Clifford Simak The Visitors

Published in 1980. It has strong very intentional parallels to what happened when a technologically more sophisticated civilization (Europeans) arrived in North America at least how an exchange economy largely destroyed the Indian economic order as superior technology such as iron and firearms supplanted native cooking utensils and the bow. This in surprisingly short order made the Indians dependent on the Europeans. The bow had largely fallen out of use by Northeast woodland Indians by 1690 -- and gave Europeans a powerful tool of control over them.

Here, the visitors are incomprehensible to 20th century Americans. They can communicate in a very limited way as they consume natural resources while exchanging them for things that we clearly want, destroying our industrial capacity along the way. Not with any malevolent intent but unable to see how destructive this would become. (At least one colonial governor in the 18th century did recognize how firearms made the Indians dependent and bragged to London about his success.)

Imaginative and entertaining as all Simak novels are.

Italy Looking Out for Italians

9/20/26 Reuters:

MILAN, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Italy is preparing to ban face coverings in schools and to cap the number of foreign students per class, Prime Minister Giorgia ​Meloni said on Sunday as she played up her right-wing ‌credentials at a youth event organised by her party...

"If there is ‌only ⁠one child in a class who doesn't understand Italian, that child will likely be able to learn the language and integrate quickly with the help of classmates and teachers. However, if the number of children who don't understand ​the language becomes ​large - or even ⁠the majority - that is no longer integration; it is neglect," she added.

When Public Safety Agencies Reduced Physical Requirements for Employees Doing Jobs Requiring Strength...

Would you have expected it to go this far?

I am sure there are valuable jobs this short and clearly weak woman could have done for EMS, but this was not one of them.

Another Citation

Memorandum Opinion by U.S. Attorney-General:

Application of 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(1) and (c)(1) to Young Adults Section 922(b)(1) and (c)(1) of title 18, U.S. Code, is unconstitutional as applied to young adults between eighteen and twenty who seek to purchase handguns. The provision prevents young adults, who are members of “the people” to whom the Second Amendment applies, from owning “arms” in common use for self-defense. This places the burden on the government to show that the restrictions are consistent with the  Nation’s tradition of firearm regulation, which it cannot do. 

They cite me at pp. 43-44:

Pistols, though less common than other firearms, existed at the Founding and were a familiar article of early American commerce. See Clayton E. Cramer & Joseph Edward Olson, Pistols, Crime, and Public: Safety in Early America, 44 Willamette L. Rev. 699, 706–11 (2008) (outlining the prevalence of pistols at the time of the Founding).  

How important are such opinions? Apparently, pretty important. To quote from an Obama-era memo "MEMORANDUM FOR ATTORNEYS OF THE OFFICE Re: Best Practices for OLC Legal Advice and Written Opinions "

As noted above, OLC's central function is to provide, pursuant to the Attorney General's delegation, controlling legal advice to Executive Branch officials in furtherance of the President's constitutional duties to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, and to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." 

More Progress on Gun Rights

 Elite Precision Customs v. BATF (5th Cir. 2026):

Plaintiffs unsuccessfully sought a permanent injunction against several provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 922 that collectively prohibit the buying and selling of handguns across state lines.  The only issue is whether those provisions are constitutional under the Second Amendment.  They are not:  Under Bruen, they implicate the Second Amendment’s plain text, making them presumptively unconstitutional, and the government has failed to meet its burden to justify the provisions as consistent with the nation’s tradition of firearms regulation.  We reverse and render judgment for plaintiffs. 

The GCA68 provision that prohibited sale of handguns to persons not a resident of state of sale had a certain logic: in 1968, there was no national database (what's a database?) that allowed for a nationwide check to see if you were a prohibited person in some state. Some states had provisions for this, or at least pretended that they did. Even quite recently, some states considered mental hospital records as so private that they could not check for involuntary commitments. 

We now have the NICS database that allows dealers to check if a buyer is disqualified from purchase. This may well expand sales at gun shows of handguns.

Parody of Woke? Or Evidence of How Insane 2025 Still Was?

 

If You Told Me This Was Parody of Woke