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Large tract in Geismar eyed for business park – The Advocate

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Danzig

New Roads developer L.J. Grezaffi is opening a new, 437-acre phase of his Ascension Commerce Center west of Gonzales and is eying clients with distribution and warehousing operations.

The existing first phase of the industrial park is located north of La. 30 in the Geismar area west of Gonzales and was developed by Grezaffi's business, LJG Land Company.

Ascension Commerce Center II will be built on land farther north of La. 30 and west of West Robert Wilson Road and connect with Ascension Commerce Center I, Grezaffi said.

Grezaffisaid he finished selling all the lots in Ascension Commerce Center I at the end of 2022 and still had people calling for sites.

"I recognized the need at that time and decided to develop Ascension Commerce Center II on the best land in Ascension Parish," he said in a statement.

Located between Interstate 10 and La. 73, the existing business park and its next phase, which together will be more than 1,000 acres, are in a section of La. 30 that has developed with small and medium-sized business.

Many rely in some way on the Mississippi River region's chemical corridor.

In the news release, Grezaffi added the second phase of his business park will offer the first buyer a 269-acre site inside the park and will concentrate on larger tracts of 10 acres or more. Some smaller sites between one to 10 acres will also be available, however.

Grezaffi said the property is the last large tract in the La. 30 and La. 73 area that is not owned by petrochemical plants. Grezaffihad tried unsuccessfully to develop homes on the property, a onetime cow pasture known locally asBuzzard Roost.

On Dec. 22, Grezaffi's LJG Land Company bought the property for $11.8 million from SLC, a company held by Ascension developer Grady Melancon, according to parish land records.

Kalamazoos Borgess hospital cut its midwife staff. Now its reconsidering. – MLive.com

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Danzig

Ashley Daniels has worked in labor and delivery for Ascension Borgess hospital in Kalamazoo for more than a decade.

The Kalamazoo nurse was born in that hospital. Its where she delivered her four children. But the way its staffed now, she wouldnt recommend her loved ones go into labor there.

In August, Borgess took steps to cut its nurse midwife staff from seven full-time caregivers down to three. But the move, which was explained to staff as a financial COVID-19 recovery effort, resulted in all but one midwife leaving, Daniels explained.

This used to be a unit I encouraged my friends and family to deliver at, and now I cant say that, she said. Midwifery care is the gold standard. That is a term thats used all over the place because you get that bedside, emotional and physical support that physicians arent trained to give.

The decisions being made are completely opposite of what benefits the community and our birthing mothers.

Six months later, the health system may be reversing its decision. Daniels said she and her colleagues were told last week the hospital would be looking to bring its midwife staff back up to six personnel.

Hospital representatives didnt return messages from MLive seeking comment. There is, however, an online job posting by Ascension to hire at least one certified nurse midwife in Kalamazoo.

Jessica English is an advanced certified birth doula and owner of Birth Kalamazoo, a doula and childbirth education agency. She heard about Borgess re-expanding its midwifery staff from a hospital nurse, and called it a great move.

Weve been vocal about what a loss this is, English said regarding the previous cuts. There is really robust research that shows having a nurse midwife improves outcomes. Thats the No. 1 reason why people want midwives.

Its better for the community if we can get Borgess back in the swing of offering midwives to their patients.

Theres a misconception by some that midwives simply assist in homebirths. While thats within their skillset, its only a fraction of the job.

In hospital settings, midwives are registered nurses who have additional training to specialize in womens reproductive health, from adolescence through menopause, including pregnancy, labor and childbirth. They do everything a doctor can do leading up to and during childbirth, except for surgery when complications necessitate it. Then, midwives turn to partner physicians.

There are also certified professional midwives, who are licensed and trained in community-based births. They typically work in homes or birth centers rather than hospital settings, but offer similar individualized care focused on patients ideal birthing scenario.

One thing that sets us apart (from labor and delivery physicians) is the way we match client goals with the type of care they want instead of telling them the way well do things, said Emily Dove-Medows, president of the Michigan chapter of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Its a more bi-directional model of care.

A 2018 study published in the Journal of Midwifery & Womens Health found that among women with low-risk pregnancies, midwifery care was associated with substantially fewer preterm births and labor interventions with no increased odds of neonatal deaths or intensive care admissions.

Months after Borgess cut back on its midwifery services, another Ascension hospital across the state announced cuts of its own. Providence Southfield Hospital said its midwives would no longer staff its birthing center as of March 1.

Dove-Medows, who previously worked at the Southfield birthing center, said the reduction leaves a huge gap in midwifery access in Metro Detroit. Hospital-based midwife practices can accept a wider range of insurance types, while private practices may be more limited in payer types.

Were at a point in our health care system where people want more access to information, support and choices in their care, Dove-Medows said. Having that option of having a midwife participate in your pregnancy care is really important to have.

But the reductions dont appear to be part of a larger Michigan trend. Most of the states large health systems have maintained or grown their programs.

At Michigan Medicine, Joanne Bailey, director of Nurse Midwifery Services, said shes watched the program expand over the last 20 years, from about eight full-time nurse midwives to about 30 full-time positions.

In Southeast Michigan, Henry Ford Health staffs 12 midwives each at its main campus in Detroit and its West Bloomfield hospital. They typically divide time between seeing patients in clinic and at the hospital, explained Homa Wemah, the systems lead midwife.

Corewell Health East, formerly known as Beaumont Health, employs 12 midwives at its Family Birth Center, and system leadership said they are actively working to expand access to (certified nurse midwife) care for patients who are seeking the CNM experience.

Theyre also looking to open a pair of off-campus clinics for hospital-employed nurse midwives to provide prenatal care. Dr. Kurt Wharton, an obstetrician, gynecologist and chief of the systems womens clinical care programs, said this is a top priority for our team as demand for (certified nurse midwife) service increases.

Corewell Health West, previously known as Spectrum Health, has 30 midwives, most of whom work out of Butterworth hospital or South Pavilion medical center in greater Grand Rapids. The system is looking to onboard two more midwives in Ludington.

If you look at the long arc or the last 20 years of my career, there are certainly way more midwife positions and practices than there were 20 years ago, Bailey said. In general, its increasing and there are in general more opportunities for people to receive midwife care.

When English, the Kalamazoo-area doula, heard about the midwife staff cuts at Borgess last fall, she wrote a blog post on her business website explaining why it was a mistake.

This is a frustrating, troubling change for our community, and it will limit midwifery options for area families, setting us back in decades of progress in Southwest Michigan, she wrote.

She said doulas act as consumer advocates, including making referrals to medical practices based on what their clients are looking for in their pregnancy journey. In recent months, its been difficult to refer patients to Borgess knowing their chances of seeing the hospitals lone midwife would be low.

While the health system has reportedly reversed direction regarding its midwife staff, it could take months to get new team members back in the fold. At least some of the midwives they cut in the fall have taken midwife jobs elsewhere.

Amanda Ezekiel, a midwife who left Borgess and now has a new position outside Ascension, said she probably wont ever work for them again after what happened.

She hopes the hospital is adding positions. It would mean a lot for Borgess to acknowledge it made a mistake, to show its commitment to patient outcomes and satisfaction, and to the midwives like her who thought theyd be in that job forever, she said.

In the meantime, the one staff midwife has been forced to spend most of her time since August in clinic visits rather than delivery rooms, according to Daniels. Thats put more deliveries on the shoulders of remaining physicians.

Seeing the level of care and how it drastically changed, has been infuriating for us nurses, Daniels said. It takes a long time to hire and credential before providers can practice. Itll probably be about a year before we go back to anything close to what we used to be.

BREC begins summer camp registration | Ascension | theadvocate … – The Advocate

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Danzig

BREC opens online summer camp registration for East Baton Rouge Parish residentsat 9 a.m., Saturday, March 4.

Registration forout-of-parish residents opensTuesday, March 14, during regular facility hours of operation.

Parents or guardians may register in person at the facility of their choice or online at webtrac.brec.org for all locations from a computer, tablet or smartphone using Visa, MasterCard or Discover Card. All summer camp sessions can be reserved online by East Baton Rouge Parish residents with a 50% payment of total session fees. Summer camp balances are due by April 28.

Beginning April 29, full payments of summer camp sessions are required at the time of registration.

BREC recommends that parents or guardians make a login request on Webtrac at least two days prior to registration if they have never used online registration to set up a household. In order to complete successful online registration, parents or guardians who have registered online before should know their user ID and password ahead of time. If registrants are not sure if they have an account, they can send an email to info@register.brec.org.

East Baton Rouge Parish residents can apply for scholarship opportunities online with a 50% pre-payment of total session fees and by filling out the scholarship request form available during registration. BREC may provide scholarship assistance of 50% of the total fee due to those families who qualify by providing documentation of filed 2022 Federal Tax form 1040 or current SNAP benefits. Scholarships are available on a first come, first served basis until funds are no longer available.

People or businesses that would like to donate funds to help send a kid to camp can contact the BREC Foundation at info@brecfoundation.org.

For information, a complete list of all BREC summer camps, or to apply for a summer job, visit brec.org/summercamp.

Recreation

Community Recreation summer camps are held at various locations throughout the parish for children ages 3-4 and 5-10. BREC developed eight weeks that will concentrate on adding fun and variety to the summer with expert guests/instructors, field trips, crafts and activities that support that weeks specialty.

New to camp this year, the community recreation camps will offer Camp BREC Bus Stops at several parks around the parish allowing parents/guardians to drop their children off at select locations close to their home or work. Children will then be transported from the drop-off location to the camp location that they are registered at and back to the stop at the end of the day.

Community Recreation will offer Camp Red Stick for ages 11-14. Camp Red Stick is about exploring, swimming, gaming, learning life skills and connecting with community.

Specialty camps

Athletic summer camps will be offered, as will special interest summer camps at the Baton Rouge Zoo, Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center, Farr Park Equestrian Center, Highland Road Park Observatory, Independence Park Theatre, Magnolia Mound, Perkins Road Extreme Sports Park, BREC Art Camp at Milton J. Womack Park and Zachary Community Park, Outdoor Adventure Camp at Greenwood Community Park and BRECs Nature Explorers Conservation Camp at Palomino Drive Park.

Counselor in Training

BREC will also offer Counselor in Training programs through special interest camps at Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center, Nature Explorers Conservation Camp and BREC Art Camp.

Swamp Counselors in Training sessions will continue with new opportunities for CITs to gain skills needed to work as counselors at Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center. Topics focus on camper management techniques, leadership training and activity development, as well as job seeking skills.

Conservation Camps will offer a week-long Counselors in Training program to learn about becoming a natural resource professional while getting job training and experience.

At BREC Art, Counselors in Training will participate in a four-day workshop focusing on how to engage school aged children, rules and etiquette of group settings, teaching tips, creativity for all ages and art.

Summer jobs

For those too old to be a CIT, apply for a summer job at brec.org/careers.

Inclusive camps

BREC offers Camp Sunshine, an exclusive summer camp designed for campers with intellectual and developmental disabilities who can function within a staff ratio of 1:5. Each themed week will offer recreational games and activities, arts and crafts, field trips, water activities, and inclusive activities with other BREC summer camps to socialize and interact with their peers.

All BREC summer camps are inclusive, but Camp Sunshine is for campers who require a smaller group setting with trained staff of this expertise. All campers with a diagnosed disability must undergo an assessment with a BREC Adaptive staff member. The assessment must be completed prior to starting camp. Assessments are essential for our campers to have a successful experience at camp. Assessments are required prior to registration for all Sunshine Camps. Assessments will be held in person at Nairn Drive Park from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Mondays through May 10 and on Wednesdays from March 6 to May 10. Assessments will be made by appointment only after May 10 assessments. To set up an assessment or for questions, email brecadaptive@brec.org.

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BREC begins summer camp registration | Ascension | theadvocate ... - The Advocate

RPCC to host Relay for Life with the American Cancer Society – The Advocate

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Danzig

The annual Relay for Life fundraiser is moving to a new location for its March 18 event.

River Parishes Community College is hosting the next American Cancer Society event from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Gonzales campus.

We are very excited to partner with RPCC and are looking forward to providing an awesome event experience for our supporters. Wed like to thank Republic Finance for sponsoring Relay and helping to make this an awesome event," a new release from the college stated.

In 2022, ACS invested over $1.5 million to cancer research in Louisiana alone. This research can help to improve cancer screening guidelines and treatment processes.

"Events like Relay for Life in Ascension Parish are what make these efforts possible thanks to our very supportive community, said ACS Senior Development Manager, Katie Babin.

Some things to look forward to at this years fundraiser are food, inflatables and other activities for the kids. The band Press 1 for English will perform from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m., and fireworks will close out the event.

Also at the event, RPCCs recruitment department will be in attendance to discuss programs, scholarships and more as well as give tours of the new Process Equipment Training Plant.

We are honored to partner with an organization such as the American Cancer Society on this event. Our missions are aligned as we are changing lives. The Relay is a time to celebrate survivors and we are lucky that RPCC gets a chance to participate in this and show what our college offers our community. We hope you come out and celebrate, said RPCC Chancellor Quintin Taylor.

ACS works with the local health systems to provide transportation and lodging assistance to cancer patients. Their mission is to improve the lives of cancer patients.

The relay includes cancer survivors, community members, and more who help support that mission by walking laps around RPCCs campus or just by taking part in other relay activities.

RPCC to host Relay for Life with the American Cancer Society - The Advocate

Bike Night returns to Austin’s Circuit of the Americas in March – CultureMap Austin

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Danzig

If youve ever wanted to get your wheels on the Circuit of the Americas track, nows your chance. After a highly successful 2022 season that saw more than 11,000 in attendance, Ascension Setons Bike Night at COTA is returning in March with a new service for riders.

Ascension is introducing bike rentals for the first time on designated nights for its 2023 events. Riders of any age or experience level are welcome to take a lap around the track and enjoy one of the many post-ride tailgate activities at the track picnic area. Refreshments and food options will be available at the pavilion in the paddock.

For a more competitive approach, riders can download Ascension Setons partner app Stratva to track their progress on track and earn the chance to win prizes, such as Valero fuel cards. Riders will also have the opportunity to get a view of the track from the 251-foot Observation Deck or participate in any of the upcoming theme nights.

Adam Bauman, Vice President of orthopedics and sports performance at Ascension Texas, shared in a release that he looks forward to seeing attendees for their 2023 season.

"Ascension Seton is a proud partner of the Circuit of the Americas, and cycling the COTA track for Bike Night season is such a unique Austin experience for cyclists," he said.

Dates for the 2023 Ascension Seton Bike Night at COTA season include:

10-date season passes ($89) and registration for adults ($10 online or $12 on-site) and children 11 and under ($5) are available at circuitoftheamericas.com.

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Bike Night returns to Austin's Circuit of the Americas in March - CultureMap Austin

New Iberia, Breaux Bridge advance to quarterfinals – KATC News

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Danzig

Second Round (Games involving Acadiana Area teams only; Click each Division for full brackets)

Division I (Non-Select)16. East Ascension 351. New Iberia 36

10. Southside 497. Barbe 50

Division II (Non-Select)

16. Abbeville 541. Wosmon 82

12. Plaquemine 525. St. Martinville 46

13. Opelousas 414. Bossier 60

19. Beau Chene 443. Carroll 62

11. Loranger 466. Breaux Bridge 55

Division III (Non-Select)

24. Red River 648. Ville Platte 67

13. Caldwell Parish 47

Division IV (Non-Select)

24. Oak Grove 268. Elton 44

13. Ferriday 624. North Central 85

19. Jonesboro-Hodge3. Franklin

15. Lake Arthur 332. White Castle 54

Division V (Non-Select)

12. Stanley5. Lacassine 72

Division I (Select)

15. Edna Karr 432. St. Thomas More 51

Division II (Select)

13. Northside 4. Vandebilt Catholic

10. St. Michael the Archangel 557. Lafayette Christian 46

15. David Thibodaux 422. Peabody 76

Division III (Select)

10. Catholic - New Iberia 287. St. Charles 25

Division IV (Select)

12. Opelousas Catholic 565. Hamilton Christian 81

11. Ascension Catholic6. Central Catholic 59

10. Vermilion Catholic 387. Southern Lab 70

Division V (Select) {Quarterfinals}

5. Claiborne Christian4. JS Clark

7. Episcopal School of Acadiana2. Family Christian

First Round (Games involving Acadiana Area teams only; Click each Division for full brackets

Division I (Non-Select)1. New Iberia (Bye)

23. Destrehan 5210. Southside 81

Division II (Non-Select)

17. South Beauregard 7316. Abbeville 76

24. Rayne 519. Franklin Parish 56

28. DeRidder 455. St. Martinville 87

21. Crowley 4112. Plaquemine 65

20. A.J. Ellender 5113. Opelousas 55

19. Beau Chene 6714. Northwest 62

27. North Vermilion 326. Breaux Bridge 54

26. Erath 327. Brusly 80

23. Iota 4710. LaGrange 68

Division III (Non-Select)

25. St. James 638. Ville Platte 83

20. Loreauville 4113. Caldwell Parish 61

4. Patterson (Bye)

19. Mamou 5914. Rosepine 63

18. West St. Mary 4915. Amite 62

Division IV (Non-Select)

24. Oak Grove 639. Welsh 61

25. Mangham 408. Elton 48

4. North Central (Bye)

3. Franklin (Bye)

27. Jeanerette 336. Lakeview 71

18. Northeast 6215. Lake Arthur 78

Division V (Non-Select)

28. Monterey 495. Lacassine 73

Division I (Select)

24. Carencro 669. St. Augustine 73

23. Lafayette 3510. St. Paul's 51

2. St. Thomas More (Bye)

Division II (Select)

20. Booker T. Washington (Shreveport) 5813. Northside 61

22. Teurlings 5611. John F. Kennedy 72

7. Lafayette Christian (Bye)

18. De La Salle 4715. David Thibodaux 61

Division III (Select)

20. Notre Dame 2913. Ascension Episcopal 43

23. Thomas Jefferson 4010. Catholic - New Iberia 51

Division IV (Select)

17. Westminster Christian 50

21. Ouachita Christian 6612. Opelousas Catholic 82

22. Sacred Heart 5311. Ascension Catholic 65

6. Central Catholic (Bye)

23. Magnolia School of Excellence 4210. Vermilion Catholic 71

Division V (Select)

11. Cristo Rey (Baton Rouge) 284. JS Clark 66

10. Northside Christian 457. Episcopal School of Acadiana 51

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New Iberia, Breaux Bridge advance to quarterfinals - KATC News

Coffee Guide: 9 coffee shops in Lewisville and Coppell – Community Impact Newspaper

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Danzig

Coffee fans looking for a caffeine fix can choose from several options available in Lewisville and Coppell. This noncomprehensive list includes shops that offer more than drip coffee.

1. 151 Coffee

A. 720 W. Main St., Lewisville

B. 131 S. Denton Tap Road, Coppell

682-325-2124

http://www.151coffee.com

Founded in 2017, this Dallas-Fort Worth-based coffee chain has eight locations in North Texas.

Popular drinks: banana bread latte, West Coast latte with caramel drizzle

Hours: 6 a.m.-8 p.m. daily

2. Ascension Coffee

3121 Olympus Blvd., Coppell

972-863-3000

http://www.ascension.coffee

This location is one of six Ascension Coffee shops in North Texas.

Popular drinks: horchata latte, lavender latte

Popular foods: chicken manchego pane aria sandwich, the original avocado toast

Hours: 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m. daily

3. Coral Reef Coffee Company

310 E. Round Grove Road, Ste. 300, Lewisville

214-513-9287

https://coralreefcoffeeco.com

This shop offers a rotating monthly menu of locally brewed coffee, teas and pastries.

Popular drinks: cinnamon bun latte (seasonal), white chocolate macadamia latte

Popular foods: cream cheese danish, lemon blueberry cake

Hours: Mon.-Sat. 6:30 a.m.-8 p.m., Sun. 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

4. George: Coffee + Provisions

462 Houston St., Coppell

469-464-3107

http://www.georgecoffeeandprovisions.com

This farmhouse-style shop located in Old Town Coppell offers house-roasted coffees.

Popular drinks: honey and vanilla latte

Popular foods: cinnamon cream scone, pumpkin muffin

Hours: Mon.-Sat. 7 a.m.-8 p.m., closed Sun.

5. The Human Bean

1001 W. Round Grove Road, Lewisville

469-630-0223

http://www.thehumanbean.com

The Lewisville location is one of two in North Texas.

Popular drinks: Mexiblanco latte (secret menu), Granita espresso

Popular foods: spicy jalapeno biscuit, almond croissants

Hours: 5:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily

6. Liberation Coffee Co.

651 N. Denton Tap Road, Ste. 200, Coppell

972-427-1991

http://www.liberationcoffeecompany.com

This family-owned coffee shop offers locally roasted coffee.

Popular drinks: honey cinnamon latte, The Liberator, matcha latte

Popular foods: Belgian street waffles, chocolate chip cookies, bagel breakfast

Hours: 7 a.m.-7 p.m. daily

7. The Perc Coffeehouse

115 W. Main St., Lewisville

214-222-1404

http://www.perccoffeehouse.com

The Perc Coffeehouse is located in the heart of Old Town Lewisville. Popular drinks: vanilla latte, lavender latte

Popular foods: ham and cheese croissant

Hours: Mon.-Thu. 6:30 a.m.-8 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 6:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

8. Scooters Coffee

1225 SH 121, Lewisville

214-222-1266

http://www.scooterscoffee.com

This drive-thru shop is for coffee lovers on the go. Smoothies and pastries are also available.

Popular drinks: creme brulee latte, Caramelicious cold brew

Popular foods: red velvet cake bites

Hours: Mon.-Fri. 5:30 a.m.-8 p.m.,

Sat. 6 a.m.-8 p.m., Sun. 6 a.m.-7 p.m.

9. Fellowship Coffee and Tea

833 S. Denton Tap Road, Coppell

214-724-2752

http://www.fellowshipcoffeetea.com

The family-owned and -operated coffee shop opened Jan. 16.

Popular drinks: flavored latte, cappuccino, hot caramel macchiato

Popular foods: cinnamon scones, muffins

Hours: Mon.-Fri. 6 a.m.-3 p.m.,

Sat. 8 a.m.-3 p.m., closed Sun.

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Coffee Guide: 9 coffee shops in Lewisville and Coppell - Community Impact Newspaper

White Supremacist Networks Gab and 8Kun Are Training Their Own … – VICE

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Danzig

Two images generated by 8kun's AI image generator.

As artificial intelligence technology becomes more and more mainstream, its influence is now reaching all corners of the internet, and in the last month, two of the darkest corners have announced their plans to unleash their very own AI engines on the world.

Gab, a white supremacist forum thats a favorite of mass shooters and organizers of the Capitol riot, and 8kun, the home of QAnon, have announced theyre launching AI engines and theyre training them on the same content that has in the past led multiple internet companies to cut ties and take the platforms offline.

Artificial intelligence is everywhere right now, and many are questioning the safety and morality of the AI systems released by some of the worlds biggest companies, including Open AIs ChatGPT, Bings Sydney, and Googles Bard. It was only a matter of time until the online spaces where extremists gather became interested in the technology.

Gab is a social network filled with homophobic, christian nationalist and white supremacist content. On Tuesday its CEO Andrew Torba announced the launch of its AI image generator, Gabby.

At Gab, we have been experimenting with different AI systems that have popped up over the past year, Torba wrote in a statement. Every single one is skewed with a liberal/globalist/talmudic/satanic worldview. What if Gab AI Inc builds a Gab .ai (see what I did there?) that is based, has no hate speech filters and doesnt obfuscate and distort historical and Biblical Truth?

Gabby is currently live on Gabs site and available to all members. Like Midjourney and DALL-E, it is an image generator that users interact with by sending it a prompt, and within seconds it will generate entirely new images based on that prompt.

Echoing his past criticisms of Big Tech platforms like Facebook and Twitter, Torba claims that mainstream platforms are now censoring their AI systems to prevent people from discussing right-wing topics such as Christian nationalism. Torbas AI, by contrast, will have the ability to speak freely without the constraints of liberal propaganda wrapped tightly around its neck.

Gabby has its limits, however. A review by VICE News found that like DALL-E and other AI image generators, Gabby will not generate images of naked people.

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again, Gabby wrote in response to the prompt nude woman. When VICE News asked Gabby to show us two people having sex this is what was returned:

An image generated by Gab's AI image generator Gabby.

Based on the images shared on Gabs AI art forum on Wednesday morning, many are using the tool to create memes featuring the former President Donald Trump and Pepe the Frog.

An image generated by Gab's AI image generator Gabby.

Last month, when first talking about Gabs AI plans, Torba said he would train his AI engine on on 744 million Gab statuses, and probably a corpus of /pol posts and the Bible.

The /pol/ board on 4chan is one of the most notorious forums on the internet, filled with antisemitic, homophobic, transphobic, and racist content. It has been home to multiple mass shooters. It popularized the Pepe the Frog meme, and in 2017 gave birth to QAnon.

Torba did not respond to VICE News request for comment about Gabs AI system.

But Torba says Gabby is just the beginning of his artificial intelligence plans. Gabby is our first AI chatbot, but it certainly wont be our last, Torba wrote on Tuesday. In the future, we plan to release more AI bots, including a Chat GPT alternative that will change the way we think about communication and collaboration.

While Gabs AI is already in the wild, over on 8kun, previously known as 8chan, owner Jim Watkins is working on a more secretive project where he is training an AI engine on imagery and content from the message board.

8chan, which was founded to support the Gamergate movement, became the home of QAnon in early 2018 and was taken offline in August 2019 after the man who killed 20 people at an El Paso Walmart posted an anti-immigrant screed on the site.

Watkins has been speaking about his AI system for a few weeks now, but has yet to reveal how it will work or when it will launch. Watkins central selling point, like Torbas, appears to be that his system will be uncensored.

So that we can compete against these people that are putting up all of these false flags and illusions, Watkins said on Feb. 13 when he was asked why he was creating an AI system. We are working on our own AI that is going to give you an uncensored look at the way things are going, Watkins said in a video interview at the end of January.But based on some of the images the engine is churning out, Watkins still has a long way to go to perfect his AI image generator.

An image generated by 8kun's AI image generator.

Watkins says that unlike Gabby, the 8kun image generator will be available only to paying members of 8kuns Proto subscription service. Another difference between Torbas and Watkins systems is that the latter is not prudish about user asking his AI engine to generate porn.

Last week Watkins posted a video online showing his AI engine being trained. The video was titled: Unleash the Power of Artificial Intelligence in Image Processing with Adult Content.

When VICE News asked Watkins what he was planning to use his AI system for, he responded: Fuck off.

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White Supremacist Networks Gab and 8Kun Are Training Their Own ... - VICE

Casey Rodarmor: The Quest to Make Bitcoin Fun Again – Yahoo Finance

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Danzig

Join the most important conversation in crypto and web3! Secure your seat today

Bitcoin is trying out non-fungible tokens (NFT) again.

First there were colored coins in 2012, which were aimed at representing all types of non-bitcoin assets on Bitcoin.

Then came Counterparty in 2014, which was built as a derivative of Bitcoin and allowed the creation, buying and selling of digital assets powered by its XCP token. Counterparty is where Rare Pepes NFTs inspired by the Pepe the Frog meme were born in 2016, which far predate the NFTs of Ethereum we know today.

This profile is part of CoinDesks BUIDL Week."

This time around, its Ordinal NFTs and inscriptions, which are made possible by the Ordinal protocol developed by Casey Rodarmor.

I interviewed him for BUIDL Week.

Rodarmor has worked in technology since 2010. He spent time working for Google before a brief stint at Chaincode Labs doing some nominal work on Bitcoin Core, the protocols main code implementation. He now acts as a co-host of SF Bitcoin BitDevs in San Francisco after taking over from River Financial founder Alexander Leishman last year.

Bitcoin BitDevs, which started in New York City, is a community that hosts monthly meetups to discuss some of the more technical aspects of Bitcoin. Rodarmors place at the helm in San Francisco is an indication of his commitment to testing out new Bitcoin ideas. Bitcoin BitDevs is a critical piece of Bitcoins grassroots culture.

He now works on Ordinals full time, he said during our interview. The project now has paid interns (Liam Scalzulli and RaphJaph) and paid Discord moderators.

Read more: Michael Casey - Bitcoin Ordinals Can Lift the Entire Crypto Ecosystem

Rodarmor is a Bitcoiner, and no one can tell him otherwise. He got into Bitcoin because he hate[s] the government and is in the sound money camp when it comes to Bitcoin, he told the "Stephan Livera" podcast earlier this month. He likes Bitcoin because it is better, nonstate money with a predictable, sound monetary policy; its not because it can enable NFTs.

Story continues

Still, hes now best known as the guy who enabled the most recent iteration of NFTs on Bitcoin.

Rodarmor started working on Ordinals in 2022. During the conversation Erin, his personal assistant and podcast co-host of Rodarmors podcast "Hell Money", was sitting on a couch in the background. I also noticed a trap bar deadlift barbell to Rodarmors right when he adjusted his camera.

Do you lift? I asked. Yeah! he responds, but laments that lifting in his apartment proved pretty loud. He adds that he thinks he has some pretty juicy traps.

He does. Rodarmor looks relatively fit for someone who develops software full time.

He originally learned about NFTs in 2017 and wasnt particularly interested in the type of digital art that was being created, bought and sold. He toyed with the idea for an auction house for digital art at the time, but only briefly. Then came Art Blocks, an influential generative digital art project on Ethereum founded by Erick Calderon. Its new aesthetic caught Rodarmor's eye.

Rodarmor was inspired to work on a Ethereum smart contract using Solidity but became frustrated with Ethereum, which he describes as a Rube Goldberg machine. He didnt like the idea of building NFTs on Ethereum so he gave up that idea. Then, in early 2022, he picked up the idea for NFTs again and wanted to figure out how to do it on Bitcoin.

Read more: Bitcoin NFTs: What Are Ordinal NFTs and How Do You Mint One?

When he started working on Ordinals, he told me he drew inspiration directly from Bitcoins pseudonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto. Satoshi included references to something called atoms in the original Bitcoin codebase and it was from there that Ordinal theory was born. (For the technically inclined or generally interested, check out Jeremy Rubins annotation of the original Bitcoin codebase.)

Part of Rodarmors motivation is to make Bitcoin fun again (as he tweeted earlier this year about Bitcoin NFTs). It is a bear market after all. He certainly seemed to be enjoying himself during our interview.

Ordinals are hilariously simple, at least in theory. The Ordinal protocol outlines a way in which to sequentially number satoshis the smallest unit of bitcoin, which represents 1/100,000,000 of a bitcoin. And once satoshis are given a serial number, users can inscribe data onto those satoshis to make digital artifacts, which is Rodarmors preferred term over NFTs.

Not because these arent NFTs, but because these NFTs are a touch better, in his view. Inscriptions are always immutable: the art, text or whatever inscribed data is put directly on the blockchain. This differs from most other types of NFTs that tend to store the actual JPG or text file somewhere else and then put a link to that data on the blockchain. Whether you care about NFTs or not, this is a clear upgrade to the immutability of NFTs.

Somehow, this seemingly simple technology update has come with quite a bit of embedded seriousness. Some OGs in the space have described Ordinals as an attack on Bitcoins founding mission to conduct unfettered financial transactions. People who support Bitcoin want Bitcoin to survive. They also tend to own bitcoin and they want their bitcoin to be safe. Anything that could be construed as a threat to the Bitcoin protocol is a threat to the sovereignty of bitcoin users and holders.

And so Rodarmor has found himself as the main character of this seasons Bitcoin Crisis.

Read more: Bitcoin Community Erupts in Existential Debate Over NFT Project Ordinals

I asked how he felt about being on the receiving end of much criticism.

He thought that the vibe was now very good once [he] got to know where his critics were coming from. He was initially very defensive, but once he started taking the time to engage with the more thoughtful, careful critics through some one-on-one conversations there was substantial common ground. Rodarmor feels that the Bitcoin community is mostly filled with these types of thoughtful critics. Those who are yelling for the sake of yelling are in the minority (even though they are loud on Twitter).

Of these thoughtful critics, Rodarmor referenced conversations with Blockstreams Warren Togami. Togami founded Fedora Linux, a distribution of the open-source computer operating system Linux, so his understanding of open-source projects is credibly good.

Togami says that if the Bitcoin community decides different fee rates are appropriate for different classes of traffic on the Bitcoin network (read: regular financial Bitcoin transactions vs. Ordinal NFT Bitcoin transactions), thats up to them. As a community project, isnt it up to Bitcoiners to decide and then consequently run code that can add quality of service information like priority to transactions? (Heres a somewhat technical tweet thread that touches on this topic.)

Rodarmor thinks that approach wont work. But hopefully thats the type of criticism and discourse that is good for Bitcoin in the long run.

From the other loud Ordinals critics there are valid concerns that Ordinal NFTs will lead to irreversible chain bloat. Because inscriptions have led to an influx of large blocks, it might become more difficult for new node participants to start up due to the immense amount of data that will accumulate over time. New node participants are critical to maintain Bitcoin as a decentralized, permissionless and robust monetary network where those without economic majority can still have input in how Bitcoin should be run.

In theory, Ordinal NFTs could increase transaction fees which will incentivize miners to stick around in the future once the block subsidy ends. The block subsidy is the new bitcoins which are awarded to miners for successfully mining a block. It is the main way miners are financially compensated now.

Miners help secure the Bitcoin network so when that subsidy goes away, transaction fees may need to increase so that miners dont leave the network en masse.

Projects like Ordinals could improve Bitcoins economics, helping to solve its growing security budget problem.

Read more: How Bitcoin NFTs Might Accidentally Fix Bitcoin's Security Budget | Opinion

Im not sure where I land on whether Ordinal NFTs will fix Bitcoins security budget problem. But I asked Rodarmor what he thought.

His response? YOLO. Lets find out.

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Casey Rodarmor: The Quest to Make Bitcoin Fun Again - Yahoo Finance

Dissecting Elon Musks tweets: memes, jokes, private parts and an echo chamber – Deccan Herald

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Danzig

The day after Thanksgiving, nearly one month after Elon Musk became the owner of Twitter, he returned to one of his hobby horses. Im just fighting for free speech in America, he wrote in a tweet.

One of 28 that he posted that day beginning just after midnight, following messages about how tasty his holiday meal was the free speech tweet was in response to two followers who were aggrieved about how Musk was being treated since acquiring the social network in late October. The post was liked more than 46,000 times.

Musk has often said that Twitter needs to be more open and filled with a greater diversity of voices and points of view. But Musks Twitter feed is often an echo chamber. He regularly sees, likes and replies to messages that are about him or are posted from accounts that often act as his cheerleaders, according to a New York Times review of his activity on the platform.

Also Read |Twitter to charge users to secure accounts via text message

In order to assess how the social network may evolve under Musks watch, the Times reviewed nearly 20,000 of his public tweets, analyzing posts from recent years and images he published over the past decade, as well as the relatively small number of users that he follows.

What Musk says on Twitter has a huge reach, now more than ever. His audience is one of the largest, with more than 129 million accounts following him. It is where he solicits advice, conducts polls, condemns censorship and announces sweeping policy changes on the platform. As a power user who now controls the company he recently called himself the chief twit Musk has vowed to remake the social network in his vision.

Of the 177 accounts that Musk followed at the start of February, most were related to his businesses, or have expressed admiration of his business style, the Times review found. The list is heavily male: Only two dozen that are not institutional or organizational accounts belong to women. He is related to two of them his mother, Maye, and sister, Tosca and was married to a third.

Amid discussions of Twitter policies, internet satellites from SpaceX and Tesla software updates, his posts have a freewheeling quality to them. He traffics in juvenile humor and vulgar jokes (pictures of tape dispensers laid in sexual positions), scientific marvels (the Large Hadron Collider), popular subjects on far-right sites (Pepe the Frog) and critiques of divisive cultural issues (Im not brainwashed!!).

Musks posting style is conversational, and regularly satirical. He messages with former Democratic Cabinet officials, criticizes news organizations and trades barbs with venture capitalists.

Also Read |Judge hears final arguments in suit over Elon Musks Tesla pay

The purchasing of Twitter was a power move, politically, said Joan Donovan, the research director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard. He is one of the richest men in the world buying a social media company in a move that is expressly about politics and influence on culture and on media.

Often, his updates are limited to just memes joking images or videos that are copied and widely shared. Many have origins on fringe sites or cryptocurrency message boards that are popular with his followers. Some are about him. Some appear to be original.

Through the end of 2022, Musk shared 1,181 images on Twitter. Since October 2018, at least 47% of them have been memes. The use of memes, Donovan said, is a way for Musk to signal to his followers that he is in the know and keeping up with internet culture.

During Musks early use of Twitter, he regularly posted photos that promoted his businesses, from SpaceX rocket launches to Tesla car assembly lines.

But in 2018, as he struggled to hit ambitious production targets at Tesla, his posting behavior shifted. In October that year, he shared an image of a fake news article that said he had bought the popular video game Fortnite in order to save these kids from eternal virginity.

Since then, Musks meme use has accelerated.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment about his activity. At Twitter, as with many of his other companies, Musk has no traditional press team. Instead, he tweets.

Since he created his account in June 2009, Musk has posted more than 23,000 times. In recent years, that has meant posting all hours of the day, most days of the week.

Musk has made himself unignorable by becoming king of Twitter, Donovan added.

Over a 48-hour period in November, a moment when he touted record activity on the social network under his leadership, Musk posted 60 times. His posts included commentary on the collapse of a cryptocurrency and combative responses to critiques about his workplace policies. In one instance, he issued a decree about parody accounts after users changed their profile names to imitate him.

Many of his missives quickly became popular among his followers.

It is unclear exactly what Musk sees in his feed. The exact sequence depends on whether he has chosen to receive algorithmic recommendations or just tweets from accounts he follows. (He has previously tweeted that people are being manipulated by the algorithm.)

His activity increasingly consists of replying to users who have mentioned him. When he responds to accounts that he does not follow, he frequently chooses those that have complimented or praised him: In dozens of instances over six months, according to the Times analysis, he replied to tweets from users whose account descriptions mention that they support or invest in companies owned by Musk, or that they are fans of his leadership.

There are times when he second guesses what he broadcasts.

Over the past two years, he has deleted hundreds of tweets within hours of posting them. According to the PolitiTweet website, which archives all of Musks tweets, he has also deleted dozens of tweets in the months since he acquired Twitter.

On Nov. 14, for example, Musk tweeted that he would be working & sleeping at Twitters headquarters in San Francisco until the site was fixed.

A website tracking Musks private jet movement suggested that he traveled away from San Francisco around that time. He deleted the tweet 18 hours after first posting it.

But for a person with as large a follower base as Musk has, deleting tweets may do little to change how widely seen or influential those posts become when they are first published.

Millions of people see his tweets; not many will notice when they are deleted, Donovan said.

Many tweets that have landed Musk in hot water remain online.

In 2018, a few weeks after Musk had smoked marijuana during an on-camera interview for Joe Rogans podcast, Musk tweeted that he had the funding to take Tesla private at $420 a share.

Experts began to question whether his entire feed was being produced in jest, and pointed out the repeated marijuana references in his tweets (including his proposed funding price).

That incident led to charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and later a settlement that included monitoring of what Musk could post about Tesla on Twitter. The incident also led to a lawsuit from shareholders seeking billions of dollars in damages after the takeover proposal never materialized. On Friday, a jury ruled in Musks favor.

Last month, Musk joined an investor call as Tesla reported its recent quarterly earnings, which showed a respectable jump in profits despite a growing list of problems plaguing the company. The automakers mixed performance last year had led many to question whether Musks focus and attention on Twitter had meant that he was neglecting his duties at Tesla.

Musk deflected that criticism on the earnings call, suggesting that his millions of Twitter followers were a sign of his popularity.

I might not be popular with some people, he said, but for the vast majority of people, my follower count speaks for itself.

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Dissecting Elon Musks tweets: memes, jokes, private parts and an echo chamber - Deccan Herald

Ordinal Inscription Collections on Bitcoin Blockchain Grow as … – Bitcoin News

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Danzig

With more than 150,000 Ordinal inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain, there are now numerous collections as creators and artists have found a new way to monetize their artworks via blockchain technology. In the past month, people have launched collections such as Ordinal Punks, Ordinal Penguins, Bitcoin Shrooms, Inscribed Pepe, Planetary Ordinals, Based Apes, Satoshi Punks, Ordinals Eggs, Block Munchers, and more. Although the inscription trend is still young, several collections are attempting to establish themselves in this emerging market, and some are selling for significant value.

These days, there are numerous Ordinal inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain as demand for the technology has greatly increased. For years, blockchains like Ethereum have established collections such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Cryptopunks, Azuki, Moon Birds, Doodles, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and others.

Some of these non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have become known as blue-chip NFTs, as they have maintained significant value and have been selling on the open market for several years. For instance, BAYC and Cryptopunks currently hold the highest floor values among all the collections.

Many newly minted Ordinal inscription collections are similar to ideas stemming from popular Ethereum collections, such as the Ordinal Punks collection. The collection features different versions of pixelated punk characters, with only 100 of them available, in contrast to the 10,000 available Cryptopunks.

For those interested in pixelated punk characters, there are other collections like Punks on Bitcoin, Satoshi Punks, DOS Punk 256, and Yeti Bit Club. Similar to the Rare Pepe NFT collection made with Counterparty, there are numerous collections dedicated to Pepe the frog, including Inscribed Pepes and Immortal Pepes.

Other well-known collections include Ordinal Rocks, Block Munchers, Ordinal Penguins, Bitcoin Toadz, XC Pinata, Ordinal Eggs, Planetary Ordinals, Ordinal Smokes, and Based Apes. Ordinal Punks have been selling for considerable value and just recently someone traded Cryptopunk #4155 for Ordinal Punk 16.

Most Ordinal Punks are selling for prices between 3.7 BTC and 5.4 BTC, and three days ago Ordinal Eggs said it saw 4 BTC in over-the-counter (OTC) volume. Bitcoin Toadz recently sold #4913 for 2.5 ether, and another sold for 2.8 ether.

The creator behind Ordinal Shards, a collection of 100 shards inscribed to the Bitcoin blockchain, said sales have been in both ETH and BTC. Besides the collections talked about on social media, theres a great number of Ordinal inscriptions on the chain, that could be collections in the future or have some unknown meaning.

Theres also text, numbers, odd writings, 1kb gold bars, quotes, videos, animations, and audio messages. There have been some critics of the Ordinals trend who have called it spam in comparison to older generation Counterparty-issued assets. Some have also questioned the veracity of OTC sales tied to Ordinal inscriptions.

What do you think about all the Ordinal inscriptions and collections on the Bitcoin blockchain? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Jamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 6,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Ordinal Inscription Collections on Bitcoin Blockchain Grow as ... - Bitcoin News

Fate of 2nd Amendment resolution in Shasta County uncertain – Record Searchlight

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Danzig

Shasta County Supervisor Patrick Jones brought a Second Amendment resolution to Tuesday evenings board meeting, and he was confident he had the votes to pass it.

But the fate of the resolution is in limbo after Supervisor Kevin Crye chose to abstain because he wanted to seek personal legal advice and asked for more time to decide how he will vote.

Among Cryes concerns is whether ignoring the advice of County Counsel Rubin Cruse Jr. could expose him to personal liability.

Crye abstaining resulted in a 2-2 vote. Jones and Supervisor Chris Kelstrom voted to approve the resolution. Supervisors Tim Garman and Mary Rickert voted no.

Jones, who is the chairman of the board, was critical of Crye for abstaining, saying, Supervisor Crye, you are paid to make decisions and a yes or no should be the appropriate response.

Crye countered with, Im paid to make good decisions, well-informed decisions.

The deadlock capped two-plus hours of public comment in a packed meeting chambers, which were festooned with red-white-and-blue balloons brought by supporters of the Second Amendment resolution who anticipated supervisors passing it.

They argued it was not a gun-rights issue, but a moral issue and passing the resolution would protect Shasta County from the tyrannical state of California.

Detractors countered that what the board wanted to do was an overreach and redundant because when supervisors take the oath of office, they vow to defend the Constitution and all its amendments, including the Second.

More:Dj vu: Shasta supervisor wants to allow county employees to carry guns to work

Many who spoke out against the resolution also said they support the Second Amendment.

Kelstrom said the Second Amendment is unique and deserves to be spotlighted and supported by Shasta County because its under siege in California.

At one point Jones argued with Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson over the meaning of the Second Amendment before the two agreed to disagree.

Supervisors did vote 3-2 to revisit the resolution at their March 14 meeting. Garman and Rickert voted no.

Jones and Kelstrom wanted to pass a Second Amendment resolution that in large part kept the wording brought by the California Rifle & Pistol Association, not the red-line edited version Cruse and Johnson endorsed.

Jones put more stock in the opinion of the California Rifle & Pistol Associations legal counsel, which he characterized as experts on the Second Amendment.

Cruse said supervisors dont have the authority to determine what is constitutional, and what the California Rifle & Pistol Association submitted would put the county in legal jeopardy. His edited version included language that said county officials have the right not to enforce any laws that violate the Second Amendment, as determined by precedential decisions made by courts of competent jurisdiction.

I am for you guys passing this (resolution) but I am also for it with the edits by staff for all the legal reasons that were put forth and I could go over those again, Johnson said.

Like it or not, California does recognize your rights to bear arms. They do it via CCW (concealed carry weapons permits). The Supreme Court has not ruled on the opinion of open carry versus concealed carry, the sheriff added.

Johnson said he will not let California, or any other legislative body erode the right to bear arms. But he said he will not do that if it means violating his oath or if it violates current federal or state laws.

He made some news when he announced that if the courts rule that open carry is a constitutional right, then stand by, folks, well be going to open carry.

Johnson added that the conflict of the Second Amendment comes down to interpretation and those interpretations can lead to the struggles and differing opinions.

Ironically, that was on display when Jones questioned Johnson about concealed carry laws, noting that the Constitution doesnt say you need a CCW permit.

I dont see anywhere in the Constitution in the Second Amendment where it says you can open carry or conceal carry, Johnson said.

It says you have the right to keep and bear arms, period, Jones said.

It doesnt say you can walk around with it openly or concealed or anything else, Johnson said.

Exactly, Jones said.

Supervisor Garman agreed with Cruse and Johnson and said endorsing the California Rifle & Pistol Association version could cost taxpayers money in legal fees to fight the courts over the issue.

I think we owe it to our county to be fiscally responsible, Garman said.

Supervisor Rickert called the resolution an overreach.

I do believe in and support the Second Amendment, she said. As a board we dont have the ability to interpret the Constitution to meet our own personal agenda. Im a concealed weapons permit holder. Our family has three gun cases full of firearms.

We cant supersede what the courts designate, she added.

About three hours before Tuesday evenings meeting, Shasta County Citizens for Stable Government announced it had served supervisors with a cease-and-desist letter that said the Second Amendment resolution, as agendized, violated Californias open meeting law, the Brown Act.

Cruse said the item as it appeared on the agenda was not a violation of the Brown Act. He also said Jones did not have a conflict of interest by bringing the resolution to the board.

Jones helps manage his family's gun shop, Jones' Fort in east Redding.

Before the meetings, some three-dozen people signed a petition supporting the restriction of firearms in public buildings.

Jones has said he plans to bring a proposal to the board in March that would allow county employees to carry concealed weapons on county property. He said county employees have as much a right as the general public to carry at county buildings.

At the meeting, Shasta County Citizens for Stable Government spokeswoman Susanne Baremore told supervisors that including a loyalty oath for county employees in the resolution would be unconstitutional.

In the end, Jones and Kelstrom agreed to remove that clause in the resolution.

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Fate of 2nd Amendment resolution in Shasta County uncertain - Record Searchlight

Washington business owners fed up with crime turn to the Second Amendment for protection – Fox Business

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Danzig

Gun sales see a surge amid coronavirus, riots

Crime-weary business owners in Washington state are reportedly arming themselves to protect their stores against robberies and other offenses as overall gun permits surged 7% in just one year.

"There are store owners and store clerks who want that additional protection," Tom Matos, owner of Securit Gun Club in Woodinville, told King 5.

Matos said that he saw an increase in business owners visiting his shooting range and gun store back in 2020, in the wake of mass protests and unrest after the killing of George Floyd. Woodinville is located about 20 miles outside of Seattle, which was a national focal point of 2020s violent summer.

"Once the pandemic started and once the riots started in Seattle, we did notice an increase in store owners coming in and purchasing firearms at that time," Matos said.

2ND AMENDMENT STEPS IN AFTER COPS STEP BACK IN WAKE OF DEFUND MOVEMENT IN CHICAGO

Handguns for sale at gun shop. (Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The trend has slowed down in the years following, but he believes those store owners still have their firearms to defend their businesses.

INCREASED GUN SALES 'DON'T FIT THE CARICATURE' OF THE TYPICAL OWNER, ONLINE FIREARM RETAILER SAYS

On Monday, the co-owner of a smoke shop in Seattles Ballard neighborhood was involved in a shoot-out with a would-be robber. The suspected criminal was shot dead, while the co-owner is in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound, according to King 5.

The King Smoke Shop in Seattle, where a shootout took place between the co-owner and a would-be robber. (Google Maps)

Data from the Seattle Police Department show robberies slightly ticked up in 2022. There were 1,755 robberies in the city in 2021, compared to 1,760 in 2022.

FIRST-TIME GUN OWNERS TOTALED AT LEAST 5.4M IN 2021, GROUPS SAYS

The entrance for Securit Gun Club in Woodinville, Washington. (Google Maps)

Data from the Washington State Department of Licensing, according to King 5, found that there were 643,317 active concealed pistol licenses in 2021. As of September 2022, there were 688,440 such licenses.

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King 5 reported that other gun stores in the area reported that, overall, the gun owner demographic is shifting. One business, which did not disclose its name, reported it has seen more members of the Asian American and LGBTQ communities purchasing guns over fears of being targeted.

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Washington business owners fed up with crime turn to the Second Amendment for protection - Fox Business

Want Meaningful Gun Regulations? First Rein in the Supreme Court. – The Bulwark

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Danzig

The 79th mass shooting of the year occurred early Sunday morning, when a gunman killed one person and left seven injured in Memphis, Tennessee. (The Gun Violence Archive defines mass shootings as involving a minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter.) This was less than a week after three Michigan State University students were killed in a firearms rampage on campusand five years to the day after seventeen people were gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. With hundreds of millions of firearms in circulation in the United Statesa 2018 analysis put the number over 390 million, meaning that there are more guns than there are Americans, and that was before the huge pandemic-era spike in gun salesthe upward trend of senseless gun massacres in America shows no signs of abating.

To be sure, a major barrier to reform is that right-leaning politicians are afraid to support even the most basic restrictions on gun possession for fear of losing power. President Joe Biden signed into law the most significant gun legislation bill in thirty years, but relative to gun restrictions in other countries, its provisionssuch as tougher background checks for buyers under 21 and funding to encourage states to implement red flag laws to remove guns from those considered a threatare dismayingly weak.

In June of last year, the U.S. Supreme Court made things immeasurably worse. Prior to New York Rifle & Pistol Assn v. Bruen, voters had space to elect representatives in state and federal legislatures who might be collectively willing to pass reasonable gun safety laws. That changed when the Supreme Courts six-justice conservative majority constitutionally tied the hands of state legislatures, ensuring they cannot achieve meaningful public safety reform around gun violence.

The most obvious answer to the Supreme Courts clampdown on gun reform would be a constitutional amendment to the Second Amendment. Good luck with that.

But there is another option, having to do with Congresss express constitutional power to restrict the federal judiciarys ability to review Second Amendment cases in the first place. It sounds far-fetched, but the existing precedent on this issuealbeit thin and datedgives Congress loads of authority here.

Lets start with a few words about the implications of the Bruen decision. More than a century ago, New York state enacted laws making it a crime to possess a firearm in public without a license, but allowed individuals to have or carry a concealed pistol or revolver if they could demonstrate proper causea term that subsequent state court decisions defined as a special need for self-protection distinguishable from that of the general community. In its Bruen ruling last year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the New York statutes on Second and Fourteenth Amendment grounds, effectively drawing a barrier of constitutional protection around guns that could prove legislatively insurmountable.

In Justice Clarence Thomass opinion for the 6-3 majority, he laid out a new test for laws that bump against what he called the Second Amendments unqualified command to protect public carry: The government, he wrote, must now justify its regulation by demonstrating that it is consistent with the Nations historical tradition of firearm regulation. Applying the new test to New Yorks lawwhich, again, was not new but had been on the books for half the age of our constitutional systemhe concluded that American governments simply have not broadly prohibited the public carry of commonly used firearms for personal defense or made public carry contingent on a showing of a special need. So under the Bruen holding, when judges are asked to rule on whether a particular gun law is constitutionally permissible, they must dig into the history books (or maybe jump into a time machine) to determine whether there is an American tradition of analogous gun laws. Thomas does not offer specific criteria for determining what snippets of history will now make a particular gun restriction part of a historical tradition (and therefore okay) instead of a dispensible rule from an outlier jurisdiction (and therefore not okay)but there is no escaping the fact that it is a significantly subjective call. Under his own test, Thomas acknowledged the support that postbellum Texas provides for New Yorks proper-cause requirement. He simply chose to ignore it.

It didnt have to be this way. Prior to 2008, the Court construed the Second Amendments obvious purpose as to assure the continuation and render possible the effectiveness of militias, which were composed of civilians primarily, soldiers on occasion who when called for service . . . were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time. The longstanding militias-only reading was scrapped in District of Columbia v. Heller, when the Court for the first time read the Second Amendment to protect the individual right to bear armsbut only for handguns and only in the home for self-defense.

Bruen extended the self-defense rationale outside the home, paving the way for other sensible public safety laws to be declared unconstitutional and precluding legislaturesand votersfrom curbing guns in the streets. Applying Bruen, a federal judge in West Virginia ruled in October that a law prohibiting possession of firearms with altered or removed serial numbers was unconstitutional. In November, a federal district judge in Texas ruled that a federal law prohibiting people with restraining orders against them from possessing firearms was unconstitutional. This month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned the conviction of a man who had violated the same federal lawwith the judges noting that the laws aims of keeping domestic abusers from possessing firearms were laudable and salutary, but that they were forced by the Bruen decision to deem it unconstitutional.

So if anything is to be done about guns in America, something needs to be done about the Supreme Court.

While Congress has discretion to create the lower federal courts, which it did starting in 1789 with the first Judiciary Act, the Constitution specifically establishes one Supreme Court. With rare exceptions, the Constitution also confines the Supreme Courts authority to reviewing cases filed in the first place in the lower courts. Article III, section 2, clause 2 specifically provides that such appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, is restrained by such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make. This so-called Exceptions Clause means that Congress can narrow the categories of cases the Supreme Court can consider on appeal.

In 1869, the Court thus held in Ex parte McCardle that Congress had the constitutional power to strip the Court of its authority to hear petitions under the Habeas Corpus Act of 1867, which provided access to Supreme Court review for persons in custody denied a constitutional right. During post-Civil War Reconstruction, William McCardle, a newspaper editor, was arrested and jailed for sedition after criticizing a Union military commander and Congress. After the Court had already heard the case, Congress passed and President Andrew Johnson signed legislation removing the Supreme Courts jurisdiction to hear appeals under the 1867 law. In its opinion, the Court reasoned that without jurisdiction, the court cannot proceed at all in any cause and refused to inquire into the motives of the legislature. In language that seems strikingly textualist (and thus conservative) to the modern ear, it wrote of Congresss constitutional authority: We can only examine into its power under the Constitution, and the power to make exceptions to the appellate jurisdiction of this court is given by express words.

Republicans in Congress have tried to strip the federal courts of their jurisdiction many times since. In 2003, for example, Rep. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced a bill to ban federal courts from hearing First Amendment challenges to mandates that public school students cite the Pledge of Allegiance, including its under God verbiage. No shortage of other Republicans have in recent decades called for jurisdiction stripping to keep the courts out of areas where conservatives dislike how they have tended to ruleincluding abortion, same-sex marriage, prayer in school. Indeed, back in the 1980s, when congressional Republicans were considering several jurisdiction-stripping laws, a young Reagan administration lawyer named John Roberts defended the constitutionality of such measures.

And jurisdiction-stripping isnt the only kind of restraint on the courts that Republicans have proposed. In 2005, Rep. Ron Lewis (R-Ky.) introduced the Congressional Accountability for Judicial Activism Act, which would have allowed Congress to reverse a Supreme Court judgment by two-thirds vote. Although Lewiss proposal might not survive McCardle, Congress could, at least in theory, pass a law mandating that Supreme Court decisions on constitutional issues be unanimous, as the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights once argued.

More to the point, if Congress somehow managed to reinstate its 1994 bipartisan law banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, it could prevent the Supreme Court from striking it down on appeal by exceptingor taking awaythat class of cases from the Courts jurisdiction. Likewise, if a state legislature were to pass a restrictive gun law in the name of public safety, Congress could protect it from Supreme Court interference by altering its appellate job description.

No doubt, as with the debate over whether Congress should legislatively increase the number of Supreme Court justices (i.e., Court-packing), critics would argue that a jurisdiction-stripping law aimed at the Second Amendment would turn the scope of the Courts docket into a political football, vulnerable to the whims of congressional majorities and White House occupants. Moreover, given what little precedent exists on the subject of congressional attempts to strip the Court of its jurisdiction, the current majority could vote to strike down a law that restricts its power. But nothing in the Constitutions text gives it the final say on these matters. The Court gave itself that role in the landmark 1803 decision, Marbury v. Madison, and no enforcement mechanism exists to ensure that the other branchesor the peoplefollow its edicts.

Limiting the Supreme Courts jurisdiction on Second Amendment matters would at least have the benefit of keeping voters in the loop. As it stands, the Court has so severely constrained the ability of the elected officials in state legislatures and in Congress to restrict guns that law-abiding parents are mostly left to just teach their children to duck, run, and hide.

See the original post here:

Want Meaningful Gun Regulations? First Rein in the Supreme Court. - The Bulwark

Gun-Selling Supervisor’s 2nd Amendment Resolution Polarizes Citizens. (Will Unpermitted Weapon-Toting … – A News Cafe

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Danzig

iTuesday evening in Redding, hundreds of concerned, curious citizens arrived early to the Shasta County Board of Supervisors vestibule outside the board chambers. The expectant crowd crammed together to secure seats inside for a politically polarizing popular agenda item: R4, a Second-Amendment resolution sponsored by Redding gun-seller/Shasta County Supervisor chair Patrick Jones.

Soon after Tuesdays board agenda became public, agenda item R4 became the shorthand nickname for Jones proposed resolution.

Citizens gathered outside the Shasta County Board chambers in anticipation of the meeting to decide the fate of agenda item R4.

There seemed little gray area; people were either passionately for R4 or vehemently against it.

(Click here to read journalist R.V. Scheides story about the Second Amendment, what happened with Jones resolution and the meetings outcome.)

The audience contained the usual cast of such now-familiar ultra-conservative local personalities as the Plumbs (if the 1rst Amendment doesnt work, weve got the 2nd Amendment), the Rapozas (the time has come for 51 State of Jefferson devotees) and the Gallardos (citizen journalists/identical twins), who came bearing party balloons.

Richard Gallardo untangles patriotic party balloons as KCNR radio host Win Carpenter joins others waiting to enter the board chambers.

The list goes on. There was Lori Bridgeford, the anti-vax citizen journalist; Kathy Stainbrook, cheerleader for the lie-based recall of former Dist. 2 Supervisor Leonard Moty; Woody Clenenden, Cottonwood Militia leader; Lani Bangay, Patriot State of Mind co-host; Mark Kent and Win Carpenter, KCNR radio co-hosts: Bob Holsinger, failed Shasta County Clerk candidate, and many more.

However, this meeting was unique for its considerable number of relatively rare faces, many of whom carried anti-R4 signs, some of whom were last seen inside the chambers protesting Shasta County Health Officer Karen Ramstroms baseless 2022 firing.

Citizens attended a spring 2022 Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting with signs that protested her dismissal.

A folding table outside the board chambers held anti-R4 petitions signed by people, some of whom were unable to stay for the meeting as there were no more available seats.

Judging by the comments and the crowd, there seemed about a 50/50 split between those who were in favor of R4 and those who were not.

Before the board proceeded any further regarding the resolution, Jones asked for Shasta County Counsel Rubin Cruses input on whether those whod accused Jones of having a disqualifying financial conflict of interest he sells guns were correct.

Cruse put Jones mind at rest. Cruse said that in order for there to be a disqualifying financial conflict of interest, the boards decision must have a material financial effect on Jones that is distinguishable from its effect on the general public.

Some might dispute Cruse on that point, and argue that a board-approved Second Amendment resolution would absolutely financially benefit Jones, starting with the fact that fundamentally, Jones Second Amendment resolution is about guns. Jones sells guns in his family-owned Jones Fort, one of the best-known North State gun stores, a firearms community staple thats been in business for more than 50 years.

Jones Fort gun shop

A recent Google search of Shasta County gun store put Jones Fort in second place. Jones Fort receives free publicity every time a news story mentions Jones occupation as a gun salesman at his family-owned gun store (A News Cafe is guilty as charged). Jones couldnt buy better advertising than what he gains at no charge as a board chair with a lifelong gun-store affiliation. The more guns he sells, the more money he makes.

Also, Cruse mentioned the general public in his disqualifying-financial-conflict-of-interest litmus test. But how many people out of more than 182,000 Shasta County residents sell guns from namesake businesses?

Maybe this is an apples-and-oranges comparison, but Rickert leaves the board chambers and recuses herself from voting on anything remotely related to her ranching business.

Alas, that theoretical debate is moot. Cruse provided the final word as Shasta County Counsel: No, Jones Second Amendment resolution does notpresent a disqualifying financial conflict of interest for Jones.

From left: Shasta County Dist. 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye, Dist. 5 Supervisor Chris Keltstrom, Dist. 2 Supervisor Tim Garman and Dist. 3 Supervisor Mary Rickert.

Eventually, Jones addressed the meetings main event: his long-awaited Second Amendment resolution, which Jones said was two-and-a-half years in the making.

Perhaps youve already heard that by the meetings end, Jones Second Amendment resolution wasnt approved. However, the resolution wasnt completely rejected, either. Rather, the resolution is now in limbo, thanks to a decision made by Crye, something so unexpected that it caught approximately 99.999 percent of the spectators by surprise.

Nope. Didnt see that one coming.

Todays post wont get into the weeds of Jones resolution, since A News Cafe journalist R.V. Scheide already covered the big picture.

A standing-room-only crowd awaited the Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting that would vote on the controversial 2nd Amendment resolution sponsored by Supervisor Patrick Jones. Photos by Doni Chamberlain

More than 30 citizens commented on R4. Some people brought signs that detailed their opinions.

Although roughly two-thirds of the commenters said they were in favor of Jones resolution, the majority of them seemed ignorant of the Jones intentions for the resolutions. Some speakers waxed poetic about the virtues of guns. A few offered well-worn phrases proclaiming guns dont kill people; people kill people. Others addressed mass shootings. Yet others went off on tangents about arming teachers.

Even Siskiyou County resident Jess Harris, who introduced himself as affiliated with the Northern California Rifle and Pistol Association, missed the point of Jones resolution. Instead, he focused on the benefits of self-defense.

A lot of this has to do with protecting our way of life, Harris said. I know Sacramento doesnt get it, I know San Francisco doesnt get it. I dont care. I dont care what they think. They dont live here. We do. The Second Amendment is not up for interpretation tonight. (Hear his complete comments at 3:09:47.)

Numerous speakers emphasized that they were strongly in favor of the Second Amendment, but strongly opposed to Jones Second Amendment resolution.

Im not against the Second Amendment, said one woman. But I am against our county government being the interpreters of the Second Amendment.

Stainbrook received loud cheers of approval when she said Shasta County should play by Gov. Gavin Newsoms rules and make Shasta County a Second Amendment sanctuary region.

Chair Jones interrupted one womans comments when she mentioned her disappointment in the board majoritys recent vote to ditch the Dominion voting machines. Jones scolded her for being off topic. However, never was heard a discouraging word from Jones when Lori Bridgeford veered sharply off topic and referred to several key former county road block employees by name who either no longer work for the county or will soon leave. Likewise, it was radio silence from Jones when Bridgeford promoted the militia.

Were all part of the militia, Bridgeford said. So when this street jungle happens, when it hits the fan and the collapse happens and the shelves are empty and trains through town blow up whatever were on our own.

Conservative radio host Mark Kent saw another benefit for Jones Second Amendment resolution.

Mark Kent.

The state needs you unarmed and obedient how else are they gonna control you? Kent said. I think you guys need to get this thing in place for no other reason than just give the middle finger of defiance to all these people who are trying to take our rights away.

On and on it went.

Ultimately, as speaker Judy Salter reiterated, nobody in that room was against the Second Amendment. On that point, everyone agreed.

Watch the entire Feb. 21, 2023 Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting here.

More evidence of chair Jones selective, double-standard admonitions arose when speakers Missy McArthur and Salter each made references to feelings of discomfort to imagine guns inside the board chambers.

Jones piped up and schooled McArthur and Salter. He said the resolution discussion wasnt about firearms in the countys administrative building, and perhaps they were unaware that properly permitted people were carrying weapons at that very moment during the meeting.

Jones message garnered raucous, sustained applause and hoots of approval. But Jones wasnt finished.

So Im very happy to hear that youre in support of our Second Amendment resolution, Jones said, clearly enjoying the dig. Back in the audience Salter corrected Jones.

I do not support your resolution, Salter countered, as Jones talked over her thank you Judy and literally turned his head and attention to the next speaker.

Redding resident Ray Thomas, president of the Five Counties Central Labor Council, was one of several speakers who cautioned the supervisors that adopting Jones resolution could embroil the county in costly, inevitable litigation.

Ray Thomas.

Thomas began by reminding the supervisors of previous emails hed sent them that outlined potential labor-relations issues that would surely follow the adoption of Jones resolution. Thomas spelled out just one example.

You would not only be in violation of over 30 provisions of your nine labor agreements, you would be in violation of governmental code 35.04, Thomas said. (Hear his complete statement at 3:04:51 on the streaming video.)

Jeff Gorder.

Retired attorney and former Shasta County public defender Jeff Gorder delivered a lively impassioned speech steeped in legal explanations.

This strikes me as not about the Second Amendment, Gorder said of the R4 resolution.

Everybody agrees we all support the Second Amendment. We support the First Amendment, we support the Fourth Amendment. Lets have resolutions that everybody supports all the amendments. What this is about is Patrick Jones is trying to have it so that the board of supervisors will be the determinant of what is constitutional. Mr. Cruse is trying to save the board from legal jeopardy. I guarantee you that if the board votes against the redlined edition, it will be clearly unconstitutional because many of you dont seem to understand that we are a rule-of-law nation; that the legislature makes the laws, the executive enforces the laws, the judiciary interprets the laws. Not the board of supervisors; the judiciary. So, what youre trying to do is unconstitutional, Mr. Jones.

Gorder then directed his next comments to supervisors Crye and Garman, men he hoped were independent thinkers.

I would just caution you, dont go down the road of Mr. Jones and Mr. Kelstrom, Gorder said. Its only going to lead to bad things.

Some members of the crowd heckled Gorder, who responded with a chuckle.

Im just here to tell you that Ill come out of retirement and sue the county if this resolution is passed with the language as it stands, he said. Its going to cost you money, just as its going to cost you money with the Dominion voting machines.

Approximately half of the audience laughed, while the other half shouted and booed.

Out of left field, Jones rudely quipped, as Gorder left the lectern, There once was a lawyer I thought I liked, but I was wrong.

Approximately half of the audience clapped and cheered, while the other half shook their heads and half groaned.

(Go to the 3:45:10 mark of the meetings recording for Gorders full statement.)

After more than an hour of public comments, Sheriff Michael Johnson approached the lectern. Before the meeting, there was much social-media speculation about how the sheriff would react to Jones Second Amendment resolution. Would he show up? Would he speak? Would he side with Jones? Would he reject or accept the resolution?

Johnson did speak, and when he did, he performed an artful verbal tightrope walk; as if balanced over a tank of sharks, trying with all his might to not fall in. Johnsons a confident speaker. Tuesday he was a one-man good-cop bad-cop who frequently tossed chum nuggets into both sides of the tank. His comments had something for nearly everyone.

He started with bold statements in which he described himself as a staunch Second Amendment advocate. He received instant applause when Johnson said he supported Shasta County being a Second Amendment sanctuary county. In fact, Johnson recalled that while he was Andersons police chief he tried to get the NRA to make Anderson a Second Amendment sanctuary city.

Johnson talked about his sworn oath to follow and enforce laws, but he did not talk about the fact that by its very definition, a Second Amendment sanctuary region does not recognize or obey restrictive gun control laws.

Johnson briefly made the pro-R4 folks happy when he said he was in favor of the Second Amendment resolution. However, their elation soon evaporated when Johnson clarified that because of the potential legal ramifications to the county, he was only for the Second Amendment resolution version with the redlined edits suggested by county counsel and staff. Almost as an aside, he reminded the group that California already does recognize citizens rights to bear arms albeit with proper permitting. Johnson said hes personally not afraid of CCW-permitted gun owners, because theyve been vetted by his office.

I know that they are responsible citizens that have gone through the process, and have firearms and will be my backup be your backup, Johnson said. God forbid we need them to.

Pro-R4 folks loved that line. Anti-R4 folks winced.

Johnson made a pitch for people to go through the training and obtain a CCW permit. He explained why permits were necessary, namely to ensure the safety of all citizens, and to prevent firearms from getting into the wrong hands.

The pro-R4 folks werent thrilled to hear what Johnson had to say next about the issue of open carry, a topic especially popular during the 2022 election debates. Johnson said he would not allow open carry until it was deemed legal by the courts, but if the day arrived when open-carry was deemed constitutional, then hed welcome that ruling.

Johnsons closing statement was the first of two particularly stunning declarations made that evening.

But first, some context: Supervisors Kelstrom and Jones (unsure about Crye) have openly boasted their refusal to apply for a CCW permit. They say its their God-given right to carry guns without the governments permission.

With that fact in mind, the unpermitted supervisors had rude awakening with Johnsons next statement.

Make no mistake about it, the laws that are on the books are on the books, Johnson said. If you carry a gun loaded or unloaded, open or concealed without a permit currently, the Shasta County Sheriffs Department will enforce that law. You will be arrested. We will take your gun as evidence and you will be prosecuted. That is hard and fast right now.

Cue crickets. At least until Jones snapped out of it, put the sheriff on the spot and took him to task.

By now, anyone whos listened to Jones speak for any length of time knows that when Jones says, with all due respect that what follows next is probably anything but. Jones, who apparently considers himself a legal scholar, pushed back against the sheriff.

No constitutional right has to have a permit, Jones argued, to loud applause. Logic would say that concealed weapon permits are not a constitutional right. Its not a constitutional right. No permit.

Johnson waited until Jones was finished.

Thats your interpretation, Johnson said, which prompted Jones assertion that eight of the nine circuit courts agreed with Jones.

Johnson replied that he didnt see anywhere in the Constitution where it says people can open-carry or concealed-carry. So it went, back and forth, until Johnson said he wouldnt debate it; that theyd have to disagree.

When Jones asked if any of the other supervisors had further questions, only Crye spoke up. He told Johnson he appreciated him being there. Not exactly a question, but it would be one of Cryes last noncontroversial statements of the night.

You didnt have to come, Crye said to the sheriff, stating the obvious.

Moderate applause followed Johnson as he exited the board chambers, only for him to be quickly buttonholed in the hallway for several minutes by Terry Rapoza, who gave the sheriff a booming what-for about the Constitution.

Newly appointed Dist. 1 Supervisor said he struggled with the R4 agenda decision. Photo by Doni Chamberlain.

At last, after County Counsel Rubin Cruse had painstakingly combed over the redlined resolution chapter and verse, line by line, and patiently responded to all Jones queries, questions and lawyer-splaining, it was nearly time for the supervisors to decide upon Jones Second Amendment resolution.

Crye, whos already demonstrated his tendency to be consistently incongruent, offered yet more evidence that his words and claims often dont jibe with his actions. Likewise, Cryes frequent lofty descriptions of himself are sometimes diametrically opposed to his actual persona and track record.

Exhibit A: Cryes opening statement about the R4 decision.

Ive never cowered from a fight on a purpose I felt strongly about, Crye said.

See original here:

Gun-Selling Supervisor's 2nd Amendment Resolution Polarizes Citizens. (Will Unpermitted Weapon-Toting ... - A News Cafe

The Second Amendment isn’t a public health problem – Washington Examiner

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Danzig

What is the nation's greatest public health threat?Axios, an online political publication, commissioned a survey by Ipsos asking this and other health questions. The opioid crisis (26%) and obesity (21%) took first and second place overall. That should be no surprise, for they are dire problems, directly or indirectly responsible for much suffering and hundreds of thousands of deaths annually. Opioids in particular, despite being smaller than the others, are alarming for their sudden onset.

What is astounding, however, is what is evident when breaking down the survey answers based on political affiliation. It is Republicans alone who make opioids and obesity the top two concerns. Democrats have entirely different priorities than the average respondent.

RED STATES CAN LEAD THE WAY IN PROTECTING MARRIAGE

Among Republicans, the greatest threat to public health is "opioids/fentanyl" (37%), followed by obesity (25%) and cancer (17%). Those are all reasonable answers that reflect serious health problems.

A plurality of Democrats, on the other hand, lists "gun or firearm access" (35%) as the No. 1 threat to public health.

Of course, "gun access" is not a health problem not a disease, not a condition, but a constitutional right that can be taken away only through due process. At least 37% of households take advantage of that right, according to the survey. Gun access also does not cause diseases or deaths. People can use guns to cause deaths out of malice, self-defense, a desire to self-harm, which actually is a health problem, and carelessness.

The second-most common way to die by gunshot, after suicide, is in the commission of a crime. Crime also isn't a health problem. But even if one treats it as a health problem, it does not mean that guns cause crime. Democratic prosecutors who go easy on dangerous criminals cause crime. Even though mass shootings are exceedingly rare, even many of them can be placed at the feet of prosecutors for example, the Michigan State University shooter would have been in jail or at least deprived of his right to own firearms had he been properly prosecuted for previous crimes and not allowed to plead down to a misdemeanor. The man who roamed the East Coast shooting defenseless homeless people was likewise let off the hook by a liberal prosecutor in northern Virginia, allowed to plead his way out of a kidnapping and attempted rape charge. Such examples abound.

The fentanyl and opioid overdose issue is a genuine and serious health threat. Opioids are extremely addictive, and addiction is common because they have been so dramatically overprescribed. Fentanyl is a deadly threat, far more potent than anything people had seen before. Opioid overdoses killed more than 100,000 people between April 2020 and April 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Likewise, those who gave obesity as the answer are spot on, given the appalling rate of death due to heart disease, the nation's leading killer, complications from diabetes, and other obesity-related ailments. Cancer is the second-leading cause of death.

But every Democrat who claims that the biggest health problem is "gun access" is burying his or her head in the sand on matters of health. Whether this is due to President Joe Biden exacerbating the opioid problem or to ideological hatred that other people have gun rights, 35% of them answered this question as if they did not live in the real world. That's generously assuming that it is reasonable to consider COVID-19 the nation's most serious health risk in 2023 a dubious proposition, to which another 9% of Democratic respondents subscribe.

It is at least heartening that almost as many Democrats cited real health threats, such as opioids, obesity, and cancer (43% combined), as the most serious health problems facing the nation. But it is clear that Democrats' thinking has been deeply infected by the fallacy that everything is political or that woke Twitter is real life.

Indeed, maybe more people should have offered "social media" in answer to the survey's main question.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

See the article here:

The Second Amendment isn't a public health problem - Washington Examiner

Shasta County Second Amendment resolution pushed to March 14th – KRCR

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Danzig

One man at the supervisors meeting held up a sign saying "Hey white nationalists fascists, stop killing us" at the top of the sign.

There was barely any standing room inside the packed board chambers during the first nighttime Shasta County Supervisors Meeting of 2023. Many hot topics were discussed, ranging from the Palo Cedro Town Center Specific Plan to the California Conservation Corps. However, one of the biggest items on the agenda, drawing in the large crowd, was the item related to the Second Amendment Resolution.

The resolution was not approved but voted to be brought back to the agenda at the March 14th meeting.

KRCR

Properly permitted visitors can carry their weapons onto county property, however, licensed county employees cannot. Supervisor, and Owner of"Jones' Fort" Gun Store, Patrick Jones wanted to change that and brought a resolution to the board prohibiting officials from enforcing any law deemed "unconstitutional," in regards to the Second Amendment.

However, after hours of discussion and public comment, it did not pass: two yeas and two nays with an abstention from Kevin Crye. Instead it was voted on to be brought back so that Supervisor Crye could speak with his lawyer. The vote was made to bring back the item for a possible vote on March 14th.

The resolution was initially drafted and submitted by the California Rifle and Pistol Associationin collaboration with the Shasta County Gun Owners. County staff also revised the resolution to make sure it does not exceed the board's legal authority.

Patrick Jones address the crowd before pubic comment about the resolution he brought forward.{{ }}

This is not the first time an item like this has come up.The board considered adopting a similar resolution almost two years ago. However, Supervisor Joe Chimenti, who was the chairman at that time, pulled the agenda because of the 2021 Boulder Colorado mass shooting, which occurred just a day prior.

During Tuesday's meeting, the public shared mixed opinions. Some held signs saying, "No! On R4!" Some shared their opposition with the board about supporting the second amendment but not the resolution.

Others shared they believed this resolution was the right move and urged the board to vote for it.

The supervisors board room was full with only standing room left.{{ }}

A group of concerned residents are speaking out against the proposed amendment. The Shasta County Citizens for Stable Government filed a cease and desist letter to supervisors Tuesday morning.

According to the Brown Act, agendas for public meetings of governing boards much accurately describe an issue and the actions to be taken, the group said in a release. While the proposed resolution has been heavily edited by Shasta County Counsel, the group expects the board majority will ignore most, if not all, the changes recommended to ensure the document is legally compliant."

Letters sound off on gun violence and voting – South Bend Tribune

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Danzig

Letters to the Editor| South Bend Tribune

At the risk of sounding jaded, callous and cynical, the solution to mass shootings seems simple to me.

1)Change Congress, and

2) Change gun laws

Nothing will change until American voters vote the rascals out of office who are bought by the NRA and elect congressmen(and women) who want to change the laws.

The Second Amendment guarantees the right to own a weapon but does not guarantee the right to own a military-style assault rifle.

Dave Rohrer

Plymouth

I read recently that state Rep. Tim Wesco has authored a bill to make voting by mail in Indiana harder. I guess the 23 measures that our Secretary of State advertised that had made our elections safe and secure are not enough. We need to take even more measures to make voting even harder. I do not remember hearing or reading that there was any voter fraud in Indiana, so why is Indiana falling for conspiracy theories or is it just an excuse to actually make voting harder?Being a property-owning white male, I am among the people the Constitution gave the right to vote to originally. I am disappointed that one of the only two major political parties we have is doing everything it can to make voting harder. Every person over the age of 18 who has not committed election fraud should have easy access to vote for the government representation they want.

Don't worry, I will figure out how to photocopy my drivers license to send in with my application to vote absent. Because I plan on always being out of town on Election Day, and voting by mail is easier and more secure or at least it has been before the Republicans came along to change the laws.So, after you make voting by mail insecure, what is next? Voting Democrat? I wish I was able to move away from Indiana; this state is becoming increasingly hostile to fairness and equality, as the only people with a voice are fearmongering conspiracy theorists.

Howard Turner

Elkhart

Recent news shows we have more than 50 mass killings across our country this year. We are in the 21st century, and still have barbaric behavior in the USA. Contrary to political rhetoric, this indicates we are not the greatest country in the world, but compete with Second World. People are being killed by semiautomatic weapons in groups, there are daily shootings in our cities and even a 6-year-old shoots his teacher.

Current gun rules are too shallow to be useful. Many in Congress are practicing hypocrites by what they do and dont do to make our country better. Leadership? What happened to respect? Many describe themselves as right to life, yet do nothing to diminish this problem of losing lives. The Second Amendment is 232 years old, antiquated and irrelevant. A reason to have a gun is to kill someone.

With all such killings, they have one thing in common: the tools they use are guns. To help solve this problem, we need to remove these tools from our society. Can we do it? It might be difficult but we are the USA and we can do anything if we wish. As a country, are we safer with no guns or if all of us have guns?

Tom Nowak

South Bend

More here:

Letters sound off on gun violence and voting - South Bend Tribune

COLUMN: Protecting our Second Amendment rights | Free … – ECM Publishers

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Danzig

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COLUMN: Protecting our Second Amendment rights | Free ... - ECM Publishers

This Isn’t Your (Founding) Fathers’ Originalism – The Bulwark

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Danzig

In Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, the federal law preventing domestic abusers from possessing firearms is now void. Thats thanks to a recent ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. Rahimi, in which the court clearly indicated discomfort with the conclusion the Supreme Court forced it to reach.

A court order barred Zackey Rahimi from stalking a former girlfriend and from possessing a firearm. But Rahimi demonstrated spectacularly that he still had a gun. Within a two-month period, he fired multiple shots into the home of a narcotics customer, shot at the driver of a car involved in an accident with his car, returned after leaving the accident scene to fire more shots at the drivers car, shot at a Texas constables vehicle, and fired multiple shots in the air when a friends credit card was declined at a restaurant. After a trial court rejected Rahimis claim that the Constitution entitled him to keep and bear his gun, he pleaded guilty to violating 18 U.S.C. 922, which makes it illegal for those under court orders like his to possess any firearm orammunition.

Even if prohibiting the possession of firearms by someone subject to a domestic violence restraining order is a laudable policy goal, the Fifth Circuit ruled earlier this month, the statute violated the Second Amendment. The court reachedor was forced to reachthat conclusion in a troubling way.

For most of our nations history, the victims of domestic violence were entitled to little legal protection. In 1874, the North Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the assault and battery conviction and $10 fine of Richard Oliver after he came home drunk, criticized the bacon and coffee, cut two four-foot switches, and whipped his wife. The court wrote: We may assume that the old doctrine, that a husband had a right to whip his wife, provided he used a switch no larger than his thumb, is not the law in North Carolina. But it added: If no permanent injury has been inflicted, nor malice, cruelty, nor dangerous violence shown by the husband, it is better to draw the curtain, shut out the public gaze, and leave the parties to forgive and forget.

In the last two decades of the twentieth century, public officials became less inclined to draw the curtain. In 1994, bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which contained the language the Fifth Circuit struck down. The court noted that this law embodies salutary policy goals meant to protect vulnerable people in our society, but it said a recent Supreme Court decision tied its handsNew York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which the Court handed down one day before it overruled Roe v. Wade.

Before Bruen, eleven federal courts of appeals had agreed on a standard for judging whether firearms restrictions violate the Second Amendment. This standard would have allowed judges to take account of the interest of domestic-violence victims in not being shot. But Justice Thomass opinion for the Court forbade judge-empowering interest-balancing. It declared that judges may consider only the Second Amendments text and its history.

To justify a firearms regulation, the government now must prove that this regulation is consistent with the Nations historical tradition of firearm regulation. And to make this showing, the government must point to analogous regulations that were in place before 1900.

The Courts scavenger hunt standard seems likely to mark the end of many firearms regulations. In June, a special session of the New York legislature enacted a new firearms law to replace the one the Supreme Court struck down in Bruen. But a federal judge provisionally held twelve provisions of this new law unconstitutional, including its prohibitions of carrying concealed handguns at airports, zoos, parks, bars, buses, churches, theaters, and political demonstrations.

Another federal judge wrote of a federal statute that outlaws the possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number: Certainly, the usefulness of serial numbers in solving gun crimes makes [this statute] desirable for our society. But he then held the statute unconstitutional.

A third federal judge put the issue this way when, a few months before the Fifth Circuit ruling, he became the first to strike down the federal statute protecting the victims of domestic violence: Domestic abusers are not new. But until the mid-1970s, government interventionmuch less removing an individuals firearmsbecause of domestic violence practically did not exist. The judge observed that, although the historical tradition of disregarding domestic violence was likely unthinkable today, the Supreme Court had made this tradition decisive.

Its sometimes the duty of courts to strike down salutary and well-intentioned laws that violate the Constitution, but the current Court is interpreting the Constitution in a new way. The interpretive doctrine of originalism championed by the late Justice Antonin Scalia and others emphasizes that the Constitution should be interpreted according to the original public meaning of its texthence the term originalism. But Bruen identifies no prevailing public understanding of the Second Amendments text at the time of its enactment. Instead, it focuses on whether a particular sort of firearms regulation was in place at that time or shortly thereafter, and it treats the failure of early legislatures to act as determinative of the amendments meaning. In fact, the failure of a legislature to approve a regulation provides almost no evidence that this regulation would be unconstitutional or that anyone thought it would be. If early American legislatures didnt require background checks or outlaw gun possession by the mentally ill, those omissions neither establish nor indicate that these regulations violate the Second Amendment. Its far more likely that legislators simply saw no need for them or saw no way to implement them. The Court appears to have missed the distinction between declining to act and lacking the power to do so.

The Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit have construed the Second Amendment to require continued adherence to a long tradition of legislative inaction, however shameful this tradition and however determined to end it the peoples elected representatives eventually became.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has promised to seek review of the Fifth Circuit ruling. The Justice Department may soon give the Court an opportunity to establish a more historically justified and less peculiar interpretive standard.

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This Isn't Your (Founding) Fathers' Originalism - The Bulwark

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