What?

Headline: "Muslims have more DNC delegates than Montana, Utah and Oklahoma put together."

I assume that they actually are delegates from states, but still. Muslims are less than 2% of the population, but they've apparently become deeply involved in the DNC.

Finding a Balance

So, on the one side is the guy who just won't say the words "radical Islam." On the other, the guy who wants to refuse entry to the United States to all Muslims, period -- even US citizens.

In a way replacing the one guy with the other would represent a kind of balance, but is it possible that we could find another way?

Unpossible!

This story is perfect on so many levels. A mass shooting stopped by a concealed carry permit holder. Who was an Uber driver. In Chicago.

Pearl Harbor Day

We have problems of our own this year, but it is important not to forget our ancestors in the American project. They came through hard things, too.

The No-Fly List

If you are unsure about what exactly can cause you to end up on the no-fly list, there's an article on the subject here with links to the official government document. If you just want to read a pithy summary of the problems, one is here.

Of course, that's the standard for when the President is trying to get Islamic terrorists to stay off airplanes. Once the power expands to keeping his political enemies unarmed, I assume that an already-terrible standard will become unimaginably worse.

Also, you have to give up your data to the State. For security. As someone whose every secret was hacked in the OPM data theft, I find that hilarious. But of course, it's not my security they care about.

Medieval Gingerbread

Yes, you can make it.

Before you make this recipe, listen up. This does NOT taste like modern gingerbread. The texture is very different, and it is way spicier.

Duly noted.

What A Deal

In response to the President's speech, the NRA has dropped the price of a lifetime membership from a grand to less than a third of that -- just $300. As a reader of the Hall you may prefer organizations like Gun Owners of America, which is certainly understandable as they take a more hard-core line. Still, it's something to consider if you don't want to invest in a new rifle. Guns & ammo sales will be the best rebuke, but right behind that would be a major increase in NRA numbers.

We Just Shot That Down Yesterday

The President of the United States:

To begin with, Congress should act to make sure no one on a no-fly list is able to buy a gun. What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semiautomatic weapon? This is a matter of national security.

Oh, it's a matter of national security, is it? I guess we should just yield up our Constitutional rights just because you suspect us, then.

If you had any idea what your office was for, you'd resign just for having said that. Congress ought to impeach you for having said it, as it is at least malfeasance, a recognizable misdemeanor directly relevant to the performance of your duties. The only reason not to do so is that it would excite an ignorant public too much. The only reason not to impeach you, in other words, is that it isn't worth the trouble.

I think I'll go buy an AR-15. I've never had one. The only rifles I've ever owned have been old lever-action cowboy guns. I qualified expert on the M4 carbine, though. Why shouldn't I have one?

Well, stop me if you can. If anyone wants to contribute, to be a part of the Grim's Hall AR-15, let me know. We might build a really nice one.

Friars Are A Late Innovation

Innovation isn't always bad -- consider the humble Friar. Or the 1969 Dodge Charger R/T. Or the Harley Panhead... but I digress.

The word “friar” is from fraire (from the Middle Ages — the fraire Provençal), which means “brother.” The word arose with the creation of the mendicant (traveling/preaching) orders in the late Middle Ages, most predominantly by Saint Francis (Franciscans) of Assisi and Saint Dominic (Order of Preachers, or “Dominicans”). These “new religious” were no longer tied to monasteries and convents but went out among the people, to preach and to pray, to educate and to serve the sick.

We owe a lot to the mendicant orders. Sir Walter Scott explains:

1.
I’ll give thee, good fellow, a twelvemonth or twain,
To search Europe through, from Byzantium to Spain;
But ne’er shall you find, should you search till you tire,
So happy a man as the Barefooted Friar.

2.
Your knight for his lady pricks forth in career,
And is brought home at even-song prick’d through with a spear;
I confess him in haste—for his lady desires
No comfort on earth save the Barefooted Friar’s.

3.
Your monarch?—Pshaw! many a prince has been known
To barter his robes for our cowl and our gown,
But which of us e’er felt the idle desire
To exchange for a crown the grey hood of a Friar!

4.
The Friar has walk’d out, and where’er he has gone,
The land and its fatness is mark’d for his own;
He can roam where he lists, he can stop when he tires,
For every man’s house is the Barefooted Friar’s.

5.
He’s expected at noon, and no wight till he comes
May profane the great chair, or the porridge of plums
For the best of the cheer, and the seat by the fire,
Is the undenied right of the Barefooted Friar.

6.
He’s expected at night, and the pasty’s made hot,
They broach the brown ale, and they fill the black pot,
And the goodwife would wish the goodman in the mire,
Ere he lack’d a soft pillow, the Barefooted Friar.

7.
Long flourish the sandal, the cord, and the cope,
The dread of the devil and trust of the Pope;
For to gather life’s roses, unscathed by the briar,
Is granted alone to the Barefooted Friar.

Dear President Obama: Get Used To Losing

The country has moved beyond you. You're so removed from the reality of this nation that your words are empty. You bring these proposals to the people a day after the Senate rejected them? Had they passed the Senate, they'd have died in the House; had they passed Congress, they'd have died in the courts. The Friday before last, Americans bought enough new guns to equip the Marine Corps. You aren't even connected to the world we live in.

Islamophobia? We should always want to be fair to anyone, as a simple matter of justice. May we not ask, though, whether Islam doesn't embrace a view of women that is incompatible with the American view? If it is not, why not? Is it bigotry to ask about the concept of jihad, or the problematic parts of the Koran? We might thereby come to an Islam we could accept, but perhaps only thereby. Why ban the road that might lead to a compromise we could accept? Do you really think the American people are motivated, this week of recent weeks, by a desire not to ask compromises of Islam?

You live in a distant world. The chief peril now is not that you might win, but that the reaction to you will elect Donald Trump. Your last year is going to be embarrassing to you. I only hope it does not do too much damage to the nation you pretend to lead.

Another Ball Cartoon

Apparently this cartoonist is not an "anarchist" exactly, but something called a "minarchist."

Minarchism (also known as minimal statism) is a political philosophy and a form of libertarianism. It is variously defined by sources. In the strictest sense, it holds that states ought to exist (as opposed to anarchy), that their only legitimate function is the protection of individuals from aggression, theft, breach of contract, and fraud, and that the only legitimate governmental institutions are the military, police, and courts. In the broadest sense, it also includes fire departments, prisons, the executive, and legislatures as legitimate government functions. Such states are generally called night-watchman states.

That actually sounds pretty plausible. I tend to favor the Jeffersonian/Jacksonian approach that goes further, toward a state that uses its mechanisms to preference situations in which individuals own their own means of production, i.e., yeoman farmers or small businesses. I agree with their analysis, which is Aristotelian, that such a state avoids the chief problems of human politics.

However, I will state that this alternative doesn't sound so bad. Nozick is cited as a source for it, though, and he walked back his commitment to these principles later in life. I gather he felt that such a state didn't provide enough to ensure the protection of genuinely common goods, e.g., air quality or public education.

The NRA Is Coming Out Swinging This Time

The NRA is fairly credible on this point, as they were strong supporters of "Project Exile," which called for felons with guns to be prosecuted in Federal courts under a 1968 law that established a mandatory five year -- and up to ten year -- sentence in Federal prison for gun criminals. It's been their approach for decades: law-abiding citizens should have the full protections of the Second Amendment, but those who abuse their rights by committing crimes should be harshly punished. In that way, the nation has the benefits of the Second Amendment in terms of its protection against political tyranny and the protection of individuals and families against crimes.

These Federal cases are still sometimes brought -- I'm aware of a case in Tennessee right now involving a Federal prosecution on these grounds -- but he's right to say that the law could be applied very sweepingly to those areas in which most violent crime in America occurs. It doesn't have to be Federal police who make the arrest: it could be applied to everyone arrested who turned out to have a felony conviction and a gun. Even without raids or sweeps, you could pull a lot of these people off the streets for five years to a decade in the normal course of business.

Painting the death toll in the President's home town, which the President has the power to stop, is a fairly brutal rhetorical move. I don't mean to suggest that it is unfair. It just darkly underlines how hypocritical the President is on this issue of 'stopping the gun violence in our streets.' He has the tools. The NRA, far from being an opponent, has long supported the robust exercise of these laws. The ball is in his court, but he does nothing.

A Funny Review

I was ordering a copy of Orwell's Animal Farm, and saw this review:

From Library Journal

This 50th-anniversary commemorative edition of Orwell's masterpiece is lavishly illustrated by Ralph Steadman. In addition, it contains Orwell's proposed introduction to the English-language version as well as his preface to the Ukrainian text. Though all editions of Animal Farm are equal, this one is more equal than others.

Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

For Cassandra

Aircraft Designers and Love

Just adding to Eric's AMV, Miyazaki had another movie with a brilliant young aircraft designer falling in love, although the hero of the story is a flying pig.

Saturday Morning AMV

Miyazaki again. Only in Japan could you make an animated romance about an aircraft designer. But I suppose it's all the more interesting for that.

"Reconciliation" Is An Odd Choice of Words

The Senate vote on violating the Constitution was brought under the reconciliation procedures, which are supposed to deal with budget matters. The NRA reports.

Despite the seemingly innocuous title, the bill set up a dramatic showdown over Second Amendment rights.

The bill was brought under budget reconciliation, an expedited legislative procedure for a budget resolution to meet fiscal targets. Under this procedure, the bill required only 51 votes to pass the Senate and was limited to 20 hours of debate. It was also subject to a rule which prohibits non-budget related provisions from being added.

Anti-gun Democrats were nevertheless determined to exploit both the bill and recent tragedies to attach as many gun control amendments as possible. To proceed to debate on these out-of-order amendments, however, they had to reach a supermajority of 60 votes to suspend the rules. The pro-gun Senate you elected held the line. Every anti-gun amendment was defeated.

Long-time Second Amendment opponent Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) offered a far-reaching amendment that would have given the U.S. Attorney General what amounted to a discretionary veto on gun sales to anyone “appropriately suspected” of having some connection to “terrorism.” ...

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) also dredged up his ill-fated ban on private firearm transfers between friends and many family members. That was defeated by a vote of 47-50 – receiving seven votes less than it got two years ago....

In the days leading to the vote, gun prohibitionists and their allies in the media had whipped themselves up to a veritable frenzy. The pressure they brought to bear on the Senate was intense. Nevertheless, cooler heads prevailed, backed by sound research and empirical evidence.

Probably you should let your Senators know how you feel about how they voted, because the issue is likely to come up again.

That's Some Edge

Headline: "Loretta Lynch Vows to Prosecute Those Who Use 'Anti-Muslim' Speech That 'Edges Toward Violence'"

Apparently the Senate voted on that gun control "proposal" of the President's, that he or any of his agencies be allowed to ban whomever they want from purchasing firearms with no due process. Had Congress gone for it, the courts would have surely thrown it out -- it's a violation of the 2nd, 5th, and 14th Amendments. Of course, being a scholar of Constitutional law he must know this. He proposed it anyway, and got a vote on it because of Senate allies.

The contempt for the Constitution is growing very hard to ignore.

What? No Way.

Headline: "Obama is Wrong: Mass Shootings Do Happen Elsewhere, and More Frequently."

Norway had the highest annual death rate, with two mass public shooting fatalities per million people. Macedonia had a rate of 0.38, Serbia 0.28, Slovakia 0.20, Finland 0.14, Belgium 0.14 and the Czech Republic 0.13. The U.S. comes in eighth with 0.095 mass public shooting fatalities per million people. Austria and Switzerland are close behind.

In terms of the frequency of attacks, the U.S. ranks ninth, with 0.09 attacks per million people. Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland, Norway, Slovakia, Finland, Belgium and the Czech Republic all had higher rates.

Norway, Switzerland, Finland, Belgium? Aren't those some of the very countries that we're being told we should emulate as ideal models?

An Insight Into ClintonWorld

An email from the cache of correspondence Hillary Clinton kept on her private server during her tenure as Secretary of State shows that former aide Anne-Marie Slaughter proposed raising private funds for a Palestinian state. It “might be a crazy idea,” wrote Slaughter, director of the State Department’s policy planning office from 2009-2011, who suggested that a “pledge for Palestine” fundraising drive targeting billionaires “would reflect a strong vote of confidence in the building of a Palestinian state.”... It would also, she wrote, have a “shaming effect” on Israel.

The email provides a peculiar view into ClintonWorld, where the hard work of policy is greased by the kind of really rich people whose money really moves the world. And since billionaires—in the thinking of Clinton apparatchiks like Slaughter—are the arbiters of cosmic morality, how better to embarrass a U.S. ally?

Slaughter’s “crazy idea” isn’t just crazy, it is also probably illegal. U.S. policymakers aren’t supposed to be using their office to raise private funds to reach policy goals, regardless of the policy.