U.S. Society

Ethics Snippets on “The Day of the Troll”

/ Jack Marshall / 6 Comments

Today I’m having to waste time I could be using to finish Part 2 of this post, spamming the infantile rants of a banned commenter who is Big Mad that my tolerance for his/her/its bigotry finally ran out.

Well, here are some items I won’t have time to write full posts on…

1. Unethical (and idiotic) Sunny Hostin Quote of the Week. The lawyer on “The View” who thinks eclipses are proof of climate change actually said, “Had Biden just stayed in the White House and said, ‘I’m not gonna debate this man because he’s morally bankrupt,’ Biden might be the President today.”

And wouldn’t that have been grand! If only the cover-up of Biden’s dementia had been more effective…

2. A “Fix the problem” tale from the firehouse. The firehouse on my street, in a Northern Virginia neighborhood where everyone seems to own a dog (or three) has been putting out boxes of dog biscuits for the canines walking by to enjoy for more than a decade. There was even a special plastic box and a smaller one labeled “Back Up Biscuit Box.” My dog looks forward to his 9:30 pm jaunt to the Biscuit Box, but four nights ago both boxes and any sign of the red cardboard boxes had vanished. Spuds looked at me as if it was my fault. The next night, to be safe, I hid three biscuits in my pants pocket just in case, and sure enough, the firehouse had nothing. I fooled Spuds into thinking the treats had come from the mailbox on a nearby wall. On the third night, I had typed a letter to the firefighters and deposited it in the mailbox while again feigning biscuit retrieval. I explained what an excellent community relations gesture the dog biscuits were and how much my neighbors appreciated it. I also explained how much the ritual of walking to the firehouse brightened my sweet dog’s day. I urged them to reconsider the decision to end the tradition. Whatever it cost, I wrote, it was worth the expense to bring the community together, establish trust and affection for the firefighters, and make dozens of dogs happy. I signed my name, occupation, and address.

The biscuits were back the next night.

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The Cornell Frat Rape Ethics Train Wreck, Part I

/ Jack Marshall / 12 Comments

I was first made aware of the sudden re-emergence of a 2024 gang rape allegation as a media and social media obsession when a friend who was raped began posting furiously about the story on Facebook. A knee-jerk progressive, she is certain that there was a cover-up at Cornell and that the alleged victim is telling the truth, because all women must be believed.

I don’t know what really happened at the Chi Phi fraternity on a fateful October night in 2024, and neither do you, and neither does my friend. Anyone who presumes they do know based on a partisan or ideological bias has elected to board the newly launched Cornell Frat Rape Ethics Train Wreck in the dining car. Shame on them.

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it” is having a bad year—look at the sudden resurgence of anti-Semitism here—and fraternity rape hysteria should be viewed with particular skepticism. The infamous Duke Lacrosse case occurred in 2006 and my commentary was lost when the old Ethics Scoreboard left the building, but it is still a tag on Ethics Alarms, with this the most directly relevant post. The imaginary gang rape that disgraced Rolling Stone was extensively covered here, however, as you can see. In 2014, “Rolling Stone” reporter Sabrina Erdly wrote a feature about an imaginary co-ed named “Jackie” being gang raped at a University of Virginia fraternity party. UVA president Teresa A. Sullivan, a good little feminist, suspended all fraternities with no actual evidence of wrongdoing. But you know, men are pigs, women are always the victims, and one must always believe all women, even imaginary ones (there was no “Jackie”) when they cry “Rape!”

Ethics Alarms has analyzed several instances of false rape claims as well as the cynical #MeToo fad, which, like the Cornell episode was weaponized by the Left for political gain. The hysteria got many sexual predators their just desserts, and also amassed many unjustly maligned male victims. I don’t know what happened at Cornell, but I do know that the case has already been co-opted by Democrats to inflame a core constituency, angry white progressive women convinced that the U.S. is an oppressive patriarchy that would have the culture emulating “A Handmaiden’s Tale” if it had its way. There’s an election approaching, after all. Hence the emergence of a mother who murdered her three children as the object of sympathy.

Here are what I consider salient facts based on what we do know:

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Friday Open Forum, Plus An Addendum to the Zionism Post and a King’s Pass Exception

/ Jack Marshall / 8 Comments

I had to cut it out of the last post (which is on the long side), but I was going to remind everyone or inform those who never knew that General George S. Patton was a vocal anti-Semite as well as a racist. He loved fighting anyone, but he made it clear in private conversations and letters that he thought we should have been fighting against the Russians with the Nazis. The Holocaust didn’t trouble him much. This charming feature was left out of the acclaimed movie starring George C. Scott as the batty–but effective!—World War II general.

My father, who fought under Patton at the Battle of the Bulge, detested the man primarily for his slapping of two (not just one, as portrayed in the movie) soldiers suffering from battle fatigue, or as we call it now, post-traumatic stress. Eisenhower didn’t like Patton either, and was very close to relieving him of command permanently , but ultimately decided that a lesser punishment was prudent because Patton was such a talented field general. (The Germans couldn’t understand why merely slapping a soldier would ever lead the Americans to sideline such a successful commander. Of course they couldn’t.) Thus the handling of Patton represents the Ethics Incompleteness Theorem regarding “The King’s Pass,” the exception that proves the rule (because all rules have exceptions).

Yet I wonder how much security Jewish people got from the knowledge that one of the key warriors who defeated the perpetrators of the Holocaust essentially agreed with Hitler regarding them.

Over to you, Clarence…

“The Unabomber Was Right”#11: Phone Wars

/ Jack Marshall / 10 Comments

Lately that most familiar of technological marvels, the telephone, has been making me crazy and my life miserable almost daily because of abuse, misuse, and overuse.

Let me count the ways, as Elizabeth Barrett Browning would say:

1. I just saw an allegedly hilarious TV add about “multi-processing” showing people walking into poles, tripping over obstacles and falling into trash cans while walking in public while either staring at a smart phone screen or chatting away using the speaker. I don’t even recall the product (Effective ad there, guys!), but it did tick me off. it’s not a funny phenomenon. Just yesterday, and asshole walking along staring at his phone nearly collided with me and Spuds, startling both of us, and I had to fling all of my weight against the leash from keeping my protective dog from biting the asshole’s face off—which he deserved, but my dog would be the one blamed. One woman nearly did the same thing a few weeks ago jogging while looking at her phone. People who do this are inconsiderate, reckless and self-absorbed fools, and dangerous as well. Yet such conduct is rapidly becoming a social norm. Last week, also while walking Spuds, I noted that eight straight pedestrians I encountered including three dog-walkers, one mother pushing a toddler in a stroller and three teens were all proceeding while staring at a phone screen or talking into a phone held in front of them. They are effectively cutting off the world while they are in the world, furthering the isolation of humanity, and increasing the alienation of American from each other. It is uncivil—rude—as well. When ethics fails law takes over (and usually makes a mess of things), so I am not advocating a law, but social disapproval, beginning with parents telling their kids not to do this would be a nice start.

2. I recently had to call the D.C. Office of Corporate Registration (or whatever it’s called) to eliminate my still-born law firm, BernsteinMarshall, PLLC. Screwed up beyond belief like everything else in the District, the “convenient website” had no link for ending a company, so I had to call the office. The pert, friendly, chatterbox of a recording went on for ten minutes telling me all the things the office could do for me, then spent another five telling me about all the options (“which may have changed”), then after I pushed one button, started down another list of topics while I screamed, “SHUT UP!!!!!” like Michael Palin in the Monty Python Torremolinos” travel agent skit.

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Let’s Play “Wait, Was That Racist or Not?”!

/ Jack Marshall / 11 Comments

“Hi there, everyone! It’s time to play the exciting ethics game that’s sweeping America: “Wait, Was That Ethical or Unethical?”! As you know, contestants are asked to decide whether an ambiguous statement or action was racist or not!

“Are you ready, contestants? Then let’s play, “Wait, Was That Racist or Wasn’t It?”! Introduce our subject for Round I, Johnny!”

“Sure thing, Jack! Meet Dixie Walker! Dixie was a star baseball player who died in 1982. He won a batting championship and a runs-batted-in title, and he played in two World Series and four All-Star Games. He is most remembered, however, not for his impressive exploits on the baseball field but as the player who led the campaign to keep Jackie Robinson from joining the Brooklyn Dodgers and integrating the game.

Continue reading →

Fewer Voters Trust Voting By Mail. Good.

/ Jack Marshall / 6 Comments

Both Democrats and Republicans are paying attention. Probably not enough of them, but still…

In 2020, about 46 % of voters, those terrified by months of deliberate Wuhan virus fearmongering by the CDC, Democrats and their news media, cast ballots by mail. This included 58% of Democrats and 33% of Republicans. A new NBC News poll finds that 69% of registered voter plan to vote in person and only 21% plan to vote by mail. Seventy-two percent of Democrats plan to vote in person and only 23% plan to vote by mail, down from 34% two years ago and far below 2020 levels. Among Independents, 20% plan to vote by mail, down from 28 % in 2024. Over half of GOP voters say they will vote in person on Election Day, and 16% plan to vote by mail.

I am reading that this change is based on diminishing fear of dread diseases. No, I believe that the message is getting through to the public despite relentless Axis lies and propaganda. Mail-in ballots are not secure, regardless of what party you belong to. The fact that cheating Democrats want it that way doesn’t mean that thinking Democrats shouldn’t want their own votes to be counted.

Not An Ethics Quiz: The “Lake America” Sweatshirts

/ Jack Marshall / 17 Comments

To quote Mammy (Hattie McDaniel ) in “Gone With the Wind”, “I done told you an’ told you!” In two scenes, she used that introduction to remindScarlett that “you can always tell a lady by the way she eats in front of people” and Rhett that “it just ain’t fittin’ for a girl child to ride astraddle with her dress flyin’ up!” Well, I’ve done told lawyers, business executive and anyone else with a job that requires public trust and that affects a larger organization to eschew making political statements on social media, even in jest. Nobody listens.

Jane Smith, the chief executive of a Family First Credit Union in Michigan was fired after posting a photo of her family in sweatshirts that read “Lake America.” She allowed the picture to go viral as her family left on September 11 for a 10-day trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Subsequently Family First Credit Union announced that Smith was no longer with the company.

“We weren’t trying to make a political statement,” Smith told Michigan outlet WJRT as she pleaded her case. “However, we were kind of poking fun at the fact that one of the Great Lakes’ names were getting changed.”

Her actions put me in mind of the New Mexico judge who recently excoriated a lawyer who had cluelessly submitted an AI-composed court document without checking its accuracy. “Do you watch the news? Do you listen to the radio? Do you read anything about what’s going on in the world?” she asked, incredulous that any lawyer would be so unaware of all the recent AI debacles in court. The same questions apply to lack of awareness regarding Trump Derangement. What a normal person might consider a joke about our President’s re-naming obsessions, a Trump Derangement sufferer, and there are millions of them, might well let the Cognitive Dissonance Scale take over and refuse to do business with a bank whose CEO goes on social media to extol the “Lake America” episode.

“We sincerely apologize for the concern, disappointment and pain this situation has caused our members and community,” the bank wrote on Facebook.

Of course it did. I don’t feel sorry for her, and neither should you. If Jane Smith couldn’t see this the danger of this familiar sequence playing out sufficiently to stop her from posting the “Lake America” photo, she’s not smart enough to be a CEO anyway.

Huh. Who Could Have Imagined That Uncontrolled Illegal Immigration Had Negative Consequences?

/ Jack Marshall / 8 Comments

Not California!

Paving Paradise, a research analysis study of the loss of California’s agricultural and natural land due to rapid population growth found that 91% of land development since 1970 is a consequence of uncontrolled “immigration,” aka. illegal immigration.

California, a so-called sanctuary state, has the highest concentration of illegal immigrants in the United States, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. Over 400,000 entered the state between 2021 and 2023 during the Biden administration. Because population of California has doubled over the past five decades, 3,740 miles of California’s farmland, forests, wetlands and open spaces have had to be paved over to accommodate the all the lonely people, and we know where they all come from. 2.4 million acres of land, an area three times larger than Yosemite National Park, have been consumed. The overpopulation contributes to water shortages, loss of wildlife, more wildfires, traffic congestion, rising housing costs in the state, researchers found.

To be fair, at least there are more murders, rapes, and other felonies. And twenty-four million former California residents have legally migrated to other states to flee the effects of the open borders, so it all evens out in the end.

The Sunny Hostin Affair: “What’s Going On Here?”

/ Jack Marshall / 12 Comments

Everyone is writing me about the latest Sunny Hostin episode, and frankly, I don’t understand it at all so far. “The View” co-host, who is arguably the most annoying Dunning-Kruger sufferer on that joke of an ABC “news” program, was in a discussion about Lindsay Clancy’s insanity defense and Clancy’s lawyer’s attack on the holdout juror. Hostin, a lawyer who constantly reveals that she is a dim bulb with a law license, claimed that she was the lone holdout juror in the 1991 trial of the notorious Daniel Rakowitz,, known as the “Butcher of Tompkins Square Park.” Asserting that she was the sole juror who felt he was not guilty by reason of insanity, Hostin claimed she eventually convinced the jurors to vote her way. Rakowitz apparently killed his girl friend in an argument by accident, and subsequently ate some of her to conceal the evidence. Good plan!

“That’s how much I believe in the insanity defense,” Hostin said. noting that he fed her body parts to the “unhoused.” I admit to being biased against anyone so reflexively woke that they immediately adopt the latest politically correct lingo, especially one as stupid as “unhoused.” The New York jury, which was sequestered, became so angry with Hostin’s stubbornness, she claimed, that one of them threw a chair at her. ” One-by-one, I picked them off and said, ‘What about this? What about that?'” Hostin recalled. The jury eventually found Rakowitz not criminally responsible by reason of insanity.

The argument that Rakowitz was insane isn’t exactly a tough one to make: he cut up the body of a woman he had lived with, boiled her remains and made her into a soup, then chowed down on some of it and handed it out to homeless people. Yeah, he was as sane as the day is long…

Yet for once Hostin had the right analysis of something: she told the View Crew that the defense lawyer’s attacks on the lone juror in the Clancy case undermines the jury system. Correct! See, a blind squirrel can find a nut now and then.

The crazy part is this: several social media users tracked down a contemporary Daily News article that says that Asunción “Sunny” Cummings Hostin was upset with the holdout juror, who was a man, saying she believed the cannibal defendant was aware of his actions and that the Not Guilty verdict wasn’t justified. So she wasn’t the hold-out juror? She made up the tale she told The View?

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It’s Still Worth Doing…

/ Jack Marshall / 6 Comments

The early Open Forum today was because I had to complete my annual ordeal driving to Richmond last night to make an early morning three-hour CLE ethics seminar for my oldest client organization (but not my longest continuous client because they’ve fired me twice, always to come crawling back…). The thing was a challenge when my late wife was helping me get organized, packed, get other work in order and so on: now it’s almost impossible, especially last night when late breaking issues from client lawyers, a printer break-down, a need pit bull and a torn suit delayed my preparation for hours.

I began the drive to Richmond at 11:45 pm, and most of it was in heavy rain surrounded by trucks, with me expecting to die at any moment. I arrived at my hotel at 1:30 am, got to bed about an hour later, and woke up at six for final prep only to discover that I had managed to do something to my back over-night and could barely straighten up. Once I did, it became clear that sitting aggravated the injury, triggering back spasms, so I needed to stay standing during my three hour presentation, the break, and the usual discussions with attendees afterwards.

One attendee said he had been retired from law for a decade, but after listening to me, he had decided to renew his license to start practicing again. He said I convinced him that lawyers really could be a positive influence on society, and that it was time for him to use his experience and skills to do that.

Yeah, this is what I love.

It’s worth the hassle, and money has nothing to do with it.