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Jon Erik Kingstad

Afton, MN
Commenter for
2 years 49 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 01/22/13 at 09:44 am in response to Obama's dwindling prospects in a second term

for me that Obama has made Michele Bachmann and Mitch McConnell and the right wing in general choke on their predictions of making Obama a one term President. I didn't care for the Affordable Care Act all that much but it's a start and at least that will have a chance to move things in the right direction. For the rest, Obama proved that he was about in line with Dwight Eisenhauer on the political spectrum, that is, a center-right politician. He's proved himself to be more of a Wall Street...

Posted on 01/21/13 at 10:30 am in response to Obama's best argument for getting around debt ceiling? Lex posterior derogat priori

legal arguments for the President to issue debt to ignore the debt ceiling law. There's a quote from a US Supreme Court case which I recall but cannot put my finger on at the moment which says to in effect, necessity is the source of all law. Like the old saying about the "mother of invention." This debate seems to me to highly abstract. Eric Holder is not going to go a grand jury and get an indictment against the President for ignoring the debt ceiling. Assuming there is some who can meet...

Posted on 01/20/13 at 12:47 pm in response to 'Five Broken Cameras' brings West Bank human-rights abuses to light

How is the appropriation of private property of Palestinian landowners, with or without compensation (and confiscation sounds like "without") for Jewish only settlements not apartheid just like South Africa except based on religion not race or color? Breaking the Bonds sounds like a valid and responsible effort to promote disinvestment in unjust practices of the State of Israel. This strategy worked well with South Africa in ending apartheid. Maybe it can work well in bringing a halt to...

Posted on 01/21/13 at 10:22 am in response to 'Five Broken Cameras' brings West Bank human-rights abuses to light

Everything I read and hear suggests that Arab and Muslim citizen of Israel are second class citizens. Maybe they can ride the same buses, and use the same bathrooms, but they are forced to live in economically starved ghettos and travel through umerous armed checkpoints to go to their jobs. If people's property is confiscated, i.e. taken without compensation, that's not just. As in any situation where groups of people are treated unjustly, violent extremists will emerge.

As far as...

Posted on 01/18/13 at 10:22 pm in response to Minnesota values shaped civil-rights leader Roy Wilkins

Roy Wilkins. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a great man but I'm sure he'd be the first to insist that his achievements would not have been possible but for the contributions of other great leaders like Roy Wilkins, and even, despite their differences, Malcolm X.

Posted on 01/17/13 at 07:34 pm in response to Was the Second Amendment adopted for slaveholders?

Emmett Till. I can't believe someone would claim MLK as a patron of gun rights- the greatest and most celebrated exponent of nonviolence since Gandhi, Tolstoy, and Jesus. Or maybe I can believe it.

Anyway another score for Eric. Fascinating article and I dare say pretty close to, if not exactly, the truth.

Posted on 01/17/13 at 07:47 pm in response to Efforts should intensify to sustain fresh-water supplies

One of the best books I've ever read was "Cadillac Desert" which raised a lot of these concerns years ago. The spectre of global warming simply heightens those concerns. This article also reminds me of the suggestion of Frank and Deborah Popper who suggested that government support for these remote dry areas be withdrawn and the lands be allowed to revert to prairie and a "buffalo commons".

Unfortunately, our nation is inclined to ignore problems and wish them away until they...

Posted on 01/08/13 at 08:39 pm in response to It is time to repeal the Second Amendment





A common rule of interpretation of documents is that a person who drafted it used the same terms consistently. I have heard gun rights advocates claim that the term "militia" in the Second Amendment is the 1789 version of our modern armed forces. But look at the Fifth Amendment:
"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia,...

Posted on 01/04/13 at 04:02 pm in response to Regulating guns like cars: Perspective on the gun debate after Sandy Hook

The automotive industry has been subject to regulation for decades, Ever heard of the Consumer Products Safety Act? Plus, auto manufacturers have been the target of numberless tort/products liability lawsuits that have forced the industry to adopt the safety features we know today. These safety features have dramatically reduced auto related deaths at least resulting from safety defects. I'd call that accountability. The law does not entirely blame auto manufacturers for death and injury...

Posted on 01/05/13 at 12:29 am in response to Regulating guns like cars: Perspective on the gun debate after Sandy Hook

"Auto makers are not blamed at all for issues of pure human negligence. They are sued when their products malfunction. So should it be for all manufacturers, including makers of guns."

The question is: when, and at what point, is a manufacturer or dealer liable or responsible for the misuse of the product? I say a jury ought to be allowed to answer that question. A gun manufacturer or dealer ought not to be able to "opt out" of facing claims for liability just because they did not...