Osler's Razor

It's that time again! They are having a football game on Sunday, and it will be kind of a big deal. Lots of build-up and crazy talk. Expensive ads. Focus on things many observers never care about at any other time.

So let's haiku about the Super Bowl! Here, I will go first:

The Forty-Niners;
Is that name kind of goofy?
And then we have "Chiefs...."


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

I have been devoting Wednesdays on my blog to profiling my classmates in the Yale Law class of 1990, who are out doing some fascinating things in the U.S. and beyond.

Many of my classmates have gone on to be professors, but if I had the chance to sit in on one of their classes, I might well pick Prof. April Cherry's class on Women and the Law at Cleveland State Law School. Based on what I know of her, I would love to learn from her.

Prof. Cherry came to Yale from Vassar, where she had graduated with honors. She excelled at Yale, too, where she was a Senior Editor of the Law Journal. After Yale, it did not take her long to find her way to the academy, first at Florida State and then at her current home.

The focus of her work is on women, reproductive rights, and ethics-- topics at the center of some our most important national debates. It takes a certain bravery to enter into those debates, and I admire those who do. Her work isn't an abstraction, either; it connects theory and thought to what is really going on in our world, sometimes out of reach of the law. For example, one of her articles is titled "The Rise of the Reproductive Brothel in the Global Economy: Some Thoughts on Reproductive Tourism, Autonomy, and Justice." You can download it here, and if you do you might find (as I did) that there is a world of international reproductive commerce out there (surrogacy) that has raised a new wealth of important questions about bodies, rights, and exploitation.

The world is better because of the people who raise up the unseen, and Prof. Cherry is one of those valuable people.

Maybe everyone doesn't find laundry as exciting as I do. It's possible, I guess.

Anyways, there were some excellent haiku. Like this from the Waco Friend, who claims long expertise in the doing of laundry:

Laundry of kids'clothes
is chemistry and needs a
chemist or stains thrive.

And (also from Waco), the Medievalist (who apparently folds his t-shirts):

Dirty clothes basket,
The mountain grows, it overflows,
Folding clean t-shirts.

James K. Plok (?!?) offered a good one:

Oh no- big problem.
Who put the crayons in here?
Burnt Umber nightmare.

IPLawGuy gave us this verse:

It is quite easy-
My valet does all my wash.
Isn't that the best way?

And, as we are often gifted with, Jill Scoggins sent this along:

In heaven, I say,
we will still have laundry. It's
TRULY eternal.

The Oscars are going to go without a host again this year. Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globes, and his performance might offer some insight into the wisdom of that choice:

I love laundry.  It smells good when it is clean, it is nice and warm out of the dryer, and there is something so quantifiable about having it done!

Let's haiku about laundry this week-- do with this as you will.

Here, I will go first:

We all must face it:
The big pile of dirty clothes.
Ah! What sweet labor.

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

Yesterday was a messy blur-- I had my first crim law class of the spring (good) and too much other stuff going on to properly keep track of (bad), so I am just catching up on it all now. From what I gather, Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty somehow killed Mr. Peanut, which is a real gift to America's peanut-allergy community. Thank you Gritty!

And then there is the impeachment.

I'm a criminal trial lawyer. The idea of a contested trial without witnesses is ridiculous. The Constitution in unambiguous in setting out that the House presents a charge (which they have) and the Senate conducts a trial . People at the time of the founding of the Republic-- particularly lawyers like James Madison-- knew what a trial was. The leverage of political power to protect the president in an impeachment from merely the presentation of witnesses is a travesty. That's not a trial. That's just not what the Constitution requires.

There are Republican Senators who are trial lawyers like me. They know this is ridiculous. And they say nothing.

It's wrong, and infuriating.  Vote to acquit, if you think there is nothing there, but to bar the presentation of evidence marks you as unprincipled political lapdogs.

And now we don't even have Mr. Peanut to console us.

Wow! What great haiku on an admittedly goofy subject. My personal favorite was this, from Gavin, because I thought it really caught the essence of working dogs (the only kind I really like, and I like them a lot):

She flushed the pheasant.
I shot and missed. It flew off.
She sat, glared at me.

Here is a familiar tale to many dog owners:

When I put on shoes
My dog starts levitating
"Going for a walk!"

And then we had this epic poem from Jill Scoggins:

Rain means Rusty poops
in the house. He has no guilt.
"I poop where I want!"

Storms mean Rusty shakes,
whimpers. He runs to us. "Don't
desert me hoo-mans!"

Wind means Rusty lets
the breeze blow in his face. "So
many smells to smell."

Sun means Rusty lies
in its warmth, stretching, sleeping.
"This is my purpose."

And Christine's tribute:

We begin a dance
Pre-dawn ritual
nudges me with nose

He murmurs - uhm, uhm,
Feigning sleep, roll to middle
of bed and settle

He snuggles along
my back, a gentle massage
our breathing in sync

My eyelids flutter
Change is sensed, he stares at me
An hour has past

I say morning Bear
he licks my face, eyes longing
Mom, time to feed me.

And this from Kitty:

Charlie loves the couch.
Riley used to lie there too.
They share a bed when they must.

And the Medievalist's contribution:

Unless it's herring,
Go away and let me sleep,
Sunshine in winter.

And finally, this from IPLawGuy (who may have too many pets):

Something is afoot
cats are getting suspicious
Great Dane on the way.

If you have been wondering what Bill Underwood has been up to as President of Mercer University, the answer is... some pretty interesting stuff!

One of his projects was recently feature on PBS Newshour-- you can check it out here.

Of course, in the past he has come up with some pretty fascinating projects, like the New Baptist Covenant:

Pets seem to spend a lot of time thinking. Lying on the carpet in a sunbeam, deep in thought. What the heck are they thinking about? Let's haiku about that this week.

Here, I will go first:

First of all, I would like people toward a great podcast I got to be a part of by Jillian Wienberger over at Vox's The Impact. She focused on something I think is very important--the way Gerald Ford analyzed and granted thousands of pardon cases-- and showed how it is affecting the current Democratic presidential contenders. It was really a pleasure to work with her. You can hear it here.

Second, about Tuesday's debate...

I'm sad that there is so much focus on the tiff between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. If they got into a scrap over some policy issue, good for them. But instead they are at odds over a leak-driven media scrum over a possibly misinterpreted comment in 2018. I'm not going to rehash it here. But, frankly, I have heard many people say that they don't think a woman can win in 2020, and every one of those saying that to me was someone who had supported Hillary Clinton, been crushed by her defeat, and took away from that experience the belief that misogyny in the United States runs so deep that it cannot be overcome by even the best candidate.

I understand that take on things, but I disagree. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 3 million. Trump won the electoral college by 80,000 votes in three key states. Redistribute even a little of Clinton's votes, and we would have had a woman president. It was a razor-thin loss. I think that tiny hill can be surmounted, even while acknowledging the role of misogyny in American politics. (And all that is setting aside the fact that Grar the Giant Female Panda almost won in 2008).

There were four great candidates up on that stage, and two of the four are women. This is going to be an interesting year...

Over the past several months, I have devoted Wednesdays on the blog to profiling my classmates in the Yale Law class of 1990.  Today I'm listing those who have been profiled so far, with a link to each profile. Enjoy!

Amy Adler, Professor, Art law expert
Cornell William Brooks, Harvard Prof., NAACP Pres.
Elizabeth Barrett-Brown, Global environmental advocate
Hon, Jeb Boasberg, DC Circuit
Michelle Browdy, General Counsel of IBM
Rev. Kelly Carlson, Episcopal Priest
Pauline Chen, Professor and author
Hiram Chodosh, Pres. of Claremont McKenna College
Stephanie Dangel, Prof. and arts administrator
Ari Fitzgerald, Law firm partner, Pres. of the Duke Ellington Fund
Vernon Grigg, Fair elections advocate
Hon. Pam Harris, 4th Circuit
Nancy Kestenbaum, The lawyer you want when your company is in trouble
Geoffrey Klineberg, Pres. of the DC Bar, firm partner
Roger Leishman, Lawyer, advocate, dad
Charles McKenzie, Law firm lawyer, 1965-1992
Denise Morgan, Prof., constitution drafter, school financing hero, 1964-2006
Jon Nuechterlein, Telecommunications Lawyer of the Year (and probably decade)
Michael O'Connor, Prof., Bryan Stevenson collaborator, film-maker
Fred Phillips IV, Company creator
Mike Proctor, Legendary defender
Martin Antonio Sabelli, Leader of the criminal defense bar
Judith Sandalow, Children's rights advocate
Lucia Sileccia, Catholic social thought leader
Hon. Rich Sullivan, 2nd Circuit
Joe Tsai, Alibaba co-founder
Ted Wang, Social justice entrepreneur
Alex Whiting, Harvard Prof., Prosecutor of war criminals
David Yassky, NYC Councilman, Taxi Commissioner, Dean

Just leaving this here because it is awesome.

OK, y'all outdid yourselves with a goofy subject.

I don't usually reprint anonymous comments (I allow anonymity but don't encourage it), but this haiku was just too awesome to ignore:

Bloodie flux and lice —
Nathaniel Bacon’s demise.
Took the hangman’s job.

We also had a great entry from Jill, based on lived experience:


And the Medievalist chimed in:

Runny nose, headache,
The common cold is common,
Lying down again.

And IPLawGuy:

Antibiotics.
Go to Student health center
Maybe not so wise.

And finally, for the first time in a while, Jon from YLS (employing one of my favorite words):

Leaves are brown; sky gray..
Deep malaise and swollen glands.
Sinus infection.

My sermon from last week (on Genesis 4:1-16, the Cain and Abel story) is now available here. I hope you will give it a listen.

I got to give this sermon because I have the honor of holding the Ruthie Mattox Preaching Chair at First Covenant Church, Minneapolis. People sometimes ask how I got to the point where I am giving sermons pretty regularly.

My route there has been, well, irregular. I don't have a degree in theology, and only took one religion class in college. I'm not ordained. I don't pretend to have an expertise in theology or anything related to it.

However, when I was at Baylor I had the incredible opportunity to co-teach an oral advocacy class with two great preachers, Hulitt Gloer and Randall O'Brien. Let's be honest: I was listed as a professor, but I was a student. And for eight great years, I soaked up what they taught. It let me use some of the skills I learned as a trial lawyer and apply them to my faith.

When I moved to Minnesota, a few Episcopal churches asked me to give sermons. It was thrilling. Early on, I decided that it was important for me to be clear about who I am: not a minister, not a theologian, but rather someone from the pews who is struggling to understand and live out the teachings of Jesus. I never try to interpret learned texts or commentaries; I don't feel qualified to do that. I am, though, like all of us, able to read the words of the Bible and make what I can of them.

I'll never be a minister, and I am very grateful for the people who have that vocation. I'm grateful, too, for the chance to preach now and then,  If nothing else, it makes me think hard about my faith, and be public with my struggles.

Here is a compilation of some of the cringiest moments of 1970's-era sitcom "Three's Company." I'll be honest-- it was kind of creepy at the time, but looking at it now is really uncomfortable.

Yesterday, I had a piece about the grand jury in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. You can read that here.  But... that's not what I want to talk about today.

Things have been a little crazy lately, huh? The escalation of the conflict with Iran has the nation on edge, and rightfully so. As I write this, though, it looks like things are calming, and the non-fatal Iranian missile attack on US bases in Iraq may be the end of the conflict, at least in terms of open retaliation. If so, that would be a great thing.

I'm going to do something here that might surprise some people: agree with Donald Trump and Tulsi Gabbard. But I am, because I very much believe that both of them are right to assert that the United States needs to avoid foreign military entanglements, and in particular regime-change wars in the Middle East. I'm with them 100% on that. In declining to respond to the latest Iranian move, Trump is living up to that assertion. I am glad that he is. We have nothing to gain through further armed aggression on the other side of the world.

We need to learn from the last Iraq War and our endless involvement in Afghanistan: these conflicts aren't good for the host countries, and they aren't good for us.

Instead of complaining that Trump didn't live up to his blustering, we should all be glad that he did not, and hope he pursues the deeper value of avoiding useless armed conflict in the future.

On Wednesdays (with a few weeks off for the holidays) I have been profiling my remarkable classmates from the Yale Law School class of 1990.

The Class of '90 was full of sharp intellects, and none were sharper than Martin Sabelli. Among other things, he was one of the few people who seemed to really get what I was saying in my law journal note-- a fact I deeply appreciated at the time.  I remember, even back then, thinking that it would be really important that remarkable minds like Martin's work to the good in the greater world.

And--good news!-- that has certainly been true of Martin. I have followed his career from afar with great admiration.

Martin graduated from Harvard college in 1985, then took two years off. While my "two years off" at the same time involved delivering flowers and subpoenas in Detroit, Martin was off getting a degree at the London School of Economics.

After law school, he clerked for a federal trial judge, Robert Peckham in the Northern District of California. After that, he quickly gravitated to criminal defense work-- a place of great need in our country-- and became a national leader in that field while remaining in the Bay Area. Over the past three decades, he has served as a federal defender, a partner at a large firm, and as a solo practitioner, all while basically doing the same kind of work.  He currently serves as the First Vice President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which is the most significant organization in the U.S. for members the defense bar. He has trained other lawyers throughout the US and around the world in the right way to approach cases where life and liberty are at stake.

Though I haven't seen him since YLS, every now and then I hear remarkable fragments of what he is doing from others. You know that someone is doing good in the world when there is always an admirable story about him that comes up between mutual friends, and there is with Martin. I hope to hear more as time rolls on-- and maybe run into the man himself.

My dad wrote yesterday on his own blog (in the context of New Year's resolutions) about something terrible and scary that happened a few years ago. In short, he went in for a hip replacement, and something went very wrong. Here is how he describes it:

I was given a gift on September 13, 2017 when the medical staff at Harper Hospital got my heart and lungs restarted after I suffered anaphylactic shock caused by an allergic reaction to an injected drug that was used before hip surgery. I  went into cardiac arrest and my body shut down completely. I remember a wash of complete hopelessness come over me, but no pain or fear. l was aware that life was passing out of me. Through a ton of good luck and good emergency medical help my heart and lungs were revived after five minutes, and I miraculously survived. Except for the initial pain from the pounding that I took during CPR, there was no lasting damage. It was a one time event.

By chance, I was there at the time. I was arriving in Detroit at about the time he was going into surgery, to attend the Detroit Homecoming. Instead of going there, I went straight to the hospital, fearing that he had died.

Looking back at it, I see that I didn't write much about it at the time.  Probably, I was a little shell-shocked.

It was a terrible thing, from the outside. Before I got on the plane, my Mom told me that there was some problem with the surgery. When I landed, I could not reach her. I was panicked.

I drove as best I could to the midtown hospital, and rushed around trying to find him. Finally, I located my mom in a waiting area. I saw her from a distance and feared the worst-- it was an awful moment. But then the news was not so terrible. And then we saw him, and he was alive. Kind of goofy, sure, but we Osler are like that anyways.

That moment, though, was searing.

I skipped most of the events for the Detroit Homecoming, and don't regret it a bit. It was worth it to be in the hospital and be sure things were going to be ok. And they were. And they are. And I couldn't be more grateful.

I wondered if anyone would respond to the haiku topic of grades and grading, but I didn't need to-- there were some great poems!

Gavin submitted one of my favorites of late (and I know who he is talking about!):

Torts final, red ink
“This answer is a hot mess”
True words from a priest.

And IPLawGuy had some thoughts that ranged a little off-topic (also, as I have mentioned before, IPLawGuy's nickname in college was "Sluggo"):

Do profs read all words?
I will bet this one did not:
Timothy Leary!

Heathcliff reminds me
of Leary. The birds are an
LSD response.

While Christine had a serious question:

Are there schools that don't
issue grades? That is my dream...
so overrated.

And, of course, the Medievalist, who has probably been doing too much grading himself:

Reality check,
If you do not do the work,
Get what you deserve.

Today, I am giving the sermon at First Covenant Church in Minneapolis at 9:30-- please come if you are able. The passage for the sermon is the first 16 verses of Genesis, which tells the story of Cain and Abel, the first two sons of Adam and Eve (there is a third one described, Seth, from whom we are said to descend).

I don't view this story as literally true. Jesus told parables all the time, and great myths hold deep truths. This is one that is particularly complicated once you look closely at it, and there is a lot to consider in those few words.

My dad lent me his old and marked-up copy of John Steinbeck's East of Eden, which Steinbeck himself considered his most important work. It's no secret that the book is rooted in Genesis-- it's right there in the title, given that Cain leaves the Garden of Eden eastward--and at one point there is even an explicit exegesis of translation issues in the very passage I am looked at today in the sermon. I love it when things fall together like that, layers of meaning like phyllo dough, one atop the other.

We'll see what I can make of it all...

With everything going on, I'm getting a lot of questions. For one thing, everyone is asking "what does Heathcliff sound like?"

Today, I will provide an answer.

I usually disdain the horse-race component of the primaries, but I can't deny that I spend time thinking about what will happen next. So for today I am going to indulge myself and noodle around looking at the most current polling in the Democratic primary race.

First, we have the national polls, which show former VP Joe Biden ahead by ten or eleven points-- significant, but not a commanding lead, especially with so many other contenders in the race. After all, even with that gap, he has only about 30% of potential voters. Here is the most recent national polling from The Economist/YouGov, polled on Jan. 1 and reported at Realclearpolitics.com:

Biden:       29%
Sanders:    19%
Warren:     18%
Buttigieg:    8%
Klobuchar:  4%
Bloomberg: 3%
Yang:          3%
Gabbard:    3%
Steyer:        3%
Booker:      2%

I'm surprised by a few things here. I thought that the millions of dollars spent by Steyer and Bloomberg on media might have allowed them to cut into Biden's lead a bit. If it has, it isn't a significant shift. I'm also surprised that Booker isn't doing better-- he seems like a really strong candidate.

The thing is, too, that the nation does not all vote at once. Early primaries and the Iowa caucuses affect perceptions and mold the way things go forward. Candidates know this-- that's why they put so many resources into the Iowa caucuses and a few other early states. Here is the most recent polling from Iowa, which is very different that the national numbers (this is a Dec. 19 poll out of Iowa State):

Buttigieg:       24%
Sanders:         21%
Warren:          18%
Biden:            15%
Klobuchar:       4%
Booker:            3%
Yang:               3%
Gabbard:         3%
Steyer:             2%
Bloomberg:      0%

Notably, Bloomberg is not putting resources into Iowa. Also, this poll probably does not accurately reflect the standing of Klobuchar, who had a great debate on the day this poll was taken.

Looking forward, one of two things will happen. First, Biden or one of the others will open up a lead that could allow them to accumulate enough delegates for the nomination before the convention.

That doesn't seem likely. Instead, we will probably see an atomization of the field, with Buttigieg, Sanders, and Klobuchar doing well in Iowa, Warren and Sanders in New Hampshire, and Biden in South Carolina. Then we get to Super Tuesday (March 3), and everything goes kablooie, with not enough time for any of them to focus much on target states-- and with California voting that day, it becomes a huge prize up for grabs. That makes the early primaries even more important. All that means, too, that going into the convention the candidates will try to make deals with one another.

Someone might be offered the vice presidency (Buttigieg, Booker).
Someone (or someones) might be offered plum jobs in the Cabinet.
Platform points might come into play.

2020 looks interesting already!