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Second Amendment Rally - Olympia, WA
A peaceful protest against I-594 Mike Vanderboegh http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/ ...
By: Joel Nicholls
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Second Amendment Rally - Olympia, WA - Video
Under federal law, people who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution however long ago are barred from possessing guns. Congress agreed that people with long-past mental problems might now be sane, and thus not especially dangerous, and provided for a means to apply for restoration of gun rights. But then in 1992 Congress ordered ATF not to spend any money applying the restoration program. And while it provided, in 2007, that people could get their rights restored by applying to a state that has a qualifying program for evaluating applicants mental fitness, many states have no such program.
This case was brought by a resident of one such state that lacks a relief-from-disabilities program, Michigan. From the courts opinion, Tyler v. Hillsdale County Sheriffs Dept (6th Cir. Dec. 18, 2014):
This case presents an important issue of first impression in the federal courts: whether a prohibition on the possession of firearms by a person who has been committed to a mental institution, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(4), violates the Second Amendment. Twenty-eight years ago, Clifford Charles Tyler was involuntarily committed for less than one month after allegedly undergoing an emotionally devastating divorce. Consequently, he can never possess a firearm. Tyler filed suit in federal court, seeking a declaratory judgment that 922(g)(4) is unconstitutional as applied to him. The district court dismissed Tylers suit for failure to state a claim. Because Tylers complaint validly states a violation of the Second Amendment, we reverse and remand.
Tyler is a seventy-three-year-old resident of Hillsdale County, Michigan. On January 2, 1986, a state probate court committed Tyler to a mental institution. Tyler alleges that he underwent an emotionally devastating divorce in 1985 and that he was involuntarily committed because of a risk that he might be suicidal.
Tyler submitted a 2012 substance-abuse evaluation containing additional information about his 1985 depression. In 1985, when Tyler was forty-five years old, Tylers wife of twenty-three years served him divorce papers. Prior to filing for divorce, Tylers ex-wife allegedly ran away with another man and depleted Tylers finances. Tyler felt overwhelmed and sat in the middle of the floor at home pounding his head. According to a mental-health evaluation submitted by Tyler, Tyler was crying non-stop, not sleeping, depressed, and suicidal at this time. Tylers daughters became scared and contacted the police. [Tyler was then involuntarily committed. -EV]
In 2012, Tyler underwent a psychological evaluation. Tyler informed the psychologist that he had never experienced a depressive episode other than his 1985 incident. The psychologists report indicated that Tyler has no criminal history. The psychologist contacted Tylers physician who also reported that she had not detected evidence of mental illness in Tyler. The psychologist determined that Tylers prior involuntary commitment appeared to be a brief reactive depressive episode in response to his wife divorcing him. The psychologist determined that there was no evidence of mental illness.
The court concluded quite rightly, I think that Hellers endorsement of restrictions on gun ownership by the mentally ill doesnt dispose of the case:
The Courts assurance that Heller does not cast doubt on prohibitions on the possession of firearms by the mentally ill does not resolve this case. For 922(g)(4) prohibits firearm possession not just by the mentally ill but by anyone who has been committed to a mental institution. Hellers assurance that the state may prohibit the mentally ill from possessing firearms may provide solid constitutional ground for 922(g)(4)s restriction as to an individual adjudicated as a mental defective, but it is insufficient by itself to support the restriction as to individuals who have been involuntarily committed at some time in the past.
The court then concluded that strict scrutiny (not intermediate scrutiny) was generally the proper test to apply to gun restrictions, outside those categories excluded from Second Amendment scrutiny by Heller. The court, however, predict[ed] that the application of strict scrutiny over intermediate scrutiny will not generally affect how circuits decide various challenges to federal firearm regulations; this might seem surprising, but the courts explanation of this prediction on pp. 26-27 strikes me as quite plausible. And the court then applied strict scrutiny here are some excerpts from the analysis, which focuses largely on the fact that Congress (1) chose to create a system for people with past mental commitments to regain their Second Amendment rights, but (2) then defunded the federal system and decided to rely on state choices whether to set up their own state systems:
At issue here is only 922(g)(4)s prohibition on possession by persons previously committed to a mental institution. Not all previously institutionalized persons are mentally ill at a later time, so the law is, at least somewhat, overbroad. But is it impermissibly so? Congress, in its efforts to keep firearms away from the mentally ill, may cast a wider net than is necessary to perfectly remove the harm. A prophylactic approach thus obviate[s] the necessity for large numbers of individualized determinations. But is 922(g)(4)s net too wide? Are previously institutionalized persons sufficiently dangerous, as a class, that it is permissible to deprive permanently all such persons of the Second Amendment right to bear arms?
See more here:
Volokh Conspiracy: Second Amendment and people who had been committed to a mental institution 28 years ago
Senate tries to edit out torture from Wikipedia
The Twitter bot account, @congressedits, tracks attempts at Wikipedia edits made from inside the US Senate, and it caught Senate staffers trying to edit out the word torture from the page....
By: Shanta Lyon
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Senate tries to edit out torture from Wikipedia - Video
When Google first announced the Knowlege Graph, it named Freebase as one of its primary sources of structured data. It was named as one several public sources of information, which also included Wikipedia and the CIA World Factbook.
Google announced that it will be closing Freebase, and moving toward the Wikimedia Foundations Wikidata, which is described as a free linked database that can be read and edited by both humans and machines. It acts as central storage for the structured data of Wikipedia, Wikivoyage, Wikisource, and others.
WIkidata has simply been improving better than Freebase, so Google has decided to support that instead, and will be working to transition Freebase data over to Wikidata appropriately.
When we publicly launched Freebase back in 2007, we thought of it as a Wikipedia for structured data, So it shouldnt be surprising that weve been closely watching the Wikimedia Foundations project Wikidata] since it launched about two years ago, Googles Freebase says in a Google+ update (via Search Engine Roundtable). We believe strongly in a robust community-driven effort to collect and curate structured knowledge about the world, but we now think we can serve that goal best by supporting Wikidata theyre growing fast, have an active community, and are better-suited to lead an open collaborative knowledge base.
We should note that while Freebase has been around since 2007, its only belonged to Google since the company acquired Metaweb in 2010.
Google is helping transfer Freebase to Wikidata, and in the middle of next year, it will wind down the Freebase service as a standalone project. Theyll also launch a new API for entity search powered by Googles Knowledge Graph.
Loading Freebase into Wikidata as-is wouldnt meet the Wikidata communitys guidelines for citation and sourcing of facts while a significant portion of the facts in Freebase came from Wikipedia itself, those facts were attributed to Wikipedia and not the actual original non-Wikipedia sources, Freebase explains. So well be launching a tool for Wikidata community members to match Freebase assertions to potential citations from either Google Search or our Knowledge Vault, so these individual facts can then be properly loaded to Wikidata.
You may remember hearing about Knowledge Vault earlier this year.
Its a system of Googles, which stores information so that machines and people can read it. Its basically Googles giant database of facts. When you ask Google questions and get those direct answers, theyre likely coming from there. Rather than relying on crowdsourcing info like the Knowledge Graph, it uses an algorithm to pull info from the web, and turn it into raw data. You can get more in depth into it here.
We believe this is the best first step we can take toward becoming a constructive participant in the Wikidata community, but well look to continually evolve our role to support the goal of a comprehensive open database of common knowledge that anyone can use, Freebase says.
Link:
Google Is Shutting Down Knowledge Graph Source Freebase
Millsaps College coach Tim Wise said when talking about sophomore forward Mac McElveen, the key word is versatility.
Mac is a multifaceted player for us offensively and defensively, Wise said. With his long frame, he can help us inside and outside. Defensively, he helps us with his length. He can guard and defend the passing lanes. Versatility is the key word with Mac. The big wing type of player is a bonus for us. Hes called on to do a lot, rebound, handle the ball and create scoring opportunities for himself and others. Hes a wing, but he also has guard abilities with passing the ball and driving. Its not like hes a sophomore with no experience, he got good minutes last year.
McElveens versatility is showing up all over the stat sheet and has helped the Majors in the win column.
This season, the 2013 Bowling Green graduate is leading the team with 13.9 points per game and 32.5 minutes per game. Hes second at 4.6 rebounds per game, 1.5 treys per game and 2.1 assists per contest.
McElveen, a business management major, is also hitting 39.6 percent (40-101) of his field goals and 31.6 percent from beyond the arc (12-38).
McElveen got off to a tough start this season in shooting and scoring. He began the year 8-for-32 (25 percent) shooting and averaged just seven points a contest over the first three.
Since then McElveen has turned things around. Over the last five games, hes averaging 16.8 points per game and is hitting 46.8 percent of his field goals (32-69).
My dad always told me that shooters shoot, McElveen said. Youve got to shoot to get hot and you shoot to stay hot. But if its not going down, youve got to find other ways to help your team.
McElveen said hes feeling pretty confident in his shot and his decision making on the court.
Coach told me he would put me in positions to make decisions, which has been stressful being a sophomore, but for the most part, its worked out, McElveen said.
Originally posted here:
Bowling Green standout making impression at Milsaps