David Rothkoff, host of my favorite podcast, Deep State Radio, but in real life an accomplished professor of international relations, coined the phrase recently, we are “Present at the Destruction”. This comment was a riff after the 1969 Dean Acheson’s book about his years at the State Department was published, detailing the prewar and post … More Present at the Destruction
Some men just have to serve the country. We learn during this interview of Gordon Fullerton he went to extraordinary lengths to join the service shortly after Pearl Harbor was bombed, then found opportunities, and a whole lot of luck. Once on the path he served not just in World War II, but also Korea, … More Gordon Fullerton. Veteran.
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
Scene: Barber shop with men waiting. Monsignor Mattie’s is there for a hair cut as well, reading a newspaper. A spread of Playboy magazines lie on the table in front of him. “Padre”, one of the other patron’s ask him “what do you think of all these dirty books?” The day this place loses it’s dirty books is the day … More Everett Elks Club : Man Cave From A Different Time
I can’t really say I was there, but there seems to be a striking resemblance between the fall of Saigon in 1975 and going to COSTCO on a weekend 40 years later. The press of the people, the indiscriminate objects left behind, the palpable sense of panic all smells the same. It is as if … More COSTCO Weekend 2015
Following the heroic if occasionally inaccurate The Longest Day, the next film to recount the events of June 6, 1944 was entitled The Big Red One, starring Lee Marvin and Mark Hamill. The film traces the experience of this unit, landing in North Africa, then Italy and finally invading northern Europe and comes close to … More D-Day: Part 2, Now We Can Look
I have had the pleasure of representing Veterans, most often in the estate planning context. Sometimes I think my courtroom tales curl the toes, but the truth is the conflict we address day in and day out is without bloodshed. The tales these men tell evidence more at stake and a privilege to hear. An older fellow … More Representing Veterans: They Have Seen More Than Anyone Should
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like movies. Movies take you away to some other place than your life for two hours, then allows you to return to the relative safety of the theater lobby. Most of the time the movies are about conflict. Often about war. There is something about conflict that is a compelling story. We … More In Harm’s Way
We few, We Happy Few We band of brothers For he that sheds his blood with me today shall be by brother; Be he ne’re so vile, this day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen now in England now a-bed shall think themselves cursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap while any … More The Greatest Generation
It doesn’t seem all that long ago that a young college student came to work for our firm. Sam had a knack for languages and we encouraged him to complete his studies while he was making copies of endless pleadings for us, mere mercenaries in the war between the men and the women. One day … More When Sammy Comes Marching Home, Huzzah
Lawyers Road Review 