Does the 2nd Amendment Cover Edged Weapons?

Hot Air asks.

Oddly enough, this is one place where the originalist and the progressive ought to agree: one regularly hears progressive arguments that the 2nd should only cover weapons suitable for militia service in 1791. For example:



Swords were certainly part of at least the officers' equipment in the early Georgia militia, as were bayonets -- or at least they were supposed to be: a report from a rural Georgia militia in 1807 showed no bayonets, but at least one horsewhip and an umbrella. In spite of the intended "regularity" that is intended by the "well regulated" comment in the Second, irregularity was more commonly the order of the day in the poorer, less-industrial United States. Shotguns were very common (a fact apparently unknown to the US Supreme Court when it decided U.S. v. Miller, the most important 2nd Amendment case until Heller). Fighting knives weren't officially specified since bayonets were, but they played an important role among irregularly-equipped militiamen.

So the clear answer ought to be, "Yes, obviously." However, as with gun rights in general, knife rights fell into disuse and the disrespect of the law in the ensuing period during which the 2nd Amendment was treated as essentially null. There are all kinds of laws banning knives of various kinds, or beyond particular lengths; and for the most part, unlike gun laws, there are not exceptions for persons with permits.

Georgia is one case where the concealed weapons permit actually does permit knife carry as well, a matter in which I believe my own poor efforts were of some avail in persuading our state legislature. This year, the permit will really only apply to swords: any knife shorter than 12 inches will henceforth be unregulated entirely. The law will touch very few knives: the largest Bowie knives, machetes, and I suppose misericordes.

Swords technically will require the permit, but no one has ever asked me to see one when I've been carrying a sword around Georgia. They're unusual enough that everyone assumes, I suppose, that they're for some sort of historical re-enactment and thus nonthreatening.

So it's a good idea to consult your legislature about fixing the laws in your state. If you are looking for an organization to help you along, similar to the NRA but for knives, try the American Kife and Tool Institute, and also -- and more aggressively, to their credit -- Knife Rights.

Theory of Mind

On the upside, Reality Winner does believe that her fellow Americans have minds. On the downside, she thinks you're all suckers.

On Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Solari revealed in an Atlanta, Georgia court that Winner told her sister via a jailhouse phone: “I’m going to play that card being pretty, white and cute, braid my hair and cry and all."

As noted by The Daily Caller, Solari also claimed that "Winner told her mother that she wanted her to tell the media that she was afraid for her life."

“Play up that angle,” the 25-year-old said to her mother, during a jailhouse conversation.

Well, someone's a sucker, anyway.

Hezbollah / Iran Hearing

In addition to the more famous hearing, a much more revealing and brutal hearing on the Obama-era Iran Deal happened yesterday. You can watch it here.

Dr. Asher: "In the last years of the previous administration, for reasons that most definitely had to do with the Iran deal and concerns of interfering with it - which I thought were totally unfounded, as a former nuclear negotiator with Iran and North Korea - we lost much of the altitude that we had gained in our global effort. And many aspects - including key personnel who were reassigned, budgets that were slashed - many key elements of the investigations that were underway were undermined and it was a bit of a tragedy and a travesty."

Prosecutions were stopped, designations of organizations as associated with Hezbollah were stopped, and the nuclear deal has continued to provide what the chairman describes as a "windfall" for the terrorist organization.

Thanks for the Assist

Thanks to the Brady Campaign for their helpful billboard, which will doubtless improve public safety in Florida.

Wolf Time, Part III

I wanted to discuss the nature of Odin. The character in the book is not, exactly, Odin; he is manifesting some of Odin's qualities. I'll put this discussion beyond the jump so that you can avoid it if you are going to read the book and haven't yet.

In the meantime, those of you who have enjoyed Wolf Time may want to look at more of Lars Walker's work. If you also enjoyed the discussion, you might want to look at some of the previous discussions we've had of some of his pieces, either now or after you've read the works.

Hailstone Mountain is reviewed, and discussed, here.

Troll Valley is discussed here. It also occasioned a number of other moments of comment, including here, here, and here where it was mentioned because I found a house that reminded me of it while on a motorcycle ride near the Savannah river.

Now, for the mythology discussion.  I don't think it'll be as interesting to most of you as the other two discussion sections, but who knows?

A Vietnam Every Year

This year, there will be over 50,000 deaths due to overdoses in the US and it's still climbing.

* That's already the lethal equivalent to the US of a Vietnam war every year or WW2 every eight years.

* It's already twice as lethal to Americans as accidental deaths from automobiles.

* The majority of the deaths are of people 35-54 and it impacts both men and women. It also leaves millions of friends and family members with PTSD in its wake.

The answer? None is offered, but the author does propose a necessary condition of ending our culture war on each other.

My gut suggests the only social structure that will allow us to progress beyond this impasse is one that enables increased psychological diversity while at the same time aggressively preserving traditional paths of meaning. We should avoid at all costs seeing this as a struggle between oppressive identities or as a corruption of tradition that should be ruthlessly eradicated. A more complex middle ground that allows both to flourish is only way to avoid history's abattoir.

Maybe that's right, and maybe not. It does at least seek to preserve more of America, rather than eradicating the parts it doesn't like.

Conspiracy Theories & Fake News

National Review has a fun time bashing outlet after outlet that reported that Trump was under FBI investigation (as well as Senator Warren and Minority Leader Schumer). These are many of the leading journalism outfits in the United States.

Today's hearings showed their sources were all wrong.

Trump wasn't under investigation.

"But he'd better be now!" cries the New Republic.

Obstruction Is As Obstruction Does?

So the Comey hearings were good in the sense that speculation has now been replaced by fact. The memo, reported anonymously and without the news media actually seeing a copy (it was reportedly read to them over a phone), has been confirmed by Comey to have been authored by himself. He has added in this testimony that he felt, at the time, that Trump wasn't talking about the Russia investigation during the conversation he documented; just about letting Flynn off any troubles that might arise out of the phone calls between Flynn and the Russian ambassador. As far as I can tell, no crimes were committed by those calls; deceiving the Vice President by mis-characterizing the calls is not a crime, and there is no report of any quid pro quo talk or anything else in those calls that could be criminal.

So, no obstruction of justice, because the matter Comey thought he was being pressured on didn't involve any crime. Plus, Comey confirmed that Trump was never under investigation regarding Russia -- destroying several major conspiracy theories about "Russiagate" in the process.

Meanwhile, the thing that really did impress my left-leaning friends today was the revelation that Lynch had instructed Comey not to refer to the Clinton investigation as an "investigation." They thought that was a bombshell in terms of evidence of pressure from on-high to resolve a certain legal matter quietly rather than by the law. (Hot Air agrees). Comey thus provided clearer evidence for obstruction from the Obama-era Justice Department than by Donald Trump.

It's good that we got this out there, on the record and in public. I know some would have preferred if this just went away, but at this point the rumor mill has been replaced with facts on the record. Now we can move on without any suggestion that there is a cover-up, especially given a special counsel digging in to whatever remaining questions there are around Russia.

Steve Earl: "So You Wannabe an Outlaw?"

Today NPR has an opportunity to listen to Steve Earl's new Outlaw Country album. If you like it, the album will be out for purchase on the 16th.

Speaking of older artists in these genres, here's Rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson doing "Thunder on the Mountain." The band is absolutely tearing it up.

DB: Mattis Changes Title

In an effort to better align the title of his office with the duties and obligations he executes, sources say that Mattis will unilaterally change his title from Secretary of Defense to First Lord of Destruction.

One senior defense official said that other titles considered were Purveyor of Devastation and America’s Mighty Hammer of Righteousness. However, First Lord of Destruction had a nice “Marine Corps meets Sith Lord” kind of ring to it, the source said.

“If any of you sons of bitches calls me secretary, I’ll punch you right in the throat,” Mattis told members of the press in a recent briefing.

“I’ll call him whatever he wants,” one visibly shaken undersecretary of defense told reporters, on condition of anonymity. “Just as long as he doesn’t hurt me again. I called him Mr. Secretary once and he punched me right in the throat.”

Love of Honor

It's difficult to translate into English.

The exact meaning of philotimo is hotly debated, given that the word belongs to the pantheon of Greek lexical items that defy easy explanation. ‘Love of honour’, its official translation, is a utilitarian yet insufficient attempt to convey the constellation of virtues squeezed into the word’s four syllables. When I asked various Greeks about their own perception of philotimo, I received very different responses.

“Doing the right thing,” Pinelopi Kalafati, a doctor, told me. “Loving and honouring God and your society,” said priest Nikolas Papanikolaou. "Striving for perfection,” answered actor Kostis Thomopoulos. “Stepping out from your comfort zone to help someone in need,” suggested Tatiana Papadopoulou, a volunteer in Malakasa detention camp for refugees.

As the article suggests, there's a dark side to this, as there always is with honor. But, out of the same well, there is a fullness and a flourishing of virtue that otherwise does not occur.

Disconnection

ISIS attacks Iran's parliament.

Wretchard: "Half the world is turning men into corpses and women into slaves. The other half is turning boys into girls and girls into boys."

Wolf Time: Part II

Today's discussion is about the right way how to live a good life in an ethically confused time. How can one do it? Is it possible? What virtues are the right ones for such a life?

As fate would have it, we have an excellent intro into this discussion from our neighbors to the north.

Legislation passed by the Canadian province of Ontario has granted authorities the right to take children away from parents who refuse to accept their children’s “gender identity.” Critics of the new measure launched a petition aiming for a repeal of the “totalitarian” child abuse bill.... It deprives parents of their earlier right to “direct the child’s education and religious upbringing.”

The family is now only allowed to “direct the child or young person’s education and upbringing, in accordance with the child’s or young person’s creed, community identity and cultural identity.”

In fact the law is uglier even than that description, bearing the marks of the worst kind of identity politics.

The matters to be considered in determining the best interests of a child are changed. The child’s views and wishes, given due weight in accordance with the child’s age and maturity, unless they cannot be ascertained, and in the case of a First Nations, Inuk or Métis child, the importance of preserving the child’s cultural identity and connection to community must be taken into consideration.... the new Act includes the child’s race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, family diversity, disability, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

...

Societies are required to make all reasonable efforts to pursue a plan for customary care for a First Nations, Inuk or Métis child if the child is in need of protection, cannot remain in the care of or be returned to the person who had charge of the child immediately before intervention by the society or the person entitled to custody of the child and is a member of or identifies with a band or a First Nations, Inuit or Métis community. Customary care is defined as the care and supervision of a First Nations, Inuk or Métis child by a person who is not the child’s parent, according to the custom of the child’s band or First Nations, Inuit or Métis community.

An equivalent to section 86 of the current Act, which prohibits Roman Catholic children from being placed in the care of a Protestant society, institution or family and Protestant children from being placed with a Roman Catholic society, institution or family, is not included in the new Act. Instead, a society is to choose a residential placement that, where possible, respects the child’s race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, family diversity, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and cultural and linguistic heritage. In the case of a First Nations, Inuk or Métis child, priority is to be given to placing the child with a First Nations, Inuit or Métis family, respectively.

Lars Walker could have written that law into his book.

So what do you do about it? What do we learn from Wolf Time about how to deal with such a world?

A Further Conversation with Joan C. Williams

I mentioned Dr. Williams' piece on the white working class, and the need to show them honor, a few posts below. Slate magazine has undertaken an interview to get her to expand on her ideas.

Here are two excerpts where the Slate author tried to push her off the idea that it's on their side not to be scornful.

But as for people like us, we should have some commitment to honesty. What attitude should we be taking toward people who voted for a racist buffoon that is scamming them?

Here’s the absolutely sobering truth. A lot of them saw those aspects of Trump, and yet they thought he was the best candidate. Democrats have given the Republicans the precious gift of being the party that’s out there talking about jobs for people who lack college education. Two-thirds of Americans aren’t college graduates. And sometimes the message that they have heard is, “if you want a future, graduate from college.” Two-thirds of Americans are not college graduates, and what Trump said was, “I am going to offer you good jobs even if you don’t have a college degree.” The policy solutions he proposed were supply-side economics, bringing back coal, and chitchatting with a few employers. Those are not effective policy solutions, but as long as Democrats don’t say anything but that you guys are racist, are voting for a racist, they’re going to keep on voting for Trump.

...

And if you tallied up the time that Hillary Clinton spent talking about jobs for the American people versus Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton spent way more time. And if you look at their websites Hillary Clinton has more plans, or had, for Americans without college degrees than Donald Trump does, and the more sensible plans, at least by my analysis and I think your analysis. Don’t “average people” have some responsibility to learn this.

No I think that’s completely unrealistic.

I agree it’s unrealistic, but I am not sure whose fault that is.

I am. I think the Democrats are—I’m damn sure they are at fault for that. The reason that Trump won was about 80,000 voters in Rust Belt states. Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, and others were begging that Hillary Clinton campaign in those Rust Belt states and talk to those people about jobs and about other concerns that blue-collar Americans feel very, very strongly about, and they were told no. And they were told to adhere to a script of Donald Trump is unqualified, and Hillary Clinton is super qualified and wouldn’t it be awesome, and a progressive gesture to vote for a woman for president. Let’s break the glass ceiling. That is an incredibly well-designed message to alienate these voters.... The glass ceiling is a very ineffective message. Not only for the men, but also for the women, because what does glass ceiling mean? It means women like me, born with a silver spoon in my mouth, get to have jobs like the jobs my husband and father had. Why should working-class people care? You know, newsflash, they don’t care.

There's another challenge about how important it is to talk about race where she turns the charge around in an interesting way.

"The Lion of London Bridge"

A profile in courage, as they say.

Qatar

I thought the Saudi-led move against Qatar, which houses CENTCOM's forward deployed base and other key military facilities, was one of the most alarming pieces of news I've seen cross my desk in a while. Trump apparently thinks it's a victory.

Who's right? I guess we'll see.

FIRE: Left Wing Profs Need Free Speech, Too

A fair point.

Much of the recent intolerance of campus speech has come from the left, and has been widely covered by conservative media outlets under the guise of a concern for the state of free speech on campus. Why, then, do these same outlets remain comparatively quiet when the intolerance for speech is coming from the right? Free speech is free speech, and if you believe that the right to openly express controversial political opinions is important, you should be as concerned about Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s right to free speech as you were about Charles Murray’s or Ann Coulter’s — and vice versa....

I have worked as a free speech advocate for more than 12 years now. In that time, it seems as if the extent to which we insulate ourselves from opposing viewpoints, and demonize the people who hold them, has increased dramatically. Admittedly, this is just my sense of things, but it is a sense I have heard echoed repeatedly by colleagues, friends, family, and virtually anyone with whom I discuss the work I do. It feels as though we have reached a point where many of us, from across the political spectrum, recognize that this is a problem — but it feels insurmountable, and we don’t quite know what to do about it.

If you feel this way, start being a role model now. If you disagree with professor Taylor’s remarks about President Trump but are horrified by the threats made against her, send her a note of support. Share one of the few reports about her story with friends who might not otherwise see it, and let them know what you think. Similarly, if you disagree with Bret Weinstein at Evergreen State College but are appalled that police can’t ensure his safety on campus simply because he expressed his views, send him a note of support. Be a vocal supporter of the right to free speech not only when you agree with the speaker, but also — especially — when you disagree with the speaker.

Related: "A New Wave of Left-Wing Militants is Ready to Rumble," at Mother Jones. They don't seem to be taking the advice to heart.

VA: New Electronic Records to be "Seamless" with Military System

We'll see about that. Still, it does sound like an improvement.

D-Day

A terrible day that made for many beautiful tomorrows, so many of which are now already yesterdays.

Sen. Warner: Intercept Story only Part of Russian Campaign

Senator Mark Warner wants you to know that the Russians did far more than spoof a voting company.

"I don't believe they got into changing actual voting outcomes," Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said in an interview. "But the extent of the attacks is much broader than has been reported so far." He said he was pushing intelligence agencies to declassify the names of those states hit to help put electoral systems on notice before the midterm voting in 2018....

"I really want to press the case. This is not an attempt to embarrass any state. This is a case to make sure that the American public writ large realizes that if we don’t get ahead of this, this same kind of intervention could take place in 2018 and definitely will take place in 2020."

Faith in the integrity of our elections is of the utmost importance to the peaceful transfer of power.