Incident At Wells Fargo

/ Jack Marshall / 18 Comments

The day was already crashing and burning, as my monthly travails paying my power bill (Dominion Energy’s website is impossible) had lasted even longer than usual and I was finally talking to a human being when the electricity went out, killing my phone, the computer, everything. I ran outside and found two yellow helmeted guys messing around with wires, and asked, “Did you just shut off my power?” Yes, they said. “Gee, did it occur to you to let me know in advance?” I asked. “Oh, sorry, we didn’t know you were home,” was the lame response. There were and are literally six cars and a motorcycle parked outside my house.

After being told that in addition to having my last hour of work wiped out there would be a 45 minute wait before power was restored, I decided to deposit a check I had received from a client. I was about to pull into an empty space in the parking lot in front of my bank when aI had to slam on the brakes: a car was driving speedily into the lot using the EXIT ONLY ramp and looked like she was heading for the same space I was. But no, she parked in a non-space instead, a striped area reserved for bank and other official vehicles. The driver, a woman got out of the car and rushed ahead of me to use the automated teller.

“Are you in the habit of entering places using the exits?” I asked her. “I don’t appreciate your tone,” she said. When did this become the default response when someone is caught in obvious misconduct? “I don’t appreciated having to avoid vehicles coming into a parking lot the wrong way,” I said.

“Well, I’m not familiar with the area and got confused,” she said, unconvincingly. (Ethics Tip: This was the place for a sincere “I’m sorry.”) “What was so confusing about the “Exit Only” sign?” I asked. “I didn’t see it,” she answered, not even glancing where I was pointing.

Suuure.

Then a woman pulling out of a space stopped and admonished me. “You should be kind,” she said. “What does kindness have to do with anything?,” was my exasperated reply. “She was ignoring signs and breaking the rules. It’s not “kind” to ignore that. It’s irresponsible.”

Here was her response: “You must be a Trumper!“

1. What the hell is that supposed to mean?

2. The cheating driver was black: am I supposed to engage in social reparations when black neighbors act unethically?

3. Hey, if supporting the President means that one is not in favor of letting scofflaws and cheaters get away with their conduct while they lie about, that would be wonderful. I don’t think that is clear at all, however.

I was so stunned by her non-sequitur that all I could think to say to the interloper was, “You’re an asshole!” because my “Bite me!” button was frozen for some reason.

But she is an asshole. Just like the woman who drove in through the exit.

It’s Official: “A Nation of Assholes” Has Come to Pass, and Its Herald is Jasmine Crockett

/ Jack Marshall / 27 Comments

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.

I warned about this on September 10, 2015.

Signal Chat Ethics Train Wreck Update…

/ Jack Marshall / 26 Comments

With Trump officials, the President, his paid liar Karoline Leavitt stating, and both John Ratcliffe and Tulsi Gabbard swearing under oath that top US officials discussing operational details of plans to bomb Yemen before the operation miraculously did not contain any, classified information, The Atlantic today released much of the transcript as collected by editor Jeffrey Goldberg in a new article. I haven’t read the whole thing because I will not give a cent to The Atlantic, now one of the most notorious Axis allies. But the excerpts I have read elsewhere are hardly the discussions of favorite recipes for guacamole.

The Guardian, another hack Axis member, calls the texts “disastrous leak of sensitive information.” Fake news, via deceit. Because of dumb luck, the sloppy and unforgivable way an approaching attack was discussed had no “disastrous” effects except for the degree to which it showed incompetence and recklessness by Trump’s national security leaders, and the fact that the reaction of the Administration, including the President, has been to emulate the Democrats’ “It isn’t what it is” playbook should set off ethics alarms coast to coast.

Continue reading →

Lizzo, Fat Championing Hypocrite

/ Jack Marshall / 7 Comments

I hadn’t followed the Lizzo dieting scandal because, frankly, I couldn’t care less about the in-your-face obese pop star who has been the current champion of the “love your body”/”fat is beautiful” mob. Lizzo, who performed with svelte female dancers to emphasize her proud flab, made defiant fatness part of her brand, wearing costumes that normally would be taboo for any woman not a size 6.

Well, if it works, it’s show business! But somehow toward the end of 2024, Lizzo started slimming down via Ozempic, dieting and a personal trainer, so she is now sporting a more conventional model of female beauty. Predictably, her fat fans feel betrayed, and they should.

We’ve seen this so many times before that I hesitated to even post on it, but no previous fat celebrity so aggressively asserted that she loved her extra pounds and that society’s obsession with fit female bodies had to be rejected. All of these photos…

…accompanied past features about how the singer insisted that fat was “normal” and that she “loved her curves.” And now what is she saying? She doesn’t need to say anything; her conduct speaks for her. She decided to exploit being fat as a gimmick, not caring how it would encourage unhealthy lifestyles among her female fans, then as soon as losing weight and becoming more typically attractive seemed like a wise career move—reinvention!—she discarded “fat is beautiful” like a house guest who had stayed too long.

We shall see if a performer of Lizzo’s rather unremarkable talents can stand out among all the other comely female pop singers. If not, don’t be surprised if she starts hitting the all-you-can-eat buffets again.

So Far, Flunking the Integrity Test of the “Signal Chat Ethics Train Wreck” [Part II]

/ Jack Marshall / 29 Comments

In the interest of time—mine—I’m going to list the relevant developments and my observations as bullet points, with the full knowledge that I will be posting on this again, and probably soon. So here we go, into the wreckage…

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So Far, Flunking the Integrity Test of the “Signal Chat Ethics Train Wreck” [Part I]

/ Jack Marshall / 3 Comments

Wow, THAT turned into an ethics train wreck in record time! (It’s “historic,” right! That means it’s good…)

I’m not a full-time blogger, so I didn’t find out about this inexcusable botch by Fox-News-talking-head-miraculously-turned-Defense-Secretary Pete Hegseth until late yesterday afternoon after I had thought the last post was up. But as soon as I did see the story I posted on it, and in the essay I endorsed the conclusion of vociferously NeverTrump conservative NYT opinion writer (He’s in the Times stable because he’s so reliably anti-Trump) David French: Hegseth should resign. Then I found out, not to my surprise but disgust, that many conservative news sources and opinion sites were taking the same “nothingburger” approach to this that the Axis took to Hillary Clinton’s deliberate breach of national security laws, Hunter Biden’s laptop, Joe’s senility and Hillary’s hubby’s sexual harassment hobby.

Yecchh.

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Addendum to “Enough Trivia and Silly Stuff: This Is Incompetence That Can’t Be Ignored”: Conservative Media Integrity and Competence Test Ahead…[Updated and Corrected]

/ Jack Marshall / 22 Comments

So far (7:25 pm, March 24), there is not a peep about this disturbing story at the Citizens Free Press or at PJ Media, including Instapundit. Not a good look.

Naturally the usual Axis media, anti-Trump news sources are all over the story, as they should be, perhaps with a little less glee, but still. Among conservative publications, I see it at the New York Post, the Boston Herald, and the Washington Examiner. The Daily Caller has the story, if a bit late. Fox News carried it, though their pundits tonight have been mum so far.

Citizens Free Press and PJ Media better catch up quick. If they stall much longer, they deserve no credibility and are ethically estopped from complaining about the “legacy media” burying stories uncomfortable for Democrats. There is no excuse for this.

Enough Trivia and Silly Stuff: This Is Incompetence That Can’t Be Ignored

/ Jack Marshall / 19 Comments

Ethics Alarms’ “Incompetence Monday” is concluding with a truly damning finale that should set ethics alarms ringing across the Trump Administration. We shall see.

It was revealed today that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disclosed highly classified plans for U.S. troops to attack the Houthi militia in Yemen to an encrypted private chat group. That was irregular enough, but Hegseth didn’t notice that the editor-in-chief of “The Atlantic,” Jeffrey Goldberg, had been added to the text “chat” on the commercial messaging app Signal by Michael Waltz, the national security adviser.

 Goldberg then wrote in an article published today telling readers that he had been mistakenly added into a discussion that could have led to a military disaster if the information had leaked. Great. Goldberg said he followed the conversation among senior members of President Trump’s national security team including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The attacks that were discussed in detail took place two days later. On  March 15, Hegseth posted the “operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” Goldberg wrote. “The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East.” 

Goldberg did not publish the details of the war plans in his article. I can think of a lot of journalists who would not have exercised such restraint. Hegseth, and the U.S., were lucky.

There can be no excuse for such an outrageous breach of security. Not only was a journalist inadvertently included in the group, but the conversation also took place outside of the secure government channels reserved for classified discussions and sensitive military planning.

Writing in the New York Times, David French, a former JAG officer, was apoplectic.  Hegseth, he raged, had “just blown his credibility as a military leader.”

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Ethics Dunce: President Donald Trump

/ Jack Marshall / 24 Comments

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.

“Incompetence Monday” Continues With the “Incompetent Driver of the Year” (So Far)

/ Jack Marshall / 2 Comments

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.