Rectification Central Adds a Voice: Welcome Redhand

After years of commenting (I've lost count of the number, but it precedes the big comment crash fairly early in the blog's history) I've finally decided to accept Yas's kind invitation to post on a regular basis. Before I do so, I figured I'd "out" myself by letting you know who I am and what I do and give you a sense of the kind of content I plan to offer here.

Like Yas, I'm very much "A grizzled Boomer," perplexed and disturbed by the direction our Country has taken under Republican rule, and compelled to comment on it. I'm proud to say I was born in the Bronx in 1949, into a totally ethnic Irish immigrant family. (My Russian wife insisted I take a DNA test, and it showed a genetic strain traced literally 99.9% to Ireland: no surprise really given my grandparents' names on both sides of the family.)  I'm an O'Neill, which explains the handle "Redhand."  The angry centurion avatar I use is a hat tip to the time my family spent in Rome in the late Sixties where my Air Force pilot father was assigned after spending a year in Vietnam.

I spent three years in the Navy after college in the early Seventies, went to law school, and became a lawyer in 1977. I worked twenty years as in-house counsel for a defense contractor in New Jersey, ultimately becoming the General Counsel until I "left corporate life" in 2001 when it was clear that I was incompatible with the Company's new CEO.

Going back to my family's immigrant roots, I decided to reinvent myself as an immigration lawyer after 9/11, and haven't looked back since. I've practiced in Morristown, NJ for many years, and have no plans to retire.

As you might imagine, the Trump years were a nightmare. I think it's best summed up by incoming DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorka's press conference on March 1, 2021, when he stated:

"I think it is important to understand what we have inherited, because it defines the situation as it currently stands. Entire systems are not rebuilt in a day or in a few weeks. To put it succinctly, the prior administration dismantled our nation’s immigration system in its entirety." [My emphasis.]

Most of my content will be immigration-related; it remains a cutting-edge issue in American society and politics, but I'll also occasionally comment on cultural issues, both here and abroad.  I'll continue to comment, and look forward to further fascinating discussions at this remarkable place.