Month: April 2018

My meager knowledge of ethics is derived from experience, and on guidance I have received from my elders.  If I ever had a question about ethics, I knew I could always ask Alaska Federal District Court Judge, and former Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, James J. Fitzgerald, one of the finest men I ever met.

Early in my legal career, one of the fundamental tenets of legal ethics was explained to me by a veteran of over 40 years of legal practice.  This was the example he told me to study.

You and your client agree on a fee for legal services  —   $100.  He mistakenly hands you two $100 bills,  The ethical dilemma posed is this:  do you tell your law partner?

I’m about to lose my license to practice law in Alaska.  I have been given notice by the Bar Association that I will be disbarred for an ethical failure: to wit, I have violated Rule 66 of the Bar Rules.  I will resist this disbarment, but my chances aren’t good.  My fate will ultimately be decided by the Alaska Supreme Court, and none of these people have any use for me.  The feeling is mutual.

It is alleged that I have failed to file the form certifying that I have complied with Rule 65 (d).  This rule requires that I receive ethical training, by taking in a class in Continuing Legal Education each year.

The fact that I have honorably practiced law in Alaska for 44 years is irrelevant.  I, like every other practicing lawyer in Alaska, each year I must be subjected to a lecture about ethical legal behavior by someone with more knowledge about it than I do.

And, indeed, my knowledge is primitive.  To me, legal ethics consists of three rules

1. Don’t steal from your client.
2. Don’t lie to the court.
3. Don’t cheat your partner.

My disbarment would be stain on my record, but I will manfully take my punishment if need be.

My defense will be based on the First Amendment.  We all have the right of free speech, and I believe this right includes the right not to listen.  You can say any damn thing you please.  That’s your right.  I have a right to pay absolutely no attention to you.  This right is being violated by forcing me to sit and listen to some highly trained specialist in legal ethics for three hours.  I also believe my disbarment would violate the Eighth Amendment, prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment.

I have subjected myself, in the past, to the ordeal of being lectured to by my ethical superiors.  But a man can take only so much, and you have to draw the line somewhere.

My disbarment proceedings have just begun, and I won’t go down without a fight.  But my chances don’t look good.  The pride I have taken in my ethical behavior for 44 years is no defense.

So, for the first time since 1974, I’ll be able to say that I’m not a lawyer.

The commenters over at American Thinker believe Trump should wait until after the midterm elections to issue pardons.  I think they underestimate the danger that Mueller represents.

Ken Starr was appointed to investigate Whitewater.  He wound up putting Clinton in a perjury trap with Monica Lewinsky.  The powers of any prosecutor, special or not, are so broad they represent a threat to any American they target.  And Donald Trump has led a long and controversial life.  He doesn’t mind breaking rules.  If Mueller keeps digging, he’ll probably find something.

I’m suggesting Trump use of the pardon power to preempt this legal jeopardy that he is in.  I think that’s where Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch is coming from. He’s one smart lawyer, and I take his recommendation very seriously.

Trump is in danger.

The new map of three California’s, drawn by Cal 3, is little more than a proposal.  It’s very well done, but it has unnecessary flaws.  The part of Gold Country I live in (consisting of Mariposa, Tuolumne and Alpine Counties) is to be part of North California.  But we don’t want to be in a state dominated by the San Francisco Bay Area.  We’d rather be in South California, with Fresno, Orange and San Diego Counties.

Not to worry.  If this thing goes anywhere, Congress decides on the final map.  Our Congressman should certainly be able to offer this small amendment.  So I’ll be encouraging my fellow locals to vote yes.  Anything is better for us than the present.  Politically, it’s as though we’re nonexistent.

It all sounds rather improbable, but in the Age of Trump, the improbable happens twice before breakfast.

To be perverse is to deviate from the right, true or correct; to be obstinate in the wrong, willful; petulant, cranky.

When you despise your own heritage and history, even your own race, you are perverse.  It’s a hell of a way to go through life, a guarantee of peevishness and anger.  It poisons the soul.  And it is this quality that defines the snowflakes and inquisitors among us.  You almost feel sorry for them and their perpetual rage.  They are sad and angry people, miserable to be around, and a curse on our society.

True Christians can only pray for them.  Everyone else should ignore them.  It’s not worth the trouble to talk to them.  It’s like wrestling with a pig.  You just get dirty, and the pig enjoys it.