Author: Jack Marshall

Ethics Quote of the Month: President Trump

/ Jack Marshall / 16 Comments

“We’re all people of religion, but there are evil people. And we have to confront that. I just give my love and hope to the family of the young woman who was stabbed this morning or last night in Charlotte by a madman.”

—President Trump yesterday in remarks at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., referring to the horrific random knife murder in Charlotte that was not considered newsworthy by the Axis media because it didn’t involve a gun, which would have been exploited to make more gun control demands, and didn’t involve a white person killing a black one, which would have bolstered the “America is racist” narrative.

I want to note that an “Ethics quote” is not the same as an ethical quote, but rather a statement that raises ethical issues that are worth pondering. This one raises many. Such as…

1. As one wag on Instapundit said this morning, “I guess now the legacy media will have to cover the story.” And, I hope, try to explain why an event with so many hot button issue touch points was deemed unworthy of national news for two weeks.

2. Issues include Black on white crime. Democrat-run big city violence as Trump raises the issue of federal force bolstering law enforcement. Lack of security on public transportation. Society’s handling of the mentally ill. The victim was a legal Ukrainian refugee, as the Left’s support of the Ukrainian (hopeless) war continues in the absence of logic and reality. The social activist-driven revolving door system of arrests, releases and mild or no punishment to reduce “over-incarceration.” And more…

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OK, You Defenders of the “Unbiased” Mainstream Media: Explain THIS…

/ Jack Marshall / 58 Comments

Republicans and conservatives have “pounced” on the fact that a brutal black-on-white murder in Charlotte, North Carolina that occurred on August 22 and was recorded on security video has received no publicity on Axis mainstream media outlets. (That’s how the event will be reported when the progressive, Democratic propaganda media organs finally have to mention the story.) August 22: that’s more than two weeks ago. The clip above captures the moment right before a career criminal, Decarlos Brown Jr., 35, who had 14 arrests on his record, slashed the throat of Iryna Zarutska, 23, on a light rail train in Charlotte, killing her almost instantly.

But it wasn’t news. Huh.

Charlotte embargoed the crime as long as it could, keeping the video secret. This is how the violent and insufficiently policed Democrat-run cities claim that violent crime is decreasing, I guess. Even after the horrific murder became (well, sort of) public, the NY Times, Washington Post…oh, you can name the rest by now, I hope…didn’t find that it was news fit to print or that darkness over the crime would harm democracy. Rasmussen reports wrote yesterday,

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Ethics Dunce: The United States Tennis Association

/ Jack Marshall / 8 Comments

The United States Tennis Association asked broadcasters of the U.S. Open to censor any protests or negative reactions to President Donald Trump’s appearance at the men’s singles final today between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. The President, an avowed tennis fan, was loudly booed when he last attended a match at the Open in his first term

Here’s the relevant section from the USTA email to U.S. Open broadcasters :

“With respect to Broadcast Coverage, the President will be shown on the World Feed and the Ashe Court Feed during the opening anthem ceremony. We ask all broadcasters to refrain from showcasing any disruptions or reactions in response to the President’s attendance in any capacity, including ENG [Electronic News Gathering] coverage.”

There is no problem with the USTA making it clear to attendees that such demonstrations will, for example, result in removal from the stadium, but telling broadcasters not to report what, if anything, happens during their broadcasts is censorship, as well as asking the broadcasters to be complicit in a lie. The broadcasters, all of them, should tell the association to bite them.

The USTA will show Trump during the National Anthem, which “Bounce,” the tennis substack that is clearly infected with the Trump Derangement Virus and that first reported the memo, calls the playing of the anthem “one of the noisiest and bombastic portions of Sunday’s events” —nice—and describes the USTA’s request as “further complicity in broadcasting Trump’s desired stagecraft for his first appearance at the U.S. Open in a decade.”

Isn’t everyone sick of this attitude? The President of the United States has always engaged in public appearances that emphasize the importance and significance of the office, as well as embracing POTUS’s traditional role as “a human flag.” This isn’t “Trump’s stagecraft” nor is honoring the U.S. at a sporting event “bombastic” except to anti-American progressives like Ben Rothenberg, the writer of “Bounces.”

Sure, people like Rothenberg are the reason we have so many citizens who so revel in hating the elected President of the United states that they cannot be counted on to be civil when their nation’s leader appears in public. Nevertheless, journalists—and broadcasters of sports events are allegedly reporters—are ethically bound to report what happens no matter who it embarrasses or reveals to be an asshole.

The Villain In The Phillies-Marlins Ball Heist Was NOT the Obnoxious Phillies Fan…

/ Jack Marshall / 18 Comments

No, indeed.

The incident that has “gone viral” from the stands at a Phillies-Marlins game in Miami is covered in the videos above. Phillies outfielder Harrison Bader hit a home run into the left field seats. The ball hit the bleachers and rolled around as four fans tried to nab the souvenir. A man appeared to win the battle, returned to his seat and gave the ball to his young his son, who rewarded him with a hug.

Enter Cruella DeVille. A woman who had been scrambling for the ball, wearing Phillies gear, confronted the man and demanded the ball, claiming she had a hold of it before he got it. The father complied, taking the ball out of his son’s glove and handing it to the woman. Of course the incident was filmed and posted on social media, with the unidentified woman being quickly dubbed “Phillies Karen.”

Sensing a public relations opportunity, the staff at the Marlins’ LoanDepot Park (another horribly named baseball park: money isn’t everything, guys!) wanted to make things right, so they sent a stadium employee to give the son and his sister a goody bag full of baseball stuff.

Awwwww…

The villain in this incident was not the horrible woman. (She doesn’t know her baseball ball-chasing rules, incidentally. In those scrambles for bouncing balls, whoever gets a firm grip on the ball first wins fair and square. I have been in many of these tussles, one of which featured a little old lady snatching the ball from me —a Mickey Mantle foul!—just as I thought I had it in my grasp….) No, the villain was the weenie father.

What a disgrace. This guy gave up in the face of an unjust and unreasonable confrontation because he didn’t have the guts to tell the woman to buzz off, de-gifting his son of a prize—it was his birthday!—in the process. In that moment, he taught to boy many things, none of them good. Don’t fight for what’s yours. Let bullies win. Avoid unpleasant confrontations at all costs, even when it means letting unethical tactics prevail.

He also taught his son that his father is a weenie. Good to know, I guess.

Trump Derangement Partial Inventory, 9/6/25

/ Jack Marshall / 6 Comments

1. To start off, let’s survey today’s headlines and anti-Trump spin at the President Trump Jeering Society, aka. The New York Times:

  • Grand Juries in D.C. Reject Wave of Charges Under Trump’s Crackdown
  • How Trump’s Blunt-Force Diplomacy Is Pushing His Rivals Together
  • Three Opinion Writers on Whether Congress Can Rein in Trump [Note: All three are vocal anti-Trump pundits]
  • Will Trump’s Caesarism Last? [Quote: “Barack Obama and George W. Bush were far more successful at consolidating presidential power, and Trump 1.0 mostly demonstrated that an inexperienced, incompetent president could still be pinned down like Gulliver….” Response: Well yes, when two partisan impeachments and a lengthy investigation weaponized by his Democratic predecessor effectively made it difficult for him to govern…]
  • Will Trump Have to Run From the Economy?

There are no positive stories about the Administration in the Times at all. A few are arguably straight reporting, like “What Has the Trump Administration Gotten From Law Firms and Universities?”

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The Hyundai Raid: Parallel Universes

/ Jack Marshall / 17 Comments

Here is how Fox News reported on the massive ICE raid at a Hyundai factory in Georgia:

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) announced the arrest of 475 illegal migrants during a major immigration enforcement raid on Thursday at a Hyundai electric car battery factory in Georgia. 

HSI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Steven Schrank noted that while the raid was at a Hyundai facility, not all the migrants worked for the parent company. Some worked for subcontractors at the site.

“We are sending a clear and unequivocal message that those who exploit our workforce, undermine our economy and violate federal laws will be held accountable,” Schrank said during a news conference on Friday.

Here is how the New York Times reported the same story (Gift link!):

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What’s In A Name?

/ Jack Marshall / 7 Comments

The Axis is so consistent in condemning everything President Trump does that it is becoming difficult to define what is really right and wrong. “Who did it” is not a valid or reasonable basis for making the distinction, but I swear, the Left has been so relentless with its warping of language and standards that even I am getting confused.

The current question is this: “Is there anything wrong with re-naming the Defense Department the Department of War, or the War Department, which is what it was called for before 1947 without the mountains falling and the seas boiling?”

As usual, there is a substantial chance that this is Trump Trolling, as he tries to make people’s head explode. I can also conceive of some value to the name change. I see nothing wrong with the U.S. projecting an image of strength and of a nation that is not going to tolerate international outrages because it’s reluctant to use military force. Yet focusing on “defense” has its advantages too.

They are two sides of the same metaphorical coin, one seeming more aggressive (oh-oh! That pesky testosterone again!) and the other more typically feminine: making the priorities accommodation and compromise over conflict and violence.

Is there any basis for ruling Trump’s branding decision unethical? I don’t see one.

Friday Open Forum!

/ Jack Marshall / 10 Comments

I would be having an Open Forum on Ethics Alarms today no matter what day of the week it was, unfortunately. The massive theatrical project I am involved in to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the student musical theater organization I inadvertently founded as a first year law student is just a week away now, and today in a particularly challenging segment of production week for me.

And that isn’t all I have to do. I feel like Dick Van Dyke in “What a Way to Go!” (above).

If you are in the Washington, D.C. area or going to be here next week and would like to come to the show (there is only a “suggested donation”), email me and I’ll give you all the details.

Today there are at least two stories that are exploding Trump-obsessed heads all over, and both of them raise serious ethical, legal and constitutional issues. I’ll try to write about both, but you might want to start here yourself. Issue one is the reported Justice Department discussions on making it more difficult for trans individuals to obtain firearms in the wake of the second transsexual mass-shooter in recent years. I think that’s the right count. In a related issue, the news media, and even the AI bots, are in full defensive mode regarding trans shooters.

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Unethical Quote of the Week, Ethics Dunce, Incompetent Elected Official, “It Isn’t What It Is” Lie of the Year, and General All-Around Asshole: Rep Jamie Raskin, D-Md.

/ Jack Marshall / 16 Comments

“There’s a free speech crisis in America today. But there’s no free speech crisis in Britain.”

 —Maryland Democratic Rep. Jaime Raskin, proving for all time that he is a shameless partisan whom Marylanders should hang their heads in shame for inflicting on Congress and their fellow Americans.

Raskin really said that. No, I’m not kidding, he really did. He did! I’m not making it up!

The rapid government attack on free speech in Great Britain, where it has never been particularly strong, has been the subject of great concern among civil libertarians in the UK and here, for very good reasons. As Matt Taibbi, the red-pilled former Rolling Stone pundit recently wrote, “The arrest of Graham Linehan for his tweets is one of many examples that show [Great Britain] should not be treated as a free one.” (You can read about the Linehan scandal here.) Indeed. British citizens are being punished for peacefully protesting, for petitioning the government, for critical social media posts, and even for displaying the British flag. Yet Raskin says that there is no free speech crisis. His idea of a free speech crisis is CBS being forced to pay the piper after engaging in election interference to try to get an idiot elected President of the United States. Meanwhile, here in the good ‘ol USA, thanks to Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, the gradual exposure of censorious Leftist colleges and universities, and the demise of Biden’s proto- fascist Justice Department, free speech is healthier than it has been in quite a while.

After Raskin made his fatuous statement in the House hearing titled “Europe’s Threat to American Speech and Innovation,” was held to discuss EU and U.K. censorship, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) quickly made the obvious rebuttal: “The gentleman alleges there’s no free speech in America under Donald Trump while his staff member holds up countless articles criticizing the Trump administration.”

A Quick Note on the Competence of Artificial Intelligence…

/ Jack Marshall / 10 Comments

In writing the previous post about the Swiss organization that is paid to help people kill themselves, I was planning on mentioning Phillip Barry’s mysterious cult drama “Hotel Universe.” Barry, whose most lasting work is “The Philadelphia Story” but who was once one of Broadway’s most successful playwrights, wrote a fascinating but perplexing drama about how the suicide of a friend during a group vacation sends his characters on an existential journey into fantasy, madness, or a mass hallucination. My now defunct theater company performed the piece, because that was the kind of non-commercial, crazy productions we gravitated to. The last words of the dead friend were, “Well, I’m off to”…somewhere. I couldn’t remember. The suicidal woman I was writing about had told her family she was off to Lithuania, which is what reminded me of “Hotel Universe.”

But I couldn’t remember where Barry’s character was “off to” when what he meant was “I’m going to kill myself now.” It was driving me crazy, so I thought, “What a perfect question for AI! ” So I asked Google’s bot, “In ‘Hotel Universe,’the man who is going to kill himself says, I’m off to…” Where?” The thing answered quite assertively,

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