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January 30, 2017
Pantheon: Sarah Silverman.
"I don't set out to offend or shock, but I also don't do anything to avoid it."
Posted by JD Hull at 11:35 PM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2017
Unpopularity.
For five years, I've been active on Facebook.* My Facebook "friends" is a chronological collection people I knew and still know: growing up in Chicago, Detroit and Cincinnati, in college and law school, as a lawyer in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and California, and working or developing business in Europe, Canada, Central and South America. Finally, there are those I've met recently in real life or sometimes digitally (for now) who I want to know more about.
My Facebook friends inhabit a kind of upscale but eclectic zoo of generally well-educated humans. In fact, what I really like about Facebook is the fact that my friends are a mixed group politically, culturally and geographically. People think differently. Sometimes they clash. Which is a very good thing. The very last thing I want in my life is for everyone to think, feel, talk and act alike.
Anyway, I still see myself as a traditional and hopefully classic liberal--culturally and politically--even though I registered Republican in June 2017 as a sort of symbolic note to myself on how much I have changed. Sure, I then went ahead in November and as planned voted for Hillary Clinton--who I've never seen as lefty but a moderate liberal in the same mold of our new POTUS Donald Trump. Like Trump, HRC to me is a pragmatic non-ideologue manager who likes and is comfortable with power. Two days after Trump was inaugurated, I commented in a short status post on the Facebook the following:
Quick and dirty:
1. I'm not a Conservative or Libertarian. At least I don't think I am or know very much about The Right.
2. But my respect for those of you who really are rises daily.
3. For years you've been patient, strong, often bit your tongues and endured self-righteous abuse.
4. A hat tip and kudos. Wow.
I hope it speaks for itself. I wish I had more time to expand on the above idea. There is so much more to say. Apparently, I now either: (a) think more like people on the Right, or (b) at least understand people on the Right well enough to sense how genuinely isolated, disliked and even lonely it was for many Conservatives and even moderate country club Republicans during some of the Clinton years, and certainly in the last eight Obama years. The Right--who in my view all down the line and spectrum seem by far to have the best grasp of the Constitution (and particularly the First Amendment--in many quarters were of necessity and presumptively shoddy, immoral, brutish, unenlightened humans.
It's the same with "liberals", of course. They are outnumbered and alienated in countless venues across the country. Often pariahs in small towns or rural areas in the Midwest and South. I get that. But an overall liberal precept and status quo during the Obama years on a level not experienced seen before in America must have frustrated and at times even discouraged or angered cultural or political conservatives. Liberalism got loud and cocky. Conservatives, Libertarian and even Centrists were in effect told their ideas were a form of Wrong-Think. That they were bad people. It got so bad that very often they must have been afraid to even speak.
*Which, incidentally, after much kicking and screaming in the beginning, I now view as a not only fun but productive and "transformative" social media platform for every lawyer in private practice.
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Posted by JD Hull at 04:36 AM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2017
I'm an HRC voter. I wish our new POTUS Donald J. Trump well.
I wish our new POTUS well. A few things:
1. I've worked as an employee for Congress twice--a Democratic Senator and GOP Representative, both from large northern diverse states.
2. National politics and particularly civil rights activism have been a big part of my life as a doer and writer since I was quite young and continued into my grad student and lawyering years.
3. I've voted for a GOP candidate only once: 2008.
4. Until recently, I was a registered Democrat.
5. After I registered GOP for first time in 2016, I still voted for HRC. I helped raise money for her.
6. I'm excited about the next 4 years--but also a little sad.
7. Several of my friends on The Left and even longtime Dem colleagues either have become temporarily unhinged or--and this is more likely--were never Liberals to begin with.
8. It's hard to watch. I'm still a liberal. And I'm optimistic--as I am about everything--that liberals will find their way and voice again.
9. Right now? Many liberals dislike free speech and expression, new and different ideas, open discourse and honest news reporting. Many have them have no clue about who their fellow Americans are. They have not traveled. They haven't met people who are different from them or who live in different parts of America. And they don't even talk to them.
10. We can do better.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2017
The Goal of the Women's March?
Is there a reason for the Women's March in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, January 21? Has a reason even been given yet? If someone will lend me a camera with an attached audio-video professional, I'd be happy to interview Saturday's marchers on why they march. I promise you the funniest video footage since my 6th grade girlfriend farted like a deckhand at Indian Hill Dancing School during a Righteous Brothers song.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:34 AM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2017
Hermann Hesse: Deliverance.
It was at a concert of lovely old music. After two or three notes of the piano the door was opened...to the other world. I sped through heaven and saw God at work. I suffered holy pains. I dropped all my defences and was afraid of nothing in the world. I accepted all things and to all things gave up my heart.
Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:41 AM | Comments (0)
January 12, 2017
Forbes on Good Client Hunting.
See this one at Forbes today: 10 Characteristics To Look For In Your Next Client.
Posted by JD Hull at 03:24 PM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2017
Jeff Sessions
Good luck today, sir.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:19 AM | Comments (0)
January 09, 2017
Season 3: One Night/One Person.
Some of you are familiar with One Night, One Person, the program to help homeless outdoor sleepers on the 30 or so coldest nights a year when hypothermia thresholds are exceeded in certain American and European cities. This is year 3 of One Night, One Person. Cleveland lawyer Peter Friedman and I started it in the winter of 2014-2015. It's really simple. Bear with me a moment.
In short, it's a keep-people-alive initiative for the coldest nights.
As an (a) Eagle Scout, (b) Lifelong Camper and (c) All-Weather Philanderer, I assure you that sleeping in cold or the snow is not all that fun. At times, it's not even a choice. Jack London and Hans Christian Andersen wrote enduring stories about death from hypothermia. Happens above freezing temps, too. So consider more than ever (and right now) One Night, One Person. Instructions below.
You're a Yuppie, professional or other generic dweeb between the ages of 22 and 82. You live in towns like New York City, Philly, Boston, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Wilmington, DC or Chicago. You may live in the suburbs or in a downtown neighborhood of these cities. But if you work during the day in a downtown area of any of them, you and yours will go forth and do this:
1. Pick out and ask a homeless woman or man what articles of warm clothing she or he needs that you already have at home or in storage--thermal gloves, wool scarfs, warm hats and beanies, big sweaters, winter coats, thermal underwear, socks, etc.
2. Ask just one person at a time.
3. Agree on a time to meet (preferably at the same place) later that day or the next day.
4. Find the winter stuff you have at home or in storage.
5. Bring said stuff to the homeless woman or man as agreed.
6. Nine out of ten times, your new friend will be there when you show up.
7. Wait for forecasts of the next super-cold night--and repeat.
Posted by JD Hull at 01:59 PM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2017
Five Corporate Lawyer Stereotypes: "No. 2: The Risk-Averse Weenie..."
And from comments made in September at ATLS.
1. The Business Sense-Challenged Litigator. Tries business cases. Has zero business sense, biz talent, biz experience, biz understanding or biz chops. GCs often learn too late.
2. The Risk-Averse Weenie. Most of us.
3. The Secretly Embittered Lawyer. Hates lawyering but likes dressing up. Suddenly likes lawyering career after 3 beers with buddies on Friday afternoon. Claims to have read The Bramble Bush. Always mentions he's a lawyer to anyone he meets. Anyone. Everyone. House pets.
4. Litigation Partner Who Has Never Picked a Jury. Settles a lot. Spotted easily at first status conference.
5. The Polymath Transactional Lawyer. Quiet, creative, hardworking, reasonably contentiousness--and actually smart. Regularly embarrassed by the mediocrity, semi-literacy & shallowness of most litigators. Could be a tax lawyer, too; many are surprisingly well-educated, cultivated, accomplished, well-traveled and well-rounded.
Non-stereotypical American business lawyers, Budapest 2009.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:14 PM | Comments (0)
January 01, 2017
'Oh New York City you talk a lot...'
You look like a city. You feel like a religion.
--L. Nyro, 1969
Paramount newsreel cameraman works the Easter Parade, 1948. (Bettmann/CORBIS)
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)