7th Circuit Appeals Court will not reconsider decision to strike down Illinois' ban on concealed carry

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The question now seems to be whether Illinois will appeal to the Supreme Court.  My own hope is that they do appeal.  This is the best case to create a precedent on concealed carry laws.

A federal appeals court won't reconsider an earlier ruling that Illinois' concealed carry ban is unconstitutional.
A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Illinois' ban in December and gave lawmakers until June 8 to legalize the concealed carry of firearms.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan asked for all 10 judges to review the decision, saying it conflicted with decisions by other federal appellate courts and goes beyond what the U.S. Supreme Court has held. . . .

Thanks very much to Tony Troglio for this link.

New Fox News piece: Will Obama push us over the edge?

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My newest Fox News piece starts this way:

Obama thinks he has a mandate for change. But this is the man who ran for president in 2008 promising to “cut net spending” and to shrink the federal government; a man who promised that his “stimulus” spending was only temporary. 

Obama hid regulations from view until after his reelection. The press maintained the fiction that Obama supports the Second Amendment and is no threat to citizens’ keeping guns for self-defense. Yet the day after his reelection, Obama called for the UN Arms Trade Treaty negotiations to be started again, and a few weeks later he promised to put the full force of the federal government behind a push for massive new gun control. 

Even on taxes, Obama’s post-election demands contradicted the positions on which he campaigned. Sure he promised higher taxes on “the rich.” But during the campaign he said that he wanted $800 billion from them. As soon as Republican speaker of the House, John Boehner, agreed to raise that amount by eliminating various credits and deductions for high-income taxpayers, Obama announced that he really wanted twice that amount. . . . 

What the Obama administration predicts for gun control regulations

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From The Hill Newspaper:

The gun lobby is citing the nine-page memo in ads running in 15 states, including several swing states with Senate elections next year. In the ad, the NRA says the memo proves that the administration “believes that a gun ban will not work without mandatory gun confiscation” and thinks universal background checks “won't work without requiring national gun registration,” according to the AP. . . .

New piece at National Review: "Ted Cruz Sets the Record Straight on Guns"

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My new piece at National Review starts this way:

Newly elected senator Ted Cruz has jumped right into the fray. So far he is the only senator who has dared challenge the many blatant falsehoods President Obama and many congressional Democrats have been pushing regarding guns, in particular the bogus claim that 40 percent of gun sales are done without background checks. 

Unsurprisingly, his willingness to speak out has recently made Cruz a target of the media. While he has come in for a range of attacks from the New York Times, recently Politifact has focused on his statement: “the jurisdictions with the strictest gun-control laws, almost without exception . . . have the highest crime rates and the highest murder rates.” In the last case, they labeled his statement “false.” 

Is the “false” rating deserved? In Politifact’s explanation, it becomes more than a little bit obvious that their verdict is seriously strained, not least because they do acknowledge that context clarifies Cruz’s point. When using the term “strictest gun-control laws,” the senator was referring to gun bans (either a ban on handguns or all guns), and he was referring to so-called panel data as the evidence. 

This makes a considerable difference  . . . .

TSA: Protecting The Skies From Wheelchair-Bound 3-Year-Olds

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(By Andrew MacKie-Mason)

TSA "officers" in St Louis recently detained a 3-year-old wheelchair-bound girl, demanding to pat her down. The girl's parents were apparently even willing to allow the pat down, subject to the more-than-reasonable request that they be able to video record the screener, presumably to ensure that she remained appropriate.

The TSA "officer" in question, like many law enforcement "officials," apparently didn't take kindly to being met with anything less than total and immediate obsequience. She incorrectly informed the parents that it was illegal to record the video, and things seem to have snowballed from there.
TSA offered a half-baked apology to the family after the incident, but qualified the apology with a blog post full of attempts at justification and excuse. Here are some aspects of that blog post.

Our officer did initially mention a pat-down. We admit this was confusing, and contributed to a stressful situation. Very quickly, a manager was able to step in and give guidance.

The entire incident took over half an hour. Either the manager didn't arrive very quickly, or the manager wasn't much help.

Also, our officer told the passenger that it was illegal to film at the checkpoint. This is not the case, and you can take a look at our filming policy here.

If this was an isolated incident of a single TSA "officer" claiming that filming is illegal, it would be one thing. But it's not. Every single passenger-shot video of a TSA incident that I've seen includes at least one "officer" asserting that the filming is illegal. None of them are ever able to provide anything remotely approaching a citation for that assertion, but that doesn't stop them from harassing passengers until they stop filming.

In this case, the TSA "officers" were intimidating enough that the mother apparently didn't feel comfortable getting their faces on camera. That's unfortunate, because it means that the "officers" are shielded from the public scrutiny they deserve over this incident. Change only occurs where there's accountability.

Neither the child nor the parent was detained. TSA does not have the authority to detain passengers. Only Law Enforcement Officers can detain passengers.

Let's take a moment to admire the logic of this claim. TSA is using the fact that it's illegal for them to detain people as evidence that they did not detain them. "We didn't do anything wrong, because we're not allowed to do things wrong." I wish I'd known about that one when I was a child.

In fact, TSA detains people all the time. I've been detained by TSA "officers" on numerous occasions. Whenever a TSA "officer" tells you to stand in a certain spot and doesn't allow you to leave, you're being detained. They can play word games as much as they want, but the fact of the matter is they detain passengers whether they have the authority to or not.

Incidents like this can trigger a lot of emotions, but please keep the TSA’s mission in mind. We are committed to maintaining the security of the traveling public.

This is the epitome of everything that is wrong with TSA's attitude. In their minds, it apparently boils down to "we are trying to keep people safe. Anyone who says anything bad about us is getting in our way, and is therefore making the world more dangerous." I know it's trite, but who will protect us from TSA? Who will protect us from the "officers" who want to pat down 3-year-old girls without the accountability of video recording?

You can see the video shot by the mother (which covers only part of the incident) below.

Eric's Poetic Probing

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[Written May 29th]
Today began inbrilliant color as David, Dennis, and I woke up early to watch the sunriseagainst the background of Buvumu Islands. The three of us made the 25-minutehike along the shore of Lake Victoria, through the village of Katonga, and upthe rocky incline to the center of Lingira Island, this time unaccompanied byJack and Simba, our canine companions who almost always follow at our feet andstubbornly refuse to ever waiver their protection. The narrow alleyways betweenthe mud huts of Katonga were already bustling with people when we passedthrough.  Both mothers and childrenpaused their chores and watched curiously as we walked, but replied and smiledwarmly when we greeted them in Luganda. Following a few young boys herdinggoats along the path outside of the village, the three of us diverted and cutthrough the thick brush that halos the island’s raised center. Contrary to ourinitial thoughts, we made it to the top of the hill with time to spare. Davidand Dennis found comfortable seats on large rocks protruding from the ocean ofoluwanyi, the tall grass that covers the top of the island. I, on the otherhand, found a seat less comfortable on a forgiving termite mound, but luckilythe termites must not have minded. Soon the painted sky gave way to amagnificent Ugandan sun, which immediately saturated the landscape around us inlight. I have never seen clouds quite like these. We sat there in a silenceaccompanied only by the hum of a lake fly cloud some ten million strong, and feltthe waves of heat begin to bake the ground.
Today alsomarks the first of our work with the Water Kegs. The first couple kegs will beless assembly and more experiment as we work together to tweak and perfect thedesign to best fit the needs of the people. We plan to build 100 filters, buthave enough that we can experiment with different local materials andtechniques. In addition to the actual filter assembly, we are preparing to goout into the camps to survey the people’s habits and understanding of humanrights and water sanitation. The results will hopefully help to illuminate thespecific needs of the community in regards to our goals for the water filters.Titus, the chairman of Lingira Village, is very excited about the project—hisopinion is crucial for its success.
Everyonesends their hellos and well wishes. Jeebale.
Eric

Eric's Poetic Probing #2

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Precedingthe numerous stories and perspectives we each intend to post in the comingweeks, I’ve taken the liberty to post one of the many poems I wrote while inUganda. Enjoy.
Eric

Untitled #1
Wood boats long line
the muddy shore,Each bow pointing regally
towards horizonless Lake Victoria.
Men called kinyamas for their strength,
in uniform blue,
carrying women and children
to and from each boat.
Even a suited businessman,
riding a kinyama’s shoulders, avoids walkingthrough the mud.But for a traveler like me,
who wouldn’t want a piece of Victoria
fastened to their feet?