Friday, December 27, 2024

South Carolina Judicial Corruption

Family court corruption is rampant. Lawyers and judges are for all practical purposes immune from discipline from the the legal system as well as prosecution from law enforcement. This is the sad reality. In South Carolina one woman is fighting for justice

The ‘Murdaugh Murders’ crime and corruption saga has brought unprecedented scrutiny on how lawyers conduct themselves in South Carolina – with the integrity of the Palmetto State’s judicial system rightfully coming under fire. During the trial, international audiences gained insight into how the corrupt good ol’ boy system enabled institutional malfeasance – with convicted killer Alex Murdaugh’s murders of 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh and 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh ostensibly intended to cover decades of illegal activity that suddenly rose to the surface. 

But broader questions remain: Do those upholding South Carolina’s judicial system really want to change it for the better? Are they genuinely committed to building a system founded on integrity? Are they truly willing to do what is necessary to restore confidence in the impartial administration of justice?

Saturday, December 21, 2024

The Dark Side

The Dark Side - I've experienced it. It is truly sad just how corrupt our family courts system is. Even more sad is the suffering and cost such corruption entails. 

Attorney Caroline Douglas, talks about her book, "The Dark Side", exposing legal corruption at The Capitol, Washington, DC.      

Friday, December 13, 2024

Feminine Advantage - for Some Things

In the obvious but rarely thought of category and right up my alley given I have a shifted septum from my ex-wife's fist come a study titled, "A feminine advantage in the domain of harm: a review and path forward".

Abstract

Despite well-documented disparities disadvantaging women (e.g. discrepancies between men and women in salaries and leadership roles), we argue that there are contexts in which disparities disadvantage men. We review the literature suggesting harm to women is perceived as more severe and unacceptable than identical harm to men, a bias potentially rooted in evolutionary, base rate, stereotype-based and cultural shift explanations. We explore how these biases manifest in protective responses toward women and harsher judgements toward men, particularly in contexts of victimization and perpetration. Our review aims to complement the existing literature on gender biases by presenting a balanced view that acknowledges men and women face unique challenges. By understanding these biases, we hope to foster a more equitable discourse on gender and harm, encouraging empathy and validation of suffering irrespective of gender. This holistic approach aims to de-escalate gender-based conflicts and promote effective interventions for both men and women.

The study focuses on physical harm however women have quite a few advantages over men including:

  • Not being eligible for the draft.
  • Lesser punishment for equal crimes.
  • Far more likely to receive alimony (98%+) than pay alimony.
  • Hiring advantage in some areas.
  • Societal expectation they be less exposed to danger than men. 

Friday, December 6, 2024

Gender Differences

Many people I know who would categorize themselves as feminists (men and women by the way) are often not so subtly sexist.  If they need to remove a mouse from a trap that is their husband/boyfriend/brother/guy next door's responsibility. 

I have had some plumbing issues at my house that took a good 12 hours to fix. I had no idea how to do it but the internet is great for learning so I figured it out. Unfortunately, I have many female friends who would never even attempt such a project but would be happy to call a guy to do it. The thing is they don't even recognize they are being sexist. 

Alimony is probably the best example of sexism. Apparently women (and 98+ recipients are women) need to be taken care of by a man even if the man is someone they left. Early feminists hated the whole concept of alimony but present day pretty much zero women's organizations are fighting to abolish it. 

Men and women are much more naturally equal that many people. Take the example of hunter-gatherers. Not much of a difference is their roles. 

Sunday, December 1, 2024

Divorce, Warbler Style

I found this interesting. Some birds divorce. Take Seychelles warblers for example. The reason they divorce is rain. The warblers divorce more when it rains too little or too much. So I presume that means stress. 

Key Findings:

Rainfall and divorce: The study identified a quadratic relationship between rainfall and divorce rates, with the highest rates of divorce occurring in years with either extremely low or high rainfall during the breeding season. 

The 1997 El NiƱo effect: An extreme rainfall event in 1997 was a significant outlier in the data, with exceptionally high rainfall correlating with a sharp increase in divorce rates. When this event was excluded from the analysis, a clearer negative relationship between rainfall and divorce emerged. 

Reproductive success: Despite rainfall impacting divorce rates, the study found no direct link between reproductive success (i.e., the number of offspring produced) and the likelihood of divorce, suggesting that other, as yet unidentified factors may be influencing partnership stability.

Saturday, November 23, 2024

Hilarious!

I laughed out loud when I saw this proposed California ballet initiative:   

California Require State to Pay Spousal Support Initiative (2024)

The initiative would require the state to pay for any court ordered spousal support payments. 

I have a vivid image of a guy who, like me, experiences just how unfair family court is and decides if the judges are going to rule unjustly then the state should be the one paying. To be clear, I have know actual knowledge of the situation which participated the initiative but I suspect my vision is more likely that not. 

Note that the initiative never made it to the ballet and I can't image it ever being implemented even if voted in but, hey, it is fun to dream. 

Saturday, November 16, 2024

The Seneca Falls Convention

The Seneca Falls Convention, originally known as the Woman’s Rights Convention, was a meeting held from July 19 to 20, 1848 at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York which advocated for the rights of women. 

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the meeting’s organizers, began with a speech on the convention’s goals and purpose:

“We are assembled to protest against a form of government, existing without the consent of the governed—to declare our right to be free as man is free, to be represented in the government which we are taxed to support, to have such disgraceful laws as give man the power to chastise and imprison his wife, to take the wages which she earns, the property which she inherits, and, in case of separation, the children of her love.”

Notwithstanding the fact that in today's world it is often men who have inferior rights, I wholeheartedly agree with the statement above. 

The 11 resolutions passed were:

  1. Resolved, That such laws as conflict, in any way, with the true and substantial happiness of woman, are contrary to the great precept of nature and of no validity, for this is “superior in obligation to any other.”
  2. Resolved, That all laws which prevent woman from occupying such a station in society as her conscience shall dictate, or which place her in a position inferior to that of man, are contrary to the great precept of nature, and therefore of no force or authority.
  3. Resolved, That woman is man’s equal—was intended to be so by the Creator, and the highest good of the race demands that she should be recognized as such.
  4. Resolved, That the women of this country ought to be enlightened in regard to the laws under which they live, that they may no longer publish their degradation by declaring themselves satisfied with their present position, nor their ignorance by asserting that they have all the rights they want.
  5. Resolved, That inasmuch as man, while claiming for himself intellectual superiority, does accord to woman moral superiority, it is preeminently his duty to encourage her to speak and teach, as she has an opportunity, in all religious assemblies.
  6. Resolved, That the same amount of virtue, delicacy, and refinement of behavior that is required of woman in the social state, should also be required of man, and the same transgressions should be visited with equal severity on both man and woman.
  7. Resolved, That the objection of indelicacy and impropriety, which is so often brought against woman when she addresses a public audience, comes with a very ill grace from those who encourage, by their attendance, her appearance on the stage, in the concert, or in feats of the circus.
  8. Resolved, That woman has too long rested satisfied in the circumscribed limits which corrupt customs and a perverted application of the Scriptures have marked out for her, and that it is time she should move in the enlarged sphere which her great Creator has assigned her.
  9. Resolved, That it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.
  10. Resolved, That the equality of human rights results necessarily from the fact of the identity of the race in capabilities and responsibilities.
  11. Resolved, therefore, That, being invested by the Creator with the same capabilities, and the same consciousness of responsibility for their exercise, it is demonstrably the right and duty of woman, equally with man, to promote every righteous cause by every righteous means; and especially in regard to the great subjects of morals and religion, it is self-evidently her right to participate with her brother in teaching them, both in private and in public, by writing and by speaking, by any instrumentalities proper to be used, and in any assemblies proper to be held; and this being a self-evident truth growing out of the divinely implanted principles of human nature, any custom or authority adverse to it, whether modern or wearing the hoary sanction of antiquity, is to be regarded as a self-evident falsehood, and at war with mankind.

Saturday, November 9, 2024

Cipolla's Laws Of Stupidity

Carlo M. Cipolla was an Italian economic historian who obtained his undergraduate degree  in 1944 from the University of Pavia. Yes, this was during World War 2 in Italy. Subsequently, he studied and worked around the world eventually settling in as a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

In 1977 he came up with the Fundamental Laws of Stupidity.

  1. Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
  2. The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
  3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.
  4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places, and under any circumstances, to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
  5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.
    Corollary: a stupid person is more dangerous than a pillager.

These have been on my mind lately. 

In our legal system, I think pillagers are the most common. 

Politically, stupid people dominate. 

Thursday, October 24, 2024

In Texas But Applicable Everywhere In The U.S.

The naked truth. Well articulated and, for people who have gone through what I have gone through, heart wrenching. 


 

Saturday, October 19, 2024

Family Court Corruption in Wisconsin

World justice Day is February 20th and this year Cheryl Geske wrote a letter to the editor of the Point/Plover Massachusetts Metro Wire newspaper to mark it. 

Geske gives a good perspective on corruption in Wisconsin family court. 

Letter: ‘Widespread corruption’ found in Wisconsin courts

February 19, 2024

Editor’s note: World Day of Social Justice is on Feb. 20.

To the Editor-

In recognition of World Social Justice Day, I engaged in a community-in-action call to view and discuss the documentary: “John Lewis: Good Trouble.”

According to Lewis, “My philosophy is simple. When you see something that’s not right, not just, not fair, say something, do something.” That’s pretty much the teaching given to elementary students in school bullying prevention efforts. Adults, how can we hear what you teach when your leadership actions speak so loudly?

The Christine Center, located in west central Wisconsin, hosted the community-in-action call. It is an interfaith retreat center, grounded in the Franciscan tradition whose mission is: Spiritual Deepening for Global Transformation. In that vein, they offer abundant programming, online and in person to grow a more just, compassionate, sustainable and inclusive world.

In Wisconsin, we have trouble. A group of dedicated, loving fathers, most notably organized under the title Wisconsin For Children and Families (WFCF) anguished by Wisconsin child support policy, often living a shoestring, would be qualified candidates for 50/50 placement of their children. However, the government does not make money from a 50/50 approach. Having child support standard orders with inequitable placement does not feed a robust cadre of workers and lawyers and judicial hours to support it. In many instances, children carry the pain of the drama and trauma the courts draw out and even encourage. Some families and children are, unbeknownst, placed on the fast track to the real money maker; foster care. Wonder why child human trafficking is on the rise in Wisconsin, described as an epidemic? Isolated and traumatized children, looking for love in all the wrong places, are cut off from regular familial caring connections.

There is widespread corruption in our Wisconsin courts. Some judges and family court commissioners, much like child protective services, have very little oversight, emphasize confidentially, and engage in wide ranging opportunities to abuse their powers and prey on the weak.

These systems are reactive to being called out — if someone is saying something — much like a schoolyard bully. Watch your back; then comes retaliation and abuse of power. There are networks of parents seeing that they are treated as playthings, or annoyances, or enemies when seeking loving connections with their children.

When experiencing something not just, not fair, I said something, took some self-represented reins. This led to punishment in the form of further legal abuse. It does not feed the monetary objectives of the system and challenges the patriarchy/power. Then, powered by modem, I saw a cartoon that hit home; see no family court evil, hear no family court evil, speak no family court evil. Oops, too late. In the John Lewis documentary, in a moment preceding the police batons and beatings he was told “there would be no words” to consider alternatives to the impending violence.

Anybody reading this see any patterns?

What is becoming clear is governmental systems have only grown more corrupt. In a report published by The Center for Public Integrity headlines: Wisconsin gets D grade in 2015 State Integrity Investigation. Noteworthy to this review are F’s given in the areas of Judicial Accountability, State Civil Service Management, and Public Access to Information.

We seek to address youth mental and pour money into mental health bandaids, but fail to look at some of the roots of violence in policy and practice. And yes, the networking on social media, and the power of the internet can be educational. Discernment, and critical thinking are important. So are open minds, open hearts, and open will. That is how we access the field of the future.

Perhaps we need more people to say something to achieve this — good trouble, necessary trouble. While speaking, always know your opinion is just that….open to differences, adjustment, and refinement.

Cheryl Geske

Amherst

Friday, October 11, 2024

How Your Divorce Attorney Is Manipulating You

An interesting and practical podcast on how divorce attorneys manipulate you into spending more money on a divorce than necessary. From Divorce and Your Money


Friday, October 4, 2024

The Dark Side

Caroline Douglas, attorney and the author of "Dark Side", disuses family court corruption at the U.S. capital in 2017. Unfortunately not much has changed since then. 

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Change Is Slow

The good news here is that change is happening, albeit slowly. It amazes me that even something as simple as shared custody is still considered unusual. 

This video gives a good explanation of how money corrupts the whole family court system.

Quote: "Attorneys breed contention." How true. 


Thursday, September 19, 2024

Good Basic Advice

From a lawyer are some good if basic tips to keep in mind when going through the divorce process. I wish he would also talk about what to do when the other side and the other side's lawyer engage in blatant criminal actions. And what to do when the judge rewards those criminal actions. 

Family court is far more corrupt than people realize. 

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Top 20 Issues With Family Court

From the Frank Report: 20 Reasons: Destructive Family Court Is Money-Maker, Corrupt and Unmonitored.

This is a really good list of the top issues in Family Court. The ones which ring especially true for me are:

7. The more money to be made, the more conflict the “family” court will promote.

14. There is no penalty for making false claims of abuse, engaging in open fraud, or perjury in our “family’ courts.

16. More money flows through our “family” courts than all other courts – combined.

18. No “family” court judge or “family” court attorney has ever once been held accountable for flagrant and even criminal violations of law or rights in the State of CT.

20. The Divorce Industry has grown into a $60+ Billion industry over the past 20 years.

This is the reality. Not only does it hurt those directly involved with the Family Court system, but it influences all aspects of our legal system. When lawyers see their peers richly rewarded for openly committing  crimes in Family Court they come to believe it is OK for them to do so as well even if they do not practice family law. Additionally, in many jurisdictions judges rotate in and out of Family Court. Do you really think they behave differently within Family Court than outside it? 

Thursday, September 5, 2024

Why Honest People Are At A Disadvantage in Family Court

Why are honest people at a disadvantage in family court? Because so many litigants and lawyers lie. Why is lying, including perjury and fraud, so ubiquitous? Because it is so common it is rarely, if ever, is prosecuted. 

The result is honest people tend to lose in family court. This is what happened to me. 

The only way to reduce lying in family court is to enforce the law. Prosecute the litigants and lawyers who commit perjury and fraud. That is what they do in Scandinavia. That is why Scandinavian courts, and society in general, are more just than in the United States. 

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Mark Ludwig On Family Court Corruption

Mark Ludwig's heartbreaking story - a highly accurate description of how family court really works. 

Thursday, August 22, 2024

A Lawyer Talks About Men, Family , & Divorce

I ran across this interesting view from a person who runs a law firm specializing in men's rights. 

Attorney Marilyn York owns a Men’s Rights Family Law Firm in Reno Nevada, established in 2001. She and her ten female employees focus on representing men for two reasons: 

1. As her talk explains, fathers are crucial in the upbringing and development of their children; and 

2. Fathers are the disadvantaged parent in family court and society and while the laws are improving, the statistics are not. 

There are currently more than 17,000,000 children growing up in America without their fathers and every year this number is growing. According to the Center for Disease Control, children from fatherless homes account for 90% of homeless and runaway children; 71% of high school dropouts and 63% of youth suicides. Listen to this talk to find out how you can help America's 17,000,000 fatherless children avoid these fates!  Marilyn D. York is a Men's Rights Divorce Attorney, licensed in California since 1998 and Nevada since 1999, where she is a Certified Family Law Specialist. Since 2001, Marilyn has owned her law firm in Reno, Nevada, where she and her 9 female employees specifically represent men in divorce and family law battles. Marilyn chose her career because of her passion for children and relationships but most of all, Marilyn is driven to help underdogs. While the laws are improving for men, not all laws are yet gender equal and the interpretation and enforcement of those that are, have a long way to go. 

Thursday, August 15, 2024

Lawyers Are Obligated To Report Attorney Misconduct

The Michigan Bar Journal has an article on reviewing the obligation to report potential misconduct

Although specific to Michigan, it is generally applicable to all states because state rules are generally in alignment as they are derived from the American Bar Association's model rules of professional conduct
I have discovered that many attorneys are unfamiliar with their obligations regarding reporting allegations of attorney misconduct. Lack of reporting is problematic for multiple reasons, including that failure to report may itself be professional misconduct. 
Failure to report when mandatory could result in a finding that the non-reporting lawyer engaged in misconduct. Most importantly, Michigan Rule of Professional Conduct (MRPC) 8.3(a) states: “A lawyer having knowledge that another lawyer has committed a significant violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct that raises a substantial question as to that lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer shall inform the Attorney Grievance Commission.
One such violation is lying

Unfortunately it is extremely rare for a lawyer to report a fellow attorney for violations of the lawyers rules of professional conduct, even such serious ones as fraud like Nelly Wince committed. As one lawyer told me, they way it is supposed to work is not the way it works. This leads to massive injustice and, I may add, inefficiency and therefore huge costs for taxpayers. 

Friday, August 9, 2024

Rufus Choate

Today I bring you the interesting story of Rufus Choate, known as a pioneer of modern legal practices.

He is regarded as one of the greatest American lawyers of the 19th century, arguing over a thousand cases in a lifetime practice extending to virtually every branch of the law then recognized. Notably, he was one of the pioneers of the legal technique of arousing jury sympathy in tort cases. 

The U.S. has a strange legal system. To a large extent it is based on who can argue best not the facts in the case.  Choate's claim to fame is was his ability to get the jury or judge to sympathize with his client. Such sympathy can easily override the facts. And justice. 

The best way to elicit sympathy is to present the client as someone the jurors and judges can identify with. Thing like race, religion, social status, and ethnicity all work pretty well for this. So does occupation, especially when a judge rules on the actions of a lawyer

I like civil legal systems such used by Scandinavian countries where the law is more clear cut and less open to interpretation than in common law systems such as used by the U.S. Interpretation always reduces equity. Such systems also have the added benefit be being much less expensive for the countries taxpayers.  

Thursday, August 1, 2024

Societal Equality Reduces Violence Against Adolescent Women

In a study which surprises me not at all, The Lancet reports, Intimate partner violence against adolescent girls: regional and national prevalence estimates and associated country-level factors

Our findings highlight the widespread prevalence of intimate partner violence against adolescent girls across the globe and its relationship with country-level contextual factors. They emphasise the need for promoting and ensuring policies and programmes that increase and ensure gender equality. Countries should strive to provide secondary education for all girls, ensure equal property rights for women, eliminate discriminatory gender norms, and address harmful practices such as child marriage.


Unfortunately, many countries including the United States, do not have gender equality in law or societal gender norms.  We should have equal numbers of men and women in politics, business leadership, the trades, the military, the police, and every other segment there is. We should also have equality in the court room including equal punishment for equal crimes. And, of course, alimony payers should not be 98+ percent men. 

The issue goes beyond gender. We also need equality with respect to race, ethnic origin, religion, sexual preference, etc. 

And we need equality under the law for everyone, regardless of who they are. Lawyers such as Nelly Wince should not be able to openly profit from committing crime in the court room.  

Thursday, July 25, 2024

Why Everyone Should Get A Preup

Her First $100,000 has a recent article on why everyone needs a prenup.  Although "everyone" means everyone getting married. 

The main reasons are:

  • You want to be in control of your own financial situation
  • Prenups help you safeguard your assets—both current and future
  • Prenups help you protect your income and define spousal support obligations
  • Prenups can protect you from your partner’s debt
  • Prenups can protect you from financial hardship in divorce

I couldn't agree more. A prenup would have literally saved me a couple million dollars. Take the advice. 

Thursday, July 18, 2024

The U.S.'s “Pay-to-Win” Justice System

Stefanie Chen has an interesting opinion piece in The Spectator, a surprisingly impressive newspaper from Stuyvesant High School in New York City, about our pay-to-win legal system

Chen concludes:

Despite the presence of a clear “wrong,” in all of these cases, the U.S. capitalistic justice system has made it so that the rich can avoid admitting to their wrongdoings. While it’s hard to watch someone who had proof of guilt beyond reasonable doubt get away with a mere slap on the wrist, it is also difficult to completely overturn America’s unjust court system at once, considering that it’s been established since Nixon’s presidency. Still, steps such as offering more qualified lawyers to poorer defendants, or promoting law to all socioeconomic backgrounds can be taken to help equalize the playing field between the rich and the poor. It might not stop the wealthy from getting away with crimes, but revising the biased court system can help make it so that the poor’s and middle classes’ lives aren’t ruined by unjustified sentences at the hands of a biased court.

I do not completely agree with her solution as it includes hiring more lawyers because I think that would just make the matter worse. What we need is a system like most of Scandinavia where crimes are rigorously enforced for all people and the punishment is equitably applied no matter who you are.  Then we would not need so many lawyers finding loopholes and pedaling influence. 

Friday, July 12, 2024

One Of Many

Joshua Kindred, a Trump appointed Federal Judge in Alaska, has resigned after a report came out accusing him of grossly inappropriate behavior as well as knowingly lying to investigators

A federal judge in Alaska resigned this week after investigators concluded he created a hostile work environment by sending crude messages to employees, engaging in sexual contact with a former law clerk and lying to colleagues about that relationship.

He could be impeached although that rarely happens with federal judges, especially after they have resigned. 

He could also be debarred but, as this site demonstrates, violating the Lawyers Rules of Professional Conduct or even the law rarely results in disciplinary action let alone disbarment for a lawyer. 

Lawyers, especially judges, are for the most part above the law. And they know it. Kindred had to resign because he was so openly abusive and, as one report stated, he ran his chambers like it was the Playboy mansion. Despite his resignation, he will very likely be able to continue to practice law. 

Most lawyers will blame Kindred for getting caught not for what he did. Because he is just one of many. 

Friday, July 5, 2024

Sexism is often thought of as being exclusively or mostly a male characteristic. Not so. Women mansplain just as much as men. Women are also just as sexist as men. For sexists of genders, I give you  Sally Miller Gearhart, the patron saint of the sexist. 

She was so sexist she believed males needed to be reduced to 10% of the population. I kid you not. 

Her solution to the world's woes, outlined in, "The Future–-If There Is One–-is Female", was a three step process:

  1. Every culture must begin to affirm a female future.
  2. Species responsibility must be returned to women in every culture.
  3. The proportion of men must be reduced to and maintained at approximately 10% of the human race.
Observation: The most sexist men would probably love Gearhart's solution, as long as they were in the 10% Think about, they would probably not have to work all and women would be all over them wanting sex. I bet Gearhart never thought of it that way. 

For those who agree that women should take over, it might be good to remember what men do. 

Thursday, June 27, 2024

Science Vs. Morality

I consider myself a rational person. I am a huge believer in the scientific method because it is the only method we have to determine truth. Science, after all, is just a fancy Latin word for knowledge. 

Now the thing about science is it is separate from morality. Morality will give direction on right and wrong, science deals in factual evidence.  Science cannot tell you if it is right to kill someone or not. Morality, or religion which is mostly just a moral framework, deals with such matters.  

This way of thinking is why I detest when a science magazine turns away from science and deals with morality, especially when they go against science to make a point. 

This is what National Geographic did in an article on Indigenous peoples in their most recent issue. I have read every word in every issue of the magazine since about 1985 and I can see a definite trend away from science and toward moralizing. 

I'll also state I have a huge interest and a fairly strong  educational background in anthropology so it isn't as if the subject is uninteresting to me. 

So what was wrong with the article? Essentially it made the case that indigenous people are far better than us at managing the environment, have more moralistic societies, and are, well, simply superior to modern people in all ways. 

Somehow the authors missed that slavery was widespread among Native Americans. As was war and torture and human sacrifice. Native peoples also often caused large scale environmental catastrophes. 

Sure there were and are pockets of indigenous people who live in harmony with the environment and their fellow humans but that doesn't make them any different from anyone else. 

So why am I writing about it here? Mainly because one of the "characteristics' of native people the article said we needed to bring back was matriarchal society. Really? Indigenous people are no more or less matriarchal than other people. More to the point, why on earth would a society dominated by women be better than one dominated by men? Are we so narrow-minded we cannot aspire to equality rather than one gender dominating another?

Thursday, June 20, 2024

Easy Money

In a T-Mobile class action lawsuit regarding a data breach, lawyers emerged $78 million richer while customers only got $25. In my experience this is the norm. 

This is exactly the kind of case that causes the public to scoff at class actions. My client gets 25 bucks and these attorneys are walking away with $7,000 to $10,000 per hour." - Attorney Robert Clore

The lawyers, of course, claim they they worked a massive number of hours on the case so their costs are justified. But anyone who has worked closely with lawyers knows just how often billable hours are padded, often egregiously so. The reality is that there is little incentive for lawyers not to pad their bills because there is almost no negative consequences in doing so. The risk for the lawyer is near zero while the reward is very high. 

In my case I tried to get details on what exactly my lawyers were billing me for because it didn't seem like they were doing much but they simple refused to provide anything but the most vague explanations. 

I have also worked with patent troll lawyers who didn't even attempt to justify the hours they billed. 

It is easy money if you are willing to commit the crime. And always keep in mind, it is a crime. 

Thursday, June 13, 2024

The Value Of Prenups

Never sign a contract with someone who is rewarded for breaking it. That seems obvious but it happens all the time when people get married.  


I recognize the laws as written are mostly fair but the reality of how they are implemented is otherwise. Over 98% of alimony payers are men. Which is a heck of an incentive for a woman to divorce a man. Also a reason to commit fraud and perjury. Which is exactly what my ex-wife, and worse her lawyer, did in order to get vast amounts of money out of me. And note I paid 100% of the expenses for the kids who predominantly lived with me for the first few years after the marriage ended and then chose, on their own, to live 100% with me as soon as they could. 

Many believe people who get prenuptial agreements are somehow less committed to the relationship. The reality is a prenup removes one of the biggest incentives to end the marriage thus making divorce less likely. 

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Sexual Misconduct By Lawyers

More evidence lawyers are often treated as being above the law, NPR reports sexual misconduct allegations against lawyers isn't uncommon. but punishment is tricky.

I would wager committing fraud in family law cases takes the top spot for crimes committed by lawyers but sexual misconduct I suspect is right up there. The reality is that lawyers are often de facto immune when committing crimes and other unethical acts so, guess what? Many do so. 

Do you think people used to committing and getting away with fraud, are more or less likely to commit acts of sexual misconduct? Many people, including many lawyers, tell me the crimes committed by lawyers in my case are just the way the system works. They think fraud is no big deal. They are wrong. People who commit fraud are way more likely to commit other types of crime including sexual ones. 

We have laws to ensure a fair and just society. When those laws are not enforced equitably, all crime increases.  

Thursday, May 30, 2024

Women Cannot Commit Gender-based Violence in Spain And Other Countries

In Spain, gender based violence legally only applies when the man is the perpetrator and the woman the victim

The Reddit discussion on the topic is interesting:

"It’s like the U.K. were the legal definition of rape means that women cannot commit it."

"Same in Ireland"

"Another point to add, in the event of a woman calling the police saying she was hit or anything, the man will go to jail till proven innocent and the woman won’t have any repercussion if she lied.

The other way around, the guy has to flee because most of the time they are not believed."

Read the Reddit discussion for more, including views supporting gender based crimes. 

Friday, May 24, 2024

Same-Sex Marriage

It has been twenty years since Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage.

In 2012 there was a hot debate in Minnesota over the issue when a proposed amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman went to a vote. People were passionate about the issue on both sides. I remember the "yes" side stating rejection would lead to gay marriage and the "no" side saying that was ridiculous. The amendment was defeated. Less than a year later, same-sex marriage was legalized with almost no opposition. Times were changing quickly back then. 

I could never understand what difference gender made in whether you could marry or not but I did wonder how failed marriages would be handled. I felt bad that gay people would now experience the downside of divorce as I had. 

I probably shouldn't have worried so much as a new study reports results showing same-sex marriage to be positive

Many of the positives are related to having or adopting children which I totally understand as I have friends and relatives who have benefited from this.  

Although the study doesn't go into to it, the negatives of divorce experience by many heterosexual marriages are gender related so such issues simply do not exist when same-sex people get divorced.  I strongly suspect the divorce process is far more equitable for same-sex couples than it is for heterosexual couples. Hopefully that equity will have a spill over effect to make the divorce process better for everyone. Hope springs eternal.

Thursday, May 16, 2024

Divorce Lessons

I sometime hesitate to post content like the video below, not necessarily because they are wrong, but because of the perception people will have. What do I mean by that? To be perfectly honest there are many so called "men's rights" people who are fairly misogynistic and sometimes just wrong. I'm sorry but if your reason for not paying child support is because you were somehow lured into sex, you need to get a grip. 

This video is worth watching but only with a grain of salt. All men are not ideal fathers and it seems to imply. The real issues in divorce are justice and equity. With maybe a little less equity in the interest of children but never in the interest of the spouse.  

Thursday, May 9, 2024

Why So Few Men Receive Alimony


An article in Forbes from a few years ago, explores why so  few men receive alimony:  

Of the 400,000 people in the United States receiving post-divorce spousal maintenance, just 3 percent were men, according to Census figures. Yet 40 percent of households are headed by female breadwinners -- suggesting that  hundreds of thousands of men are eligible for alimony, yet don't receive it.

The reason? Die-hard gender roles, a bitter fight from breadwinning wives and macho pride, say family attorneys. And in some parts of the country, judges are flat-out sexist.

"Gender equality is a relatively new concept in the span of history, and old stereotypes die hard," says San Francisco Bay area divorce attorney Mark Ressa. "A successful man is considered a breadwinning man, and asking for alimony is considered emasculating."

I certainly did not receive alimony and had to pay child support (which my ex-wife barely if at all used for the kids)  along with all the expenses for the kids who, by the way, chose to live with me.  Clearly two of the reasons she received alimony were her fighting hard, if you classify committing perjury as fighting hard, for alimony and sexist judges. 

What the article misses are the unethical and illegal actions of lawyers and judges in cases involving alimony. Lawyers directly and judges indirectly make lots of money from alimony awards. At a base level alimony awards are a litigious process which means they get paid more than they would otherwise. 

The obstacles in front of a man attempting to receive alimony are nearly insurmountable.

Friday, May 3, 2024

Federal Judges Often Not Held Accountable

From NPR, federal judges have a code of ethics but often aren't held accountable. True, but the article underestimates the issue. First off, it isn't just federal judges and, secondly, the level of outright crime and corruption throughout the legal system as well as the wholesale violations of the lawyers rules of professional conduct by attorneys is astounding. Look here

The NPR article does, however, point out a lot of issues, including paid junkets:

So every year, a bunch of different groups like bar associations, nonprofits, law schools, they host what they call judicial education events. And one of the biggest hosts over the decades for these events is George Mason University, which has a conservative-leaning law school. It's based in Virginia. They put together these weeklong seminars for judges on a bunch of legal topics. And they often take place at luxury resorts, five-star hotels. We're talking places like Palm Beach, Fla., around Aspen, Colo., Alaska, even London. And judges get free rooms, free meals and free money towards those travel expenses.

And the events can be pretty ideologically slanted. We found that judges have heard a presentation from a far-right German politician along with corporate CEOs, members of an advocacy group that uses lawsuits to challenge environmental law. 

Friday, April 26, 2024

So Many Lawyers

An Arizona grand jury has indited several people for 2020 election interference. Those indited include many attorneys, including: Rudy Giuliani, Boris Epshteyn, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis and Christina Bobb. 

Attorneys are supposed to be the ones who follow the law. In fact, their code of conduct is incredibly strict. It goes well beyond just following the law.  They also need to always tell the truth and are obligated to report misconduct by fellow attorneys. 

But attorney ethics are an open joke. I cannot find a single incident of an attorney being disciplined for lying (at least in a family law case) or failure to report a fellow attorney's misconduct. Indeed it is almost assumed an attorney will lie if it helps their case. 

It is nice to see a few of them indited especially for what can be argued are actions that are a threat to the very foundation of our country.  

Sunday, April 21, 2024

Can Family Court Be Fixed?

Can family court be fixed? Not accounting to Lee Rawles, author of the book, The End of Family Court: How Abolishing the Court Brings Justice to Children and Families.

Rawles' arguments are mostly due to the courts' inability to provide justice for lower class and the racially disadvantaged but, as this site is about, the corruption and inequity which is institutionally prevalent within the family court system runs deep. 

Over the next century, the purpose and purview of family courts expanded and changed. Today, family court judges may consider juvenile criminal offenses, status offenses, custody cases, adoption, the removal of children from their parents and truancy cases. What has remained constant is the uneven enforcement of child safety laws, which fall primarily on poor and minority families.

Sunday, April 14, 2024

The Attraction Of Sexist Men

Do women find sexist men attractive? According to this article in Psychology Today, yes.

research suggests that women do in fact find sexist men attractive.

Although I am often sceptical of social science research, this does seem correct to me. I have seen it quite a bit. And how else do you explain Trump's support among women?  

As the article states a lot of research suggests the reason has an evolutionary basis.

They suggest that female interest in sexist men, specifically men who display “benevolent sexism,” may be seen by women as being more an interest in men investing resources in a woman.

Despite aspects of benevolent sexism appearing chivalrous and romantic, previous research has found that women who endorse these beliefs often demonstrate approval of restrictions on women’s freedoms, independence, and autonomy, and may impact women’s support for gender egalitarianism.

Being a good guy is hard. 

Sunday, April 7, 2024

Women Talking Like Men Used Too

I've recently noticed women talking a lot like the stereotypical 1950s sexist male. Just in reverse.

On one example a friend of mine stated she was going to two physical therapists. When asked, "Why two?" she replied that for one Medicare paid for it and, more importantly, both were really cute young guys. Imagine if a man stated the same about going to two cute female physical therapists.

On another occasion, a woman  I know in her early 60 went on a kayak tour and, because she did not have a partner, was placed in a kayak with one of the guides. She spent a considerable amount of time telling a group of us, of which I was the only male, how wonderful it was because he was built

In both of the examples above, the women are educated and had good careers. Both are also very much feminists and quick to point out sexism in society. At least sexism on the part of males. 

I would feel uncomfortable talking like my friends did even to a bunch of men so it seems really strange to me to hear women talk that way. I wonder if they ever realize they are behaving just like the men they so often criticize?

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Just A Reprimand?

The reality of our legal system is often surreal. 

In 1990, S.C. Rep. “Tee” Ferguson took a bribe from an undercover FBI agent, while Ferguson ran for an open judicial seat in South Carolina. A month later, Ferguson was elected without opposition.

He then took another bribe and then was sworn in as a judge. 

Later, after his conviction for corruption as well as pleading guilty to to three counts of possessing cocaine, he was sentenced to prison. 

More than a year after that the state Supreme Court issued a public reprimand. 

A public reprimand. He wasn't even disbarred. 

U.S. Attorney John Barton said of Ferguson: “How such a corrupt drug abuser got elected to the Legislature to begin with is beyond my comprehension. And then to have risen in the esteem of his peers to the point where he got elected to circuit court judge speaks sadly many volumes about the way government was conducted in South Carolina.”

Barton also said he had evidence that Ferguson intended to take bribes as a judge.

Again, the legal system determined his crimes only meritted a reprimand. What is wrong with our legal system? 

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Music/Movie Piracy And Gaming

In Indonesia at least, women pirate more music and movies than men. Which is interesting just because it  is counter to gender expectations. 

"women are more likely to pirate than men in Indonesia. This is true for all content categories, except for software,"

This is similar to the fact that women make up about half, or a bit more than half if you include mobile, of computer gamers. I suspect many if not most assume the opposite. 

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Attorney Bills

Extending last weeks discussion - Do lawyers pad their bills? Many do

"Fraudulent billing is a common practice in many large law firms."

I suspect the most common way is by overstating their work. In the linked article, when a small educational foundation called up a law firm with a simple question they were billed $885 for a one minute phone call. $85 for the call and close to $800 for research. Research which was never done. 

Another commonly used fraudulent billing technique is to bill two clients, or more, for the same work. When lawyers use forms they put together they often charge every client who uses the form for the work in creating it. Many, maybe most, lawyers do not even believe this is wrong even though the ABA does

My lawyers clearly overfilled me on a regular basis. I tried very hard to get them to detail the work they did but never got anywhere.  

An older but still relevant paper highlighting 16 egregious cases of fraud was done by Catholic University of America.

There is profound corruption on many levels within the justice system. Fraudulent billing is how many lawyers begin their career in crime.  

Sunday, March 10, 2024

The Billing Abuses of Lawyers

The Billing Abuses of Lawyers is a bit dated but just as relevant to today as when it was published. 

Some highlights:

Despite these extreme cases, lawyers -- with the notable exception of the high-visibility Hubbell, whose prosecution stemmed from the Whitewater investigation -- are rarely punished for billing abuses. Raleigh bankruptcy attorney Mark Kirby was indicted in federal court on 16 counts of billing fraud. Among other offenses, he billed 90 hours in one day. Between June 1990 and July 1991, Kirby billed a total of 13,000 hours, even though that 13-month period, calculated at 24 hours a day seven days a week, was only 9,500 hours long. Yet Kirby's trial resulted in a hung jury. His defense: everybody does it.

In 1991, Cumberland (Ala.) law professor William Ross surveyed 280 lawyers in private practice and 80 who worked in-house for companies. The results were shocking. Seven out of eight practicing lawyers said that it was ethical to bill a client for "recycled" work originally done for another client. Half said they had billed two different clients for work performed during the same time period, such as dictating a memo for one client while traveling for another.

Just as shocking were what lawyers concluded about their colleagues' billing practices: 55% said that lawyers occasionally or frequently "pad" their hours; 64% said they were personally aware of lawyers who had padded their bills. The in-house lawyers surveyed were even more clear: over 80% felt that the billable hour influenced how much time the outside lawyers they hired spent on a case, and 74% felt that the billable hour significantly decreased lawyers' incentives to work efficiently.

The reality is lawyers can make a lot of money for doing little work. Worse if such lawyers become judges, they feel it is their right to work far less than what they are paid for. 

As they say, money corrupts. 

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Friday, February 23, 2024

Robert Tanguay's Case

I do not know Robert Tanguay nor do I have objective information on the facts of the case but his story is an interesting one. Much of it rings true to my ears. 

False allegations, no response from law enforcement because the perpetrator is part of the justice system, clear perjury, and a Kafkaesque bureaucracy which seemingly exists primary to extract as much money as possible from victims. I have experienced all of it. 

The worst part is not that an individual committed criminal and unethical deeds, it is that the system itself protects and rewards such individuals. Most do not realize just how broken our justice system is. instead of ensuring justice, it operates more like a criminal organization. 

Friday, February 16, 2024

Corruption

From the University of Exeter in England come a new study on corruption with a focus on those who enable such crimes. The thing most people do not realize about corruption is just how many "legitimate" people are involved. 

Lawyers, accountants, company service providers and other professionals often play essential roles in the movement of illicit wealth. They can be enormously powerful and effective at resisting both scrutiny and regulation. This influence, along with the complexity of this terrain, has led to a lack of consensus around what counts as “enabling” activity and what consequences should follow.

“Armies of professionals around the world are helping corrupt individuals conduct their dirty business,” said Global Anti-Corruption Consortium Director Alexandra Gillies.

Enablers are especially well  represented by lawyers who are often fully aware of their clients, as well as their own, illegal actions. 

In family court, it is often the lawyers who encourage their clients to commit crimes such as making false accusations. I am pretty sure that is what my ex-wife's lawyer did before she committed fraud herself

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Lessons In Chemistry

Last summer I read the book Lessons in Chemistry and a few weeks ago we finished watching the Apple TV+ series of the same name. Both were quite good but there were some differences between the book and TV show. Some random thoughts follow. 

In the book, the main character Elizabeth is a scientist working in a laboratory. She only has a masters in chemistry because she was unfairly forced to drop out of her Ph.D program after a professor who she was working with tried to rape her. Elizabeth, when struggling with the professor, stabbed him with a pencil. The school wanted her to publicly apologize in order to continue in the program. Elizabeth said she was sorry - sorry she did not have more pencils.  (what a great line!) In the TV show, Elizabeth was working as a lab assistant rather than a scientist. I presume Apple did this to make it seem even life was even more unfair to Elizabeth. I guess getting kicked out of school because you fought off an attempted rape was not bad enough. 

Elizabeth's research in the book is focused on abiogenesis (something I have an interest in as well) whereas her boyfriend Calvin, who is a world renowned scientist. works in a different area. In the TV series Calvin's research has stalled and he starts to work with Elizabeth on abiogenesis. This was a weird change and honestly I cannot figure out why it was made. Yes, it makes Calvin seem less capable, and maybe that was the reason, but it also makes Elizabeth seem less capable as it makes the research not entirely her own.  

The book is about many things, science, cooking, rowing, the relationship between Calvin and Elizabeth, discrimination against women, and the horrors of orphanages.  The book emphasized discrimination against women and added in discrimination against blacks. It was a bit over the top and distracted from the story. 

We seem as a society to have become polarized. You have the Trumpists on one end which, sorry to say, is more a religious movement based on intolerance for anything other than what their leader says. On the other end, you have people who who see everything through the light of discrimination against minorities or women.  There is a conservative joke which I like but feel slightly guilty about liking which goes:

World ends tomorrow. Women and minorities to be hit especially hard.  

I liked President Obama. He acknowledged the historic meaning of being the first black president but he never once said he should be elected because he was black. Compare this to Hillary Clinton whose main message was that it was time for a woman to be in the white house. That turned people off. The result -  many people who voted for Obama subsequently voted for Trump. The lesson - going overboard to make a point can turn people, at least some people off. Often, as with the 2016 election, with devastating results. 

Thursday, February 1, 2024

I Like Judge Lewis Kaplan

I kind of like Judge Lewis Kaplan. I really do. 

Kaplan was the presiding federal judge in the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial agaisnt former president Donald Trump. The jury awarded Carroll  $83.3 million. Nice.

But the reason I like Kapan stems from a bit before the award. When Kapan caught Trump's attorney Alina Habba  directly lying to him, he threatened her with jail. I wish he had followed through with it. 

Come to think of it, by the rules Hobbs should be disciplined by the bar association for her actions but I suspect she won't be. It isn't like an attorney lying to a judge is all that unusual of behavior.

In my case, when Nelly Wince openly lied to the judge and in doing so committed fraud upon the court the judge, who openly admitted he knew Wince well, ordered that I pay her legal fees. 

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Cato Institute On Criminal Justice System

The Cato Institute, hardly a left wing organization given its advocacy for lowering or abolishing most taxes, opposition to the Federal Reserve system and the Affordable Care Act, the privatization of numerous government agencies and programs including Social Security and the United States Postal Service, etc., asserted a few years back America’s Criminal Justice System Is Rotten to the Core

Why?

  1. Unconstitutional overcriminalization
  2. Point‐​and‐​convict adjudication
  3. Near‐​zero accountability for police and prosecutors
The third one is the most relevant to this site's purpose. When prosecutors such as John Choi can willfully obstruct justice to protect fellow lawyers without consequence and law enforcement ignores complaints agaisnt prosecutors no matter how good the evidence, it is it is clear our justice system in not just broken but institutionally corrupt. 

The level of crime in a society depends mostly on how much the public believes judicial system is fair and just.  When judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and law enforcement are able to get away with breaking the law, it has as multiplier effect on the crime rate throughout society.  I wish more people understood this. 

Sunday, January 21, 2024

Male Power

Male Power Over Females Is Not the Default Social Dynamic in Primates

Guess what? We are primates. 

The study found that no particular pattern of intersexual power can confidently be attributed to the ancestors of many major groups of primates, and therefore an assumption of ancestral male-biased power is not warranted.

So much of what we think we know is based on what we want to be true. 

The reality is:

  • Women are not the weaker sex.
  • Women can fight just as well as men.
  • Women are just as intelligent as men.
  • Women are just as emotionally stable as men. 
  • Men are just as sympathetic as women.
  • Women are just as abusive as men. (This is often controversial but if you substitute whites for women and blacks for men, how would you view it?)

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

California Adopts Duty To Report Rule For Lawyers

Unlike most states California never adopted the The American Bar Association model Rule of Professional Conduct which requires lawyers to report serious misconduct of another lawyer.

Now they have

Effective August 1, 2023, Rule 8.3 requires:

A lawyer shall, without undue delay, inform the State Bar, or a tribunal* with jurisdiction to investigate or act upon such misconduct, when the lawyer knows* of credible evidence that another lawyer has committed a criminal act or has engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud,* deceit, or reckless or intentional misrepresentation or misappropriation of funds or property that raises a substantial* question as to that lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects.


Why did California finally adopt Rule 8.3? Mostly because of one lawyer - Thomas Girardi.  Over a 40 year period Girardi had over 200 complaints filed agaisnt him yet he continued to practice law. Many of his fellow lawyers knew how corrupt Girardi was, and some had substantial evidence, yet failed to say anything. 

The real question is whether the now in effect Rule 8.3 will change anything. I suspect not. In Minnesota we have had this rule since it came out in 1983 yet not a single lawyer has ever been disciplined for not reporting another lawyer who they knew had committed serious misconduct.  

In my case, every lawyer, including the judges, who saw the evidence against Nelly Wince should have reported her. Indeed, they were, and still are, obligated to do so. Yet not a single one did. 

The rule, at least in practice, is for show. It fools the public into thinking lawyers are able to police themselves. The reality is quite the opposite.