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Joinfortmill

Joinfortmill's Journal
Joinfortmill's Journal
March 29, 2023

Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms - And how the courts parsed and diluted it over time

https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/amendment-2/#:~:text=Second%20Amendment%20Right%20to%20Bear,Arms%2C%20shall%20not%20be%20infringed.

CONSTITUTION ANNOTATED: Congress.gov: Library of Congress

'A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.'

'For much of its early history, the Second Amendment went largely unscrutinized by the Supreme Court. The few nineteenth century cases implicating the Second Amendment established for a time that the Amendment was a bar to federal, but not state, government action,1 and the Court’s only significant Second Amendment decision in the twentieth century seemed to suggest that the right protected under the Amendment was tied only to state militia use of certain types of firearms.'

Then came Heller (my words):
'By the beginning of the twenty-first century, many of the U.S. Courts of Appeals that considered the matter concluded that the Second Amendment protected a collective right tied to militia or military use of firearms,4 while some courts and commentators maintained that the Amendment enshrined an individual right to possess firearms outside the context of militia or military activity.5 In the 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller,6 the Supreme Court held, after a lengthy historical analysis, that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess firearms for historically lawful purposes, including self-defense in the home.7

In the 2022 case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen,13 the Court considered the constitutionality under the Second Amendment of a portion of New York’s firearms licensing scheme that restricts the carrying of certain licensed firearms outside the home. In a 6-3 decision, the Court struck down New York’s requirement that an applicant for an unrestricted license to carry a handgun outside the home for self-defense must establish proper cause, ruling that the requirement is at odds with the Second Amendment.14 In doing so, the Court recognized that the Second Amendment protects a right that extends beyond the home15 and also clarified that the proper test for evaluating Second Amendment challenges to firearms laws is an approach rooted in text and the historical tradition of firearms regulation, rejecting a two-step methodology employed by many of the lower courts.16'
March 28, 2023

The inside story of why a Florida school removed a movie about Ruby Bridges

https://popular.info/p/the-inside-story-of-why-a-florida?utm_source=substack&utm_medium

Heads up, people. This is how easy it is to control school curriculum. Well worth the read (my words).

'Ruby Bridges is a civil rights hero...Bridges was the first Black child to desegregate an all-white elementary school in New Orleans, fulfilling the promise of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education...She faced a mob of protesters screaming racial slurs and had to be escorted by federal marshals. White parents wouldn't allow their children to share a classroom with Bridges, so she was taught alone. She could only bring food from home because federal marshals were worried that Bridges would be poisoned.

In 1998, Disney made a movie about Bridges' life...For years, schools in Pinellas County, Florida, have shown the film about Bridges as part of their Black History Month curriculum...parents were sent a trailer of the movie and asked to sign a permission slip. Emily Conklin, the parent of a second grader at North Shore Elementary in Pinellas County, decided not to allow her child to watch the film...But for Conklin, that wasn't enough. On March 6, Conklin filed an "Objection to Instructional And/Or Media Material" seeking to ban the Ruby Bridges film for all second graders — and even much older students.

According to Pinellas County School Board policy, after "a parent objects to the use of the material with other children besides their own child," the objection must be reviewed by the "School-Based Instructional Materials Review Committee,"...There is no time frame for these reviews. Critically, the "material in question will remain in use until the School-Based Instructional Materials Review Committee recommends a final decision."

Nevertheless, in response to Conklin's objection, North Shore Elementary banned the film from its school pending a review, according to the Tampa Bay Times.'





March 27, 2023

'...we cannot afford to look away'

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-week-ahead-8f6?utm_source=substack&utm_medium

Joyce Vance: Civil Discourse:

'...the former president’s first campaign rally to try to become the future president was launched, celebrating his connection to the convicted criminals who stormed the Capitol on January 6 to try to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power...“2024 is the final battle. That’s gonna be the big one...He was, predictably, pro-Putin and anti-prosecutor.

What of the grand old men of the Republican Party? A former president? Senators? Governors? Leaders of all stripes and at all levels? Silent, in abdication of public responsibility for the monster they’d invited in and have permitted to remain, no matter how much private distaste they may have for him.

For many people, it’s easier to ignore Trump than to pay attention. But we cannot afford to look away...Last week, lawmakers toured the District of Columbia jail where Jan. 6 defendants are being held, at the behest of Trump cronies like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz. They expressed concern that people held there reported being mistreated despite the fact that they have far better access to their lawyers and technology than most people in custody, and they had sufficient resources to tape the “J6 Choir” song with Trump.— Following the visit, first-term Texas Representative and former public defender Jasmine Crockett corrected the Republican narrative. “Somebody’s got to be here to tell the truth,” she said. “If we weren’t here, there would be no check for whatever it was that they said.” But Republicans don’t seem to be listening.'




March 26, 2023

'We wonder: Is change even possible?'

https://steady.substack.com/p/a-change-is-gonna-come?utm_source=substack&utm_medium

A history of the song, 'A Change is Gonna Come' by Dan Rather with some awesome music videos - Enjoy! (my words)


'To change the status quo, especially one built upon the legacies of racism and injustice that permeated the nation at its founding, it’s important that we hold onto a sense that progress is possible. With this in mind, we felt that an apt song for our “A Reason to Smile” feature this week would be Sam Cooke’s iconic tribute to struggle and hope, "A Change Is Gonna Come."

The song was also born from Cooke’s personal experience in Jim Crow America — particularly a formative incident when he, his wife, and his bandmates were turned away from a whites-only hotel in Shreveport, Louisiana.'

March 25, 2023

Trump kicks off his '24 campaign in 'Mecca of hatred' Waco today -- and there are parallels

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-waco/

'Trump’s rally Waco coincides with the 30th anniversary of the federal government’s siege of the compound of David Koresh’s Branch Davidians religious cult. By the time it ended, 82 Branch Davidians died– including Koresh and 28 children – as well as four federal agents....

“For a not insignificant slice of the right, Waco became the symbol of a federal government willing to target, torment, and...“Trump’s Waco rally comes as the former president argues that he, too, is being persecuted by three-letter agencies as he awaits a potential indictment in New York state.

“The Waco rally sets up the current campaign as a battle against the Deep State forces Trump claims are intent on destroying him and his fellow patriots.'
March 25, 2023

So, What Is Trump Hiding? My guess: Selling Top Secret information to our adversaries

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-supreme-court-2659654655/

'Trump is scrambling to keep evidence of criminality out of the hands of the Supreme Court — here's why'

'According to MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin..."Trump has made clear he believes this Supreme Court — controlled by conservative justices, three of whom he appointed — owes him one," she added, "My hunch is that Trump’s team let Corcoran’s testimony happen because of what’s likely involved in any request to pause, much less, review a crime-fraud-related ruling: the evidence."

"Put another way, if Trump had petitioned the Supreme Court to stay Corcoran’s testimony and document production, the justices would have seen some, if not all, of what Judge Howell and the three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit have already reviewed: proof that Trump misled Corcoran and engaged in criminal conduct," she elaborated.'
March 19, 2023

Why is billionaire George Soros a bogeyman for the hard right?

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-49584157

I wondered why George Soros is blamed for every goddamn thing by the rightwing crazies. The short answer is Alex Jones (my words)

'He's a Jewish multi-billionaire philanthropist who has given away $32bn....The Hungarian emigre, who survived the Holocaust and fled the Communists, is thought to have made in total about $44bn through financial speculation. And he's used his fortune to fund thousands of education, health, human rights and democracy projects...Established in 1979, his Open Society Foundations now operate in more than 120 countries around the world. But this bold philanthropy in support of liberal, democratic causes has increasingly made him the bogeyman of the right.

The first conspiracy theories about George Soros appeared in the early 1990s, but they really gained traction after he condemned the 2003 Iraq War and started donating millions of dollars to the US Democratic Party. Ever since, American right-wing commentators and politicians have gone after him with increasing fury and vitriol, and often with scant concern for the facts...But it was Donald Trump's election victory that took the attacks on Soros to a new and dangerous level.

Eight months into Trump's presidency, in August 2017, neo-Nazis held a torchlit procession in Charlottesville, Virginia...Among US right-wingers it was soon claimed that the violence was orchestrated and financed by Soros, in order to tarnish the reputation of President Trump. And they said the key to the secret plot was a man called Brennan Gilmore, who filmed the car being driven into the counter-protesters. Right-wing radio host Alex Jones claimed Gilmore was paid $320,000 a year by Soros and was part of a deep-state coup to oust the president...Gilmore, who never received any money from Soros, is now suing Alex Jones and several others for defamation.



Profile Information

Name: Jo
Gender: Female
Hometown: Northeast
Home country: United States
Member since: Sat Jun 15, 2019, 11:56 PM
Number of posts: 14,419

About Joinfortmill

self published fiction writer
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