Insurance Claim1

The other day I got notice that I HAD to report for jury duty.  Funny thing, that word "duty."  The court makes it sound like it's voluntary.  However, if you don't show up, you get tossed in jail - so how voluntary is that?!   I suspect it goes back to the days of indentured servitude where you were not a slave, persay, but you were still beholding to someone for paying your way over the Atlantic (so, you were less than a slave and were often treated worse). Thing is, I really don't like having to do something.  For example, the wife says, "Take out the garbage" or "Empty the dishwasher."   Yeah, I'll get to it eventually but what she's really saying is, "Take out the garbage.... NOW! "  Not when you want to do it, but NOW (as in right the @&#%!# NOW!!! ). It's more of a demand than a request and if I do it when I want to there will be hell to pay (eventually). This was all brought to my mind when a Guy

You know how somethings come at you in life that you never saw coming?  I mean right upside the head it smacks you and there is nothing to prepare you for that moment.  You can't practice for it or rehearse and there are no do-overs.  You are either ready to deal with the situation or not. A few years back, I had that experience when I was in a bank robbery.  Laying face down with a Glock to the back of my head, I can still remember the feeling that in mere moments, life for me would end.  I remember the young lady laying across from me was crying that she would not see her daughter again.   I have often reflected back on that scenario and thought how I could have been better prepared and have come to the conclusion that I could not.  I am what I am and the best I can do is get ready for the next cataclysmic event, whatever that may be. Such was the thoughts going through my mind when a young-ish guy came into the library.  Guy had that I-just-got-punched-in-the-gut sort of

As the old saying goes, " If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything. " A few days back, I picked up the LA Times to read an article: " Friend says he and Manafort were criminals " wherein Richard Gates testified that he and Paul Manafort (former Trump Campaign Manager) had engaged in criminal activities.  Note: The testimony was that Gates and Manafort conducted criminal activities - not Trump (which goes back to the Judge's comment a while back that this case against Manafort was a witch hunt and not a drive to arrive at justice. I hadn't gotten past the 4th paragraph when the word "TORTURE" popped in my head.  I mean, why would anyone admit to having committed criminal activity in a Federal case unless they were being coerced into confessing?  Or course, this brings us to the concept of "torture."  See, at least twice weekly, I have someone come into my library who has committed some kind of felony (t

Do you remember the movie Hall Pass ?  Basically, a straight to DVD mid-life crisis flick about two guys who are given a "hall pass" by their wives to do whatever they want for a week.  That's right, whatever they want .  What do you think is going to happen?!  What do you think the wives thought was going to happen?!? I suspect the wives figured their husbands would shake out their mid-life blues and get on with life (or realize that the marriage is over and to get on with their lives).  Either way, there are going to be problems with the granting of a "hall pass" in that one "someone" is going to have hurt feelings. Before we get too far into our story of the month, let's define the word of the month: CONNIVANCE .  According to Black's Law Dictionary, CONNIVANCE   is: the act of indulging or ignoring another's wrongdoing, esp. when action should be taken to prevent it.  Family Law .  A defense to divorce, one spouse's corru