Tow Truck Tries to Seize Moving Car in Serious Ethical Breach!

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

https://autos.yahoo.com/tow-truck-attempts-pick-occupied-131500868.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13294269/san-francisco-towing-lamborghini-specialty-towing.html

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/tow-truck-video-san-francisco-19396392.php

Generally speaking I always considered the tow truck business to be mundane under most circumstances. Apparently with a certain creative (and probably illegal) license, you can make it a very interesting business indeed.

A few days ago in San Francisco, a tow truck attempted to possess (seize, steal, catch, lay hands on,… ?) a vehicle at a stop light.

I have attached the video and several news stories. Here’s a quote from the Yahoo news article:

A Reddit user posted a video to r/sanfransisco showing a tow truck driver attempting to hook up and tow a vehicle in traffic. This isn’t some vehicle that was left abandoned by its owner, no, this is a vehicle being driven by someone sitting in traffic at an intersection waiting on a light to change. 

As for the towing company, here’s a quote from the “Daily Mail:”

The bright yellow tow truck, with the name ‘Specialty Towing’ plastered across it in lime green, was captured on video trying to snatch a silver Toyota sedan before the vehicles sped away. In February, Specialty Towing was suspended by San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu after the owners, Abigail Fuentes and Jose Badillo, were found to be claiming government handouts and scamming customers. The owners, described by the city attorney’s office as a couple with ‘a personal relationship’ and ‘multiple kids’, pocketed around $2million from their scams and used the money to buy a Lamborghini, documents said. 

From a business ethics standpoint, this is just pitiful, not only morally and legally wrong but aggressively foolish. It’s hard to even contemplate this level of stupidity. At the very least, they might have wound up being charged with car jacking, or kidnapping, as well as an amazing variety of traffic offenses. It is interesting that the the tow truck driver fled when he realized he was being filmed (according to one of the stories).

I suspect that the city, state or feds will find something to charge given the contents of the video. But we’ll see. I think justice has long been denied in regard to this company and it is absolutely time to remedy this.

James Alan Pilant

A Crime over many months

On By southwerkIn business ethics
Bus Aide Fired

Bus Aide Fired

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

https://www.yahoo.com/news/littleton-bus-aide-fired-students-230200317.html

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/littleton-colorad-school-bus-aid-charged-assault-students/5308980

https://apnews.com/article/autistic-boy-bus-abuse-aide-f20f6454e0de0d2698c873ee81ede735

Assault and battery is a serious crime. Adults can be permanently scarred and even killed in such attacks. But what about children and in particular what about helpless children? In this case, the children were non-verbal autistic children. You get the impression that this savagery was carried out with the expectation that getting caught and being held responsible for these crimes was unlikely.

The story listed second above has a video of the crime. It shows a small child repeatedly pummeled by a full size adult without discernable reason much less a provocation.

From the article:

Jess (the child’s mother) said she noticed strange bumps and bruises on her son months ago, dating back to September 2023. She brought her concerns to staff at The Joshua School, who confirmed with her Dax did not suffer those injuries while in their care. Jess said she then brought her concerns to LPS, but they told her there was nothing to be concerned about. Then, Jess said, her son’s injuries became worse, and she demanded answers from the district.

It seems apparent that the abuse went on for quite some time. The parent began complaining in September. While it was quickly evident that the child had not been abused at school, the black eye, bruises and abrasions should have been enough evidence for the school to have looked further into the matter.

The mother went on to say:

“Although it’s hard to watch, that’s what my child has endured for months due to inaction by Littleton Public Schools,” she said. “He had to live through that every day. The least we can do is bring awareness to a situation that is unfortunately more common than you would think. There needs to be change.”

There are current charges filed but I think we are at the very beginning of the case. I assume they will be reviewing the bus videos back as far as they can and when they do, they will find out how many victims there were and what kids of abuse were inflicted. It is also possible that abuse may have happened elsewhere. So, the final charges are likely to be much more numerous and serious.

However, I believe the school district’s apparent failure to investigate the injuries in a timely manner makes them civilly very vulnerable.

Author’s Note: Ordinarily I would do a business ethics analysis of the case. But this isn’t a case where honest observers differ. This clearly monstrous behavior, a savage assault on a number of children doesn’t fall into any sort of a gray area. When the ethics problem is right in front of you and enraging, there is little need for further comment.

James Alan Pilant

Dead Men Walking?

On By southwerkIn business ethics
Dead Men Walking? Should Nursing Home Residents Lose the Right to Vote?

Dead Men Walking? Should Nursing Home Residents Lose the Right to Vote?

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-endorsed-senate-candidate-claims-110250489.html

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gop-senate-hopeful-suggests-nursing-home-residents-are-too-close-to-death-to-vote/ar-BB1lhWmp

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senate-candidate-eric-hovde-questions-whether-nursing-home-residents-should-vote/ar-BB1llwF8

Running for office has long been big business in the United States. Consultants, election observers, campaign managers and many others have careers in the election cycle.

In this kind of business there are things commonly done and commonly not done. One of the things commonly done is to create strategies for appealing to what are called interest groups. These can range from relatively tight categories like doctors to larger more diverse categories like “white females, aged 18-24” or even huge categories like in this case the elderly.

One of things you try not to do as a rule is to alienate any large group of voters by insult. In the situation noted in the links above we have a serious divergence from that rule.

Let me quote:

(Eric) Hovde continued, “We had nursing homes, where the sheriff of Racine investigated, where you had 100 percent voting in nursing homes. Well, if you’re in a nursing home, you only have a five, six-month life expectancy. Almost nobody in a nursing home is in a point to vote.”

I suspect that if I lived in a nursing home I might resent the impression that I am in immediate danger of death and incompetent to vote. And I further suspect that other elderly citizens in his state might resent the implications of his remarks.

Do you wonder just what has happened to our politics when this kind of nonsense is bandied about as if it was similar to a coherent thought? It was not too long ago that political eloquence was valued in our American society. Today, capturing the new cycle with a quote so bizarre, it begs normal human belief, appears to be the principle goal of political rhetoric.

Now you can argue that “James, shouldn’t you discuss the merits of denying or preserving the elderly’s right to vote?”

No. Absolutely no. This claims is just nuts. The idea of taking away basic rights based on advanced age with no other factors in consideration is just crazy. I’m not going to honor these weird babblings from a fool by pretending to detect a thread of an actual argument in it.

I think I am like you in that I am tired of crazed conspiracy nuts. They seem to be everywhere and they never seem to be ignored.

A lot of it has to do with the long term horror of our online world. Where we have each and every individual one of us become accessible moment to moment to every loon, crook, foreign power, and political manipulator. Our government and ruling class have failed all of us by not insisting on enshrining our right to our identities and private information in the letter of the law.

What about Eric Hovde? This is not the only strange controversial remark on his part. There are other conspiracies and strangeness. See below:

Hovde, a banking and real estate development executive, has already faced a number of controversies in his bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin. He came under scrutiny over a multi-decade-long fight to tear down a beloved family bar in Madison, and has said that in his ideal world, alcohol wouldn’t be legal for commercial sale.

It’s a very difficult Case!

On By southwerkIn business ethics
Can the Defense Attorney Make the Court Believe This??

Can the Defense Attorney Make the Court Believe This??

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

https://www.yahoo.com/news/defense-attorney-james-crumbley-never-141408691.html

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/prosecution-releases-james-crumbleys-threatening-jail-calls-against-karen-mcdonald/ar-BB1l2eNP

Let me lead with a quote from the Yahoo News story listed above: (The MSN story is the source of several listed quotes.)

When James Crumbley hurled profanity toward the Oakland County prosecutor in jailhouse phone calls, called her a “whore” and warned, “Your ass is going down and you better be f—— scared,” he wasn’t physically threatening her, his lawyer says. He was just venting, his attorney argues, and expressing his hopes that Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald would lose her law license over her handling of his unprecedented case.

Let me summarize. So, when Crumbley said, “Your ass is going down and you better be f—— scared,” he was merely suggesting that the other members of the bar would look at her trial performance in a negative light and eventually disbar or otherwise discipline her in its due process. I have a law degree. I’ve read dozens of cases and heard more than a few stories. And …

I suspect that the court may have trouble with this line of reasoning.

Let me add some additional quotes to give you fuller look at Crumbleys’ remarks.

Crumbley was “just venting” at greater length. “Well, she’s going to be f—— sucking on a f—— hot rock down in hell soon,” he said in a Dec. 6, 2022, jail call — more than a year before his trial.

And how about this little gem: “I am f—— on a rampage, Karen. Yes, Karen McDonald. Your ass is going down and you better be f—— scared,” he said in a Jan. 3 jail phone call, just months before he went to trial.

So, what do you think? Does the phrase “I am f——on a rampage, Karen … ” mean that Crumbley is patiently waiting for a state bar disciplinary committee to act?

I’m sure you’re thinking that I am being critical of the attorney but the fact is my heart goes out to the poor individual stuck with this client. There is no where to go legally that is more viable than this. James Crumbley needs to show remorse or some level of responsibility and that has not happened and it is not going to happen.

But it might have been a hair more effective to point out that prosecutors get a lot of abuse and Mr. and Mrs. Crumbley believe that histrionics is always called for when an issue gets to a certain size. And from there point out that he is an overblown braggart and fool.

You can definitely sell that and that is where I would have gone. But my argument would have flown only a few inches further than the one made so no big deal.

James Crumbley will be sentenced soon and I’m predicting that he will receive the maximum or close to the maximum possible. This will be justice.

Author’s note: There has been a lot of speculation that the prosecution of the parents in this case opens doors to every kind of case being brought when children commit crimes. I just don’t see it. This is truly an extraordinary case. A neglected child cries out for help and instead of getting counseling or working with the school to deal with their child’s emotional difficulties the parent buy him a Sig Sauer 9mm and get him some practice on the range so he’ll have some skills with it. Just how many times have you seen parental judgment collapse to that level?? We may never see another case like this.

Common Elements in Popular British Television

On By southwerkIn business ethics
The Unifying Concept between the Three Great British Classics, Quatermass, Doctor Who, and Sherlock

The Unifying Concept between the Three Great British Classics, Quatermass, Doctor Who, and Sherlock

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment
A British creation that depends on intelligence and rational judgment rather than action.
The Doctor quite often simply uses his intelligence and experience to solve problems.
A truly massive intelligence.

A few nights ago I was watching “Sherlock” for the fourth or fifth time. In this watching I am in now in the 4th season. I realized many similarities to Doctor Who and then I realized that it was also related to Quatermass.

I realize that while many Americans (my most common readers) have a passing knowledge of Doctor Who and Sherlock, Quatermass may be too far in the past for my readers. So, let me explain.

If you watch American science fiction from the 1950’s you get spaceships, bug eyed monsters, ray guns, a militarized exploration of space and considerable amounts of fighting. British science fiction in many ways rises from the Quatermass films both from live television and the cinema. To quote wikipedia:

Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist originally created by writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading the British Experimental Rocket Group. He continually finds himself confronting sinister alien forces that threaten to destroy humanity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Quatermass

YouTube has several of the original British programs some them apparently filmed live. And of course, you can see the movies, a number of which star the American Brian Donlevy. I heartily recommend them. A good start would be film. “The Quatermass Xperiment.”

That said, what common themes link all three of these very successful and very long running heroes? Each series deals with extraordinary problems, far more serious and often outside the realms of our real life experiences and even probability. Quatermass struggles against alien plots and obstructive government officials, Sherlock struggles against highly intelligent often diabolical criminal masterminds, and Doctor Who while primarily concerned with alien dangers faces a somewhat larger variety of opponents. All of the heroes have incredible skills and useful experience. Each has extensively prepared for these struggles.

Yes, but what is the unifying concept that makes all these not only similar but successful? It is the belief that applied intelligence and moral force can change what happens. Each one very often seems to be a minor player in a world gone made, a world in which the powers of government and law enforcement seem helpless, in which the smallest hope seems ridiculous. And yet, they still win. One of the reasons they are compelling entertainment is enormous odds arrayed against our heroes and the moral power and confidence of their stand against those odds.

The world that we live in often makes us feel helpless and useless. Maslow’s “the Jonah Complex” is very much in play these days as we confront an online world which empowers every totalitarian impulse, internet loon and international grifter. These three epics of heroism and meaning work to give us hope, examples of words and intelligence making a difference, changing an apparently pre-destined unfair and destructive outcome to a positive one.

Each of the three carries several of the same messages, that struggling for what is right is important and worthwhile. That good can and does often triumph. And finally, human intelligence, will and courage make a difference all the time every day in every way.

Certainly, art expressed in the form of television and movie entertainment carries moral responsibility. You do unfortunately see nihilism and other negative moral themes in some of this but currently this is still a minority. All three have serious faults, in particular, Doctor Who, which I believe peaked with Matt Smith and has been in decline ever since. But in spite of their faults their messages of moral struggle is a good one and worthy of an artistic endeavor even one devoted to mere entertainment.

James Alan Pilant

My Business Ethics Topics!

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How I Choose Topics to Write About!