Random stuff I find interesting and you may not.
The Little Sisters of the Poor will have their case heard before the Supreme Court yet again in their years-long fight against the federal contraceptive mandate. The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it would hear oral arguments in the case of the sisters against the State of Pennsylvania, which challenged the order’s exemption from … Read more
As Trump reshapes the federal judiciary with staunch conservatives and controversial picks, some Harvard Law School students appear to be thinking twice about applying for clerk jobs with them, and passing up what are generally considered plum positions. … Harvard Law Students Avoid Applying For Clerkships With Trump-Appointed Judges Not sure this is a bad … Read more
Abridged Chuck Marohn’s TED talk on infrastructure In 1997, my Samoyed dog, Sebaka, and I spent a long overnight up in the city of Longville, Minnesota, pulling manhole covers in an attempt to determine where all the sewage was coming from. The city’s wastewater treatment facility was nearing capacity, something that should not … Read more
Security Theater – A TSA Opera The story of how the law as to civil in rem forfeiture came to be is apocryphal. It was formed largely in the 1980s, using the cute phrase, “take the profit out of crime,” and was directed at drug dealers. Everybody hated drug dealers, and so they … Read more
Amazon has a “bullying” problem. So insisted PopSockets CEO and inventor David Barnett today while describing his company’s relationship with the e-commerce and logistics giant. Barnett was addressing members of the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law and, over the course of the hearing, laid out how the Jeff Bezos-helmed corporate behemoth had … Read more
Adam Ruins Everything – Why Jaywalking Is a Crime We’ve heard this story before in a different context that has similar implications: routine traffic stops. This is a similar case in which enforcement of the rules of the road is used not in a way that has any clear relationship to actual public … Read more
Aging is a relentless assault of chronic diseases including Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and frailty. Developing one chronic condition strongly predicts the rapid onset of another. They pile on top of each other and impede the body’s ability to respond to the next challenge. “Potentially, by targeting fundamental aging processes, it may be possible to … Read more
There has been considerable interest in fisetin recently, especially for its potential as a senolytic, which clears away dysfunctional senescent cells that accumulate with aging. Researchers believe that fisetin may be useful in increasing the healthy period of life known as healthspan. What is Fisetin? Fisetin is a naturally occurring flavonol and part of the … Read more
It was a trip to a conference in Lake Tahoe that got Jake Wolf thinking. Like Wolf’s own Vail Valley, where he’s an Avon town councilor, Tahoe is a ski and summer recreation destination for second homeowners. Those empty, luxury homes are a contributing factor to Tahoe’s tight housing market for year-round residents — especially … Read more
The phenomenon in the Catholic blogosphere of “The Benedict Option” was interesting. I think it’s mostly over now, because I’ve seen less copycats coming up with other “[Saint] Options.” Most who came up with various “options” focused heavily on Rod Dreher’s choosing the right saint to imitate for the right reasons. Most of them thought … Read more
When her former student was found wandering the streets a decade after she’d last seen him, Michell Girard immediately agreed to take him in. Then she decided to do far more, including give him the Christmas he’d never had. . . . Billy died the following day. As word spread around Gatesville that Girard had … Read more
Eastern Kentucky Echo (Echo EK – Eastern Kentucky Edition) If Alexa was Southern Related PostsAmazon’s ‘House of David’ Represents a Giant Shift in Entertainment Supreme Court leaves in place Kentucky abortion law mandating ultrasounds Amazon textbook rental service scammed for $1.5m Amazon Den of Thieves, part gazillion Sanctuary Cities and Counties
On Jan. 27, 2020, tax-filing season will open. Approximately 155 million 1040 tax forms will be filed by families, not to mention the tens of millions of business tax returns and literally billions of information returns. For its part, the IRS will do its best to process all these tax returns, issue over $320 billion … Read more
Recent articles in respected business journals report that Amtrak lost only $29.8 million in 2019 (out of $3.3 billion in total revenues) and that it expects to make a profit in 2020. This is a remarkable turnaround for a company that cost taxpayers more than $100 billion in its first 49 years of existence. Amtrak … Read more
Considering how many children I would like to have when I am 50 has brought me to the conclusion that I want as many as my husband and I can responsibly care for. So far we have five. When I was a teen and in my early 20s, nobody told me how fulfilling and meaningful … Read more
Beans are healthy—high in protein and fiber and packed with nutrients like iron, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and more. They’re also an affordable and versatile way to feed your family—a one-pound bag of red kidney beans costs less than $2 and can make up to 11 servings. If you’re a single adult or have a … Read more
When New York State a year ago expanded legal abortion, in a place that had already long been dubbed the abortion capital of the world, some women who had suffered abortions and come to a place of healing through the work of the Sisters of Life or others were astonished that the governor would celebrate … Read more
No major U.S. metropolitan region has lost more people since the 1960s than Pittsburgh. Few have endured an economic calamity as severe as the collapse of its steel industry. Yet, the per capita wealth in Pittsburgh is higher and several indicators of quality of life are better in southwestern Pennsylvania than in most of the … Read more
The decade that just ended saw a period of uninterrupted economic growth. In the decade to come, we’ll pay for squandering it. Since the so-called Great Recession officially ended in the third quarter of 2009, the United States has enjoyed 42 consecutive quarters of solid if unspectacular economic growth. That’s the longest run of uninterrupted … Read more
Yesterday, Borden filed for bankruptcy. Dean Foods filed in November. Please note One of America’s Oldest and Largest Milk Producers Files for Bankruptcy. Borden said it filed for bankruptcy because it cannot afford its debt load and its pension obligations. It has 3,300 employees, 22% of whom are covered by a collective bargaining agreement. The … Read more
Five years ago, the plot of land where the Dollar General store sits on Glades Pike was just that: a plot of land of pastoral greenery, located not far from a row of neatly kept homes in an unincorporated village that once briefly boomed as a coal town. Today the familiar, yellow sign with bold, … Read more
“You say, the times are troublesome, the times are burdensome, the times are miserable. Live rightly and you will change the times. The times never hurt anyone. Those who are hurt are human beings; those by whom they are hurt are also human beings. So, change human beings and the times will be changed.” St. … Read more
Larry Harding left his 12-gauge shotgun propped by the door that September night. He feared that otherwise he might shoot the thieves if he stumbled on them in the dark. Instead, he grabbed his camera and went out across the road where they’d raided his ginseng patch the week before. He suspected the bandits would … Read more
“We’re called to have hearts on fire for Christ. It’s not merely about head knowledge, but about allowing Jesus and the Holy Spirit to empower us.” . . . Some years ago, septuagenarian John DeNisi of Irvine, California, was undergoing a series of medical tests which indicated he had cancer in his left lung. Pessimistic … Read more
As Christmas break up at my parents’ house stretched on, I decided to check out a local dying mall that, after a surprise announcement on Christmas Eve, is slated to shut down by the end of January. Or at least evict all its tenants, which may be a distinction with a difference; Phillipsburg Mall’s status … Read more