So, let's see how his trip went...
He went to Brussels, and while there, he dissed our allies, showed up late for meetings and left early, and then set the stage for a potential United States withdrawal from NATO, our most important and strategic alliance since the end of the Second World War, the alliance that more than any other alliance has held the Soviet Union and Russia in check for more than seventy years. His performance there was so disrespectful that the leaders of Germany and France, among others are openly talking about the United States no longer being a reliable ally.
He then held an impromptu press conference before rushing off to his next disaster where he crowed about reaching a new agreement with our allies, all of his own doing, forcing them all to accelerate their time schedule for meeting funding requirements imposed years ago for all NATO members. All was wine and roses, until the rest of the NATO leaders led by France came forward to say there was no such agreement reached. In other words, he lied.
He then went to England, and told the prime minister how to run her country. At least she did not publicly tell him to get lost. He then entertained the press by calling them fake and not worthy of anyone's belief, throwing aside any notion of freedom of speech and freedom of the press as guaranteed under the Constitution. The only reporter -- from Fox News -- who had any gumption to say anything did so out of the arena, well after the presser had ended. From there, he went to visit the Queen and broke protocol by buffoonishly walking ahead of her, seemingly ignoring her entirely. At least he moved to the side, or maybe the photographers did, so that we could all get a "he was there and with her -- well, sort of" photo.
While in Great Britain, he took the time for a side trip to Scotland, where he played golf rather than prepare for the potentially single most significant meeting of the presidency thus far, with Vladimir Putin. He did take the time, however, to pitch his golf course in violation of the emoluments clause and a few other laws.
From there, he announced that the European Union, made up of our closest allies with the possible exception of Israel and Canada, was our greatest foe. Not one to want to leave Canada feeling left out, his administration filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization over Canada imposing tariffs on American goods, an act that was solely in retaliation for his imposing tariffs on American goods. So, he has started a trade war with our closest allies over... what? We will ignore for the moment that he has done the very same thing to China, not an ally by any means, but also for no particular reason other than to show the world he could do it. China has now filed a complaint against the USA with the WTO. There is no doubt whatsoever that when we lose both complaints, or even just one of them, if he is still in office, we will be withdrawing from the WTO.
Just before going into the Putin meeting, he announced that all of the NATO leaders had called him to tell him the deal he had brokered in Brussels was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and that the meeting could not have gone better...
Except that none of the NATO leaders have thus far admitted to making any such telephone calls, and, in fact, their public words to date clearly indicate that they feel just the opposite. In other words, he lied again.
Then came the meeting and the press conference. He threw our allies under the bus. He threw our law enforcement and national security apparatus under the bus. He fawned over Putin, perhaps our most dangerous adversary. Putin admitted he worked to have him elected over Hilary. As Fox News later said, he just about admitted every allegation made against the Russians about the election, and he just stood there.
And then Cadet Bone Spurs said he believed the Russian and did not believe his own national security experts.
But e-mails!! DNC servers!!! Witch hunt!!!
On foreign soil, he endangered nearly all vital strategic alliances that have kept this country safe for over seventy years.
On foreign soil, he announced he does not believe our own national security experts, but believes a murderous despot.
On foreign soil, he openly courted our most dangerous adversary.
On foreign soil, he called our press liars.
On foreign soil, he spent time pitching his private businesses, you know, the ones he supposedly divested himself from.
I will make this short and simple.
Our president has given aid and comfort to the enemy while systematically working to destroy our foreign and domestic security and partnerships, thereby placing us all in grave danger. All the while openly disparaging the press so that his supporters will not believe a word they say to warn us.
Forget impeachment.
This man, and I use the term extremely loosely, is a traitor to this country and everything it stands for. He should be out of office tomorrow and arrested for treason the next day, if we can afford to wait that long.
Monday, July 16, 2018
Saturday, July 14, 2018
good-bye cruel world...
The cat has apparently been let out of the bag, because I am now hearing from friends and colleagues asking me to confirm one way or another, sooooo....
Yes, it is true.
As of August 1, 2018, I will no longer maintain an active private law practice. I guess it could be said that I will be retired at that time, other than coming back in either September or October to try one last case I have promised a client I would handle rather than hand the case off to somebody who would spend a week or two reviewing and getting up to speed on, not to mention billing the heck out of just to figure out what I already know. Other than that and some EBTs (depositions for those who do not practice in New York) that I will cover here and there on a per diem basis, July 31 will be my last day. The last day I have anything scheduled in court is July 30. Things are going to seem a bit weird for a little while after that.
Why now?
Well, why not now.
I am old enough so that I have been doing this for thirty-six years. Christine has been retired for more than a year now. Why let her have all the fun? But why now, especially when my clients still trust me and I think I still have what it takes to be successful in court and in the practice of law?
To make short of it, I am tired.
I am tired of a lot of things associated with the practice of law, which at least in the area that I specialize in does not, and never has seemed to have much of anything to do with good lawyering in the pursuit of justice, but more to do with winning at all costs. It burns you out, and fast. For a while, I thought about writing this essay and talking about what has gone wrong in the practice of law around here, but maybe that one is for another time, probably when I have had some separation from the profession for a bit, which would enable me to write with some clarity of thought and not say something I really do not mean. I did have a great working title, however, which has been retained above.
In the mean time, I knew I was done a few months ago when we were on vacation overseas with friends for about two weeks. It was a great time with great people, great food, great wine and Irish pubs to be found, so how bad could it be? It should have rejuvenated me to get back to it when we got home; however, less than a day back, sitting at my desk I felt like I had not been away at all. I could feel the embers of a burnout smoldering within. If you can be away relaxing for two weeks in Spain and Portugal and come back to immediate burnout, it's time. Nothing that has happened in the last few months has changed my mind.
It is time, soooooo...
While I still have the energy, some relative youth left, or at least what you can have in relative youth once you hit your sixties, while I still have my health, while I still have the love and companionship of a wife I absolutely love and adore, and while I have at least some means to do so, I want to travel. I want to see things. I want to be inspired, something the practice of law, especially in New York has not done for me.
I will spend some time decompressing from the past thirty-six years or so. During that time, maybe lightning will strike and I will figure out what to do for the next thirty-six years. Don't laugh. My grandmother made it thirty-six years beyond how old I am now, and when she died, she still had all her marbles.
Maybe I will copy my brother and do some painting. Maybe I will buy a kiln and try pottery. Somewhere deep inside, and I mean really deep inside, there has to be at least an inkling of artistic creativity hidden for the past sixty plus years just dying to get out.
Maybe I will fool the world and show you all I really can cook, and cook something that does not always end up tasting like chili.
Maybe I will keep writing down my thoughts here, but perhaps a bit more frequently now that I will have more time to do so. Maybe a book. "White Fluffy Duckies -- The Novel". One man's quest to be as longwinded and obscure as.... well, as an attorney can be.
Maybe I will spend a lot of time sitting on the porch and staring at that gorgeous Wyoming sky, the mountains and the horses in the pasture out back.
And Maybe I will end up putting on a colorful smock and stupid looking hat, and spend my days asking that time honored question, "fries with that?"...
But what I will definitely do is try to make up the time being a practicing attorney, even one who has practiced out of his house has taken from my wife and my sons. I will be with them, and not just as a body that happens to be under the same roof. They will get to see the person I wanted to be, for them and for myself, but foolishly did not have the time for thinking that I needed to get something done for somebody else who in the long run did not really care about what I was doing as long as I won. I owe that to my family, even if Jeremy and Jon are now grown and live in other states.
And maybe that will be the inspiration I have been looking for.
I am sure I will see or hear from many of you in the next few weeks and well beyond. In the mean time, I wish you all the peace, happiness and inspiration you seek.
Yes, it is true.
As of August 1, 2018, I will no longer maintain an active private law practice. I guess it could be said that I will be retired at that time, other than coming back in either September or October to try one last case I have promised a client I would handle rather than hand the case off to somebody who would spend a week or two reviewing and getting up to speed on, not to mention billing the heck out of just to figure out what I already know. Other than that and some EBTs (depositions for those who do not practice in New York) that I will cover here and there on a per diem basis, July 31 will be my last day. The last day I have anything scheduled in court is July 30. Things are going to seem a bit weird for a little while after that.
Why now?
Well, why not now.
I am old enough so that I have been doing this for thirty-six years. Christine has been retired for more than a year now. Why let her have all the fun? But why now, especially when my clients still trust me and I think I still have what it takes to be successful in court and in the practice of law?
To make short of it, I am tired.
I am tired of a lot of things associated with the practice of law, which at least in the area that I specialize in does not, and never has seemed to have much of anything to do with good lawyering in the pursuit of justice, but more to do with winning at all costs. It burns you out, and fast. For a while, I thought about writing this essay and talking about what has gone wrong in the practice of law around here, but maybe that one is for another time, probably when I have had some separation from the profession for a bit, which would enable me to write with some clarity of thought and not say something I really do not mean. I did have a great working title, however, which has been retained above.
In the mean time, I knew I was done a few months ago when we were on vacation overseas with friends for about two weeks. It was a great time with great people, great food, great wine and Irish pubs to be found, so how bad could it be? It should have rejuvenated me to get back to it when we got home; however, less than a day back, sitting at my desk I felt like I had not been away at all. I could feel the embers of a burnout smoldering within. If you can be away relaxing for two weeks in Spain and Portugal and come back to immediate burnout, it's time. Nothing that has happened in the last few months has changed my mind.
It is time, soooooo...
While I still have the energy, some relative youth left, or at least what you can have in relative youth once you hit your sixties, while I still have my health, while I still have the love and companionship of a wife I absolutely love and adore, and while I have at least some means to do so, I want to travel. I want to see things. I want to be inspired, something the practice of law, especially in New York has not done for me.
I will spend some time decompressing from the past thirty-six years or so. During that time, maybe lightning will strike and I will figure out what to do for the next thirty-six years. Don't laugh. My grandmother made it thirty-six years beyond how old I am now, and when she died, she still had all her marbles.
Maybe I will copy my brother and do some painting. Maybe I will buy a kiln and try pottery. Somewhere deep inside, and I mean really deep inside, there has to be at least an inkling of artistic creativity hidden for the past sixty plus years just dying to get out.
Maybe I will fool the world and show you all I really can cook, and cook something that does not always end up tasting like chili.
Maybe I will keep writing down my thoughts here, but perhaps a bit more frequently now that I will have more time to do so. Maybe a book. "White Fluffy Duckies -- The Novel". One man's quest to be as longwinded and obscure as.... well, as an attorney can be.
Maybe I will spend a lot of time sitting on the porch and staring at that gorgeous Wyoming sky, the mountains and the horses in the pasture out back.
And Maybe I will end up putting on a colorful smock and stupid looking hat, and spend my days asking that time honored question, "fries with that?"...
But what I will definitely do is try to make up the time being a practicing attorney, even one who has practiced out of his house has taken from my wife and my sons. I will be with them, and not just as a body that happens to be under the same roof. They will get to see the person I wanted to be, for them and for myself, but foolishly did not have the time for thinking that I needed to get something done for somebody else who in the long run did not really care about what I was doing as long as I won. I owe that to my family, even if Jeremy and Jon are now grown and live in other states.
And maybe that will be the inspiration I have been looking for.
I am sure I will see or hear from many of you in the next few weeks and well beyond. In the mean time, I wish you all the peace, happiness and inspiration you seek.
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