Further Ethics Observations On the I.C.E. Shooting In Minneapolis…#1: The Right and Wrong Isn’t In Question [Updated and Corrected]

/ Jack Marshall / 56 Comments

The Trump Administration, I.C.E., and those standing for the enforcement of the law are in the right, with the ethics of this incident and its context entirely on their side. The pro-open borders Left, including the “resistance,” radical progressives (but I repeat myself…) and the Democrats as well as the leadership of sanctuary states and cities, are entirely wrong in theory, practice and conduct. The group in the wrong, which includes much of the news media, is primarily responsible for the tragic death of Renee Nicole Good. However, she was part of that group herself, and bears some of the responsibility for her own death.

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Unethical Speech of the Month, and Probably the Year: Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey (D)

/ Jack Marshall / 36 Comments

Unlike President Trump, DFH and Jacob Frey, I am not going to comment on what really happened that resulted in a “middle-aged white woman” being shot and killed by an I.C.E. officer after she deliberately used her vehicle to impede law enforcement activities. I will comment on Jacob Frey’s inflammatory, irresponsible rant in front of TV cameras, because I heard the whole thing, and was incredulous throughout. Points:

Interestingly, the New York Times has ignore Frey’s diatribe, and concentrated on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz more measured response. This suggests to me that the Axis believes that Frey went too far, and the less focus on it the better.

1. If President Trump’s tone and rhetoric were as deliberately provocative on January 6, 2021 as Frey’s were on January 7, 2025, I would have been more inclined to back the special prosecutor’s argument that Trump was trying to start an insurrection.

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Today’s Trump-Deranged Facebook Meme on Maduro’s Arrest

/ Jack Marshall / 8 Comments

The above was posted by one of my formerly intelligent and rational Trump Deranged Facebook friends, as usual with no dissent and a lot of “likes,” “loves,” “wows” and angry face emogis. Again, to anyone not rendered a drooling cretin by bias, the thing shouldn’t need any further commentary: it “speaks for itself,” res ipsa loquitur. Nonetheless, the meme is instructive regarding just how completely such TDS victims have left reality while their critical thinking functions head into oblivion.

“He wants the oil” is the one arguably legitimate statement, if we generously permit over-simplification because of the genre’s intrinsic limitations. There are many benefits, to the American economy, to the Venezuelan people, and to global stability of removing Venezuelan oil production from its longtime role of assisting U.S. adversaries and Communist governments. The statement is deceitful, of course: Trump does not “want the oil” for himself, not is be determined to take the oil without just compensation to the nation. U.S. companies like Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and others are expected to take advantage of investment opportunities by rebuilding Venezuela’s deteriorating oil infrastructure. This will benefit that nation’s economy and welfare as well.

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Unethical New Years Resolution of the Month: Chicago Teacher’s Union

/ Jack Marshall / 20 Comments

Hey, here’s a bold new idea for a teachers union resolution: How about “teach students to read, write, do math and think”?

Here is what the Marxist Chicago teachers union, which isn’t much different from other teachers unions except that they are louder, announced as its resolution for 2026 with that graphic above on “X”:

“Our New Year’s resolution: Speak truth to power. We do it in our classrooms by teaching the truth. We will protect academic freedom and ensure students learn honest, inclusive history that reflects their lives and communities. We’ll also speak truth to power by defending Black and brown and immigrant communities who are targeted by federal agents. From Know Your Rights trainings to walking school buses to rapid response teams, we will continue to create spaces where students can learn without fear. And we speak truth to power by fighting back against an administration trying to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and roll back civil rights protections that generations have fought to secure. Speaking truth to power means refusing censorship, rejecting criminalization, and choosing solidarity every time. In 2026, CTU recommits to telling the truth, protecting our communities, and organizing for a future rooted in dignity and care.”

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Ethics Observations on the Hampton Inn I.C.E. Freeze-Out In Minnesota

/ Jack Marshall / 20 Comments

Surely you have heard about this craziness (and ethics breach) by now; it was mentioned in the comments to this EA post yesterday. A post on the official Homeland Security X account revealed that reservations made at the Hampton Inn in Lakeville Minneapolis, a suburb about 25 miles south of Minneapolis, by I.C.E. officers had been cancelled with a message suggesting that they were not welcome at the hotel chain. The DHS post included a copy of the email with the sender and recipient redacted; indeed, it stated the property would not host immigration agents.

In an abundance of caution, I decided to wait to determine “What’s going on here?” What was going on here is that a bunch of rogue woke morons decided to grandstand in anti-Trump, pro-illegal immigrant, pro-Somali immigrant scoundrels Minnesota, where they think up is down, black is white, War is Peace and unethical is ethical.

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Ethics Quiz: The Turncoat Fat Comic

/ Jack Marshall / 7 Comments

I decided to skip this issue a month ago when comic Amy Schumer was being called a hypocrite for suddenly showing off her newly svelte, Ozempic-drowned body all over social media after spending years defending being”plus size.” Then she posted bikini photos yesterday and social media was freaking out again.

“I think there’s nothing wrong with being plus size,” Schumer argued in a tiff with Glamour Magazine a decade ago. “Beautiful healthy women.” Amy got progressively more plus-size as the years went by and was more militantly anti-fatshaming as a “body-positivity” advocate while the pounds piled on.

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Ethics Quote of the Week (On That Fanciful “International Law” Thingy): Konstantin Klein

/ Jack Marshall / 11 Comments

“All the bleating about “international law” shows just how completely deluded some of our elites have become. International law was a pleasant fiction that lasted for a few decades…It was never real. Laws are based on submission to an overarching authority backed by force. There is no such international authority and even if you view the UN as one, it does not have the ability to use force against those who violate “international law”…

—Someone named Konstantin Klein on Twitter/”X.” I have no idea who the hell he is, and I could have just as easily said that myself, but I’ve been waiting for someone else to point exactly this out, because it is true..

As a general rule, those criticizing the U.S. action in Venezuela based on “international law” don’t know what international law is, and those who criticize the seizing of Maduro and his wife who do know what international law is are deliberately misleading those who don’t. Why hasn’t the new media clarified the issue? Well, 1) it would undermine the Axis’s anti-Trump narrative and 2) most journalists are lazy and not too bright.

On The View yesterday, Sunny Hostin, who appeals to her own authority frequently because she is a lawyer and was once a prosecutor, again proved she was an affirmative action botch by her law school (Notre Dame) by showing beyond a reasonable doubt that she’s an idiot. According to her, the Trump administration arresting Maduro and extraditing him the United States was a “kidnapping,” “100 percent Illegal,” and akin to “piracy.” Piracy? Then she played the frayed international law card, babbling “And international law doesn’t allow it unless there is — unless Congress declares war, and Congress did not do at. So, this country was founded on the premise of the balance of power. Right? So, you have a checks and balances. So, you have co-equal powers — co-equal branches of power. So, you have the Judicial Branch and then you have the Executive Branch, which the president is a part of, and then you have, of course, the Legislative Branch and that’s Congress. And they are supposed to check each other!”

Psst, Sunny! International law doesn’t “allow” or disallow anything. The United States was actually founded on the premise that the people who lived here wanted to decide on and enforce their own laws and not be subject to foreign rule.

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Now THAT’S Non-Traditional Casting!

/ Jack Marshall / 12 Comments

Estonian theater Kinoteater recently staged Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” in a production with Romeo played by a rally truck and his secret love Juliet by a red Ford pickup truck. The climactic duel between Tybalt and Mercutio consisted of two excavators swinging their metal buckets in front of each other. The performance was staged in a limestone quarry. “Romula ja Julia” had virtually no lines, as there were no human actors, just ten drivers, two mechanics, a pyrotechnics expert, an excavator operator, and many vehicles to convey the classic love story. Among the Shakespearean were a front-end loader, a concrete mixer, a fire truck, city buses, other large machinery, and some smaller vehicles.

Co-director Paavo Piik explained that the contrast between the powerful vehicles and the themes of love and poetry is central to the production’s experimental approach. “I would still say that even though it was cars, it felt really sweet and cute. Like when you had the scene where the cars were, you would assume, kissing, the energy was captured really well. The sweetness and the love,” one spectator told Reuters.

Right. No lines, and a bunch of machines “kissing.” By what theory could such a spectacle be legitimately called “Shakespeare,” much less “Romeo and Juliet”? They might just as well have called a demolition derby “The Illiad.”

Ethics Alarms always takes the position that the acid test of any non-traditional theatrical concept or casting is 1) whether the creator’s message and vision is being fairly respected, and 2) whether the production “works” beyond the novelty factor.

Let’s just say that I’m highly dubious about this production.

(Curmie, Curmie! Wherefore art thou, Curmie?)

There Is Hope…[Expanded]

/ Jack Marshall / 18 Comments

Update: The graphic above came from X, and I used it for convenience. Several commenters have expressed skepticism about the report because I didn’t include a source. I should have, and I apologize. The original story came from the website Semafor, and subsequent reports were published in the NY Post, NPR, Yahoo! and others. That doesn’t mean the story is necessarily true, but the two papers haven’t denied it, which is what one would expect if they didn’t want to put a target on their own metaphorical backs and those of the leakers.

***

I would like to think that the two banner-carrying newspapers in the Axis of Unethical Conduct did the right thing because it was the patriotic and ethical thing to do. I don’t believe that, unfortunately.

I believe that the mainstream media finally knows it is on metaphorical thin ice. Despite their attacks on President Trump for calling them—correctly and fairly— “enemies of the people,” they are smart enough to figure out that they have eroded the public’s trust to a perilous degree. Their competence, motives and integrity are in doubt now. Their arrogance and flagrant violations of the most basic tenets of journalism ethics are the cause of that.

In the past, leaking military plans of a controversial President would have been the natural course for these organizations, and they would have stood proudly on “the public’s right to know.” But I think they fear a tipping point after the Biden disability cover-up and the news media’s conspicuous failure to aggressively follow the bread crumbs in the Somali social services fraud scandal. The Times and the Post didn’t do the right thing because it was in the nation’s interest. It did the right thing because they are afraid.

And, ironically, that is also in the nation’s interest,

It’s Time To Play That Exciting Game Show, “Worth Confronting or Too Trivial To Bitch About?”!

/ Jack Marshall / 13 Comments

Hello everybody! I’m your ethics game show host Wink Smarmy, and welcome to “Worth Confronting or Too Trivial To Bitch About?”,” the popular ethics game show where our contestants try to decide whether clearly unethical conduct is worth only a shrug and a giggle, or is serious enough to try to stop.

Here’s our special guest, Touchy McCrankface, with the problem he encountered recently…

“Hello, panel. My name is is Touchy McCrankface. For some reason I am still a Facebook user despite that platform banning my favorite blog Ethics Alarms for almost two years because one of their censors decided that it was racist to even discuss the topic of blackface’s appearance in some classic movies. When a Facebook friend  I actually care about has allowed his or her birthday to be announced on Facebook, I will sometimes, as I am prompted, wish that friend a “Happy Birthday.”

“I do not use the stupid and juvenile pre-programmed emojis Facebook tries to stick on my message, the little cakes, candles and party hats. Recently I sent just such a birthday message to an old friend. Let’s call him “Mike.”

After I sent my “Happy Birthday”,  Facebook sent me the equivalent of a receipt. I have no idea why. Maybe it has always done this, but I’ve never noticed one before, or if I have, I never bothered to read one. The message to me read,

“You wished Michael XXXXX a happy birthday on their profile.”

This, frankly, ticked me off. First of all, I knew that. But most of all, I don’t use the pronouns “they” and “their” for single individuals, as in “non-conjoined twins.” If you seem to be male to me, I will use the pronouns “You/he/him. If you seem to be female, I will use “You/she/her.” If I can’t tell, I won’t use any pronoun, constructing a sentence so that “misgendering” isn’t necessary, since men and boys don’t typically like being mistaken for women and girls, and vice-versa. If someone informs me that “he” wants to be refereed to as “she,” that’s fine: I aim to please. Similarly with 250 pound bearded bald guys who want to be called “she.” I’ll call you a pangolin or an Archaeopteryx if that’s what you want, as long as you don’t try to make me eat insects or worms with you. (Archaeopteryx is described as an “early bird,” and as we all know, the early bird catches the worm.)

But I will NOT agree to utter a grammatical monstrosity by using a plural pronoun in reference to one individual. And if you tell me you haven’t decided on your gender, or that it switches back and forth without warning, I will respond, most politely, “Please let me know when you make up your mind or get psychiatric help. Until then, you’ll be “him” or “her” to me.

But back to Facebook….My friend Mike has been married trice, has two grown kids and is as male and heterosexual, as well as unambiguously so, as anyone I have ever met. Who or what is Facebook to impose a plural pronoun on him, or to suggest that it is appropriate to do so in either his case or anyone’s case? 

I view this as subtle cultural indoctrination regarding a societal practice that is at best a stupid fad and at worst ‘grooming’.” 

Thanks, Touchy! Before I throw the challenge over to you, contestants, let me ask our resident ethicist, Jack Marshall, about Touchy’s dilemma. Jack, is this worth bitching about?

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