…and I’ll be over here coughing.
Usually I introduce these Friday fora with some reference to current events, but I woke up sick for the second straight day, and this time I feel too foggy to focus.
So I’m counting on you while I have two cups of Italian roast and some DayQuil. Yum.
Last week, because of my training schedule, the Friday Forum was on a Thursday, so theoretically there ought to be more pent up ethics issues that Ethics Alarms has missed than usual. I bet there are more than usual for other reasons: as I predicted would happen as the Election to Save Democracy gets closer, EA has been set upon by single-purpose commenters whose objective is to discredit me and the site, usually by sealioning a single rebuttal to an essay critical of Harris, telling the truth about the rotting ethics of the Democratic Party, or defending Donald Trump against Axis smear attempts.
Typical was the exchange with a commenter on this post, who was determined to prove that Trump or his campaign using some video that was taken at an Arlington National Cemetery ceremony that he was invited to attend violated an “Army Rule.” When I told him that he needed to move on to another topic, as genuine and good faith commenters here do, he vanished, after wasting not just my time, but that of many commenters here as well.
No, I don’t believe that these are paid operatives; Ethics Alarms doesn’t have enough distribution or influence to be worth paying someone to do what the Trump-Deranged and knee-jerk progressives will do anyway for free.
I almost feel like I should apologize for the blog taking an obvious turn to substantially more political commentary this year, even more than in 2016 and 2020. Almost. I regard this as an unusually important ethics tipping point for the culture and the election. Trump is almost irrelevant (my opinion of the man, his character and his trustworthiness have only slightly improved since 2015): if the Axis strategy since Trump’s election in 2016 doesn’t finally result in the crushing rejection it deserves, all of those dire predictions about the fate of the U.S.A. will not be so hyperbolic after all.
But see if you can discuss something else….
This month, August, 2024, has already broken the all-time Ethics Alarms record for banned commenters with seven, the last kicked out late last night. There are still two days to go, so the chances look good for eight or more.
Appropriately, this morning I will be holding this month’s version of my two hour, Continuing Legal Education legal ethics Zoom seminar for TRT, “Professionalism, the Key to Ethical Lawyering and Trustworthy Justice.” It was my noting in this post that I taught this seminar from my home office 90 minutes after finding my wife of 43 years dead in our living room that partially triggered the barrage, it appears.
Frequent commenter and critic here Extradimensional Cephalopod usefully pointed out that commenters who thought (or claimed to think) I was an unfeeling Mike Dukakis clone (or something) couldn’t grasp the concept of professionalism because, well, they apparently weren’t professionals. However, these now banished Ethics Alarms visitors could have enlightened themselves had they availed themselves of the EA search engine, which would have revealed that as a professional ethics specialist, I have discussed and explained the concept repeatedly.
Other banned commenters, including the previous record-setting group just two months ago, in June, may have descended on Ethics Alarms because I decided to become active on my newish Twitter/”X” account by linking to the Ethics Alarms posts that concentrated on the 2024 Election Ethics Train Wreck and related matters, and a political party whose name I will not mention (and shouldn’t need to) will try to destroy anyone who dares to offer opposition to its quest for power.
Ask Robert Kennedy, Jr.
But I digress. This is your weekly space to discuss whatever ethics issues you want to discuss, even me, as long as you haven’t been banned.
I’ll be fulfilling my professional obligations….
Well, the morning is off to a roaring start…
They need you to hate Donald Trump more than inflation. They need to you hate Donald Trump more than open borders. They need to you hate Donald Trump more than fentanyl and drugs on our streets. They need to you hate Donald Trump more than our children being killed by illegals. They need to you hate Donald Trump more than the homelessness epidemic. They need you to hate Donald Trump more than the abortion cult of death. They need you to hate Donald Trump more than the possibility of nuclear war. That’s what a vote for Kamala Harris is actually about.
(I would have added “They need to you to hate Donald Trump more than single party rule by a cabal that embraces totalitarian values, Big Lies, unaccountable leadership, state-allied journalism, and public education centered on ideological indoctrination,” but Beck’s list is good enough to start with.)
Oh yeah, this is going to be a great day…
We have clearance, Clarence. Over to you…
It is sometimes a mistake to revisit what you thought was perfection. I’m a long-time admirer of the “Back to the Future” trilogy, which I view as the pinnacle of original, careful, creative, professional scripting and direction. I’ve seen all three films many times, but this week I started watching them again after at least a decade.
This time, for some reason, I noticed logical fallacies and holes in the plot (and time travel logic) that had never registered on me before. (No, I’m not talking about Marty’s cute girlfriend being inexplicably replaced by Elizabeth Shue, never to be seen again.) It didn’t diminish my enjoyment or admiration for the trilogy (I regard “Back to the Future 2” as by far the best middle installment of any film trio), but it was disappointing. Mostly, I was disappointed in myself for taking so long to pick up on the flaws.
But I digress. Let’s see what ethics controversies you can unpack today.
Propitiously enough, August 9 is the anniversary of our first un-elected President of the United States taking office at high noon in 1974. Gerald Ford was never on a Presidential ticket, having been appointed as Vice President upon the resignation of Richard Nixon’s vile VP, Spiro T. Agnew. At least Ford’s ascension came courtesy of a Constitutional amendment: it’s not like he bypassed a democratic nominating process or anything, but who would try something like that?
Let’s see what you can come up with to discuss today….
Ugh. I always forget that the Olympics inevitably sparks lots of ethics controversies that I have to cover here despite finding the spectacle boring, corrupt and annoying. So I’m bound to miss some juicy issues—like this one, Australian swimming coach Bret Hawke accusing the Chinese team of cheating because a swimmer’s performance in the pool was “not humanly possible.” They used to say that about the four minute mile, if I recall. Or is this just more “Don’t trust China; China is asshole” stuff?
You don’t have to write about Olympics ethics, of course. But the starting pistol is loaded…
Talk it up!
Wow! I hadn’t seen that number for a while. In 2024 it’s like watching dinosaurs roam the Earth.
Mary Milben, who sang what was perhaps the most over-produced National Anthem I’ve ever experienced last night at the GOP convention, is a freind and, I think it’s fair to say, a discovery of mine. I saw her play the title role in “Patience” with Georgetown Law Center’s Gilbert and Sullivan Society (which I founded as a first year law student), and, impressed, gave Mary her first professional theater roles at my now defunct but fondly remembered professional company in Arlington, Virginia, The American Century Theater. Since then she’s built an impressive international career; I’m thrilled for her, but not surprised. Mary tipped me off to her imminent appearance with a promotional email. That bombastic production wasn’t her choice, but to her credit, she had the pipes not to be swallowed by it.
I’m sure you can find ethics topics to discuss today….keep them on key, unlike that earlier Star-Spangled Banner rendition that was notable this week.
…or anything else, of course.
Today’s relevant story: a Milwaukee radio station admitted late yesterday that it edited a taped interview with President Biden when his campaign asked them to, because two of Biden’s responses were, in turn, embarrassing and incoherent. The station apologized and came clean, because now the mainstream media allies of the progressive and Democratic Party are dedicated to dumping Biden rather than pretending he’s a great President.
How many media outlets were working with the White House to deceive the public about Biden’s cognitive problems before his debate disaster? How much smoking gun evidence has been “scrubbed” over the past four years, including during the 2020 campaign?
It’s all truly disgusting, and Biden has the gall to claim that Trump is the threat to democracy.
Don’t get me started. Write about whatever ethics issues intrigues you.
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