Until you look at the comments under any politically sensitive post on /. and see everyone squabbling like screaming toddlers, that is.

Nothing gets better. Ever. Even with age.

Seconded.

"Words have meanings."

The last time I heard this phrase it was from some autistic asshole on a defense discord. Sorry, chum, but "the Western alliance" as a concept transcends the legal definition of NATO and "NATO" is the de-facto reference for such given its pivotal role as the defining contract of the western alliance during the Cold War, of which this current issue is but an extension of.

As someone who pissed away their college education on learning ~words~ and the meaning of them - please stuff this pedantic horseshit up your ass. Thank you.

"The liberal democracies are finally resisting! QUICK, CALL THEM FASCISTS!"

I'm more familiar than you might suspect! The "collective rights" interpretation of the 2nd has always been shaky and at the least we would've gotten a better-written Heller decision. (As it stands it found a "right to self-defense" in the 2nd Amendment, which is a rather odd dogleg given the text of the 2nd itself; the prefatory clause makes it clear that a well-equipped militia is essential for military resistance, and given that militias of the time, as militias have since time immemorial, relied on citizens mustering with their own privately owned weapons for this task, the reason for specifying "the people" is clear from even passing historical context. Given the amount of noise about regulating firearms based on how "military" they are, this is of essential import and yet Heller misses this aspect in favor of exclusive consideration of the common-law right to self-defense with which it was far from mutually exclusive, especially given the historical and current ubiquity of weapons technology between military personal arms and civilian self-defense arms.)

As for the rest on Roe, I rather suspect their takes will have longer legs than most people think; while mysteriously discovering a "right to abortion" within the Constitution isn't going to happen, nor does it need to, and their arguments on Roe, e.g. 14th Amendment et al. will likely be echoed in future court cases when considering issues of individual citizens' rights to personal bodily autonomy. In fact one of the key points of Heller is that a right cannot be exercised without the means to exercise that right and we can expect some cases in the next few years against laws such as the one New York passed just yesterday litigating that encumbering a right to such a degree that it's practically impossible to exercise is indeed an infringement. And me and many others will be waiting when these cases come up to remind those who lived through the pandemic that perhaps what other people are allowed to take out of their bodies is far less an issue than what the government is allowed to force you to put into yours...

So if the right applies only to the militia then why does it say the people? The right of THE PEOPLE, not THE MILITIA. Wow, almost like militias armed themselves with privately owned weapons, as was commonplace throughout history! Federal law literally defines the militia as having an organized and unorganized component, with the unorganized component explicitly not being the National Guard. How exactly one defines a "collective" right without an actual collective being identified outside of "the people?" Does the 2nd then only apply to state defense forces? The world wonders.

As a right-winger myself I get very tired of people who play the gotcha game with that one. The United States is a Republic, which is a sub-set of possible forms of Democracy. Ergo the proper response to people whining about tyranny is to remind them that the United States is a Democratic Republic and so skip all the bullshit definition games.

I see you're not familiar with the ATF...

So the court is a GOP sham because the judges decided that "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" actually meant exactly what that plain English sentence says? Fascinating take, thanks for your input.

As someone currently unemployed, I can attest to the truth of this. Exactly as the researcher said, it's entiry due to a lack of productive purpose. Had I an unpaid "job" to work on, such as an open-source project I cared about, I would not feel this way.

Man does not live by bread alone, you fucking commie.

"What are we willing to condone?"

Asskickings. Without hesitation. Next question.

Including murdering Muslims, eh?

Send them back anytime you want. One less freeloader to defend is fine in my book.

And there it is, like clockwork. "Two wrongs make a right!"

We are currently fleeing Afghanistan with our tails between our legs. "Fear Biden" my ass.