Matthew Desmond, the Pulitzer winner for Evicted, examines why the U.S. has more poverty than other rich nations. He finds it spends big on social programs, but gives the most to those who need it least.

https://t.co/7bXOuxN09m

Researchers found that increased use of screen time during infancy was associated with poorer executive functioning once the child was 9 years old, according to the study published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

Executive functioning skills are mental processes that “enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully,” according to the Harvard University Center on the Developing Child. https://cnn.it/3Dz367U

We've been bamboozled by the gun lobby - but it's worse than we think. They've convinced us that the Second Amendment says something it absolutely does not.

They have us believing that the Second Amendment grants every individual the right to own as many guns as they like.

It does NOT.

Point to the word "own" in the 2A. Good luck. You won't find it. And it's not a coincidence that it's not there! James Madison - the 2A's author didn't put it there - by design! He wasn't trying to solve a "people feel unsafe in their homes" debate. He was talking about weapons at the state level - where militias take care of defending each state from any armed federal over-reach.

Madison used "keep" and "bear" specifically because they AREN'T "own".

Want to know who agrees with me? Antonin Scalia.

We also have it in our heads that his Heller decision meant no one had to be part of a militia "TO KEEP AND BEAR" their guns.

Know what word doesn't appear in Heller either? "OWN"!

Scalia uses "keep" and "bear" until his closing. Then he swaps in a new word for the first & only time: "possess". With "possess", Scalia is trying to thread a legal needle. He fails but we let him get away with failing!

One definition of "own" is "possess". One of MANY.

So... yeah - one could say "own" and "possess" mean the same thing. But here's the thing. Why didn't Scalia just use "own"? Why didn't he broach it?

Because to do that, he would have had to discuss WHY Madison never used it to begin with - and that would have shot the whole Heller decision down dead.

Scalia used legal sleight of hand in Heller. But, if we see how the magic trick works, we get that there's no magic. There's bullshit.

How do we fix this? I have ideas but this is a hard one. But one we MUST address because SIX YEAR OLDS now take guns to school to deal with their emotional problems.

If we don't fix this, it will fix us. So - let's start with what IS: "No righto to individual gun ownership exists in the Constitution or the Second Amendment". This is a true statement.

https://howtolivebullshit-free.com/2023/01/07/own-isnt-in-the-second-amendment/