Thursday, May 8, 2025
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
As a highly introverted trial lawyer, one of the things I dread the most is . . .
the stream of post trial people that show up in my office the day after a trial.
People tell me that I'm good with a jury and that they react well to me. They say the same thing about the witnesses. If that's true it's because I really don't think being a lawyer means all that much. Contrary to what people think, it doesn't mean you are smart or even accomplished. What it might mean is a topic for some other post. Anyhow, being introverted doesn't mean that you can't address people or speak to them, it means something else. For one thing, it means you are really private.
I don't like reliving trials. Lawyers, it seems, like to tell "war stories", but they aren't war stories. Every trial is a tragedy of some sort. Revisiting tragedies in which I participated isn't really my thing, and lots of visitors in a single day coming back and asking "what happened in the trial?" is sort of an introverts nightmare.
Another oddity, really just mine, is that when you have a trial in town, you draw an audience from your own firm for closings. I'm not shy about public speaking, but I hate a close in audience, by which I mean an audience of your friends, family, or coworkers. It's too much like Monday Night Football and there you are, on the screen, and everyone else is in the audience judging which plays you should have made. It does draw to mind, however, T.R.'s famous "Man in the Arena" speech.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Anyhow, I'd prefer not to have an audience.
On that, however, I'm continually amazed by how the mind of the gregarious works. There I am, without a closing even having been delivered, when a coworker who knows the party is stating to him "let's go get a Scotch after the trial".
What?
All I want to do is to go home. I'm not keen on Scotch, but I'll take an Irish Whiskey, preferably with my long suffering spouse and the dog.
Wednesday, May 7, 1975. End of the Vietnam War Era.
The US government declared the Vietnam War era at an end for purposes of veterans benefits.
9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam Era, but of course not all of them went to Vietnam. 3.4 million U.S. servicemen were deployed to Southeast Asia. Approximately 2.7 million served in the Republic of Vietnam. Most US servicemen in Vietnam were not combat troops, although because of the nature of the war, any of them could be exposed to combat.
There has never been a U.S. President who served in Vietnam, although one Vice President, Al Gore, did. George W. Bush was in the Texas Air National Guard as a fighter pilot during the war. Bill Clinton had a student deferment. Joe Biden had a deferment for asthma. Trump had one for shin splints.
None of my immediate family (parents, aunts, uncles, cousins) served in Vietnam or would qualify as a Vietnam Era veteran, even though a lot of them had been in the service. The husband of one of my cousins had served in Vietnam as an officer in the Navy, and a Canadian cousin of my mother's who was living in Florida was drafted and served in Vietnam, so there is some family connection. In the neighborhood, the son of the man who lived across the street was a paratrooper in the war.
In junior high, one of the more colorful social studies teachers had been in the Marine Recon, a unit much like the Rangers, during the war, and occasionally wore a green beret, which was never officially adopted by the Marines, to school. In high school, a legendary swimming teacher from the South Pacific had been a Navy SEAL and bore the scars of having been shot in the war and also from having been straffed as a child by a Japanese airplane. The ROTC teacher also had been, but I didn't take ROTC.
In university, a geology professor who also held a job with the State of Wyoming had served in Vietnam, and according to those who knew him well, suffered pretty markedly from PTSD. I never noticed that myself, and he was a good professor.
When I joined the National Guard right after high school I found it packed with Vietnam Veterans. One of my good friends in the Guard was the mechanics section chief but had the Combat Infantryman's Badge awarded for two tours in the country. Another friend of mine also had the CIB from the 1st Cavalry Division, with his uniquely being stitched in dark blue for the subdued patch. A fellow I was friendly with had been a Ranger in Vietnam and when he first joined and was still relying on service period uniforms he'd wear a black beret, another unofficial item. A good friend of mine who was his brother in law was in the Wyoming Air National Guard and had flown medical missions to the country, a deployment you rarely hear about. One of our members had been a Navy pilot. What with the CIBs, combat patches, pilot's wings, etc., we must have been an odd looking bunch to the young soldiers in the Regular Army.
There were a lot of them.
Cartoonist George Baker, the creator of the World War Two era Sad Sack cartoon, died at age 59.
Last edition:
Tuesday, May 6, 1975. Authoritarian victims.
Labels: 1970s, 1975, Cambodia, Catholic, Communism, Domino Theory, Fascism, Gerald Ford, Hungary, Malaysia, Operation Babylift, South Vietnam, Thailand, Vietnam, Vietnam War
What's up with all the gold crap in the Oval Office?
It looks absolutely hideous.
Is tacky a Trump thing?
Monday, May 7, 1945. Germany unconditionally surrenders.
German General Alfred Jodl and admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg signed unconditional surrender documents at 2:41 a.m. at General Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims. All Allied Powers are represented. Fighting was scheduled to end at 23:00 the following day. Military operations on the Western Front came to an immediate end.
Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Leading Minister in the rump Flensburg Government, made a broadcast announcing the German surrender at 2:27 a.m..
The U-2336 sank two merchant ships in the Firth of Forth.
This Day in History: Last German U-boat in American waters
Riotous celebrations broke out in numerous places, including in Halifax, Nova Scotia, were they turned truly riotous.
American journalist Edward Kennedy broke an Allied embargo on news of the signing in the afternoon.
The NKVD and Polish anti Communist forces fought in the Battle of Kuryłówka with the Poles winning the battle, but fortunes would reverse the following day.
Spain severed relations with Nazi Germany. . . a bit late.
The British government in India published the report of an official commission of enquiry into the Bengal famine of 1943 finding that it could have been adverted through government action.
"These Army nurses, among the first to arrive on Okinawa, May 3, wash out of steel helmets.
They are, left to right, Lt. Margaret J. Whitton, Chicago Ill., who has seen 14 months service in Italy and Africa; Lt. Ruth Anderson, Rockford, Ill., Lt. Marjorie Dulain, Iron Mountain, Mich., and Lt. Eleanor Kennedy, Judington, Mich. 7 May, 1945.Photographer not credited.Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive."
Hard fighting continued on Okinawa.
Last edition:
Sunday, May 6, 1945. Stopping advances.
Friday, May 7, 1915. The Sinking of the Lusitania.
The German U-boat campaign crossed into infamy with the sinking of the RMS Lusitania.
Last edition:
May 6, 1915. First Night Attack on London by Airplane.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: Shop Signs
Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: Shop Signs: With a rainy day on hand, I headed to the shop to hang some final touches on the wall. It pays to have the shop set up like you want. If don...
Reduction in Flag Officers.
Of course, that's not the full story. The National Guard is a more significant established force now than it was prior to World War Two. Interesting that Hegseth doesn't mention the Reserves, which are also more of a significant force post World War Two.
All in all, there likely is merit to a reduction in flag officers.
Tuesday, May 6, 1975. Authoritarian victims.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Tan Sri Mohammad Ghazali Shafie delivered a scathing critique of the Domino Theory evcen as it was proving itself correct.
A convoy of French nationals and Khmer Muslims, who had sought refuge at the French Embassy in Phnom Penh, crossed the border into Thailand.
Operation Babylift concluded.
Hungarian Cardinal József Mindszenty, an unyielding opponent of fascism and communism, died in exile.
Last edition:
Sunday, May 6, 1945. Stopping advances.
Patton's Third Army captured Plzeň. To Patton's disgust his men were prevented from advancing any further due to the occupation agreement between the Americans and the Soviets.
"Yanks in Landeck, Austria, wave their rifles and helmets with joy as they heard 19th German Army surrendered today. 6 May, 1945. 44th Infantry Division. Photographer: T/5 Louis Weintraub, 163rd Signal Photo Co."
The Siege of Breslau ended after three months with a Soviet victory.
The U-853 and U-881 were lost in the Atlantic Ocean.
The United States lifted the midnight curfew for all places of entertainment in effect since February 26, 1945.
Last edition:
Saturday, May 5, 1945. Balloon casualties.
Monday, May 5, 2025
Monday, May 5, 1975. Dominos. And now Laos.
The Social Security Administration announced for the very first time that it's retirement and disability program was in debt; and that its $46 billion reserve would be drained by 1983. Notably, President Nixon had extended Medicare, which originally did not apply to everyone, to everyone 62 years of age or older during his Administration.
Television broadcasting began in South Africa.
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Royal Lao General Vang Pao, a Hmong highlander, was ordered by the Prime Minister of Laos to cease resistance to the Pathet Lao.
He resigned instead.
It's almost like the Domino Theory was correct.
Before serving in in the Royal Lao Army, he has served with the French starting during World War Two. He immigrated to the United States where he died in 2011.
101 former RVNAF aircraft at U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield were loaded aboard the USS Midway which evacuated 27 A-37s, 3 CH-47s, 25 F-5Es and 45 UH-1Hs.
A further 41 aircraft were flown to the U.S. 54 aircraft were transferred to the Thai Government, these comprised: 1 A-37, 17 C-47s, 1 F-5B, 12 O-1s, 14 U-17s and 9 UH-1Hs.
Last edition:
Sunday, May 4, 1975. 1,000,000 runs.
Labels: 1970s, 1975, baseball, Cambodia, Cambodian–Vietnamese War, Khemr Rouge, South Vietnam, Sports, Vietnam
Saturday, May 5, 1945. Balloon casualties.
The Prague Uprising and the Battle of Czechoslovak Radio began. The Axis raised Russian Liberation Army switched sides and supported the Czech partisans.
The Bratislava–Brno Offensive ended in Soviet-Romanian victory.
The Battle for Castle Itter in Austria resulted in an Allied victory.
A Japanese balloon bomb killed the pregnant wife of Reverend Archie Mitchell, Elsie, age 26, and five children of their Sunday School class on Gearhart Mountain near Bly, Oregon, where they had gone for an outing.
The bomb had likely been in place for a month before it was discovered by the party.
Rev. Mitchell moved to Vietnam in 1947 with his new bride Betty, the older sister of two of the children killed by the fire balloon in Bly, where they served as missionaries. They were kidnapped by the Viet Cong in 1962 and forced to serve as medics, and ultimately disappeared.
The cartoon character Yosemite Sam appeared for the first time in the Bugs Bunny animated short Hare Trigger.
Otto-Heinrich Drechsler, age 50, German Nazi Commissioner of Latvia committed suicide in British captivity.
Last edition:
Wednesday, May 5, 1915. The Germans broke through and took 140,000 Russian soldiers in the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive.
Thursday, May 5, 1910. T.R. takes the prize.
U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, for 1909. He pledged to donate the money "as a nucleus for a foundation to forward the cause of industrial peace".
Cartago, Costa Rica, was destroyed by an earthquake which killed more than 1,500 people.
Seventy coal miners were killed in an explosion at the Palos Coal and Coke Company at Walker County, Alabama.
The town of Hillsborough, California, was incorporated.
The U.S. Weather Bureau, predecessor to the National Weather Service, set a standing record for the highest altitude achieved by a kite 23,826 feet.
Last edition:
Wednesday, May 4, 1910. The Royal Canadian Navy came into being.
Sunday, May 4, 2025
Donald Trump insults Catholicism.
There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President. We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.
New York State Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Trump, in something that's supposed to be a jest, posted a photograph of himself dressed as a Pope, no doubt generated by the onrushing curse of our age, AI.
I'm not going to post it.
This should serve as as warning to Trump supporting Catholics. Trump, who received widespread Evangelical Christian support and who has housed an faith advisor office in the White House which is staffed by a rather peculiar Evangelical pastor, shows no signs at all as taking religion seriously, and never has, but he is comfortable with coopting it. In spite of that, and this was inevitable, he doesn't mind mocking the oldest and original Christian religion.
That tells you what you need to know.
I've long held that a real Christian can't be comfortable with either of the two major US political parties or with their recent leaders. Only the American Solidarity Party comes close to being a party Christians can really be comfortable with. The presence of Catholic politicians at the forefront of either party does not change this. Biden advanced the sea of blood objectives of the infanticide supporting Democratic Party. J.D Vance has supported the IF policies of the bizarre Trump protatalist agenda and that's just a start. The Church has rarely attempted to hold Catholic politicians directly to account for reasons known to itself.
Before the Trump regime concludes, this is going to get worse. Trump will conclude that he doesn't need Catholics for anything, because he does not. A religion which is catholic, ie., universal, by nature will not ultimately be comfortable with a political philosophy which aggressively nationalist and nativist. This, indeed, has been the history of Catholicism in the US, with it only being after the election of John F. Kennedy that things changed.
Some will claim, of course, that this means nothing and its just Trump trying to be funny. That's politically disturbing enough, as Trump is already an embarrassment to the country. But those who think this should ask if Trump would have dared to depict himself as, for example, an imam. . . not hardly.
Trump's insult is offered as its safe to offer it. As has sometimes been noted, anti Catholicism is the "last acceptable prejudice". Trump offered this insult as it fits in nicely with his contempt for Christianity in general, but more particular, for his contempt for the Church, something that fits in nicely with the most extreme of his Evangelical supporters.
Catholics need to review the meaning of The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus. We're part of something larger, and once we surrender to something smaller, we need to be cautious. We can expect to be mocked and held in contempt, and if we aren't, there may well be something wrong with our witness.
But we don't have to accept the situation, nor tolerate it, where we do not need to.
Blog Mirror. Sunday thought
Particularly interesting here is the first comment, by a psychologist.
Sunday thought
Sunday, May 4, 1975. 1,000,000 runs.
The one millionth run in Major League Baseball history was scored by Bob Watson of the Houston Astros.
The Khmer Rouge seized control of South Vietnam's Phú Quốc Island.
Last edition:
Saturday, May 3, 1975. End of the Cultural Revolution.
Musings Over a Barrel: Bourbon Independence Day: A Toast to America’s Nat...
Musings Over a Barrel: Bourbon Independence Day: A Toast to America’s Nat...: On May 4, 1964 , Senate Concurrent Resolution 19 (S. Con. Res. 19) was passed, declaring that bourbon “is a distinctive product of the Unite...
Friday, May 4, 1945. The war ends in northwest Europe.
British Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery accepted the unconditional surrender of the German forces in the Netherlands, northwest Germany including all islands, Denmark and all naval ships in those areas.
The US Seventh United States Army captured Innsbruck, Salzburg and Berchtesgaden.
German forces in northeast Germany, Czechoslovakia and Austria begin rearguard actions in an attempt to reach Anglo American lines.
The Red Army too the Oranienburg concentration camp.
Konrad Barde, 47, German Generalmajor committed suicide.
Fedor von Bock, 64, German field marshal was killed by a strafing British aircraft while traveling by car.
Yugoslav partisans entered Fiume.
Last edition:
Thursday, May 3, 1945. Dönitz sends a surrender delegation.
Churches of the East: Neither Conservative nor Liberal
Churches of the East: Neither Conservative nor Liberal: Neither Conservative nor Liberal
Saturday, May 3, 2025
Best Post of the Week of April 27, 2025.
The best posts of the week of April 27, 2025
"Conservatives"
2025 Elections In Other Countries.
Last edition:
A Milestone (2,000,156 views), and Best Posts of the Week of April 20, 2025.
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