Yesterday, the radio opera was “Elektra” by Richard Strauss. Itis based on te Greek myth, but I have only ever seen it in modern dress. (The first time may not have been intentional – bot when Chrysothemis had her back to the camera – it was televised – viewers could easily see the zipper in the back of her costume.) It’s one of his early operas, like “Salome,” and, like Salome, it’s all in one act and the heroine dances at the end and then dies. Aside from thet, they’re very different. It was under 2 hours, so when it ended and I turned the stream off and the radio back on, I got to re-listen to the last third of “Rheingold” again.
I like cats (and most other animals.) I don’t like climate change. We used to have permafrost in the Rockies. Back in the late seventies, when I was still living in Alamosa, a former Marine Corps colleague visited with his wife and two kids (who must now be in their late fifties) who had never seen snow. I was able to call the local paper and get directions to a glacial permafrost area within easy driving distance. It wasn’t really snow, but the kids were thrilled. There are concerns about thawing permafrost releasing CO2 – but it’s also known there are viruses in there. I don’t see why this one would not spread to humans, though it hasn’t yet, thankfully.
This by Robert Reich could be very depressing. But it also could be very motivating – it puts additional faces on “We must avoid this at all costs.” If you find that depressing, and don’t need any more motivation, you may want to skip it.
Yesterday, I got up earlier than i had been doing, and got a few things accomplished, including my taxes. It should have been easier than it was had I not somehow lost track of my Social Security 1099, lost some time looking for it, and finally I had to go online and download it. But it’s don now. I even got the email the IRS has accepted it. (As I predicted, no money will change hands either way.)
Johns Hopkins is very proud of this study, and with reason. It’s the first ever To consider non-fatal shootings along with deaths (And it’s like pulling teeth just to get the truth on deaths.)
Yes, I’m doing an all-gun post today. The two stories came out at the same time so although they’re not exactly the same, I feel they are related, and thought I would put them together
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.
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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.
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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 posted Steve Schmidt’s opinion on Robert Hur before I had seen Robert Reich’s, or, for that matter, VP Harris’s. Both pointed and worth seeing.
Because today is what it is, I am using a Superb Owl pic in lieu of the usual logo.
The SPLC’s report on the attitudes of young Americans toward guns and gun safety, compiled with assistance from the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund and the Polarization & Extremism Research & Innovation Lab (PERIL) is complete, and can be found here. The study examined “young people’s access to guns, experiences with gun violence, feelings of safety and mental wellbeing, as well as their views on male supremacy, racial resentment and the Second Amendment.”
Yesterday being a slow Sunday, I had plenty of time to beat myself up over not having accomplished anything. I tried not to, but the fact is I really didn’t accomplish anything. I’ll try to do better so that can pat myself on the back next week (hopefully without breaking my arm, as the saying goes.) It’s not just me – my email is down also.
Joyce Vance did a piece on gun control which is IMO quite pointed. Without saying so explicitly, it demonstrates that we have allowed ourselves to be snookered by thugs using our own Constitution into a position where we really can’t do much without repealing the Second Amendment. Yes, there are people valiantly trying, but our best efforts fall into the category of stable door when steed is gone.What we really need to do is to repeal the Second Amendment, and then adopt military rules on gun safety into federal law. Of course I don’t think that’s going to happen. And, what with ghost guns, it may be too late even for that. However, her column will give you enough information on the Uvalde report and the division at DOJ which produces such reports, to realize that there actually are people trying to do something – anything – to help. But it is, of course, an uphill battle. GOP has stood for “Guns Oveer People” for as long as I can remember.
Yesterday was one of those days I just couldn’t seem to get ahead. Sometimes that happens – but it doesn’t give me a lot to talk about, nor time to talk in. Not being Seinfeld, or one of his writers, I can’t really get any content out of it. Maybe that’s not a bad thing.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Crooks & Liars – GOP Activist Who Couldn’t Wait For RBG To Die Shoots Wife, Kills Self
Quote – Fun fact: Alembik first received national attention after he tweeted that “Ruth Bader Ginsburg can’t die soon enough,” and of course, now he’s dead…. I’m glad his wife was not killed. Btw, we need common sense gun laws. Everyone in his orbit seemed to know that he was struggling with mental health issues — and he had a gun. In fact, he had a concealed carry permit, or at least he did in 2007 Click through for story. Personally, I”m wondering what’s wrong with people who said he was always smiling. That’s not a smile. (Not to be confused with “alembic,” which was a medieval Arabian still used in alchemy.)
Western Slope Now – Ouray’s new via ferrata!
Quote – A via ferrata is a protected mountain pathway consisting of a series of rungs, rails, cables, and bridges embracing the rock face…. the via ferratas became a civilian attraction in Europe by the 1950’s and have moved into the USA only within the last decade…. This course climbs 1200 feet across 12 pitches, with trails intermixed between. Click through for details. Yes this article is lightweight. That’s fine with me. Ouray, named for a Ute chief, is an adorable little town, sadly in a very red part of Colorado. There’s a small hotel where Lillie Langtry once stayed. The website has a short video which includes some lovely scenery.
Thursday, Robert Reich (accurately) predicted that, by Friday, the UAW would be on strike against GM, Ford, ad Chrysler. The way the giants have been acting, I really didn’t doubt it. Would you want to buy a car assembled by a senior manager on a CFO or whatever? I certainlt wouldn’t. (And that isn’t even one of his five reasons.) Yesterday was also the 60th anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing which killed four girls. Both Joyce Vance and Marian Wright Edelman commemorated this tragedy. Marian, an educator, emphasized how, in the civil rights movement of the soxties and seventies, children were forced to lead. Joyce, an Alabama lawyer, made a point of how it was Doug Jones who finally brought some closure by prosecuting the last two living perpetrators of the outrage. Both takes are valid, and both are necessary. Contrary to the anti-woke mob, one can’t be ully human withou looking at the worst (and also the best) that humans can be. Also yesterday, jury selection began for the trial of two of the officers accused in connection with the death of Elijah McClain. Yes, I realize how ironic that is, and how discouraging. But also yesterday, Denver’s neighbor Mount Evans had its name changed to Mount Blue Sky – in order to stop honoring the instigator of the Sand Creek Massacre.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Crooks & Liars – So Guess Who’s Suing Fox News Now — And Why
Quote – New York City’s pension funds and the state of Oregon are suing Fox Corporation, alleging in a lawsuit that the Fox News parent company failed shareholders…. “The lawsuit, which was filed under seal in the Delaware Court of Chancery and named Fox Corporation board members and its executives as defendants, accused the media company of having chosen to “invite robust defamation claims, with potentially huge financial liability and potentially larger business repercussions, rather than disappoint viewers of Fox News.” Click through for details. I did not see this coming. More power to the plaintiffs!
Wonkette (on Substack) – Domestic Abuser Shot At Woman In Parking Garage, Wants Supreme Court To Give Him Back His Guns
Quote – On Nov. 12, 2020, a 25-year-old woman told police that she agreed to meet Rahimi in a parking lot after receiving a Snapchat message from him saying that he “had something for her.” When she arrived, she told police she saw him kneeling by the driver’s side of a vehicle, wearing all black clothes, including a black ski mask covering his face. Rahimi had his hands around his waistband, she said, where he appeared to hold a pistol with a magazine larger than the gun itself. As the woman got back into her car and drove off, she heard five or six gunshots, some of which appeared to strike her car. “Vehicle was shot multiple times with the driver inside,” the police report reads. Again, Rahimi went on to open fire in public five more times after that. Click through for full story. I’m kind of out of words.
