DL Open Thread: Saturday, October 1, 2022

Florida’s Home Insurance Industry In Shambles.  Looks like the state is gonna pick up the tab for quite a bit of the damage:

Even so, Florida’s primary rating agency, Demotech, this summer threatened downgrades to around two dozen companies. But concerns about their creditworthiness faded somewhat after the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis agreed to allow the state to back up the insurers.

DeSantis, during news conferences ahead of the storm, noted that flood claims could be a leading problem from Ian.

Home insurance policies — including those in Citizens — do not include flood coverage, which is handled under a federal program and is separate issue from the insurance market. The federally-backed flood insurance is generally mandated for mortgaged homes in flood zones, but people who fully own their homes sometimes decline to get it and it’s less common in areas not usually prone to flooding.

Athletes Still Cannon-Fodder In NFL.  What happened to Tua Tagovailoa cries out for a full-scale investigation, and not the usual NFL cover-up:

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is dealing with concussion symptoms like headaches, and underwent further evaluations at the team’s facility Friday after he was knocked from a game with head and neck injuries against the Cincinnati Bengals one night earlier.

Tagovailoa was sacked and slammed to the turf by Bengals defensive tackle Josh Tupou with 5:43 remaining in the second quarter. Tagovailoa stayed on the turf motionless, and his fingers were disjointed in what was a scary scene. Tagovailoa was carted off the field on a stretcher and didn’t return. He was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center with head and neck injuries, and he did have movement in all of his extremities.

Last week, Tagovailoa appeared to injure his head in the second quarter when he was shoved to the ground by Buffalo Bills linebacker Matt Milano. The impact of the push caused Tagovailoa’s head to slam on the turf. He struggled to his feet before stumbling to the ground again.

KO’d in a Sunday game, right back out there on Thursday night.  Highly-questionable protocols.  Not to mention than playing on a Thursday following a Sunday is a recipe for debilitating injuries.

No doubt back to bread-and-circuses on Sunday.

This Guy Is A ‘Custody Evaluator’ In Colorado, And Disbelieves 90% Of Abuse Claims:

Elina Asensio had a restraining order in place against her father when she met with a court-appointed psychologist assigned to determine whether he should be part of her life.

She expected Mark Kilmer, the Colorado “parental responsibility evaluator” appointed to her parents’ custody case, would want to hear about the incident that had led to her father being charged with felony child abuse and pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault. The 14-year-old was surprised, then, as she talked to Kilmer on the front porch of her mother’s suburban Denver home in October of 2020, that he didn’t seem interested in learning about it.

Elina didn’t know at the time they met that Kilmer says he does not believe about 90% of the abuse allegations he encounters in his work, or that he himself had been charged with domestic violence. Kilmer was arrested and charged with assault in 2006 after his then-wife said he pushed her to the bathroom floor, according to police reports. Following the incident, the woman obtained a restraining order against him and he was required by the court to give up his guns pending resolution of the criminal charges, according to court documents.

The following year, he pleaded guilty to harassment and, in a separate divorce proceeding, temporarily lost decision-making power over his children because of concerns about his parenting. The court placed him on probation for 24 months while he completed domestic violence counseling. After he completed probation, the court dismissed the assault charge.

“Unfortunately, I had a conflicted divorce myself,” Kilmer said in an interview. “She made up these false allegations and had me arrested. It was pretty humiliating and shocking.” His guilty plea was the result of poor legal representation, he said, and he regrets not going to trial.

Kilmer, who received a doctorate in psychology from the California Graduate Institute, had also been previously disciplined by the State Board of Psychologist Examiners in 2009 for revealing confidential information about one client to another client in an effort to set them up on a date. He was required to have his practice monitored for a year but was allowed to continue working as a custody evaluator. (Kilmer said he obtained consent from both parties before introducing them, according to board records. The board noted clients “cannot consent to a boundary violation and/or breach of confidentiality.”) Today, Kilmer’s psychological license is in good standing.

Seriously, how does this guy (Val’s bro) get in a position like this?  I mean, Jee-zus.

Is This How Coral Reefs Can Be Saved?  Science.  It’s real. And it’s spec-tac-ular.

A Look Inside Elon Musk’s Phone.  Courtesy of that case going on in Delaware Chancery Court:

As part of the discovery process related to this lawsuit, Delaware’s Court of Chancery released hundreds of text messages and emails sent to and from Musk. The 151-page redacted document is a remarkable, voyeuristic record of a few months in the life of the world’s richest (and most overexposed) man and a rare unvarnished glimpse into the overlapping worlds of Silicon Valley, media, and politics. The texts are juicy, but not because they are lurid, particularly offensive, or offer up some scandalous Muskian master plan—quite the opposite. What is so illuminating about the Musk messages is just how unimpressive, unimaginative, and sycophantic the powerful men in Musk’s contacts appear to be. Whoever said there are no bad ideas in brainstorming never had access to Elon Musk’s phone.

Do yourself a favor:  Subscribe to The Atlantic.  I got a subscription about a year ago.  I’m not giving it up.

What do you want to talk about?