I’m back from five days in the hospital trying to beat back a whole leg infection stemming from, I swear, a single bump on my shin two weeks ago. I didn’t have a laptop and my phone isn’t set up to post (or even get email), so I was cut off from Ethics Alarms as well as other essentials. I talked my way out of the place when they made it sound like I would be stuck there for another few days. Now I’m trying to master a new laptop with my still unwell foot elevated and my brain addled from painkillers, antibiotics, and a lack of sleep. (It is impossible to sleep in this hospital.) I’m sorry; a real post is beyond me right now. But here are some scattered thoughts, since all of my thoughts are scattered.
1. Thanks to all of you who expressed concern regarding my welfare.
2. I haven’t read the comments I’ve messed yet: I will.
3. Congratulations to A Friend, who managed to sneak on a banned comment exactly as I was on the way to the ER. I’ll leave this one up after all this time has passed, especially as it is so self-evidently lame. That Bill Maher has always been supportive of Israel is irrelevant to the point of the post, which was that Maher never gave Trump credit for doing anything right—including his unflagging support of Israel—-until Bill calculated that it was in his own best interests to do so.
4. Today one of the otherwise astute and perceptive lawyer friends who have been blinded by Trump Derangement wrote a brief note on Facebook pointing readers to a trenchant comment from—-wait for it!—Lawrence O’Donnell. This is a tell. First it means this individual gets a substantial amount of his public affairs information from MSNBC, which is on par with relying on Media Matters (or Weekly Reader). He compounds the felony by using O’Donnell as an authority, which is the equivalent of a conservative citing the shrewd, objective analysis of Sean Hannity or Tucker Carlson. Hey, why stop with O’Donnell? Why not Robert DiNiro or Joy Behar?
5. How I wanted to write a post about Kamala Harris’s infuriating appearance on Colbert’s lame duck show. She said she didn’t want to be in politics now because “the system is broken,” then, incoherent as always, said she would still be “fighting,” But not in “the system”? What, is she going to become a folk singer? A terrorist? Every Democrat, but especially Harris, is ethically estopped from complaining about a “broken system” when they worked so hard to break it. What gall: the puppet Presidency, lawfare against Trump, the J-6 Star Chamber, a Presidential candidate who went though none of the democratic selection process, efforts to keep Trump off state ballots, partisan capture of the media…and Harris decides the system she conspired to remake doesn’t work any more.
Then Colbert responds that the fact that Harris—the worst Presidential candidate of a major party since Horace Greeley—lost is proof that the system is broken. No, it’s proof that the system works despite everything the Axis threw in its way. How can anyone bemoan the demise of a pompous, smug ass who could say something that stupid on national TV?
OK, time for a nap. Treat this as an Open Forum.
Ethics Alarms 
This is a relief. Like everyone else, I was concerned and partially relived by the news that you were being taken care of…but still worried that we hadn’t heard anything directly The cell phone thing explains that, but it’s sort of like the redaction of scenes in the Karloff version of Frankenstein…the missing scenes caused people to imagine worse scenarios than what had been withheld. (Thought you might like a movie analogy).
Get better; reach out to your friends if needed!
At fear for offending our host(perhaps from perceived ingratitude), I think most of the commentariate are to reticent to directly inquire about who we are really concerned about during this 5 day ordeal…. Spuds! How has he handled your abscence?
I know I wasn’t the only one with that concern. I live 2500 miles away and am presently in Hawaii, so I’m way out of the running to help. I hope someone local stepped up.
Happy to hear you escaped. Get back on your feet when you can.
A hearty “amen” to this!! Take the time you need to rest and heal. We will wait…
Apropos of nothing: Welcome Back Kotter premiered 50 years ago next month.
While Sweathog doesn’t aptly describe the EA Commentariat…welcome back, nonetheless!
PWSA
Glad you’re okay, hope you fully recover soon!
Welcome Home. Get well[er]. And then preach!
I think you mentioned at one point that you suffer from diabetes as well as a few other problems that medication is critical for. From my limited medical knowledge, I can see how what appears, at least initially, to be just a simple bump could become an issue like this. I’m glad you got home, but please, please take it easy, this might take a while to heal, and I’m sure you want to keep your leg. One lawyer I knew actually had to have his leg cut off from a similar injury, although he was already on borrowed time and passed away soon after.
You’re absolutely right in what you said about Harris’ smug interview with Colbert. The fact of the matter is that under Obama the Democratic Party and the left got to the point of believing that they were always right, always represented the majority, and that if things didn’t go their way, either something must be wrong, or someone must have gamed the system to make it work other than the way it should. This last election is pretty strong proof otherwise. Trump took back the White House while also winning the popular vote and the Republicans took back the Senate and held the house. There was no need for the GOP or Trump to game the system because the Democrats gamed it against themselves by making every wrong choice, making assumptions that turned out not to be true, taking risks that didn’t go their way, and letting themselves be handicapped by platform planks they should have discarded. In the end their platform boiled down to Trump is Hitler and abortion on demand. It wasn’t enough, and assuming it would be enough was foolish.
I think Harris will probably become a law professor, but probably the kind that barely shows up because she’s always attending events and being keynote speaker somewhere and collecting honoraria. Inside of a year she’s going to be rich enough to retire and no one, least of all the media, will ask how she got so rich, so fast.
Unfortunately, Harpo Marx – were he still alive – would be a better keynote speaker than Kamala Harris. Paying to listen to her speak is the perfect realization of the maxim that “a fool and his money are soon parted.”
I’m relieved you are on the mend. Please concentrate on your recovery right now.
Re: Kamala Harris. I read a different biography of Frances Perkins recently (to get the stain of the other one off my hands) – The Woman Behind the New Deal: Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience by Kirstin Downey – which discussed Perkins’ thoughts on Communism:
“In her experience, Communists fomented unrest but often avoided workable solutions to problems. Their goal, after all, was to overthrow the system, which usually required breaking the system so that people believed it had ceased to function.”
In other news, my TDS suffering sister just came back from a lobbying trip to DC as part of her specialized profession. While there, she visited the National Museum of African American History and expressed her surprise to me that it was still operating and that there’d been no exhibits removed.
Nice.
What, what?
Why would she think that the museum would be shut down or have exhibits removed? Oh, yeah. Trump Racist. A narrative that people like Kamala Harris have pushed for years and has settled into the minds of formerly rational people.
My sister literally said, “It’s hard to love your country when you disagree with 99% of what’s happening.”
I loved my country from 2021-2025 even though Biden was having his strings handled by Dr. Jill and/or her doctor or her Chief of Staff or by person(s) unknown. I loved it even though they were pushing through policies with which I disagreed. I loved it even when the POTUS couldn’t put a sentence together. I loved it even when the news media kow-towed to the administration. My love for my country is not contingent on everything going my way.
I’d be sorely tempted to ask her, “What is the 1% with which you agree?”
Yes, that was my thought too? What IS that 1%?
“My love for my country is not contingent on everything going my way.”
Amen! Otherwise, I’d have never survived Obama, much less Biden.
You cannot stop the Babylon Bee…you can only hope to contain it!
https://babylonbee.com/news/historians-uncover-hitler-jeans-ad-from-1942
Now that’s funny.
I do wonder why none of the defenders of the ad have not come right out and said “THERE IS NO CLAIM THESE JEANS OR GENES ARE SUPERIOR TO ALL OTHERS” which of course was the claim of Nazi’s claims of Aryan superiority. Halle Berry has great genes as does Salma Hayek. I can argue that George Burns who lived to 100 had great genes. To suggest that this blonde blue eyed white girls genes are not good let alone great would mean that they believed others with dark hair, brown eyes and more melanin have superior genes.
The bottom line is that they just seek to find fault with white people.
Are we sure this part was satire: “At publishing time, the United Nations had passed a resolution declaring wearing jeans a hate crime.”
Welcome back Jack.
Glad to see you’re up to being home again. Continue to heal and we’ll be here when you’re feeling well enough and awake enough to increase your Ethics Alarms presence again.
Here’s an Open Forum ethics topic if anyone want’s to discuss it…
I think Sen. Schumer is a lying fool.
And I think Senate Majority leader John Thune is a tool to for not simply adjourning the Senate, and allowing the President to make recess appointments. Calling Democrats unethical is like calling water wet at this point.
I disagree. That is just not a precedent you want to set. We need to be a little smarter than the Democrats, and not break norms or set precedents that will inevitably come back to bite the GOP when the Democrats control the Senate.
However, I did have an idea. Go ahead and let the Senate go home. But then take a couple of the committees and hold confirmation hearings in the Senators’ home town (s).
Republicans need to bring home to their voters just how obstructionist the Democrats are being — so force them to either do it right in the face of the voters or not obstruct for fear of those same voters. I think a win either way.
I don’t know if they could do it for this summer recess, but heck, the government’s going to pay for the plane tickets, why not give it a whirl?
I disagree. That is just not a precedent you want to set. We need to be a little smarter than the Democrats, and not break norms or set precedents that will inevitably come back to bite the GOP when the Democrats control the Senate.
However, I did have an idea. Go ahead and let the Senate go home. But then take a couple of the committees and hold confirmation hearings in the Senators’ home town (s).
Republicans need to bring home to their voters just how obstructionist the Democrats are being — so force them to either do it right in the face of the voters or not obstruct for fear of those same voters. I think a win either way.
I don’t know if they could do it for this summer recess, but heck, the government’s going to pay for the plane tickets, why not give it a whirl?
Welcome back home! Do some of us need to check on you regularly to see how you are doing? Perhaps for the coming weeks we need more open forums; we may need to use these as watercooler in case you are too long offline.
If it is open forum today, I am wondering about some topics:
It’s ironic that the Texas dems decamped to Illinois…one of, if not the, most blatantly gerrymandered states (but favoring democrats)
https://i0.wp.com/elections-daily.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Illinois-Congressional-2022.png?resize=788%2C444&ssl=1
New York tried a gerrymander a cycle or two ago that put the Texas effort to shame. However, it was overturned by the NY courts.
Texas Democrats have pulled this sort of stunt before. I think it may be time to pull out the Big Guns.
Send one Texas Ranger to Illinois, and one Texas Ranger to New York. Any care to place any bets that the Ranger won’t be able to round up the miscreants?
I do not think Texas Rangers can make arrests outside their jurisdiction (Texas) without assistance of a law enforcement agency of the state where the arrest is made. Fat chance that Illinois and New York are willing to cooperate, as blue states are already suspending police officers who are willing to notify ICE when making an arrest of an illegal alien (Colorado).
True, but don’t bet against the Ranger being able to … persuade … them to come back.
There’s an old story about the Texas Rangers, something like this: A mayor frantically called the governor for help in putting down a riot, asking the governor to send in the National Guard. The governor sent a Ranger to help out, and the mayor was apoplectic — “I asked you for a brigade of troops and you sent me one Texas Ranger!”
“Well, you only had one riot.”
Here’s another “Open Forum” ethics topic if anyone would like to discuss it…
From an ethics point of view there is little I can say about this that is not obvious, as I have never met an ethical bait and switch.
I made the mistake to go on the wrong website when shopping for health insurance instead of the official health exchange of my state, and was deluged with spam calls from all over the country from “brokers” who want to sell me health insurance. So the ethical thing is for websites to be very clear to customers and prospects.
Spamming and cold-calling prospects I would consider per se unethical. As a result of telemarketers people do not pick up the phone anymore unless the caller ID is clear and they are in the contact list. Too bad that telemarketers have affected our phone etiquette this badly.
About discounts, promotions, and on sale events, they exist for the benefit of the business, not of its customers. Buying only stuff that you need at the moment you need it may save money even if you have to pay full retail, as this may save you money in the end. I hate to be made to feel like a sucker because of chasing a discount.
The link to X didn’t work for me. When I tried Googling it, all I got was “bait and tackle”. Perhaps a concise summary of the topic would be better than a link.
Try this link.
Glad you’re back and recovering, Jack! Hope you feel better soon!
get well, you were missed!
I’m glad you’re feeling better!
glad you are back-ish, Jack.
open forum question you might like:
is televising the Little League World Series ethical?
https://www.littleleague.org/world-series/2025/llbws/tournaments/world-series/
I have known people who bet on this event (compulsive gamblers).
anyway, should children be subjected to this? (Analogy: adult NFL players who make big money to damage their brains and shorten their life).
maybe you have discussed this before, but, as I watch the game between DC and Maryland, the question springs to mind.
-Jut
Jack,
Glad to have you back even in a limited way. As to your hospital experience, I can identify. I spent two weeks in March and April in the hospital dealing with fluid in my lungs and pericardium. It was impossible to sleep with the blood pressure cuff inflating on my arm every fifteen minutes, and the nursing staff coming into the room regularly to poke, prod or inject me with something at all hours. For my valve replacement, I was only in the hospital the day of the procedure plus overnight and all day the following day, but the routine was the same. Misery.
Get rest when you can, and communicate as you feel able. We’re all pulling for you!
Yeah, this sort of thing can be nasty, especially if you also suffer from diabetes.
I had a blister on my leg last year that I let get infected (thankfully no infection in the blood). It took months to completely heal up and I am now super alert to any nicks and dings on the legs. Not the least bit fun.
And let me say, a hearty welcome back and laurel leaf to our once again sheriff.
Thank goodness you’re okay, or at least, apparently on the mend. I knew you were in the hospital, I have been checking here every few hours just to see another post. I was getting concerned, and still am, but less so now that you’re communicado again.
Get well soon.
On to the world as it is.
In shades of 2021, the Democrats have fled Texas for heavily Gerrymandered Illinois and New York, thus denying a quorum for a special session for Texas redistricting. It’s interesting that the proposed new Texas districts would still fall well short of the partisan train wreck that is either of the two “Sanctuary states” that the Texas Dems have fled to.
Governor Abbott has vowed to fine, arrest, and declare vacancies if the truants don’t return to Texas. I think he’s blowing smoke, frankly. He’s ordered the Texas DPS to arrest the truants, but I doubt they can do it while they are elsewhere, lacking the remote jurisdiction and unlikely to obtain the cooperation of the authorities in either of the “Sanctuary states.”
Declaring the seats vacant would be a nuclear step that I doubt he’s prepared to embrace, despite the rhetoric. The court challenges would be numerous and one of them is sure to draw a PI, regardless of what the Texas constitution says.
I suspect his plan is to simply wait them out. They can’t stay away from their families forever, and when the set foot back in Texas they will doubtless be placed under arrest. He can apparently keep calling special sessions ad infinitum, so time appears to be on his side.
Texas Democrats have done this before, most recently in 2021, and typically they start trickling back into the state after a few weeks.
One thing that works against them is that being a state legislator in Texas is not a full time job. You get paid $7200 per year plus travel expenses (although not, I think, travel to Chicago or New York).
So, unless they are retirees all of these legislators have day jobs, not to mention families. There is only so long they can afford to play hookey.
Whew. Glad you are back. Hopefully, you are on the mend. Godspeed to a quick and full recovery.
I can tell the EA Commentariat was about send out Search & Rescue crews to search high and low for our intrepid EA Leader.
jvb
Glad you’re on the mend. I hope you can actually make yourself rest!