Born on the hottest day in 1958 in a hospital about a mile from my practice, son of a lawyer who was a lot like Atticus Finch, I have been appearing in court since I was a teenager. The people of my hometown are just plain folks who really dont understand how the outside world has made their lives complex. Thats where I have found work for I am schooled in the secret knowledge of lawyers. Enough about me, I now am told I should use this space to disclaim that anything I have said here or on any blog should be taken by the individual reader to constitute legal advice. Instead, if you think you have more than a passing interest in any topic I touch on, you should consult an attorney.
In international relations, is the world as wide open as it was in the 1930s when legends like Hemingway were made? Or did our post-WWII efforts to avoid war as a remedy to conflict by adopting international laws amount to anything enforceable? What if the parties refuse to act in good faith? … More Wishes for the Fishes: China and the Law of the Sea
Is this children’s book really necessary? … More What was the Holocaust Mommie?
Occasionally one encounters an individuals whose history is so different from one’s own, the telling of his life story renders our own to appear quite fortunate by comparison. Into our lives walks Henry, native son of the Sudan and now South Sudan, that country having gained independence in 2011. There was of course, prior to … More Out of Africa
For democracy, times appear dark. All over the world this means of governance, conceived in liberty as Lincoln said, is in retreat. In Myanmar and India, in Hungry and Hong Kong and many other places direct and blatant steps to reverse the advance of self governance has been either legislatively adopted or a stronger power … More We Here Highly Resolve
Hindsight is 2020, literally. What was that all about anyway? I mean who woke up on New Years Day 2020 mindful there would be a pandemic, rioting in the streets, Seattle downtown destroyed and abandoned, food shortages and more people passing away daily due to disease than we thought possible in the modern era? Not … More 2020 Vision
Late one night Karen is toiling away at the lab. Her instructions are to work as many hours as necessary to find some means of inoculating people from the Covid-19 Virus. She overhears a broadcast repeating President Trumps call to inject disinfectants to the body or use light waves to kill the virus . What … More New Superhero: Maxine Vaxine
This weekend the Covid Bored turn to the Bard for entertainments. I assembled some of the more memorable lines from the works of William Shakespeare thinking they might string together nicely. When I was done I was even more Covid Bored so I decided to Americanize the accent. This podcast answers the question “What would … More The Bard Goes West
In the extremes of human existence, few compare with the experience of flight, and in particular, flight of an armed aircraft over long distances over enemy held territory during times of war. WWII has provided us hundreds of these stories; men lost in the Sahara desert due to navigational error, men lost in the Pacific … More Remembrance Day: Flight of the Stirling
Sean Connery, the actor who played the original Bond passed away this week. Iconic both in fiction and real life, to me he represents a defender of all we embrace in liberal democracy as something to be protected in an age when authoritarian governments appear to be on the rise everywhere. When I say “liberal … More His name was Bond, James Bond
It is that time of year again. The leaves begin to turn and the rain returns to Seattle, and so do the alumni of the University of Washington for Homecoming. Except not this year, not if they value their health. Football was first cancelled, then delayed until November. Apparently a spike in the number of … More Homecoming
