When Boomers lose it (Petula Clark's Downtown, the new Catcher in the Rye?)

 

Federal authorities say a 63-year-old Antioch man was responsible for a Christmas morning bombing that left the suspect dead and captured the nation’s attention over the holiday weekend as officials worked to determine who parked an RV downtown to detonate.

What motivated him is still unknown.  

But there are clues. Like his RV bomb taking out an AT&T switching station.

 Me? My thoughts run to tracking down the Apple engineers responsible for disabling the "not now" box on the "Apple account login required" window that pops up on all of my devices 24/7, requiring me to remember (incorrectly, apparently) the name of my best friend in high school after learning that "for security reasons, your account is locked". But I digress.

Maybe you have to be over 65 to relate to frustrations with a technology company pushing a man over the edge.

Even more intriguing, during the last several minutes before the detonation of the RV bomb - that exploded with said Boomer, Anthony Warner, inside of it - a hit song from 1963 blared through the RV's loudspeaker system.

When you're alone and life is making you lonely you can always go downtown,” blared Clark’s voice through the speakers. “When you've got worries, all the noise and the hurry seems to help, I know...Just listen to the rhythm of a gentle bossa nova

You'll be dancing with 'em too before the night is over
Happy again

Was Warner being ironic? Did he find special meaning in the lyrics? Or did he just like the song?

Anyone Getting the Vaccine?

 As a young ish last-responder,  there will be NO government needles for me in 2021 but maybe others feel differently? 

But before you SUBMIT, keep in mind you'll need 2 separate shots before it "takes" (i.e. before the horrible side-effects kick in) which means yet another full day waiting in line under the unflattering lighting at CVS or Walgreens.

Is it really worth it?

Asian women prove their hotness by earning more than white men

 And this man is responsible.

Well, not really. I mean, how many Asian women can one rich Boomer party with in any given month? The numbers don't pencil out. But I digress.

The actual subject of this post is this quote from Quilette.com

We are frequently told by commentators and theorists on the progressive and liberal Left that we live in a systemically racist and patriarchal society. The belief that Western societies privilege white men and oppress people of color, women, and LGBT citizens is especially popular within academic institutions, legacy media, the entertainment industry, and even sports. However, newly released statistics from the US Department of Labor for the third quarter of 2020 undermine this narrative. Asian women have now surpassed white men in weekly earnings. That trend has been consistent throughout this past year—an unprecedented outcome. Full-time working Asian women earned $1,224 in median weekly earnings in the third quarter of this year compared to $1,122 earned by their white male counterparts. 

Aside from the startling revelation that I have an Asian female "counterpart",  she apparently makes $2.00 a week more than I do. And her offspring will get into Stanford at a percapita rate vastly exceeding my issue. 

Therefore, can we agree that racism is dead and buried, but sexism among Boomer bloggers is alive and well?

Think about it Dan Hull and respond in the comments.

Merry Christmas. #WeAreAllFlyods

Sign in Dupont Circle July 2020

 

Anyone Else Tired of the AMLAW "Special Bonus" Whining?

 I'm talking most recently about the BS in the ATL pages regarding DLA.  I think that it started as firms paying back salary withheld and then ballooned as it got more steam.  Maybe there was also a component of throwing a bone to associates who missed hours bonuses because of things they couldn't control.  

But the way these DLA associates are whining is mind-boggling.  I just don't get it, why are they giving them in the first place?  You either billed your hours, or you didn't.  If there is upside from the cost savings... well that is what equity is for no?  

I am not even talking about how terrible it must look to clients.  

https://abovethelaw.com/2020/12/dla-piper-announces-no-special-bonuses-for-hard-working-associates/

36% of on-line California bar exam takers flagged for cheating review for failing to maintain their eyes visible to their webcams or faulty audio

 

Call me old school, but it seems that the more bar exam taking has advanced with technology, the number of possible bar exam nightmare scenarios increased exponentially. 

It all started with exams written on an old fashioned device known to Boomers as "the typewriter" (a kind of real-time printer, hooked to a keyboard with no memory, that preceded word processing). It seems that the devices required a power source, but had no battery storage, rendering exam-takers who boldly elected to step into the 20th Century by typing their exam answers at the mercy of the occasional random but diabolically timed power outage.

With the advent of mobile computing came on-line bar exam taking, with many humorous-to-the-uninvolved stories of web outages and resulting inability to upload answers to a mainframe computer within the required time-frame.

Having a preference for Bluebooks and Rollingwriters (and no, Rollingwriters don't have a feather on the end), I have had little sympathy for these Milinials and their new-fangled on interweb enabled exam taking, until now. Apparently, the ingenuity of the sadists at ExamSoft has literally reached Orwellian proportions. 

On-line bar exams are now administered with the taker's audio and video-enabled,  with the entire process recorded in perpetuity for the occasional amusement of Cal Bar officials whenever they get bored, apparently. The new exam protocols also employ facial recognition software to ensure that eyes don't wander to Jeff Toobin's penis BARBRI outlines. Or anywhere outside the camera frame. 

During a Dec. 4 meeting of the California Committee of Bar Examiners, Tammy Campbell, a program manager with the bar, reported that 8,920 applicants took the exam online. Of that group, she said, 3,190—nearly 36%—of the test-takers had their videos flagged for review.

[...]

If a determination of a testing violation is made, bar actions could include warnings; a score of zero for the flagged sessions or the entire exam; and negative marks on character and fitness evaluations, a bar spokesperson said in an email to the Journal.

According to attorneys representing test-takers and documents reviewed by the ABA Journal, issues cited in recent violation notices include examinees’ eyes being intermittently out of view of their webcams; audio not working, and examinees not being present behind their computers during the exam.

Meanwhile, bar court practitioners in California and in Tennessee (whose bar exam was similarly impacted with wandering eyes) have seen a surge of new clients.

Basically a win-win for the profession: More legal work, and many amusing stories!

Read the whole sordid story HERE. 

Here's a New One...

Although I enjoyed reading Pennsylvania's opposition to Texas's filings, my favorite part of Texas v. Pennsylvania has to be this newly (and improperly) filed amicus brief on behalf of the "States" of "New California" and "New Nevada":  https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22O155/163506/20201211114620451_Amicus%202020-12-11.pdf

I especially like the prayer for relief in the amicus brief.  Nice touch.  Why didn't someone think of that before?

2020 CC Holiday Gift Guide PLUS Guess Who Lat Profiles In His New Newsletter?

 Before you spend money on Xmas gifts that I dont want and will secretly return, please consult this handy CC holiday shopping guide:

1) Expensive champagne (but in those cute smaller "split" bottles)

2) $1000 gift certificates to Home Depot  (I had no idea hardware was so expensive)

Anyway, I realized it had been at least a month since Lat blew wrote about David Boies. So I was relieved to see Boies interviewed in Lat's new legal newsletter. Naturally he made the pilgrimage to Boies' house in upstate NY:

 "It was a gorgeous day in late September and we were sitting on the patio of his Georgian mansion, looking out over his 17-acre estate in Armonk, New York (and enjoying pigs in blankets, one of his favorite snacks)."

The whole over-long article reads like Lat was taking dictation (while simultaneously  dreaming of those sweet, sweet headhunter fees coming his way if he can make Boies Schiller sound solvent.)  One actual interesting thing: David Boies gets royalties for letting the firm use his name? ??  Here's the link: 

https://davidlat.substack.com/p/whats-going-on-at-boies-schiller

 

Michigan Vote Tampering Star Witness

 Trump's challenge of the election results has gotten pretty embarrassing, even to many Trump supporters.  Apparently the campaign's star witness is a woman named Melissa Carone.  She claims that she witnessed ballots being run multiple times and witnessed fraudulent ballots being smuggled in food trucks.  The judge in Trump's challenge to the Wayne County voting tally found that her allegations "simply are not credible."  A video just surfaced of her testifying before a Michigan House Panel.  Let's see how credible she comes across.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/trump-campaigns-star-witness-goes-viral-after-blatantly-false-testimony/2020/12/03/02593cf8-9ca2-4d76-91e2-2552c6cd040a_video.html

I have to be honest, when I saw that video, I figured it had to be fake.  She looks like Victoria Jackson in a 1980's Saturday Night Live sketch.  You can actually hear her smacking her gum.  Also, did Giuliani not prepare her at all?  The first thing that I tell every witness is "be respectful to the person asking you questions and answer the questions without interrupting."  It looks like he was even cringing, and he literally has no shame.

I'm no psychiatrist, but it seems to me that some sort of mental illness is at play here.  To borrow a clinical term, she's coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs.  

If I was ever running a case and she was my star witness, I'd advise my client that we should dismiss the case and hope we don't get sanctioned.

Anyone take liberties with a dog this year?

 

Anyone take liberties with a dog this year?

Always curious about Dog Enthusiasts.

News items, of course.

Thanks.