Howard Bashman reports that the D.C. Circuit has held that the mute swan no longer has protection under federal law from being hunted or killed.

I have no view as to the correctness of the opinion, but my sympathies lie with the mute swan. I am reminded of Louis, the mute trumpeter swan, who is the protagonist of the E.B. White book I have been reading to my daughter.

I supported Brett Kavanaugh for this position. But that’s before I realized that he wanted to kill Louis.

P.S. Yes, I’m kidding with that last sentence. But I seriously do feel a little bad for the mute swan.

A judge has declared California’s lethal injection protocol unconstitutional.

Should we simply have firing squads instead?

P.S. The opinion is here. And kudos to the L.A. Times for putting the actual opinion on its web site!

UPDATE: I have read the court’s opinion and plan to have a post on it tomorrow. In short, I am not impressed.

Maj. McClung’s dad has asked me to post this:

In response to those of you who have asked, we would prefer donations in lieu of flowers, to:

Wounded Marines Fund
Marine Corps League Foundation
P.O. Box 3070
Merrifield, VA 22116-3070

Please be sure to designate “Marines Helping Marines” in memory of Major Megan McClung on the “memo” line of your check. All donations will be gratefully acknowledged.

Mike and Re McClung

I know some of you have asked about this, so I’m glad to be able to pass this information along.

When President Clinton underwent open-heart surgery, I was proud of how the conservative blogosphere reacted. Almost to a person, we wished him the best of luck, even though most of us had despised his policies and his presidency.

At the time I observed:

I would genuinely like to believe that those on the left would do the same if any current or former Republican President had a serious health issue — but then, we saw the way they acted when Ronald Reagan died, didn’t we?

Today I am once again proud of my colleagues, whose decency has risen about petty politics in addressing the illness of Democrat Sen. Tim Johnson. His death would almost certainly mean that the Republicans would regain control of the Senate — yet we are all sincerely pulling for his full and speedy recovery.

Michelle Malkin:

First and foremost, keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Power Line:

Once again, we extend our sympathy and hopes for a full recovery to Senator Johnson and his family.

Ed Morrissey:

Keep the family in your prayers.

Ace:

Obviously our hopes are with him.

Instapundit:

I HOPE THAT TIM JOHNSON TURNS OUT TO BE OKAY, and I don’t have much more to say than that.

Eugene Volokh:

First, best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery to Sen. Johnson (D-SD).

And of course this blog had similar sentiments:

Best wishes to Sen. Johnson and his family. I hope he has a full recovery.

There’s nothing exceptional about this, by the way. It’s simple human decency. Just as I said when President Clinton had his surgery, I’d like to think we’d see the same from our colleagues on the left, if the tables were turned. I really would.