Well kids, it's that time again to give our thanks and blessings for another year.

I thought it pretty interesting that in years past Thanksgiving had both a "fasting" and "feasting" component.

Indeed, what does it say about us that everyone abandoned the "fast" part:

In the nearly 400 years since the first Thanksgiving, the holiday has come to mirror our transformation into a nation of gross overconsumption, but the New England colonists never intended for Thanksgiving to be a day of gluttony. They dished up restraint along with gratitude as a shared main course. What mattered most was not the feast itself, but the gathering together in thanks and praise for life’s most humble gifts. Perhaps this holiday season we could benefit from restoring a proper Thanksgiving balance between forbearance and indulgence.

Ben Kuehne has something to be thankful for, and so do we all. This is tremendous news, and what great timing!

David has more, including a statement from Ben, and you can see the order of dismissal here.

I hope some or all of you are giving something back this Thanksgiving, in a meaningful way.

And don't forget the powerful words of Johnny Carson:

Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too often.

Enjoy the photographs, the bird and family, and have a peaceful and loving holiday weekend.

Well, not quite (it's kinda my version of the "CASTRO ALMOST DEAD" teasers the Herald has been feeding readers every couple of months for the last decade or so).

Still, as David says, let's hope the feds dismiss the rest of the case.

Nice opinion by Judge Barkett, which concludes that Judge Cooke's opinion below was "eminently correct."

Indeed.

Lots of coverage of the oral argument before the 11th in Ben Kuehne's case, including this nice piece by John Pacenti, which quotes our own David O. Markus:

Miami criminal defense attorney David O. Markus, who helped write an amicus brief on Kuehne’s case for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said he was optimistic that Cooke’s rulings will be upheld.

“I thought some of the unprecedented positions the government took showed how truly weak its position really is,” he said.

David also attended the argument and his thoughts on how it went are here.

Question to DBR -- it's been a while before I argued in front of Judge Hull, but has he done something to his hair? Did he lose some weight?

I can't put my finger on it.