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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. 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

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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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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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2021 Update: Rubin & Bernstein PLLC and Mark Rubin

January 3, 2021

Mark Rubin

2021 Update: Rubin & Bernstein PLLC and Mark Rubin

Lawyers and the Canine Corps

Hey there. On March 16, 2020, I attended an in-person settlement conference at the Pima County Superior Court. Lots of sanitizer cleaned surfaces. No masks. The case settled but, even then, none of us should have been in the courthouse.

Since March 17 I have been at home. Not completely – I have been in the courthouse maybe 10X since March 16, and I did try a case on Election Day, and I drop by the office briefly every several days – but the work life unfolds differently. Lots of phone calls and emailing, Zoom meetings, and many, many work-arounds to avoid personal contact.

Max

(Confession:

Food, The Rest of Everything

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The Big Case Fallacy

December 13, 2020

Mark Rubin

The Big Case Fallacy

President Donald Trump

Donald J. Trump offered these words after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its three-sentence long Order in Pending Case on December 11, 2020:

This is a great and disgraceful miscarriage of justice. The people of the United States were cheated, and our Country disgraced. Never even given our day in Court!

“Never even given our day in Court!” Wow! Mr. Trump and those who share his perspective on the election have been heard in state and federal trial and appellate courts more than 50 times. I believe he obtained an order, granting observers from both parties the right to stand closer to the counting. Otherwise, I think he and his have lost in

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Rudy Giuliani and the Power of the Voice

December 7, 2020

Mark Rubin

Rudy Giuliani and the Power of the Voice

Mark Rubin

Donald Trump informed us on Sunday, December 6, that Rudy Giuliani tested positive for COVID-19. Within hours, we heard about Mr. Giuliani being hospitalized.

I shared some thoughts on Facebook. I mentioned the preciousness of human life and how challenged I was to conjure up empathy for Mr. Giuliani. Specifically, I referenced Mr. Giuliani’s outrageous behavior in the past couple of weeks. No mask. No distancing. Spouting nonsensical absurdities about fraud. Appearing in court while he was under the administrative suspension for failing to pay bar dues. And, most of all, explicitly and implicitly telling people they need not worry about COVID-19, and that The Other stole a Presidential election.

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What’s the Point? DJT and the Post-Election Nonsense

November 29, 2020

Mark Rubin

What’s the Point? DJT and the Post-Election Nonsense

President Donald J. Trump

Just shy of four weeks after Election Day 2020, we still have lawyers throwing crap on the wall, hoping something will stick. The latest? On Saturday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, unanimously, told an R Congressman to go pound sand when he tried to void the 2020 election, claiming voting by mail violates the Pennsylvania Constitution. This decision followed, by a day, the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. That court upheld a District Court decision, in which Terrible Lawyer Rudolph Giuliani acknowledged the absence of fraud but wanted the court to toss all of the ballots, at least to the extent by

Law, The Rest of Everything

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