Real guns that fire real bullets. Youve heard of the ar15. Well now meet the jr15 as in the junior ar15. The company that makes it is super cute about the whole thing. They call themselves we won the technical. Ca wee ones as in little ones. Until recently they had logos for the little girls and little boys version of this gun for babies. Because why should any kid have to wait until they finish the Teething Process so they can carry a gun. They apparently dropped the Pacifier Logos and the scooby do cartoon font in some of their asvertising, but its not like theyre no longer claiming this is an Assault Rifle for babies. I mean, they could change their marketing of it. They could have started to say theyre making this mini sized Assault Rifle for people with usually short arms. Hey, are you built like a trex, hard time reaching the steeral wheels and pedals at the same time, weve got the Assault Rifle for you. Cant handle a gun that weighs more than 2 pounds, find yourself unable to lift a carton of milk anymore, dont worry, doesnt mean you shouldnt have a Semiautomatic Rifle of your dreams. Its specifically designed for you, great great grandma. When they dropped the Pacifier Logo explicitly targeting the gun to the teething toddler market, that might have seemed like it was, you know, signaling they were abandoning the whole idea of Assault Rifles for kids, but, esno, it turns out they ju dropped the Pacifier Logos and the cartoon font, but theyre making clearbu it is not just f people with little tiny arms or not just for people with very poor upper body strength, its definitely for preschool. And the reason you can tell its still their targeted market for this gun is because this is the image that pops up on the flash page at their website. Clear enough . Heres another view of the same target consumer. Maybe shes, what, 5 . I think shes 5. And if america is now marketing smaller, lighter fully functioning semiautomatic Assault Rifles for 5yearolds, i mean whats next . Why would we stop there . If they really want to get the full markett share that might available m to them maybe they could do a little one babies can use in the cribs. Maybe they can fire it with their feet or something. The junior ar15, the jr15 for toddlers is a real thing. For its part the company who makes the kid gun says the reason its so great for kids is not only f because it only weig 2 pounds and its sized for little fingers and little arms and little hands, but theyre hot to tell you it has Special Safety Features. The Special Safety Feature appears mostly to be a second deliberately awkward safety knob on the other side of the gun from the regular safety because surely kids wont s be able to figure that one out on their own. The website which debunks fake things on thenk internet had too a post assuring people, no, this is not a rejected plot line from the simpsons or borat movie, its true. O is a jr15, a real rifle designed for children . True, yes. N . Its in the news today because in the great State Of Illinois where there is a Pugnacious Democraticna governor named jd pritzker, in illinois theyre about to mass a la la that would ban Gun Marketing and advertising that specifically markets guns to kids. And this is sort of a poster child kid Assault Rifle for that new law. Of course, theyre not banning the gun itself. Heaven, theyre just trying to ban the advertising of Assault Rifles forin babies. California passed the law along the same lines last year. Now other blue states are following suit. Gun rights states and their republican supporters are absolutely icoutraged, theyre absolutely against any such move. Why on earth would you want to limit any sort of communication or marketing targeting children with this sort of thing . From their perspective, yeah, hey, what could possibly go wrong . To this day people dont believe me when i tell them what it is that republicans did first the last time they got full control in washington, the last timeto they got control of both the white house and the congress. You remember when that was. There was so much shock and consternation, there was so much shock and surprise over the election andan the election outcome particularly at the president ial level but the election outcome was that republicans not only got the white house, they also got the house and thehe senate. But amid all of the consternation and shock and all of the rapid change that portended, nobody remembers what they actually did with that power once they got it. But its true. It is as real as the military sized Assault Rifle sized down for ripreschoolers, the first substantive thing the new Republican Congress did in 2017 when they got full control in washington was the Republicans Passedhe legislation that would facilitate access to firearms for people who had been formally adjudicated to be mentally ill, not just people who seem a little off, but people formally adjudicated by the government to be mentally ill and unable to handle their own affairs. The first thing republicans did with full power in washington was literally make it easier foa officially crazy people to get guns. To this day people do not believe it,da but look it up. It is true. And now naturally along the same plot line now we have kidsized Fullyd Functional SemiautomatiAssault Rifles that fire real bullets. California last year and illinois now areet trying at Th State Level to at least block the marketing of those, but the guns exist, and gun groups and their republicand supporters a very much opposed even to trying to regulate the advertising around this new product. I understand i think i understand perhaps as well as anyone imha going to guess tha National LevelAmericano Polits is hurlyburly right now, but im also here to tell you whats going in in the states in these cases is just as wild. And it doesnt get as much attention even when it directly illuminates or relates to or the manifestation of whats going on at the National Level. Take the t fully functional militarystyle Assault Rifle for children for example one. Take, for example, florida where the Florida Republican governor is not running a great president ial campaign but hes trying and doing better than any other republican at mounting a showing against former President Donald Trump. The strongest wind in ron desantis sails in this republicanil primary, the strongest wind in his sails for the purpose of motivating the Republican Base has been his claim he would make america more likeic florida. Make America Florida again. Ron desantis pitch for the presidency hastc basically beent its most successful that his leadership in florida is a success story. He has been electorally successful in florida. Florida has turned really deep red. He has won reelection by a lot there. If you put him in charge in washington he would do the same thing for the whole country and he could put in place the kind of governance hes been able to pursue in florida because hes been so successful there. That has been the sort of best version of ron desantis pitch to be president of the united states. The problem is that part of the reality of whats going on in florida under ron desantis is leprosy. Now theyve got leprosy. Not a metaphor, actual leprosy. Headline, Central Florida is a hot spot for leprosy, report says. Headline, whats behind the increase in Leprosy Cases in florida . Headline, as Leprosy Cases rise in l florida what you must know about the infectious disease. So floridaab has a leprosy problem. Florida also has a malaria problem. Headline, alert issued after locally acquired Malaria Cases confirmed in florida. Headline, malaria confirmed in Florida Mosquitos after several human cases. Health Officials Say florida Malaria Cases contracted and transmitted in sarasota which hasnt happened since the 1950s. So poor florida. Not good news, right . Leprosy and malaria both, a, in america, b, in the 21st century, andst c, in the same state at the same time. Terrible news for florida but particularly terrible news because its happening at a time when ron desantis is the governor of florida. Because under ron desantis as governor of florida, floridas State Government is missing its top two Public Health officials who would be responsible for containingpo outbreaks and dealg with emerging epidemics. Florida doesnt have anybody in those jobs anymore because who on earth would want to be a Public Health official working for Governor Ron Desantis whose whole make America Florida gamui is largely based on anything else him being a Covid Contrarian who Ret Raactively insists covid isnt a thing and we could just get a handle on that problemt why would you ne vaccines . Ron desantis is running for president in large part on the basis p of his Farsighted Wisdo on covid in florida. His hand picked Surgeon General in florida came out and made it the official recommendation of the state of florida young men definitely shouldnt beri vaccinated against covid. Why . Because its so dangerous. He was later found to have falsified the data that supposedly justified that conclusion. He remains the Surgeon General of florida today. And why wouldnt he . Ron desantis loves him in that job. Dont worry, though. Now its malaria and leprosy in florida, im sure theyll do great withur it. And ron desantis will take that model to the whole country. Gulp. Were also seeing interesting stuff in the state even as it relates to the most hurly burly things in the government. Even as former President Trump is charged federally for among other things allegedly overseeing a plot to sneak fake votes into the Electoral College count, thee local Republicans O signed up to be those fake electors in seven states, they are now facing an array of criminal investigations and in some cases charges themselves. In three states now we have either overt confirmation or clear indication that the fake republican t electors are the subject of open criminal investigations at the state level, thats arizona, new mexico, and georgia. Andxi one other state in wisconn the Attorney General there wont say either way whether theres an open criminal investigation and all 16 fake republican electors have now been charged with felonies under state law. Depending on how things proceed in other states, were looking at potentially dozens of local republican activists and minor officials, theiv trumpiest of a, right, people absolutely devotey to donald trump who could be looking at felony criminal charges for their part in the fake elector scheme that the Trump Campaign told them to carry out. There were 84 people who signed up to be fake electors, and just as its possible to look at donald trump as the 1,090th defendant to be charged in the January 6th Investigation as abcs news Jonathan Carl has been saying i think we may also end up seeing trump as the 85th person in the fake elector scheme to face potential criminal liability for having jumped off that particularly illadvised high dive. Everybody else is going to have to face trial for this stuff, but hes not . I mean the way things are being charged at the federal level it really looks like whats going to happen on the fake electors things in terms of criminal charges is going to happen in the individual states where republicans tried to steal the e votes. They are open pending Law Enforcement decisions on this now in wisconsin, arizona, new mexico, georgia, which means that part of the overthrow the Election Criminal Liability saga ison really worth watching not just at the federal level but in those individual states. So this is my pitch for watching whats happening in the states again as a reflection of and in some cases as the manifestation of whats happening in National Politics. If youre picking a single one to keep eyes on right now tonight and tomorrow, the one to watch, i think, is ohio. And again this is a fascinating story about ohio, but it is also national news. Ew because ever since the conservatives on the u. S. Supreme courts overturned roe last year, last june, republicans all over the country have been tempering their glee over that long sought acheechbment. Finally now they can ban abortion. Theyve been c tempering their glee over that with their worry over how much the country hates that because however much they, republicans want to ban abortion, the country really broadly does not want that. And for republicans this is something americans are proving proving their willingness to commit to in the voting booth. And you can see it in the plain numbers. I mean since republicans got their wish and overturned roe, there have been six states in which theres been a statewide vote on Abortion Rights, six of them. And in all six Abortion Rights have won by a lot. Its happened in swing states like michigan. Its happened in liberal states like california and vermont, happened in conservative states like montana and kentucky and kansas. Every single state where therea been a statewide vote on Abortion Rights, every single time voters have been able to vote b on this issue theyve vod for Abortion Rights and against republican Abortion Bans over and over again in all the states that have voted on it. And that is about to happen again in the great state of ohio. This november, this upcoming co nchb, ohio voters are set to vote on a statewide Ballot Initiative that would amend the Statewideam Constitution so it protects Abortion Rights. Now, republicans in the Ohio Legislature and theyve instituted an all out ban in the state. Theyre going toba vote to overturn ohios abortion ban when they go to vote on it in november. Everybody knowsn that. Ohiokn prochoice people know that. People voted against republican Abortion Bans in every state where everyone has voted on it since dobbs including states like kansas and kentucky, so its safe to say voters are going to vote against republican Abortion Bans when they get the chance do so in november in ohio. Unless unless Ohio Republicans canle rig it someho unless they can figure out a way to change the rules so ohio voters wont be allowed to do that. And that is why theres this big important vote tomorrowis that really worth watching. Tomorrow weird day for an election, right, august 8th . But, yeah, thats on purpose. Ohio republicans have put forward a single issue Ballot Measure that will raise the threshold forme amending the Ste Constitution for what it has been for over a f century, 50 ,o instead now it has to be 60 . Its the only thingen the ballot tomorrow, its the first time in nearly a 100 years that a single issue ballot has been put forward in august. Because everyone expects next to single Voter Turnout for a ballot issue in august. Presumably Republicans Thinking was if nbd turns out theyll be able tause just their small activist hoard core base to change the rules, thus depriving ohio voters of the right to say no, the right to reject what republicans are otherwise getting away with in that state even though a lur majority of people in the state will really hate it. Te whats happening in National Politics is absolutely bananas. I mean the personalities are bananas. The stakes for the country of having a Criminal Defendant, potentially a convicted felony as the leaders of one of the two parties is as bananas as it gets. But the place where the rubber meet the road over and over again is the states. With malaria and leprosy now running up numbers in a state where they eviscilated Public Health infra