In light of certain recent developments, perhaps it is time we review the purpose of this blog which you all so love to read and apparently love to hate.
The creator made the earth in six days and rested on the seventh.
Rumpole came up with the idea for the blog in about six minutes and finished the rest of his wine on the seventh.
The halls of the great old gray lady, the REGJB, were our milieu at the time of creation, with an occasional foray to the 3rd DCA and downtown to federal judges who mostly scowled and for some reason, felt the overwhelming need when we began pre-trial detention hearings to remark "now this is not state court and this is not a deposition..." We took it personally.
There are only so many stories in the Magic city at the REGJB, and therefore from time to time we ventured beyond our comfort zone. Along the way we have received a lot of praise, some well earned criticism, and some nasty comments from people who, quite frankly, are just jealous of us and have never created anything in their sorry little lives.
Which brings us to the surprising responses to our Super Spreader post on what we, in the post called "The F Word".
It seems out federal colleagues, many of whom are friends, are upset at the way we portrayed their CLE seminar and the unfortunate result that many of them got Covid.
So let's think about this for a moment. There were two ways we could have intruded on Mr. Markus's territory and written about the result of many lawyers getting sick from the seminar.
Way 1- "Hey everyone. A lot of people who went to the recent Federal CLE seminar are coming down with covid. Isn't that just a shame? Y'all be careful now and get better soon. Luv ya, Rumpole."
OR...using the sort of snarky humor that we bring to almost everything we do, we wrote about people going to a seminar, the alcohol fueled bragging about trial victories that we all know takes places, and using some creative energies, compared the event to the Great Gatsby, which lets face it, many of our colleagues (and most of our judges) have not read.
Do you REALLY think that we were criticizing the seminar for having men dressed in tuxedos and women in evening gowns strolling great lawns while violins played ? Or was that just literary license for having a little fun with some of the self importance of some members of the bar? Did we gently criticize people for not wearing masks by quoting, of all people, Rocky? Yes. Was it mean spirited? We think not.
But of course as Felix Unger said on the Odd Couple, "Legal minds may differ." *
And therefore, if Rumpole's way of reporting on the comings and goings of the legal community is just not for you, we invite you to exercise your first amendment rights AND NOT READ THE BLOG. Go somewhere else and read something else.
By now it must be evident to you, like all great artists and writers, we do what we do for an audience of one- US. If we like what we have written, and it makes us smile and chuckle, then, no altruists we, we have achieved our goal for the blog.
So we say to our stuffy federal colleagues, we hope you didn't get sick. We never intended to appear to delight in the misfortune of those who did get sick, and we hope everyone has recovered.
And in closing, we take solace in the Bard who, at the end of A Midsummer's Night Dream has Puck say this:
If we shadows have offended, Think but this and all is mended. That you have but slumber'd here, while these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, no more yielding but a dream. Gentles do not reprehend; if you pardon we will mend. Else the Puck a liar call, give me your hands, if we be friends, and Robin shall restore amends.
Of course, if it was a reach to think that the Great Gatsby quote would resonate, how could we begin to think that resort to Puck's famous speech would arouse even the barest sense of recognition? But then again, as we said, we wrote this for an audience of one.
* See The Odd Couple, Season 4, Episode 22, "One for the Bunny." Every scene in which Felix is in a courtroom is classic, and this one is no exception.
16 comments:
with the new civil courthouse under construction, when will it come time to give the old gray lady an overhaul? long overdue, it seems
Yes Rumpole you caught a lot of flack from people offended that you criticized them for attending a seminar and getting sick. The fact is that masks were required and almost no one wore one.
And I for one will continue reading a blog in which the author quotes both Shakespeare and Felix Unger, not to mention Rocky, and all of the quotes work. Keep it up.
GOOD MORNING MIAMI HEAT FANS. What a day for a game Five tonight of the NBA Heat-less championship series. We are all tied at 2-2 and the series is down to a best of three. Can the Celtics and their vaunted defense continue their winning ways and win one on the road? Will Step Curry, currently playing at a level of rarefied air that few achieve in any sport, keep it up and bag a championship and a well deserved MVP award?
Will any Miami Heat fan watch? (Nope).
Fins Up! hahahahahahahahahahaha
Do you really think Shakespeare wrote those plays? What a rube you are.
I think that I have read all those plays, memorized large chunks of most, and that's more than you and your coffee table book/cocktail party patter can handle.
I love when Rumpole plays the "anonymous" martyr.
From As You Like It:
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.
And yes- I play "anonymous martyr" so very well.
It really doesn’t pay to mess with Rump. He controls the board and his witty comebacks always win the day.
“And high above, depicted in a tower,
Sat Conquest, robed in majesty and power,
Under a sword that swung above his head,
Sharp-edged and hanging by a subtle thread.”
Rumpole. I’m going BROKE in the stock market. Help me. Please.
"Thou sodden-witted lord! Thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows "
Rump, very well put. I just love it when the Feds award themselves. Somehow they think they are high and mighty. In fact most have a highly inflated ego that most others do not share. At lunch a couple of years ago, in Sally Russell's I heard one Federal Judge great Fred Moreno as " Hello Chief". Like he was Sitting Bull. Moreno was never a good trial lawyer, Emmas, David and John Thornton were all well above him. I was greatly amused by that. And he loves to jerk young lawyers around in hearings. I know his game and he knows I know.
Thank God you cannot contract a venereal disease from the written word.
You're right, you can't catch a venereal disease from the written word.
But it amazes me that after more than 2 years there are people who still don't understand that there is a deadly disease that can be transmitted by literally just being in the same room and breathing the same air as someone else.
Why is that so hard for people to understand?
The Trialmaster cannot spell
Cry baby
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