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More Reasons to Vote for Laura Conover

July 12, 2020

More Reasons to Vote for Laura Conover

Laura Conover

Hi there. I’m Leigh, and I’m visiting here. I share Mark’s views about the reasons why we need changes at the Pima County Attorney’s Office. I have some more, too.

In our tough economic times, we need a County Attorney who will better steward the substantial sum of money we spend in our community to prosecute criminals. Further, we need someone who will insist on running an office which focuses on justice, as opposed to convictions. Laura Conover meets these requirements.

The Office of the County Attorney as well as the Offices of the Public and Legal Defender serve the people of Pima County in many ways, not least of which

Laura Conover

Law, The Rest of Everything

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Laura Conover for County Attorney

July 11, 2020

Mark Rubin

Laura Conover for County Attorney

Laura Conover

I support Laura Conover for Pima County Attorney. Why requires some background and history.

The Job

A.R.S. 11-532 defines the powers and duties of the County Attorney. It begins thusly: The county attorney is the public prosecutor of the county … . Twelve itemized duties follow. Some large and some not so much. The statute also refers to certain situations and the right to offer civil legal services to other governmental bodies. Those details matter little, though. We live in a county with more than 1,000,000 residents and an office with hundreds of employees, handling thousands of cases every year, The elected County Attorney leads the office. She or he sets and evaluates

Laura Conover

Law, The Rest of Everything

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What Would You Do? Covid-19 Edition

June 26, 2020

Mark Rubin

What Would You Do? Covid-19 Edition

Mark Rubin

On Facebook the other day, I engaged in a conversation about masks. I know, I know, I seem bright enough. But, sometimes I’m not!

Anyway, after a discussion with some moderately reasonable But Freedom types, one said: Well, what would you do? Stay tuned, I wrote, thinking I could never express myself adequately in a FB post.

I suspect my inquisitor wanted something simple, which he could knock down quickly. (A few days ago, intemperately, I called out a new business group for kvelling about a kickoff event sans masks or distancing. “You are pathetic,” said one fellow. Blocked.)

So, what would I do? To answer, I must discuss what I would

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The Supreme Court: This Week (6/14 – 6/21/2020)

June 20, 2020

Mark Rubin

The Supreme Court: This Week (6/14 – 6/21/2020)

U.S. Supreme Court Building

A doozy, this week, with plenty to observe! The week began on Monday with the decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, etc. and two related cases (Nos. 17-1618 and 23, and 18-107) aka the Title VII same sex / transgender cases. On Thursday, the Court issued its opinion in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, No. 18-587, the DACA case. Earlier, the Court rejected certiorari writs in 10 Second Amendment cases.

For those who thought they bought the Court when they elected Donald J. Trump, this was a very bad week. But, a good week it was for the rule of

Law, The Rest of Everything

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We Didn’t Start the Fire: 5th Edition

May 18, 2020

Mark Rubin

We Didn’t Start the Fire

Billy Joel

Here’s the fifth iteration of We Didn’t Start the Fire (Annotated), first published on July 13, 2014 and last posted on February 10, 2018. For whatever it’s worth, no post at Mark Rubin Writes gets more views.

we didn't start the fire

Christie Brinkley

Elle Macpherson

William M. Joel writes and sings songs. On March 23, 1985 he married tall and very classy Christie Brinkley. (They divorced on August 25, 1994.) Was Ms. Brinkley the Uptown Girl in Uptown Girl, Mr. Joel’s big 1983 hit song? Only maybe, for while Mr. Joel—the short, Downtown Guy—knew and was friendly with Ms. Brinkley when he wrote the song, at the time he was dating taller very Uptown babe

“The King and I, ” and “The Catcher in the Rye”, AIDS, Alabama, Bardot, Bay of Pigs invasion, Begin, Belgians in the Congo, Ben Hur, Berlin, Bernie Goetz, Billy Joel, Birth control, Bridge on the River Kwai, British Beatlemania Ole Miss, British Politician Sex, Brooklyn’s got a winning team Davy Crockett, Budapest, Buddy Holly, California Baseball, Campanella, Castro, Charles de Gaulle, Children of Thalidomide, Communist Bloc, Crack, Dacron Dien Bien Phu Falls, Disneyland, Doris Day, Dylan, Edsel is a no‑go, Eichmann, Einstein, Eisenhower, Elvis Presley, England’s got a new queen Marciano, Foreign debts, H‑Bomb, Harry Truman, heavy metal, Hemingway, Ho Chi Minh, homeless Vets, J.F.K., James Dean, Joe DiMaggio, Joe McCarthy, John Glenn, Johnnie Ray South Pacific, Josef Stalin, Juan Peron, Kerouac Sputnik, Khrushchev Princess Grace, Lawrence of Arabia, Lebanon, Liberace, Liston beats Patterson, Little Rock, Mafia Hula Hoops, Malcolm X, Malenkov, Marilyn Monroe, Mickey Mantle, Moonshot, Nasser and Prokofiev Rockefeller, Palestine, Panmunjom Brando, Pasternak, payola and Kennedy Chubby Checker, Peter Pan, Peyton Place, Pope Paul, Psycho, punk rock, Reagan, Red China, Richard Nixon, Rock Around the Clock, Rosenbergs, Roy Cohn, Sally Ride, Santayana goodbye, South Korea, Space Monkey, Starkweather homicide, Stranger in a Strange Land, Studebaker, Sugar Ray, Syngman Rhee, television North Korea, Toscanini, Trouble in the Suez, U-2, vaccine, Walter Winchell, Watergate, Wheel of Fortune, Woodstock, Zhou Enlai

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More Random Thoughts

May 17, 2020

Mark Rubin

More Random Thoughts

Mark Rubin

Random thoughts. The Internet says random thoughts mean something, and that science agrees. Who knew?

My first random thought involves recycling. I keep two old-fashioned galvanized steel trash cans outside, near my kitchen door. The city picks up recycling every other Monday, so I carried that bin out to the alley. Lo, when I went to my city-owned recycle bin, someone had tossed in an Apple computer box. Very shapely. Stylish even, but it filled my container.

I solved the problem, but here is my question: Can you dump recycling in any blue bin? Or, just the one by your house? An inquiring mind needs a good answer.

Next up: living my life. I

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Trump, the Court, and Subpoenas

May 12, 2020

Mark Rubin

Trump, the Court, and Subpoenas

Mark Rubin

The U.S. Supreme Court heard three cases during two oral arguments today. Here’s the C-Span link.

Two cases involved subpoenas directed to Mazars (an accounting firm which provided services to Donald Trump and his entities) and Deutche Bank (purportedly, the only money center bank which still deals with the Trumps and their entities). The other case involves state law claims which a New York County (Manhattan) grand jury intends to investigate.

I have thoughts. Really, you say? A top 40% law student – TBT, 57^thpercentile, ranked just behind my law school roommate, with a practice which mostly involves elder law and real estate – intends to spout off on Con

Law, The Rest of Everything

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Personal and Business: Isolation News

May 10, 2020

Mark Rubin

Personal and Business: Isolation News

Mark Rubin

My house has a more than 60’ long walking length, passing from kitchen to dining room to hall to my bedroom. I walk that distance, back and forth, every day. Hundreds of times. (During the past week I averaged 24K steps per day.) Max thinks I’m nutso, I’m sure, and Leigh removes all doubt. But … I feel wonderful, and the early morning steps – the real workout – and the walking breaks all day refresh me.

Veganism had crept into my life. Beef went away almost totally a few years ago, for Leigh worries greatly about prions. Who knows, but for the environment and everything else, we ought to stop raising

Food, The Rest of Everything

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Michael Flynn: The Dismissal and What Might Happen

May 7, 2020

Mark Rubin

Flynn: The Dismissal and What Might Happen

Mark Rubin

Today, the Justice Department announced its intent to dismiss its case against Michael Flynn. Recall that the United States of America charged Mr. Flynn with a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 (False Statements). Mr. Flynn’s sin: lying to the FBI about contacts with Russian governmental officials before January 20, 2017.

Mr. Flynn pled guilty, cooperated with the government for a while for the purpose of lessening his sentence and, on January 14, 2020, filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Now, the government says never mind and more – the Justice Department has trashed the FBI and President Trump accuses the Obama Administration of treason, even though

Michael Flynn

Law, The Rest of Everything

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Elmore Leonard and Sam Sifton

April 28, 2020

Mark Rubin

Elmore Leonard and Sam Sifton

Mark Rubin

Elmore Leonard was a great writer, with an extraordinary way with dialogue. Sam Sifton writes pretty well, too. Presently, he’s the Food Editor for the New York Times, where he has worked for almost 20 years. (Mr. Sifton’s grandfather was Reinhold Neibuhr, who wrote the Serenity Prayer. It comes to mind often, but only after I have failed to appreciate the difference between what I can and cannot change.)

Every week Mr. Sifton sends What to Cook … emails. They bring me great pleasure, always, but I really enjoyed Cook Anyway, which I received on April 27. Mr. Sifton starts out thusly:

Good morning. One of the greatest first lines of a novel,

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