WaPo says that Jeb’s roscoe is an FN .45 ACP which would make it an FNX-45 or an FNX-Tactical. But it hasn’t got a bright, stainless slide or a threaded barrel extension, so it must be an FNS-9 or an FNS-40.

The inscribed name suggests that it was a presentation piece from the company. I wonder if the Governor has ever fired it.

From Duffleblog:

In an unprecedented turn in American history, retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, several years after being dismissed by the President and exiled to his estate in the countryside, marched on the national capitol early Tuesday morning with an army over one hundred thousand strong.

This number includes at least ten infantry legions, several aviation and artillery legions, and multiple cavalry cohorts.

“I come in peace, by myself, in order to hand-deliver a Memorandum of Concern to the Commander in Chief and the Senate,” said Mattis in a press conference. “I am moving on foot at a leisurely pace, with no ill will. If these American citizens choose to take a stroll with me, then who am I to turn down their companionship?”

The contents of the so-called memorandum are unknown, but are rumored by Mattis’ close advisors to contain paragraphs addressing unconstitutional acts by the administration and the Senate. Alarmed by the amassing of troops sympathetic to Mattis over the last week at Fort Myer, the Senate, the President, and various generals attempted to recall various combat divisions to Washington to defend the city.

These included the 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne, 10th Mountain, and 3rd Infantry Divisions, in addition to the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.

“We even attempted to contact NAVSURFLANT and SUBLANT,” confided one Senate aide as he packed his Datsun to flee northward. “All we got was laughter and then static.”

Read the whole thing.

But they will certainly speak volumes, and what a display for a Texas oilman’s wall this collection of rare and rusty firearms would make!

James D. Julia Auction, Quality Firearms, March 14, 2016, Lot 1160

WONDERFUL COLLECTION OF TEXAS RELIC FIREARMS FOUND IN TEXAS AND ASSEMBLED OVER MANY YEARS BY BILL STEWART OF SONORA, TEXAS FEATURING A 9″ FLAT CYLINDER NO. 5 TEXAS PATERSON REVOLVER.

SN NSN. Cal. 34. 1) Texas Paterson revolver with 9″ bbl and flat cylinder. This revolver was found by a young boy near the Burgess Spring Waterhole on the outskirts of Alpine, Texas in 1962. This relic was displayed at the T.G.C.A. “Parade of Texas Patersons” in November of 1994 and also in early 2000’s at the T.G.C.A. show in San Antonio, Texas. The revolver has 3 loaded chambers. This revolver is accompanied by a letter from Bill Stewart telling the story of this wonderful relic and states that he believes this relic is one of the orig group purchased by Republic of Texas and issued to Texas Rangers. Also included is a letter form Victor Friedrichs to Mr. Stewart discussing this gun. Also included is a handwritten note from Paterson experts Linda Lassister and Steve Evans stating that they would “someday like to have a “Rusty” Paterson of their own”. 2) Colt model 1839 Paterson carbine of type ordered by the Republic of Texas. 3) Cal. 44 revolver with flat-sided frame that appears to be a Dance. 4) Large-framed Dragoon revolver with rnd trigger guard and small loading cut. Appears to be Tucker, Clark, and Sherard. 5) Colt model 1848 “Baby Dragoon” with rammer. SN 7042 on backstrap and trigger guard. 3 cylinders capped and loaded. 6) Colt model 1860 Army Richard/Mason conversion no. 147249 on trigger guard. 7) Model 1855 Colt receiver and cylinder in 52 Cal.. Accompanied by orig cartridge for this model. 8) Colt model 1855 Root rifle. 9) Whitney-Kennedy lever action rifle. 10) Bbls from double-gauge percussion. PROVENANCE: The Estate of G. W. “Bill” Stewart of Sonora, Texas. CONDITION: 1) As found. 3 loaded chambers. Grips and straps are missing. 2) Bbl, cylinder and loading lever present. Buttstock is missing. 3) Bbl, cylinder and frame present. Grips and straps are missing. 4) Bbl, cylinder, frame and brass straps. Grips missing. 5) Bbl, cylinder, frame, backstrap and trigger guard. Grips are gone. SN visible on trigger guard and backstrap. 6) Bbl, cylinder, frame, and trigger guard. Hammer, backstrap and grips are gone. SN and some silver visible on trigger guard. 7) Frame, cylinder, and arbor. Clear Colt marking. Cleaned with naval jelly. 8) Bbl, frame, and cylinder. Stocks are gone. Frame cracked in front of cylinder. 9) Bbl, magazine, receiver, lever and hammer. Stocks are gone. Silver blade front sight on bbl. 10) Bbls only. A very unique opportunity to obtain a wonderful collection of relics that were all found in Texas by an old time collector featuring an award winning no. 5 Paterson revolver and a model 1839 Paterson carbine. 49973-162, 49973-159, 49973-160, 49973-161, 49973-163, 49973-250, 49973-251, 49973-252, 49973-389, 49973-390, TEP (10,000-20,000)

9″ Barrel Texas Patterson Revolver, one of original group purchased by the Republic of Texas and issued to Texas Rangers for use against the Comanches in the 1830s.

Johan Norberg notes that the Left loves to point out Sweden as a model of Socialism with Economic Prosperity. The problem is that all the prosperity is a legacy from an economic system which Socialism is determined to change.

Once upon a time I got interested in theories of economic development because I had studied a low-income country, poorer than Congo, with life expectancy half as long and infant mortality three times as high as the average developing country.

That country is my own country, Sweden—less than 150 years ago.

At that time Sweden was incredibly poor—and hungry. When there was a crop failure, my ancestors in northern Sweden, in Ångermanland, had to mix bark into the bread because they were short of flour. Life in towns and cities was no easier. Overcrowding and a lack of health services, sanitation, and refuse disposal claimed lives every day. Well into the twentieth century, an ordinary Swedish working-class family with five children might have to live in one room and a kitchen, which doubled as a dining room and bedroom. Many people lodged with other families. Housing statistics from Stockholm show that in 1900, as many as 1,400 people could live in a building consisting of 200 one-room flats. In conditions like these it is little wonder that disease was rife. People had large numbers of children not only for lack of contraception, but also because of the risk that not many would survive for long.

As Vilhelm Moberg, our greatest author, observed when he wrote a history of the Swedish people: “Of all the wondrous adventures of the Swedish people, none is more remarkable and wonderful than this: that it survived all of them.”1

But in one century, everything was changed. Sweden had the fastest economic and social development that its people had ever experienced, and one of the fastest the world had ever seen. Between 1850 and 1950 the average Swedish income multiplied eightfold, while population doubled. Infant mortality fell from 15 to 2 per cent, and average life expectancy rose an incredible 28 years. A poor peasant nation had become one of the world’s richest countries.

Many people abroad think that this was the triumph of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, which somehow found the perfect middle way, managing to tax, spend, and regulate Sweden into a more equitable distribution of wealth—without hurting its productive capacity. And so Sweden—a small country of nine million inhabitants in the north of Europe—became a source of inspiration for people around the world who believe in government-led development and distribution.

But there is something wrong with this interpretation. In 1950, when Sweden was known worldwide as the great success story, taxes in Sweden were lower and the public sector smaller than in the rest of Europe and the United States. It was not until then that Swedish politicians started levying taxes and disbursing handouts on a large scale, that is, redistributing the wealth that businesses and workers had already created. Sweden’s biggest social and economic successes took place when Sweden had a laissez-faire economy, and widely distributed wealth preceded the welfare state.

Hat tip to Karen L. Myers.

Xavier High School, the Manhattan Jesuit Preparatory School Scalia attended, released his yearbook photo. He was actually a handsome young man.

The pronunciation of English 500 years ago was a trifle different. John Skelton entry in Wikipedia.

The “Katheryne incomporabyll” referred to would be Catherine of Aragon, Queen from June 1509 until May 1533.

Let’s remember him with some of his best comments.

“A Bill of Rights that means what the majority wants it to mean is worthless.”

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“[There’s] the argument of flexibility and it goes something like this: The Constitution is over 200 years old and societies change. It has to change with society, like a living organism, or it will become brittle and break. But you would have to be an idiot to believe that; the Constitution is not a living organism; it is a legal document. It says something and doesn’t say other things…. [Proponents of the living constitution want matters to be decided] not by the people, but by the justices of the Supreme Court …. They are not looking for legal flexibility, they are looking for rigidity, whether it’s the right to abortion or the right to homosexual activity, they want that right to be embedded from coast to coast and to be unchangeable.”

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“To allow the policy question of same-sex marriage to be considered and resolved by a select, patrician, highly unrepresentative panel of nine is to violate a principle even more fundamental than no taxation without representation: no social transformation without representation.

If, even as the price to be paid for a fifth vote, I ever joined an opinion for the Court that began: ‘The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity,’ I would hide my head in a bag. The Supreme Court of the United States has descended from the disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Story to the mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie.”