Friday LOL. Gaming the system =)

[airiefairie]

Participating in the half-pipe discipline at the Winter Olympics requires exceptional skills in skiing, and being able to do all sorts of acrobatic tricks. Right? Or maybe not? If you ask US skier Elizabeth Swaney, she would say you rather need to have some basic skiing skills (maybe those of your regular amateur), lots of cunning, and tons of desire to be at the Olympics!

Her intriguing story caused a lot of reactions, from admiration to condemnation, and she was dubbed both the "best" and "worst" Olympic athlete. Because she was smart enough to use a loophole in the rules that allowed her to earn a quota for the Olympic games, even though she was clearly not at the level of the other competitors. How? Well, she decided to compete for Hungary, which has no competition in this discipline. Here are details:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/21/olympic-skier-elizabeth-swaney-i-did-not-scam-my-way-into-the-games.html

She attempted no tricks in the half-pipe. All she had to do to qualify was to finish down the slope - which she of course did. And she violated no rule. Here is her run: VIDEO

The biter bit....

[johnny9fingers]

After many years of funding various politicians of both major political parties in the States, and enquiring about the voting records of Senators and Congresspersons it seems that the NRA is finally getting a taste of its own medicine:

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/23/us-companies-nra-best-western-wyndham


So... I have to ask, after the NRA, a pressure group with charitable status, has used the tactic of buying politicians and has upheld a frankly essentialist interpretation of the Second Amendment; is this poetic justice, or a quick sop to the victims and victim's families, after which all will continue as before?

Will this start a movement, or just fizzle out?

I'd love it to be the beginning of change for US gun laws, but I realise I'm being an over-empathic snowflake parent with small children in a different country who doesn't want to see kids killed randomly any more than is absolutely accidental, which gun-killings aren't. Responsible folk in charge of guns is one thing; the whole damn population with them is another. Maybe if folk have signed up to a well-maintained militia which is overseen for compliance, in accordance with the broader idea in the Bill of Rights (well regulated, after all) a gun is required.

Getting that interpretation through SCOTUS would take some doing. Especially as the Dems screwed the pooch with appointments to SCOTUS after the Republicans refused to endorse 44's nominee, whilst awaiting the victory of 45. That was a huge gamble unless they had better information about the voting public than the rest of us, but it is one that has really paid off.