” How kind of you!! Apparently you and others are referring to able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 45.
I thought I said it was MY VIEW, not arrogating that of the Founding Fathers. I did not at any place in my writing say otherwise. I enjoy seeing terms like “well-regulated” and running with them.
I was offering a comment that might make some people think and that covered more territory than that limited by the time the Amendment was developed, especially since by your argument about “those who voted for the Constitution” and “those who could be members of the Militia”, all people who share my sex were left out, and there were age restrictions. Depending on the Founding Father.
Are you saying we who were left out weren’t meant to have the right of the Amendment? You quote Richard Henry Lee: “A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves…and include, according to the past and general usuage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms”. The use of “people” here, as so often, excluded women.
I guess that leaves out a vast number of people who can’t own guns, including also those who are incapable of carrying a rifle due to some physical imperfection but who can man a cannon or set an explosive. Yes, I’m being snarky about “able-bodied”.
Tench Cox refers to “Each man” and “the soldier”. Again, not women. I guarantee he was not speaking about women.
According to Another Mike, “To supplement the post of OBH, above, here is an excerpt from the Militia Act of 1792…. The Congress made it mandatory that those 18 and older (up until 45 years of age) were required to register for the militia” if you’re under 18 or over 45, that pesky definition disarms you, although it also ignores all females of any age, and together the majority of the populace.
I am always ready to submit arguments, even foolish ones (though I have never viewed myself as either quack or charlatan, being neither doctor nor pretending anything beyond MY VIEW, and believe your loose usage of the terms paints you as something sad and pompous). If you saw nothing in my comment about what the term “poorly-regulated” meant, and how it expanding thinking about the terms and can thus enhance the meaning of the Amendment, just like including all men of any age and all women can, then so be it.
I was not writing a thesis, I was proposing a comment that might enliven a discussion. I specifically wrote the words MY VIEW. I wasn’t dictating thought, I was suggesting an interesting addendum to a possible range of interest.
I find it sad that if I take only your arguments limiting my thoughts to your select quotes, more people are eliminated from the Amendment at the time it was written than captured or captivated by it.
I am never afraid to be foolish. Sometimes people catch my pass and run with it, to the entertainment of those who choose to think for a moment about possibilities.
I await your choice of possible future insults with interest and amusement. Please try to be more original.
@ Snow > “neither the Air Force nor the Navy were/are cooperating and sending AARO the data they are mandated to send to that organization.”
Well, the Navy did identify one aerial alien.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2023/05/Screenshot-2023-04-29-at-9.19.50-PM.png
@MMM : The amendment says “… the people…” where the Militia Act of 1792 enumerates who is included in the militia, and therefore is *required* by the Act to possess the requisite equipment for militia service. It does not say that only those designated for militia service may keep and/or bear arms. The militia as defined is a sub-group of “the people”. You are getting out too far over your skis on this.
to put it another way, so called blm and antifa are unregulated militia, they attacked numerous locations from 2016-2020, including connecticut avenue where they fire bombed a limo, on inauguration day, st johns church on june 1st, portland’s court house for 90 consecutive days, our little taste of beirut,
cb on June 1, 2023 at 7:21 pm said:
We knew this would happen… on how big a scale is the question:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a33gj/ai-controlled-drone-goes-rogue-kills-human-operator-in-usaf-simulated-test
______________________________________________________________
cb:
“Vice” magazine has updated this story. It was a misunderstanding.
“A USAF official who was quoted saying the Air Force conducted a simulated test where an AI drone killed its human operator is now saying he ‘misspoke’ and that the Air Force never ran this kind of test, in a computer simulation or otherwise.” (https://tinyurl.com/abthewzr)
RE: UFOs–Referring back to my comment above on June 1 at 5 P.M.–The fact that the Air Force, in particular, has apparently not sent the data on UFOs it has to ARRO is a big deal, indeed, since it is very likely that the Air Force–given the mission it has to monitor and to defend our airspace and, now, this mission to include space, and since it has a wide array of monitoring equipment, ground and air based radars, aircraft in the skies, NORAD and it’s monitoring capabilities, and various satellites systems–has gathered the most data on UFOs.
Keep in mind that, over the last almost 80 years, the Air Force has been the military service most resistant to revealing any information about UFOs, and the apparent source of a decade’s long UFO disinformation campaign.
The fact that the Navy has also apparently not sent the mandated data to AARO is also significant, since AARO is also tasked with investigating the UFOs observed going in and coming out of our oceans, and traveling underwater, and in addition to it’s surface ships and submarines our Navy has also reportedly deployed a world-wide network of underwater sensors; all sensor systems which have reportedly detected underwater UFOs.
Cornflour–Could it be that this rogue AI story has just gotten too much attention, raised too many hackles, caused too much alarm, was too strong a scent on the wind–i.e. “the sheep look up,” so it had to be negated, quashed, declared a “mistake,” given the Emily Litella “never mind” treatment.
well forbin project, skynet the animatrix, the ai in eagle eye and i robot, ultron, most recently singularity, you get the message,
Snow on Pine:
Could the AI drone story be true, despite the government’s denial?
Well, Neo just wrote a short post on how we’ve become a low-trust society, and the military has a long and notorious history of misleading our country’s citizens, so that means doubly low-trust, but I’m old-fashioned and still try to work from evidence. In this case, I have none.
Everyone: I believe the Amendment is for EVERY man and woman, including the young who should learn early usage. I was broadening the vision, saying the Amendment exists to stop the government (and others) from tyranny, not just to arm a militia.
I was pointing out that the criticism of my words did not refer to the actual discussion I made about the term “well-regulated”, and not at all about militias and what that means other than to avoid a “poorly-regulated” one.
The attack on me was itself limiting, trying to show me that militia was the important word, and the quotes themselves chosen by the attackers were the limiting ones.
STOP limiting the Amendment to “militia”. Everyone, men and women, is entitled to the Right. I was pointing out the level of argument against my words ignored my ENTIRE point to make another that was exclusionary.
By focusing on the word “militia” you ignore the term “well-regulated” and what it could mean. They could have used a thousand terms. They were specific. Not one of you actually addressed the ONLY point I was making, and instead keep harping on “militia”, to the detriment of the Amendment.
My last statement:
The Amendment does not exist so that America could have a lot of people proficient in weaponry and thus they should have guns to practice and get skillful in case the (men by definition at the time) need to be a militia.
The Amendment exists to prevent TYRANNY. When that comes, it usually comes from the government, but it can also be lawless people in the immediate environment, who have nothing to do with the word “militia”.
All the examples against my comment ignored my comment and harped on the militia.
Stop giving our enemies the word-weapons to use against us.
If the Second Amendment is ever taken down, it will be by people who successfully argue that the word “militia” is the imperative in the language. My argument was that the important part is the insistence that all weaponized interactions be “well-regulated” and therefore legal AND be seen to be justice, not just imbued with the current (possibly law-fare) “legal”.
And that MEANS that every person should have the weapons to defend themselves, with no concern about militias other than that they be lawful and behave if they show up.
It is no accident that more than a million gun sales per month have been common these several last years, to the point that a recent report was that 42% of all U S. households had at least one gun.
If that isn’t a major sign of lack of trust I don’t know what is.
Minta, thank you for proposing an interesting thought experiment about just what the real meaning of a “regulated militia” might mean.
I am still inclined to accept the more conventional meaning(s) suggested by others herein, but I am not educated enough about the historical details to know for sure just what the (adult male) people ratifying the Amendment by Dec., 1791 understood that language to mean. I concur with you that it fulfills a natural law/ natural right to self preservation and thus to self defense, both as to personal danger or attack and to communal danger from enemies foreign or domestic (aka tyranny).
If we were to rewrite the Amendment in today’s language, hopefully we would make it clear the right to bear arms was held by all the people, and covered both personal use and self defense, and joint use to resist tyranny at such time that enough people were convinced we had been subjected to a severe “train of abuses”. [That does not necessarily end up meaning a real shooting civil war, as the threat of such a war might be enough to achieve the resistance and changes desired; but of course it could.]
The role of a citizen militia vs. a governmental military or mercenary militia might be ignored in a modern rephrasing, or given more detailed explanation. I am not sure how that would be worked out. But for those of us who do support this right, I have had an idea that perhaps the federal government can and should find a way to incentivize the states to provide some form of weapons training, possibly augmented with some exposure to military squad or similar tactics, etc., to show that at least 50% of the able bodied men and (say) 25% of the women in each state have received such training and are maintaining some level of proficiency with continued training. The governors would have to certify this each year to obtain whatever “sugar” the federal government would grant to them, to show they are complying with a goal behind the 2nd Amendment, to at least approximate a “people’s militia”. LEO and National Guard and related training might be substituted, etc., and the states might provide the weapons used for this training (not require gun ownership, per se). The details of this scheme are incidental to the main aim of providing a populace that is comfortable with these weapons and will provide a solid deterrence against those potential foreign or domestic enemies.
Clearly the states really ought to do this on their own initiative, regardless of any federal incentives.
We could write a book on all of this, but Joyce Lee Malcolm already has provided significant background history in her book To Keep and Bear Arms: The Origins of an Anglo-American Right [1996] — https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Bear-Arms-Origins-Anglo-American/dp/0674893077/ref=sr_1_1?crid=38L1AX6136TV4&keywords=joyce+lee+malcolm&qid=1685760768&s=books&sprefix=joyce+lee+malcom%2Cstripbooks%2C121&sr=1-1
Buy it used :-).
Thank you R2L! I’ll check out that book. I love to learn things.
How about a sophisticated version (NOT law fare) of something like: Freedom from both Government and Citizen Tyranny, being necessary to the security of a free State, the Right of the People to keep and bear Arms to individually prevent such Tyranny, shall not be infringed.
And then add something as a completely separate clause or even amendment about Militias if you want. They did that for billeting.
Moreover, the issue of militias themselves needs to be dealt with because of problems like that of Quantrill’s Raiders , who were deemed not legitimate enemy military units. Not to mention BLM and Antifa. The matter is cloudy, and needs its own amendment and careful definitional desiderata.
I am just throwing out ideas. My knowledge base is primarily Mathematics and Physics (UCLA), with a love of History.
the founders certainly saw militia as effective opposition to standing armies like the british army which were largely conscripts and some mercs, as you say the quantrills did some holding actions against union forces, we saw this in the phillipines, and we employed similar actions some 40 years later against the Japanese,
Miguel Cervantes: how true! The whole issues of militia and military and guerrillas are fluid.
As I said above somewhere, the issue cannot be about militias and security, because all tyrannies are (while they last) secure. See North Korea. Civilian weaponry is to maintain FREEDOM, not just Security. Mixing them with the idea of government-needed armaments and manpower is a problem.
So is the definition of whose guerrillas are patriots and whose are vicious thugs who need to be hanged. (This one is probably unresolvable. Reading the memoirs of Brits, such as Sir Harry Smith, who fought in the Peninsular Campaigns against Napoleons troops, and who then participated in the Brit burning of the White House and in the Battle of New Orleans before returning to fight in Waterloo, gives me a rollercoaster of emotions. Of course, two of my brothers were Marines in Viet Nam 1968-1969) because we know what side we’re on in this world. Semper Fi)
Thank you both, R2L and Miguel Cervantes, for taking the time to see the point I was trying to make.
i didn’t know about harry smith’s pedigree,
in my parents native country, the mambises were the main force against the spanish standing army, headed by weyler who waged a ruthless counterinsurgency campaign, among his number was a young soldier who settled down to run a plantation after the war, his name was angel castro, of course you know his bastard son’s deeds more than his own rep, that would be fidel