Monday, June 25, 2018

THE WISDOM OF JOHN ADAMS

The second president of the United States, one of the founding fathers of the country, was a smart and accomplished man. He was the first vice president of the United States and was an accomplished diplomat, serving as ambassador to the Dutch Republic, Great Britain, and helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War. 
Adams was a member of the Continental Congress, where he met and worked with his future rival for the Presidency- Thomas Jefferson. When Jefferson defeated Adams, Adams sent him a note wishing him a successful term in office, to which Jefferson did not respond, starting a feud that lasted twelve years.
Although their feud eventually ended, their correspondence was infrequent and their rivalry continued. When Adams died on July 4, 1826, some of his last words were "Jefferson Lives". Adams was unaware that his friend and rival had passed away a few hours before him. Two of the most important founding fathers died on July 4- 50 years to the day they signed one of the most important documents in the history of the world. 

Adams knew the power of the written word, and knowing that Jefferson was a far better writer than he was, Adams predicted that he would fade from memory over time, while Jefferson's legacy through the written word would endure. 
Of course Adams was wrong, and one of his most enduring statements was:
"We are a nation of laws, not men."  which he embodied in the constitution of Massachusetts in which he authored the phrase  that the Commonwealth was a "Government of Laws not Men."

Which brings us to the most repugnant iteration of Adams and Jefferson- our current president who said over the weekend that immigrants seeking asylum in our country should be deported without a hearing before a judge:

“We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came,”  The president then said our system was a "mockery" to "good immigration law."

It is true our system may be a "mockery" to some. But it is a beacon of the principle that we are a nation of laws not men, and that we were founded on the principle that all men are created equal. 

It's just that when comparing our current president to Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, Reagan, Bush I, and Obama, et.al, some men are more equal in terms of intelligence than others. 

From Occupied America, where the President is now calling to close our immigration courts- and this is one more step on the path to book burning, imprisonment for espousing opposing ideas ("lock her up!") and finally a dictatorship, Fight The Power!

At various times we have received comments and emails questioning what we mean by "Occupied America" and "Fight the Power!"
Now that we have a president who is trying to shut down a court system and create a nation of men not laws, you know what we mean by Occupied America- we are occupied by a narcissistic man of limited intelligence and his followers who are equally self obsessed and lacking self esteem and poorly educated.  
And the "Power" we fight is nothing less than evil ignorance seeking to end our democracy.

But fear not. In the word of elder sages, "We shall overcome!"

32 comments:

  1. If folks who come across our border illegally, as opposed to reporting to a Port of Entry, which are the group targeted by Trump, and if they are screened, and the basis of their asylum request is financial misfortune or threats of crime, which are not bases to come into our country, what is there to have a hearing over. I would be more impressed by your progressive drivel if you took some into your home. The issue is what do we do to get them to come to a hearing. What is your solution?

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  2. That is so well thought out and written. You need to write a book Rump.

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  3. Re the ladies promoted from County Court to Circuit. Look at the law schools these new robe wearers attended. One from the worst law school in the USA,Thomas Cooley SCHOOL OF LAW. ONE FROM ST Thomas. AND ONE FROM Chicago-Kent. (what is that?). None from a good much less great law school. All are tier 4s. Is it any wonder we get these people who cannot get a job in private practice. Any wonder why our bench stinks?

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    1. Is there any wonder why you are broke?

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  4. 1:13, with all due respect to my colleague Mr. David o Markus, there is nothing- absolutely nothing- I like more than kicking the ass in trial of some AUSA who went to Harvard. Good schooling is important. But experience and ability in the real world matters more. I think all of the judges- and admittedly I have not appeared before them in County Court- appear to be well qualified, hard working, experienced and well regarded. Your critique is not well received.

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  5. Chicago-Kent is a respected law school in the Midwest. I have a good friend who attended and do believe Jeffrey Weiner--one of the top criminal defense attorneys down here--went to Kent.

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  6. To the author of comment done at 1:13:00 PM-- your critique of the women who were promoted and where they attended law school is without merit. If you have ever appeared before Judge Denaro, you will see that she shows the utmost respect for both the defense bar and the state. She is super qualified with her years of litigation experience and having been a division chief. The law school one attends, does not one make the mark as a lawyer....perseverance, guts, "thinking outside the box," and having life experience makes one a great lawyer. I went to top 10 law school and was taught that those who get A's become professors, those who get B's become corporate lawyers, and those go get C's-- make all the money.
    Give examples of how these three judges have not done well on the bench, before you start criticizing.

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  7. Hey, Monday, June 25, 2018 11:02:00 AM;

    You sir, are a lying MAGA hat wearing moron.

    The Family Case Management Program (FCMP) was a program kept asylum-seeking families out of detention and together. Families who passed a credible fear interview and were deemed to be strong candidates to have fewer restrictions — largely pregnant women or women with young children — were accepted into the program.

    Over the lifespan of FCMP, there were only 15 removals from this program, as opposed to more than 2,200 from ATD in the same period.

    So, we had a program that worked. Your racist Russian puppet ended it.

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    1. Kissimmee kid,
      The Russian puppet didnt end ATD, which has the exact same 99% court appearance rate. He just determined spending 5x as much money on the family program didnt make sense as the appearance rate was the same. Seems pretty logical. You seem to suggest the family program should have been continued...why?

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  8. I do not know anything about Judge Francis, but I have appeared before Judge Denaro and Judge Wolfson many times. They are excellent judges. I never bothered to check out their law schools since I have found that good and bad lawyers come from good and bad schools? Does 1:13 have examples of poor performance?

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  9. I enjoy kicking the ass of a lawyer from Harvard or Yale. However, there are very few of them doing trial litigation. They are too smart for this stuff. But I would hope the judges that are selected (not elected, that is a completely different story) would have a better pedigree. It just struck me that the 3 ladies that went from Kangaroo Kourt all had degrees from tier 4 law schools.

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  10. Anon @ 1:13, where oh where to start? First of all, they were judges who ascended to the circuit court from county court, so let's stop the "ladies" crap. Misogyny much? Second of all, the resumes of many people arise out of circumstance. We weren't all born with silver spoons and, at least IMHO, you get out of your education what you put into it. Some of the smartest people I know didn't graduate from Harvard or Yale. It's great to have the opportunity to get an ivy league education, and you're lucky if you had that opportunity, but it doesn't factor into making a great judge (or a great president). I do practice in front of most of our county court judges, and while some are not Rhodes Scholars, the vast majority are pretty smart, savvy, hard working civil servants, and smarter than a lot of our circuit court judges. Some "great law schools" make some great assholes, no matter what court you preside over, so get over yourself.

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  11. To the sexist jerk who posted at 1:13 pm today:
    First of all, why the F are you posting hateful comments in the middle of the work day? Have you no clients to interview, or no hearings to attend?
    Next, they are not merely "ladies" who were elevated to the bench: they are lawyers who have worked hard and have been recognized by their peers as worthy of this job.
    Finally, where did YOU go to law school, and what about that school makes you entitled to disparage these attorneys?
    You sound like a whiny little self-entitled jerk. If you think you are so great, why don't you apply for consideration as a judge - or run for the office yourself if you think you are such a legal scholar?
    Sick of people like you posting negative comments, but who don't put their names on a post.

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  12. I've learned not to put a lot of stock into where somebody went to law school. Academic ability and courtroom talent are not one and the same.

    Courtroom talent takes smarts and the ability to think on your feet, but unlike some people who are very good in academic settings (where the environment is more controlled), good trial attorneys can quickly, almost effortlessly, adapt to any situation, foreseen or otherwise. In my experience, high achieving bookish types with fancy degrees don't always know what to do if it's not written in a book or placed before them on a test.

    Don't knock St. Thomas or Nova or Cooley for that matter. Plenty of damn good lawyers have come out of there.

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  13. No offense taken. I was never a prosecutor. I love beating them too, regardless of what school they went to.

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  14. Coastal may easily be the worst law school in the country, they cycle from accredited to nonaccredited. It is EMBARRASSING to have a judge from that law school, a circuit judge no less. A circuit judge who spent less than a year on the county bench. A 7 yr lawyer. So ridiculous. But no we have a black female circuit judge! Renatha Francis cannot hold a candle to Ayana Harris much less Melvia Green. Go Federalist Society!!!! Tribalism trumps credentials and ability.

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  15. Law schools teach students how to be law professors. Learning how to be a lawyer or judge comes from practice and experience.

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  16. 11:42. I cannot afford to take a loss of over 1mm a year in fees to wear a black robe and pretend to be above all others who laugh at lame jokes and spend my days listening to lawyers argue over motions to compel and other nonsense that goes on. Once one attends a tier 4 school usually they get stuck working for peanuts at the SAO. Then after a decade or so they become Kounty Kourt judges and await appointment to Circuit Court. Thats why our bench is terrible except for Judge Hanzman and a few others, Cooley is absolute worse law school in the USA, bar none.

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  17. I don't practice in County Court. And idiots like you 10:07 mock those judges as Kounty Kourt because it seems so beneath you- right up until the time you, or a family member or close friend get a DUI and then you need someone like Bobby Reiff or Mike Catalano or many others who know the intricacies of that court system to get you off. There are dozens and dozens of crimes that are prosecuted in county court that can get a client deported or get a family evicted from section 8 housing. Tell a single mother of two working three jobs that she lost her license for a year because some idiot doesn't know how to handle a DL case that "Kounty Kort" is a joke.

    There are no small cases 10:07- just small minded lawyers like you.

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  18. 28 year old bartender millennial who calls Israel a genocidal nation just won the Dem primary in New York. (New York!)

    LOL, the Dem establishment must be shitting their pants. The Democrat Party is falling apart before our eyes. Remember, they needed to RIG the primaries to defeat a 75 year old socialist and force in the worst candidate of all time, in order to lose to a reality TV star.

    And who have they got lined up for 2020? Because of their investment in identity politics no white man will survive the primaries, perhaps no man at all... so Kamala? Lololol.

    Trump not only will get re-elected, and get to replace Kennedy AND RBG, but he will get to preside over the complete destruction of the Democrat Party.

    Wild times.

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  19. Fake Judge Arthur WintonWednesday, June 27, 2018 1:49:00 PM

    EPIC RUMPOLE SMACK DOWN. He's the best. Don't mess with him.

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  20. She didn't call Israel a genocidal nation. She said "GERMocidal". She was saying when she visited it was the cleanest nation she had ever seen and that germs didn't stand a chance. Get your facts straight. Fake News Dishonest Fake New media attacking a new politician really stinks.

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  21. An alien who gets arrested for a DUI cannot afford Mike or Bobby. They should be thrown out of our country as to not be a danger to society. As for section 8s who face eviction, if they cannot even afford chump change for the small amount of rent they should leave the country as well as they are not contributing to society. A single mother of 3 should at least be married to have children. And its just stupid to have 3 kids if she cannot even support herself. SHe should have kept her knees together and be married to have kids.....

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  22. I can guarantee anyone that the list of nominees for Justice Kennedy's seat are not graduates of Chicago-Kent (never heard of that) Cooley (the worst ) or St. Thomas. The graduates of tier 4 schools end up at SAO working for less than I pay my plumber. If they last long enough they battle with other bottom feeders to wear the robes of dade county Kiddie Kourt.

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  23. to the last two commentators, I allowed those comments to be published because the only way to beat hatred and ignorance (not to mention shear stupidity) is to shine the light of day on such pitiful thoughts. Congrats.

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  24. “The graduates of tier 4 schools end up at SAO working for less than I pay my plumber. If they last long enough they battle with other bottom feeders to wear the robes of dade county Kiddie Kourt.“

    Or, they work at the SAO/PD long enough to get their feet wet, then go out on their own,

    Plenty of former Miami-Dade prosecutors and former public defenders, well under 40, earning a quarter million or more a year in private practice.

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  25. 1:35's analysis is spot on.

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  26. I wish I went to Harvard Law.

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  27. Hanzman went to a shitty law school.

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  28. The new nominees for the Kennedy seat have earned their degrees from Harvard, Yale, U of Ga. U of Michigan, Notre Dame, U f Oklahoma, Stanford and Univ of Miami. None from Cooley school or law, Chicago-Kent, or St Thomas or Nova SE. In fact a lot of Broweird Judges come from Nova SE. Those who come form tier 4 schools lack the intellectual ability to become federal judges and dwell in the muck of the Justice Building for all of their sorry careers. But they are the lucky ones as the other bottom feeders troll the halls of the building picking up whatever scraps they can. So SAD

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  29. Mike here...sorry to rain on your parade but, I haverepresented a few illegal aliens. They were all very nice HUMANS...unlike Mr./Ms. 2:35 pm.

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  30. Donald Trump, the greatest republican ever and the future destroyer of the Democratic Party and probably the American economy was wise enough to employ a wonderful lawyer named Cohen who graduated from Cooley. If it’s producing maga lawyers it can’t be that bad? Right.

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