Divemedic

In my post about gun laws that are ignored by criminals, the comments included a discussion of Federal law, specifically 18 USC 922(n), which reads:

It shall be unlawful for any person who is under indictment for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce any firearm or ammunition or receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.

Reader Differ asks what the law means when they say “has been shipped or transported in interstate commerce.” As with most things involving the government, the phrase has been folded, spindled, and mutilated beyond its common meaning so that power that the government shouldn’t have can be usurped by the powers that be. Let’s see how that works:

The Constitution grants the Federal government the power to regulate commerce through the “commerce clause.” The Commerce Clause refers to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress the power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian Tribes.

As with many things, they use this particular clause to get their hands on powers they otherwise wouldn’t have. In this case, they use the Supreme Court case Wickard v. Filburn. That case concerned a farmer that was growing wheat for use on his own farm. He contended that he was not subject to the limits that the Federal Government had placed on wheat production, because his wheat was not sold, so it could not be regulated as commerce, let alone “interstate” commerce (described in the Constitution as “Commerce… among the several states”). The Supreme Court disagreed. They held that because he was growing his own wheat, this meant that he did not buy wheat from someone else. Since he did not buy someone else’s wheat, this affected interstate commerce, and made his wheat subject to the regulations.

This court case basically says that the Feds can rule over anyone they please, without worrying about enumerated powers. All they have to do is play “six degrees of separation” to show that the behavior they wish to dictate affected interstate commerce in some way, no matter how tenuous.

THAT is yet another way that the Constitution has been turned into toilet paper by the court system.

Last week, I posted that there was a moratorium on all residential evictions because of the COVID pandemic (really because of the state’s stay at home orders) and how it violates the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment.

Now they are taking things a step further. There are tenant and anti capitalist groups nationwide who are pushing for a complete moratorium on the collection of rents for the next 90 days. They are claiming that this is not unconstitutional because it’s an emergency. 

Well, that’s entirely different. After all, if it’s an emergency, then our rights apparently don’t matter. Heck, since it is an emergency, let’s take some other actions. To avoid large groups congregating, let’s go ahead and cancel all elections. Trump can simply remain the President until the emergency has passed.

No right to jury trial- it’s an emergency.
No right to call witnesses- it’s an emergency.
No right to free speech- it’s an emergency.

Or could it be that the government has now inserted itself into a private contract between me and my tenants and is depriving my business of income for a quarter of the year without so much as a dime in compensation. I am a small business owner, and small businesses are getting royally fucked in this whole COVID thing. Instead, they will use hundreds of millions of dollars to “bail out” Ivy league universities who have a combined endowment of over $100 billion and don’t need the money.

It’s illegal for a person on pretrial release to have a gun.
It’s illegal for a convicted felon to possess a gun.
It’s illegal for a convicted felon to possess ammunition.
It’s illegal to possess drugs
It’s illegal to use drugs
It’s illegal to possess drug parafernalia
It’s illegal to burglarize homes
It’s illegal to do any of the dozen or so crimes this guy committed.
But let’s pass a law banning guns, because a criminal that ignores all of those laws will somehow have a change of character and obey this one.

When this came across my social media feed, I thought it was a joke. Sadly, it isn’t. They are selling hats that they claim ward off RF radiation, the proverbial tin foil hat. They are also selling “silver lined protective masks to fight off COVID19”

I just got in an online argument with a group of people over this proposal:

There are about 40 million people in the workforce who are susceptible to COVID 19 by either being over 50 years old or having a preexisting medical condition. We should give each of them 1 million dollars to retire, subject to the following restrictions:
1 They can no longer work.
2 They must buy an American car
3 They must buy a house cash or pay the mortgage off for whatever house they already own.
This would fix everything by allowing people to return to work and simultaneously fix the labor force by eliminating debt and unemployment. 

My reply was that this was stupid, and anyone who endorsed it obviously didn’t understand basic mathematics or economics. First, it would cost 40 TRILLION dollars to pay those 40 million people a million each. Second, there are only 15 trillion dollars in existence, so this payment would be more money than actually exists.

I was laughed at and called ridiculous. The people who called me ridiculous fell into two camps:

1 Paying 40 million people a million dollars each would only cost 40 billion dollars, less than the cost of an aircraft carrier.

2 There is no limit to the number of dollars that exist. You just add it to bank accounts on the computer, it isn’t like they actually have to PRINT the money in today’s day and age.

Sigh. I left the discussion. I just don’t have time to explain the ways that they are wrong. 

Tonight, I spoke with my son while he was on the way to the first of his 3 night shifts. He is currently working 3 day shifts, then 3 night shifts, then one day off. They would like him to work seven days a week, but he has told them that is simply too much. As it is, he is working 72 hours a week.

The hospital continues to get fewer COVID patients, and the patients who are coming in seem to be more of what the ED is used to from before all of this madness. They are waiting for the next spike that will happen as the economy reopens, and are hoping that round two will not be as bad.

Tonight we discussed some of the things that are happening around the country, and the subject came around to the possible treatment option of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. He said that the hospital where he was had begun trying that treatment about two weeks ago, but it didn’t appear to be working very well. After a week they had to stop trying it because they were out of azithromycin.

Right now all they can do is support the patient as best they can while waiting for their immune system to either win or lose the fight.

I asked him what he thought about all of the rumors from the left and right about this being some sort of profit driven conspiracy, and that the disease was no worse than the flu. His reply was: “If you can point me to a strain of the flu that causes renal failure, coagulopathies, hepatic failure, and oxygen saturations of 75% in otherwise healthy 28 year olds, I would like to see it.” He went on to say how many friends he is willing to write off for thinking that he would ever kill someone because a hospital wanted to make some extra money. He has already stopped speaking to six or seven people for accusing him of that.

The rest of the conversation was personal stuff, how he was handling his first time in NYC, that sort of thing, then he was off to work. He still hasn’t decided whether or not he will be taking that 3 week extension to his contract. He expects to know by Wednesday.

The latest report from my son Harlem is that the COVID related cases are dropping. Yesterday, there were more “normal” ED cases than there were COVID for the first time since he arrived. The powers that be are concerned that there will be a second spike once businesses reopen, so they are contracting him for another three weeks.

John Derossett was just exonerated from the charges of shooting at three deputies and hitting one. He spent five years in jail waiting for trial. The facts are:

Deputies were investigating a case of prostitution against Derosset’s live in niece. The three arrived at the home in unmarked vehicles that they parked away from the home, and were in plain clothes. The deputies did not have a warrant. They knocked on the door and, when the niece opened it, they grabbed her and dragged her out the door, which caused her to scream for help. Derosset heard her screams and went to her aid with his firearm.

When deputies saw Derosset approaching with a firearm, they released the niece and scattered. Derosset saw the men in his yard and fired a warning shot. The deputies responded by shooting at him, striking both Derosset and his niece. Derosset returned fire, shooting one of the deputies in the abdomen.

When the shooting began, Derosett’s neighbor, who was a senior officer with the Sheriff’s office, arrived and took Derosett into custody. The neighbor would later testify that Derosett was confused as to why he was being arrested. At no point during the entire incident did any of the three deputies identify themselves as law enforcement officers.

That last sentence is the one that set Dorsett free. The only sad part is that an innocent man had to spend five years in jail because some deputies didn’t do their jobs. Here is the source material.