WHY NOT JUST GO AT NIGHT? Innovative Engineering Shields NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX During Close Encounter With the Sun.
Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds
June 1, 2024
WELL, GOOD: Arkansas Supreme Court sanctions Pulaski County circuit judge over ruling on guns in courthouses.
The Arkansas Supreme Court on Friday rebuked Pulaski County Circuit Judge Morgan “Chip” Welch for violating rules of the Code of Judicial Conduct that require judges to promote confidence in the judiciary, demonstrate impartiality and act without bias.
The written admonishment comes in the form of an unsigned order that requires Welch to take a six-week online judicial ethics course by the end of July plus complete another three hours of ethics training before October. . . .
“Labeling and referring to an opinion by the Supreme Court of Arkansas as ‘LOCO’ erodes public confidence. His written opinion stating that the Supreme Court’s opinion ‘creates a new class of unlicensed, heretofore untrained, armed lawyers in courthouses of the State’ also erodes public confidence. To suggest that this court created a class of armed lawyers is dangerous, and it undermines the public’s understanding of the judiciary’s role,” the order states. “We interpret laws, we do not make them, and Judge Welch’s suggestion to the contrary damages the public’s view of the separation of powers and the role of the judiciary.”
The LOCO label was found to be a violation of Rule 2.3, a prohibition against showing bias or prejudice. The order invokes a ban on negative stereotyping while noting his duties include conducting commitment hearings in mental-health court.
“[We] think he should be more circumspect with his word choice. Using the Spanish word loco, meaning crazy, cavalierly referring to another court’s judicial order in a joking manner exceeds the bounds of appropriate judicial behavior. And when given an opportunity to respond, to admit only that he should have had better editing skills, suggests a lack of judicial maturity and reflection,” the order states.
Further, judicial code Rule 2.2 regarding impartiality and fairness was violated when Welch “made it clear in his written order that he disagreed with this court’s interpretation of the statute and with the statute itself. His opinion was sprinkled with disparaging remarks about the court’s interpretation of the statute.” . . .
The gun issue was before the high court as a result of a 2022 lawsuit by three lawyers, Chris Corbitt, Ben Motal and Robert Steinbuch, who argued that Act 1087 of 2017, codified as Arkansas Code 5-73-122, allowed lawyers as “officers of the court” to carry handguns into the state’s courthouses and courtrooms. Welch dismissed the suit in March 2023, leading to the appeal that brought the issue to the Supreme Court this year.
It’s a mistake to cross Prof. Steinbuch.
I BLAME CLIMATE CHANGE: Deaths linked to ATV use in U.S. climb by a third in one year.
BLUE POLICIES BEAR PREDICTABLE FRUIT: Brutal Machete Attack in Times Square ‘Gun-Free’ Disarmament Zone.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: China spacecraft to try to land on Moon’s far side.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: The Best Cars That Still Offer a Manual Transmission in 2024, Ranked.
I DON’T THINK THIS IS THE FCC’S BUSINESS: FCC chair calls for stricter ‘space junk’ rules.
Flashback: “The FCC’s claim to jurisdiction rests on a thin reed.”
WELL, THERE’S A SURPRISE: Starliner Launch Attempt Scrubbed. “There are backup launch opportunities June 2, 5 and 6.”
ONLY SOME OF THEM ARE IN THE WHITE HOUSE: Traumatic brain injury affects 1 in 8 older Americans.
ROBIN HANSON: Beware Moral Fashion. Like regular fashion, it’s easier to follow it, then when fashions change to laugh at the old ones and say “times were different.”
ARNOLD KLING: Are Chatbots Dangerous for Teachers?
Personally, I think they can be a source of useful and amusing ideas, like this one from Google’s Gemini AI:
I mean, honestly, this is much better than the reality. Make it so!
READER BOOK PLUG: Reader William Stroock has a story in Hooves, Tracks and Sabers!: Tales of Alternate History. His story is Standoff at San Miguel, “in which a troop of US Cavalry Scouts tracks down Pancho Villa.”
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: ‘Fat Sex Therapist’ compares fitness trainers to Nazis, children’s dieting to sexual assault.
LAWPROF STEVEN CALABRESI: President Donald Trump’s Manhattan Convictions are Unconstitutional.
SCHEDULED FOR 12:25 PM EDT: Boeing will launch its 1st Starliner astronaut mission today after delays. Here’s how to watch it live online.
JOHN HINDERAKER: Another Officer Down. “One post-Floyd recruit was Jamal Mitchell. Mitchell joined the MPD a year and a half ago. Just days into his tenure as a police officer, he made headlines by saving an elderly couple from a burning building. Last night, he was murdered.”
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Poor economy shoves Biden reelection into loser category. “The public’s suffering from President Joe Biden’s inflation-plagued economy has sunk to the level that cost former President George H.W. Bush his reelection. Economic confidence under Biden is stumbling anew, and Gallup, which has studied the matter for decades, said it is down to levels seen in 1992, when Clinton adviser James Carville famously scribbled ‘The economy, stupid’ on a whiteboard.”
JESSE SINGAL: On New York University’s Utterly Cringeworthy Attempt To Get Protesters To “Educate Themselves.” “To a certain type of bland midwit, all political disagreement can be boiled down to a lack of education. Not on their part, of course — but rather on the part of their ideological adversaries.”
Educating people is supposed to be NYU’s job.
FLASHBACK: Marxists’ Apartment A Microcosm Of Why Marxism Doesn’t Work. “The lack of funds and the resulting scarcity breeds not only discontent but also corruption. Although collectivism only works when all parties contribute to the fullest extent, Foyle hid the existence of a $245 paycheck from roommates so he would not have to pay his back rent, in essence refusing to participate in the forced voluntary taxation that is key to socialism. Even worse, Dorff, who is entrusted with bill collection and payment, recently pocketed $30, a theft he claimed was ‘for the heating bill’ but was put toward buying drinks later that night.”
STALINIST SHOW TRIALS DON’T REQUIRE LOGIC: The Prosecution’s Story About Trump Featured Several Logically Impossible Claims: Whatever Trump did after the 2016 presidential election, it seems safe to say that it did not retroactively promote his victory.
A New York Times editorial concedes that “many experts” have “expressed skepticism about the significance of this case and its legal underpinnings, which employed an unusual legal theory to seek a felony charge for what is more commonly a misdemeanor.” Yet the Times also claims the jury found Trump “guilty of falsifying business records to prevent voters from learning about a sexual encounter that he believed would have been politically damaging.” How did records created in 2017 “prevent voters from learning” about the Daniels tryst before they cast their ballots the previous year?
Nor does the New York Times.
Related: It’s Time to Go After the Left More Ruthlessly — and Truthfully — Than Ever Before.
MATT TAIBBI: Trump and “Falsely”: In the wake of Donald Trump’s verdict, a questionable trope goes over the line. “Even opinions can be “false” now, and furthermore remarks can be so dangerous, they can’t even be shown. Experts: Trump Said Bad Thing We Won’t Publish is the standard.”
Well, if they published it, lots of people might agree with it.
May 31, 2024
OPEN THREAD: Ring in the weekend.
SKYNET SMILES, OFFERS CANDY: Strange Discovery Suggests Children Trust Robots Over Humans.
YEP:
“If the prosecutor is obliged to choose his cases, it follows that he can choose his defendants. Therein is the most dangerous power of the prosecutor: that he will pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that need to be prosecuted. With the law books…
— Kerri Kupec Urbahn (@Kerri_Kupec) May 31, 2024
Related: Ham Sandwich Nation: Due Process When Everything Is A Crime.