AIs Writing Law

 

Can AI be used to write legislation? You would think so, since the AI learns from existing examples. Problem might be that existing examples have given us laws with unintended consequences.

It's been done, and the legislation passed, unanimously, in Porto Alegre, a city of 1.3 million in Brazil. 

It is obvious that if the AI is asked correctly, it can produce legislation, written in correct legalese, to get some action enacted with a minimum of feather ruffling. I expect is would be equally easy to get the machine to include some pork into any bill it writes, in the parts where accountability is discussed. EX: “The city of Metropolis shall obligate itself to allocate the sum of $20M/year for the next 5 years, toward the construction and startup of a <insert project here> “.

OK fine. Now include justification, supervision, reporting, etc, etc, to include a standing study/audit committee consisting of cronies to be appointed by the bill sponsor, to hold seats, accountable to no one but the bill sponsor, to monitor expenditures and prepare an annual progress report. At a generous salary, 10% of which will find its way to the bill sponsors reelection campaign.

Legislation of this nature can get to be quite lengthy, and can wind up being added to some other unrelated legislation which will serve to attract less attention than the original might if submitted by itself. The AI is essentially just an editor, and humans will need to read anything it produces to catch any included fairy tales. AI work is known to include from 3-25% made-up “facts”, so check its work. Ex: “This project is estimated to save the taxpayers of Metropolis some $100M over the estimated cost of <insert political rivals project> thus paying for itself over its <insert random number here> year life span in addition to preventing the sky from falling and wiping out humanity.”

The average legislator couldn't write a thank you letter to Santa Claus that a 4^th grade English teacher would give a passing grade to, so people who know how to write requests to AIs are getting paid $200-250K/year to do this. Could turn into the most lucrative job in government. As to jobs lost, imagine that if legislators use AIs to write their proposals, we will need to hire proofreaders, math checkers, economists, and possibly physicists. There are certain laws that cannot be rewritten.

The unintended consequences are an important part of any legislation proposed, so I have to wonder if getting the AI to spot these and address them is, at this point, even possible. Certainly they are not visible to humans.

Gun Law Overreach - Term Limits?

 Seems New Jersey is going for the title of possessor of the most obnoxious gun laws in the country, having passed some that make even possession of a Daisy BB gun a felony. 

I don't see this withstanding any court challenge at the federal level, but due to the way the system works, they get to keep it on the books for 2-3 years while cases drag their way from one court to another until the SCOTUS tosses the lot of them. Of course at that point, the NJ legislature simply passes a variant of the unconstitutional laws, and they get another 2-3 year run of illegal gun control.

I thing that if a legislature passes any law that is subsequently found to be unconstitutional in the supreme court, all the legislators at the state legislature who voted in favor of it should be removed from legislative office, and forbidden from ever holding such office in perpetuity. Should also include the governor who signed it.

Dodging The Bullet

 Here is the legal eagle O'Bummer wanted to put on the Supreme court.

Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland does not know that I.D. is required to purchase a firearm, despite the undo ‘burden’ it places on prospective buyers.

He thinks we should be requiring an ID to buy a gun, but not to vote. Yeah, Great pick. 

Fun With Headlines - Gang Problems

Here's a story about CNNs Cuomo suggesting that police reform won't come until white kids start getting killed. 

CNN's Cuomo: Police reform won't come until white kids are killed

The problem with this is that most of the kids currently getting killed are members of predominantly black or Latino gangs which typically are not very "diverse". Thus, to get police reform, we must first come down on the non-diverse gangs to force them to admit members from outside their own ethnicities. We also need to get after the larger gangs to get them to diversify their upper management.

UPDATE: Seems I spoke too soon, so shame on me! Here's a collection of mugshots of people arrested in Portland from a BLM demonstration:

Looks like the diversity problem is being quite aggressively addressed. 

Modern Thought Process

 When the Ever Given reached the Suez canal, it was required to take on 2 or 3 Egyptian pilots to safely get it through. These pilots were driving the ship when conditions went South on them and they wound up crosswise in the canal. 

The Egyptian government has announced that it's suing the Evergreen company for the costs associated with the blockage. 

When you lose control of your car on an icy road, spin it 25 times and become the root cause of a 62 car pileup on the freeway, nobody comes looking for the Ford motor company for damages. They come looking for the driver.

The only exception to this so far is when someone buys a gun and goes out and shoots a bunch of people. Then it's the gunmaker's fault. I guess the doctrine is expanding. Expect soon that when someone gets drunk and hits someone else with his car, the car maker will be held liable.

SCOTUS Seats

 The current situation presents some interesting opportunities all around. It is widely believed that Trumps nominee for RBGs seat will be Amy Barrett. The advantage here is that Mrs Barrett has already been through the Senate confirmation process and her only drawback is that she is a practicing Catholic. This being the case, if the Republicans had half the instinct for a power grab that the Dems have, Trump could nominate Mrs. Barrett on Monday, tomorrow, McConnell could call for a vote on Wednesday, and Mrs Barrett could be warming Ruth's seat on Friday. Also on Friday, we'd have live TV footage of Dem Heads exploding and on Saturday, of several major cities in flames. 

On the other side, the news media would be able to ask Slow Joe who his 2 picks for additional Supreme court seats will be should he win and take office. 

QOTD - Gun Law - 9th Circuit

 From the 9th circuits ruling in Duncan et al v Becerra at Joe Huffmans place:

The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press . . . and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.

Striking down Cali's ban on standard capacity magazines. What it means is that no law can be justified by citing itself. If there is a law restricting some part of an amendment, that in and of itself does not justify further infringement and may well be unconstitutional as well. 

Gun Law - 9th Circus

 Ennie Meenie Chillie Beanee the spirits are about to speak!

On 8/14/2020 12:32 PM, Dr Spinetwist wrote:

Looks like the 9th circuit is now more conservative than the 10th.  It didn't work out so well for Colorado as I recall... 

https://trumptrainnews.com/2020 / 08/14/9th-circuit-sides-with-nra-rules-californias-magazine-ban-unconstitutional/

This decision will be appealed to an "en banc" hearing involving about half of the 9th circus' 27 (I think) judges, and will then be appealed to the supreme court which will refuse to hear it. If we're lucky, the en-banc group will uphold the 3-judge ruling. This will create a conflict between the circuits which the Supremes will ignore as well. The 10th circuit heard a similar case here in CO and found for the government.

En Banc implies that the entirety of the court will review the case. In reality I seem to remember that only 10-15 judges actually do the dirty work, and they are selected randomly as well so this could go either way. In the happy case that we win there, the ruling will only affect the left coast, and may well be widely ignored by local DA's who have discovered that there is little consequence to ignoring higher federal courts.

SCOTUS is supposed to resolve conflicts between the circuits, but has shown no great enthusiasm for going there of late.

Gun Sales - Another Record!

OK here we are up to April. The curve is following the usual directions, but significantly higher than expected. Government actions in Virginia and Canada are probably spooking people on top of diktats from several other state and local sources.

When the left gets the chance, they waste no time securing their grasp on power. If they see no chance the Republicans will use ballot harvesting, graveyard voting, and importation of foreigners to the polls, then there is no reason for them to hold back.

New Canadian Gun Laws

Which I suppose will become the new standard for us. Kevin notes that the list of banned items includes some 18 rocket launchers including ground-to-air and RPG type stuff. The bears in Canada must be meaner than I thought.

From an RKBA newsletter I get, I added the boldening. Note that while every anti-gunner out there says this, all of them, without exception, includes an allowance for the police to use them. For an example, google Tiananmin square.

On 5/2/2020 2:14 PM, Greg Smith wrote:
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-us-canada-52505765

O Canada: Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has introduced a long-promised ban on assault-style weapons following the country's worst gun massacre in April. New rules would make it illegal to sell, transport, import or use 1,500 varieties of assault weapons. The ban is effective immediately [May 1] but there will be a two-year amnesty period for law-abiding gun owners to comply. Mr Trudeau also said he would introduce legislation, which has yet to pass, to offer a buy-back programme. Unlike the US, gun ownership is not enshrined in Canada's constitution, but gun ownership is still popular, especially in rural parts of the country. Mr Trudeau made a point of saying that most gun owners are law-abiding citizens, but argued that assault-weapons serve no beneficial purpose. "These weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only – only to kill the largest amount of people in the shortest amount of time," he said in a press conference on Friday. "You don't need an AR-15 to bring down a deer." ...RCMP have said that the shooter was not licensed to own firearms, but had what appeared to be an assault-style weapon, as well as other guns. The RCMP did not specify which kind, so it is unknown if it will be covered by the ban... (A great deal of firearm technology has military origins. That said, Trudeau's claim that, “ These weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only – only to kill the largest amount of people in the shortest amount of time” would seem to describe bombs, artillery and tripod mounted machine guns. He will likely get away with this specious argument in Canada, where not even defense of the home is considered a lawful use of a firearm.)

Thought For The Day

Found at Sal The Agorist:

Why indeed?

Australian Gun Laws

I read with some interest an article noting that the Police Minister from NSW practicing with a submachinegun seemed to send Green and Labor MPs into a state of high dudgeon. First off a bit of background might have smoothed the ruffled feathers. As we all know, when you rise to or above certain levels of political status, the laws no longer apply to you, at least not in the way they apply to the peasantry. As was noted in the article, laws disarming the public do not apply to the military or the police.

Secondly, weapons laws are decidedly NOT there to protect the public. Quite the opposite. They serve primarily to protect the political classes from their constituents, and as an unintended consequence, they protect the criminal classes as well. This works in the politicians favor as when violent crime rates go up, as they invariably do, the pols can pass even more draconian weapons laws against the victims.

In the end, you get the ruling class living in gated communities with armed guards at the gates, and everyone else living is a Mad Max environment, armed with improvised weapons in self defense. If the penalty for getting caught with a submachine gun is the same as that for possessing a club, one may as well go for the sub gun as it provides better protection for no greater risk. Ex: London.

New York Approach To Crime?

Here is a couple of approaches which should work well together: First make bail proportionate to your ability to pay. Thus if you are an otherwise destitute criminal, and you get caught committing a crime, you'll be released on your own recognizance the same day so you can quickly get back to work.

Second up is a law that makes information on anyone who calls 911 available to the defense attorney for the criminal who was caught doing something naughty. Thus the criminal will have the name, phone number, and home address of whomever called 911 and ratted him or her out. This should help immeasurably in putting together a strong defense a la H. Clinton. If you can't find the witness, you won't get convicted.

Sounds delightful.

QOTD - Gun Control

From Law Enforcement today:

“If you have firearms in your home and you do not secure them and you don’t secure them in a manner that can preclude someone from grabbing them and taking them and carrying out this carnage, [there] is a criminal liability that attaches,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo

Let me suggest that there should be some sort of liability attached to law enforcement, governing authority, or property owners if disarmament rules are enforced resulting in injury or death from which the disarmers didn't protect us.

Colorado Supreme Court Considers Magazine Capacity Law

Colorado has a 15 round limit on new magazines sold in this state. Magazines acquired before 1 Jul 2013 are grandfathered and since Mags don't generally have their birthdate marked on them, and since repair kits are not magazines, there is a healthy trade in repair kits. It also helps that most of the county sheriffs have stated that they have better things to do than to go about inspecting magazines.


The magazine law is certainly an infringement on the second amendment, and like all gun laws, redounds to the benefit of the criminal class rather than providing any protection to the law abiding. As we also know, judges are impartial, and supreme court judges only take into consideration the constitutionality of a statute without regard to any other considerations.

So what are the odds this law will be struck down or limited in any manner at all? I'm putting it as somewhere in between the appearance of flying pigs and the second coming of Jesus Christ.

You Don't Need A Lawyer If...

It is said that if the government tells you you don't need a gun, then you probably need a gun.

Latest update: If the government tells you you don't need a lawyer, then you most assuredly need a lawyer. Probably a couple of them.

Red Flag Law - How well does it work?

If you live in Florida, not very well at all. The statistics on the first year of effect are in and it looks like they have about a 3.5% increase in homicides, gun deaths, and suicides in spite of some 1300 people having been disarmed.

Like nearly all gun laws, the target is not the criminal or the mentally unbalanced, it's the otherwise normal gun owner. New York, I believe, wants to include using "hate speech" as an excuse to disarm its citizens. I suppose putting a Trump sign in your yard for the election will get you listed.

Treating Women Like Guns

Someone found a picture of a young lady expressing some anti-gun sentiments. They added some commentary:

Let me try my view:

1. You need to pass a background check and wait 3 days before you can take her out on a date. NOTE: Whether or not she want's to go with you does not enter into the discussion.

2. She can't enter K-12 schools but she can visit state college campuses if accompanied by a licensed escort.

3. She cannot enter a polling place on election day regardless.

4. With the right permit, you can date women without getting a background check every time.

5. OK let's face it, some women are scary enough to be outright banned.

6. She is not permitted in the airport unless completely disguised, say in a burqua, and accompanied by a holder of the right kind of permit, and even then only in the non-secure areas.

7. She wants all women to be locked up when not in use. Locking them up when in use is optional I suppose.

8. In this state "large capacity magazines" are forbidden, so breast sizes larger than "A" are illegal unless acquired/developed prior to 2013. This story will become more and more common as time goes on if progressively less believable.

An  18-year-old, obviously an early bloomer.

Warning Labels

Since they worked so well when attached to things like cigarettes, a Cali (where else) lawmaker is proposing they be stamped onto guns:

It would read: “WARNING: IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS CONTEMPLATING SUICIDE, PLEASE CALL THE NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE,” said the lawmaker.

Sure, that'll help. Somewhere between 66% and 75% of gun deaths are suicides So that should reduce the total of gun deaths significantly. But why stop there? Print this warning on tape and require every hardware store to attach it as a tag to every piece of rope over 1/4" in diameter and longer than 10 feet.

Make the warning tape adhesive, and require it to be attached to every bottle of sleep aids containing more than 10 pills. Ban the sale of large capacity magazines of such medications containing more than 10 pills while we're at it. 

Respondents to the survey at the link think neglect of the mental health system is the biggest factor in the number of gun deaths, although this would primarily address only the occasional mass shooting. Those get the headlines even though they don't account for the bigger part of the deaths. More to the point would be thug control but this would affect certain privileged groups more than others so that's likely a non-starter.

Colo Dems Push Gun Control, Defend Thugs

It looks like Colorado Dems, DeGette and Neguse, are pushing a national Red Flag bill which would allow pretty much anyone to SWAT pretty much anyone they didn't like. Due Process? What's that?

(Ken) Buck introduced an amendment to the bill that would make the law apply specifically to known gang members, who he says are responsible for 80% of all gun homicides. But Democrats killed that amendment.
“We need to get guns out of the hands of violent criminals. That starts with law enforcement another tool to disarm gang members. We should target red flags against known criminals, especially gang members. This approach will have the most meaningful impact in reducing gun violence,” Buck said.

The problem here is that the thugs work and vote for Democrats, and wouldn't be able to do that if they are currently in jail, so no, the law cannot be specifically applied to thugs.