Society

Federal Benefits Open Season: Must-do tips

Federal Benefits Open Season time! Are you ready? Check out these tips for making the most out of your benefit as a federal employee … During the last couple of months of the year, a lot of federal employees have the opportunity to change their allocations for health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, and other types of tax-advantaged accounts during Federal Benefits Open Season. Making changes during Open Season is important because during the other times of the year, it...
Tags: Insurance, Frugality, Executive Branch, Murphy

At the Sunrise Café...

  ... you can talk all night. [Author: [email protected] (Ann Althouse)]
Tags: Photography, Law, Sunrise, Lake Mendota, Ann Althouse

Dispatch 45: Good Morning from Washington, D.C.

Quick stream of unedited consciousness: Today will be a big day. The "Million MAGA March" is to start at noon. I am here. Last night, I finished at around midnight after talking with MAGA supporters who are flying and driving in from around the country from as far away as Hawaii. Others are here from Californian, Oregon, New York, and little 'ole towns across this land. Top Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio flew in from Miami, as did many Proud Boys. I talked with Enrique Tarrio last n...
Tags: Featured, Washington, White House, Military, Hawaii, Miami, Freedom Plaza, Michael's Dispatches, Michael Yon, Oath Keepers, Maga, Enrique Tarrio, Black Lives Matter Plaza, Californian Oregon New York

"The wheel's still in spin."

  It's a podcast.  Topics: "Coddling baby-adults, winning the culture war, Dylan’s losers, calling kids fat, walking the war out of your system, the museum’s accidental honoring of male supremacy." [Author: [email protected] (Ann Althouse)]
Tags: Podcast, Law, Dylan, Ann Althouse

When Christmas was cancelled: a lesson from history

The prospect of a Christmas without large-scale celebrations is preying on minds. After the widespread cancellation of pantomimes, festive light “switch-ons" and other community activities, it seems likely that 2020's festivities will be much more intimate affairs, potentially with households banned from mixing indoors. But what if families ignore distancing rules, should they remain in place, and celebrate together rather than on Zoom? Politicians seeking to come down hard on rule-breakers migh...
Tags: England, London, Religion, Society, History, War, Public Health, Britain, Ireland, Christianity, Innovation, Charles, Kent, Ipswich, Canterbury, Norwich

No nudes is good nudes.

I'm reading this NYT article by Roberta Smith about the rearrangement of the various permanent galleries at the Museum of Modern Art. I see what's going on here: The fourth-floor gallery, with a mix of what most people would recognize as Pop Art, was previously “From Soup Cans to Flying Saucers” and is now “Domestic Disruption.”... This gallery... is far less discombobulated than its previous iteration, corroborating more convincingly the internationalism that is a recurring subtext on this floo...
Tags: Art, Law, Museums, Naked, Breasts, Tom Wesselmann, Noah Purifoy, Paradox, Ann Althouse, Roberta Smith, Beatriz Gonzalez, Wesselmann

Reciprocal Discipline Under Consideration

The Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board has suspended an attorney based on his South Carolina disbarment and directed him to show cause why that sanction should not be imposed as reciprocal discipline. The misconduct found in South Carolina is discussed... [Author: Legal Profession Prof]
Tags: Law, South Carolina, Legal Profession Prof, Bar Discipline & Process, Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board

Client-Generated Engagement Letters And Outside Counsel Guidelines Draw Proposed New Ethics Rules In D.C.

The District of Columbia Bar Professional Conduct Review Committee has just issued a draft report seeking comments on proposed changes to ethics rules Summary of Recommendations The Committee’s proposed amendments to the D.C. Rules would limit certain practices that: (1)... [Author: Legal Profession Prof]
Tags: Law, Committee, Legal Profession Prof, Bar Discipline & Process

Loser.

Professor Tushnet and Justice Alito got me looking for the Dylan songs containing the word "loser." There are 4 such songs, and the one the worked for that post was "The Times They Are A-Changin'."  What are the other 3 "loser" songs?  "Black Diamond Bay":  Then the Greek appears on the second floor  In his bare feet with a rope around his neck  While a loser in the gambling room lights up a candle  Says, “Open up another deck”  And "Property of Jesus":  Say that he’s a loser ’...
Tags: Law, Jesus, Dylan, Alito, Ann Althouse, Tushnet

Trump and his faux-intellectual disciples are pushing fake 'voter fraud' claims. Republicans are cashing in.

CARSON, NEVADA, UNITED STATES - 2020/11/08: A protester holds a placard saying 'Stop The Steal, Election Fraud' during the demonstration. Ty O'Neil/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Trump lost the election, by a lot. Because he's too weak to admit he's a loser, he's damaging democracy.  Internet "skeptics" are amplifying his fake voter fraud claims by engaging in baseless speculation couched in faux intellectual inquiry.  The skeptics created smoke in search of a fire, b...
Tags: Florida, Law, Senate, White House, Berlin Wall, US, Dnc, Trends, Georgia, Joe Biden, Gop, Hillary Clinton, Heritage, New Hampshire, George W Bush, Karl Rove

Trumpworld's faux-intellectual grifters are helping him debase democracy with bogus 'voter fraud' claims. And Republicans rake in the cash.

CARSON, NEVADA, UNITED STATES - 2020/11/08: A protester holds a placard saying 'Stop The Steal, Election Fraud' during the demonstration. Ty O'Neil/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Trump lost the election, by a lot. Because he's too weak to admit he's a loser, he's damaging democracy.  Internet "skeptics" are amplifying his fake voter fraud claims by engaging in baseless speculation couched in faux intellectual inquiry.  The skeptics created smoke in search of a fire, b...
Tags: Florida, Law, Senate, White House, Berlin Wall, US, Dnc, Trends, Georgia, Joe Biden, Gop, Hillary Clinton, Heritage, New Hampshire, George W Bush, Karl Rove

"And their eyes — wow, it was like someone turned the lights on."

The image is from Earl Shaffer's Appalachian Hike Diary (1948), every page of which you can see at that link, at the Smithsonian website. I'm reading about Shaffer this morning in "Walking off the War on the Appalachian Trail," a new article at Gaia GPS. The author is Abby Levene.Shaffer was the first person to through-hike the Appalachian Trail: He travelled alone, walking around 17 miles a day. Shaffer packed light. He nixed a tent when he realized his poncho could double as a shelter. He men...
Tags: Psychology, Health, Eyes, Law, Shoes, Sports, Georgia, Marine, Military, Maine, Smithsonian, Bill Bryson, Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Shaffer, Appalachian Trail

"The war on childhood obesity reached its zenith with the 2010 introduction of the national 'Let’s Move!' campaign, 'dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation.'"

"It was a campaign against 'childhood obesity' — not specific health conditions or the behaviors that may contribute to those health conditions. It wasn’t a campaign against foods with little nutritional value, or against the unchecked poverty that called for such low-cost, shelf-stable foods. It was a campaign against a body type — specifically, children’s body types...." From "Leave Fat Kids Alone/The 'war on childhood obesity' has only caused shame," an op-ed by Aubrey Gordon in The New Yor...
Tags: Children, Law, Wikipedia, Barack Obama, Fat, United States, New York Times, Michelle Obama, Shame, Ann Althouse, Michelle O, Aubrey Gordon

Honing My News Aggregator

I’m honing the feeds on my news aggregator (Feedly) in an effort to stimulate my thinking and engage readers of my blog and social media via better stories and insight. Out goes the mindless “content marketing” feeds produced by those producing copy merely to draw attention. In stays the stories and posts from those driving valuable discussion and thought. An A-List of people and sources such as: Dave WinerDoc SearlsDave WeinbergerFred WilsonJay RosenJeff JarvisPoynterColumbia Journal...
Tags: Law, Uncategorized

Rothschild descendant claims initial victory in legal battle with Vienna

Geoffrey Hoguet is suing Austrian authorities for control of trust set up by his ancestors, but seized by Nazis in 1938A Rothschild descendant has claimed an initial victory in a legal battle with the city of Vienna over a medical trust set up by his ancestors, seized by Nazis and now controlled by the city.Geoffrey Hoguet is suing Austrian authorities for control of the trust, which he claims has been hollowed out by town hall officials who have made themselves administrator and potential benef...
Tags: Europe, Law, World news, Austria, Vienna, Second world war, Nazism, Rothschild, Geoffrey Hoguet

Trump's efforts to dispute election results face setbacks in multiple states

President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, early Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Washington. AP Photo/Evan Vucci Republicans suffered setbacks to court challenges over the presidential election in three battleground states, on Friday.  The law firm that came under fire for its work for Trump's campaign withdrew from a major Pennsylvania case. Trump and Republicans have filed multiple lawsuits in several swing states falsely alleging fraud.  Visit Business Insider's home...
Tags: Politics, Law, Washington, White House, US, Trends, Joe Biden, Ap, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Ohio, Philadelphia, Michigan, Biden, Election, Smith