Tough Weekend

August 26, 2018

Tough Weekend

Tough weekend. I’m focused on Brush and Bulky, cleaning my house for the arrival of my daughter, and worrying about how to help LB fix her tortoise enclosure, so Robin the tortoise won’t suffer when we get much needed rain. (“I have an engineering problem,” says she. Right, I’m thinking, and you called … me?)

On my side, workwise, there are still post-trial issues which require attention. And plenty of clients who, rightfully, want their matters attended to. None of which, including the personal matters, accounts for the tough weekend.

tough weekend

Scott Gibson

On Saturday I attended a memorial service for an old friend, Scott Gibson, who left us too soon. Scott was an extraordinary contributor to the

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TrumpLand Circa August 21, 2018

August 22, 2018

TrumpLand Circa August 21, 2018

trumpland

President Donald Trump

Update

Dan Balz wrote After two convictions, pressure mounts on Trump for the Washington Post on August 21. Dan—I’ve had the pleasure of his company, briefly, a couple of times—knows President-stuff as well as anyone today, and he writes beautifully, too. Best line in the piece? “This was a day when truth overran tweets, when facts overwhelmed bald assertions.” (Recall that almost 72 hours ago Rudy Giuliani treated us to “truth isn’t truth.”)

Manafort

To update those who don’t know the facts the Paul Manafort jury convicted Mr. Manafort on eight felony counts. The jury hung—no unanimity—on 10 other counts but: (a) presumptive sentences on the eight counts have

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Hey There, Readers!

August 18, 2018

Hey there, Readers!

readers

Mark Rubin

I’ve been away. I checked, and I posted last on July 11, almost six weeks ago. So … what?

I returned from the British Isles* on July 5. On July 31 I started what ended up being an eight-day jury trial. In between? Preparation. Preparation. More preparation! And a dark website and FB presence, as I didn’t want jurors looking into the life of the mouthy lawyer.

If your biorhythms need a shake up, try a case to 10 jurors. (We let the alternates deliberate.) My normal workday runs from 7 to about 4:30, with a few hours on weekends. During the trial? Sunrise until about 9:30 p.m., with a bit of evening time for

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The United Kingdom on 11/07/2018

July 10, 2018

The United Kingdom on 11/07/2018

united kingdom

Mark Rubin

Leigh and I left the United Kingdom about 130 hours ago. Since we left England beat Sweden for a spot in the World Cup semi-finals. (Spend a couple of weeks in football-mad countries and you’ll appreciate the game too. Boring? Uh-no!!! And we revel in the fact that England beat Colombia on July 3, for we did not want to experience a football loss in London.)

Prime Minister Teresa May’s government might fall over Brexit. Brexit Minister David Davis, whose official title is Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, quit. So, too, did Alexander Boris de Pfeffl Johnson, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. (Boris Johnson was,

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Headed Home from London!

July 5, 2018

Headed Home from London!

Corgis

Camp Corgi

 

max

Max

Heading home from London! We leave from Heathrow in about three hours, 15 days and two hours after we arrived. And after 14+ hours of travel we’ll be plenty tired and the 12 limbs with whom we share our lives will be out of their ever-loving minds!*

Once, I traveled for two weeks. In 1986. Otherwise, it’s been a week every few years, and shorter trips in between. Bitten I am, although plenty of work got done from afar and plenty more awaits me on Friday morning.

The Trip

Places and Activities
No. 15

Direction to The Larder*

We spent seven of our 15 nights in London, two each in Killarney (Ireland) and Cheltenham

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Greetings from Killarney, Cork, Ireland

June 28, 2018

Greetings from Killarney, Cork, Ireland

killarney deer

Deer in Killarney

I’m writing from Killarney, Cork, Ireland. Leigh and I are here to celebrate our friends’ 20th wedding anniversary. That happened yesterday evening. Lots of fun!

In a bit we are off to Cork. We return to England Friday evening, and are back home on Thursday the 5th. We’re having a grand time, but we’ll be happy to get back to our regular rhythms. (Happy may be a strong word!) We do, though, wonder who will be happiest when we get back? Max and the Corgis, June and Ozzie? Or us, because Max and the Corgis will be among us?

Ireland has been lovely. Much calmer than Great Britain. Dublin felt

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Greetings from London!

June 22, 2018

Greetings from London!

london

Mark Rubin

We arrived on Wednesday. Hanging out, so far, with a visit to the Tate Modern on Friday to see The EY Exhibition: Picasso 1932 – Love, Fame, Tragedy. Before, we’ll be doing an Inn of Court walking tour, with a quick stop at Sir John Soane’s Museum to see a postmodern British exhibit. (The Tate Modern has a lovely bar on level 6, where one can purchase a fine martini. For a city steeped in gin, martinis are damn near non-existent, and when one can be found it’s often marginal. I expect that we’ll be enjoying a pre-dinner respite soon after we see the Picassos.)

The London Medical Architecture Tour

On Thursday we did

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Border Fiasco and More

June 16, 2018

Border Fiasco and More

border fiasco

President Donald Trump

History matters. Beginning in the late 1930s, German and Eastern European Jews sought refuge in the United States. They were trying to avoid a killing machine. Today, Central American women and children—and men, too—show up on our southern border, running from violent gangs which, with none of the Nazi structure, leave their victims just as dead.

The U.S. government said no to the Jews, mostly. That those in power came from the left side of the political divide insulates them not at all for me. That geo-political issues explain the decision provides more cover for the Roosevelt Administration but, as with the internment of Japanese-Americans, history does not honor the path our government

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Pardon Me, say Famous People

June 1, 2018

Pardon Me, say Famous People

pardon

What a Pair!

The Pardons

President Donald J. Trump has exercised the pardon powers vested in him by Article Two, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution four times. And the recipients of his munificence? Joseph Arpaio, I. Lewis Libby, John A. Johnson aka Jack Johnson, and Kristian Mark Saucier. And the paperwork which evidences these full and unconditional pardons? Right here, from the U.S. Department of Justice website.

In addition to the four recipients, recent reporting informs us that Dinesh D’Souza has been pardoned, and that Rob Blagojevich and Martha Stewart might be. So, seven maybe.

The Editorial Board of the New York Times—oh, excuse me, the Failing Times, with

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A Paucity of Prospects

May 20, 2018

A Paucity of Prospects

prospects

Mark Rubin

The Problem

Steve Brill—who created The American Lawyer and Court TV—wrote a fine piece for Time, published a few days ago, titled How Baby Boomers Broke America. (He adapted the article from Tailspin, which is available on May 29.) Mr. Brill aptly describes how my generation—Boomers, but he’s older and richer than I am, and the Boomer period encompassed Americans born between 1946 and 1964—has done well and pulled up the ladders as we wrap it all up. We got ours, and to hell with anyone else.

Matthew Stewart, a philosopher, has written a fabulous piece which you can read on line. (It will appear in The Atlantic’s June

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