Equal Rights Amendment

Ethics Alarms Wants To Thank President Biden For His Continuing Efforts To Confirm Its Verdict That He Is The Worst U.S. President Ever

/ Jack Marshall / 9 Comments

…as with today’s idiocy, that “statement” above.

The President has no say whatsoever in when proposed Constitutional amendment have been ratified (or not). He can express his approval of one, and lobby for it with legislators, but he cannot make a ruling that the [completely superfluous, virtue-signaling] Equal Rights Amendment has been properly ratified (it hasn’t been). He might as well put out a statement that Barry Bonds should be voted into the Hall of Fame, or that broccoli is good for you. This is the President whose party made failure to uphold “democratic norms” one of its main Big Lies against Donald Trump, and Biden’s Presidency has ignored more norms than any Presidency at least since FDR tried to be President For Life. (Come to think of it, he succeeded!)

Making this presumptuous and gratuitous endorsement even worse is the fact that everybody knows now that Biden is in no shape to declare anything of substance, especially a matter of constitutional law debate. This isn’t Biden talking, it is some phantom activist in the White House using Biden’s name and office to advance a personal agenda.

Since his historic, DEI VP was selected by his party’s oligarchs to run for President without any components of the modern nomination process (and I doubt that Harris would have even survived the old-fashioned “smoke-filled room”) Biden—-that is, his puppeteers—has set an all-time Presidential spite record by filling his final months with obstructions for Donald Trump, as well as leniency for murderers, civilian honors for despicable civilians, more unethical student loan waivers, obstacles to U.S. energy independence and climate change grandstanding. Then there was this week’s head-exploding call for censorship in his Orwellian farewell speech.

Meanwhile Ruy Texiera, a generally objective, fair, and honest analyst, is having none of the obsequious claims from the Axis that Biden, in addition to being a figurehead President, was somehow also a good one who will be vindicated by history. On his substack “The Liberal Patriot” he authors a much more exhaustive description of Biden’s failures than I did in selecting poor Joe as “The Worst President Ever,” as well as chronicles Biden’s betrayal of the voters who thought they were voting for a moderate in 2020. (They also thought they were voting for a cognitive functioning leader rather than a marionette.)

It’s a superb piece, and you should read it.

Even if Biden puts out a statement saying that you shouldn’t.

From The “What Were They Thinking?” Files, Corporate Section: The Lands’ End Gloria Steinem Debacle

/ Jack Marshall / 17 Comments

"Wait...Gloria Steinem is political????"

“Wait…Gloria Steinem is political????”

Clothing retailer Land’s End lost its collective mind and chose Gloria Steinem as the first interview in the company’s “Legends Series,”a new feature in the Lands’ End’s catalog and website. What were they thinking? Steinem’s presence is inherently political. A company spotlighting her isn’t like a news medium interview: it looks like an endorsement. This is an election year. Not only is Steinem divisive between men and women, pro- and anti-abortion activists, radical feminists and more traditional women, old feminists and new feminists, Democrats and Republicans, progressives and conservatives, but even among Democrats and progressives. Steinem is campaigning for Hillary Clinton, after all.

I know what the company’s management  was thinking, if you can call it that. They thought this was a great way to attract the young female market, you know, like having more pink in the ad artwork, or mentioning “Twilight.”

So guess what happened. Land’s End was inundated with protests from customers who said they wouldn’t shop there any more. Did you guess? Sure you did. Why didn’t Land’s End? With all the relatively benign, non-controversial figures to profile, what dimwit in marketing chose Gloria Steinem? What lazy executives approved it? This is business incompetence writ Jupiter size.

Having made an astoundingly stupid mistake, Land’s End had no choice but to retrench, and pull the feature. This was unavoidable, and the right thing to do, as in competent. Political, partisan figures representing contentious social and political issues don’t belong in a merchandiser’s catalogue, unless that merchandiser wants to identify itself with ideological and political camps, like Ben and Jerry’s, and risk alienating a portion of its market. It especially doesn’t do this when an emotional issue like abortion is involved. Even Ben and Jerry haven’t come up with a flavor called Late-Term-A-Portion Peach, or Planned Parent-Good Peppermint, or Gosnell Gooseberry.

(Yet.)

Once the completely predictable push-back began, Land’s End management had an ethical duty to its stockholders to try to stem a disaster of its own making. In a prepared statement, a company spokesperson said,

“We greatly respect and appreciate the passion people have for our brand. It was never our intention to raise a divisive political or religious issue, so when some of our customers saw a recent promotion that way, we heard them. We sincerely apologize for any offense.”

If the company really chose Gloria Steinem as its first “legend” and had no intention to raise “divisive political or religious issues,” I’d sell that Land’s End stock if I were you, because the company is managed by Barbary Apes. Was Kim Davis going to be its next legend? Would it be similarly shocked if its gay and thinking customers found offense with that? Oh, probably. Next up: Dan Savage, then Pat Robertson, and maybe Trayvon Martin’s mother. “What? Controversial? We had no idea!” Continue reading →