Way back in 2014 (in this post, which you may find especially interesting in light of subsequent events), I described Mark Levin this way:
“He is a voluble, caustic, occasionally whimsical conservative lawyer, author and talk show host on the far rightward end of the spectrum of such radio fare. He attacked Stewart’s Gaza bit on his radio show in typical Levin fashion, which is to say excessive and uncivil, making accurate points but undermining them with lines like “I don’t trust Jews who change their names! There, I said it!!” (Stewart is really Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, and so what?) This is swell stuff for the red-meat right-wing crowd Levin preaches to, but below-the-belt rhetoric–and that’s Levin all over.”
I am not a fan. That description is still accurate. However, the mugging Levin just took from the Left, which will take any opportunity to savage a political foe, especially one they can’t debate successfully on substance, as well as conservatives who should show him more respect, is truly despicable. (Cont.)
GOP Congressman Thomas Massie, a lame duck and evidently an unrepentant asshole, has been pushing for the impeachment of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth since September. This is from September 15:
The Congressman’s grandstanding is unethical in so many ways that it makes my teeth hurt. He knows that even if the impeachment effort is successful in the House, the chances of conviction are nil, so all he can accomplish at most is a colossal waste of time. In addition, it will only further degrade the Constitution’s safety valve on rogue officials, which the Democrats pretty much destroyed already by redefining impeachment as a partisan weapon rather than a bi-partisan, last resort means of removing an objectively corrupt or dangerously irresponsible government leader. Treating “following the policies of the elected President” as a high crime or misdemeanor is a dangerous precedent to pursue, and especially so now, when the Democratic Party has signaled that it finds the Constitution and democracy annoying impediments to its plans for permanent domination. But never mind: Massey really, really, really doesn’t like the Iran war, and as a mere representative, he doesn’t have the authority to stop it. His solution to this problem is throwing a tantrum and filing indefensible articles of impeachment.
As one pundit put it, “Donald Trump is Commander in Chief. Pete Hegseth didn’t sneak into the Pentagon one night, find the big red WAR button and start bombing Iran while Trump was asleep. He’s Trump’s Secretary of Defense, carrying out the military policy of the administration.” I have heard more than one progressive parrot use the Nuremberg excuse to justify punishing Hegseth for Trump’s policies. Since the very first war crimes trial (in the U.S., over the Andersonville prison), the dirty little not-so-secret has been that empowering subordinates to disobey the orders of their superiors based on judgments they are not empowered or qualified to make is a recipe for chaos and disaster.(cont.)
The Muslim extremists who have been given a taste of power see the opportunity to hijack the culture here like they have crushed the culture in Great Britain. And they will be gleefully supported by the mad Leftists who apathetic and foolish Americans just voted to let take over Congress. This will be ugly. The signs are unmistakable. Heed Samuel L. Jackson.
In Maine, a teacher at Ocean Avenue Elementary School had the idea of letting her students foster puppies in her classroom. Assistant Superintendent of Schools Dr. Abdullah Achmed consulted the local imams and was told that dogs in the classroom would make Muslim students and staff uncomfortable, for the animals are considered ceremonially impure, or haram, in orthodox Muslim culture. Victory Girls writer Tonia Stulting opined,
Holly Mathnerd is the pseudonym of a fascinating substacker with keen observational and analytical skills. Reminding me once again that even the wisest and most intellectual astute of us can have major fissures in our competence and gaps in our understanding, Holly posted today a long essay that was, as all of her efforts are, interesting, amusing, frank and provocative, yet disturbing none the less.
In “At the Time, It Was Just Tuesday” (what “Roots” made me think about), Holly revealed that she watched “Roots” for the first time, prompted by Lavar Burton’s autobiography. (Lavar Burton’s life story gets a “Kaufman” from me. What would prompt anyone to take the time to read that minor actor’s almost certainly ghost-written bio in lieu of a major sock drawer clean-up? A “Star Trek, the Next Generation” obsession?) She reveals that she didn’t really appreciate how bad slavery was until she saw “Roots,” which itself is gobsmacking: Holly’s got to be in her sixties or fifties at least. She also reveals herself as a consumer of woke cant or at least not sufficiently resistant by referring to slaves as “enslaved people.” This is a recent imposition of decreed politically correct language that I only started noticing a few months ago. “Slaves” is out, “enslaved people (or persons)” is the respectful term to use. In my argument with my woke ethics colleagues, I also learned that “alcoholism”is now disfavored, with the term “alcohol use disorder” taking its place becauseClinicians and support networks now prefer it “to avoid moral judgment or defining someone entirely by a medical condition.” It’s an offshoot of the “no human being is illegal” crap. They can all bite me.
Back to Holly’s lack of knowledge about slavery: she explains that she was, to say the least, maleducated:
“Ethics Dunce” understates the epic cretinism and stunning lack of responsibility on display here. This is a complete ethics alarm malfunction.
Jensen Huang, CEO of the tech giant Nvidia, has resigned under pressure and in disgrace after the company launched an investigation following news reports that Huang not only had an extramarital affair with one of the company’s clients who had been recruited by China’s top spy agency. Then another affair was reported, this one with an Nvidia executive whom he supervised.
Huang is one of the most important business leaders in the United States; Nvidia dominates the market for the chips used to train and run artificial intelligence. His departure caused Nvidia to dive in the stock market.
The arrogance and recklessness of leaders who do this—and so many of them do— constantly amazes me. They have responsibility to employees, families, investors, their families, and the economic health of their country.
I guess they took as gospel the Democratic Party’s rationalization for Bill Clinton’s conduct. Remember? “It’s just sex!” Also: “It’s private personal conduct with no relevance to how well he does his job!” Showing oneself to be unworthy of trust, capable of terrible judgment and unable to resist personal gratification that involves risk and betrayal are absolutely relevant. In fact, they are definitive.
Huang is supposed to be an innovative tech genius, but he couldn’t figure out the complexities of basic professional and personal ethics.
Last night I couldn’t sleep and decided to scroll down my Facebook feed much farther than usual. I was horrified. Facebook’s algorithm has pigeonholed me in several ways that distort the breadth of my interests and skills, so I am being bombarded by posts from people and groups I don’t even know with dumb memes, stupid questions, and worst of all, idiotic opinions about American history, baseball, movies, show music, Gilbert and Sullivan, dogs, TV and trivia, periodically interrupted by mind-blowingly idiotic political posts by Facebook friends that without exception tempt me to downgrade my once positive evaluations of their intelligence and character.
It isn’t only that their posts are almost all leftist gloating and anti-Trump rants, it’s that virtually none of them contain legitimate, coherent, thought-provoking arguments backed by facts. Most are unequivocal lies, misrepresentations, delusions and statements that should embarrass a 15 year old. Here’s one I noticed this morning, endorsed by an actor friend:
Right. ICE and “Medicare for All” were literally on the ballot. One Harvard poll in July found that 75% of those polled support deporting criminal illegal aliens and 55% favor deporting all illegal immigrants. Over 95% oppose Biden-style open borders.
The most depressing revelation is the truly dumb stuff being posted by former EA columnist “Curmie.” It’s like watching a cherished relative’s mind deteriorate with progressive dementia. The man I trusted with absolute freedom to publish essays on Ethics Alarms, whom I had been exchanging opinions and ideas with for more than a decade, a teacher, a scholar and a thoughtful professional, routinely posts on Facebook garbage like that thing above, which is far from the worst I’ve seen, just the latest. Watching freinds like Curmie behave like this feels like the Black Plague spreading across Europe, except that the dead are logic, common sense, truth, the ability to perceive reality—I view an obsession with Epstein as signature significance for clinical Trump Derangement—and America’s prospects for surviving in any form the Founders would recognize.
Well, I just depressed myself again. Take over and cheer me up.
The biased and dishonest news reporting on the incident yesterday at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has disgusted me more than any of the disgusting unethical incidents I have had to watch, and sometimes comment on, this past week. I wrote about the news media’s lie, deceptive spin and fake news earlier today. For the record, I resent having to devote so much analysis and energy to political matters, but I don’t see a way out as long as the relentless assualt on our institutions and democratic processes by the blood-lust crazed Left continues to escalate while the Great Stupid crawls across the land like that green death in “The Ten Commandments.
There was a new development in the Get Hegseth! story: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth awarded a medal on Thursday to the service member who reprimanded his group for making noise at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Veterans Day,” CBS Newssort-of accurately reported.
Photos showing Hegseth pinning a medal to Spc. Thomas Iglesias’ chest were posted by the Secretary to social media with the comment, “We love soldiers. We love standards. Well done, Specialist. Carry on Patriots.”
But the dishonest narrative continues. Here is NBC News’ despicable lie in its headline for the same story: “Hegseth awards medal to soldier who reprimanded him at Arlington National Cemetery: The soldier admonished the defense secretary, his wife and top aides for laughing and taking photos at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Veterans Day.
Hegseth was not laughing and taking photos. A flat out lie.
In a normal, ethical, fair environment, Hegseth’s decorating the solder for doing his duty without regard for “The King’s Pass” or perhaps more accurately, the “King’s Rude and Clueless Female Companions’ Pass” would be accepted as appropriate, proper and ethical. But, of course, thanks to the near universal smear he received by the news media as they falsely framed the incident, his actions can also be dismissed as an obvious way to avoid accountability for the disrespect he showed at the Tomb, as falsely reported. They will be dismissed that way. He can do no right. He. like the President, is presumptively corrupt, vile and incapable of virtuous action.
Instapundit has a frequently employed mantra referring to journalists: “No matter how much you hate these people, it isn’t enough.” It is spot on, and this episode amply demonstrates why.
Here is my mantra:
“Take note, you conservatives and Republicans who let the “Blue Wave” swamp the nation, for these are the execrable people you allowed to get power over your lives because you wanted to throw a tantrum about inflation.“
Back in the good old days, at least according to many movies and my study of American culture, seeking to borrow money from a friend was considered a sure-fire way to lose a friendship. Accepting charity from a friend was a bit different: part of friendship is offering assistance (“A friend in need is a friend indeed!”). I have, however, often, but not always, rejected kind and good faith offers in that category, mostly when the charity came in the form of in-kind benefits.
But now I am beset with this question: How should I handle a friend—not close, but genuine–who has asked me for money,not a loan but a gift, in a personal crisis?
These are the relevant facts:
I have known him for over 40 years, in the course of my many theater exploits.
He is near retirement age, but still working.
He recently had a bout with cancer and is still in treatment.
He lost his job, and with it his health benefits.
He just sent me a recitation of his problems and asked via Facebook message if I would help him out financially.
He is a good human being, based on what I know about him and what I have observed.
If Grace were still alive, I guarantee that she would have vetoed any suggestion that I accede to his request. As for me, I am always inclined to help out in these situations even when I shouldn’t, and without going into embarrassing detail regarding all the metaphorical financial swords of Damocles dangling over my own head right now, this is one of the times when I really shouldn’t. I recently took out a personal loan myself to get through a cash flow crunch.
And yet…my friend really must be desperate to ask me for money: unless he has been cancelled for some hideous conduct I am unaware of. I assume that I don’t rank among his top 50 friends and family members, and he wouldn’t make my Top 100. Is he asking for a token amount? I have had bad experiences with that. I wrote a post a while back about cutting off a friend, a closer one than this one, who had been only contacting me to ask for money for years. Grace had once “loaned” him $10,000 (that we couldn’t afford), and it was like being extorted thereafter. Not only didn’t that now-deceased friend indicate any intent to pay back what we had already given him, he kept asking for more.
My question is: Now what? How would you handle this situation, or better yet, how have you handled it, and were you satisfied with the results?
Departments of Motor Vehicles everywhere are justly derided for terrible service: inefficient, sloooow, impersonal, and often surly. Disney’s “Zootopia” scored a classic scene (above) in which a DMV was shown to be staffed entirely by sloths. I have a busy day today on both the compensated and pro bono ethics fronts, and dreaded what I was sure to encounter this morning as I had to renew my driver’s license in person, because for various reasons I was not eligible for the on-line renewal process.
Believe it or not, my DMV appointment was at 9:30 am, and I walked out of the office with my temporary license at 9:46. In that 16 minutes, I moved through the check-in line in a trice. My number was called before I left the check-in desk. The cheerful and attentive DMV staffer at my assigned window administered my vision test, took my photo, directed me through the forms I had to fill out and sign, and arranged my payment with dispatch. Not only have I never interacted with the DMV in such a pleasant and streamlined fashion, I don’t think I’ve interacted with any government service, including a post office, so easily in my entire life.
OK, she was wearing a mask. I confess, I find that annoying, especially since it was a paper mask, which we all know (don’t we?) is virtually useless. She was young, so I doubt that she was immunocompromised. She was also Asian, however, and I know Asians are especially fond of masking up; she was, of course, female in Northern Virginia, so odds are that the mask was a statement, “I am a Democrat, I support Dr. Fauci and Wuhan fearmongering, and I am therefor a good non-Republican who all of you other woke saints can count me as one of you. Gooble Gorble.” I also could barely hear her through the mask and the thick glass at the window, and while the rest of her face suggested that she was returning my smiles, I couldn’t be sure.
But I digress.
The Alexandria DMV has vastly improved its processes and service, as well as its staff training and supervision. It didn’t have to, after all. We have no choice but to accept the service the give us.
Here I was, up early to finally cover Rep. Massey’s unethical slap at President Trump using Secretary of War Pete Hegseth as his voodoo doll, and what do I see but these headlines on Google News:
“What an idiot!” I think. Hegseth (I am not a fan) is going to be under fire for as long as he is running the department by the Democrat majority in Congress and their ‘flying monkeys” in the news media (that’s PJ Media’s Stephen Kruiser’s name for what EA calls the Axis media, and I find it amusing and fair), and he’s so insensitive and politically dim that he would alienate veterans by being disrespectful at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?
But he wasn’t. Not a single story suggested that Hegseth misbehaved at the Tomb. One of the women accompanying him, either his wife, Jennifer Hegseth, or advisor Tami Radabaugh (or both) were heard “audibly laughing” as the daily ceremony at the Tomb at Arlington National Cemetery was about to get underway. As a result (I’ve seen this occur when I have been observing the ritual), “All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times,” the sentinel shouted at the group. The rules for all ceremonies at the cemetery prohibit visitors from yelling or making any other “boisterous” or “unreasonably loud” noise.
Was Hegseth disrespectful at the Tomb? No. Can he control the inappropriate outbursts of adults accompanying him, who should be presumed to know how to behave at this sacred site? No. Would the sentinel reminding a visitor of the proper decorum at the Tomb be newsworthy if it weren’t an opportunity to impugn and denigrate a Trump Administration figure targeted by progressives, Democrats and the news media? Definitely not. (cont.)
