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The Scalia SCOTUS determined that the founding fathers meant for each American to be their own personal militia. So, for me, this isn’t surprising: “ At around 12:13 a.m., officers responded to a call about a person with a gun at 309 Linden Street, the Bristol district attorney’s office said.     “Officers said they found Nigel Vaughn, 40, outside the address in a dark SUV. When three officers attempted to frisk him, he violently resisted and opened fire.   “One officer was hit in the elbow, and another was struck in the abdomen but protected by his bullet-resistant vest, officials said. Officers returned fire, fatally wounding Vaughn, who died at a hospital shortly after. Both officers were treated and released by morning.” *snip* “ The suspect was wielding a Glock that was modified with a switch, a small device that “made the weapon fully automatic, capable of firing multiple rounds with one trigger pull,” officials said.” Yep. Automatic weapons in the hands of civilian...

I had measles as a child, before the vaccine. I survived with no discernible sequelae. My daughter got the vaccine, along with all the other childhood vaccines, also with no discernible sequelae.     Now, thanks to the anti-vaxxer propaganda and the RFK Jr policy of sowing doubt about the benefits and safety of vaccines, the population of unvaccinated kids is growing. In red states like South Carolina, which is seeing a surge in measles cases, the government is part of the problem.  Here’s a South Carolina physician “ One of the most frustrating aspects of this outbreak to me has been the reluctance of state leaders, large hospital systems, and institutions to speak clearly and publicly about what is happening. Silence during a public health crisis has consequences.  Our governor  and  lieutenant governor's statements  have focused on avoiding mandates and stressed measles vaccination as a personal choice, rather than emphasizing the benefits of h...

Back in the 1960s, college antiwar protests included protests against ROTC and other military training programs. Now I see where “Whisky Pete” Hegseth also wants to shut down graduate military education on university campuses. “Beginning next fall, the Defense Department will discontinue graduate-level professional military education, fellowships, and certificate programs at Harvard, according to the Pentagon News, a Defense Department-run information  service." *snip* “ In the same video, Hegseth said the department would next “evaluate all existing graduate programs for active-duty service members at all Ivy League universities and other civilian universities . . .” This is a bit of a flip-flop by Hegseth. “When Hegseth was a Harvard University master’s degree candidate at the Kennedy School of Government, he backed “equality, diversity, and accessibility,” and emphasized the importance of working with Democrats.   ““Our country and state must strive for equal opportunity fo...

Jeff Bezos is richer than God. He owns The Washington Post, formerly an icon of objective journalism. “Jeff Bezos could float almost limitless news organization losses forever and barely notice. What we’re seeing is something that should be familiar to any close of observer of the news over the last generation. Let’s call it the formulaic billionaire white knight press baron doom cycle.   “Our guy comes in as a White Knight. He solves every problem because money is no issue. The readers and the staff are happy and, because of that, the billionaires happy. The press watchers at the universities are happy. Everybody’s happy. It’s a for-profit operation and the buyer doesn’t want to lose money but it’s not a money-making purchase. The operation is purchased as a kind of public trust. He’s signed up as the protector and custodian of a public asset.” The WaPo isn’t a slow-motion suicide. It’s murder. What newspaper kills its sports section? Bezos killed the WaPo sports page. I don’t eve...

I see where Mussolini wannabe Steve Bannon has been asserting that ICE should swarm election polling places, ostensibly to prevent non-citizens from voting. “During Tuesday’s episode of his War Room podcast, Bannon outlined his vision, which, as I alluded to above, should not necessarily be taken as literal White House policy. But it mirrors concerns that Democratic officials have been sounding the alarm about for months. Bannon suggested that the administration should send in ICE agents to “surround the polls” in the upcoming midterms, supposedly as a means to prevent the election from being stolen. He also proposed invoking the Insurrection Act and sending in the Army to monitor election administration.   “We’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November,” Bannon  said . “We’re not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again. And you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stol...

Secure at home and facing no rival spheres abroad, Washington is allowing its alliances to slide toward protection rackets, its trade relationships toward trade wars, and major sea-lanes toward militarized zones. The institutions the United States once underwrote are fraying, and the markets it upheld are fragmenting. Some U.S. partners, including Canada and the United Kingdom, now look for short-term security wherever they can find it, even at the cost of long-term dependence on China. The result is not stability but the slow hollowing out of the relationships that once converted American dominance into a durable order. ~Michael Beckley