Rick Weinmeyer

It's not hacky. It's correct. And a lot more people think it than voice it.

And as @jaywillis.net smartly notes, these bans only apply "to licensed counselors, which means that . . . religiously inclined clients who do want conversion therapy are as free as ever to seek it from their religious leaders."

Opposing conversion therapy APA joins 28 organizations in call to end conversion therapy in the United States.

The American Psychological Association and dozens of other organizations condemn the practice of conversion therapy, stances based on the scientific evidence of the harms this practice creates.
www.apaservices.org/advocacy/new...

Can Conversion Therapy Be Banned? Colorado Faces Speech Test at the Supreme Court.

If you are gay and live in the U.S., you almost certainly know someone who's been exposed to conversion therapy. It is a cruel practice that irrevocably harms patients.

These laws are about the inability of LICENSED therapists to adhere to the standard of care for their CHOSEN profession.

"Hasday explained that in some countries where troops have been stationed, female civilians are not allowed to speak to men who are not members of their family. Having female service members . . . allowed the military to speak to female civilians to get information or to provide help."

The real bodyslam of this thread is the message of "Wrong. See my student note."

T'was fantastic to meet @profmmurray.bsky.social, @kateshaw.bsky.social & @leahlitman.bsky.social at the @strictscrutiny.bsky.social Chicago Live Show. That they also recognized me AND Melissa gave me a hug . . . I blacked out. I’m confident the rush of feelings was mutual.

What a terrific show!

How Private Equity Oversees the Ethics of Drug Research

I can't believe for-profit IRBs are still a thing.

“If you are just focused on turnaround time, that doesn’t tell you really anything about quality.” said @hollylynchez.bsky.social of UPenn. “It inhibits people from saying, ‘Wait, we need to pause on this. Is this the right thing to do?’”

This is what happens when you don’t vaccinate kids against measles. Whether it’s religious anti-vaxxerism in Israel or the secular kind in the U.S., the awful results are the same.

"[T]here are few activities that appear to be more at the heart of the liberty guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment than the right to eliminate harmful wastes from one's body away from the observation of others."

Skinner v. Railway Labor (1989) (Marshall, J., dissenting)

I love those longhorn stuffed animals!

The Trump administration’s Soviet approach to autism policy A strange and largely forgotten U.S. delegation to the USSR in 1963 offers lessons about autism, diagnosis, and politics, writes Ari Ne’eman.

"Autism was used more frequently as a diagnosis for special education services, corresponding declines took place in the use of 'intellectual disability' & 'learning disability,' suggesting that a process of diagnostic substitution was taking place rather than a real increase in autism prevalence."

The U.S. Military’s Recruiting Crisis The ranks of the American armed forces are depleted. Is the problem the military or the country?

This is from earlier in the year, and, of course, is similarly bleak.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

And that's why we in the U.S. are all so happy and everything is going so well.

But antifreeze is so sweet!

DHS Secretary Noem 'blocked' from bathroom at Illinois government building as Pritzker feud heats up Kristi Noem says she was denied entry to an Illinois government building for a bathroom break while federal agents arrested protesters at a nearby immigration facility.

"Government official with record of attacking trans community denied access to bathroom."

Treasury Department considers minting a $1 Trump coin The draft design of the coin, which was overseen by the Office of the U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, features Trump’s profile on one side of the coin.

If anything is all the rage right now, it is using physical coins as currency.

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Lori Loughlin, Mossimo Giannulli Separate Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli -- both of whom spent time in prison over the college admissions scandal -- have separated ... TMZ has confirmed.

#shattered

Easy to be a Cubs fan when you don't have live amongst Cubs fans.

Norovirus Outbreak Sickens Nearly 100 on Royal Caribbean Cruise

Time and again, I tell people "Do NOT go on cruises." And do the people listen? Nope.

Totally agree @rickweinmeyer.bsky.social and finally wrote an essay about this topic last year that I had disgracefully neglected in my earlier academic days (and citing your great work!). Available here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Minnesota reports 13 more measles cases, raising 2025 total to 18 This year’s total is the fifth-highest in at least 15 years in the state, where the measles vaccination rate is weakening. None of the people most recently infected were vaccinated.

"13 measles cases have been identified over the past week in Minnesota, including a cluster of 10 cases in Dakota County and three separate cases among children exposed to the infectious disease during international travels.

None of the infected people in the latest clusters were vaccinated."

New Season Of ‘Monster’ To Focus On Barista Who Made Ryan Murphy’s Drink Wrong LOS ANGELES—Saying he was excited to explore the psychology of “one of the 21st century’s greatest villains,” Monster creator Ryan Murphy announced Wednesday that the anthology’s latest season would f...

"I’ve covered killers like Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez brothers, but I’ve never done a character study of someone as truly monstrous as the 19-year-old who gave me a lukewarm cappuccino with oat milk instead of the skim flat white with an extra shot I ordered[.]”

Drones, Helicopters, Hundreds of Arrests: Trump’s Immigration Crackdown in Chicago So Far

We went to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants tonight. The staff talked about how they are constantly tracking reports of ICE across the city. They now live in constant fear, and it is abhorrent.

Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirement Program Spent Twice as Much on Administrative Costs as on Health Care, GAO Says Republican lawmakers cite Georgia’s Pathways to Coverage as a national model for federal Medicaid work requirements that are set to take effect in 2027. A new report shows the program has spent at lea...

Georgia's work reqs program spent "$54.2 million on administrative costs since 2021, compared to $26.1 million spent on health care costs." ~90% of admin. expenditures came from the federal budget "meaning that Georgia’s experiment is being funded by taxpayers around the country."

Why We Know So Little About Medicines During Pregnancy Trump’s attacks on Tylenol come after decades in which many women were excluded from medical studies, which has created uncertainty about which drugs are safe.

"Too often, [Ruth] Faden told me, pregnant women are still viewed as fragile vessels who need to be sequestered from the world. 'We need to protect women through research, not from research,' she said."

Hims & Hers Health, Inc. dba Hers - 09/09/2025 Unlawful Sale of Unapproved and Misbranded Drugs to United States Consumers Over the Internet

Really big deal that FDA sent a Warning Letter to Hims & Hers for marketing unapproved new drugs (GLP-1s). Telehealth cos sell compounded versions and generally get away with much more aggressive advertising than drug cos could get away with, all under the idea that they're not drug manufacturers.

It'll also be perfect for absorbing the twin fluids that fill Chicago streets during the winter: dog urine, and that grey sludge that is a combination of snow, dirt, and car exhaust.

Long Covid Risk for Children Doubles After a Second Infection, Study Finds

"Although Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the federal health secretary, has said healthy children do not need Covid shots, the study authors and other medical experts said the evidence suggests otherwise."

“Being vaccinated decreases your risk of subsequent infections and development of long Covid."