A Whole Universe of Time & Hurt in One News Story

 

Kerrville, Tex. (1973)

02/06/1973: Wife returned from work to find her husband, a justice of the peace shot to death. When police went to inform his son, they found the son and daughter-in-law also shot to death. Police were reluctant to suggest a motive, but another local justice of the peace described this as a “grudge killing.”

Category: family non-resident

Suicide: no

Cause: unknown

Weapon: firearm[1]

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[1] "Triple Murder In Texas Kills Judge, Couple," [Eau Claire, Wisc] Leader-Telegram, Feb. 06, 1973, 7.

I could find no other coverage about this obscure rural justice of the peace or his murder. A rather complex novel is waiting to be written about these three lives ended prematurely. Mafia? Philandering judge? Inherited oil well stolen in legal proceedings? It could be anything. There is a saying from Judaic thought that:

Therefore the man was created singly, to teach that he who destroys one soul of a human being, the Scripture considers him as if he should destroy a whole world, and him who saves one soul of Israel, the Scripture considers him as if he should save a whole world.

Trace back all the lives touched by this J.P., his son, daughter-in-law and their orphaned daughters. There is a universe of human living, suffering, joy, and meaning there. 

 

Thai Street Restaurant in Kingsport

That is the name Thai Street. Really good. When the waitress warns the curry is a little spicy that really perfect for me and bit much for my wife but she had the chicken pad thai that I ordered. Portion sizes were absurd 

BEEP! BEEP!

Coyote v. Acme (2026). My wife and I have not had this much fun at a movie in years! The premise is obvious from the title and they play it for every slapstick live action/animation moment. There is not a single moment inappropriate for children in content or language which may explain why the studio initially decided to not release it and just treat the $70 million they spent on it as a tax write-off. There was not a single LGBTWTF moment which might explain the attempt to strangle it in its crib. 

Encourage clever decent film making.  Go see it in a theater. 

No Surprise

🚨Report: North Carolina Democrats have withdrawn support for State House candidate Shelly Headen after she called for violence against Republicans and compared herself to Jesus Christ

She said: “I think our only hope is an attack on US soil, preferably Alabama, Louisiana where the stupid people live.” pic.twitter.com/gj79PH3IPa

— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) September 11, 2026

It gets worse when read in full. Fortunately, North Carolina has nothing in common with Alabama and Louisiana.

You Left Out Something

 9/11/26 College Fix article about a law professor who claims 

“care and accountability circles work better” than prison for those who have committed rape or other sex crimes...

More interesting:

Spade has been teaching at Seattle University, a private Catholic institution, since 2008, and has published numerous articles and books on transgender culture and abolition. Two years ago, the professor gave the talk “No Prisons, No Borders, No Cops, No State?” at New York University Law School’s Annual Rose Sheinberg Lecture. [emphasis added]

 “No Prisons, No Borders, No Cops, No State?” Yes, anarchy leads to lynchings and private vengeance without the limiting protection of a judicial system. He also left out "No lawyers, no law schiool professors." Without prisons and cops, what purpose does a lawyer and therefore law professor serve?

"Is the Pope Catholic?" needs updating.

Another Consequence of Bruen

 Rigby v. Jennings (D.Del. 2026). Delaware banned ghost manufacture, assembly, possession, sale, and digital instructions for making them. Digital instruction ban constitutional although I notice the ban seems pretty narrowly focused:

And that may very well be because § 1463(c)(2) is framed in functional terms, i.e., it is limited to computer files or code “that may be used to program a 3 dimensional printer to manufacture or produce a firearm, firearm receiver or major component of a firearm.”

That seems to not prohibit gCode for operating a CNC mill.

With that, the Possession Ban concerns “Arms,” and because it prohibits keeping arms and applies to all members of the political community, it is presumptively unconstitutional at Bruen’s first step.  Wolford, 146 S. Ct. 2043-44.

Distribution ban:

The problem there is that the Distribution Ban does not regulate self manufacturing firearms and Plaintiffs have offered no evidence that any of these regulations limit their access to the items and materials necessary to self-manufacture firearms; all they provided was attorney argument.  See Rigby, 630 F. Supp. 3d at 614 (“Attorney argument is not evidence.”).  The Distribution Ban passes under Bruen’s first step.  

Manufacturing and Assembly ban:

But prohibiting possession of firearms that are currently lawfully owned or future manufacturing and assembly of the same does place restrictions on keeping and bearing firearms.  So the Possession and Manufacturing and Assembly Bans fail at Bruen’s first step.  

Never Forget

This photograph to me perfectly captures the savagery of that day. I was working for a startup that was about to miss its first payroll. My wife called to tell me our son, who was 14, I think, came and told her that something big was happening: the first plane crashing.

I have no idea what I did for the rest of the day. I suspect I just kept hacking away at porting DHCP server to our idiosyncratic operating system. Things I do remember clearly:

1. The following Sunday was the most heavily attended church service that I could recall.

2. President Bush giving one of the strongest speeches of his career. Bush had always tried to come across as an "Aw, shucks" Texas country bumpkin. When he needed to do Leader of the Free World, he could and did. Even a friend from Texas who hated him for that country bumpkin act agreed that he did a fine job addressing the nation.

3. That Saturday, our local paper, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, solved the sudden shortage of American flags by printing a full color back page.

4. There was a unanimity of purpose for a month or two that was doubtless what Americans felt after Pearl Harbor.

5. Canadians in Gander took in thousands of Americans whose flights were interrupted by the ground stop. We will always be grateful for that. We really want to be on good terms with Canada again. 

Unfortunately, what people born after 9/11 know, if anything at all about it is likely:

1. We had it coming.

2. Bush did it.

3. The Jews did it.

4. It does not matter because this is "stolen land."