Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
JUNE 28, 2020 – If I had 15-minutes with Biden, I’d say: “Joe, you’re in a unique position. You don’t have to worry about the electability of your VP pick. “Polls show you have a commanding lead over Naked Emperor and Sycophant-in-Chief. Doofus Duo will continue to plummet, and you’ll win by a landslide . …
JUNE 27, 2020 – The more our world seems to descend into chaos, the more I descend into . . . a study of history. Currently I’m still working with the Renaissance, but that period keeps pulling me back to the Middle Ages and pushing me forward into the Reformation. No matter where I land, …
JUNE 26, 2020 – I have four nieces who are stand-outs. One is also a stand-up—Erica Rhodes, comedienne-extraordinaire. Based in L.A., she’s performing this week—live and via Zoom—at the Acme Comedy Club in Minneapolis. In her routine she pokes fun at uncertainties about Covid-19, saying, “No one knows anything anymore!” Her comedic statement reminds me …
JUNE 25, 2020 – When I started law school, I figured the easiest subject would be “ethics.” I thought I had a solid handle on “right” and “wrong” and would know intuitively such foundational rules as, you can’t lie and you can’t steal from client funds in your firm’s trust account. Little did I appreciate …
JUNE 24, 2020 – I’ve never liked John Bolton, and now I like him less. Burned by the Naked Emperor, he decided to get even instead of mad. What’s “even” does little good. In an interview on the Late Show, Bolton said he wouldn’t vote for Trump in November but wouldn’t vote for Biden either. …
JUNE 23, 2020 – People reacting to the recent rash of statue sackings fall into three groups. First: angry folks pulling down symbols of racism—symbols erected by very white, very dead white . . . women (surprise!) who’d organized themselves in 1894 as the United Daughters of the Confederacy, primarily to build all those statues. …
JUNE 22, 2020 – In my first year of practice, I handled “misdemeanor prosecutions” under my firm’s contract with a small suburb. Most cases involved traffic violations, though occasionally a bar scofflaw produced disorderly conduct charges. I usually negotiated deals but drove harder bargains in DUI cases. Several went to trial, which I relished for …
JUNE 21, 2020 – Current anti-police sentiment reminds me of my own run-in with the cops eight years ago. My clients were the board members of a local mosque. They were battling a faction that had been previously ousted. My people—the “good guys”—were smart, reliable, educated, and struggling hard to make something of themselves here …
JUNE 20, 2020 – As the professor in tweed lit his pipe in front of us 10 students that first day of “The History of Western Civilization,” no one could’ve foreseen the future (three-and-a-half-years later): me in disguise, shoving a gigantic whipped cream pie into the prof’s face. A still-shot of that scene would cap …
JUNE 19, 2020 – “This is where they died,” said Tom. I knew immediately his reference . . * * * Between classes one morning barely a month into my freshman year of college nearly four years before, I checked my mailbox in the basement of the Moulton Union. There I found a letter from …
JUNE 18, 2020 – (Cont.) – Among the “rascals” was Tom, a middle school classmate of mine whom I hadn’t seen since I’d been sent to boarding school eight years before. We hadn’t been particularly close friends, but we’d been together in band (Tom on trumpet; I on drums) and track (he, the sprinter; I, …
JUNE 17, 2020 – On our drive yesterday in the full splendor of early summer, we passed a column of dump trucks lumbering in the opposite lane toward a road construction zone behind us. The trucks reminded me of the summer when I drove one. I was between college and law school and looking for …
JUNE 16, 2020 – June’s half over. In 15 days, the year will be half over. Time for three prognostications about the rest of 2020. Two are based on business phone conversations I had yesterday; one turns on recent news stories about Trump. The first conversation was with a banker client of mine. He’s in …
JUNE 15, 2020 – At the Red Cabin we have a TV but only for watching movies the old-fashioned way—via DVDs. But soon after my wife bought a large antique cabinet with doors and mounted the TV inside, we got used to the cabinet and forgot all about the TV. A year ago, though, we …
JUNE 14, 2020 – Well, I’d had what I thought were big ideas. Yesterday, my wife and I drove up to The Red Cabin for a few days of respite from the world as it is being depicted these troubling times. Some awful stuff. In the rush to get out of town, we forgot to …
JUNE 13, 2020 – Covid-19 and the murder of George Floyd, Jr. remind us again that we can’t handle more than two big stories at once. (The economy and the November election are sub-stories of the two main stories.) Actually, one big story: Covid-19 is hanging in there by the string of a face mask …
JUNE 12, 2020 – I’m grateful for my Trump-supporting clients. They bring out the better angels of my nature, and perhaps this rapport models how our nation might avoid wholesale rupture. There is no magic to my conversations; no special formula, no complicated blueprint. Just two things: 1. Money; and 2. Mutual respect. First, the …
JUNE 11, 2020 – Wind is caused by differences in atmospheric pressure—a high pressure system battling it out with a low; or when two people with sharply contrasting opinions have a shout-out. Yesterday brought a lot of wind to our neck of the woods. Oops! Bad choice of words. I meant “golf course.” After escaping …
JUNE 10, 2020 – . . . young kids will still ask long before the halfway mark of a long road-trip. Likewise, two weeks into the post-George Floyd, Jr. era, we white-liberals behind the wheel can’t help but ask the same: “Are we there yet” in ending our nation’s legacy of discrimination? It’s the inevitable …
JUNE 9, 2020 – Yesterday I read about “the cop’s” first court appearance. Upon seeing his lawyer’s name—Eric Nelson—I thought, “Here we go again!” I just can’t get away from Nelson—or from the other downtown Minneapolis lawyer, Eric Nilssen—who . . . get this . . . is the new Minneapolis City Attorney. These incompetent …
JUNE 8, 2020 – As the train of justice hurtles down the track and we privileged folks decide whether to (a) jump aboard; (b) jump out of the way; or (c) get run over, I must sing the praises of the baked potato. The track isn’t smooth, so in walking through the carriages toward the …
JUNE 7, 2020 – If relaxed curfews now allow us to catch our collective breath, we’re not out of the woods yet. We might well be facing more serious danger ahead—too little reform too late; another case of overt police brutality; some other flashpoint, starting with the prosecution of the four Minneapolis cops. All four …
JUNE 6, 2020 – On the way to our cabin recently, we saw a huge, road-side sign that read, “HOME OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE.” Honestly, the sign didn’t remind me of today–the anniversary of D-Day, start of the Allied invasion of Normandy to drive Hitler’s Wehrmacht back to Germany; an operation that …
JUNE 5, 2020 – I’d just sat down to write today’s post, when “ding”—another email arrived. The author was our good Czech friend, the inimitable Dr. Pavel Šebesta from Prague. The email was his first to me in eons. It was classic Pavel—pithy and packed with news and questions. Attached were bonuses . . . …
JUNE 4, 2020 – Recently, my wife’s extended family lost one of its elder stateswomen—Carol Piper, married to my mother-in-law’s late brother, Bob Piper. Carol was a favorite of mine, of everyone in the ever-expanding family. She died at 93 after a life well lived. Born in the U.P., she moved “south” to Chicago for …