Free Republic

ROBERT TREUHAFT, who has died aged 89, was best known as the Communist husband of Jessica Mitford; by marrying into the Mitford clan, he became one of a disparate group of brothers-in-law that included Sir Oswald Mosley, Lord Moyne, Derek Jackson, and the Duke of Devonshire. On paper, Bob Treuhaft sounded unpleasant, and was once described as one of the most dangerously subversive lawyers operating in America. In reality, he possessed considerable charm and intelligence, and was an altogether lovable figure. Robert E Treuhaft was born in New York on August 8 1912, the son of Jewish working class immigrants ...

This is an obituary about a dead communist lawyer, not particularly thrilling; but you must read it to see who interned at his radical firm back in 1971. Amazing what gets printed in the New York Times: December 2, 2001Robert Treuhaft, Lawyer Who Inspired Funeral Exposé, Dies at 89 By PAUL LEWIS Robert Treuhaft, a crusading radical lawyer who inspired his wife, Jessica Mitford, to write her best seller "The American Way of Death," died in New York on Nov. 11. He was 89. As a union lawyer representing longshoremen in the San Francisco area in the 1950's, Mr. Treuhaft ...

Bureaucrats at the Federal Trade Commission must have a lot of spare time. The agency recently swooped to rescue the American people from the threat posed by a collaborative organization of 22,000 professionals who sit down with youngsters and teach them how to play a piano. As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, regulators forced the Music Teachers National Association, a century-old nonprofit, to accept a consent decree over the group’s code of ethics, which simply encouraged members not to pilfer or recruit students from fellow members. Only in a twisted bureaucratic mind would such a sensible provision be...