Dope is not a new topic. In Florida, we await November to see if the people will constitutionally de-criminalize dope. The vehicle for this effort is Amendment 3, and it was cleared for the November ballot by the Florida Supreme Court, according to the USA Today network. They refer to this as "recreational weed." Of course, there is no medical purpose to weed, so "recreational" is all it could be. But wait, stay tuned (see further below). For other points about dope, see Edibles and Illness (November 2023); and Dope and Heart Disease (March 2024). There are many links in the Heart Disease art ..read more

Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States are usually on very broad topics that touch on fundamental elements of rights, obligations, and interactions. There are periodic instances in which that court delves into employment issues, but it is fair to say its forays there are somewhat infrequent.  In April 2024, the Court quietly rendered Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St., LLC, 601 U.S. ___ (2024). At the outset, it sounds like a reasonably innocuous contract case, but it has significant potential implications for employment. Arbitration clauses are included in many contr ..read more

The Federal Government last week enacted a regulation to deny people the right to contract in the United States. The right to contract has long been recognized in America, and the loss of it may have significant implications for investment and competition in the market. There are a variety of potential implications and imports. While some are reasonably apparent, others may be less obvious. The issue of non-compete agreements is not new. They have been around for many years and have been applied in a great many industries and occupations. I wrote a piece recently about a bill in the 2024 Flor ..read more

There was an interesting story circulating recently regarding college students. They spoke their truth, stood their ground, and suffered results that upset and offended them. One can reach personal conclusions about whether the world is in a good place, which side of debates appeal, and whether or not to take actions. That is all within the confines of your personal discretion. These students apparently attended Barnard College and chose to join "disruptive anti-Israel protests on Columbia University's campus." The New York Post reports that the officials at Barnard began sending "warnings (t ..read more

On April 11, 2024, Governor DeSantis signed CS/CS/HB 433. That designation, as we have noted previously, has meaning. The "CS" reflects that the bill that was signed is not the same as the one that was introduced in the House of Representatives. The "CS" stands for "Committee Substitute," and since this bill has that twice in the name there is evidence of significant effort and alteration between filing and passage. What eventually passed is the second "Committee Substitute."  The "HB" is noteworthy also. That tells the reader that the bill originated in the Florida House of Representati ..read more

The forum 2024, was an amazingly rapid progression of commitments, conversations, and conclusions. I write today, in an attempt to encapsulate portions of the experience. I was privileged to speak with an assortment of attorneys, vendors, and claims professionals. There is an incredible diversity in the attendee population. Some are more gregarious and welcoming than others.  From the perspective of a claimant's attorney, I heard concerns, focused on client, perceptions, business management, and competition. Perhaps none of these may necessarily concern those who have deep community root ..read more

Nasa explains "terminal velocity": "An object which is falling through the atmosphere is subjected to two external forces. One force is the gravitational force, expressed as the weight of the object. The other force is the air resistance, or drag of the object. The motion of a falling object can be described by Newton's second law of motion (Force equals mass times acceleration -- F = m a) which can be solved for the acceleration of the object in terms of the net external force and the mass of the object." That is a great education. But in simpler terms, there is a limit to how fast that obj ..read more

Time. Is there ever enough of it? Perhaps there is universality in time, or it could be relative. I leave that to the quantum physicists out there. One great perspective on Time was simply titled "Time" (Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon, Harvest/Capitol, 1973). The lyrics are incredible, and the older I get the more sense they make. Must be a senility thing? Click the link and read the lyrics, seriously.  There are reminders there. They focus us on our demise, the fragility of this existence, and the persistence of time. In some part, that is about knowledge and perspective. Floyd notes ..read more

Sometimes we struggle with challenges we don’t perhaps fully understand. At times, forces conspire against us, consciously or not. Life is a journey filled with uncertainty, misconceptions, and mysteries. But frequently, the problem is all too clear, an 800-pound gorilla in the room. The world of work faces a systemic dilemma in the midst of the third decade of the 21st century. Generations have been raised with various values and perceptions that we do not necessarily understand. Some believe that the distinction is somehow starker in the community of workers' compensation, but I am dubious ..read more

There is an ancient rhyming song that features a teapot. I have heard it many times over the years. It is used as an interactive with children and is quite entertaining. One version ends with the realization that the singer is actually a sugar bowl.  I was reminded of that when I noted there are various issues that seem to persist in the news. One of note is identification. The news is replete with people's stories of identification. There are those who struggle with that, and rightly so perhaps. Each is entitled to her or his own beliefs in the general sense. If you believe you are a lit ..read more