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Harry Reid RIP

December 29, 2021

Harry Reid 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

Mark Rubin

new office

We’ve moved! Rubin & Bernstein PLLC and Southern Arizona Fiduciary Services LLC reside at 1004 N. 6^th 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.

Law, The Rest of Everything

Files and the Lawyer

October 10, 2021

Mark Rubin

Files and the Lawyer

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

files, lawyers, shredding

Law

News from the Work Front

October 8, 2021

Mark Rubin

News from the Work Front

Lawyers and the Canine Corps

I work from home, mostly. I went home on March 15, 2020 and when someone asked me why, I said, “Because my government recommended it.” I was 62 and I have residual lung issues. So, why now, fully vaccinated and only around vaccinated people? Working from home lets me think I am semi-retired. From attire to the nature and length of breaks, my days feel different in kind from the days – Days? Decades. – when I dressed up every morning, went to an office, stayed there until late afternoon, etc.*

So, the news? Rubin & Bernstein PLLC and our sister entity, Southern Arizona Fiduciary Services LLC move into new

1004 n. 6th ave., Leigh Bernstein, Mark Rubin, matthew scarber, rubin & Bennstein pllc, southern arizona fiduciary services llc

Law

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Welcome, Anarchists. Can We Get You a Menu?

September 3, 2021

Mark Rubin

Welcome, Anarchists. Can We Get You a Menu?

Mark Rubin

A Texas Thing

The law at issue comes from Texas, of course. That self-important, self-reverent, self-righteous pustule on the bottom of the lower 48. The place where an Executive Order prevents any political jurisdiction from mandating that people wear masks because: freedom, but where anyone can sue anyone, repeatedly, if they think they were involved with the act of obtaining a constitutionally lawful abortion in Texas.

The Texas Heartbeat Act

The Texas Heartbeat Act bans abortions after a heartbeat can or should be detected; roughly six weeks after conception. Roe and Casey violative, at its core the law represents a very aggressive attempt to undermine the constitutionally protected right to

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Amazing Amazement: The Afghanistan Thing

August 15, 2021

Mark Rubin

Amazing Amazement: The Afghanistan Thing

Joseph R. Biden Jr.

A little while ago, the news reported on President Ashraf Ghani’s departure from Afghanistan. A presidential departure from a country at war represents, if ever there was one, a marker for It’s Over.

Lots of noise about the speed with which the Taliban captured the country. And amazement. Well, call me not surprised. Even a little.

The United States has propped up the Afghani government for 20 years. Reportedly, we have spent $83B on equipment and training associated with the Afghan army. Frankly, I suspect no one has anything close to a precise accounting of the amount our nation spent on the war itself. (The BBC gets up to just shy

Afghanistan

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Personal News

May 19, 2021

Mark Rubin

Personal News

Mark Rubin

The Preamble

For the past 14 months my FitBit reports roughly 25,000 steps per day. Roughly 80 miles a week. Up and down the long hallway in my house. Day by day, week by week, etc. Almost unfailingly.

Then, about a month ago, the walking got harder. I explained it with more work. Butt in seat in front of computer = no steps. Work stress. Life stress. Hotter days. Anything and everything explained the decline.

Ten days ago everything got slow. Really slow! My metabolism shut down and I gained six pounds in about three days. Stopped sleeping the 7+ hours to which I had become accustomed. The fuse got short, too, and some good people

Atrial Fibrillation

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B-Bye Donald J. Trump

February 13, 2021

Mark Rubin

B-Bye Donald J. Trump

Donald J. Trump

The Trump Presidency finally ended, for real, on the afternoon of February 13, 2021. Yes, he was out of office for about 580 hours when the Senate voted 43-57 to acquit. But his presidency truly ended with the vote, for the impeachment trial was the last remaining bit of business for the sorry excuse that was The Trump Presidency.

I know many people believe the impeachment trial was unconstitutional. Not so many constitutional lawyers, as it happens. I wrestled with the whole thing, as a Senate conviction and vote to bar him from holding office would have given him more attention. The sell for me, on the whole thing, came less than 24

Donald J. Trump, President Joe Biden

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Pardons, Free Speech, and Mark Harrison

January 15, 2021

Mark Rubin

Pardons, Free Speech, and Mark Harrison

Mark Rubin

Well, wow! Just, WOW! I posted most recently on January 3, and I have not posted about the January 6 events because I try hard to pass unless I can share something new or different. (Better writers with bigger platforms covered the coup attempt very well; no one needed to hear from me, at least not in the 600-750 word format.) Modesty – reality, more accurately – aside, I have thoughts on self-pardoning, the First Amendment, and a dear, departed mentor and friend.

Pardons

Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution grants to presidents the power to “grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of

First Amendment, free speech, Mark Harrison, pardons

Law

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An Impoverished Party and Presidency

January 3, 2021

Mark Rubin

An Impoverished Party and Presidency

President Donald J. Trump

im•pov•ish•ed Exhausted of richness and fertility. Poor. Lacking. Sadly, I think impoverished best describes the state of the Republican Party and its leader, soon-to-be former President Donald J. Trump.

The Election

I write as the media reports on 12 senators who plan to challenge the certified electoral college results from the 50 states and the District of Columbia. As a congressman, Louie Goehmert (R – Tex.), and a group of self-appointed Arizona electors lost their lawsuit, which had as its purpose vesting in Vice President Michael Pence the power to choose the next president of the United States, by no evident measurable standard. As roughly two out of three self-identified Republicans

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