Inspiring Christmas lyrics of the week:
That’s how it goes, whenever it snows
The world is your snowball just for a song
Get out and roll it along
1. That this kind of thing could happen at a major bank in 2019 is inexplicable and disgusting. Jimmy Kennedy, a nine-year NFL veteran, earned $13 million during his nine-year career and had been told that he would be accepted as a “private client” at JPMorgan Chase, an elite designation with perks like travel discounts, exclusive event invitations and better deals on loans. When he went to his local JPMorgan branch in Arizona to determine why he had not been accepted into the cataegory, he was told by his representative, who is black, “You’re bigger than the average person, period. And you’re also an African-American. We’re in Arizona. I don’t have to tell you about what the demographics are in Arizona. They don’t see people like you a lot.”
Kennedy recorded the conversation, and after pulling most of his money out of JPMorgan, complained to the bank as well as an industry watchdog agency. The bank sent him a letter saying, “You stated that Mr. Belton informed you that our firm was prejudiced against you and intimidated by you because of your race. We found no evidence to substantiate your allegations.”
He also sent the recording to the New York Times, which wrote about Kennedy’s experience. A few days later, Jamie Dimon, the chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, sent a memo telling employees that such behavior “does not reflect who we are as a company and how we serve our clients and communities every day.”
That’s the Pazuzu Excuse: “It wasn’t me!” Sorry, chief, but if you have employees treating African Americans like Kennedy was treated, that is who you are as a company, and as CEO, you’re responsible.
2. It’s a Popeye: “That’s all I can stand, cause I can’t stands no more!” Barack Obama just issued what might be the pander of the century; t is pure bigotry, and completely fact-free. Ugh. What an irritating human being, indeed, a pompous jerk. And this is the guy most Democrats think was a better President than George Washington?
Here’s BO quoted in “Barack Obama: Women are better leaders than men.”
Now women, I just want you to know; you are not perfect, but what I can say pretty indisputably is that you’re better than us. I’m absolutely confident that for two years if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything… living standards and outcomes…. If you look at the world and look at the problems it’s usually old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way…. It is important for political leaders to try and remind themselves that you are there to do a job, but you are not there for life, you are not there in order to prop up your own sense of self importance or your own power.
There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that “women are better leaders than men,” and indeed a lot of evidence running the other way. Theresa May, Angela Merkel, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, “the Squad,” soon to be imprisoned ex-Mayor of Baltimore Catherine Pugh; Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes…please stop me before I have to go back in time and examine the bloody record of Elizabeth 1. Recently Ethics Alarms mentioned Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the female leader of Myanmar leader who recently appeared before the International Court of Justice to dent evidence that her government had committed genocide against the Rohingya ethnic minority. Of course, there is demogogue Elizebeth Warren, and wet noodle ex-Presidential candidate Kamala Harris, whose idea of leadership, in her own words, is
“I would consider as President reading a briefing book. I would consider surrounding myself with experts. I would consider listening to the voices of the people who are going to be most at risk…”
Obama’s own administration saw such sterling female leadership as Kathleen Sibelius, who botched the roll-out of Obamacare, and Loretta Lynch, who allowed herself to be button-holed by Bill Clinton while her Department was supposed to be investigating his wife.
Ann Althouse’s reaction to Obama’s high-heels licking is perfect:
“As for the stuff about women, I have heard that all my life, and I have always regarded it as manipulative and insincere. I consider it part of the subordination of women. And I don’t think it helps women gain positions of power to talk about us this way. I think it exacerbates the suspicion that women won’t handle power effectively and rationally.”
3. We haven’t had a “BoywhatamoronJoyBeharisandhowirresponsibleABCistogiveanignorantethics-freebiasedloudmouthlikeheraplatformtomakeviewersstupid” post in a while, so...
First, Behar announced, “The Burisma thing is nepotism. And let’s just call it what it is. It’s just nepotism.” Just nepotism. Nepotism is unethical, and for most Federal Officials, under 5 U.S.C. § 3110, also illegal. As usual, however, Joy didn’t know what she was talking about. In Biden’s case, it wasn’t nepotism, it was a son of a high official exploiting his family connections to get a $50,000 a month gig that may have served as an in-kind bribe curry favor with the Vice-President of the United States.
Then she said, in a star-burst of idiocy few on the planet can equal,
“I think he needs to go out there and really shame them … he has lost two children — Joe Biden has. He has one son left and these shameless people are attacking his son, the one boy that he loves still, that he has to go home to at night.”
Brilliant! Let’s elect the candidate with the saddest stories to tell. Obce we had a TV show called “Queen for a Day”:
“Each contestant was asked to talk about the recent financial and emotional hard times she had been through… Many women broke down sobbing as they described their plights. The winning contestant was selected by the audience using an applause meter; the harsher the contestant’s situation, the likelier the studio audience was to ring the applause meter’s highest level. The winner, to the musical accompaniment of “Pomp and Circumstance“, would be draped in a sable-trimmed red velvet robe, given a glittering jeweled crown to wear, placed on a velvet-upholstered throne, and handed a dozen long-stemmed roses to hold while her list of prizes was announced.”
This would be the same idea, but “President for a Term”! Joy could be the MC!
I really think this woman may be the dumbest person to have a regular TV show, ever.
Oh, all right, here’s the Dean Martin version of Marshmallow World:
Ethics Alarms 
1. Dimon’s letter was not very convincing. “We must do better” seems like a pretty tepid response. I’d have a hard time defending Dimon against a suggestion his letter was a wink and a nod.
You’d think the CEO of a major corporation would want something a little more emphatic on the record, wouldn’t you?
2. I’m pretty tired of Obama speaking for me. Maybe women are better than him, and he can’t imagine that I might be better than him also.
Here’s a hint — I am, and it has nothing to do with his race and everything to do with his embarrassing, insincere obsequiousness.
We all know, because Obama’s told us, that he thinks he’s better than everyone else. I don’t remember him excluding women.
3. Proof positive that former President Obama’s comment above was, at least in her case, wrong.
The Left these days uses tragedy to excuse any behavior, as long as it’s someone they want to excuse.
Yes women aren’t just better…they’re magical because abortion.
https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/16/holiday-candles-cant-change-the-fact-that-abortion-isnt-magical/
I think you might be taking the wrong lesson from the first story. It’s just as likely that the black banker didn’t want his client transferring to a different banker so he told him ‘those other folks are racist, best stick with me’.
Did you read the story at the link?
Addendum: If that did happen, is it any less damning?
!. Having lived in Arizona since 1981, that story is just fishy. A young black guy at the bank was telling a wealthy bank client that the white people at the bank were afraid of dealing with the client? Because he was a very large and black guy? That doesn’t add up. He moved $800K into the bank and didn’t get treated as if he’d put in just $250K? Arizona bankers can’t count? This just sounds fishy.
The link says the conversation was taped…
Yes. But the conversation was between a black guy and another black guy about what what people at the bank think?
Indeed. But 1) The ex-player, who more than qualified for the special status, had been denied it for no good reason, 2) a black employee told him that the denial was because he was black, and 3) the conversation was recorded because the player had sensed something funny was going on.
Something needs to be done to ensure it can not happen again.
and that something is making racial discrimination in financial services a capital offense.
Now here is what I posted about the Park doctrine.
https://www.corporatecomplianceinsights.com/jail-time-not-knowing-strict-liability-executives-park-doctrine/
If we want to end racial discrimination in banking and other financial services, we need to make such discrimination a capital offense! We should have done this in 1868!
We need to use the death penalty for more offenses than murder, espionage, and treason. Racial discrimination is banking and financial services has done grave harm to our society, so we must be willing to use the ultimate penalty to set the example, to put a cold spike of fear into CEOs who are responsible. As the Supreme Court has said, it does not matter if CEO’s had “no personal knowledge of the infraction”. As such, there is nothing unjust about executing them for the actions of their employees, regardless of any lack of personal knowledge. The Supreme Court said so, and under American law, they are practically God.
The reason we have not been able to end racial; discrimination is because we are doing a half-assed job. There is no problem we can not solve if we pull all the stops and let nothing get in the way of the solution.
This does beg the question. Why are we unwilling to execute people who discriminate in public accommodations on the basis of race? Execution is a common-sense, sensible solution. There is no rational basis to oppose such a solution! Nothing else has worked.
What do we have to lose if we try?
2. Did the black employee know that for a fact or was he shit stirring for some unknown reason? It just strikes me as totally implausible. Please go to nbarizona.com, the website of my bank in Phoenix and a favorite client when I was practicing. Check out the handsome black couple featured on the home page. (Click the first small white circle at the lower left to page to the picture I’m talking about.) That guy looks pretty large and black to me. And his wife (?) is sporting corn rows, I believe. So I can expect the bankers there to be terrified of a black customer? Come on man.
Call me skeptical.
It would be less damning insofar regarding racial discrimination claims.
“I really think this woman may be the dumbest person to have a regular TV show, ever.”
In Behar’s case, the qualifier “to have a regular TV show” is probably not necessary.
“I think he needs to go out there and really shame them … he has lost two children — Joe Biden has. He has one son left and these shameless people are attacking his son, the one boy that he loves still, that he has to go home to at night.”
Joy Behar makes Hunter Biden sound about as old as Barron Trump. Does Joe Biden really go home to Hunter each night?
If you’re a male and deemed a victim by the left or any other aggrieved group, you’re a child for life. “Why did they shoot my baby?”