CSotD: Sunday Short Takes
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Steve Benson offers this depiction of the Supreme Court ruling in Abramski v. United States, in which the Court ruled against so-called "straw purchasers" or people who purchase guns on behalf of others.
Despite the straw man's argument, the Court did not grant an exception for bogus purchases made on behalf of sweet, innocent little Dorothy, ruling that sweet, innocent little Dorothy needs to pass her own background check.
The case involved a police officer who went to a gun dealer who offers discounts to cops and bought a gun for a relative, lying on the federal form and claiming that the gun was for himself. The court said that, when a form asks for information and specifically notes that it is illegal to lie about it, then it is illegal to lie about it.
As Jon Stewart suggests, the fact that it was a 5-4 decision was disturbing.
But there you have it: Scalia and his three cronies feel it's okay to lie on the form as long as you're not buying the gun for someone who isn't legally entitled to own it.
This is consistent with the position previously endorsed by the Court which says that, while the Constitution specifically states that gun ownership is protected because states must have the right to operate their own well-regulated militias, it is unconstitutional for states to regulate their militias.
Everyone has the right to consider themselves part of a militia, without interference from the government.
We all agree on that point, right?
I do wonder how Scalia, Alito, Roberts and Thomas would have ruled if a naturalized citizen, applying for a passport, had lied and said that he was born in Cleveland rather than in Tehran.
After all, he's legally entitled to a passport, so who cares if he fudges on the questionnaire?
Best excerpt from Scalia's dissent:
On a lighter note
I've got nothing to add to Dave Blazek's gag in today's Loose Parts, except that it made me laugh, which is, after all, one of the stated criteria around here. A cartoon doesn't necessarily have to make me think, and this one didn't.
Well, except to the extent that it made me think of this:
Rerunning the memories
And while repeat cartoons don't show up here often, today's Classic Cul de Sac demonstrates what a keen and affectionate-yet-penetrating observer of children Richard Thompson is, and it pings my own recollection of having kids that age.
Richard and I think a lot alike, at least insofar as the notion that what makes Alice so special is that, while she is to some extent the ungovernable demon child familiar to comic pages, she never seems to slip from being a handful into being an actual problem, except occasionally for her contemporaries, and even they seem to accept her as part of the scenery in their lives.
Like the Otterloops, I never despaired of my children and was always perfectly aware that, however challenging one of them might be at a given moment, that moment would pass and that the essential kid was, at core, delightful.
This particular piece resonates because putting the kids to bed was my job from toddlerhood to upper elementary, and, yes, there was a prolonged period in which the process became framed in a rigid liturgy of the same songs, the same story, the same Mr. Bill-style puppet pratfall gags.
I don't remember how long this lasted or how I managed to wriggle out from under it, but we all got through it and I didn't really mind telling the goddammed story of the goddammed "Tinder Box" several hundred times in a goddammed row.
Really. I didn't.
And, after all, it truly is a good feeling, to know you're alive.
Gah! That wasn't a memory after all. It was a flashback.
Support your local artist, and even distant ones
If you will kindly direct your gaze to the right rail, you will see a new thing to click on, entitled "Cartoonist Support Sites."
I'm inviting artists with subscription services and Kickstarter campaigns and suchlike to go there and tell us how their particular support program works.
And, in order to give that some purpose, I'm also inviting fans of cartooning to indulge their fantasy of becoming a patron of the arts.
For the right price, I'm sure you could get a cartoonist to paint delightful images all over your ceiling, but more modest patronage is also encouraged.
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