Primary Election Results … and Murder

May 25, 2022

Primary Election Results … and Murder

guns

Mark Rubin

Y’all don’t here from me very often. I learned “if you don’t have something nice to say, be quiet” early on … but, in 2022 and for the past several years, “nothing new to say” has guided me. If writers who get paid to offer their opinions share what I would have written, no one needs to be hearing from me.

Tonight, I am pleased and angry. So, so angry, but pleased first.

Pleased

Tonight, I am pleased and angry. Pleased first. G-d bless Geogia Rs for choosing Brad Raffensperger as their nominee to serve another term as Secretary of State in Georgia. Voting matters more than anything else in our system.

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The War in Ukraine

February 27, 2022

The War in Ukraine

President Zelensky

President Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelensky

I find myself, often, mentioning stuff I never thought I’d live to see. Sometimes, the observations seem gratuitous and pithy. Many reference how rapidly we have moved from what satisfied Traditional Norms to Live YOUR Life (although, as I write, legislatures across the country focus on passing laws which prevent people from living lives that make certain people uncomfortable.)

Not so much, on any of this, the war in Europe. I am 64. I know I’m missing many wars, but I have lived through American military battles in Vietnam (and neighboring countries), the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Iraq (2X), and Afghanistan. Obviously, my home-focused view ignores the suffering around the globe that hasn’t

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R&B: Canine Corps Update

February 10, 2022

R&B: Canine Corps Update

Canine Corps

Leigh and (front to back) June Carter, Ozzie Smith, and Max Atticus Finch

Ozzie Smith – not Osbourne Earl Smith aka Ozzie Smith, the baseball player for whom Leigh Bernstein named her boy Corgi many years ago – died a few minutes before 9:00 a.m. on February 9, 2022. Our – Leigh’s and my – sadness has not found its bottom.

When Leigh and I started Rubin & Bernstein PLLC on April 1, 2018, our Canine Corps included two Corgis, June Carter and Ozzie Smith, and a Schnauzer / Terrier mix, Max Atticus Finch. Less than four years later, June and Ozzie have passed. Max heads up the Doggie Department now, with no real prep

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Affirmative Action and the Court

February 3, 2022

Affirmative Action and the Court

affirmative action and the courts

Mark Rubin

I don’t get angry often. No, really, I don’t. Pissed and quick-triggered, sure, but really angry. Nah!

On January 26, word slipped that Associate Justice Stephen Breyer intended to retire. The following day, Justice Breyer notified the president that he will leave the Court at the end of the 2022 Term. Of course, his departure assumes a successor gets nominated and confirmed.

Then former Vice President Joe Biden told us he would nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court if we picked him. We did. He will.

Of course, confirming those intentions brought out the naysayers. I like, best, Senator Roger Wicker, (R – Miss.), who said, on January 28: ‘The

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From a Budding Blogger … 55 years ago.

January 15, 2022

From a budding blogger … 50 55 years ago. Enjoy!

budding blogger

Mark Rubin

A father told his seven-year-old son he could ride his bike to school. The father explained to his young son that along with the privilege of riding the bike to school he would have to assume some responsibilities. A few of these were: keeping the bike in good condition, keeping it locked, and obeying all the safety rules. The young son then reconsidered riding to school, in view of all the responsibilities he would have to accept.

We as American citizens must accept the fact that we are in the same relative position as the seven-year-old boy. We have many privileges in America. Some of these are freedom

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The Supreme Court and COVID: Depressing

January 8, 2022

The U.S. Supreme Court and COVID: Depressing

supreme court covid

Mark Rubin

The Supreme Court and COVID: Depressing

Let’s be clear: the U.S. Supreme Court has not ruled in NFIB v. OSHA, No. 21A244 and Biden v. Missouri, No. 21A240. Pigs might fly, too – like the one who lives in the wooden frame on the wall in my family room – and and the Court might uphold the OSHA and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regulations. (Leigh’s known the pig longer than I have – polite-speak for, It’s hers – and she assures me, from time to time, that it’s not a photo.)

The NFIB Case

The NFIB case involves an OSHA regulations that requires vaccines or a masks

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2021: Goodbye and Don’t Let the Door Hit You in the Ass

December 31, 2021

2021: Goodbye and Don’t Let the Door Hit You in the Ass

2021

Mark Rubin

Some year, huh? Unfortunately, if you saw the headline and thought I might address the issues of the day circa 2021 … no dice. Too toxic, and as Bush père might say, “Not gonna do it. Wouldn’t be prudent.” (Do click on the link, please. Belly laughs good!!!)*

My mind wanders, often. A few weeks ago I read We Live By a Unit of Time That Doesn’t Make Sense, written by Joe Pinsker for The Atlantic. Days, months, and years focus on revolutions of the Earth, the moon around the Earth, and the Earth around the sun. And the week? A construct.

Anyway,

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Harry Reid RIP

December 29, 2021

Harry Reid RIP

RIP

Harry Reid

Harry Reid died on Tuesday. He was 82. He was elected to the U.S. Senate from Nevada in 1986 and retired when his fifth term ended in early 2017.

Senator Reid was a “pull no punches” guy with boxing in his background. (Last intentional boxing reference.) He grew up dirt poor in the desert town of Searchlight, NV. 2000 census population: 576. Self-made, totally, and with a serious chip on his shoulder for those with advantages, like fellow Mormon Mitt Romney and Born on Third and Thinks He Invented Baseball Donald Trump.

Senator Reid was Barack Obama’s core. He told him he needed to run for president. When he ran and won, he got the

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Basic Failures: USPS and IRS

November 28, 2021

 

new office

We’ve moved! Rubin & Bernstein PLLC and Southern Arizona Fiduciary Services LLC reside at 1004 N. 6th Ave. in Tucson. (85705, for mailers.) We’re still getting settled, but we’re in.

The move and this fall have brought a heightened awareness of our failings as a nation. No, I am not discussing the crew who diss the vaccine and the fact that President Joe Biden has not brought the virus to heal. (That Venn diagram looks like one circle.) Or the inflation, seemingly generated by too many dollars chasing goods we can’t get to market because of supply chain upheaval and a whole lot of people who’ve stopped working for substandard wages. Etc.

No, I write about basic stuff.

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Files and the Lawyer

October 10, 2021

Files and the Lawyer

files

Mark Rubin

Hey there! Yes, you. Lawyer? Client? (Both?) Doesn’t matter, for if you fall into either category, my words about files and storage matter.

When I started practicing law, 40 years ago this Friday, we had carbon paper, with Olivetti 351s on the near horizon. (A screen about three-eighths of an inch high and maybe three inches long, affording a typist a brief opportunity to correct a typo before the print hit the page.) And, everything that mattered got saved in a manila folder.

The firm with which I practiced from 1983 until 1999 had off-site storage, along with an interior room – Purgatory, to me – where we kept finished matters until the room

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