Here are the words of the Second Amendment to the Constitution: ’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.’
Anyone who can read should conclude that its intent is that the ‘right of the people to keep and bear Arms,' and that that right ’not be infringed’ is intended to provide for ’a well regulated Militia’ that is ‘necessary to the security of a free State.’
In 1789, the thirteen free States, especially those whose economies were based on slavery, had reason to fear a strong central government, and wanted the legal right to raise a militia, if ever the central government threatened its ‘security’ (which really was a polite way of stating its right to own slaves). And in 1789, those expected to be called upon to form such a militia were expected to bring their own guns. Plain and simple, that is what the Second Amendment was all about back in 1789.
That is, until the gun lobby, financed by gun manufacturers, managed to convince the Supreme Court that the final fourteen words of the Second Amendment (the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed) could stand alone and need not be related to its first thirteen words (A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State). That was the opinion written by the late Justice Antonin Scalia in D.C. vs Heller, decided by the SCOTUS in 2008.
Justice Scalia's reasoning recognized that while the existence of National Guard units in every state made calling on armed civilians to form militias obsolete and unnecessary, these civilians possessed arms even before their participation in such militias might have been called upon, and that uninfringed right to possess them pre-existed and cannot be taken away, having nothing specific to do with the composition of militias.
And those final fourteen words of the Second Amendment said precisely that, while its first thirteen words, referring to the no-longer-necessary militias could be flushed down the toilet.
Since then, Republican appointees to the Supreme Court have not only accepted Scalia’s reasoning but refused to go along with effective national or even State efforts to regulate or control the purchasing and marketing of guns, leading to their ready availability.
News of still another school shooting must lead the United States Senate to recognize that their approval of Supreme Court Justices is directly connected to the problem of gun violence.
I believe that from here on in, Justices must be approved by the Senate only if they recognize that D.C. vs Heller must be reversed, or at least modified by another decision so that enforceable regulations for the purchasing and marketing of guns can be included, and realistically, accomplished on a national basis. State regulation will not solve a national problem.
And if the Justices lie during their confirmation hearings (as several did when asked about abortion rights), they should face impeachment, the SCOTUS having no formal or informal ethics code. While it is ‘people’ who kill ‘people,’ the primary instruments by which they do so are guns, and they must be regulated.
Recognizing that States today all have established militias in the form of National Guard units, repeal and rewording of the Second Amendment would take decades. But the election of Senators who understand the Second Amendment and the need to stop the proliferation of guns would be a quicker solution since they are the ones who approve SCOTUS appointees.
Meanwhile, school children and teachers are being murdered thanks to Justice Scalia, whose memory is soaked in the blood of thousands of Americans killed since 2008. Republicans praise his decision. They should be ashamed of it. Change can be accomplished without causing a problem for hunters and target shooting sportsmen, so that issue ought not be raised.
The proliferation of weapons in this country must be stopped. Now! You can do your part on election day! The following article, about Senate races can be a giant step in that direction, if Democrats are elected in sufficient numbers to that body.
JL
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Eleven Senate Races
Of great importance in the upcoming election is the vote for one-third of the United States Senate in which each State has two Senators, a compromise made in 1789 to get the slaveholding States to endorse the new Constitution.
As a result, Wyoming with about 600,000 residents has two Senators as does California with about 39,000,000 residents! And this is where Supreme Court Justices are confirmed! It is in that Supreme Court where our Constitution and its Amendments are routinely misinterpreted because of appointees who put their political allegiances ahead the interests of the American people.
To get rid of this ‘thumb on the scale,’ a Constitutional Amendment would be necessary, probably not achievable during the lifetime of anyone reading this. That’s why control of the Senate is so, so, important.
Here is what is on the line!
There are five Democratic Senators (Montana’s Jon Tester, Nevada’s Jacky Rosen, Ohio’s Sherrod Brown, Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey, and Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin.) running for re-election. All five races are very close with Tester’s seat in the greatest jeopardy.
Equally important are Senate vacancies in three States where Delaware’s Lisa Blunt Rochester, Arizona’s Ruben Gallego, and Maryland’s Angela Alsobrooks are seeking to fill them.
Finally, there are three States where Democratic challengers (Colin Allred in Texas, Debbie Muscarsel-Powell in Florida, and Gloria Johnson in Tennesee) are running to unseat incumbent Republicans. Democrats stand their best chances in Texas and Florida.
I recommend choosing two or three of these candidates to support by donations (if you can afford to do that) and writing postal cards, for which I can steer you in the right direction, if you email me at jacklippman18@gmail.com.
A bumper sticker on your car or a sign in its rear window would be great! (I am not a great fan of telephone banks or old-fashioned knocking on doors.)
You might consider making a donation to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee which supports all of these candidates. Reach their site at https://www.dscc.org/ or just CLICK HERE.
Personally, I have donated to the DSCC, and individually to Tester, Muscarsel-Powell and the Harris/Walz campaign.
Control of the Senate is very, very important.
JL
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Comma-La Knows Politics are Local
A recent article in the New Yorker magazine about the Democratic Party concluded with this quote. 'Democrats have put their stock in national candidates but the real work of party-building is local and year-round. Give people places to show up, fun things to do - opportunities to identify with the party as such, not just with a celebrity nominee.' Sort of reminds me of former House Speaker Tip O’Neil saying that ‘all politics are local.’
Republicans have long recognized this and as a result, control many State legislatures and governorships, creating numerous thorns in the side of Democrats who might have a greater presence in the Federal government.
‘, la ‘ (a piece of clever shorthand for Harris, keyed to the pronunciation of her first name – ‘comma – la) recognizes this, remembering O’Neil’s advice and she is making a point of using the Party’s resources to strengthen local Democratic organizations.
JL
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The Sports Section
Those who follow Jackspotpourri might recall that I am, and never have been, a fan of the New York Yankees. The reason for this is a minor one, but one of significance to me. They do not put their players’ name on the backs of their uniform jerseys! Being a Yankee fan meant being able to identify the players by their appearance. Being unable to do that disqualified you from being a true Yankee fan, in their eyes, and they don’t seem to care about that. I see this as an example of unnecessary hubris or exaggerated and unwarranted pride. ‘So, go root for the Mets,’ is their answer to New Yorkers and others. (I know the jerseys are numbered, but who keeps track of what players wear what numbers, anyway? Do they expect viewers to keep a list of the league’s players by numbers next to their TVs?)
That’s why It distressed me, as the 2024 college football season opened, that two fine teams, Southern Cal and Notre Dame, sent their football teams onto the field wearing jerseys without names on the back, manifesting this same unnecessary hubris. When watching a football game on TV, if given the choice, I always root for teams that identify their players by putting their names on their jerseys.
As for the ones that do not, they’re no better than the snooty Yankees, who took pride in fair-weather fans like Rudy Guiliani who ostentatiously wore their championship rings. So long as college football teams wearing nameless jerseys fill stadiums, and NFL scouts recognize the players, such football teams don’t really care about the fans.
Can you identify Southern Cal’s number 10 in this video of an unbelievable catch? (View it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLw4RpTPsLk or JUST CLICK HERE.)
If the Trojans had names on their jerseys, you would have immediately known it is wide receiver Kyron Hudson. Otherwise, you had to count on the telecasters mentioning it, which wasn’t guaranteed since they had to stall for a few seconds, probably looking at a program to figure out who Number 10 was.
JL
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Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri
Strange “Hits’! The large number of those accessing Jackspotpouri from Singapore and Hong Kong has somewhat lessened. I suspect that the Chinese are playing around with internet transmissions, possibly to try to identify who is reading them.
Email Alerts: If you are NOT receiving emails from me alerting you each time there is a new posting on Jackspotpourri, just send me your email address and we’ll see that you do. And if you are forwarding a posting to someone, you might suggest that they do the same, so they will be similarly alerted. You can pass those email addresses to me by email at jacklippman18@gmail.com.
Forwarding Postings: Please forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it (Friends, relatives, enemies, etc.) If you want to send someone the blog, you can just tell them to check it out by visiting https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com or you can provide a link to that address in your email to them.
There’s another, perhaps easier, method of forwarding it though!
Google Blogspot, the platform on which Jackspotpourri is prepared, makes that possible. If you click on the tiny envelope with the arrow at the bottom of every posting, you will have the opportunity to list up to ten email addresses to which that blog posting will be forwarded, along with a brief comment from you. Each will receive a link to click on that will directly connect them to the blog.
Either way will work, sending them the link to https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com, or clicking on the envelope at the bottom of this posting.
Again, I urge you to forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it, particularly if they are a registered voter. This is an election year. Spread the word.
JL
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