On Tuesday, California agreed to a settlement with the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, and other plaintiffs, and will pay over $1.3 million to cover the plaintiffs’ attorney fees.
The settlement arose from a lawsuit that was filed against California’s Marketing Firearms to Minors Law, which crossed into First Amendment territory by banning firearm advertisements.
Breitbart News quoted Ninth Circuit Judge Kenneth Lee’s September 2023 majority opinion against the law, where he wrote “…that [the Marketing Firearms to Minors Law] does not directly and materially advance California’s substantial interests in reducing gun violence and the unlawful use of firearms by minors. There was no evidence in the record that a minor in California has ever unlawfully bought a gun, let alone because of an ad.”
I am pretty sure Judge Lee meant ever unlawfully bought a gun throuigh licensed dealers. I have no doubt that many have done so from other gang members. This is a big win for my friend Don Kilmer who pursued this absurd case for a number of years.
In a larger sense than just guns: the idea that advertising sells people stuff they do not already want is absurd. If advertising can create demand, explain the failures of the 1950s Edsel, the IBM PCJr,, and New Coke. At most advertising influences choice: do you want our over-sugared breakfast cereal?
I am sorry for California taxpayers, but there are consequences to electing idiots.
"The space agency said the meteor was first detected at 8:57 a.m. off Lake Erie near Lorain. It traveled more than 34 miles through the atmosphere before breaking up, with some fragments falling to the ground."
Admittedly, 7 tons is pretty small but because KE=1/2mv**2 and anything hitting our atmosphere is moving at 25,000 mph, the energy is truly frighteningly stupendous.
On the plus side, look for burned rocks in your back yard. If they are magnetic, even better. These are valuable if authenticated. If you think you hit pay rock, call your nearest university geology department. They want to check it for residual radiation and they can tell you if you got lucky.
3/17/26 New York Times tells a story that suggests his decision is a bit more complex and sad than some have portrayed it:
In his resignation letter on Tuesday, Joe Kent, a top counterterrorism official, criticized the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. But he also mentioned his “beloved wife,” a Navy linguist who was killed in a suicide bombing in Syria in January 2019.
Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent was 35.
Chief Kent was assigned to Cryptologic Warfare Activity 66, a Navy unit that supports the National Security Agency and military special operations forces. She was supporting the latter at the time of her death....
On Jan. 16, 2019, Chief Kent was meeting with a source at a restaurant in Manbij, Syria, when a suicide bomber killed her and three other Americans.
Chief Kent was posthumously promoted to senior chief.
“She should have been out of Syria because Trump gave the order to get those guys out of there,” Mr. Kent said on the “Shawn Ryan Show” podcast. “And then you have the administrative state dragging their heels and desperately trying to keep us in these conflicts.”
In his resignation letter, Mr. Kent cited what he said was Israel’s influence over the Trump administration’s policies. Some lawmakers called Mr. Kent’s remarks on Israel antisemitic, and critics mentioned his support for conspiracy theories.
Mr. Kent wrote that he “cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” adding, “I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives.”
The desire to avoid a ground war is completely understandable. Trump seems to share that view.
UPDATE: Breitbart is reporting:
Former director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Joe Kent is reportedly being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for “allegedly leaking classified information.”
Shelby Talcott, a White House Correspondent for Semafor, reported that according to “three sources,” Kent, who resigned from his position on Tuesday, is being investigated by the FBI. The alleged investigation “pre-dates his departure.”
I found this on X:
