Osler's Razor

We all have one: a favorite place to read. It might be just the right chair, or a couch, or maybe a place-- a cabin, or the beach. Let's haiku about that this week.

It's very comfy
And Jack White upholstered it
(Don't mess with legend).

Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable formula, and have some fun!

I found this headline (in the NY Times) pretty alarming: Investigators Raid Offices of President of US Catholic Bishops. It's just another chapter in the never-ending sexual abuse and cover-up scandal in the Catholic church. This time around the focus is on Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston, who is the President of the Bishops' conference and who is alleged to have assigned a Priest to work in a parish despite prior allegations of abuse. The police felt they needed to raid the Cardinal's offices because of suspicions he was hiding records related to that Priest.

There are at least five parts to this scandal, which has engulfed Catholic Dioceses all over the country (and the world):

-- The initial abuse by priests
-- The failure of the Church to investigate allegations of abuse
-- The re-assignment of Priests credibly accused of abuse to new positions in the church rather than removal from the priesthood.
--  The failure to cooperate with or initiate outside investigations.
--  The pervasive attitude of "Let's move on" when the scandals have not been thoroughly investigated and the truth made known.

The "Let's just move on" take on things, where internal investigations are forgone or dropped, priests shuffled around, and secrecy maintained, has not worked well for the church. Mostly, it has ensured that instead of a few years of tragedy and pain, this scandal will consume an entire generation of the church. It's a terrible choice.

Nice haiku on leftovers, everyone (and I want to get lunch from Gavin's mom sometime), but I wasn't quite sure what Christine was talking about:

Looking forward to
turkey meets Asian salad
a la Bang Bang style

Can someone explain it to me?

I have a piece up right now at The Hill titled Some of Us Midwesterners Think Maybe Amy Klobuchar Would Do OK as President. And yes, the title is supposed to be a bit of midwestern humor!

As for haiku, there was some great work last week.  CTL represented Texas:

Teeth chatter, bones ache.
Wintry torrent sears, cuts, bites. 
Forty-two degrees.

The Waco Friend apparently spent time outside of Waco:

Walked to class on grass
next morn two feet deep on ground
Feb 67.

And Gavin had some great advice for those of us in colder climates:

Snow came too early. 
Need hard cold first for good ice. 
Pickups should take care!

(Advice for all my fellow ice fishermen out there. Watch the news for idiots in 2018 trucks going through the ice because it “looked safe.” Snow insulates and makes poor ice conditions underneath.)

Like many others, I have been rooting for the passage of the First Step Act, which I described in some detail this past Thursday. It was a limited measure, but one that would have helped a lot of people in the position of those we have worked with on clemency, including those with cases identical to Weldon Angelos, Rudy Martinez, and Ronald Blount (among others I know).

My own perspective is informed by knowing the success of those we worked with who were released through clemency. They have thrived, returned to their families, and become productive citizens.  It's not an abstraction; I talk to them on the phone and sometimes visit with them. It's very real.

On Wednesday of this week, President Trump announced his support for the bill. Then, on Friday, it stalled in mid-air.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell apparently decided not to bring the bill to the floor of the Senate this year, despite a promise to do so if 60 member supported it (and it seemed that this threshold was reached). He said there wasn't time, but many speculate that the real reason was that he did not want to go forward if members of his caucus were opposed (and of course some were). Pushing it to next year means starting over, since the composition of the House will be new, which will create greater division over criminal law issues, which may make broad compromise unlikely.

Now, I am responding to notes from mothers and sisters and kids of those incarcerated, who want to know what the prospects are. I don't have good news for them. There is a deep sadness that goes with that.

Christians like me believe that what happened to Jesus wasn't random, but that God allowed a life for his Son that not only shows us truth but illustrates what is important. Next month we will bring out our nativity scenes, which remind us that Jesus was born into poverty. I don't think that is an accident. Neither is it an accident that Jesus was a criminal defendant, unjustly tried and brutally executed. We are meant to care about those in prison. And if that is not enough, if that wasn't clear, there are the words of Jesus himself, who taught that when we visit those in prison, we visit him.

Faith means different things to different people. For some, it ennobles themselves and justifies safety and riches. For others, it points them towards sacrifice and those who are the least of those among us, the downtrodden, struggling and scorned.

In which group would we find Jesus?

It snowed yesterday in DC. I know this because IPLawGuy sent me this photo of his house and a short note saying "Bully on this weather! I have discovered a new cocktail of my own invention that I am calling 'Wintry Mix.' It is equal parts snow, Tony Chachere's boot seasoning, bourbon, and stolen rum. Oh, and do you still have that brace of pistols? Something happened with that one guy and the situation I told you about, and this snow has given me an idea." 

Whether you are a small child or a seasoned intellectual property lawyer bent on revenge, the arrival of the first snow is an adventure. Let's haiku this week about that first snow: What you do in it, what it looks like, etc.

[Note to Texans: You can fake it, or write about that one time you went to Colorado or that day when the rain in Houston seemed especially cold]

Here, I will go first:

I would watch one flake
Drift lazily downward, and
Catch it in my hand.

Ephemera, that
It lasted but a second
One moment of joy.

Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable pattern and have some fun!

1) A move towards data analysis as a tool for making decisions about those in prison and returning citizens who have completed their sentences;

2) A few provisions go directly towards respecting (in relatively modest ways) the human dignity of prisoners;

3)  This legislation recognizes that the BOP needs some monitoring; and

4) Files away a few of the harshest edges of sentencing law and practice.

That is all good. One major criticism: Many of the changes are not retroactive. That means that people will remain in prison even though they would be out under current law. That's unfair-- in the words of sentencing geeks, it creates an unwarranted disparity. Which in turn means that reforming the clemency system remains important, since that will be the only way to address that disparity and help people serving sentences far longer than they would receive under current law.

So, on Monday I took some flack from a few friends for revealing on the blog that I fell asleep while watching the Gilmore Girls. Which on the one hand might be deserved-- I did fall asleep while watching the Gilmore Girls, which sounds pretty pathetic. BUT.... I should mount some kind of defense of GG, if you haven't seen it (and maybe if you have).

The series revolves around a mother and daughter, Lorelei and Rory Gilmore. It's pretty much the story of white/wealthy/Yale privilege, as the two get bailed out time and again by wealthy relatives or people in town who just like them because they are cute and witty, it seems. Lorelei was a teen mom-- Rory was born when she was 16-- but the hard times associated with that all occur before the show begins, and the series itself is a cavalcade of martini-swigging Connecticut hijinks.  There is a lot of dating, by both of the Gilmore Girls, and they appear to share the same terrible taste in guys (they both seem to tolerate very rich men no matter how horrible they are-- and they are).

Rory progresses from a fancy boarding school to Yale (the major hardship seems to be that it is her grandparents who are paying for it). In that time, she has three major relationships, and followers of the show love to debate the relative merits of these guys. In fact, there is an entire episode of This American Life devoted to a Marine sniper regiment in Iraq that became obsessed with this question (and in the episode, Ira Glass turns out to have some strong opinions himself).


Guy One, who Rory dates in high school, is named Dean. He seems like a pretty nice guy, actually. He is kind to Rory and seems to be a hard worker, splitting his time between high school and working at the grocery store in town. Rory dumps him, of course. This happens about the time she gets into Yale, and it is hard not think that maybe she doesn't want to be dating a guy who works in a grocery store. Which was a big mistake. Well, that, and she started messing around with Jess.

About every ten years, I start on a new big project. That is, I'm struck by something way bigger than me that needs to be different, and decide to go after it. Usually, I have fellow travelers. Sometimes, I am on my own, trying to talk people into something.

In about 2001, that thing was the crack-powder disparity in the federal sentencing guidelines, under which those convicted of selling one gram of crack got the same sentence as those who sold 100 grams of powder cocaine. The ratio was senseless; it prioritized incapacitating those who were least important and culpable in the whole process of drug trafficking. Someone would bring huge amounts of powder cocaine into the country, someone else would wholesale and distribute it to major cities, in each city someone else might wholesale it into neighborhoods, and then another would sell it to street level dealers who would rock it up into crack and sell it. And who did we treat as the kingpin? The last guy in the chain. It solved no problem even as it created racial disparities and gross injustice.

So we fixed it. We won a few US Supreme Court cases in 2007 (Kimbrough) and then in 2009 (Spears) that declared that judges could reject the 100-1 ratio. And then in 2010 Congress changed the law and guidelines. We won that one, in a thousand little motions. I remember being up after midnight, writing a brief at my kitchen table, and being thrilled at what could happen, and what that could mean for people I will never meet.

Next, beginning in about 2011, I started to push the Obama administration to use clemency for narcotics defendants, and ended up working with a lot of remarkable people.  I wrote about it and even went on an epic rant at the White House. And that kind of worked, too, though not enough. And we continue that effort.

Now I have a new idea.

To the people who alerted me to the fact that it is nearly 11 am, and I have not blogged today: Don't worry. I'm ok. I just fell asleep while watching the Gilmore Girls last night, and then forgot that I had neglected to blog.

In a way, it is reassuring that people expect a post every morning! I've been doing this for over 12 years now, and it is good to see that people still notice.

And, if you are interested in great haiku, I recommend that you review this gem from the bi-lingual Medievalist:

Son caracoles,
¿Has comido alguna vez?
Será la primera.

(It´s snails.
Ever eaten them before?
It´s the first time.)

And Susan Stabile contributed my favorite (which may have been inspired by the same Hong Kong restaurant that Christine referred to):

"Very good stir-fried" - 
the only English he knew.
I think they were worms.

Elections do matter; that is one reason that I always vote.

But this might be a good time to remember that in our own lives, the choices that politicians make are not nearly as important as the ones that we make ourselves. My mistakes have impacted me far more than anything politics have ever produced-- and those moments where I chose well or persevered have benefited me far more than any act of a legislature.

Can politics fix global warming? Well, probably not. But our own choices matter, too. And there are times that the placement of responsibility on government feels like it is--in part--an abdication of personal agency. Yes, political bodies need to address global warming, but so do each of us as consumers and producers.

I am always fascinated by how people obsess over a relatively small raise in taxes, yet their own finances are a mess. Or how they might cry out about the civility of politicians, yet remain inattentive to how they are hurting others. And, yeah, sometimes that has been me. And it is important to remember that.

From Ruth Marcus's opinion piece in the Washington Post:

Sometimes there are things in the comments section that are way better than anything I have to say. That is the case this week, as I came across this from CTL in a comment to yesterday's post:

"Texas still offers a straight-party voting option (i.e., one click casts your ballot for all the Rs or all the Ds). When a big national swing happens, and when a majority of folks vote straight party, the judges and county officials down-ballot tend to get swept in or out along party lines. For example, Republican County Judge (weird name for the highest county executive), Ed Emmett, an 11-year incumbent who is highly respected by both sides of the aisle and revered in some circles for his response to Hurricane Harvey (and who is in the middle of a multi-billion dollar flood prevention infrastructure project), lost to a 27-year-old political activist. Republican Justice Brett Busby of Texas' Fourteenth Court of Appeals, a six-year incumbent who clerked for and later practiced before the U.S. Supreme Court (his wife was also a SCOTUS clerk) and was endorsed by every major newspaper and bar association, lost to a suburban civil lawyer with essentially zero appellate experience. These roles are only political in the broadest sense, and it's a shame that our increasingly national politics decide important local races. The same was true, by the way, in 2010 when some well-qualified and experienced democrats were swept out in the first Obama midterms." 

He's right, of course! What else happened in Tuesday's election that flew under the radar?

Last night's election results were fascinating and a little confusing. My friends in Texas who were devoted to Beto O'Rourke must be struggling with the results-- he came close, tantalizingly close.

Here in Minnesota, Democrats (or, formally, the Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party) had a pretty good night. In the district next to mine, US Rep Erik Paulsen lost to Dean Phillips, and it wasn't that close. As I noted here before, Paulsen spent a lot of energy dodging his constituents, which turned off a lot of people. If you have unpopular views in your district, you need to defend them or change them. And, no, the problem was not a "mob" when what you are dodging is a 4th of July parade!

In other news, I was happy to see that Florida restored the voting rights of 1.4 million people who have been convicted of felonies.

What did you think was significant in the results?

Yes-- it is election day! I love election day. I love going in to vote, and getting my sacred ballot. I love seeing the other people in the gym. I love the lady who says "good luck!" as she hands me the form and an envelope. I love watching the results come in, and frantically switching between three channels.

Of course, everyone has their own take on election day. "I enjoy it very much, also," IPLawGuy told me over the phone as he barreled down I-66 in his unrestored 1972 Dodge Challenger while drinking a Scotch of matching vintage. "I was just reading Daniel Fitzwater's epic tome about the contested election of 1828; I don't expect that you have read that?" I hung up on him and immediately checked out my dad's blog, which had some more direct advice. (You can see the whole post here).

Here is the beauty part:

I don't know what happened, but there was a veritable haiku explosion here last Friday! They included poems about all of the following vehicles:

Ford Escort
Ford F-150
Chevy Vega
Audi A4 (that one was kind of my fault; sorry IPLawGuy)
'69 VW
Saturn Coupe
Honda
VW Super Beetle
"Bessie"
An old gray wagon
Cooper Mini

... and many more!

Usually I highlight some, but they were all so good that I recommend you go here and read them all!

There is actually quite a history with IPLawGuy and Audi documented on this blog. For example, here is an early video, in which IPLawGuy recommends that prospective IP lawyers buy "A Chrysler product, or a defective Audi":



He returned to that theme later, when we went to watch football and he couldn't drive so we had to take the subway:

I'll be giving the sermon tomorrow morning at First Covenant Church, Minneapolis. Festivities begin at 9:30 AM, 810 Seventh Street in Minneapolis (across from US Bank Stadium).

I think it is going to be an interesting one.

Growing up, my family was close to the Plansker clan; the oldest kid, Jeff, is my age and we played a lot of two man baseball when he lived down the block on Harvard Road in Detroit. He's done pretty well in LA as both a director and (more recently) the owner of a fascinating-looking store called "The Bloke." And this year Jeff's wife, Kaya Plansker, has been a huge help working with some of my St. Thomas students.

Jeff's sister Laura just made a gorgeous new video for one of my favorite artists, Neko Case. Here is part of what Rolling Stone had to say about it (and it is kind of fun that both Laura and I have been written up in the same magazine, even with very different vocations):


And here is the video: