Catalonia Independence Referendum. Wow, what a mess. But entirely predictable. Spain’s government is and has always been an exercise in fragmentation. When this came down this past weekend I happened to be reading Orwell’s account of his fighting for the government in the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia. This past Sunday’s images from Barcelona … More Homage to Catalonia
It is 50 years ago. My sister and I sit on the Coca-Cola ice water chest in front of the Atlantic Richfield service station watching the cars emerge from the heat shimmers off the highway, then disappear into them again. It is about 100 degrees and really dry. Occasionally we have to get off … More Summers in Idaho
Five years ago while visiting family there, we happened to take exit 82 off the Garden State Parkway and find ourselves in Seaside Heights, a beach resort on New Jersey’s central coast. As it turned out, this was just weeks before Hurricane Sandy devastated the island. This summer I packed my digital recorder and we … More Hurricane Sandy and the Resilience of New Jersey
What is it about Everett, anyway? People are born here, live out their lives here and die here, never leaving, never seeing a reason to leave. This audio is about a lovely Friday evening in Everett, and commentary about the town and what we do here in the summer then segues into a commentary about … More What is it about Everett, anyway?
Mr. Trump could learn a few things from his predecessor, Richard Nixon. This weekend the New York Times is reporting on President Trump’s financial disclosure made Friday. The report shows holdings with foreign countries and what appears to this lawyer to be a conflict of interest at best and a foreign emolument at worst. Wading … More Richard M. Nixon on Financial Transparency of Public Servants
Consider if you will a Europe still dominated by fascist governments like Nazi Germany. Or a Pacific ocean where Imperial Japan remained the dominant force. Or a step further, what if communism had prevailed? In this podcast I take up the selfless heroes we remember at this time who made the way it is possible. … More Memorial Day is for the Fallen
It’s a random war without front lines. All of us are soldiers. At stake is liberal democracy and our way of life. What is it Mel Gibson said in Braveheart? “They can take our land but they cannot take our freedom”. Today it is the other way around, they cannot take our land, but they … More Manchester. United.
Conflict is a constant. Here is a 20th century exhibit. At the end of the Munich Crisis in 1938, a last ditch effort to avoid the Second World War, after all the other concessions had been made in favor of Germany, Neville Chamberlain asked Adolf Hitler to sign a pledge not to go to war … More I have here, from Herr Hitler, a piece of paper.
Dogs put up with a lot, particularly what people name them. Imagine the what David Eitner, Doctor of Veterinarian Medicine comes across in his daily practice. I casually mentioned to him the prevalence of pretentious names people give their dogs I have encountered and he had plenty to say. It is hard to think of … More Dog Biscuits
Federico Garcia Lorca was a poet and a play write. He said what he thought at a time when people were willing to kill over ideas. I post today a podcast about his view of what the road means. Some metaphor for my own perhaps, “there is refuge in the road”. A statue of him … More Poet Martyr Federico Garcia Lorca
Lawyers Road Review 