Truly a loss for not just the Court, but the country as a whole. He was one of the greatest legal scholars of our time and we may never see someone as great as him on the bench again.

While the President was correct that it is his Constitutional duty to nominate a successor, the Senate is not required to confirm the nominee. Time will tell if McConnell will hold his ground but the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has also indicated that the nominee should wait for the next president before being confirmed. If they force this, President Obama may make a recess appointment, which has happened in the past (Eisenhower was the last president to do it).

I wonder how this will play out for Republicans in an election year?

Not relevant. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

We all live under "legal" tyranny.

I understand this. However I still don't think you're going to get jammed up for a random piece of wood that you purchased. If you knew it was illegal and you purchased it from a known dealer or something, then sure. But buying a piece of wood from a craft show or an otherwise legitimate store isn't likely to get you arrested. While true that ignorance of the law is not an excuse, there is a "reasonable person" threshold that has to be met most of the time.

Also covers plants.  So if a piece of wood somewhere in the bowels of whatever device you have was taken from 10 yards over a line in a park, your buying that, even without knowledge, is a felony.  Congratulations.  Do you audit the origin of every component of every product you purchase?

While that may be how the law is written, I don't think that's the actual intent. It would seem the intent is to preserve the fish and wildlife population and it likely targets those who are doing it in mass, not a guy who has a piece of wood. Anyway, I get your point that it's very easy to commit a felony without realizing it or having any intent to do so.

You don't have to think about committing a felony.  Take the Lacey Act for instance.  If you possess a product, and any component of that product has been made illegal anywhere in the world, you are committing a felony.  It doesn't matter if that component is completely legal in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia.  If Lesotho has outlawed it, then you are committing a felony.


It is actually almost impossible for you to live in the United States without committing multiple felonies.

I Googled the Lacey Act and only found a wildlife protection law, though admittedly I didn't Google very hard. Despite that, did we sign onto a U.N. treaty that says we agree to this? We are not bound by other country's laws. So something illegal in Lesotho has no bearing here in the U.S. I'm not sure if that's the route you were going so I may have misunderstood you.

I didn't see the debate but when I turned on the TV and flipped to Fox, Brett Baier was interviewing Debber Wasserman Schultz and asked her when Fox News would get a chance to host a debate. Of course she dodged a question but said that she would continue to appear on the network and engage with him. His response was great: "So you're saying there's a chance?" She clearly didn't understand it.

The "code" is that the terms is only applied to black people.  But white people doing the same thing gets a "kinder, gentler" term.
Its relevance is Tongue-In-Cheek considering that Cam Newton was accused of Thuggery leading up to SB50.

What "kinder, gentler" term would that be?

noun
1. a cruel or vicious ruffian, robber, or murderer.

That doesn't seem to imply any sort of racial bias.

Health care in our system is per capita the most expensive in the Western world bar none.  It does not create the best health care outcomes in the world, far from it.  What our system does is deliver very good care to those who can afford it.

What's your solution?