SIGNS OF THE APOCALYPSE

Either the current state of Lot 26 OR the picture of the first atomic bomb explosion that caused Robert Oppenheimer such grief.

Lot 26, that bastion of peace and parking spaces is CLOSED as of Friday for repairs and software updates. Until then the lawyers who have that coveted parking pass, and police officers who park where they wish,  will mingle with hoi polio and park with the public across the street(YIKES)!

This is not good.
Mondays will be a disaster. Uber/Lyft anyone?  

'NOW I HAVE BECOME DEATH. THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS."

Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist chiefly responsible for the successful explosion of the first atomic bomb, quoting the sacred  Hindu text Bhagavad-Gita upon seeing his creation successfully tested. 

JUSTICE BRANDEIS

Before we get to the post, there is a contretemps brewing about lot 26, the lot adjacent to (for robed wearers that is "next to") the REGJB. Apparently cops and defense attorneys parking vehicles side by side do not mix. DUH. The FACDL got involved. Lawsuits were threatened. The cops responded by reaching for their handcuffs, and then Nancy Pelosi-like, Judge Sayfie got involved and settled the whole mess for apparently a few boxes of Dunkin Donuts. Drawing on the legal precedent of Korematsu v. US, defense attorneys, as enemies of the state, will be cordoned off. Lot 26 will be segregated to keep the cops away from the counselors. Separate but equal as it were. 
Everyone park and play nice. 

Justice Louis Brandeis:
On this date- January 28, 1916, President Wilson nominated Louis Brandeis to the US Supreme Court. After being confirmed 47-22, on June 1, 1916, Brandeis took his seat as the first Jewish Justice. Brandeis made his mark in first amendment, freedom of speech, and privacy cases. 

In 1932 Benjamin Cardozo was confirmed to the court, and the court had it's second Jewish Justice. Former Attorney General and Supreme Court Justice and noted anti-Semite James Clark McReynolds reacted to Cardozo's appointment by reading the newspaper during the swearing in ceremony and muttering "another one" to himself. And then it got worse when Felix Frankfurter was nominated to the court, which caused Justice McReynolds to exclaim "My God, another Jew on the court!". Previously Justices McReynolds, Pierce Butler and Willis Van Devanter had lobbied the president not to appoint another Jew to the court. 

Justice Brandeis was eulogized by Dean Acheson, his former clerk, and future Secretary of State, who said in 1941 when Brandeis died:  "In a time of moral and intellectual anarchy, he handed on the great tradition of fait in the mind and spirit of man." 

"In a time of moral and intellectual anarchy..." What a powerful phrase.

The more things, change, the more they remain the same. 
Where is our Louis Brandeis in this time of moral and intellectual anarchy? 

Lot 26 Woes

"Ebony and Ivory live together in perfect harmony."

So goes the song. 

Not so much for criminal defense attorneys and law enforcement officers. 

Lot 26, the parking lot adjacent ("next to" for our robed readers) to the REGJB, has become a flash point of sorts once again. This is the parking lot young ASAs tramp through every day, lugging carts teeming with disorderly conduct and DWLS cases while sipping Starbucks and snapchatting and walking right down the middle of the lot oblivious to the line of cars creeping  behind them looking for a parking space. 

But more of the issue is police officers who are not good neighbors, parking lot wise. Which reminds us, as Donald Trump is wont to say, tall fences make good neighbors. 


However, the problem  with sharing (a skill covered in kindergarten) is percolating just beneath the surface:

Evidence this rant, which went the  FACDL listserv equivalent of viral:

Good morning,

Several years ago those of us who pay upwards of $100 a month to park in lot 26 were asked to share the parking lot with law enforcement officers who get to park there for free.

Throughout the years there's been conflict especially on Monday mornings when the parking lot tends to be over full.

Below please find photographs of a particular law enforcement officer who chose to park in a manner taking up two parking spaces on a Monday morning.

If we are all required to share we should all be courteous to those around us, especially if you were invited to park in our lot for free.

If someone knows who this officer is please advise he or she that they would benefit from retaking the parking class at the police academy. Thank you

Here is defense exhibit one, which to be honest with you, is more like the work of a City of Miami Crime Scene tech, then a good and clear picture of the problem.