wisconsin

Nous, la nation française, avons de nouveau loué l’espace généralement inoccupé d’Oslers Razor pour débattre de questions d’une grande importance. Connaissez-vous Camille Abily? Tu devrais être! Elle est le féroce milieu de terrain offensif de l'équipe de France. Alors qu'elle jouait pour Lyon l'année dernière, elle a marqué un but alors qu'un lion sauvage tenait son bras gauche serré dans ses dents! Ou que diriez-vous de Laura Georges? Elle est l'une des principales défenseures de la ligue allemande et joue fièrement pour l'équipe de France lors de la Coupe du monde. Elle est tellement concentrée qu’on sait qu’elle a joué lors de l’attaque d’un serpent venimeux au milieu du terrain. Je me rends bien compte que ces deux anecdotes font penser que nous, Français, sommes constamment attaqués par des créatures sauvages. Ce n'est pas vrai. Vous pouvez demander à IPLawGuy, car il s'est rendu plusieurs fois en France et n'a jamais subi une telle attaque.

So, based on haiku received last week, it appears that most people have non -hipster dads.  I guess that I am just lucky! For example, this from Christine: Hipster; not my Dad He preferred London dry gin Couldn't grow a beard. and this from IPLawGuy: My Dad: Determination Stiff Upper lip, still hiding A sense of humor. Amy, though, had a different take (and a fair question): There must be a Hipster soul. Otherwise, it's just trying too hard: Osler's dad's beer is Hipster soul. Too-long, groomed beards Is trying too hard. [Can chicks be hipster?]

The United States has  a problem that other nations don't have: people taking a gun or guns to a public place and killing as many people as they can. Almost always, it is white men who commit these terrible crimes. Their reasons are hard to discern: sometimes they seem aggrieved about some personal issue or break-up, other times there is a deep racial animus, and sometimes mental illness plays a role. For some of the killings, it is almost impossible to discern a motive. Often, though, it seems that the killers are lashing out against people they think are threatening them, or are seeking revenge on those who have hurt them (or at least are perceived to have done so). I'm at a loss to explain how people get to the point of such evil. We don't put much effort into figuring that out though-- and shouldn't it be important? Part of the problem is that we don't trust what killers say and don't want to validate them, and there is that danger if we pay too much attenti

As part of haiku Friday yesterday, I posted the opening credit scene of the 1971 film "Shaft." As I watched it, one segment (starting at about 2:20) caught my attention: the part where Shaft weaves through some kind of demonstration where protesters are holding signs saying the following: "Fidelifacts spies on homosexuals" "I lost my job through Fidelifacts" "Fidelifacts traffics in human lives" "I got my job through the New York Times" [with a picture of an ostrich in a boater hat] It turns out that rather than being a staged bit for the movie, this actually is a snapshot of a fascinating bit of history. The makers of the movie just filmed Richard Roundtree going through an actual demonstration that was sponsored by the Gay Activists Alliance, just a few years after Stonewall. The target was Fidelifacts, a company that provided employers with information about the (supposed) sexual preferences of people seeking work-- so that those emp

Now here is a topic we haven't handled before! We have a lot of hipsters here in Minneapolis; the entire coffee and beer economies rely on them. If you are wondering, here are some of the core traits of hipsters: -- enjoy very cheap OR very expensive beer -- work in the gig economy -- unusual or unkempt haircut and/or facial hair -- enjoys music that is outside of the mainstream -- usually smart and witty Of course, dads are the original hipsters. Here are a few hipster dads I know: 1) IPLawGuy IPLawGuy hits almost all of the hipster qualities (his preferred music, for example, is a cross between hillbilly yodeling, Led Zeppelin, and novelty songs from Dr. Demento). The one exception is that he does not work in the gig economy. And if you are wondering, he is not covered in powder cocaine in this photo. It's uh, something else. I'm not sure what. Maybe something from the 1977 Dodge Dart he is restoring in his driveway? Or drywall powder from redoing his home office with stu

As I have mentioned before, I am honored and happy to hold the Ruthie Mattox Chair of Preaching at 1st Covenant Church here in Minneapolis. That church is facing a singular challenge right now. Over the past several years, the church has reached out to the community around it as part of its revitalization. As a downtown church, that brought in real diversity: young and old, rich and poor, black and white, gay and straight. It was the last of these that led to some challenges, and the choice of 1st Cov to treat LGBT members as fully human, able to take part in all that the church does. The denomination 1st Cov is a part of, the Evangelical Covenant Church, has been hostile to this change. As a result 1st Cov is on the verge of being involuntarily separated from the denomination at the annual meeting later this month in Omaha. This saddens me. So, course, I wrote about it. I hope you will read that piece, which is appearing in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune today, and which you can read h

Over the next several months, I am devoting Wednesdays on the blog to profiling some of my Yale Law classmates. Everyone knows about Brett Kavanaugh, but there are so many other people who are fascinating and accomplished! If you have read Bryan Stevenson's excellent book Just Mercy , you have already come across the remarkable work of Michael O'Connor. He appears in Chapter 7 of that book, when he comes on board to help Stevenson and Bernard Harcourt represent Walter McMillan , who had been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death. Stevenson, O'Connor, and Harcourt pursued the case until McMillan was exonerated after six years on death row. O'Connor came into law school like a ball of fire. He got to college late, but then blazed through his undergrad studies at Penn State and graduated summa cum laude. At Yale Law, he was both brilliant and deeply principled, a moral figure who often (rightly) challenged the rest of us. He cared about working people, the poor, cri

Today I rode my bike into work. I love the ride-- I go over a creek (twice), around a lake, through neighborhoods, and down into the heart of the city. I forgot my helmet, so I was feeling vulnerable, but I was also feeling fast so I went quick and careful (mostly). When I got in, my phone started ringing. All of the following called: a reporter from the Washington Post, a reporter from the Texas Tribune, a reporter from Vox, Weldon Angelos (a former client and current collaborator), someone who just wanted advice about how to help their kid who is in prison, a grouchy guy who didn't like something I wrote, my sister Kathy, a pro bono client calling from prison (interrupted periodically by a loud recording intoning "THIS CALL IS FROM A FEDERAL PRISON") and a student who had some questions about a job interview. By mid-afternoon, I realized that my to-do list was not going to get dented. But that doesn't mean nothing was accomplished. All of those people called about d

Many years ago, I was the host of Virginia's longest-running and most-popular (by our estimation) radio quiz show, "Quiz Kid." So, here is a quiz: Can you name at least three of these musicians?

Most people, including politicians, will say that their faith is an important part of their life, and is the basis of their sense of right and wrong. Not all people, of course-- some folks have principled systems of belief that are not rooted in a theology. But most politicians do claim a faith; it is telling that no member of Congress asserts an atheist identity, and only one member of Congress-- Senator Sinema of Arizona-- describes herself as religiously unaffiliated according to a Pew  Research Center Analysis. Other than Republicans defending their views on abortion or LGBT issues (or brave Pete Buttligieg on the same-- and he really is brave in this way, given that the rest of his party seems very wary of talking about religion), the people running for office rarely talk about their faith unless they are talking to a faith group. This is especially true of the current crop of presidential candidates. I suspect there are three reasons for this: 1) For some, the truth might be that

Well, then... check out this highlight reel for Australian star Sam Kerr. It's pretty amazing:

[Clip above: this year's Coachella. The audience is so young!] It's been a while since I have been to a great concert, but some of the best I have seen have been outside at this time of year. So let's haiku about summer shows this week! Here, I will go first: Detroit's warm June nights Were just perfect for music And yeah, I partook. Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable formula and have some fun!

Before I launch into this discussion, I want to make something really clear: I don't think that immigration is a major or important issue in the United States. I don't think that immigration at the current levels threatens safety, creates crime, or threatens the economy. In fact, I think that each of the issues I raised this past Tuesday (Guns, national debt, climate change, Russian interference in elections, income disparity, and health care) are far more important than immigration-- each of those issues threaten our country and the well-being of Americans in ways more direct, immediate and important than anything having to do with immigration.  So, anyways... apprehensions at the southwestern border are way up of late. There can be a lot of causes of that: more people crossing, greater enforcement, and a few big incidents, for example. I'm not sure it means anything, really. If you look at the graph of the Bush era above ( from the Times ), big spikes are followed by big

Over the next several months, I am devoting Wednesdays on the blog to profiling some of my Yale Law classmates. Everyone knows about Brett Kavanaugh, but there are so many other people who are fascinating and accomplished! Joe Tsai (like last week's featured classmate, Kathleen Clark) was double-Yale: he attended Yale College before matriculating at the law school. Of all the people in our class, Joe is likely the most successful in terms of entrepreneurship and philanthropy. After law school, he worked for three years at Sullivan and Cromwell in New York, and then at a management buyout firm. In 1995, he moved to Hong Kong to work at a private equity firm. There, he met Jack Ma, who was floating the idea of an online international import/export marketplace. Tsai joined with Ma as a co-founder in the venture, which became Alibaba . That entity is now by far the largest online market in China. Tsai's role as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer was key to the grow

I know that everyone is constantly up in arms about things that President Trump has said, often through Twitter. And a lot of it is beyond imagination-- why would you tweet out insults about the nation you are about to visit? But as the press and much of the nation stays in a state of constant tumult over this, little seems to be said about the fact that nothing-- nothing at all-- is being done about (arguably) the six biggest challenges facing our nation right now. Let's discuss those (in no particular order). 1.  Guns Since 2009, the United States has had 57 times more school shootings than all of the other G7 industrialized nations combined.  We have had 288, Canada had two, France had two, and Germany had one. There is something terribly wrong. We can and should have a discussion about solutions (and people may have very different solutions) but the fact is that our political leadership is avoiding the discussion. 2.  Debt I have written about this before -- the Trump tax cuts

Yeah, I did get some! And it was awesome. Here is what Christine had to say (she was inspired!): Peering through the glass Kaleidoscope of flavour waits before my eyes ****** Dad says "Hurry, pick" Sugar cone, two big scoops of mint chocolate chip ****** Hot summer night Rivulets of vanilla Tongue catching them all *************** I inhale deeply smelling sugar in the air Anticipation Gavin said this is about Grafton, N.D., but it sounds pretty familiar to me: DQ cone in hand Sittin on the tailgate Watch the girls cruise by. And the Medievalist brought the real deal: Yogurt and lemon, Together in the same cone, Nights in Santander.

I was really struck by two things that happened about the same time. First, the Children's Theater Company tried to get attorney's fees from a woman who, at age 15, was raped by one of the CTC's teachers-- even after a jury had found the CTC negligent in the matter (though not financially liable, since they did not directly cause the harm).  Second, Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin, who said he was aware of sexual abuse by priests in Pennsylvania but did not report it ,   tweeted this :   " A reminder that Catholics should not support or attend LGBTQ “Pride Month” events held in June. They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals. They are especially harmful for children." The CTC case, at least, took a turn towards responsibility. The directors of the theater reversed position and withdrew the request. In each, though, there seems to have been a lack of being chastened when each had been involved in a colossal harm.