Last week’s open forum was wild, man, and I hope today’s can be as lively.
Based on the early returns, there’s a lot to bloviate about in the ethics world. The amateur golf champ playing in the Masters was caught pissing into a creek on n the 13th hole at Augusta National golf course. Pennsylvania judge Sonya McKnight was just convicted of shooting her sleeping boyfriend in the head. (Seems awfully judgmental…). Almost all Democrats in the House voted against the bill requiring voter ID in Federal elections. Yes, their determination to prove the cognitive dissonance scale wrong continues apace! A black Congressman tried to discuss issues with a Trump-Deranged white female and was called a “race traitor”…
…and we learned that after VP JD Vance’s March visit to Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, the Col. Susan Meyers, the commander of the 821st Space Base Group who also oversees the Pentagon’s northernmost military base, issued a gratuitous email to the base’s personnel stating that he did not speak for her of the base. What an idiot. (She was fired.) Finally, we have this stupid incident, in which Frontier Airlines let a woman fly to Puerto Rico with her “emotional support parrot” but wouldn’t let the bird on the return flight. (Gift link.)
Be careful. It’s stupid out there…
Ethics Alarms 
It can’t be that hard for blue states to work around any “proof of citizenship” protocol. My gut instinct is that a truly effective process to prove citizenship will have to be onerous enough that actual citizens will probably say “screw this”.
One looter ending up dead in a justifiable self defense shooting would go a long way to alleviating the anti-civic, civilization undermining epidemic we’ve permitted to fester in several locales.
Dutch citizens living abroad and voting in Dutch or European election via absentee ballot have to follow detailed instructions on what to include with the ballot, such as the (named and numbered) voter registration they received from the embassy, and a copy of their passport. When you vote in person you also have to bring your voter registration. The voter registration is based on the records that every city has about its citizens such as birth date and nationality. I would say the system in the Netherlands is waterproof.
I am amazed that to ensure integrity of the ballot in the USA is so hard. My gut feeling is that this has nothing to do with technical inability, but with lack of political will. The problem is that politicians who think they can benefit from election irregularities will fight like hell to prevent the fixing of the flaws in the system.
“I am amazed that to ensure integrity of the ballot in the USA is so hard.” It isn’t. I would suggest that over 95 percent of US citizens have some form of government-issued ID, whether it is a driver’s license, a passport, a school ID, a concealed carry permit, etc. The issue isn’t about identification; it is about manipulating the system and challenging its integrity to help your party’s candidate.
In Houston when Lee Brown was running for reelection, he needed a certain number of votes to carry the day (it was small, somewhere around 2300 votes). Well, oddly enough, when that one part of Houston that is actually in Fort Bend County delivered its votes, nearly 90 of the votes were cast for Brown. He won by a bit more than 750 votes because of that tally. Sound fishy?
jvb
The simplest govt ID is a driver’s license. Pretty sure it’s not hard to get one in some jurisdictions. Citizen or not.
https://x.com/ktla/status/1910104554743406756?s=46
A retail worker died Wednesday after he confronted a group of shoplifters in South El Monte, authorities said.
Wow just up and died huh.
One of the girls with whom I graduated got caught shoplifting at a local store. She came to school the following Monday and mingled with all of us. Clearly, it’s a miracle that twenty or thirty of us didn’t just fall over dead.
Just next on his “to do” list for the day, I suppose.
Who steals a box of disposable face masks?
jvb
No mention of the Supreme Court ruling about the Salvadoran migrant?
Open Forums are for our topics. If it’s a big enough topic for a post, Jack will publish that separately.
As Michael posted, this is an open forum. If you want to discuss, feel free to open the proceedings and post your thoughts. If readers want to, they will respond.
Trash and suspected dog feces were thrown from an apartment block at pro-Palestine protesters in Manhattan, New York, on Monday, April 7.
peaking to Storyful, the protester, who wished to remain anonymous, said a resident on the 11th floor of the apartment block flung what appeared to be several bags of “dog feces” from their balcony.
“As police directed a pro-Palestine protest past the Summit luxury apartment building, a resident on the 11th floor proceeded to throw several bags of what appeared to be dog feces from his balcony,” the protester said.
“This was followed by two buckets of liquid containing a bleach-like odor and another ten gallon bin liner filled with large amounts of fresh excrement and hard objects that smashed a parked car windshield. The resident continued to goad protesters by displaying the Israeli flag and making rude gestures.”
[outrageous French accent]Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time. [/outrageous French accent]
I am glad for them it was only poop and not an entire cow that was thrown down….
Minor point, it was the current amateur champion (not a pro) Jose Luis Ballester and the link isn’t working.
Re: Pennsylvania judge Sonya McKnight.
I suspect shooting someone in the head is not very judgy and might just call into question that person’s competence to wear a black dress:
Attorney in Court: “Objection, your honor.”
Judge McKnight: “Oh, you do, do you? Sure about that?”
Attorney in Court: “Uh . . .erm . . . maybe not.”
Judge McKnight: “I thought so. Overruled.”
Attorney in Court: “Thanks, Judge. Don’t shoot me.”
Judge McKnight: “Don’t make me.”
jvb
I think I have figured out the new virtue signal of the progressive left. A conversation in the early stages begins with, “in these dark times” or “because things are so bad right now.” What this really means is, “I hate Trump, and I am letting you know that without directly saying it.” It’s almost a test it seems. What are some graceful yet pointed responses to such behavior?
I have said in response to this kind of end-times comment: “If you really think things are so unbearable now, it is only because you are blissfully unaware of all the far worse times Americans have lived through, survived, and thrived until the next “worst times.” But these times? Not even close to being “dark.” Challenging! Dynamic! Uncertain! Experimental! America, man! If you want Switzerland, go to Switzerland….
“What are some graceful yet pointed responses to such behavior?“
Perhaps not graceful, but: “Sorry, this is a No–Schrödinger’s Douchebag Zone.”
PWS
Even in the hardest times, there are things to be grateful for.
When I’m worried and I can’t sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep. Then I fall asleep, counting my blessings. When my bankroll is getting small, I think of when I had none at all, and I fall asleep counting my blessings.
Beautifully said Ryan.
(and Irving Berlin…)