The strange saga of how two Mexican drug lords were detained after landing in a plane in the United States in July just got stranger. read more
Donald Trump wasn't completely lying about his near-death helicopter experience after all, but the 2024 Republican presidential nominee did get a few details mixed-up. For one, the Black man Trump mistook for former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown was actually former Los Angeles city councilman and state senator, Nate Holden. "I guess we all look alike," said Holden in an interview with Politico. He added, "Willie is the short Black guy living in San Francisco. I'm a tall Black guy living in Los Angeles." Even though it was Trump's own mistake, The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman told CNN that Trump has threatened to sue the newspaper for reporting that Brown denied the incident. read more
A California man who cracked the face shield of one police officer, unloaded pepper spray on others and bludgeoned countless officers with poles, boards and even his feet was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday, the longest sentence handed down to any participant in the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Prosecutors called David Dempsey "political violence personified," and U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth agreed, saying that even on a day that "will be seared into our nation's memory as a bloodbath," Dempsey's conduct was "exceptionally egregious." read more
The Pyramid of Djoser, the oldest of Egypt's iconic pyramids, may have been built with the help of a unique hydraulic lift system, according to a study published August 5, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Xavier Landreau from CEA Paleotechnic Institute, France, and colleagues. The new study suggests that water may have been able to flow into two shafts located inside the pyramid itself, where that water could have been used to help raise and lower a float used to carry the building stones. The Pyramid of Djoser, also known as the Step Pyramid, is believed to have been built around 2680 BCE as a funerary complex for the Third Dynasty pharaoh Djoser. Yet the exact method of its construction remains unclear. read more
The champion American gymnast Simone Biles found time overnight between counting her record haul of Olympic medals to ding Donald Trump on social media after his offensive and untrue remarks at a gathering of Black journalists earlier in the week. She posted on X early on Friday: "I love my black job" with a black heart emoji alongside, responding to another post of her beaming with her latest Olympic gold medal. read more
Another bastard offspring from the Roberts Court and a paean to wackdoodle "originalism."
To get around Heller's conclusion that the government may regulate dangerous and unusual weapons like fully automatic firearms, Broomes primarily argues that there were no laws similar to the modern-day ban on machine guns either in 18th century England or during the period around America's founding.
Of course, there's a really obvious reason why no actual machine gun ban existed in the 1700s: The machine gun wasn't invented until 1884.
www.vox.com
Another bastard offspring from the Roberts Court and a paean to wackdoodle "originalism."
To get around Heller's conclusion that the government may regulate dangerous and unusual weapons like fully automatic firearms, Broomes primarily argues that there were no laws similar to the modern-day ban on machine guns either in 18th century England or during the period around America's founding.
Of course, there's a really obvious reason why no actual machine gun ban existed in the 1700s: The machine gun wasn't invented until 1884.
www.vox.com
Put a sock in it.
~ JayDee