Lost at Sea - John Fisher - Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18

John Fisher - Volvo Race Sailor lost at sea

1,400 miles west of Cape Horn, damaged by a crash gybe, they were 200 miles windward of the nearest competitor.  The nearest commercial ship was 400 miles away. Team Scallywag crew member John Fisher (UK) was swept overboard.  Although he was wearing a survival suit in the 48 F waters, and gale force winds and sea state several hours of searching by his teammates were fruitless.  The boat is again heading east toward Cape Horn where they will be met by race officials and investigators, I presume.

Video update on Scallywag's John Fisher - Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18

John Paul Stevens: Repeal the Second Amendment - The New York Times

John Paul Stevens: Repeal the Second Amendment - The New York Times

Rarely in my lifetime have I seen the type of civic engagement schoolchildren and their supporters demonstrated in Washington and other major cities throughout the country this past Saturday. These demonstrations demand our respect. They reveal the broad public support for legislation to minimize the risk of mass killings of schoolchildren and others in our society.

That support is a clear sign to lawmakers to enact legislation prohibiting civilian ownership of semiautomatic weapons, increasing the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 years old, and establishing more comprehensive background checks on all purchasers of firearms. But the demonstrators should seek more effective and more lasting reform. They should demand a repeal of the Second Amendment.

Concern that a national standing army might pose a threat to the security of the separate states led to the adoption of that amendment, which provides that “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Today that concern is a relic of the 18th century.