“Whatever you do, always avoid the corner of Third and Howard!” my mother used to warn me when I was a little girl. “It’s the worst skid row in all San Francisco.” Not any more.
Now the intersection of Third and Howard is the site of the fabulous Yerba Buena Gardens, the chic Museum of Modern Art and the deluxe Moscone Center — and is also my current destination, the American Bar Association convention, a huge annual gathering of attorneys from all over the U.S.
All I originally knew about the convention itself was that, after signing up for it, I suddenly started getting bunches of e-mail advertisements for BMWs, top-of-the-line golf courses, bespoke tailors and luxury resort hotels. Way above my pay grade.
So how did I end up here? That’s easy. Worked for a law firm for 20-odd years. Began to miss seeing all those guys wearing grey flannel suits.
I registered, ate a complimentary breakfast, snagged a handful of free ballpoint pens and waited around for FBI director James Comey to speak. That man surely has a lot of ‘splaining to do. I wish somebody would ask him, “Why did you give Clinton a free pass and not Chelsea Manning?” Or Edward Snowden or Julian Assange? And if Comey answers that it wasn’t his job, perhaps someone should mention the Nuremberg trials. After all, the ABA’s slogan is “Defending Liberties, Pursuing Justice”. And many attorneys actually do that. However, not so sure about the FBI.
But first I wandered around San Francisco, checked out the flea-bag hotel I was booked in for Saturday night to make sure the elevator still worked and then attended a seminar for insurance-defense attorneys at the historic St. Francis Hotel (its elevators work nicely). What could be more fun than that! San Francisco is a wonderful town.
PS: If the American Bar Association is sincerely interested in defending liberty and pursuing justice, I would highly recommend that their members all vote for Dr. Jill Stein for President instead of those two funny clowns who are also running. http://www.jill2016.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7mpnkgYrX8&feature=youtu.be
