Law And More

Crime and Punishment - Let's Re-Think All That

From the get-go in America, early social systems leveraged the power of public shaming.

The Puritans put miscreants in stocks in the town square.

Those settling the west tarred and feathers con artists and horse thieves.

Today, the official vestige of that is pretty tame. It's the perp walk. The alleged Wall Street insider trader is marched out the office in cuffs, with the media notified ahead.

Yet today social behavior is beyond offensive. Crime, especially the violent kind, is escalating.

It could be time to return to official and unofficial forms of public shaming for restoring social control and deterring crime. 

The 14-year-old mouthing off in class is mandated to take the elective course in poop removal in public housing. The progress in that learning experience is streamed back to the classroom and athletic events. Others will earn class credits by simply watching that. 

And, the hell with "sentencing" to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings those pleading guilty to DUIs.

First of all, only about 5%  to 10% of those in AA get and stay sober.

Secondly, everyone understands the power of social pressure. Let law enforcement and the courts come up with a public means of punishment that is not cruel or unusual. Clever lawyers can put that together. 

Meanwhile, contemporary social systems such as neighborhoods in old urban areas have developed their own ways of public shaming. There is no ambiguity about the message.

The self-absorbed pulls into a cleared parking space post-blizzard.

Sweet.

That car owner returns to a smashed windshield.

Beyond the cost and inconvenience of replacing the windshield there is the horror that everyone has witnessed this play out of crime and punishment.

The fear inside the car owner is the possibility of being shunned.

Of course, never again will there be any gliding into a cleared parking slot. 

In a densely populated residential complex in New Haven, Connecticut, a woman spoke harshly to me in front of others.

Soon enough, in front of others, when I spotted her coming down the block, I stepped off the sidewalk until she has passed me. Then I stepped back on. As others observed the theatre the area became eerily quiet.

Quickly, the woman became more respectful in her speech.

An alterative, of course, would have been to follow standard procedure: Going to property management and reporting the harassment. Yeah, that would have branded me everything from a rat to a cry baby. No question, figuring out modes of public shaming is the most effective approach to righting perceived wrongs. Instead of taking on the label of "tattle-tale" we are anointed "community organizer."

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

Hanging On, for a Very Different Kind of Justice - Roman Catholicism Before The Boston Globe Broke Story of Clergy Abuse

In 2002, The Boston Globe broke the story. Roman Catholic clergy were sexually abusing young boys. Eventually, the priest John J. Goeghan was sent to prison. There, no surprise, he was murdered.

Then began a new era - and not a positive one - for Roman Catholicism. It also ended the time of Catholic superstars. Among them had been:

Thomas Merton

Clare Boothe Luce

Graham Greene

Fulton Sheen

John F. Kennedy (and his mother Rose Kennedy who received the Elizabeth Seton Medal at my Catholic college during my freshman year)

Gerard Manley Hopkins

T. S. Eliot

Back then Roman Catholicism was one of the most powerful and enduring global brands.

In the U.S. it symbolized protection for immigrants who were the underdogs in a nation originally settled by White Anglo Saxon Americans.

It was "The Church" which socialized the children of those immigrants in special parish schools. I was enrolled in St. Boniface school in downtown Jersey City, New Jersey. It has since been shuttered.

Catholics had their own major holidays. The children's Holy Communion Day was probably the biggest and most proud. 

Later we were funneled into Catholic colleges such as mine - Seton Hill in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

When we stepped out of that magic circle of protection to secular institutions of higher education there were Newman Centers. At one of them, near the campus of the University of Michigan where I was doing doctoral studies, I could meet Catholic men. We were not supposed to go out of our faith to marry. We were to wait until marriage to experience sex. Even when married we were not supposed to use artificial means of birth control. 

Then, it all turned to dust, just like the ashes we had received on the Wednesday which kicked off the season of Lent. 

The Catholic superstars seemed like naïve fools. How could they had bought in to that belief system and web of rigid rules? 

But there was really no exit ramp, not in our wiring. The mysticism remains.

At the top of the list were saints in heaven we could implore for help. An intern came into my office and her eyes popped. On the wall was pasted an invocation to St. Jude, who gets to work in supposed impossible cases. Some are convinced he was the force behind Danny Thomas' success. 

There is also expectation of divine justice in an afterlife. Yeah, things will get better there. That's why we were hammered not to commit suicide. Hold on and turn it all over to God.

And, so many speaker stories in Alcoholics Anonymous (boozing is known as the Irish Catholic virus) recount, for better or for worse, how it was growing up Catholic. 

Overall, many of us are sad that such as masterfully worked out system of thought and rituals wasn't legit.

Perhaps the new definition of "growing up" should be moving beyond that hocus pocus with humor.

A good time was had by all at the top of that worldwide organization, as is usually the situation.

They were mighty clever to be able to get away with it for so many centuries.

The 1% in American should study that system for clues how to retain their power.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

Case Strategy - Beyond AI to Psychic Training

Over and over again, Steve Jobs told his illegitimate daughter Lisa two things.

One, that he would someday be famous.

And, two, that he would die young.

Both happened. That's what Lisa recounts in her memoir "Small Fry."

So, what's up for grabs is the assumption that Jobs had been psychic.

The stretch from that is that such an ability to intuit the future helped with his product development.

He could envision how a user-friendly personal computer would change how and where work is done. He could also imagine fusing that computer with a phone. 

It's likely that everyone has psychic powers. But not everyone opens the self to them. 

Salem, Massachusetts clairvoyant Laurie Cabot made it her mission to help woman gain access to that ability. Her book is "The Witch in Every Woman." Here it can be ordered from Amazon.

Mindfulness coaches essentially do the same thing.

Practicing psychics such as at Angelica of the Angels in Salem, MA guided me on how to unleash that power in myself. In addition, I enrolled in formal classroom exercises.

Lawyers can start out with booking a reading at Angelica.

Soon enough when lawyers are immersed in the strategy of a trial they will have another resource in addition to Artificial Intelligence. It's training their consciousness to pick up messages from wherever.

That can be a continual process.

In the actual courtroom they can flip the switch to receive input from other dimensions. Next, members of the legal team connect the dots in real time. 

Reflection: Should law schools provide an elective on psychic intelligence? Students at Harvard Law School aren't far from Salem. Meanwhile they can take a class in psychic phenomenon there. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

How We Loved Their Minds, Then Academia's Administration Stepped In

Princeton and University of Oxford graduate Cameron Platt had more than a meeting a minds with Lee Clark Mitchell.

As so often happens in higher education, this young person - 25 - has become romantically involved with that former professor. He is 71.

As is required now in academia, the specified amount of time has gone by since they were student and teacher in order for them to move on to matters of the heart. 

The New York Post reports Platt and Mitchell are engaged to be married.

In the old days there was no open recognition of the power professors had which could influence the hearts of students. So, there was no necessary time lag between the brilliant lectures in the classroom and the march down the church aisle.

However, sometimes, as with Sally Conroy, student president at Seton Hill, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, it did take time for the hearts to align.

Eventually, though, she did join in wedded bliss with that institution of higher learning's religion instructor and Catholic chaplain Christopher Fullman. He had left the priesthood. Sally became Mrs. Fullman. Because of the large age difference, she became a widow 24 years ago.

Unlike the Fullmans, Richard Mennen, former theatre professor at Seton Hill, and Sally Spahn, didn't allow time to block bliss. There was no rule existing which put romance on hold.

Spahn finished her college studies early and became Sally Spahn Mennen at the end of the first semester of that academic year. The marriage endured. 

Higher education remains a special institution in society. It's not our parent's house. It's not work. Therefore it can become a magical setting. All things, especially love, become possible and probable. 

Not only the professor-student relationships blossom. So do love affairs among students. It used to be that moms told their offspring to find their soulmate in school and lock that rite of passage in right then. Currently, of course, marriage is no longer a rite of passage.

But romantic bonding will always provide a unique experience in life.

If they hang in there and wait for the required time to pass, professors and students can continue to find love together.

Let the universe cast its spell. 

The world needs more love. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

Power & Its Lousy ROI - From Henry VIII to Roger Ailes

From his father Henry VII, Henry VIII learned that power had to be used brutally. After all, the empire was filled with the enemy within. 

The recent biography "Henry VIII And The Men Who Made Him" by Tracy Borman recounts how this preoccupation with power probably caused the king's relatively early death. It could also have prevented him from achieving greatness. That didn't happen for the empire until his daughter Elizabeth, wiser about how to manage power, pulled off it.

Not long after he settled into being kind, he spotted traitors everywhere and dispatched them to the tower for execution. The ROI on that was subpar. Among those offed were advisors who simply disagreed with him. However, given the spell power casts, he lapsed into paranoia. Conflict was interpreted as extreme threat.

Likewise, creator of Fox News Roger Ailes, a brilliant leader and manager, went the power route. Allegedly he leveraged it to force females into unwanted sex. When he was ousted and his office cleared out, guns were found in his desk. Suppose, Ailes hadn't fallen victim to the voodoo of power? He might still be at Fox. 

Sure, power is part of the game. But it turns on the players when they make it their whole game. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

 

 

Can't Be Shamed - Thank You, Defense Bar, For That (also PR, Free Thinkers)

The Puritans imported it into America.

That was shame.

Back then and until fairly recently shame served as a powerful tool of social control.

Men were shamed into being extreme successes.

Women into maintaining great bodies.

And neighbors into mowing their laws.

Bit by bit the brilliant tactics of the public relations industry, the ability of lawyers to get miscreants off the hook, and free thinkers who don't give a damn about the public good have killed off shame. 

It's no where, not any more.

Two decades ago former head of "Today" Matt Lauer might have been advised to create a private version of the Witness Protection Program for himself. Change his name, do some cosmetic surgery, relocate to Barcelona, Spain. 

Instead, as the New York Post reports, there he was at Jeff Zucker's 54th birthday party. There he could have made the connections which would catapult him into his Next. 

Sure, former co-chair and partner at law firm Willkie Farr Gordon Caplan lost his big job. Since he took a plea to a felony, that could be automatic disbarment in New York. He might have to go to the slammer for about a year.

So?

The guy will be back. He's smart. He's driven. And he can hire the best brand-restoration experts around.

I was behind the times when I felt shame about losing my business, nest egg, and mind in 2003. The meme to replace that is: Hey, look at me now. 

On last Sunday's episode of "Good Girls," Beth told her husband he better not shame their daughter for liking to do mini masturbating. Back in the days of "Mad Men," Don Draper's daughter Sally was shamed for public masturbation. That's how she wound up in therapy.

The death of shame could be how America finally deep-sixes its Puritan heritage.

It's possible we could become as emotionally liberated as the French. Every city in the U.S. could be Paris. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

 

Elizabeth Holmes & Billy Evans - What God Has Joined Together, Let No Prison Sentence Cast Asunder

Elizabeth Holmes' next court date is April 22nd. If convicted of wire fraud or even if she takes a plea, she could be sentenced to hard time.

Yet, she and her finance Billy Evans are moving forward with their wedding. He is the heir of the Evans hotel fortune and, at age 27, younger than Holmes. 

The New York Post reports that the wedding invitations have been sent out.

That is despite the efforts of his parents William and Susan to talk him out of marrying a woman who has been labeled the Millennial Bernie Madoff. In addition, his friends, including his former colleagues at Luminar, warned him that the fit was bad. 

There is speculation that the enormously persuasive Holmes might have used those powers on Evans. And he fell under the spell.

However, there is also the possibility that being associated with this high-profile player makes him an instant celebrity. And that's been a long term goal of his. Wealth has not been enough. 

The two met during the summer of 2017. Soon after they became engaged. Currently they are enjoying being the focus of star snaps. It could be they share a zest for creating unreality. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

If Elizabeth Holmes Goes to Prison, It Better Accommodate Conjugal Visits

Elizabeth Holmes' signature trait is the ability to bounce back from whatever.

She had lost her billions, her company, and her brand as tech genius. She is awaiting trial for fraud and more. 

But she, at age 35,  has managed to snag herself a wealthy young finance. He is Billy Evans, 27 years old.

Evans is heir to the Evans Hotel Group and had worked in the driverless car industry. The two lovebirds are bunking in lux in San Francisco. Here are more details from BusinessInsider.

One wonders if Evans has factored into the engagement the possibility that his fiancée could spend a significant piece of her life in prison. 

But, Holmes seems able to cast spells. He might have been bewitched by her capacity to persuade other human beings to buy into her narrative. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

JD Class of 2019 - Memes for Commencement Speeches

Perhaps it was the subliminal advertising by institutions of higher education.

Maybe it was simply magical thinking by those who have invested so much time, money, test-taking, and hope in degree-getting.

Or, it could be the passing down of the Puritans' blind faith in education when they established Harvard in 1636.

Whatever. There has evolved over centuries in America a conviction of a correlation between education and unique insulation from catastrophic mistakes, deep personal pain, and even the usual bumps in the road that the uneducated endure.

Mary McCarthy's "The Group" hammered that myopia in the 1960s. The female graduates of an Ivy found no buffer between themselves and raw reality.

More recently, in The New York Times Magazine, Harvard Business School alumnus Charles Duhigg outs how miserable many of his classmates are, both in their careers and personal lives. Also, other alumni such as Jeff Skilling wound up in prison. 

Over and over again, editor in chief at Abovethelaw.com - Elie Mystal - describes his regret about hanging around Harvard, after receiving his BA, to pick up a law degree from its law school.

Meanwhile, we find that Dechert associate Cameron Schladenhauffren died from an accidental combination of drugs ranging from legal medications to heroin.

The suicide of partner Gab MacConaill still haunts us. He was in his early 40s. 

So, it seems the right thing to do in these volatile times for commencement speakers to shift from maxing points of light in the scripting to bring on the darkness. 

That's not new. Many recall how David McCullough Jr. told graduates they were not special. 

Also, I helped with a commencement talk to an Ivy in which it was documented how an elite education could be a career liability. The graduates could feel entitled, pissing off everyone at work. The result could be a career in park. 

There are myriad bits and pieces of darkness to include.

At the top of the list is that those who got the highest grades might have already ruined their careers.

As Eric Barker explains in "Barking Up The Wrong Tree," high scorers chase the grades, not the mindset and skills that are platforms for making it big professionally. Long it has been known that "C" students become the bosses of the "A" students.

Of course, graduating at the top of the class at a T-14 can open the first few doors.

But the lack of social skills can wind up having the doors hit the smartest kids in the class in the butt. BTW, I deleted the guest column on this blog by such a smartee. Eventually, when an eight-year associate he was not invited to be partner. 

Next is that debt from law school student loans can limit their professional and personal risk-taking. Unless they pay off that nut fast they could wind up living lives of quiet desperation.

What they have learned has a shorter and shorter shelf life. Also, much of that isn't relevant to the actual practice of law. That's an argument with traction about shutting down law schools and bringing back apprentice programs.

The social networks they nurtured during their "educational experience" could mutate into liabilities. Here is my sad story about that.

Let the negatives rip. Then, there will be a wrap with extreme hope: Human beings have managed to survive themselves since the fall of Adam and Eve due to intellectual arrogance.

Members of the JD Class of 2019 should make it their mission to protect themselves from themselves - as well as superiors, colleagues, clients, and judges. 

Leaders needing dark inspiration for their commencement addresses are welcome to a complimentary consultation. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

Career Paths Not Requiring College or Law School: Being a Psychic

At psychic boutique in Salem, Massachusetts - Angelica of the Angels rebranded as Salem Love Angels - Barbara Szarfranski bills at $40 for 15 minutes or $70 for 30. Her assistants bill at $30 for 15 minutes.

In the field of clairvoyance, age, rather than a liability, can be a plus. Szarfranski becomes more prominent in her niche of clairvoyance with age. My own former psychic - the late Mary Ann Kremer, based in the Jersey Shore - was in high demand until her death at 82.

Another plus embedded in parapsychology as a career path is that no special education is required. That means there is accessible a well-paying mode of making a living without college. And without law school.

Sure, the gifted intuitives at Angelica of the Angels and other similar enterprises don't bill at almost $2,000 an hour like brandname lawyers Ted Olson and David Boies.

But they can live a comfortable lifestyle, without putting in extreme hours. The exception, of course, is around Halloween. The shops in Salem have waiting lines winding around the blocks. 

Also, there is broad flexibility in the tools psychics use. Those available through website Psychic Interactive rely on all kinds. Andre picks up on voice. Saint James switches between tarot and intuition. 

The Daily Mail reports that revenues in the field of parapsychology have grown 52% since 2005. Last year they reached $2.2 billion.

Backing off from formal traditional religions, Americans are more open to embracing other forms of inspiration, guidance, and being transported into another dimension.

Some psychics are born into the trade. Their grandmothers "gave readings" in the villages of Poland. One day they realized they also had the gift. That freed them from the confines of that town. As with musicians, chefs, or those who teach English as a second language, they could make a living traveling the world.

Some recognize a bit of ability, then hone their skills. Actually, top psychics such as Laurie Cabot, also from New England roots, believe that gift is available to everyone, especially women. Cabot had published the book "The Witch in Every Woman." 

How to develop the gift?

There are diverse kinds of workshops to enhance powers of concentration so that there can be a reaching beyond the normal. Some are offered at the Montclair, New Jersey Psychic School. I attended those at the Church of Tamara in Tucson, Arizona. In fact, at one of them in AZ, faith healers banished my joint pain.

However, simple training in meditation can do the trick. Buddhist monk Jack Kornfield offers that in the U.S.

More convenient is clicking online to take in the n0-cost YouTube teaching of masters such as Pema Chodron. By listening we can be lifted from the boundaries of conventional mindsets - and intuit what's blocking those of others. 

So, when ready, how to start out giving readings for revenue?

The easiest way is to hang out a shingle. There are literally plenty of those up and down the Jersey Shore. The field has no barriers to entry. And, it is unregulated. Most psychics post a disclaimer that the service is for entertainment only. It's good business to create a website and promote yourself via social media and in-person word of mouth.

Another route is to audition for an established psychic service. Just key in online "Psychic Services - employment." Up will pop "MeetYourPsychic" and "PsychicOz."

The trick, as in most lines of work, is to catapult into the big time. You want to be hired by one of the top shops which pay well and at which you will be sought after for your guidance. When your abilities are awesome, then you can apply. Or, if you play your cards right, so to speak, you can become a top shop.

Twice I have offered freelance assignments as a paid psychic. However, my own current clairvoyant recommended that I first immerse myself more comprehensively in a paranormal environment. In August I will be relocating to the southern tip of AZ, near the border of Mexico. There I hope to complete the next phase of my training.

That began in the mid 1990s with workshops throughout New England. I have a hunch what is blocking me is over-education.

This blog will continue with the series of career paths not requiring college.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com.