This blog concerns matters unique to the USA, which is after all my home. But then it suddenly veers to the Middle East – to Dubai. Word of warning: Fasten your seat belts! .
Adam Gopnik is a favorite author so it was a delight to find an article he penned about the Supreme Court. It was a delight as he does such excellent research, is so informed and has a solid background in seemingly everything he writes. One can tell when a New Yorker writer has little command of the subject he/she is writing – always too wordy, always rather haughty hoping their haughtiness will conceal the gaps in their knowledge. Haughty: arrogantly superior and disdainful. Many a synonym: vain, arrogant, conceited, snobbish, stuck-up, pompous, self-important, superior, egotistical, supercilious, condescending, lofty, patronizing, smug, scornful, contemptuous, disdainful, overweening, overbearing, imperious, lordly, cavalier, high-handed, full of oneself, above oneself; informal snooty, sniffy, hoity-toity, uppity, uppish, cocky, bigheaded, swollen-headed, puffed up, high and mighty, la-di-da, fancy-pants, on one’s high horse, too big for one’s boots; British informal toffee-nosed; North American informal chesty; informal, dated too big for one’s breeches.
Gopnik begins with a statement which will be the over arching theme. Spoken by”Mr. Dooley’: “Dooley’s line (minus the brogue) stated that, while the Constitution might follow the flag, the Supreme Court follows the election returns” He summarizes the cynicism felt by the intelligent: “The fear is that the Supreme Court in the current era doesn’t follow the election returns, but is there to keep the election returns from being followed.”
Then he begins to examine a topic near and dear to me, gun control, or rather, the lack of it in this country. Gopnik summarizes the mess this country faces, surely surprising most unthinking persons (who probably are unfortunately not reading this article) “Meanwhile, the idea that the one-sentence-long Second Amendment guarantees an individual’s right to bear arms is far from being a deeply entrenched principle of American law. It’s a new idea, seeded by a burst of ambitious special pleading by the National Rifle Association in the nineteen-sixties and seventies. (Richard Nixon’s former Chief Justice, Warren Burger, later referred to that campaign as “one of the greatest pieces of fraud” ever perpetrated on the American people.) It was then midwifed into being by Justice Antonin Scalia’s 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller.”
Gopnik lays the blame at the feet of Scalia. “Scalia overturned a century of jurisprudence with an argument based on originalism—choosing to interpret the words as they were allegedly intended at the time of their writing “ That single sentence summarizes and clarifies so much.
Gopnik then shatters the lack of rationality found in Scalia’s so called thinking:
“As an analysis of an English sentence, this is as absurd as arguing that “To be or not to be, that is the question”—to cite another famous comma clause—has nothing to do with the nature of being (or not being) and is really a comment on the nature of questioning. In fact, Hamlet isn’t asking “What is a question?” He’s asking whether he should kill himself. The Founders weren’t separating the well-regulated militia at the beginning of the sentence from other people who appear at the end of it; they were saying that members of the Rhode Island militia, and their peers in other states, should have the right to carry muskets.”
One man, alive and well at the time, stood in opposition writing the dissent. words at the time. “Indeed, a review of the drafting history of the Amendment demonstrates that its Framers rejected proposals that would have broadened its coverage to include such uses,” Justice Stevens wrote.In very recent years, more evidence has emerged that, purely on historical grounds, Stevens’s view is the correct one.” Gopnik cites two University of Chicago scholars with massive scholarship and research and their conclusion: “In other words, consulting actual historical sources suggests that the context of the Second Amendment had more to do with militias and magazines than with solo householders molding bullets over their hearths.”
This is powerful, read it I command you! “The assertion of imaginary freedoms in the face of obvious disasters has become the unique signature of the American right. The same liberty not to wear a mask or not to get vaccinated is shared in the insistence that gun regulation be disabled, more and more gun deaths notwithstanding. If this assertion becomes a reality, making the risk of more gun massacres even worse than it is now, we may need to seek more significant democratic remedies.”
Gopnik concludes: “The American people support gun sanity. The Supreme Court shouldn’t blindly follow election returns; but it must not be allowed to turn a blind eye to them, either. That’s wisdom in any century, using any dictionary—and offered in any dialect—you like.”
Gopnik places individual rights idiots in the same bag as the pro-gun goons – those that say it is an infringement of these rights to be required to wear a face mask or be vaccinated.
Words can be weapons and Gopnick wields his weapons well – he is a marksman. (Hahaha)
Your reading of the entire article is mandatory, do not play the individual rights argument on me! Here is the link, you have no excuse: https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-new-conservative-supreme-court-is-returning-to-the-second-amendment?utm_source=onsite-share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=the-new-yorker.
But back to the Middle East. Dubai gaining Alexis McBride’s favor again. At the moment, as photograph will reveal my left knee is causing difficulty despite months and months of comfort. I am now wearing a knee brace provided by a Dubai Doctor. Marriot Hotel called him, he and an able assistant arrived – a brace and a perception were provided and relief was found for the long trip back to San Francisco. All praise to Allah! This knee pain not good news but, in typical fashion, I shall survive – not only survive but thrive.
This terrific, splendid news from Dubai! The news from a reputable news source.
“Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI) raised AED50.45 million for the ‘100 Million Meals’ campaign through a numbers charity auction today. AED48.5 million was raised through auctioning single-and double-digit car plates and exclusive mobile numbers, and AED1.95 million through direct donations from the attendance. Organised in partnership with the Roads and Transport Authority in Dubai, Etisalat, and Emirates Auction, ‘The Most Noble Numbers’ charity auction sold four special car plate numbers, including the prestigious AA9, and five exclusive mobile numbers. Proceeds will go towards providing food aid for disadvantaged individuals and families across 30 countries during the Holy Month of Ramadan.The Most Noble Numbers charity auction coincides with Zayed Humanitarian Day, which falls on the 19th of Ramadan every year. It reminds us of the values of giving and humanitarian aide that the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan instilled in the UAE’s culture, making it an exemplary nation in charity and humanitarian work without discrimination of race, religion, or geographic location.
Organised under the patronage and in the presence of Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, the auction saw the attendance of Mattar Mohammed Al Tayer, Director General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA and Abdullah Salem Al Mana, General Manager, Etisalat in addition to several philanthropists, high-profile personalities, and businessmen to support ‘100 Million Meals’ campaign’s aid efforts.”The auction aims to support the ‘100 Million Meals’ campaign’s efforts to establish solidarity with those in need and help fight world hunger and malnutrition.”
The article concludes: “Innovative ApproachThe ‘Most Noble Numbers’ is the second charity auction that MBRGI holds to raise funds for the ‘100 Million Meals’ campaign. The charity art auction, which displayed rare and valuable masterpieces from world-renowned contemporary artists, raised AED36.6 million on April 24. Although ‘100 Million Meals’ campaign reached its target, raising AED100 million from 185,000 donors in just 10 days, the mission of giving continues, said a statement” . – TradeArabia News Service
This charitable act has special meaning for me which shall not be shared. Well, possibly to Wise Man, but no one else.
Photograph of left knee encased in brace atop a pillow. Plans for the day? Assembling a flower arrangement for a mother as it is Mother’s Day. Hopefully the brace will enable the collection of branch material. If it gets really painful my walker is in the closet. It was used in the rehabilitation of right knee surgery and is to be used in the event of pain to left knee. This from of my physicians. I have SO many, all paid for by my medical insurance.
