Morons

I sometimes watch Australian news as I like their direct and often humorous style. This video on the Russian invasion of Ukraine is both hilarious and disturbing.

Putin's FSB in faking evidence for a  fictional Ukrainian plot to assassinate one of his favorite journalists actually signed a document literally "Illegible Signature" because they were told to make a document with an illegible signature. This is what they presented to the world as evidence. 

I cannot help but compare the Russian FSB's actions to those of the Ramsey County Attorney's office who claim in writing that lawyers commit no crime when they commit fraud in court and the term "fraud upon the court" does not exist in Minnesota statutes. And then refuse to explain or even discuss their statements at all. Not just morons but dangerous ones. 

Marriage Irritations

The Atlantic had an interesting article -  a man ruminating on his divorce. 

For a long time after his divorce Mathew Fray would say: 

My wife left me because sometimes I leave dishes by the sink.

He left dishes by the sink and it drove his wife crazy. It took Fray a long time to realize it wasn't about the dishes. He could have easily not left dishes by the sink and his wife could have easily not cared that he did. It was just their way of expressing an ever deepening alienation with each other.

I find the story interesting because I am one of those people who does not leave dishes lying around. But when others do it does not bother me - I just put them away. I always thought of it as building karma and a what would Jesus do type of action. I rarely get upset about little things. 

When people get upset by little things I do, I just don't do those things anymore. Unfortunately, that sometimes causes me to miss that it isn't the little thing that upsets the person, it is something deeper. 

Sometimes people get together for the wrong reason, or one person believes the other is different than they really are, or thinks they can change the other person, or the other person does change but not in a good way. Every failed relationship is different. Sometimes broke can't be fixed. Sometime it shouldn't  be fixed. 

Even long after Spring lost interest in me as anything other than a source of money, I tried to keep the marriage together. I failed to realize it was well beyond fixing. Maybe I would have realized this if I had paid more attention to the little things.

Women Who Pay Alimony

Although the vast majority of alimony is paid by men (+98%), there are cases of women having to pay it as well. They are none too happy about it. Sonia Delgado is one such woman who has written in support of Florida's proposed alimony reform bill. 

However, during the divorce, I learned a word I had never known — alimony. It never occurred to me that if I left this horrible situation, I would have to continue to work to pay a significant amount of my hard-earned income to a man who refused to work, abused his familyand still refuses to even look for work.

How could this happen to me in the land of the free? It happened because current Florida law allows it to happen and divorce lawyers drain families of all their savings and assets to get as much alimony as possible for their clients ... in this case, my ex-husband. The inconsistency of outcomes in court encourages lengthy and costly litigation. And, who really wins? Divorce lawyers do.

Exactly. 

George Floyd & The Duty To Report

After the murder conviction of George Floyd by former police officer Derek Chauvin, the three other former officers who were present were convicted on federal charges of violating Floyd's civil rights and will be tried in June on state charges of aiding and abetting the murder. 

Because Chauvin was the senior officer present many people feel the other officers should not have been charged as they were only "following orders". This is a similar defense used by many German soldiers under the Nazis and will likely be used by Russian soldiers who have committed war crimes in Ukraine.  

Although I am not completely unsympathetic to the situation the officers, other than Chauvin, were in, the fact remains they took an oath to uphold the law and protect the public.  There was no "except if the perpetrator was an officer" caveat to that oath. 

Likewise, officers of the court, which includes all lawyers, are obliged to abide by the Lawyers Rules of Professional Conduct which includes a duty to report clause. Specifically:

Rule 8.3 Reporting Professional Misconduct

(a) A lawyer who knows that another lawyer has committed a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct that raises a substantial question as to that lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects, shall inform the appropriate professional authority.

(b) A lawyer who knows that a judge has committed a violation of the applicable Code of Judicial Conduct that raises a substantial question as to the judge's fitness for office shall inform the appropriate authority.

(c) This rule does not require disclosure of information that Rule 1.6 requires or allows a lawyer to keep confidential or information gained by a lawyer or judge while participating in a lawyers assistance program or other program providing assistance, support, or counseling to lawyers who are chemically dependent or have mental disorders.

Yet, as far as I know, not a single lawyer or anyone else in the legal system who has read the evidence agaisnt Nellie Wince has reported her. Not one. Indeed I cannot find a single example in the state where a lawyer has reported another for lying in family court, a clear and egregious violation of the rules. It is just not how things work. Time to change that. 

Licorice Pizza

I found the movie Licorice Pizza, which won several Oscars, very enjoyable except for one, naggingly disturbing thing - the romance part. You see the male lead, who is just 15 years old, falls madly in love, at first sight no less, with the female lead who is 25 years old. Although at first she resists, in the end she falls just as madly in love with him. This isn't unrequited love, it is fully requited. 

Again, in case you missed it, he is 15 years old and she is 25. 

Imagine if the genders of the two leads were reversed. A 15 year old girl falling in love with a 25 year old man and in the end she gets him. There would be outrage. It would be cited as typical male oppression of women. People would say the movie is exactly what is wrong with Hollywood. It would be viewed as sexist. It certainly would not have won any Oscars. 

Why is that true? I think the best explanation is that our society is so fundamentally sexist we believe deep down in our collective conscious that a 15 year old boy is more responsible than a 15 year old girl. 

Same reason we believe a woman who divorces a man to be with someone else, refuses to contribute anything to the upbringing of the children yet is able to make just as much as him, ends up with lifetime alimony. It would never happen if the genders were reversed.  Which is precisely the reason I am so in favor of equal rights. 

A Moral Holiday

The Atlantic has an interesting and relevant article about how the United States is currently going through a moral holiday. 

The United States is now in the midst of an extended moral holiday, in both senses. I see many manifestations of this moral holiday converging, and two in particular: first, the orgy of violence on display by supposed law-enforcement officers long before the current protests began; and second, the looting, vandalism, and other forms of public lawbreaking by rioters at the fringe of the earliest protests. This second form of lawbreaking, occurring over a period measured in days, is as nothing compared with the steady accumulation of police violence over decades. What these phenomena have in common is an implicit sense that we are in a time of accelerating change, making what was forbidden suddenly licit. Criminal acts that were heretofore shameful, such as beating unarmed, peaceful protesters or burgling a hair salon, are now performed in full knowledge that dozens of cellphone cameras are turned in your direction.

Although true, I disagree it is a new phenomenon. By many measures we are far more moral than in the past. Slavery and overt racism (when is the last time being in the KKK was considered cool?) are long gone. More recently I remember huge battles over gay marriage just a few years ago which quickly petered out to the point where it is widely accepted today. Nor do many people today argue women should be paid less than men for equal work.   

Although I think the legal industry is one where crime is rampant, I do not believe this is anything new. Unfortunately, reform in the legal system is well behind reform in other areas such as law enforcement as evidenced by the lack of reporting on the issue. Hopefully this changes. Soon. 

Florida (Again)

Both the house and senate in Florida have again passed alimony reform legislation. Now it is up to Governor Ron DeSantis to sign or veto it.  I am not much of a DeSantis fan but I hope he does the right thing for once an sign it. 

It is difficult for me to believe that anyone in this day and age would argue against:

The bill, which Gruters has promoted as an improvement on past efforts, would repeal court-ordered permanent alimony — leaving bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative and durational alimony for all divorces going forward.

Two measures written in the legislation were the subject of the bulk of debate: a 50-50 time-share presumption and the elimination of permanent alimony on previous, modifiable agreements.

Those who argue agaisnt the bill I presume also argued agaisnt the Equal Right Amendment.  

To quote Jim Morrison from the Doors, "People are strange."