Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
NOVEMBER 1, 2022 – Yesterday the Supremes heard oral arguments in two affirmative action cases. The high court will likely stick a pitchfork in the long-standing law of the land—that race diversity goals may justify consideration of race in admissions to higher education. This morning I thought about these cases as I reviewed an essay …
OCTOBER 31, 2022 – When I heard about the horrible incident in Seoul last Saturday, it stirred a terrifying memory. Exactly 22 years ago, our family was in Seoul on a tour with a half dozen other families with adopted, Korean-born kids. It was the trip of a lifetime, and we saw many wonderful sights, …
OCTOBER 30, 2022 – My wife and I have long been associated with World Press Institute (“WPI”), a local non-profit with a global reach. Each year WPI invites 10 foreign journalists to participate in an eight-week fellowship program. The fellows spend two weeks in Minnesota, then embark on a tour of U.S. media centers before …
OCTOBER 29, 2022 – Today I spent all day surrounded by nature in all its glory. The experience was singularly restorative. As I entered the great outdoors, just before dawn, a bald eagle glided by along our shoreline—omen of a good day. The dawn seemed to continue exactly where dusk had left off yesterday: a …
OCTOBER 28, 2022 – (Cont.) “Honest to God,” Eagleton said, “I spent—everyone in Congress spent—more time trying to raise money than we spent actually doing the jobs to which we’d been elected. Then early one morning I was shaving, looking at myself in the mirror. I stopped shaving and stared at my face. And I …
OCTOBER 27, 2022 – Back in politically ancient times, campaign finance reform was an issue. It even rose to sufficient prominence to invite serious political debate, followed by meaningful legislation, most notably BCRA (“Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002”) popularly known as the “Feingold – McCain Act”). In olden times, as in any era of …
OCTOBER 26, 2022 – No person on earth is watching November 8 more closely than a man from afar. He’s a heartless, soulless, evil, violent, megalomaniac, hellbent on reducing the largest nation in Europe to a pile of rubble and a land scorched with human misery. By moral and ethical standards of civilized society, his …
OCTOBER 25, 2022 -As we enter the home stretch before the mid-term elections, I shake my head and mutter—now write—“Seriously?” If sobering matters weren’t in play, I’d think that C students are running for student council, appealing for the votes of D and F students. The A and B students, meanwhile, race from class to …
OCTOBER 24, 2022 – (Cont.) With that I buttoned my suit coat, zipped up my laptop case, and walked out, kicking the door so hard my foot would surely hurt for a week. It’s take me longer, I feared, to get over the scuff mark on my shoe. What happened next I couldn’t have anticipated—except, …
OCTOBER 23, 2022 – (Cont.) “So what’s the offer they can’t refuse?” asked the Don. “Easy peasy. Goes like this: “FIRST: No deal except a universal deal—U.S. DOJ, New York AG, Georgia AG; all claims now existing or hereafter conjured up are covered by the deal; “SECOND: You plead guilty to as many felony counts …
OCTOBER 22, 2022 – (Cont.) “Okay. What are your recommendations?” The mad dog Don now looked scared, if the orange sweat dripping over the edge of his collar was an accurate indicator. “Simple,” I said. “You keep quiet until I get your neck out of the noose.” “But my people wanted to hang Mike Pence …
OCTOBER 21, 2022 – (Cont.) I also recalled our family’s “rescue dog”—so flawed, crazy, untrainable and destructive, we had to rescue our neighborhood by returning the dog to the rescue center. Perhaps, I thought, in the case of the mad dog now seated in front of me, I could rescue the nation by . . …
OCTOBER 20, 2022 – (Cont.) “Not to denigrate your legal teams,” I said, “but ever since Michael Cohen, you’ve been working with the wrong crew. They’re third- and fourth-stringers. Losers, especially Powell and Giuliani. To be brutally honest, sir, they all did you a massive disservice—worst lawyers ever. Weak. Every single one of them. I’m …
OCTOBER 19, 2022 – (Cont.) The rest of the flight to Fort Lauderdale put me to sleep. In a dream, the Don was wearing a cheap, plastic, Halloween mask of Mike. The first thing the Don-disguised-as-Mike asked me was, “How many barroom brawls have you been in?” I woke with a start, shortly before our …
OCTOBER 18, 2022 – (Cont.) “[Mike],” I said. “I can win your goddamn case, but so far, you’re losing it. You’ve got to stop your notes and whispering. You’ve got to—got to—think of the table in there as a poker table. The judge and jurors are watching you, and trust me, you ain’t a pretty …
OCTOBER 17, 2022 – (Cont.) Later, when I appeared at Mike’s office to begin prepping him for trial, he asked how many “barroom brawls” I’d been in. I assumed he was asking figuratively, but when I started giving an account of my courtroom record, Mike cut in. “No, no, no,” he said. “I mean actual …
OCTOBER 16, 2022 – (Cont.) During the early morning flight, I did three things to prepare for my meeting: 1. Read The Art of the Deal; 2. Ordered two whiskey sours; and 3. While consuming the whiskey sours, reflected on instructive experiences representing my most challenging clients over the years, especially the one who was …
OCTOBER 15, 2022 – (Cont.) “What’s your rate and retainer?” “Nine ninety-five an hour plus expenses. I’ll need 250,000 to get started.” “Two fifty?” asked Snipperskapper, his voice dropping off. “That’s pretty rich.” “So is your boss,” I said. “Or at least that’s what he’d have us believe.” “I’m not sure 250’s gonna work.” “Sure …
OCTOBER 14, 2022 – Ever since I was a young kid, I’ve lived half my waking hours in imagined reality, as oxymoronic as that might seem. Today, I easily stepped into my “pretend world.” The prompt was pundit chatter over yesterday’s screening of The Godfather—and the Don’s rambling, unedited, 14-page rant-critique of the show. In …
OCTOBER 13, 2022 – Today I’d intended to watch the January 6 House Select Committee hearing in its entirety. Before Liz Cheney had completed her opening statement, however, I decided that to stay glued to the TV would be akin to watching The Godfather for the umpteenth time, except with key scenes screened in slow …
(Cont.) I then took a deep breath and realized my best next step was to call one of my closest friends, Ravi Balasubrahmanyan—who just happens to be . . . a physician of the highest rank of intelligence and experience. Back in December when I’d described to Ravi my reasons for a recent (unsatisfactory) visit …
OCTOBER 11, 2022 – (Cont.) The sting was slight, but the sharp tip of the branch—green with microbes—broke the skin on the side of my right ring finger. Immediately, I recalled my BMT doc’s warning: “If you scratch yourself on some pine needles, [really bad stuff will ensue].” I gulped: A pine branch partially buried …
OCTOBER 10, 2022 – I don’t wish to tempt fate, so in telling the story about to be told—Grizzly Adams must wait another couple of days (See yesterday’s post)—I don’t want to appear dismissive of the doctor’s dire warning. At the same time, however, my reaction to yesterday’s “incident” underscores a hypochondriac’s susceptibility to medical …
OCTOBER 9, 2022 – As human knowledge and experience advance, so does our perspective grow sharper via ever more powerful microscopic and and telescopic lenses. As I walk in the great outdoors, my eyes unaided by lenses other than what nature has thus far fashioned for our species (and corrected by eyewear), I wonder what …
OCTOBER 8, 2022 – This morning I drove to the Red Cabin, hoping I’d catch the fall foliage at its peak. The scenery along the way confirmed I had. A thousand times I wanted to stop to take a picture—or two or 10—but if I did so once, I’d likely do so repeatedly and wouldn’t …