Ferg

United States v. Hemani Supreme Court Brief: Marijuana Users Have Second Amendment Rights The Second Amendment’s command is timeless and clear: people have a fundamental right to keep and bear arms that does not yield to empirically baseless fabulism or extravagant distortions of history.

"The right to keep and bear arms for self-defense is fundamental, and an individual does not forfeit this right by engaging in the responsible use of cannabis." [Matt Cavedon on Cato brief in U.S. v. Hemani]

Happy Halloween! Here is my rendition of the Munsters theme

WHY DO WE CARE ABOUT AN OVER-SUPPLY OF HOTEL ROOMS? This problem matters to us right now because lower occupancy rates mean more layoffs. Even with occupancy hitting a high of 71% in November, nearly 15,000 of our members remained out of work. Having even more new, poorly planned hotels opening right now is exactly the kind of thing that will hurt us and slow down recalls. At a time when our industry is still struggling, adding hundreds of new hotels will force room rates to drop even more. It's a simple supply and demand problem: if there are too many available rooms but demand is the same, hotels have to lower prices to compete for guest reservations. This will inevitably lead to lay offs, as hotels will look to reduce labor costs to ensure solvency even with lower room rates. For the industry to maintain a healthy, successful recovery, we need to protect the market from becoming over-saturated.

Something I appreciate about unions is they come right out and say it. NYC’s hotel workers’ union says the 2021 special permit requirement for new hotels (really, a ban) was to halt competition among hotels from driving down the price of a night’s stay in NYC hotelworkers.org/article/a-re...

Happy Mother’s Day

Contributor: L.A.'s 'mansion tax' needs a remodel. Here's how to fix it New research shows just how serious the unintended consequences of Measure ULA have been for Los Angeles.

L.A. imposed a so-called mansion tax on real estate transactions > $5 million. Surprise! It covers, and has helped to depress, multifamily residential -- i.e., apartment construction -- along with commercial and industrial. Revenues are less than half expected. [@uclalewiscenter.bsky.social]

My sweet little Lupita crossed the rainbow bridge today. I couldn’t have asked for a better companion through the last 19 years. She will be dearly missed.

Getting older grants one with the power of ignoring people’s social hints that they want to get off the phone with you.

Today is a reminder that we should try to live our lives with fairness and respect for our fellow man.

"From the beginning to the very last minute of its term, not only did the Biden administration do precious little to build guardrails against executive power, it actively thwarted congressional efforts to do so." Among examples: National Guard abuse, FISA Section 702, and emergency powers reform.

From Ritual to Science: The Medical Transformation of Circumcision in America

www.cirp.org/library/hist...

New audit slams Kim Gardner’s management of Circuit Attorney’s Office A new audit uncovers patterns of mismanagement and neglect within the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office during Kim Gardner’s tenure as the city’s chief prosecutor.

In unsurprising news

fox2now.com/news/missour...

Blizzard in the Gnome Garden

The leak dragnet in the first Trump administration included nondisclosure orders, which meant most targeted members of Congress and staff "were never told their phone records had been seized." Journalists' phone records were seized as well.

We have a childcare crisis so bad that we are planning on giving Rams money to the issue, only to discover the building inspector(s?) had a systemic way of shutting down daycares who didn’t make “donations” to their pet causes.

Y’all have to read @blytheb.bsky.social’s latest on the SLPS scandal www.stltoday.com/news/local/e...

'Cancer ghosting' can be more painful than treatment, survivors say Loss of social support after a cancer diagnosis is a surprisingly common experience, social workers and cancer patients say. For young cancer survivors, it is a particularly difficult part of the dise...

Cancer Ghosting is common www.npr.org/2024/12/18/n...

Cobweb-Covered Skeleton Gripping Senate Desk Expected To Seek 15th Term -The Onion

"RFK Jr.'s job application: part psych eval and all wrong Practical Employment Law Insights for Business Owners, by Employment Lawyer Jon Hyman

Per news reports, applicants seeking to work for RFK Jr.'s HHS are being asked to answer questions that are weirdly personal, intrusive on privacy, and incidentally unlawful under ADA's ban on pre-job-offer medical queries. [@thejonhyman.bsky.social] www.ohioemployerlawblog.com/2024/12/rfk-...

Jesse Singal: Bluesky Has a Death Threat Problem It was supposed to be a gentler, left-wing alternative to X. My grim experience proves that just isn’t the case.

Jesse Singal: Bluesky Has a Death Threat Problem
www.thefp.com/p/jesse-sing...

A curious game. The only winning move is not to play

Hospitals Gave Them Meds During Childbirth. Why Did Patients Get In Trouble? Mothers were reported after they were given medications used routinely for pain or in epidurals, to reduce anxiety or to manage blood pressure during cesarean sections.

A NY mom lost custody of her toddler & newborn for 5 months after testing positive for fentanyl the hospital had given her in her epidural.

In Oklahoma, a newborn was placed in foster care for 11 days after the mom tested positive for meth. The culprit? a heartburn drug the hospital had given her.

Merry Friday the 13th!

The fish rots from the head down

Food delivery, flowers, Amazon: How Keisha Scarlett spent $141k of St. Louis Public Schools money St. Louis Public Radio obtained credit card statements from former St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Keisha Scarlett that are at the center of a new district investigation.

NEW: During her 14-month tenure, former St. Louis Public Schools superintendent Keisha Scarlett racked up more than $140,000 of credit card charges on travel, florists, Bath & Body Works, DoorDash, UberEats and other expenses, records obtained by STLPR show. www.stlpr.org/education/20...

Constitutional Protections for Economic Liberty in North Carolina: The Fruits of Their Own Labor Clause and Beyond I've long been interested in how state courts sometimes provide protection for economic liberty under state constitutions, beyond what the federal

North Carolina appeals court, applying state's unique "fruits of their labor" constitutional guarantee, allow food truck operators to sue over city ordinance that makes it almost impossible for them to operate; evidence indicates law was shaped by restaurant owners who didn't want competition.

Festive cats

Prattville, Alabama authorities removed a Pride float from the town parade when float sponsors cited possible threats and asked for more security. Federal judge R. Austin Huffaker, Jr.: no, that'd be a heckler's veto and the float stays.

Y’all gonna make me pull this golden oldie out.