- Bill Maher is getting huzzahs from conservative pundits for tricking Sen. Adam Schiff into condemning an Obama statement because Maher implied that Trump said it. In addition, Maher told his clapping seals audience that he supported the attack on Iran. All of this is Maher, as usual, tacking with the wind, and calculating what will get him the most publicity and eyeballs on his HBO show. He is smart enough to realize the Axis is losing its grip, so he is positioning himself to move right if that becomes the most profitable source of popularity and income. There are few things more unethical than a self-proclaimed truth-teller who lies for his own profit. That’s Maher, even if he did demonstrated Schiff’s rotten character.
- Adam Schiff. But we knew that, didn’t we? Regarding this awful human being as worthy of a vote to enter the U.S. Senate is all by itself proof of Trump Derangement.
- Kristi Noem. In 2024, EA ruled that the woman shooting a puppy and boasting about it was signature significance for an untrustworthy public servant, and Trump appointed her anyway. Not only that, but he appointed this ethically tone-deaf, self-promoting Ethics Villain to be in charge of a crucial and sensitive policy, the ugly removal of millions of illegal immigrants. That was an Ethics Dunce move by the President, and he’s paid the price. At least the President had the sense to get rid of her. He also has the sense to keep her employed, because she would be candidate to turn on Trump like the equally unethical Marjorie Taylor Greene.
- Megyn Kelly. Kelly is another media character who has shown herself immune to integrity. Her take that U.S. servicemen are dying for Israel is so ignorant and vile—aligning with the “the Jews control the government” anti-Semites—that it should disqualify her from being considered a serious participant in public discourse, much like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens. Moreover, soldiers enlist to put their lives on the line for the national interest. Freaking out over military casualties of legitimate military operations, and this is certainly one, is hippie, weenie, pacifist, girlie-stuff that is an appeal to emotion rather than logic. There have been 8 U.S. deaths and 18 military personnel wounded so far in “Epic Fury.” At this rate, it will stand as the most lopsided U.S. military operation of all time, surpassing Andrew Jackson’s rout of the Redcoats at the Battle of New Orleans. (2000 British casualties, 71 U.S. killed or wounded.)
- Tim Walz. The disgraced Minnesota governor huminahumina-ed through a hearing in which he had no answers, rebuttal or defense for his administration’s deliberate failure to stop the Somali fraud operations that cost his taxpayers billions. “Testimony obtained by the Committee reveals that Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison were aware of widespread fraud in social service programs, lied about their knowledge of the fraud, and retaliated against employees who dared to raise concerns,” Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said in a statement. “Instead of protecting vulnerable Americans, they handed over billions in taxpayer dollars to fraudsters and threw their own state employees under the bus,” Comer added. After being caught at that abdication of duty, Walz then incited violence against the federal government with his inflammatory statements about I.C.E.
- Anyone who still defends voting for the Harris-Walz ticket. That guy a breath or a bullet away from the White House? How do they look in the mirror?
- Joe Biden. Remember him? He had the bad taste (or the crumbling brain) to deliver a speech at Jesse Jackson’s funeral and make it about him, complaining that his “stutter” was used to claim he was demented.
- President Trump. All the living U.S. Presidents were invited to Jesse’s funeral. Only the Democrats showed up. Yes, yes, I know Trump’s excuse for skipping it: there’s a war on. It doesn’t matter. Having Republicans absent from the funeral of a civil rights icon, whatever his flaws, feeds the “Trump and his party are racists” Big Lie, and exacerbates the racial division that the Axis wants widened. I’m sure Trump’s advisors were worried that he would be booed or embarrassed by the doubtlessly hostile crowd. So what? That shouldn’t have stopped him from attending. He isn’t responsible for the polarized political climate, but as President, he is still duty-bound to try to fix it.
- The BBC. BBC Persian, which broadcasts to audiences inside Iran, mistranslated remarks by the US Secretary of War, telling viewers the U.S. was bringing death to the Iranian “people”. Hegseth had said the Iranian “regime” was being targeted. The BBC carried Hegseth’s Pentagon address live, and mistranslated the word “regime” as “mardom”, the Persian word for “people.” Again, the metaphor of “the Dishonest Waiter” comes to mind. I would be willing to accept the BBC’s claim that this was just a mistake if only such “mistakes” by the news media didn’t always seem to benefit the political Left while impugning the Right.
- CNN. The slightly-less biased than MSNOW news network has revealed that its reporting from Iraq in 1993 and 2003 was censored and influenced by threats to its reporters there. That means that CNN was delivering enemy propaganda. CNN counters that its reporters embedded with U.S. troops were also constrained, but the two situations are not analogous. If CNN’s only choices are to withhold facts from the American public and the world while pretending to be journalists, or to forego the opportunity to report at all, the former is the ethical choice unless every censored report is accompanied by the disclaimer: “We cannot tell you everything because X has forbidden us to.” When X is the U.S. government, it means “We are doing our best not to harm U.S. interests.” When X is the enemy, it means, “We are aiding and abetting the enemy.”
- Stephen Colbert. It should be clear now that the uproar over the “equal time” rule being used against the late night show’s attempt to interview now-Democratic Senator nominee James Talerico was because the CBS “comic” was trying to influence the Texas election. Democrats knew they had a chance to flip the U.S. Senate seat as long as the offensive Jasmine Crockett wasn’t the nominee. Colbert, who has made it clear he is an active Axis member, was determined to do his part by pimping for Talerico, who is as radical as Crockett but more subtle about it. This is exactly the kind of election manipulation the equal time rule exists to prevent.
- Virginia Democrats. HB 333, drafted by Del. Dan I. Helmer (D-Fairfax) mandates “a program of instruction on or relating to the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the United States Capitol.” More: The bill..
“prohibits any such program of instruction, any accompanying curriculum or instructional materials, or any instruction provided by a teacher as a part of such program of instruction from (i) describing, portraying, or presenting as credible a description or portrayal of the actions precipitating or involved in the January 6, 2021, insurrection as peaceful protest or (ii) stating, suggesting, or presenting as credible a statement or suggestion that there was extensive election fraud that could have changed or actually changed the results of the 2020 presidential election. The bill requires any such program of instruction, any accompanying curriculum or instructional materials, or any instruction provided by a teacher as a part of such program of instruction to describe the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the United States Capitol as an unprecedented, violent attack on U.S. democratic institutions, infrastructure, and representatives for the purpose of overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.”
This is government indoctrination.
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Ethics Alarms 
Eason Jordan wrote “The News We Kept To Ourselves” in April 2003. (Archive link.) Have they revealed more or are they bringing it up again?
No, but it is being yanked back from the memory hole now that the US is fighting another Middle East enemy. I, for one, had forgotten.
From Truth Social
“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East. That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer — But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
Love it.
Kamala Harris at Jesse Jackson’s funeral: “Let me just start out by saying: I predicted a lot of what is happening right now,” she said while laughing ed. cackling, no doubt. “I hate to say I told you so, but we did see it coming.”
Every time she opens her mouth, we have to be grateful she didn’t win.
“Every time she opens her mouth, we have to be grateful she didn’t win.” (bold mine)
Masterfully understated…and grateful doesn’t even begin to describe it!
PWS
What an irredeemable asshole.
Just a sampling of why President Trump was wise to skip Jackson’s funeral:
Barack Obama launched a ferocious rebuke of Donald Trump’s America, claiming it is stained by ‘bigotry, corruption and dishonesty,’ at the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s funeral.
The former president broke down in tears at a packed church on Chicago’s South Side on Friday, telling the congregation ‘we are living in a time when it can be hard to hope.’
Obama said: ‘Each day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions, another setback to the idea of the rule of law, an offense to common decency, everyday you wake up to things you just didn’t think were possible.’
Go to Obama launches ferocious attack on Trump as he breaks down in tears at Jesse Jackson funeral | Daily Mail Online for more Obama sophistry.
Him too.
They’re going to hold onto this kind of rhetoric like Rugby holding onto a chewy toy until they regain the presidency. And they will revert to it any time there is a Republican president.
What do we want?
Single party rule!
When do we want it?
Now!
Isn’t Obama an illegal alien or something? Trump always misses opportunities! He should have showed up with full force of ICE, arrested him, and exported him to Somalia.
Trump needs better advisors …
Or is it Indonesia?
Don’t be silly; everyone knows it would be Kenya.
I concur with this.
There are more funerals that Trump did not attend. Dick Cheney, Barbara Bush, John Lewis, John McCain.
Not attending a funeral may be an ethical choice for a number of reasons:
I think Trump made the right choice here, also given the political mood at the funeral. The Trump deranged will brand Trump a racist no matter what he does or which funeral he attends.
One huckster eulogizing another.
We have a friend who’s ex-Secret Service, mainly in Carter and Regan era (you can see him on the other side of the street in some pics of the Hinckley assassination attempt.)
One assignment was on the protection team for one of Jackson’s presidential runs. He says that in private, Jackson would self-mockingly satirize his own public “reverend-style” oration.
He also said they ate well…the women of the black churches that often hosted Jackson could lay out good spreads.
The BBC article linked doesn’t say anything about Hegseth’s address. Did you mean to link to a different article?
Yup, wrong link. Now fixed. Thanks.
OK I have some questions about this, especially about mentioning Bill Maher and Donald Trump as ethics villains. I will focus on Bill Maher in this comment however, as I think he deserves a defense.
Bill Maher always has been a first class asshole, proudly, cheerfully, and unapologetically. That is what makes him so attractive to watch. He would be the ideal person right from casting central to play to the role of Satan in a passion play. He has a sex life many man are jealous off, as chicks dig jerks or women keep falling for bad boys. He ranks high on dark triad personality traits.
Come to think about it, Donald Trump is a narcissist asshole as well. And Winston Churchill and FDR too. Winston Churchill is also unquestionably one of the great man in history. Donald Trump is growing into a historical President. There is a saying “I do not care that he is an asshole, as long as he is my asshole”. The accomplishments of many great man in history is often related to their flaws, to them being such assholes.
For this reason I have less a problem with Bill Maher being an all out asshole.
My impression is that Bill Maher’s condemnation of Obama’s statements is not unethical perse. I would guess that if somebody else than Bill Maher (e.g. Piers Morgan) said exactly the same things as Bill Maher, that person would not have been condemned on Ethics Alarms as an ethics villain. Some commenters (or even our host) may even have given a “hear! hear!”.
So calling Bill Maher out as an ethics villain appears to me an example of dispositional ethics, where an act is praised or condemned not primarily based on the act itself, but based on the disposition or the character of the actor. Dispositional ethics is related to virtue ethics, which emphasizes the building of a virtuous character and being in control of the vices. Dispositional ethics therefore has a tendency to judge the person instead of the act. In my opinion this also highlights a flaw in dispositional ethics, namely the tendency to unfairness to a person we already judged as flawed, even if that person does something that is praiseworthy on its own. So whatever that person does, it does not matter, as that person is considered irredeemably bad, and therefore will be condemned for anything he does. The act is considered impure, and various bad motives are assigned. This is how we get various derangement syndromes, such as Trump Derangement Syndrome.
I would consider it a pity if we develop Maher Derangement Syndrome at Ethics Alarms. Looking at Maher’s statements since Trumps election in 2025, it appears to me that he is one of the sane liberals who has not fallen to Trump Derangement Syndrome. In this he compares to Stephen A. Smith, and is unlike Colbert and Kimmel. I do not think we should assume any motives here; I prefer to be charitable even to people who are personally not likable. Perhaps the left has marched too far leftwards in crazy la la land, leaving rationalists as Bill Maher behind.
The ethics value I find that Bill offends is sincerity. On X, a conservative commentator calls Megyn Kelly “a shape shifting chameleon whose political views align with whatever brings her the most views. She is a fraud with no real views or convictions apart from what she think gives her engagement.”
That’s Bill Maher exactly.