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June 30, 2020

Jean Kennedy Smith (1927-2020)

Jean Kennedy Smith (1927-2020). RIP. I liked her. I liked her feisty lawyer’s lawyer husband Steve, too. Quiet, tough behind-the-scenes upbeat can-do people. She’s the last of Joe and Rose’s kids to leave us. Only her late brother Ted was younger.

Posted by JD Hull at 01:11 PM | Comments (0)

June 28, 2020

All words have value.

“‘Tis needful that the most immodest word/Be look'd upon and learn'd.”

— Wild Bill Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part II

Image: HST at Duke University, Page Auditorium, October 1974

Posted by JD Hull at 06:19 AM | Comments (0)

June 26, 2020

Fridays.

It’s #FreeThoughtFriday.

For an entire day?

Pretend that you think on your own.

Below: Kerouac and Carr in NYC

Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

June 25, 2020

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Posted by JD Hull at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)

June 24, 2020

William-Adolphe Bouguereau: The Day of the Dead, 1859.

The Day of the Dead (1859), William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Posted by JD Hull at 11:32 PM | Comments (0)

June 18, 2020

Christ Falling on the Way to Calvary, Raphael (1483-1520)

Posted by JD Hull at 08:25 AM | Comments (0)

Be Here Now.

Get off your knees today. Resist the Mob. Be in the World. Think on your own. All that.

Posted by JD Hull at 07:00 AM | Comments (0)

June 17, 2020

I’m done.

150 years of white liberals enabling a failed culture is long enough. Let American blacks come up with a plan and do some real work for a change. I’m tired of Afro-American bullshit, excuses, self-lies, laziness, lack of discipline and self-pity. Get to work y’all. I’m done.

Posted by JD Hull at 09:24 AM | Comments (0)

June 16, 2020

Cops v. BLM

Please support our cops. Do not support BLM (“Black Lives Matter”)—a world class scumbag organization with scumbag leaders since its scumbag start 7 summers ago. However, the US Bureau of Land Management “BLM” is very cool and not scumbags. Support good cops. Condemn bad killings. Love black people. And good crops. Support Motherhood. But Black Lives Matter is a major piece of shit.

Posted by JD Hull at 05:51 AM | Comments (0)

June 15, 2020

Happy 805th Birthday to The Magna Carta (b. June 15, 1215)

Today, June 15, the great human rights document known to most of us as the Magna Carta--also the Magna Charta or the Great Charter--celebrates its 805th birthday. The Charter was of course imposed by feudal barons on the English King John Lackland at the banks of the Thames near Windsor, England, on June 15, 1215. By limiting the king's absolute power, and protecting the rights of at least some of his subjects, the document wisely signed that day by King John (1199-1216) became a critical building block in both English and American constitutional law.

The Magna Carta did two groundbreaking things. It acknowledged that punishment of citizens must be under the law of the land. More generally, it also gave rise to a settled notion, and expectation, that a monarch should not and cannot act on a completely arbitrary basis. What spurred the barons to confront King John? Answer: Taxes, mainly, without notice, over and over again, to pay for John's lackluster military campaigns on the continent.

A reprinting in London in 1600s.

Posted by JD Hull at 12:29 AM | Comments (0)

June 12, 2020

Get off your knees.

It’s #FreeSpeechFriday

Resist the Mob.

Be ashamed of your silence.

Get off your knees.

Posted by JD Hull at 06:34 AM | Comments (0)

June 06, 2020

June 6, 1944.

June 6, 2020. I’m not a churchgoer; I don’t pray much. But today I’ll likely do both. Seventy-six years ago this morning Allied forces commenced the Normandy Landings. D-Day. June 6, 1944. That, folks, is when I was saved. On that day alone, 4,414 Allied combatants died in battle. And 2,501 of the dead were Americans. I don’t really know what to say. Thank you so much, all of you.

Posted by JD Hull at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)

June 05, 2020

Rule 7: Know the Client.

See Rule 7: Know the Client. Every great client wants you to know him, her or it.

Take time out to learn the client's stock price, day-to-day culture, key management figures, industry players, industry reputation, overall goals and major things it tells the Securities and Exchange Commission. The client is publicly-traded, you say? Wonderful. You have much to read, friend. Also get a feel for what other credible sources--the client's website and public filings are not enough--are saying out there about your client.

Visit the client's offices and plants, too, especially if the client is small or privately held. Seeing live operations and key players moving around and interacting speaks volumes. Early on, and for every client, see as much as you can in 3D. Hey, it's fun. Do it free of charge.

Learn something about the client's history. Get a grip on its past and true origins. How your Houston-based petroleum or gas drilling client started out in 1884 in Indianapolis making pumps for bicycle tires will make sense, and maybe put a few things together for you. Even more importantly, history may tell you lots about the client's corporate "personality" and "culture", now and during the past 130 years. You may discover why the client now behaves as it does with its employees, and with vendors and competitors, or why it has a certain reputation in the marketplace.

By the way, in established and larger companies, my take is that corporate cultures and personalities--the Good, the Bad and the Strange--rarely bear any relationship to the make-up, character and day to day actions of individuals who currently lead and manage the company. And even if I'm wrong about that, personality, culture and atmospherics are certainly worth knowing about.

Finally, as you work for the client, does the talented in-house lawyer, GC or other client representative you must answer to actually pick up on your newly-acquired knowledge, nuances and insights? Yes. Absolutely.

Posted by JD Hull at 10:50 PM | Comments (0)