Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Earlier this month, I was mugged. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds, because I didn’t suffer any physical injuries beyond a slight bruise to the hip where the two muggers shoved me into the self-service kiosk at CVS. It was one of those classic “push and grab” affairs, where one person distracts you by pretending to accidentally bump into you and the other takes your wallet. I didn’t make a police report, because I knew it wouldn’t do any good in a city like Philadelphi...
As a child, lying was something I rarely did. This was a function of two things: being Catholic and being lazy. But perhaps the most compelling reason not to lie is that you will always be outed. It may not happen immediately, but there is simply no way to go through life telling lie after lie without someone eventually figuring out that you did not serve with honor in Vietnam, Sen. Blumenthal, that your version of your wife’s tragic death was not accurate, President Biden, a...
Christmas is my favorite holiday. Nothing else even comes close. I don’t think I’m exceptional in this. Most people, unless they have hearts the size of the Grinch’s before he had his Whoville epiphany, would agree there is nothing more magical than the holiday that celebrates the birth of the Christ child. You don’t even need to be Christian to appreciate it. Ironically, the most memorable Christmas holidays in my 61 years have been experienced in the shadow of sadness...
I turned 61 last week. I don’t plan on joining the celestial choir any time soon, but birthdays make me think of the opposite end of the life cycle. Every birthday morning, I have a somewhat ghoulish tradition of writing a mental obituary, composing my own epitaph since I don’t trust others to pen it for me. We all should prepare our own “homegoings,” as my friends in the African American community call it, because there’s been a troubling trend toward speaking ill of the de...
Following the tragic shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, it was predictable that along with the gun control discussions, the conversation would bleed out to include “hate speech.” It was also predictable that only conservatives would be blamed for that speech. I understand the argument that going after someone because of their identity is an aggravating factor, and I even agree that it should be considered in sentencing. Having practiced immigration law for...
This is addressed to the people who remain in a state of shock after Pennsylvania voters chose John Fetterman to represent them in the U.S. Senate come January. Many have said the reason Fetterman won is that Pennsylvanians did not like the “inauthenticity” of his opponent, Mehmet Oz. The Fetterman campaign successfully painted the cardiologist and television star as an elite carpet bagger who had a rich vocabulary. I mean, no Pennsylvanian is smart enough to use the word “cr...
Every one of us has the right to defend our reputations against attack. Over the past few years, I’ve seen reputations destroyed by people with agendas. Those agendas have been personal, political, criminal or simply borne out of the nihilistic desire to hurt a moving human target. Many of these attacks have been unjustified from an objective standpoint, although, like Christine Blasey Ford, they have garnered the support of like-minded social predators with resentment in t...
I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, some of them endearing, most of them not. When Barack Obama referred to conservatives like me as people who cling to our guns and religion, I was offended. Later, when Hillary Clinton called conservatives who weren’t going to vote for her a “basket of deplorables,” it looked as if another Democrat was employing crude, awkward rhetoric to gin up her base. It had the opposite effect, which helped put another guy in office who wasn’t...
A lot of people think the pinnacle of journalism is working for a publication with national exposure, like The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal or The Chicago Tribune. These are the flashy, high-profile jobs that put you in line for the Pulitzers and get you invitations to pontificate on the cable news networks. While there is a definite cachet in being able to put “of The New York Times” after your name, some of the greatest writers and investigative jou...
I was 11 during the summer of 1973 when the Watergate hearings were televised. The memory is still clear in my mind, and it was a watershed moment for a young girl who thought her country was perfect. It clearly wasn’t. Now, almost 50 years later, I am even more cognizant of the flaws in our nation, even though I spend most of my waking hours helping other people become American citizens. The flaws pale in comparison to the problems people face in other countries, mass s...
During the Bicentennial year of 1976, I was a 15-year-old history geek. To be alive for the 200th birthday of our nation, particularly in Philadelphia, where it all began, was intoxicating. My mother got into the act by dressing her five kids as Revolutionary characters: I was Betsey Ross, my three younger brothers were a motley Spirit of ’76 and my 5-year-old sister was trapped in a large papier-mache version of the Liberty Bell. As memory serves, the bell part of the c...
Whenever the Supreme Court comes down with a particularly momentous decision, it’s customary to look at the majority opinion. After all, the majority makes the law. Sometimes, though, it’s the dissenting opinions that are more interesting, more shocking, more passionate and in a very small number of cases, more influential. John Marshall Harlan was nicknamed “The Great Dissenter” because he disagreed with so many of his court’s decisions during a storied lifetime on the bench...
I’ve been in favor of the death penalty since I first knew what it was. I suppose it has something to do with my sense of justice: if you take a life, which is really the only time the death penalty is imposed, you owe a life. That also conflicts somewhat with my Catholic upbringing that teaches all life is precious, but humans have our convenient blind spots, and mine was capital punishment. For most of my life, I’ve been fairly steadfast in my belief that killers des...
I was always a big fan of mythology. My particular favorite is Athena, also known as Minerva, goddess of wisdom. She is said to have sprung fully formed from her father Zeus’ head, which was probably a great relief for his wife Hera. Athena is a myth, but one that ironically calls us to examine the truth. Given what happened recently at the Supreme Court and its aftermath, I think it’s time to dispel some of the myths surrounding the pro-life movement. Myth: Pro-lifers onl...
Unlike so many people with Twitter and Facebook accounts these days, I am not a constitutional scholar. I did go to law school, passed the Bar on my first try and have been practicing law since 1987 (give or take a few years when I detoured to teaching languages) but I don’t have the gravitas of many of these keyboard warriors who know one thing for certain: Elon Musk is a fascist. Up until quite recently, very few would describe the founder of Tesla as a totalitarian o...
I was feeling a bit under the weather this past week, so I ended up spending time at home in front of the television. The thing that really mesmerized me was the Johnny Depp trial on Court TV. I never watch Court TV. I’m pretty sure most lawyers avoid that channel because why would we want to spend our leisure hours staring at melodramatic, preening attorneys from Michigan or La Jolla when we can just head down to the Criminal Justice Center in Philly and see that up close? A...
A few years ago, someone started a campaign to make Elsa the first lesbian Disney princess. It didn’t get much traction at the time, just like the idea that Ernie and Bert were shacking up as domestic partners on “Sesame Street.” Fast forward to 2022. Now, we have Disney executives caught in flagrante, as they describe their master plan to force adult sexual obsessions on toddlers. Christopher Rufo, who almost single-handedly alerted the country to the dangers of Criti...
Recently, a friend showed me a sobering graphic depicting the gender disparity in suicide rates between men and women. While females tend to attempt suicide more often than men (and experience suicidal thoughts more frequently,) males are more “successful” in completing the act. There are a lot of reasons for the striking difference along gender lines, but one thing is clear: men are in crisis mode, and that crisis starts from early adolescence and carries all the way through...
As predicted, Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings were pretty boring. Almost yawn-worthy. She’s a fairly boring person to begin with, which I suppose is a good thing since we don’t need to worry about high school classmates popping up with lurid stories about Michelob parties, etc. I’m glad there is no way to attack Jackson’s character, because I was truly disgusted in the lack of humanity displayed by people who inhabit the same modern country I do, but who adopted...
Years ago, when I was just beginning to practice immigration law, I remember hearing about two horrific genocides. They were almost back-to-back, happening within little more than a year of each other, and each became the focus of a war crimes tribunal at the Hague. The first one occurred in the spring of 1994 when Rwandan Hutus massacred hundreds of thousands of their Tutsi neighbors in a matter of months. A year later, in Bosnia, thousands of Muslim men and boys were murdere...
Sometimes, the stars align, and things happen the way they’re supposed to. Like starting Women’s History Month with a wonderful gift to women, or at least the unborn kind. On the eve of the 31-day period that celebrates the beauty, the intelligence, the talent, the majesty and all of the other traits shared by the sisterhood, the Senate by a 48-46 margin rejected attempts to codify Roe v. Wade and provide women with a federal right to abortion. The coyly named “Wo...
I really hate the phrase “it’s a teachable moment.” People use it whenever they want to pretend that someone who messed up is going to regret her mistakes. This whole idea of redemption is wishful thinking, because very few people come out the other side of a major debacle with humility and self-awareness. I don’t forgive Whoopi Goldberg for being a privileged putz. I doubt she’s a true anti-Semite, although who knows. Jew-hating is a common activity among the woke preachers...
Exactly 10 years ago, the Supreme Court was presented with a case involving affirmative action. The majority rejected a policy employed by the University of Texas that allowed it to consider race as one factor in its admissions decisions. A majority of the court rejected the university’s arguments that this was a good way to achieve “diversity,” and sent the case back to the lower courts to determine if “strict scrutiny” justified the use of the policy. Justice Clarence...
The other day, I went to a movie, and the experience moved me to tears. It was the most recent version of “Macbeth,” brought to the screen by the great Denzel Washington, appearing alongside a combination of veteran actors (like the sublime Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth) and talented newcomers. That, added to the amazing black and white cinematography, lifted this film to the next level. As I was walking home, something dawned on me. Denzel Washington is a Black man tha...
When it became obvious that the Titanic was not going to survive its tragic collision with the iceberg in the North Atlantic, those in positions of authority started to do the human triage necessary in emergencies. Who would be saved, who would perish, and who would be empowered with those impossible decisions? Ultimately, it came down to the formula used from the beginning of civil society: Women and children first. Until now, in the COVID era. I've watched with horror as we...
