Loose Cannon Metaphor Explained

The loose cannon metaphor is about the old fashioned muzzle loading  guns of the sailing ship days.  A loose cannon could not "shoot up the place" because it had to be reloaded after each shot.  The gun was mounted on wheels so that the crew could use a ramrod to clean and reload it, then roll it up to the gun port to fire again.  The recoil would drive the cannon backwards, and it was restrained by ropes or something so that it wouldn't roll back any farther than necessary.  If a cannon broke loose of its restraint, it might injure somebody or damage something as it rolled backwards out of control.  At the very least, the gun crew would have to retrieve it and roll it back up to the gun port by hand, which would increase the reloading time.  If the pirates (meaning the bad guys) are closing on your ship, a loose cannon is still better than no cannon at all because you could at least get one shot off before they come swarming over the rail.

Michigan judges are elected by the people, while federal judges are not.  I don't remember if the Michigan gerrymandering case was handled by state or federal courts, all I remember is that the plaintiffs wanted the latest redistricting plan to be nullified and the court decided not to do that.  The new method of redistricting might work after all, but that remains to be seen.  At the time of voting, I had the impression that a panel of unelected bureaucrats were going to do the redistricting.  Turns out that it won't be bureaucrats, it will be citizen volunteers selected more or less at random by our secretary of state.  The panel is supposed to be balanced between self identified Democrats, Republicans, and independents.  We'll have to wait and see how that turns out.  I haven't had a lot of interest in this issue because my legislative district is too large to be effectively gerrymandered anyway.  It's possible that the smaller districts Down Below have had a problem with this, but you couldn't prove it by me.  Be that as it may, current Michigan law requires the governor to request an extension of a state of emergency from the legislature after 28 days, which means that she, not the legislature, is the outlaw here, and I have no reason to believe that it's any different in Wisconsin.