Stories & Opinions Worth Knowing but Maybe Not Quite Threadworthy 6/28

[SVPete]

Court: NY Attorney General Attempt to Force Section 8 on Landlords Unconstitutional

https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/06/court-ny-attorney-general-attempt-to-force-section-8-on-landlords-unconstitutional/

A New York state judge struck down part of the state’s Human Rights Law requiring landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers. In an eight-page decision, the judge found the law violated the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

New York Attorney General Letitia James brought the original action against landlord Jason Fane and his companies on October 31, 2022, seeking more than $300,000 in penalties and a set-aside of “five percent of his residential housing units exclusively for Section 8 vouchers.”
...
The federal government does not mandate landlord participation in the program but requires landlords who choose to participate to submit their property for inspection to ensure habitability and to allow the government to inspect their business records.

The challenged law barred landlords from discriminating against prospective tenants “based on their ‘lawful source of income,'” including Section 8 vouchers, thus making the Section 8 program—and its property and business records inspections—mandatory for New York landlords.
...
Jason Fane (pictured), a landlord based in Ithaca, New York, challenged the law on several grounds. He argued the law, by requiring him to submit to warrantless inspections of his property and business records, violated the Fourth Amendment.

Fane also argued the state law conflicted with federal law and was preempted by the latter, that the state law imposed an unlawful retroactive penalty, and that the law amounted to a regulatory taking.

Fane ultimately prevailed on his Fourth Amendment claim.

[SVPete]

NYT: "Landmark study" shows suicide rates and mental illness higher among transgenders -- much higher

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2023/06/28/nyt-landmark-study-shows-suicide-rates-and-mental-illness-higher-among-transgenders-much-higher-n561178

In the United States, transgender activists hold the threat of suicide over the heads of parents when it comes to pediatric sex-change therapies. “Would you rather have a dead son,” they say, “or a live daughter?” Anecdotally, the reality has appeared to be the opposite, as traumatic surgical and hormonal regimes on top of mental and/or emotional issues would predictably combine for very bad outcomes.

There hasn’t been clear data on the question of transgenders and suicides, however. Until now.

Both the New York Times and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) cover it. Using four decades of data, researchers in Denmark found that the rate of suicide is higher among transgenders — astronomically higher:
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Note well that the subject group are not “suppressed” transgenders. They have been identified by their gender change acceptance by the Danish government and/or their sex-change medical treatments, meaning that these subjects either fully or partly transitioned. ...

But even more striking is the association between transgenders and mental illness. Almost half of the transgender population identified in Denmark have been positively diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder. (And that doesn’t exclude the possibility that a good deal of the remaining 57% might have undiagnosed mental/emotional issues that rise to levels of pathology.)  ... The key fact in this case is that psychiatric pathology runs at least six times higher in transgenders than it does in the general population.

[Ptarmigan]

Titan submersible wreckage brought to shore 10 days after fatal implosion
https://justthenews.com/nation/science/titan-submersible-wreckage-brought-shore-10-days-after-fatal-implosion

The wreckage of the Titan submersible was brought to shore Wednesday in Canada, 10 days after it went missing with five people who were going to view the wreckage of the Titanic.

Canadian and U.S. investigators are expected to study the submersible's wreckage, which was brought via boat to St. John's harbor, to determine what went wrong. Officials said last week the five people died from a "catastrophic event" or "implosion," likely the same day the sub descended into the Atlantic.

"Just like an airline crash, they may try to reassemble the sub to put the parts together like a puzzle to determine where the failure point was," Underwater Forensic Investigations CEO Tom Maddox told CBC News. "In the case of a massive implosion that's not going to be an easy task because much of the craft would have disintegrated."

Parts of the Titan submersible has been raised to the surface. It lied near the Titanic wreckage.

[Ptarmigan]

Delaware House approves plastics ban for restaurants
https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/delaware-lawmakers-approve-plastics-ban

(The Center Square) — Delaware restaurants would be barred from offering certain plastic food and beverage containers under a proposal being finalized by state lawmakers.

The legislation approved by the state House of Representatives last week would prohibit restaurants from serving ready-to-eat food in containers made of polystyrene, commonly known by its brand name, Styrofoam.

Plastic drink stirrers, cocktail picks and sandwich picks also would be banned under the law, but restaurants would still be allowed to offer plastic forks, knives and spoons. If a customer requests, plastic straws would still be allowed for hospital patients and residents of long-term care facilities and restaurants.

More big government. This time in Delaware.

[SVPete]

Titanic sub disaster: US Coast Guard says 'presumed human remains' recovered from deadly wreckage

https://www.foxnews.com/us/titanic-sub-disaster-us-coast-guard-says-presumed-human-remains-recovered-deadly-wreckage

The U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday "presumed human remains" were recovered from the site of the Titan submersible wreckage.

"After consultation with international partner investigative agencies, the Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) intends to transport the evidence aboard a U.S. Coast Guard cutter to a port in the United States, where the MBI will be able to facilitate further analysis and testing," a Coast Guard statement says.

"United States medical professionals will conduct a formal analysis of presumed human remains that have been carefully recovered within the wreckage at the site of the incident."