Sometimes, the Fates serve something up that's so on the nose, you know the fix is in. Case (literally) in point, United States v. Hemani, now before the U. S. Supreme Court.
Uncle Sam says Ali Danial Hemani is a pot-swilling terrorist supporter, who shouldn't be allowed to own guns on account of being an habitual drug user, since, as question 21.f. on the BATFE Form 4473 quaintly asks and warns, "Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance? Warning: The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside." It's right there in plain text:* even pot use is a downcheck, and the buyer will not, in fact, be purchasing a firearm that day if the answer "Yes."
On the other side, the defense says he's an almost stereotypical Texas gun owner, a pillar of his community, active in religious organizations and youth sports, who just happens to enjoy a little herb from time to time.
I have no idea if either of these description is anywhere close to reality. I never met him and I haven't been following the case. What I do know is that we've got the Feds on one side, and on the other, everyone from the NRA to NORML, from the ACLU to Gun Owners of America is weighing in or even filing Friend of the Court Briefs.
It's one to watch, and in the meantime, always ask, "Who brought these brownies?" before digging in.
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* Of course, the current version of the same form still gives you three choices for the answer to question 14, Sex: Male, Female or Non-Binary. Presumably anyone who ticks the third box vanishes from Federal sight immediately, since the Federal government only recognize the first two options now, and the sale is denied on account of there not being anyone buying. And they were just right there...!
The further and continuing adventures of the girl who sat in the back of your homeroom, reading and daydreaming.
Monday, March 02, 2026
Sunday, March 01, 2026
Did My Taxes
I decided I had better do my taxes before the last minute. I knew it was going to be painful, since I started receiving Social Security early last year -- but hey, they're not taxing that, right?
Wrong. There's a $6000 income deduction for old people like me, but it starts getting pro-rated down once your total income exceeds a certain threshold, and mine had. They took every dime I paid in Federal income taxes and wanted in excess of $4000 more.
This is the kind of thing that is easier to take if you have been preparing for it, and I had -- but it's more than I expected. Nevertheless, I paid it, and what the heck, I always did like like beans and rice for dinner. But the man who tries to hector me about the worker's paradise the GOP is building had better be able to duck.
Wrong. There's a $6000 income deduction for old people like me, but it starts getting pro-rated down once your total income exceeds a certain threshold, and mine had. They took every dime I paid in Federal income taxes and wanted in excess of $4000 more.
This is the kind of thing that is easier to take if you have been preparing for it, and I had -- but it's more than I expected. Nevertheless, I paid it, and what the heck, I always did like like beans and rice for dinner. But the man who tries to hector me about the worker's paradise the GOP is building had better be able to duck.
Yah, Yah, Yah
So I guess we blew up the Ayatollah, or maybe the Israelis did -- of course, he was like 86 and they were shopping for a new one already, and while many of the people of Iran may be delighted he's gone, his replacement is likely to be more of the same, or worse.
Bear in mind that the West bears most of the responsibility for the hostile, inward-looking nature of the Iranian government: we'd stuck the Shah in place after U. S. and British oil interests had freaked out when the country shambled itself into a left-leaning government in the 1950s that nationalized their oil businesses. The Shah dug in like a tick on an elephant and began to live large on oil money, with his very own secret police doing secret police things, and the same Iranians who'd opted for that scary socialist government (at a time when the Soviet Union could still make a compelling case for rapid industrialization under a command economy -- they had excellent PR for a few decades, especially in the Third World) came to resent it, and their religious nationalists particularly resented it. By the time things went bang, they were thoroughly pissed off at anyone who wasn't them, and it was in that mood the government of present-day Iran was formed.
They don't like anybody, and the vast majority of the present-day population has grown up knowing most of their neighbors don't much like them. If anyone's thinking there's going to be a rapid pro-Western realignment among the gen. pop. while the government folds...think again. We might see some serious chaos; we might see the most hard-nosed hardliners claw their way to the top, or a floundering government of second- and third-rankers, but the good ol' days of the good ol' Shah aren't coming back and attempts to jam a new Shah into the socket are liable to backfire.
You can't do any nation-building from bomb-dropping altitude, no matter how high you can make the rubble bounce.
Bear in mind that the West bears most of the responsibility for the hostile, inward-looking nature of the Iranian government: we'd stuck the Shah in place after U. S. and British oil interests had freaked out when the country shambled itself into a left-leaning government in the 1950s that nationalized their oil businesses. The Shah dug in like a tick on an elephant and began to live large on oil money, with his very own secret police doing secret police things, and the same Iranians who'd opted for that scary socialist government (at a time when the Soviet Union could still make a compelling case for rapid industrialization under a command economy -- they had excellent PR for a few decades, especially in the Third World) came to resent it, and their religious nationalists particularly resented it. By the time things went bang, they were thoroughly pissed off at anyone who wasn't them, and it was in that mood the government of present-day Iran was formed.
They don't like anybody, and the vast majority of the present-day population has grown up knowing most of their neighbors don't much like them. If anyone's thinking there's going to be a rapid pro-Western realignment among the gen. pop. while the government folds...think again. We might see some serious chaos; we might see the most hard-nosed hardliners claw their way to the top, or a floundering government of second- and third-rankers, but the good ol' days of the good ol' Shah aren't coming back and attempts to jam a new Shah into the socket are liable to backfire.
You can't do any nation-building from bomb-dropping altitude, no matter how high you can make the rubble bounce.