Yesterday, apparently, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and even Mitch McConnell read Mike Johnson the riot act, at the White House. When you are the Republican Speaker of the House and even Mitch gangs up against you, you are not just doing something wrong, you are doing everything wrong, and you are probably also a worm (no offense meant to earthworms, which are vital to plants.) On the personal side, I made a casserole in my crockpot which I had not made for literally decades, and found it as tasty as ever. It was something I threw together after receiving all the food allergy diagnoses of both me and Virsgil. It was a tremendous success thenm and still is.
I rooted for Alvin Bragg to win the election for DA in New York City, probably like everyone here. And also like everyone here, I was disappointed when he did not jump on Trump** immediately. And probably like everyone else, I suspected a lack of courage. Well, if it was, he appears to have grown a spine (or whatever body part you associate with courage. He has, as any same person would do in his position filed for protective and gag orders. With one exception. Joyce Vance writes:
“The threats made against Bragg personally were highly specific and graphic. They include threats to kill him, down to the type of weapon and scenario that would be used. Bragg nonetheless exempts himself from the order, and would permit Trump to continue to attack him, likely leading to more of this abuse and risk. That’s a feature that shows how reasonable Bragg’s approach is.”
Robert Reich writes on Bezos and Musk. Musk is clearly a Nazi. Bezos, I think , is just greedy, but I would not expect him to oppose Naziism if he thought he could make it pay.
I don’t claim that Heather Cox Richardson breaks down all the foreign policy considerations which are important just now – but she does discuss some you probaly didn’t know about. Not trying to be condescending – virtually no one (except professionals and maybe Beau) is ever interested in foreign policy unless something goes sour. And that’s not really the best time to start taking an interest.
Yesterday, the exterminator came. After looking around inside and out, he called his office and discussed the progress, and the bottom line is we are going to try a two-month interval instead of two weeks. Yes, that’s good news, although it won’t make much, if any, financial difference – when the visits are close together, each one costs less. (And they are quite reasonable anyway.) Also, I learned that I had chosen the winning photo for next year’s calendar’s cover photo for the Natonal Parks Conservation Association. Earlier this month, I had done the same for the Nature Conservancy. I never pick winners in situations like this … and now twice in a row. But I think I know why – and it’a not a question of taste. Both groups offered three photos, of which two were purely scenic and the third included a critter (one was an adult squeaking silkmoth and the other was 3 bear cubs). With odds like that, the majority is always going to pick the critter over the still lifes. Rocks, water features, and trees just aren’t cuddly.
This is from Monday from Mary Trump. She promised updates after consulting with experts, and was hoping to provide at least some of those yesterday. It shold be possible to get to the updates from this link if she has written it yet. If it’s confusing, search for “The Good In Us”.
I’m pretty sure there’s at least one person who reads her who also watches Seth Meyers faithfully. If it’s not you, you can still catch up on Monday night’s show here.
Yesterday, I slept in, and needed it. But as a result I didn’t get to reading comments until 9 pm. So if when you looked I hadn’t rec’ed you, you might check again, or check at Disqus.
It’s somewhere between difficult and impossible to evaluate the accuracy of information coming from halfway around the world, and from a nation not known for truth – but I surely hope some good comes of this.
Joyce Vance was so tired from cleaning chicken coops last weekend that her weekly “The Week Ahead” column was late. Which means I did not see it until yesterday. Here it is, and there is some interesting stuff in it, much of which is not aboutTrump**.
Yesterday, Trinette was by to bring in mail, take out trash and recyclables, and start the car. (Hi back to all.) While here, she noticed I had acquired an HD antenna and had not done anything with it. I know you all think I am highly computer literate, but the truth is, I had no more idea what to do with it than a dog who has caught a car. With a book or pamphlet of instructions, I could have coped, but it didn’t come with one. But Trinette got it working and set on PBS in practically no time. What a gem!
As a veteran, I’m deeply interested in this, because no one can be a MAGAt and a good soldier at the same time, any more than one can be a MAGAt and a patriot at the same time. The mention of individual unit commanders developing their own training tells me two things – first, that there are multiple unit commanders whose hearts are in the right place (and in sync with their brains), and second, that these commanders’ own superior officers have failed them. Yes, there’s much more to get out of this report; those were just what struck me.
Dearfield, Colorado, a town in Weld County (Northeast of Denver), now a ghost town, began to be homesteaded by black people in 1910. Eventually it became the home of 300 people of color, making it the largest black homestead in the state. It is already on the National Register of Historic Places. Now, descendants of the homesteaders, historians, and others who care, want it to be designated as a National Park. I for one certainly hope the effort succeeds.
Yesterday,as I said on Fridaay, the radio opera wasn’t an opera – it was a Requiem Mass and a movement from a symphony. But the orchestra was the Met Orchestra, and the Chorus was the Met Chorus, and the soloists – four for each pieces wereall Met Opera stars, and the conductor was the Met Opera Music Director. And, as I listened to the Mozart Requiem, and Beethoven’s Ode to Joy from the Metropolitan opera, I realized it was the second anniversary of the (insert adjective here) Russian war on Ukraine. (At least for now, my adjective is “despicable.”)- Well, the General Manager of the Opera is married to a Ukrainian-American, so it should surprise noone that the Metroplitan Opera does not forget Ukraine.
This has been on my mind. What is so different about it is that the murderers were children – not only the victim..
We already know – those of us who are alert to real news and intelligent enough to think about it – that the two partiea are not the same. So it’s no surprise that these contrasting arguments do not have the same legitimacy.
I am going to give the Furies a long-overdue Sabbatical (OK, technically only 6 months overdue but they’re exhausted) and work with some of their relatives for a while – not weekly, but when I run across something which deserves attention.
And, just now, it looks as though Ares is taking some time away from Venus, or how else to you explain what is happening with weapons of war? Any veteran, even those who support the Second Amendment in general, will tell you that weapons of war should only be kept or used by the military, not least because the military knows far more than any civilian about how to keep them safe – and how to keep innocent people safe from them. They absolutely should not be in the possession of illicit gangs, above all. And who would know that better than the god of War?
Certainly, if Ares had recently had a little heart-to-heart with Andrés Manuel López Obrador – or possibly one or more members of his cabinet, that could explain what is going on here – which has been going on for some time, has achieved some successes, and now appears poised and able to press, in a United States court, a suit which could be a game changer.
=============================================================
Mexico is suing US gun-makers for arming its gangs − and a US court could award billions in damages
The lawsuit seeks US$10 billion in damages and a court order to force the companies named in the lawsuit – including Smith & Wesson, Colt, Glock, Beretta and Ruger – to change the way they do business. In January, a federal appeals court in Boston decided that the industry’s immunity shield, which so far has protected gun-makers from civil liability, does not apply to Mexico’s lawsuit.
As a legal scholar who has analyzed lawsuits against the gun industry for more than 25 years, I believe this decision to allow Mexico’s lawsuit to proceed could be a game changer. To understand why, let’s begin with some background about the federal law that protects the gun industry from civil lawsuits.
Gun industry immunity
In 2005, Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which prohibits lawsuits against firearm manufacturers and sellers for injuries arising from criminal misuse of a gun.
Importantly, there are limits to this immunity shield. For example, it doesn’t protect a manufacturer or seller who “knowingly violated a State or Federal statute applicable to the sale or marketing” of a firearm. Mexico’s lawsuit alleges that U.S. gun-makers aided and abetted illegal weapons sales to gun traffickers in violation of federal law.
According to the lawsuit, the manufacturers intentionally design their weapons to be attractive to criminal organizations in Mexico by including features such as easy conversion to fully automatic fire, compatibility with high-capacity magazines and removable serial numbers.
Mexico also points to industry marketing that promises buyers a tactical military experience for civilians. And Mexico alleges that manufacturers distribute their products to dealers whom they know serve as transit points for illegal gunrunning through illegal straw sales, unlicensed sales at gun shows and online, and off-book sales disguised as inventory theft.
In short, Mexico claims that illegal gun trafficking isn’t just an unwanted byproduct of the industry’s design choices, marketing campaigns and distribution practices. Instead, according to the lawsuit, feeding demand for illegal weapons is central to the industry’s business model.
In response, the gun-makers insist that Mexico’s attempt to hold them legally responsible for the criminal activity of others is precisely the type of lawsuit that the federal immunity shield was designed to block. They argue that merely selling a product that someone later uses in a crime does not amount to a violation of federal law that would deprive a manufacturer of immunity. Additionally, the gun-makers assert that, even if Mexico’s lawsuit were not barred by the immunity law, they have no legal duty to prevent criminal violence that occurs outside the U.S.
The next legal steps
In January 2024, a federal appeals court in Massachusetts decided that Mexico’s allegations, if true, would deprive the gun-makers of immunity, and it sent the case back to trial court. Mexico now needs to produce evidence to prove its allegations that the industry is not only aware of but actively facilitates illegal gun trafficking.
Additionally, to win, Mexico will need to convince a Boston jury that the manufacturers’ design choices, marketing campaigns and distribution practices are closely enough connected to street crime in Mexico to consider the companies responsible for the problem. This is known as “proximate cause” in the law.
For their part, the gun-makers have asked the trial judge to put the case on hold while they pursue an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court has been reluctant to weigh in on gun industry cases until they have reached their conclusion in the lower courts, where most of them are dismissed and a few have settled.
High stakes for the industry
If Mexico does win at trial, its demand for $10 billion in damages could drive several of the nation’s largest firearm manufacturers into bankruptcy. Even if the case were to settle for much less, a victory by Mexico would provide a template for a wave of future lawsuits that could change the way the gun industry operates.
Similar theories about dangerous product designs, irresponsible marketing and reckless distribution practices in opioid litigation have transformed the pharmaceutical industry. Civil lawsuits have forced the drugmakers to take public responsibility for a nationwide health crisis, overhaul the way they do business and pay billions of dollars in judgments and settlements.
Mexico’s lawsuit holds out the prospect that the gun industry could be next.
==============================================================
Give it all you’ve got, Ares! Or, wait, please save aome energy to build up Ukraine and help them permanently and decisively preserve their independence. Thank you.
Yesterday, I received another grocery order. Only a week since the last ne, but there’s a terrific sale on some things I do use, and wich keep well frozen. The luck of the draw assigned me another really good driver. I adjusted her tip, and in my comments included that she needs to be teaching other drivers clsses in how to tie the handles of a plastic bag into a knot that un-knots easily in one movement so the bag can be used again. Pat may know what the knot is called (she said she’d be back probably today) but I don’t. But it’s marvelous.
This is a story about making change, and particularly, about one person making change happen. I’m impressed, not least because the western part of the state is generally pretty red.
If you think Republicans believe their base is dumb, just wait till you see how dumb they think black people are. (The full URL includes “substack” so be prepared to look for a “keep reading” button.
Yesterday, I had a visit from an old peoples’ services organization whom Trinette referred me to. She was very pleasant, but of course time was consumed
Certainly one doesn’t need to study the book (or the movie) to be able to see clearly what is happening,just based on published news (some true, some not so much). And just think how much more the FBI knows. With Trump** or without him, it’s not going to get any better unless it gets actively contained. And I have no idea how that’s to be done.
