Saturday OT - 11/1/25: Odds an Ends
Good morning, good people! Don't know about you guys, but I got to sit in comfort this week, watch deer graze, spot a big raccoon eating something or other in the pasture, and made progress in making a friend out of the feral cat that hangs around the yard and barn.
I got in an hour of mandatory legal ed regarding legislative updates on criminal law. Well, our Texas legislative branch is curtailing the judicial branch for the second or third year. A war. This is similar to what is happening at the federal level. No balance of power for us!
Balance is good. Just take a look:
A friend here needed some advice about a legal situation concerning a family member who may be suffering from dementia. I found an attorney in Tucson and he called me Thursday evening, and the chit chat about the friend I was helping out turned into a friendship forever. Corporate guy who remains dedicated to protecting the assets of an elderly person over his own. Our talk about ethics and law and purpose our income being secondary was just heart warming. He refused to bill me, preferred to have me as a Texas contact and a welcome friend to visit him anytime. My fee for this effort was to ask for a sweatshirt featuring some famous French landmark or person, etc...
Then, on the same day, I sent some Texas probate documents to an attorney in Washington state to help his family with a probate matter. He insisted on paying me for my time when I knew he was doing his work for nothing. My fee? A sweatshirt featuring a picture of Mt. Rainier. So, folks tend to hate lawyers. In one day, 3 of them from 3 different states proved lawyers do, indeed, serve a purpose. They care.
A reason I went to law school:
Oh, and music played a part in influencing me:
Another reason:
The results?
Friends, this is an open thread, open to all topics any of you good people what to pass along to any of your friends here.
I just have no words to express my feeling of camaraderie with these two courtroom warriors. I sometimes feel my approach to my profession is just me, and on a single day, I hooked up with two comrades in arms. My hope soars!
Your turn, friends. Do your thing!
Comments
Happy Saturday, good people!
I hope nobody got poisoned by doctored Halloween candy. Seriously.
Lots of news going on, and I know you are finding it, so I encourage you to post it so we can all share.
Let 'er rip!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hey Texas gal
.
Glad you have positive feelings
for the roots of your profession.
Every little bit helps.
Another gorgeous fall day here,
albeit gusty. It is refreshing to see
the sun smiling.
Agree how music can be inspiring.
Thanks for posting the OT!
Zionism is a social disease
Good morning, Cap'n!
I heartily agree what music does inspire us.
It was sunny and warm for a while this morning, now it is hazy and chilly. I have dressed accordingly 3 times this morning.
I suppose what floored me the most was the Tucson lawyer. Big firm, he has been a judge, and he is chatting away with me about how my friend can save on attorney's fees. And this call was in the evening when he should have been spending time with his family!
We intend to go grocery shopping this afternoon. I want to do my best tomorrow to get prepared for the dreaded time change. Fall Back time. Ridiculous, unnecessary, despised by all. Well, when did government do anything sensible, much less helpful?
Have a great weekend, one spent in good health, good cheer, dear friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good morning...
Wonderful story of legal cooperation.
Our fall colors are beginning to crank. Chilly 38 F mornings the last two days. Halloween marks mid-Autumn. More cold weather to come.
Have a great weekend, and thanks for the OT!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good afternoon, LO!
Very few fall colors here, but what do you expect from pine trees? We haven't dropped below 43 deg. In fact, we are expected to have some highs up to 87 deg. this week and next.
My law school now offers classes about billing and maximizing profit. Let's face it, I am beyond Old School, I am actually old and resistant to changing my behavior. I did read an article about how EBTs have made big profits for Safeway, Costco, and Walmart. No doubt, they are putting pressure on their elected officials to get the money ball rolling again. I find myself buying groceries for the future because every week i delay, the prices rise. Today they are as cheap as they will ever be.
Enjoy your Trades Day and have a great weekend in the holler, dear friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good morning otc, thanks for the OT. Nice story.
Learned long ago that lawyers come in all shapes and sizes and all degrees of good and bad, so respect for you three. Pro-bono types weer an essential part of the movement back in the day.
Part of today's chore list is replacing 2 bulbs in the range hood. Only had one spare halogen stashed so had to get more, new ones are LEDs. This disrupts things because we set bread dough out overnight under the range hood lights to rise and I'm certain that the LEDs will be far, far cooler than the halogens. Time to devise another solution. Since both bulbs were dead when I made bread Friday, I used heating pads wrapped in towels, but there must be a better way. I'm wondering if the oven is enough insulation that I could get by with the hot water bottles from our camping days.
Farmers' market today and I don't have my menus done yet, so time to het that sorted, more or less. For sure, both chili and spaghetti carbonara, maybe fish tacos, maybe a pizza (there's that overnight dough issue again) or leek and potato soup, and whatever comes to mind mid-week.
Computer still a bit uppity, I think part of it is probably service provider and/or internet grief, but that shit is just locked in, so nothing to do about it on this end. Sometimes it is simply a question of patience. Example, the lst 2 days FireFox told me I wasn't authorized to visit certain pages of c99p, like new essay and my account, and would not let me sign in either. Today everything is just fine and dandy and all as if nothing eveer happened. Whatever, that's why I run 4 browseres, after all, at least one has to work ;-).
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good afternoon, el!
I don't remember the last time I bought a halogen light bulb. Nobody stocks them. Good luck with that.
Pro bono attorneys come out of the woodwork after a disaster. After that deadly flood up in The Hill Country, the place was crawling with pro bono attorneys. The effort was much praised by the State Bar. Kudos to them.
Your menu sounds wonderful! I want to cook up a soup or stew to take to work next week. I have a full kitchen there, but the phone rings off the wall during lunch because that is when working people are free to make phone calls.
I don't know what's up with the internet. A few months ago, my Outlook email account I use for business changed my sign in. It is a real process to get into the account. I open it in the morning, do not close it until I head out the door at 5 o'clock. Why? I've had the account for over 20 years. I always blame Mossad.
Good luck with the warm dough and menu. So far, it sounds wonderful!
Enjoy your weekend, dear friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Legal Comity
I was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in November of 1977. I quit active practice at the end of 1992 and my current status with the Texas Bar is suspended for non-payment of dues and non-reporting of Continuing Legal Education. Nevertheless, the State Bar keeps track of me and sends me a summary of my status every year.
While serving as General Counsel to UFCW Local 540, I became personal friends with some of the management lawyers. The key fact of life for them was and still is: Without unionization, they had no job. Many were candid about it. In those days it was socially acceptable to have a drink with lunch -- and I did a lot of day drinking with the guys I negotiated and resolved union grievances with.
I had better relationships with company lawyers than with union lawyers, who tended to be hard to hang out with.
When I got fired in 1985, I filed a lawsuit against my old union buddies and the UFCW International union. I drafted and filed the Petition in Dallas County and before long I retained a guy named Hugh Smith -- he was a union busting lawyer who specialized in fighting off union organizing drives.
I considered him a friend, but I discovered, shortly into our pressing of the case, that he did not know how to try a case. He was a master of National Labor Relations Board regulations, but he totally screwed up the first deposition we took, and I got other lawyers to help me with the four years of litigation that culminated with a three part settlement with the UFCW totaling $124,000.
I became personal friends with two different management guys that continued for many years after I had moved on from the jobs where I first met them.
As best I can tell, my old barroom negotiation schtick has gone the way of a good union wage. I find it ironic that today, with no adversity to speak of between most union reps and the lawyers hired to keep us at bay, labor relations professionals don't hang out together like we did half a lifetime ago.
It is nice to see human warmth still exists among mouthpieces.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.