maxomai | Jul. 15th, 2015

I haven't done one of these in a while. Here goes....

Fox News has this bit on "Hillary's Howard Dean Problem." Never mind the misleading title (Howard Dean endorsed Clinton back in December), what they really mean is that Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley, by dragging the Democratic primary debates to the populist left, stand to alienate moderate voters from the Democratic brand. Well, maybe, but what each party really wants is a combination of conservative or liberal principles (for cranking the base) and the charisma and vision to sell those principles to moderates. That's what the GOP had in Reagan and the Democrats have now in Obama, both of whom defined politics for a generation. The problem is, right now I don't think either party has such a candidate.

Yesterday's pictures from Pluto show that the planet may in fact be geologically active. In particular, the first close-up images show no impact craters, which has Bill Nye wondering WTF is going on.

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) introduced a bill yesterday to change the background check system for gun sales. Presently all gun purchases conducted through an FFL require a NICS background check; however if the check is inconclusive after three days, the FFL still has the option to sell the gun anyway. Private sales do not require a background check. This bill would require all sales to undergo a background check and would only allow the sale if the check comes back clear. While I think this is a good move, Clyburn is overselling it. He claims that this bill would have prevented the Charleston massacre because the pistol used there was sold after the three days expired; in fact that's not true. Dylann did pass the background check. The FBI didn't enter a drug charge into their database. If they had, NICS would have denied the sale. So, while I support Clyburn's bill in principle, we also need more money to improve the NICS system.

Finding God in a Dog