The modern world has many hazards. Some of them are well known like e-coli and forever chemicals. But from time to time something news comes out to threaten our existence and today we have a new one, that is, radioactive shrimp.
Let us have a look at a news article reporting on this new threat. In a posting, an essay written by Richard Hall and Rebecca Schneid reports the following.
The Food and Drug Administration has warned the public not to consume certain frozen shrimp products sold at Walmart due to possible contamination with Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope.
It said the warning affects the Great Value brand of raw frozen shrimp sold at the superstore, adding that anyone who purchased the products should dispose of them.
A statement from the agency said the FDA was “actively investigating reports of Cesium-137 (Cs-137) contamination in shipping containers and frozen shrimp products” shipped from Indonesia.
(This is an illustration from one of Mark Twain’s travel books published in he 19th Century. We may presume in the current situation that he is retreating from radioactive shrimp. jp)
The article does a good job of explaining what industrial uses are made of Cesium-137 which is good substantial reporting but gives no clue as to how the shipping containers from Indonesia got contaminated.
It seems to me that in the future Wal-Mart might do radioactive checks on incoming goods. An Internet shows that radiation detection devices are quite inexpensive and readily available. In fact, Wal-Mart itself has a good variety of the devices which it sells online.
This incident is a rebuke to those that claim government is an unnecessary burden. Without the FDA and the US Customs and Border Patrol, we would never have known we were in any danger.
I have written about this a couple of times. Being something of a maverick, I often don’t agree with the majority.
But the disconnect between what Americans want and what the government does has grown increasingly dramatic over the years. It seems to me in 1960, that the government and the people were very much aligned whereas now the government generally just ignores public opinion and serves oligarchs and corporations – and whoever coughs up enough dark money.
But here is one more example of the government and the people having different points of view.
Most Americans believe that all countries should recognise Palestine as a state, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll suggests, as public support for Israel in the United States continues to plunge amid the atrocities in Gaza.
A majority of respondents – 59 percent – also said that Israel’s military response in Gaza has been excessive.
I may be very much a maverick, but that is how I feel too.
(The Great Seal of the United States is a public domain image.)
Several articles have been written about what comes after the current regime ends. One recommended that we create a “truth and reconciliation commission” in the manner of South Africa to restore civility and union. I deeply appreciate the sentiment but I do not believe that is possible in the United States, not any more. Another one I read called for mass prosecutions and prison sentences for the massive fraud, self-dealing, and law breaking that is a daily part of our news perpetrated by this administration and its sympathizers. That is very likely to happen and I expect it will happen.
Before I write any further, I want to make it clear that I do not believe that victory over these neofascists and their dim-witted followers is in any way guaranteed. I have to admit there are days when I think they just can’t be stopped. The lies, the impudence, the confidence and their unrelenting attitude of righteousness would cause all the saints of history to lose their composure. Some days it certainly ruins mine.
But let us assume for a few moments of optimism that we, the good guys, prevail over this scum. We know that we must act whenever and wherever possible to protest and throw barriers in the way of this regime. But let us talk just now of what comes after victory, after Trump is done, perhaps condemned and imprisoned.
I have been reading a book pictured below, a picture which I have borrowed from the internet. I believe this is okay under a fair use exception and since I am mentioning both that I read it and recommend that others buy it and read it, that I may perhaps be forgiven for using it.
This book by Daniel Todman is a very detailed history of Britain at war before the entry of the United States.
Why mention it here? Because just after the British had stopped the Germans from gaining air superiority over England, a number of people from the labor party as well as a group of the intelligentsia began to agitate for and develop a plan for after victory.
And that plan was very largely enacted and put in place when victory was won.
Can you imagine?
Great Britain stands alone. They are being bombed nightly by the Luftwaffe. Hitler has not yet invaded the Soviet Union and the United States seems to see no urgency in joining the conflict. And yet they assumed eventual victory. They had faith. I wish I had that kind of faith now. I wish we all did.
But in any case, what their example shows is that planning for after the struggle is vital and every bit as important as the struggle itself. There must not only be a cause worth fighting for but a set of goals to be achieved, a further set of purposes beyond simply prevailing.
I have some simple suggestions. But I want you to know that I am going to research and think about what is possible and what can achieved, so I may very well return to the topic on multiple occasions.
But here goes –
Fix the mess at the Supreme Court. Add six justices, impose term limits and a code of ethics – it has to be fixed.
Raise the minimum wage.
Universal Health Care, it’s time.
The end of the Imperial Presidency, a comprehensive set of laws and perhaps a couple of constitutional amendments to prevent this kind of power grab from ever happening again.
A complete overhaul of campaign law and among many other things no dark money ever again.
A National Guaranteed enforceable right to vote. No more of this gerrymandering nonsense.
A graduated income tax
Free college education
Free vocational training
And as 8. and 9. imply, a national never ending focus on the development of human capital in American.
We should be building a society devoted to the development of each individual so they they can live a full life of achievement.
At least, that is my poor opinion about what is necessary.
I am going to write about this more at length.
You may share your thought if you wish, but I have approval on all comments so post accordigly.
The struggle between Progressives and Corporate Democrats currently rages.
We live in what is often described as a free enterprise system, loftily described as free market. However, any examination reveals that we don’t do much free marketing in this country. There are many barriers to economic entry, a host of monopolistic segments of the economy, a horde of anti-capitalist non compete agreements and the list goes on an on. And then, of course, we could talk about a litany of economic villains evading the free market using government subsidies, tax breaks and regulatory capture besides the constant illegal dumping of pollutants, tax evasion and direct law breaking.
It is a wonder that you can look around at the American Business landscape and wonder how any intelligent human being could describe it as a free market.
But they do.
And now we come to the idea of a government, in this case, a city run grocery store. Shouldn’t we depend of the free market for groceries and much else?
Yeah, that would seem to be the general rule.
But what if capitalism, the free market, isn’t functioning correctly? One of the tenets of the free market is that when there is a need, the free market will adroitly jump in and fill it. Many people especially economists who are very often paid to maintain a fierce defense of free market principles. That is, they get paid to write free market propaganda and they often owe their jobs to the contributions and influence of the corporate elites and our corrupt and incompetent ruling class.
The truth of the matter, the facts of the matter, is that the free market fails on a regular bases in many areas of need and of necessity and generally speaking the powers that be don’t care.
Many parts of New York are “food deserts.” Large areas with no access within a reasonable distance to buy nourishing food.
Zohran Mamdani wants to change that. He wants to create number of stores where residents of the city can buy good food and a wide variety of food for themselves and their families. He wants to step in act on behalf of his constituents, the people of New York. He wants to help protect them from malnutrition and make sure they have a healthy diet. He wants the people of his city and their children to live long and fruitful lives.
Working for the people that elected you instead of your corporate donors is a very radical idea in the Democratic Party. And Mamdani has attracted the ire of what are very kindly called Corporate Democrats. I prefer other descriptive terms.
Is it a good idea? I think it probably is but as a man of some experience a lot depends on how the program is done, and the quality of the people creating and running it.
When I was a young man, I often wondered why a great program worked at the original site but no one could duplicate it. And then I understood. One visionary leader with capability and confidence can take what in hindsight is a not very good idea and make a roaring success of it. I’ve seen it done. Leadership and energy determine many things in this nation.
This sounds like a good idea. And when you have an innovative idea and young and energetic people willing to run it, it stands a good chance of success.
For a more in-depth view of this city run grocery idea, here is an essay linked to below.
In an article entitled: Here is everything you need to know about New York experimenting with city-run grocery stores, author Katalin Nagy discusses the Mayoral candidates idea for city run grocery stores.
In a recent interview with News 12 New York, Mamdani outlined the vision for a pilot program that would include launching one store in each of the city’s five boroughs. He also mentions that the plan would potentially be supported by $60 million in public funding.
These stores would be strategically placed in areas known as “food deserts.” These are neighborhoods where access to affordable, fresh groceries is scarce. The stores would primarily sell essential items at wholesale prices to help counter rising food costs.
Mamdani’s proposal is designed as a public option for groceries that would frame access to healthy food as a basic right. In campaign videos and public comments, Mamdani has stated that these stores would operate like a civic institution, similar to a fire station or public library, and would ideally eliminate middlemen to lower grocery prices.
Zohran Mamdani might be one of those leaders we so desperately need to replace the old tired face of the Democrats and to lead a better America where the wants and needs of the people come first.
Corporations find democracy at the very least inconvenient but in Missouri, the will of the people is not a problem. Pesky voters with weird ideas that would cost corporations money can be brought to heel with astonishing ease.
(We, the American people, suffer from unfettered corporate power. May vengeance live amongst us and justice return.)
In Missouri, corporate power clearly seen to undo and reverse democracy. Before I get into the details, let us discuss the right and wrong of it.
Why am I discussing this in a business ethics blog? Because it is wrong for corporations to run the government be it city, county, state or federal. “We the People of the United States,” in the preamble of the United States Constitution enshrines in law the power of the citizens, not corporate or monopoly power or even worse, our newly minted oligarchs.
The people of Missouri voted for paid time off for illness or illness in the family like that of a child. It wasn’t a narrow win, it was a big margin. The people had spoken.
But the legislature and the governor nullified the will of the people. Can you think of a sadder sentence? The men elected to do the will of the people, at the very least, the very least protect them. And they failed. They directly defied the expressed will of the people of their state.
It was evil and wrong of the legislature and the governor to do this. In a democracy the people rule. But not in Missouri.
The corporations and businesses that defeated the people’s will are in the wrong and they should suffer fro what they did. But the Republican super majority in the legislature protect them from the repercussions of their pitifully evil acts.
But there are currents in the lives of men, and the haughty attitude of the bought (should I say “rental”) men in the Republican Party will get their comeuppance in time.
Are there good people in Missouri who will not stand idly by and take this injustice? Where are the heroes who would reverse this evil act? Time will tell if they appear.
Here is the story from my friends at the Progressive Magazine authored by Eleanor J. Bader.
When 58 percent of Missouri voters approved Proposition A in November 2024, they assumed that the ballot measure’s passage would finally grant private sector workers the ability to take paid time off when they were sick or needed to care for an ailing family member. But they were wrong.
Although the paid sick leave policy took effect on May 1, 2025, allowing workers in companies with fifteen or more employees to earn one hour of paid leave for every thirty hours worked, the state’s Republican-dominated legislature opted to override the popular vote and overturn key parts of the measure just two weeks later. Governor Mike Kehoe signed the repeal into law on July 10.
The Cannonball Run was a 1981 action/comedy film starring Burt Reynolds and directed by Hal Needham. Not only silly and often in poor taste, it was entirely fictional. And this is important because if you do this stuff in real life … Well, it is not good.
An earlier movie with the same basic idea was made in 1976. The Gumball Rally was a racing film/comedy inspired by Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. These incidents (I’m not sure the word race actually fits these situations) were first and second a movie made for entertainment which by the way I very much enjoyed (the second one, anyway) and the third a series of five races covered and probably created by the magazine, Car and Driver, in the early 1970’s, were all very much pre-internet.
And of course, my dear readers, as you are well aware the Internet can mess up anything.
Currently we have some rather poor specimens of humanity who are also referred to as “influencers,” and they had to as always do something stupid. Although stupid may be too weak a word? Can you say Super Stupid? Is that a usable phrase?
Well, have a read and see what you think.
(Couldn’t find a race car in my data base of public domain pictures but this will do.)
In an article entitled, YouTubers drag raced through Grand Teton National Park. Park rangers had thoughts written by Jacqueline Kehoe, she explains what has just happened. In my opinion, we have a new and pitiful sort of Gumball Rally or one of those Cannonball things.
In a move that’s equal parts reckless and ridiculous, a group of luxury sports car drivers turned Grand Teton National Park into their personal racetrack — and paid the price for it.
On Tuesday, June 24, around 5 p.m., park rangers at Grand Teton National Park responded to reports of high-end sports cars drag racing along Teton Park Road — a serene, two-lane scenic route that skirts the base of the mighty Teton Range. The road, typically used by wildlife watchers, photographers, hikers, and families, became the site of an impromptu (and illegal) motorsport event. The result? Four drivers arrested, two cars impounded, and a slew of federal charges.
I really feel that you should read the article. Ms. Kehoe has a definite way with words, and you might pay particular attention to the names of the perps and, I don’t know, maybe share them on social media? It seems only fair.
After all they raced at high speed down a recreational road in a national park used by families and wildlife. I tend toward a certain level of hostility at them for this. You might very well feel that way too. The only reason they didn’t kill anybody was dumb luck.
If you want to race, find and hire a track. They’re are a lot of them.
Hotels are charging customer a five hundred dollar fee if a smoking sensor determines that you have smoked in your room. But do smoking sensors actually work and work reliably? They might. Maybe? I must once again confess that when a juicy $500 fine can be gotten for a false positive — I can’t help but feel there are going to be lots and lots of false positives. It gets taken directly off the credit card. Five hundred free bucks and you didn’t even have to use a gun.
The article says you should use Google reviews and see if they have a lot of customer complaints for smoking fines and then don’t stay there if you see them.
I have a better idea. How about our wimpy, unenergetic, corporate owned news media do investigations, find out if these sensors work, and expose hotels who steal from their customers?
That is what is supposed to happen? Why isn’t it happening? Could it be all the advertisements bought by hotels? Could it be the sympathy from another capitalist operation, you know, a sort of honor among thieves code??
I suppose for many of the powers that be and our pitifully corrupt ruling class, stealing an extra five hundred from a customer is just another yawn. Just another common man or women giving up some more money to their betters. They’d have probably bought beer or high sugar food — or any of those other justifications the wealthy have for sneering at the rest of us.
I don’t think so. Taking people’s money under false pretences is wrong. And no amount of babble about the reliability of the technology when it isn’t proven is going to make it right.
It’s a crime. It’s theft and it should be investigated and prosecuted.
If they have evidence these sensors actually work, why don’t they show it? And exactly what costs do they bear to justify this fee?
If you don’t mind me saying so — It all smells.
Please read the article linked to below. It is written by Caleb Harmon-Marshall. He is apparently quite the up and coming young author.
Imagine checking out of your hotel room, confident that everything went smoothly, only to find a $500 non-smoking fee charged to your credit card. No warning, no evidence, and no actual smoking. That’s the reality for dozens of travelers staying at hotels using air quality monitoring systems from a company called Rest.
Welcome to the latest hospitality tech trend that’s costing travelers hundreds of dollars, and it could happen to you.
In addition, here is a very fine article from Consumer Rescue about the immense difficulties involved in getting a smoking charge reversed. It is by Michelle Couch-Friedman.
Getting a surprise hotel smoking fee reversed isn’t easy — even if you’re a non-smoker like Kelsey Russell. Or a determined consumer advocate. But it can be done. Here’s how.
Kelsey’s case is yet another story that illustrates a disturbing trend that seems to be developing in the franchise hotel industry. Increasingly, we’re receiving complaints from guests who say these branded properties have hit them with an array of surprising post-stay charges — no proof included. But, as you’ll see in this case, even when the hotel provides “evidence,” it might just lead to more questions than answers.
This turned out to be a lengthy piece and a very good story. You should read it. And I have to admit it gave me a very good first impression of “Consumer Rescue.”
Beware of strange charges after spending the night at a hotel or other such venue.
Bugs Bunny is a cartoon version of an idealized American. He embodies many American virtues. He is not greedy and content with having just enough. Many simple pleasures make him happy. He loves a good meal, meeting new people, travel and a good joke. He is courageous and does not tolerate abuse or injustice. He is the very soul of patriotism, (He is an honorary United States Marine!)
(This is a 1912 picture from a book of stories. Alas, there is no picture of Bugs that is not under copyright protection.)
I used some of his cartoons in my classes to illustrate several different economic concepts. Like most Americans he does not aspire to be rich, he aspires to have “enough.” In the cartoons, his concept of “enough” boils down to a comfortable rabbit hole, food to eat, (many cartoons show him as visiting stores or cultivating food). He is often seen in bed reading what we assume is a good book.
The plot of the story in the cartoons revolves around Bugs’ response to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Various hunters, crooks, con men, grifters, mad scientists, monsters and the occasional vampire show up to steal from him, harm him or just kill him. Bugs defeats his opponents by determination, humor and inventiveness, qualities that Americans with considerable justification believe they have in abundance.
Using him as an economic example generally involved his less meritorious sometimes friend and often enemy, Daffy Duck.
The Economics of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck
In one cartoon I used “Ali Baba Bunny” (1957), Bugs and Daffy find the fabled treasure of Ali Baba, a huge and sprawling treasure similar to a dragon horde, which is promptly claimed in total with no justification whatever by Daffy – with the following line:
While Bugs is content with what he has, Daffy is the “other” American, the grasping “get rich quick” fool who never stops looking for some easy way to make piles of money. If that wasn’t bad enough he is perennially incompetent and constantly goes into situations over his head.
Of course, whenever you encounter treasure there must be a guard. Bugs saves Daffy from certain death at the hands of “Hassan,” although repeatedly the cowardly duck tries to betray him. Daffy’s greed keeps getting him into danger and eventually Bugs leaves him to his dire fate.
Daffy at one point bundles every last coin up for his own use while Bugs simply continues on his journey taking nothing, content with what he has and unwilling to take what isn’t his.
It’s a good lesson and I usually add examples of treasure hunters spending their lives in the fruitless search for immense wealth. You know pirate treasure, the lost Dutchman mine, gold prospecting and the list goes on.
In another cartoon showcasing his immense greed, Daffy captures the Tasmanian Devil. In the 1957 short feature, Ducking the Devil, Daffy a loudly self-proclaimed coward discovers that there is a 5,000 dollar reward for returned the escaped Tasmanian Devil to the zoo.
Daffy after many misadventures lures the creature back into its cage and collects the money. While he is walking away, a single dollar bill is caught by a breeze and carried into the monster’s cage, where upon an outraged Daffy charges in, beats the creature to a pulp and recovers his dollar. (My Chinese exchange students really enjoyed this cartoon.)
I use cartoons, short movie clips, jokes, etc. to lead into discussion of the more intricate points of law, of capitalism, the American Experience — you know – Teaching.
Why use cartoons and all the myriad things I find to interest my students?
It was my transcript.
As you might imagine I am quite capable as a student (317 college hours later). So, I have a large transcript and I happened to be looking at it and I realized there were many classes I had no memory of. I could not picture the instructor, remember the textbook and to my ultimate despair, none of the coeds I flirted with. It made me sad.
And so I decided to teach in an unforgettable manner. I took whatever subject was in hand (I’ve taught 23 different courses and I am qualified to teach quite a few subjects I never got around to teaching.) and divided it into a set of critical lessons. My Business Law course, one of them, boiled down to thirteen critical lessons.
Okay, very good, I knew what to teach. How to get it across? Not hard. Stories! At first I told stories from the law. Stories I’d learned in law school and from my wide reading. Then I added jokes and then I read large story collections and picked out a chosen few. Then I began my use of classic movies and I added discussions of literature, history, sociology and the struggles of Americans toward greater freedom, minorities and women. Every day I combed the Internet, magazines and sometimes just stuff I observed always looking for that hook that would catch their interest.
Years after being in one of my courses, students will remind me of a story I told, or a movie they watched or a class discussion they never forgot.
I think I did okay. I miss teaching.
But I will maintain against all opposition that Bugs Bunny has his place in Business Law and Business Ethics.
(This picture is borrowed from dear friends at Wikipedia (they deserve donations and support!) and they got the picture from NASA which being a government agency places it in the public domain.)
Social media, the internet, broadcasts almost infinite amounts of lies, misinformation and abuse. It causes severe and lasting harm to our society. And yet our political system seems unable to cope in anyway, not even able to curb the international scams that plague the elderly and the young.
The other day I was reading Al Jazeera, probably the best source of information about the war in the Ukraine, (they have daily coverage), and noticed an interesting editorial. Mercy Mutemi is the managing partner at Nzili & Sumbi Advocates, a law firm. She wrote a very fine editorial about efforts in African Courts to rein in the abuses of the Internet.
In April 2025, the Human Rights Court in Kenya issued an unprecedented ruling that it has the jurisdiction to hear a case about harmful content on one of Meta’s platforms. The lawsuit was filed in 2022 by Abraham Meareg, the son of an Ethiopian academic who was murdered after he was doxxed and threatened on Facebook, Fisseha Tekle, an Ethiopian human rights activist, who was also doxxed and threatened on Facebook, and Katiba Institute, a Kenyan non-profit that defends constitutionalism. They maintain that Facebook’s algorithm design and its content moderation decisions made in Kenya resulted in harm done to two of the claimants, fuelled the conflict in Ethiopia and led to widespread human rights violations within and outside Kenya.
Further down in the article she very eloquently explains the significance of the court’s decision thusly:
The ultimate goal of the Bill of Rights, a common feature in African constitutions, is to uphold and protect the inherent dignity of all people. Kenya’s Bill of Rights, for example, has as its sole mission to preserve the dignity of individuals and communities and to promote social justice and the realisation of the potential of all human beings. The supremacy of the Constitution also guarantees that, should there be safe harbour provisions in the laws of that country, they would not be a sufficient liability shield for platforms if their business decisions do not ultimately uphold human rights.
I would have liked to summarize the findings about this case but I unable to approach the level of her eloquence. She states the principle in question very well indeed.
The Internet is a world wide phenomenon and while we here in the United States suffer terribly from its abuses, we are only a small proportion of its victims.
And that means that justice systems all over the world have jurisdiction when their citizens are harmed. The argument here is that a internet provider has immunity provided its business decisions do not result in the diminishment of guaranteed human right.
Our enforcement in the United States has been lacking because of legal complexity and the horrible unsustainable influence of the Tech Bros, our wannabe Oligarchs.
Their time is coming.
We have to rise up as a nation and end this constant stream of bots, foreign influence, etc. It is an open decaying sewer of utter evil and it harms all of us.
The good guys, the guys in the white hats, our modern Hop-Along Cassidy’s, do not win many victories these days what with the scoundrels running the government but sometimes the good guys win one. And today is one of those days.
Here is the headline, the link and a quote.
Conservative network Newsmax agrees to pay $67M in defamation case over bogus 2020 election claims
The conservative network Newsmax will pay $67 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of defaming a voting equipment company by spreading lies about President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss, according to documents filed Monday.
The settlement comes after Fox News Channel paid $787.5 million to settle a similar lawsuit in 2023 and Newsmax paid what court papers describe as $40 million to settle a libel lawsuit from a different voting machine manufacturer, Smartmatic, which also was a target of pro-Trump conspiracy theories on the network.
If you have a genuine enjoyment of humor, go down further in the article and read how Newsmax claims that they did nothing wrong. “We stand by our coverage as fair, balanced, and conducted within professional standards of journalism.” I can’t help but think that paying sixty-seven million dollars certainly gives one the impression that someone did some wrong-doing.
Will the Right Wingers ever accept the 2020 elections as legitimate after an unbroken stream of court losses of which this one is just the latest? Not a chance. Their self identity demands victimhood and not just victimhood but giant international conspiracies to justify their foul language and overwrought histrionic emotions.
It is a real pity that the court results have a limited effect in this strange world of politics we live in.
But still a good win, a great victory.
You can make a strong argument that those who had to pay out all this money are being punished although Newsmax claims otherwise. I would bet you real money they are more judicious in their language in the future.
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
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