Since you'll need a 2/3 majority, I'd encourage you not to skip over the bits about a "well regulated militia" and "bear arms" and ask why our founders chose that specific language. Then read Justice Stevens: law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-…
You'll also want to consider why our founders chose the language in the final 2A while expressly rejecting this proposal from Pennsylvania:
And you'll want to examine why the Virginia proposal, which formed the basis of the final text initially included a religious exemption for "bearing arms", since our founders understood that term to be compulsory rather than voluntary.
And as to that "militia" bit, note that this has been used to limit Black Americans' access to firearms. You may want to underline and bold the 14th Amendment before you read this passage:

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More from @SeanCasten

16 Feb
For those wondering what the causes are of Texas blackouts, @JesseJenkins is doing a really good real time analysis of generator capacity and operation. (Short story: we have a natural gas problem in TX). A few additional thoughts to add:
1/ As Jesse notes, natural gas is somewhat unique in that it is both a power plant fuel and a home heating fuel. When cold weather comes, regulators bias in favor of heating rather than power generation.
2/ New England - a region that is both cold and has long been more reliant than others on natural gas for power generation - has had to grapple with this for a long time.
Read 12 tweets
14 Feb
I've been having a lot of conversations about deficits, fiscal and monetary policy right now & frustrated with how many basic facts about our economy are misrepresented. So for Valentines Day, a #nerdthread on our national finances. Hope you enjoy:
1/ First, prior to COVID, the biggest ever emergency funding program in our history was the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed in response to the 2008 crisis. Just shy of $700B in emergency funding.
2/ (In 2008 $. I leave to other nerdier nerds to adjust these numbers for inflation.)
Read 20 tweets
13 Feb
I'm obviously disappointed today. Disappointed in 43 Senators who found it easier to do what they knew was wrong than to embrace what is right. But before you get too down about partisanship in America, a bit of history is in order: (thread)
1/ The Senate voted 57 - 43 to convict. That didn't meet the 2/3 bar our founders set. Our founders had good reasons for setting the bar that high, but keep in mind - political parties did not exist at the time our founders wrote the Constitution.
2/ Since the Constitution was drafted, there have been 4 Presidential impeachments. In every instance, it was exceptionally hard for the party of the President to vote in favor of impeachment.
Read 11 tweets
10 Feb
Good data here from @IDPH on COVID vaccination rates by county. A few quick thoughts to share... dph.illinois.gov/covid19/vaccin…
1. As I noted at the DuPage fairgrounds yesterday, we have to play the cards we have, not the cards we wish we had. My height and vertical leap means I won't ever dunk a basketball. The process of vaccine rollout to date has created similar near-term challenges.
2. Among those issues is the lack of any federal coordination during the prior administration. From PPE to ventilators to testing to vaccines, states had to compete with each other rather than work collaboratively to crush the virus.
Read 12 tweets
5 Feb
MTG short take: values, morals, hopes and dreams that are universally shared by Americans across the political spectrum are only "partisan" in the sense that they are wholly rejected by majorities of the @HouseGOP.
That is cause for optimism insofar as the country is not nearly as polarized as it looks from within DC. But it's cause for great sadness for what it means about a once great political party.
The @GOP - a party that emerged to stop the spread of slavery, that gave our country the great gift of Abraham Lincoln - still has registered voters who are pro-decency, pro-equality, pro-science, pro-market, pro-truth.
Read 8 tweets
2 Feb
This is worth the read. It is the natural result of the fact that a transition to clean energy is a huge labor productivity enhancer. (Eg, many more MWH per hour of labor.) That is good for the economy but will create temporary labor dislocations.

eenews.net/stories/106372…
To be clear, there is a lot more in this story as well, and I wish we'd stop talking about highly technical jobs as an alternative to being a barista. It's an extremely patronizing view of the American worker.
But the core issue here derives from the fact that old, dirty energy sources are really OPERATING labor intensive. New clean sources require a surge in construction jobs but much less operating labor.
Read 5 tweets

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