Columns

SMITHEREENS: Reflections on Bits & Pieces

Gar Smith

Monday June 27, 2022 - 06:13:00 PM

In one week, the Court has made it clear that it believes guns are entitled to more rights and protections than women." — California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, June 24, 2022

Supreme Risk

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas would like us to believe that he never read his wife's messages promoting Trump's plot to steal his lost election. It now appears that Judge Thomas doesn't read his judicial rulings either.

On June 23, Thomas wrote the decision that overturned New York City's regulations on purchasing and owning concealed weapons. In his judgment to void New York's law, Thomas stated: "the Constitutional right to carry arms for self-defense is not a 'second-class' right."

But that, in fact, was exactly what the New York law stipulated: you have a right to carry a weapon—but only for "self-defense."

Under the Thomas Principle, no one needs to cite a Constitutional right to armed self-defense. Under the new order, no one has to give any explanation at all for why they want to strut around town with a 9mm Luger tucked inside a hidden holster.

But, if a gun isn't being used for "self-defense," what other possible justifications exist?

• "I want a gun because my brother calls me a 'wimp' and I want to feel 'manly'"
• "It's New York and I'm afraid of subway rats."
• "I want a gun because I'm planning to rob a liquor store."
• "I want to carry out a mass-shooting at an elementary school."
• "I want to kidnap my neighbor and hold her for ransom."

• "I'm feeling suicidal but I get nervous around knives, needles, and nooses."

If there is a positive note in this dark announcement, it might be that the "concealed carry" ruling may not apply to the purchase of assault rifles, which can be carried but are difficult to conceal. Of course, requiring someone to say they are buying an AR-15 for "self-defense" would be ludicrous on its face.

Supreme Abolition

Within a day of ruling that every American has a right to buy any weapon for any reason, the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade.

Thanks to the addition of three new members of the Court (aka "Trump's Trio"), the 5-4 vote ushered in a Brave New World in which a woman can be imprisoned for years for swallowing an abortion-inducing pill while children can be blown to pieces in their schoolrooms by merciless, God-sneering gunslingers exercising their newly court-sanctioned Constitutional rights.

Thanks to the Electoral College, pay-to-play politics, and a Supreme Court that renders judgments that do not represent the majority of our nation's citizens, the US can no longer call itself a democracy.

Chalk Up Another Milestone for Free Speech

Political organizers are always encouraging activists to promote progressive change by "hitting the streets." Some Berkeley crusaders have taken that advice literally—taking their "messaging" to the sidewalk in front of Berkeley's Main Post Office on Allston Way.

A few days ago, a new "sidewalk memo" appeared, scratched in chalk, over 60 feet of cement. It was directed to UC Berkeley administrators and it read as follows (as one walks eastward towards the campus):

YOU
CAN
DO
THIS
Please get the
"Dark Money"
Hedge Fund $
Big Tech $
Devil-lopers $
Criminal UC Regents $
Out of Berkeley

Most States Elected NOT to Celebrate Juneteeth

The raccus ruckus and happy hullabaloo that marks the celebration of Juneteenth was markedly missing from a majority of US states. And not a slim majority, either. Only a third of America's state governments marked Monday, June 20, as a national paid holiday. (Also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and Juneteenth Independence Day."

Since President Biden signed the Juneteenth holiday into federal law in June 17, 2021, two-thirds of the US has failed to fully celebrate a date designed to mark "the end of slavery in the US."

According to National Public Radio, "26 states have yet to adopt Juneteenth as a paid public holiday." (They merely "observe" or "commemorate" the date, without declaring it a permanent, paid holiday.) Not a surprise: seven of the outliers are members of the former slave-holding Confederacy. Absolutely a surprise: California is among the hold-out states that has yet to declare this National Holiday a State Holiday.

According to a count by the Congressional Research Service, "32 states have not passed legislation to recognize [Juneteenth] as a [permanent, paid] state holiday."

The states that have decided to formally honor the end of slavery include: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

Footnote from NPR: Four enduring myths about Juneteenth are not based on facts.

Reading the Fine Print

My doctor recently prescribed some medicine. When I picked it up at a local pharmacy, I noticed the paper bag contained the pills also contained a two-page prescription information sheet. I didn't get past these first two sentences:
"This is a summary and does NOT have all possible information about this product. This information does not assure that the product is safe, effective, or appropriate for you."

Why Cops Aren't the Best Protection Against School Shootings

The science is in. Forensic investigations and family interviews have revealed that 80% of America's mass-shooters signaled their deadly intentions in advance—in online-postings and/or pre-crisis conversations. Other disclosures: most shooters are clinically depressed and suicidal and commit their crimes with the full expectation that they will not survive the resulting hail of police bullets.

And that means that having armed security guards on hand to "protect" schools is absolutely the worst decision you can make. Since the majority of mass-killers are anticipating "suicide-by-cop," these would-be killers would not be deterred (and may even be encouraged) to target schoolyards "protected" by armed guards and/or weaponized teachers.

We Are No Longer the United States of America

The USA has increasingly mutated into a dangerously polarized country with a population divided along extreme religious and political beliefs. It's not just a question of "red states" versus "blue states." The nation is convulsed by a philosophical war that is slowly morphing into a shooting war.

Congress is no longer a place where politicians gather to "do the people's business" by promoting the "common welfare." Politics has now become nothing more than a grim and angry battle for control.

The Democrats have proposed progressive reforms to improve the health and welfare of most Americans but the Trumpublicans response has been to stall, delay, or destroy any "radical socialist" gains. Instead of engaging in a legislative contest, the GOP's preoccupation is to block any and all democratic legislation. Trump Republicans are out to destroy the Democrats (and democracy as well) as part of the party's scorched-earth policy to seize power.

Case in point: The disturbing "RINO hunting" ad posted by former Navy Seal Eric Greitens. Greitens (who lost his seat as Missouri governor following accusations that he beat his wife and his children) is now running to become the GOP's next senator from Missouri.

The Greitens ad is fundamentally addled. On one hand, we have the NRA famously promoting gun ownership as a means of "protecting one's home" from armed invaders (aka "the government"). But what's does Greitens' campaign video show? A gun-tottin' Greiten and a team of well-armed US soldiers—in Old-Glory-flagged combat uniforms—breaking down the door to a suburban home with assault rifles drawn—and tossing in a concussion grenade for good measure.

In today's USA, even the residents of Trumplandia appear to be at war with one another. Perhaps it's time to start referring to the USA as the DSW, the Divided States of Warmerica.

Join the Peace Wave: A Pioneering 24-hour Global Experience

With the G7 nations meeting in Germany from June 26-28 and NATO converging on Madrid on June 28-30, teams of international peace activists have cobbled together a unique, around-the-world, live, DIY joint-exercise in online, global peace-casting.

According to the organizers: "Our goal is to speak up for peace and cooperation, the scaling back and dismantling of military alliances, the disarmament of governments, and the democratization and strengthening of international institutions of nonviolent cooperation and the rule of law."

This first-ever Peace Wave (24hourpeacewave.org) is set for June 25-26 and will address nuclear risks, climate collapse, hunger, and homelessness, and alternatives to "manufacturing crises for the benefit of weapons dealers."

The Peace Wave—a non-stop, live-streaming 24-hour rolling rally moving west around the Earth from 2 p.m. in Ireland on June 25 to 4 p.m. in Ukraine on June 26—will feature videos from protests, demonstrations, vigils, teach-ins, guest speakers, live music and art.