Personally, I found myself praying that she is a brilliant satirist and impersonating the most arrogant, indoctrinated, biased Dunning-Kruger victim in medical history, in which case I want her contact information so I can direct her in a one-woman show. If she were a character in a Monty Python skit, it would end with Michael Palin shooting her in the forehead point blank.
It could also be a parlor game, where one takes a drink every time she says something stupid as if it’s an obvious conclusion.
The Question: The inquirer’s 15-year old son is dating a 15-year-old girl. The parents just found out that the girl’s parents, who are immigrants and from another culture, do not want their daughter dating yet. The boy’s parents want to know if they should tell the girls’ parents about the relationship or, perhaps, tell their son not to date her. The ultimate question: “I’m worried I could get my son’s girlfriend in big trouble or even put her in danger. Can I just supervise them at my house and absolve myself of enforcing her parents’ rules?”
The Shortest Answer from Ethics Alarms:No.
The Slightly Longer Answerfrom Ethics Alarms : It’s the Golden Rule, dummy!
The More Detailed Answer:Tell your son that he may not continue dating the girl against the will of her parents, and that if he does, you will be forced to blow the whistle on her.
Oh yeah, one more thing: Remind your son the “Romeo and Juliet” is just a play.
[I didn’t even bother to read The Ethicist’s answer before I wrote this when I saw that Prof. Appiah took over 500 words to explain the easiest of ethics calls. I did notice that he mentioned “Romeo and Juliet,” however.]
The suit seeks $1 million in damages for property damage, lost wages and “emotional distress.” So far, the Tesla owner has been identified only with his initials. “It’s a fine line between civility and anarchy,” said Majed Nachawati, managing partner with the Nachawati Legal Group in Dallas. That’s the firm that represents the keyed car’s distressed owner. “This matter has nothing to do with his political persuasions or affiliations. He happens to believe that Tesla, his Model X, is one of the best cars he’s ever owned. And he enjoys driving it, plain and simple.”
Oh, well..if the attack on his car lessened his enjoyment, I’m going to sue Major League Baseball for inflicting the “zombie baserunner” on the game.
The Rules of Professional Conduct governing the legal profession declare “frivolous lawsuits” unethical and ground for a lawyer’s discipline. Rule 3.1 states,
“A lawyer shall not bring or defend a proceeding, or assert or controvert an issue therein, unless there is a basis in law and fact for doing so that is not frivolous, which includes a good faith argument for an extension, modification or reversal of existing law.”
Your Ethics Alarms Ethics Quiz of the Day….
Is the $1,000,000 civil suit against the asshole who keyed the Tesla ethical?
Perhaps none of the revolting incidents of the past several years showing how partisanship and confirmation bias have made public agreement on reality impossible—Can we agree that this is not a good thing?—is more clear cut than the Signal Chat Ethics Train Wreck.
I am morose.
On the Trump-Deranged, Axis pounces! side, we have Hillary Clinton’s op-ed for the New York Times. It is archived, for some reason: if that link doesn’t work, I put the whole thing in a comment here. The fact that Clinton, of all people, would have the utter gall and lack of self-awareness to write the thing is damning enough; that the Times would print it and that its mostly Trump deranged subscribers would read it without ending their subscriptions, going into shock or hurling themselves out the nearest window supports Humble Talent’s Comment of the Day (#2!) posted last yesterday. Note his title.
I’m going to quote the appropriately uncivil conservative assassin Ace of Spades on this for two reasons. He writes of Clinton’s critique,
“This drunken Satanic sow illegally used her own server so that her communications would be protected from exposure by records retention laws. This was a secret server until someone discovered it — she did not disclose it so that the federal government could copy all of these messages. She did not disclose it so that people fililng FOIAs would even know what records to request. And she sits her in Her Satanic Hubris and accuses others of using Signal to “avoid records retention” laws. By the way, in case you don’t know this, Biden approved the use of Signal for communication precisely because it was more unhackable than the easily-hackable federal systems.”
Reason #1 is that Ace is right, and the venom is appropriate. Talk about ethics estoppel! The fact that Donald Trump and the Electoral College saved America from this vile, dishonest, sinister and destructive woman should alone ensure the former a place in the pantheon of national heroes and the latter enshrinement in the “Best Ideas of the Founders’ Hall of Fame.”
Reason #2 is this final sentence: “By the way, in case you don’t know this, Biden approved the use of Signal for communication precisely because it was more unhackable than the easily-hackable federal systems.” Here is Ace attacking Clinton for her ridiculous hypocrisy, and in the same post citing Biden as an authority to justify the Trump team’s use of Signal, which blew up in their collective faces! For years, Ace has derided Biden as a drooling puppet, but now, when it is convenient, he cites one of “his” “decisions” to excuse the Trump Administration for a security breach, when the whole thrust of the administration since inauguration day has been to reverse, condemn or remove as much of what was done or decided during the last four years. Wow—Flagrant hypocrisy while justly pointing out flagrant hypocrisy! How can anyone trust the Right when it covers a story like that? The Trump Administration should trust in absolutely nothing the Biden Phantom Presidency left behind until it has been tested, verified and tested again. The Biden team used Signal? That doesn’t excuse Hegseth and Waltz having a high level meeting about a military operation using the platform, it makes it worse.
I was a couple posts short yesterday: sorry. A lot was happening, but then a lot is always happening since the election: if I spent every waking hour at Ethics Alarms, I couldn’t keep up with all the events, stories and quotes that deserve posts. I checked out early yesterday because it was, after all, the beginning of the 2025 Major League Baseball season, which has disproportionately and illogically dominated my time and passion for at least six months of the year since I was 12. In return the game has taught me much about life, right and wrong, faith, loyalty, courage, chaos and the universe, so I am convinced the obsession has been worth all the lost hours, pain and distraction. (The Red Sox won in stirring fashion in Texas, 5-2.)
I find myself depending on the forum more than ever (and I still am looking for guest posts). There were at least two mind-blowing ethics items in the news yesterday, well, early this morning and yesterday. Elon Musk tweeted,
“On Sunday night, I will give a talk in Wisconsin. Entrance is limited to those who have voted in the Supreme Court election. I will also personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote. This is super important.”
Oh…what? What is that?
Then there was this, an Executive Order directing “the Vice President, who is a member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, to work to eliminate improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology from the Smithsonian and its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.”
Again: WHAT? What is “improper” ideology? What is “divisive” ideology? (What isn’t divisive ideology?) How does one measure “working” to do something? Has any previous executive order ever ordered a Vice-President to do something? I haven’t been to the National Zoo for a long time: is something sinister going on there?
There were three distinct stages in my consideration of the sui generis Cinerama feature from 1963, “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World.” The movie’s gimmick was that it collected more comedians and comic actors in a single Hollywood production than has ever been featured before, which meant, naturally, that it had to be the funniest movie ever….or so we were told.
I first saw IAMMMMW at Boston’s Cinerama Theater when I was 12. It was the first of the new, improved, seamless Cinerama features, which meant it was inferior to the original format, which wrapped around the audience. There were few effects in the movie that took advantage of the giant screen, either. But like all boys under 20 or so, I thought IAMMMMW was very amusing and a lot of fun. Girls didn’t get it, for the most part, and that has never changed. It’s physical comedy and slapstick throughout, and often cruel slapstick. This is a real male-female divide that appears to be timeless.
I was also, even back then, an omnivore of popular culture. Seeing so many familiar comedy icons of the era (and the previous one) in one movie was a thrill; of course, that was one of the main goals of the film. Sid Caeser, Milton Berle, Jimmy Durante, Jonathan Winters, Phil Silvers, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney and more, with well-conceived cameos by the likes of Jack Benny, Jerry Lewis and Don Knotts—in the waning period of Hollywood all-star cast spectaculars, the idea of doing one with comedians was irresistible.
I saw the movie a second time in my thirties, and was shocked how different my reaction to it was. To be fair, I recalled many of the sequences that would have been funnier as a surprise, but the film seemed over-long, abrasive and, most surprisingly, sad. The subplot in which Spencer Tracy plays an aging police captain who becomes disillusioned with his professional and family life to the extent that he tries to steal the money that has set off an insane race among the assorted loonies is more tragedy than comedy, and, oddly, Tracy didn’t play any of his role for laughs. Grace, my wife, hated the movie in 1963 and hated it just as much when I made her watch it again with me.
The U.S. now has a member of Congress who is regarded as a rising leader of a major political party who talks like this…
“Y’all know we got Governor Hot Wheels down there. Come on now! And the only thing hot about him is that he is a hot-ass mess, honey!”
That was Rep. Crockett speaking at a human rights event over the weekend. The intentionally vulgar, street-talking Texas representative (she was raised in a wealthy family and attended private schools, so her Samuel L. Jacskon imitation is pure cynical artifice) was already being justly criticized for telling Democrats to “take out” Elon Musk, at a time when her party’s loonies are looking for an excuse to move from domestic terrorism against Tesla owners to more direct forms of violence. Now this member of what styles itself as the sensitive, caring party is mocking a man, Texas Governor Abbott, who has been in a wheelchair for decades by calling him “Hot Wheels.” Be proud, Democrats, Texans, women, homo sapiens.
Crockett’s excuse after her cruel ad hominem attack was properly condemned tells us even more about the character of the latest “rising star” of the Left:
“I wasn’t thinking about the governor’s condition—I was thinking about the planes, trains, and automobiles he used to transfer migrants into communities led by Black mayors, deliberately stoking tension and fear among the most vulnerable. Literally, the next line I said was that he was a “Hot Ass Mess,” referencing his terrible policies. At no point did I mention or allude to his condition. So, I’m even more appalled that the very people who unequivocally support Trump—a man known for racially insensitive nicknames and mocking those with disabilities—are now outraged.”
She’s beneath contempt, but Crockett’s “Whataboutism” (#2 on the Rationalization List) argument following her self-evident lie is not without validity. How far is calling a governor in a wheelchair “Hot Wheels” from calling a President obviously suffering from progressive dementia “Slow Joe”?
I’ll accept the utilitarian conclusion that electing Trump President twice was, on balance, important for the nation; I might even agree with it. However, I don’t think it is possible to credibly argue that the destructive decline in civility and decorum in society, and especially in political discourse, should not be laid at Donald Trump’s feet. It is a major cultural wound with implications for democracy as well as social relations in our society generally.
President Trump is an important figure in American history, perhaps a transformational leader, and definitely a crucial one whose success or failure will have an enormous effect on the fate and future of the United States of America.
Thus it is all the more alarming that the man has so many Achilles heels that he could be some hind of monstrous human-arachnid hybrid.
Take that portrait above… please! Yes, it stinks. I don’t know who painted it and I don’t care, but somehow this obscure painting, hanging in the Colorado State Capitol building with portraits of the other U.S. Presidents, is the object of our President’s ire.
“Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the State capitol, put up by the Governor, along with all the other Presidents, was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before,” Trump birched on Truth Social. “In any event, I would much prefer not having a picture than having this one.”
Oh for the love of Mike, man, grow the hell up! Who cares about your portrait in Colorado? With everything else going on, with the Axis trying to foment domestic terrorism and rogue judges trying to kneecap your policies, why are you complaining about a crummy piece of art? Sure, that doesn’t look like you—it reminds me a bit of Millard Fillmore—but so what?
I have criticized Jethroe Gibbs of “NCIS,” Nathan Brittles of “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” and John Wayne for promoting the false ethical standard, “Never apologize, it’s a sign of weakness,” but that’s a minor misconception compared to the leader of the free world throwing a hissy fit over an oil painting. Trump’s insecurity, narcissism, obsession with meaningless symbols of popularity and personal slights constantly leads him into unforced errors, blunders and needless controversies. He doesn’t have the luxury of indulging these infantile habits. If this life-long weakness doesn’t sabotage his ability to accomplish his mission, it will just be moral luck.
The President’s vanity is one of many gifts to the foes who are determined to halt and destroy him.
But her drives from the tee have improved dramatically!
Ellen Richman of Palm Beach Florida was driving to her golf lesson a week ago when her Mercedes struck bicyclist Justin Rogers. Instead of stopping she continued to drive, dragging both the cyclist and his bicycle down the highway. Eventually both were released from the car; meanwhile Ellen continued to drive happily along to the Palm Beach Country Club where she handed her car over to valet parking.
Following cyclist’s description of the vehicle that hit him, leaving him in the road with compound fractures to his tibia and fibula as well as other lacerations and dragging abrasions on his left leg, police located the car in the country club parking lot. Officers were informed by employees that Ellen was taking her golf lesson.
The car had broken headlight glass and evidence of missing pieces that were found at the accident scene. The undercarriage of the Mercedes also showed signs of a recent accident. The club’s parking valets told police that Richmond had volunteered the information that she had “struck something” when she gave them the keys to the car.
The avid golfer was read her rights, arrested, and is being held on $10,000 bond, which is, as the saying goes, par for the course.
I decided to post this after seeing one of the most moronic anti-Trump memes yet, again posted by another Facebook friend who once had a functioning cerebrum even as you or I. This one listed various sinister and negative meanings of “maga” in various languages, the approximate equivalent of arguing that Coca-Cola contains wax tadpoles because those sounds mean “bite the wax tadpole” in some Chinese dialects, or that Chevy Novas didn’t work because “No va” means “no go” in Spanish. This moronic display was greeted by dozens of laughing emojis and “likes.” No push back at all, certainly not from me. When you hear growls, screams, head-banging, objects being thrown and breaking glass coming from inside a locked room full of friends, do you open the door, walk in, let the door slam behind you and say, “Hey, guys! This is nuts!”? You might, but I sure won’t. But it sure is terrifying to hear.
That idiotic meme above is just one of the new ones that debuted this moring, and the Facebook mob really seem to think it’s profound. Then there is this, for a really nice, smart guy, an actor…
How separated from reality does someone who just went through four years with a fake President while their favorite news sources covered up the scandal have to be to post that publicly?
A musician and lawyer who posts nothing but political rants and memes is really excited about… Continue reading →
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