America in Crisis: Unmarked Cop Cars No Longer Indentifiable On Sight; Also, Cramped Cabs

Oh, shit.

TJ: Sen. Byrd died.

@SanFranLefty: Does Cheney still walk the Earth?

@Dodgerblue: Unfortunately. He was in the hospital over the weekend for a transfusion of puppy and baby blood.

OMG the eelights will suffer the indignity of being forced to drive in cars meant for the little people.

I would like to see a Smart Car limo…

T/J: The Supremes just decided something about gun rights. I need to cut through the crap and read the opinion. Developing.

Scotusblog is down. Twitter overcapacity. Someone just took a big dump on the information superhighway.

OK, here it is: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1521.pdf. Majority holds that the Heller decision (D.C. gun rights case) applies to the states and local gov’ts under the 14th Amendment.

@Dodgerblue: The fuck????

Well, I guess I know what Kagan’s first question will be about.

@Dodgerblue: Translation into showspeak, please? Or some near approximation?

@Benedick: Basically, D.C. fucked over every other city in the U.S. when it comes to gun control.

@Benedick: Nobody can stop you from packing heat anywhere you want to go. Or thereabouts.

@Dodgerblue: @mellbell: Got it. Found it. Thank you for helping to inform the uninformed. Though I should add I was happier before I knew what it meant.

On a slightly better note, the Court also ruled 5-4 that the Christian Legal Society can’t bar gays and then demand that UC Hastings School of Law fund their activities.

Also, Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s husband, a well-known and loved attorney and law professor in DC, died yesterday.

@Dodgerblue: Wait is that the municipalities can’t outlaw hand guns case that overturned the other SCOTUS case that said they could?

@Dodgerblue: Question answered. The old case was good law — a midwestern (?) town had outlawed hand guns. Fucking retards on the SCOTUS.

We used to have a Crown Victoria. Other cars used to pull over into the right lane when they saw me coming up behind them. Another cop fave was the Chevrolet Caprice. Friend of mine, a former union activist, went in for a car wash. They asked her, “would you like the law enforcement discount, ma’am.”

As for the McDonald case, remember that you guys know at least two responsible gun owners who keep firearms in their homes for hunting, sport of protection and that neither of us have killed anyone, robbed a liquor store or shot up a school. Also, I didn’t shoot anyone I saw on the trail yesterday. You may now uncase the broad brushes.

Chicago had outlawed handguns. Bad, bad idea to impair states’ and cities’ ability to regulate that on their own. The NRA must be having a party and shooting their guns in the air.

@redmanlaw: Dude, I totally shot up a liquor store and robbed a school yesterday, although now that I think about it, I might have gotten the verbs and the nouns mixed up a little bit in planning.

I just dislike it when it’s the court painting with an overly broad brush.

This past weekend, 26 shot in gun-free Chicago. Down from 52 the previous weekend.

@IanJ: The case I’m thinking about dealt with a small municipality, and the SCt said that they had a compelling state interest in public safety, and hand guns could be outlawed. Period. The gov’t has a compelling state interest to keep its citizens safe. If outlawing hand guns is a tool the govt can use to do so, I’m all for it.

You are more likely to be shot by someone you know than by a stranger.

@IanJ: It (the law/ordinance) wasn’t overbroad. It was specific. You can’t live in this town with this type of firearm. Period.

ETA: Sorry, Ian — I misread your comment.

In other SCOTUS news, they just accepted cert on a case involving Arizona’s employer sanctions law, an anti-illegal precursor to SB1070.

@redmanlaw: Holy crap. What’s up with that?

@IanJ:

And of course no one in the teabagger wing of the NRA will notice that this was a federal court overruling local government; don’t the teatards hate the “activist judging”? :)

@Dodgerblue:

I am SO getting a bazooka.

@Tommmcat Still Gets Carly Confused With Meg: Heard you already had one…

@JNOV: Heh, I was about to say, “Wait, we’re arguing the same point!” I find myself in the odd-seeming position of being a gun owner, and someone who enjoys going out to the range every once in a while, but also being in favor of sensible, well-thought-out gun control. Reactionary, knee-jerk gun control, not so much, but I can understand limiting access in some cases.

@redmanlaw: I’m not possibly prepared to argue for or against what Chicago’s doing. I’d just rather that they had the option.

@IanJ: If we could find a way to keep idiots, assholes and bad guys from getting guns without affecting the rights of everyone else, I’d be all for that. Unfortunately, bad guys will always get what they want. For instance, gun control in Mexico* and Jamaica is not getting the job done.

* while some semi-automatic weapons are making their way south from the US, most of the serious drug cartel hardware such as select fire and full auto rifles, RPGs and grenades comes from military stocks (rampant corruption in the armed forces) and from other Central American countries from sources worldwide. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-arms-race15-2009mar15,0,7497626,full.story Weapons, like water, flow toward money.

@IanJ: Again, I’m sorry. I made assumptions based on things I thought I remembered you writing in the past. Stupid of me. I’ll try to read more carefully and thoughtfully.

@redmanlaw: Like I said.

@redmanlaw: Like I said, I’m not possibly equipped to argue for or against gun control. Maybe I’m wrong that it seems like a good idea. I don’t know.

@JNOV: No worries. No need to apologize, but I certainly accept your apology.

Incidentally: read Scalia’s concurrence. Totally took a dump on Stevens. One last time, for nostalgia’s sake.

Jackass.

@chicago bureau: I really don’t wish painful deaths on many people, including enemies, but I put Scalia and Cheney at the top of the “hope you get a flesh-eating cancer that makes your dick fall off and then you die” list…