Pool in New House

 

Buyer For Caldwell House Finally

I was hoping to close here before close on new house but it will only be a week or two of short-term financing.

I Took The Girls For Their First Ride in the Cadillac (Driving Miss Rosie)

This got scrambled first time. A potential, and eventually actual buyer, wanted to see the house and Mom's Taxi was not home, so I loaded our Springer Spaniels in the back seat and away we went. Lillie tried to climb into the front seat, but I explained that she could not drive and she lay down in the back. Both girls calmed down and saw quietly in the back seat, without sedatives, sometimes looking out the window. I explained to my wife that Rosie and I could split driving shifts.  She was not convinced. The first prairie dog or pronghorn antelope along the road and we would driving after it.

The more I drive my CT5, the more impressed I get with the electronics. The SuperCruise lane change capacity at first disappointed me. I turn the turn signal on and I have to turn it off after the lane change completes. 

A few weeks back, I watched a YouTube video about features present in many cars that are not explicitly in the manuals and are very nice. One is that on many cars, if you turn the turn signal stalk just a little, it turns on the blinker just long enough to warn those in that lane, "I'm coming over." (In the 1960s, I repaired the blinkers on my 1964 Chevy Malibu wagon, and saw the very curious mechanism to implement that in plastic, without electronics.)

So I did the brief warning mode. SuperCruise did the lane change with no need to turn off the blinker. Very nice. It also will do uncommanded lane changes to get around road hogs. I do not understand how it makes this decision but it is possible to tell it to not make uncommanded right lane changes,  I have never seen it make a dangerous decision on this.

Bizarre Reasoning Screaming for Cert

 Barnett v. Raoul Nos. 24-3060, 24-3061, 24-3062 & 24-3063.(6th Cir. 2026). Curiously:

Contrary to the dissenting opinion's efforts (often without citation) to conclusively link Bowie knives to criminality, however, Bowie knives were both widespread and used for lawful purposes. One expert in the history of arms in America, for example, explained that in the nineteenth century, "European visitors who ventured beyond the Appalachians found [the Bowie knife] such an integral part of the American way of life that they felt compelled to comment on it at length in accounts of their adventures.... In many communities, no man, whether hunter, gambler, tradesman or political leader felt himself fully clothed without one." Peterson, supra, at 25. Similarly, the historian who (literally) wrote the book on Bowie knives noted they were "widely carried by Americans of all stripes"; "served everyone equally, upstanding citizens and villains" alike; were "wide[ly] popular[], in the North and South" during the Civil War; and were "common[]"—"a weapon carried by men of all walks of life." Norm Flayderman, The Bowie Knife: Unsheathing an American Legend 20, 125, 130 (2004). Other scholars agree. See David B. Kopel, Clayton E. Cramer & Joseph Edward Olson, Knives and the Second Amendment, 47 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 167, 184 (2013) ("During the nineteenth century, Bowie knives were commonly present in many areas of the United States. Contemporary sources leave no question that Bowie knives, Arkansas Toothpicks, and similar knives were a common part of American life until well after the Civil War....").

The test that Heller imposed recognized that arms in common use are protected. Their dangerousness did not matter; their commonness did matter.

New York Must Accept Concealed Carry License Applications from Non-Residents

Higbie v. James, 795 F.Supp.3d 307 (2025) directs New York State to accept applications for concealed carry licenses from non-residents. This is not surprising: Hoffman v. Bonta imposed a similar requirement on California.  Some counties there are already doing so.

The decision refused to require New York to recognize licenses from other states. This is unfortunate because the license process is slow and costly in these states. It may take a few more cudgelings by the Court. 

I Saw This And I Found It Completely Plausible

This means it probably should be evaluated for accuracy.

Subsidies mean more money chasing same pile of goods or services. 

Final Negotiations for House Repair Complete

We negotiated the price down $2000 to cover some important repairs that the selkers are too strapped to pay for. We have a number of ambitious renovation plans to bring it into the 21st century which we can afford to do.

We leave on August 4th and become Tennesseans August 12th.