Time for a little client feedback. Don’t bother checking Avvo or Yelp — he’ll come to you.
This disgusting Slob, a Democrat Political Operative, is the same guy who funded a woman who I knew absolutely nothing about, sued me for Rape, for which I was found NOT GUILTY. She didn’t remember the year, decade, or much else! In Interviews she said some amazingly “inconsistent” things. Disgraceful Trial—Very unfair. I was asked by my lawyer not to attend—“It was beneath me, and they have no case.” That was not good advice.
For those who don’t speak brain-addled former president …
The “slob” bit is a reference to Reid Hoffman, the billionaire founder of LinkedIn who paid some of the fees associated with E. Jean Carroll’s defamation and sexual abuse lawsuits against Donald Trump. He did not “fund” Carroll, whose lawyers were working on contingency and who filed her lawsuit ten months before Hoffman’s intercession.
And there's more, you can find the link at the side.
I didn't post it for Trump's post trial criticism of his own lawyer, but for this item:
For those who don’t speak brain-addled former president …
Isn't it obvious that Trump is not all right?
You would think so, but for some reason people just don't seem to be picking up on it.
When Ronald Reagan was President, people were picking up on it. I won't call it a whisper campaign, but amongst careful observers and medicos, there was talk. I remember, as I've noted here before, my father just flat out stating that Reagan had Alzheimer's, and he did.
Something is going on with Trump.
Trump has for many years affected a very odd pattern of speech, but it's gotten juvenile, This isn't the way a highly educated man speaks. It's weird. And the example above is far from the oddest example.
The other day I stopped by a pastry store on my way to work. On my way out a man was walking in, with glassy eyes, and was all upset about where I had parked my Jeep. "You're in the road".
Now, he was walking in, and there were no parking spots marked. There was no reason to believe I was "in the road". But he was waiving his arms and talking to himself, before he saw the Jeep was mine, and talked to me. "I'm sorry" I stated, and he rambled on about that being okay, still speaking to himself as he walked in.
Clearly, he had a mental problem.
Also, just yesterday I walked into Home Depot and a man was loudly complaining to himself in a rambling babbling fashion about the automatic doors being open. "The automatic doors are open" he stated to me, in an agitated fashion. I walked on in and said nothing as I thought he might have those ear buds that people now have where they can talk on their cell phones and perhaps was an employee talking to somebody, but pretty clear it was obvious he was not as he kept up in an agitated fashion and ultimately went up and babbled to the help desk, loudly.
It was clear he had a mental problem.
Why are we whistling past the graveyard with Trump?
It was Thanksgiving Day for 1923, Calvin Coolidge having fixed the very late date for this year on November 5.
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
The American people, from their earliest days, have observed the wise custom of acknowledging each year the bounty with which divine Providence has favored them. In the beginnings, this acknowledgment was a voluntary return of thanks by the community for the fruitfulness of the harvest. Though our mode of life has greatly changed, this custom has always survived. It has made thanksgiving day not only one of the oldest but one of the most characteristic observances of our country. On that day, in home and church, in family and in public gatherings, the whole nation has for generations paid the tribute due from grateful hearts for blessings bestowed.
To center our thought in this way upon the favor which we have been shown has been altogether wise and desirable. It has given opportunity justly to balance the good and the evil which we have experienced. In that we have never failed to find reasons for being grateful to God for a generous preponderance of the good. Even in the least propitious times, a broad contemplation of our whole position has never failed to disclose overwhelming reasons for thankfulness. Thus viewing our situation, we have found warrant for a more hopeful and confident attitude toward the future.
In this current year, we now approach the time which has been accepted by custom as most fitting for the calm survey of our estate and the return of thanks. We shall the more keenly realize our good fortune, if we will, in deep sincerity, give to it due thought, and more especially, if we will compare it with that of any other community in the world.
The year has brought to our people two tragic experiences which have deeply affected them. One was the death of our beloved President Harding, which has been mourned wherever there is a realization of the worth of high ideals, noble purpose and unselfish service carried even to the end of supreme sacrifice. His loss recalled the nation to a less captious and more charitable attitude. It sobered the whole thought of the country. A little later came the unparalleled disaster to the friendly people of Japan. This called forth from the people of the United States a demonstration of deep and humane feeling. It was wrought into the substance of good works. It created new evidences of our international friendship, which is a guarantee of world peace. It replenished the charitable impulse of the country.
By experiences such as these, men and nations are tested and refined. We have been blessed with much of material prosperity. We shall be better able to appreciate it if we remember the privations others have suffered, and we shall be the more worthy of it if we use it for their relief. We will do well then to render thanks for the good that has come to us, and show by our actions that we have become stronger, wiser, and truer by the chastenings which have been imposed upon us. We will thus prepare ourselves for the part we must take in a world which forever needs the full measure of service. We have been a most favored people. We ought to be a most generous people. We have been a most blessed people. We ought to be a most thankful people.
Wherefore, I, Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States, do hereby fix and designate Thursday, the twenty-ninth day of November, as Thanksgiving Day, and recommend its general observance throughout the land. It is urged that the people, gathering in their homes and their usual places of worship, give expression to their gratitude for the benefits and blessings that a gracious Providence has bestowed upon them, and seek the guidance of Almighty God, that they may deserve a continuance of His favor.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this 5th day of November, in the year of our Lord, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States, the One Hundred and Forty-eighth.
CALVIN COOLIDGE
By the President:
CHARLES E. HUGHES, Secretary of State.
The Casper paper apparently gave its staff the day off, but the Saratoga one did not, and also informed its readers that childhood vaccinations for smallpox were now mandatory.
Wilhelm Marx was chosen as the new Chancellor of Germany. He's serve twice in the 1920s.
He was charged with criminal activity in the early 30s by the Nazi regime for his leadership of the People's Association for Catholic Germany (Volksverein für das katholische Deutschland) but the charge against him was dropped in 1935. He died in 1946. The Catholic association he headed, which had dated back to the 1890s, was recreated as the Volksverein Mönchengladbach after World War Two.
I hesitate to post this, and probably shouldn't. I'm not a counselor of anything other than "the law" and I always think lawyers who use that term in their letterheads are being pretentious. Having said that, the only thing lawyers really do is deal with people's problems, sometimes by creating problems for other people, so we do know something about it.
I've been in litigation for decades, and I think what that's taught me is that fighting sucks. People who like to fight, including lawyers who like that, also suck. Most people, including most lawyers, don't fit in that category, however.
Anyhow, with that caveat, I'm going to just put out some observational comments on how not to help people, and by that I mean people who are seeking our help as they have a close relationship. Some people deserve help, some don't, and a lot deserve a lot better help than that they get.
Before I get into that, however, the first thing I'd note is that if you've sought help from a whole bunch of people, and they all give you the same advice, maybe you are the problem. I've seen people who are flat out wrong with a legal problem ask a whole series of professionals, and then go down to their dog and cat, and get the same advance and be upset. They don't want real help, they want verification that their wacky view or bad plan is right. Sometimes they want verification for going after somebody they shouldn't.
Don't be that person.
Well, in offering advice, here goes.
1. Ridden like a rented mule.
Years ago, I had a friend who started off in the same line of work I did, but who temperamentally wasn't very suited for it. He'd married right out of law school, and he and his wife had a couple of children pretty quickly.
At some point, he began to burn out pretty badly. It was obvious. But his wife had achieved a status that she'd always hoped for in the process. Indeed, frankly, we'd been friend with both of them when they started out, but because he became quite financially successful, briefly, she reached the point of viewing us as being of inferior status and quit associating with us. He didn't.
Anyhow, you could see what was coming. He was having trouble, then a close friend of his died and it was life altering. He wanted out. Financially, he started declining.
I don't know what the conversations between the two of them were, but I have a suspicion. It was probably "you'll get over it" which amounted to "get back to work and stop complaining".
Well, ultimately he took up going to the gym a lot, she took up eating a lot, he met a woman at the gym. . . fill in blanks here. The couple split.
Now, I’m a Catholic and I don't advocate for divorce, and I'm not justifying what happened here, but the "shut up and plow on" response is really common from spouse to spouse. I've seen it from female to male and male to female. Men work themselves to deaths as their wives can't conceive of them doing anything else or simply won't allow them to.
Death may be the mildest of results here, actually. The failing party gets the blame, but often they were pushed into it. If somebody is saying "I can't go on", they probably really can't go on, and they need the other person's help.
Indeed, to add to this, I've witnessed the odd phenomenon of a spouse who was there for all of her friends and her siblings, but nearly totally unsympathetic to her husband under the situation described above, and not even all that sympathetic to at least one of her children's problems. There as well, the husband was sending out pretty clear signals that he was worn out beyond repair. He started to get sick, and the wife didn't even really react much to that. Eventually he had a bad fatigue related accident. The "I told you I needed help" wasn't well received.
2. Looking for a solution.
Closely related to this is this one, and this is a male/female thing.
More particularly, this is a male/female couple thing.
Something about the psychological makeup of women causes them to present problems to their spouses, boyfriends, and close friends that they don't want solved. This is so common that there are some well known jokes about it. Men don't work this way, usually. Actually women don't either, with men they know in a professional sense, even if they become friends with them, but then often coworker problem discussions are also of the "venting" nature.
If a man just wants to vent about a problem, but not have it solved, he'll just relate the problem to a stranger or somebody he barely knows, hence the classic stories about bartenders. When he tells a friend, however, or a spouse, he's looking for a solution.
Probably due to simple familiarity, the longer a couple has been together, the more likely a real solution is just going to be brushed off.
I've read lots of stories in legal journals about successful lawyers who entered some sort of deep crisis and then something horrible happened. Often a spouse is interviewed and gives a "there were no signs" teary comment.
Maybe, but I'll bet more often than not there were. Probably Joe Big Law had gone to his wife repeatedly with "look, honey, I need to do something here as I can't keep on like this", and the reply was "oh, you'll feel better. . . " at best. He didn't. Wife is distraught.
Well, she wasn't much help, quite often.
Offering no solution isn't being helpful. Flat out stating there's no solution definitely isn't helpful.
This also applies, however, to a lot of professional colleague advice.
A running story in the television series M*A*S*H was that, at the end of the day, the object of a field hospital was to get you patched up, and back into combat. That's pretty much the way professional assistance programs work as well. They're going to address your problems and get you back into the game.
Maybe the game is the problem.
3. It's all about me.
I've seen this repeatedly.
Somebody has a real problem, they go to their spouse or close friend, and that person quickly turns it into a discussion about their own, probably trivial problem. It works like this. "Honey, I've been shot, and I'm bleeding out", to which is replied, "Oh I know just what that's like, I stubbed my toe on a piece of furniture at work the other day, why I had told the janitor a thousand times that that needed to be moved, and I hate that furniture, it's Ikea and ".
No help at all.
I've actually had couples come with a legal problem where I have to shut one of them up as that person won't let the other talk about the problem. "The semi tractor exploded and. . . . " followed by sudden interruption and; "Bob is always so dramatic, it wasn't a big explosion, why just the other day I was at Walmart looking at the low, low prices and Mrs. Sepansky cut in front of me at the notion's isle, well I said to her. . . "
4. Lacking empathy
Most people are at least somewhat empathetic to others, but not all. Some simply lack it entirely.
There's been some studies that suggest this is genetic, but I somewhat doubt that. If it fully were, the genetic driver would be towards empathy. Indeed, an opposite speculation on this is that the world became more empathetic with the spread of Christianity, as Christians survived crises because of their empathy towards others, and others empathy towards them.
My guess is that this is a more developmental thing. Something's gone wrong. And I suspect that lacking empathy is something stepped into. Otherwise, quite frankly, the anti empathy genes would be weeded out, as people who lack empathy are hard to be around, while those who show it are sought out.
None of which takes away from the fact that some people just lack empathy.
In the excellent podcast Catholic Stuff You Should Know Fr. Michael O'Loughlin once observed that he'd remarked to a friend that he had his spouse to go to for sympathy. The friend laughed. He couldn't go to his spouse for sympathy. I suspect that's a lot more common than people suspect, and has a lot to do with the first item noted here. It's not so much that familiarity breeds contempt as the people have assumed certain roles at some time, and there's a lack of sympathy for not fully measuring up to them.
An aspect of this, I'd note, is that some people are so lacking in empathy towards somebody seeking help from them that the asker just stops. Indeed, the person lacking empathy not only lacks it, but is resentful about being asked for help. That actually punishes the person who needs the help.
That can really have a lasting negative impact. At best, the asker just learns that asking is pointless. But if the people are in a close relationship, that insertion of distance is corrosive. A person asking somebody they love for help, and not receiving any, and even getting dissed for it, will struggle with disappointment at a bare minimum, and that disappointment can turn to hate.
You see that all the time with married couples who once obviously loved each other, but their love turned to hate. There's a lot of things that can cause that, but one is a person seeking help and receiving instead rejection. The same comes up in parent child relationships. Children seek out legitimate help, but don't get it, learning that they apparently really weren't that important in the first place.
5. The wrong help.
Some seeking help seem to get it, but the help they get isn't real. Instead they receive validation, things akin to offering an alcoholic a drink.
This plays out widely in our modern society where some behaviors clearly recognized at one time as mental illnesses are now celebrated instead. People are asking for help in their actions, but instead are simply being told they're okay.
It's easy to undestand this, as its easy. Tough to give help is hard to receive help, and this tends to involve that.
6. The blender
Finally, I'd note, that a lot of these things get all blended together.
A person seeks help from the person who is supposed to be the closest person to them in the world, only to find that person has acclimated themselves to the role the help seeker occupies and doesn't want it changed. At the same time, the person sought out is providing help to family and friends at an epic charitable level. Back at home, however, it's "all about me".
Maybe that offers a clue to all of this.
7. The Wreck
8 Final thoughts.
I'll go back to what I noted at the start. You read all the time, or hear it directly, that after something horrible happens "he showed no signs". Often its from a close family member, probably a spouse. A big law partner takes his own life, a busy business person drinks too much, too often, and dies young, a beloved mother falls apart, a desperate "transgendered" person ends their own life.
There were no signs.
Oh, sure there were. People simply chose to ignore them.
Ugh, there's a time when that would have seen like a long time.
And it still should. Would that it would have been only 90 days prior to an election that anyone could even announce.
A full year of watching the clock count down.
A full year of pundits like Robert Reich telling you can't vote for a third party, and must vote for one of the two absurdities that are the current majority parties.
A full year of bizarro weird diction from Donald Trump.
A full year of two really old men compete for the votes of voter less than half their ages.
Nifty.
November 6, 2023
The latest polls show Trump beating Biden in the Fall election.
Simply amazing.
It'll all come down to five states, and about 100,000 voters, who will decide which of the two ancient men will lead the most powerful, if declining, nation on earth.
Both, FWIW, are showing signs of cognitive decline. This has been obvious for a while, but it was mentioned in regard to Trump for the first time on one of the weekend news shows. He's now getting noticeably confused and increasingly erratic.
Regarding cognitive decline, the fact that these are the nation's choices make it appear as the United States itself is suffering from cognitive decline.
While there will be plenty of it "it's not too late" comments, it pretty much is unless the Democrats dump Biden. The electorate doesn't want him, or Trump. And yet the parties insist on offering both of them. At least with the GOP, it's because their base really does want Trump, as frightening as that is. The Democrats do not want Biden.
November 8, 2023
And yet another poll shows Biden slipping further behind, even as the Democrats did well in yesterday's election.
If Biden isn't replaced as the candidate, there will be a second Trump term.
November 9, 2023
Donald Trump, yesterday:
Kim Jong-un leads 1.4 billion people, and there's no doubt about who the boss is, and they want me to say he's not an intelligent man.
Geez Louise, this is wrong in so many ways.
First of all, 1.4 B is the approximate population of China. North Korea has about 24M.
And nobody is saying that Kim Jong-un isn't intelligent, they're saying he's bad.
Trump has a thing for dictators. . .
During the GOP debate, one of the candidates proposed bombing targets in Iran.
cont:
Joe Manchin will not be running for reelection to the Senate in West Virginia.
Manchin was quite conservative, a fact which had given him a power broker role in the Senate. His departure, while not wholly unexpected, does put the GOP within striking distance of taking back the Senate.
November 10, 2023
Jill Stein has opted to lose again as the Green Party's candidate for President.
November 13, 2023
Tim Scott has dropped out of the GOP race.
In terms of serious candidates, that leaves Haley, Christie, DeSantis, and of course, Trump. There are others, but they're already reached the point of now return. The winnowing process is now well-developed.
Overall in the Republican race right now, the following are the serious candidates in terms of still (sort of) being contenders against Trump.
Trump.
Doug Burgum
Chris Christie
Ron DeSantis
Nikki Haley
Asa Hutchinson
Of the above, Hutchinson should drop out, as his campaign is gaining no traction and is essentially the same as Christie's. Burgum should drop out as well as his campiagn has generated little interest, mostly due to his own waffling on Trump.
GOP candidates still around that nobody is paying any attention to are:
Scott Alan Ayers
Ryan Binkley
Robert S. Carney
John Anthony Castro
Peter Jedick
Perry Johnson
Perry Johnson
Donald Kjornes
Mary Maxwell
Glenn McPeters
Glenn J. McPeters
Scott Peterson Merrell
Darius L. Mitchell
Vivek Ramaswamy
Sam Sloan
David Stuckenberg
Rachel Swift
Of these, only Ramaswamy is newsworthy, but most due to his being noisy and somewhat of a gadfly. So, in terms of real candidates, what the GOP actually has is:
Trump.
Doug Burgum
Chris Christie
Ron DeSantis
Nikki Haley
Asa Hutchinson
Vivek Ramaswamy
On the Democratic side, there are actually just about as many people running, but really only Biden and Dean Phillips are serious candidates. . . so far.
While it'll put me outside the mainstream, I very strongly suspect that Joe Manchin and Joe Biden have had a conversation about Biden dropping out, and Manchin stepping in.
Manchin is in his early 70s, which is still old, but younger than Trump. He's also a bonafide centrist. Liberal Democrats would hate this development, centrist Democrats, independents and traditional Republicans would welcome it. It would be a smart move. Right now, I'm predicting, as radical as it is, that Biden will drop out this month, followed by Manchin announcing a run.
In other news, Californian Republican House member McCarthy is indicating he may not run for reelection.
November 14, 2023
Apparently a retired lawyer has filed a 14th Amendment challenge to Trump, and oddly Cynthia Lummis who doesn't run again until 2026, in court. Secretary Gray sent out a press release on the matter.
Secretary Gray Condemns Attempt to Remove Donald Trump and Cynthia Lummis from Future Ballots in Wyoming
CHEYENNE, WY – In response to a recent filing in Wyoming District Court seeking to remove Donald Trump and Cynthia Lummis (whose term ends in 2026) from future ballots in Wyoming, Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray announced his plans to vigorously defend against the filing (Newcomb v. Chuck Gray).
“The attempt to remove Donald Trump and Cynthia Lummis from the ballot is outrageously wrong and repugnant to our electoral process,” Secretary Gray said in a statement. “I am preparing a vigorous defense to stop these blatant, radical attempts to interfere with Wyoming’s elections. The weaponization of the Fourteenth Amendment to remove political opponents from the ballot undermines the sanctity of the Constitution. We are preparing to file a motion to dismiss to block this attempt at election interference. And we are committed to protecting the integrity of our elections and ensuring that the people of Wyoming can choose who to elect for themselves.”
November 15, 2023
A Michigan Court has rejected a 14th Amendment claim against Trump. It will be appealed.
November 17, 2023
Rep. Hageman went after Tim Newcomb's lawsuit regarding Trump being disqualified from being on the ballot for insurrection.
This isn't really surprising, Hageman is in political debt to Trump, but it's interesting in that she partially attacks the effort as unconstitutional and for using the legal system. Attempting to use the legal system is exactly what Trump attempted in order to try to retain office, and Trumpites have continually taken refuge in that fact.
Patton slapped a second soldier, Pvt. Paul G. Bennet, as a military hospital in Sicily. Bennet was in the hospital for shell shock and told Patton, upon his asking why Bennet was in the hospital, that It's my nerves... I can't stand the shelling anymore."
This incident would result in the story being broken to the press when a nurse told her boyfriend, who was a public affairs officer.
Bennet, who was also suffering from dehydration and a fever, was an Army volunteer, having entered the Army in 1939. He remained in the Army as a career after the war and served again in the Korean War. He retired as a Sergeant First Class and died in 1973 at age 51.
The nation was tracking President Hardin's health:
The Tribune was optimistic on that score. And it was also anticipating the upcoming county rodeo.
Harding's speech planned for that day was delivered as a written statement.
The High Court of Justice in Ireland ruled that a state of war in that country was over and 13,000 prisoners were entitled to release. They were not, as the following day the Public Safety Act of 1923 was enacted, causing their ongoing internment.
Parliament passed the bill sponsored by Lady Astor prohibiting the sale of alcohol to anyone under 18 years of age.
It dawned on me the other day that if I'd stayed in the National Guard, I'd have been able to start drawing Reserve retirement pay starting in late May.
Even though I was in the Guard for six years, I've never really been able to grasp how Guard retirement pay works. I tried to look it up this morning, and learned that it's on a point system, one of those nifty military devices that has been around since at least World War Two in some ways. The system by which soldiers who fought in the ETO were eligible to go home, for example, when the war ended was based on points.
Anyhow, there are some really useful net articles on this topic, of which this is one:
Of course, you wonder how this applies to yourself. I was an E5 when I got out, and would have had to have gone (and should have already gone) to the NCO Academy if I was to carry on. Indeed, for the last half of my time in the Guard, I was in an E7 slot for much of that time.
Had I stayed in, I would have gone to Officers Candidate School. It would not have made sense not to, and I was eligible to do so. One of my good friends from the Guard did do so, and he retired from the Guard as a Colonel after reaching age 60.
Without trying to really figure the math, I think I likely would have drawn, had I taken that course, and assuming that I didn't take a grenade in a street in Iraq or Afghanistan, would have been around $1,000 to $1,500 per month.
Not bad, but not enough to live on, which, of course for reserve service, makes sense.
Some reservists, I should note, draw considerably more and even approach Regular retirement pay as they have so many active duty points. That would have made a difference, as our Guard units did serve in Afghanistan and Iraq, although not every soldier in the local units served in both. Some did. Some did more than one tour in one of those countries, for that matter.
That alone makes me wish I'd stayed in the Guard and gone to OCS. I wouldn't be retired in the real sense now, but in real terms, I'd be a lot better off insurance wise.
Or so I say. At age 24, when I ETSed, I don't know that insurance was on my mind.
Well, I know it wasn't.
I also know that our full time NCS who was our Retention NCO wasn't doing a good job.
Is this what happens when you actually have to work?
rip to my very sun sensitive skin and my lack of ability to learn to cover it
·
21K
Views
This is my annual agricultural hat public service announcement.
I subscribe to a bunch of Agricultural Twitter feeds. In contrast, I think I subscribe to the feeds of two lawyers, but not because they're lawyers. I note this, as I subscribe to this young woman's Twitter feed.
Why?
Well, when it started, she was on the harvesting tour. I've seen the combines come through here and I knew that they start in one North American location and go north, which is interesting. I'm not sure how many people realize that harvesting large grain farms is a contract job, it's not actually, usually, the farmers doing it.
Anyhow, I kept the subscription up as it's an agricultural feed. I keep up the feeds from a half dozen ranches, two large Canadian ag outfits, etc.
I should note, I particularly like this one:
Following
Stuart Somerville
@Stuthefarmer
Father & Husband. Farmer. Bagpiper. Trying to live in a good way.
This is a bit of a disclaimer, as any Twitter post by any young woman brings at least a small selection of "Jane Doe, you're so beautiful. . . " type posts, from the Net Desperate, I guess.
Well, anyway you look at it, or her I guess, letting this happen to your skin is going to mean you're not going to be beautiful or handsome by your 40s. The skin damage is going to catch up with you. Fair skinned people in particular are going to get it.
People who worked outdoors used to know how to dress. At least ranchers and cowboys still do, as a rule. Farmers, for some reason, and people who work on farms, much less so. It's odd.
Broad brimmed hats, shirts with sleeves. Put them on.
This too, I'd note, for outdoorsmen. Outdoorsmen seem to spend piles of money on specialized clothing, and yet I'll still see some that aren't wearing much. Not a good idea at all.
.jpg)
