Tag: history

A Moral Resource for Your Children.

On By southwerkIn Business Ethics, code of ethics, corruption

Raising children under the current regime when every vestige of morality and ethics has been swept away be the greedy and the ruthless is very difficult. You want your child to do right and to believe that doing right is a worthy part of a well lived life, but everywhere you look, America has become the land of the grifter and influence peddler.

Once upon a time, there was an author who believed in righteousness, heroism and a well told story about the struggles faced throughout history when you want to do what is right.

His name was Howard Pyle.

Here below is one of his book plates. He is a very famous illustrator and he wrote many books.

(A Howard Pyle book in the public domain downloadable at Project Gutenberg.)

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60405

Above is a link to the book site and it is several different formats for different machines and capabilities for download. Below is the Wikipedia article on his life and work. (Full disclosure: I have given money to support Wikipedia, admire its design and purpose, and when teaching in class and online always allowed my students to use it as a source in anything they wrote. I consider the people of Wikipedia to be my friends.)

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

Pyle was widely respected during his life and continues to be well regarded by illustrators and fine artists. His contemporary Vincent van Gogh wrote in a letter to his brother Theo that Pyle’s work “struck me dumb with admiration.“[12]

All of Pyle’s principal works are available and a good number of books in which he is the illustrator. His pictures are quite beautiful.

During these times of troubles I can recommend without reservation, his work as something you can give to your children to teach them some of the great lessons and legends from the story of Western Civilization.

If they are very young, you might print it off for them, I recommend you begin with “The Wonder Clock,” a collection of 24 stories, one for each hour of the day. The illustrations are quite original and delightful. Older children can use desktops, etc., to see the many books and illustrations online.

As a parent or guardian, we have responsibilities to teach our children the story of our culture and how we have arrived at what we consider right and wrong.

I hope this helps. If you use these stories and others like them at an early, impressionable age, they should have maximum effect.

James Alan Pilant

Is Oklahoma Part of the Resistance??

On By southwerkIn Business Ethics, Editorial, Government Failure

Oklahoma airports will not show partisan video addressing federal shutdown

(I just liked the picture. It is hard to find a non-copyrighted picture of an airport or the controversial video. JP.)

When you think of Oklahoma, it is common to believe the State a hotbed of Trump sympathizers. Yet, that does not appear at least in this single case to be true.

Risking the wrath of the Trump Administration has frightened law firms, colleges, universities, multi-national corporations and a literal horde of Republican politicians of which Oklahoma has many, and yet Oklahoma airports are standing up in defiance.

It gives you some faith in humankind to find courage and a backbone even in Oklahoma where right wing politics and reactionary Baptists rule.

As a business ethics issue, the airports are looking at possible liability under the Hatch Act for presenting a partisan video. That is very wise. The current administration will not last forever and these kinds of violations can be punished for some years.

So, while certainly decisions requiring courage, there is also a question of legal liability.

A reflection.

When I was a young man, I spoke to a number of Republicans running for office and from time to time voted for them. At no time, did I suspect that they did not have my best interests in mind and I was right about them. They loved the United States and they valued my vote and my interest in their campaign. They were good and fine human human beings.

I miss those days.

The News Story this column (blog post) is based on.

Here is the link to the news story about the airport’s decisions to not air the video. I have also included a brief quote.

https://www.kosu.org/local-news/2025-10-16/oklahoma-airports-will-not-show-partisan-video-addressing-federal-shutdown

This week, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem distributed a video to be played in airport security lines, across the country, blaming Democrats for travel delays during the shutdown.

“We will continue to do all that we can to avoid delays that will impact your travel,” Noem says in the video. “And our hope is that Democrats will soon recognize the importance of opening the government.”

Some experts say the video violates the Hatch Act, a federal law banning executive officials from using their titles for partisan activities. It also bans the use of federal resources to help or harm individual political parties.

Along with dozens of airports across the country, Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma City is not displaying the video.

Seven Million Americans March!

On By southwerkIn Editorial, Government Failure

Two Million More People Participated than the Last One

(A great day for American Patriotism!)

Today was the day of days, when American came together to voice their discontent with our increasingly corrupt and incompetent government. I can’t convey in words how proud and hopeful today’s events make me.

Will Americans be able to stop the march to a fascist state that is quite some distance along? I don’t know. But the marchers today put a marker down that obedience and compliance are unlikely if the oppression continues. Americans are putting this administration on notice that they will not sit idly by while our liberties are trampled on.

Let the work go forth that we are patriotic Americans, the bedrock of the nation and we stand together.

What is particularly striking about these demonstrations, these marchers, is the disparity between the message they are sending and the text messages sent between Young Republicans that were exposed just a few days ago.

We see on the streets a sea of patriots and believers in American democracy while in the chat rooms of the future leaders of the Republican Party, the denizens laugh about gas chambers, joke about killing and raping their enemies, ridicule minorities and praise the Third Reich.

You tell me which one of these is the future of the United States, an excited committed group of patriots or the dregs of a once proud political party drifting into a sort of happy fascism? I know which one I want.

And if you want to claim that a group of Young Republicans who had to be 18 to 40 years of age to be on those chats were just a bunch of naive kids, I’ve got swampland in Florida or I can sell you the Brooklyn Bridge, whichever appeals to your lack of judgment.

In the last few days we’ve seen two different Americas. If God is kind, we will follow the righteous and good path.

Here is the latest news about the march and the participation.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/no-kings-protests-kick-off-across-us_n_68f28d77e4b0ee732e25083d

Organizers for the event said that nearly 7 million Americans around the country attended ― two million more than the first “No Kings” protest in June.

“With more than 2,700 lawful and peaceful protests across all 50 states, today’s mobilization was 14 times larger than both of President Trump’s presidential inaugurations combined, marking a historic moment of unity and resistance,” a statement from ‘No Kings’ organizers said. “From rural communities to major metropolitan centers, the message was clear: America will not be ruled by fear, force, or one man’s power grab.”

And in case you’re curious about what the Young Republicans posted, here is a link to the original article and a bit of text.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/14/private-chat-among-young-gop-club-members-00592146?utm_medium=email&utm_source=substack

Leaders of Young Republican groups throughout the country worried what would happen if their Telegram chat ever got leaked, but they kept typing anyway.

They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

One Man Protected the Sword of Eisenhower from Being Given Away

On By southwerkIn Business Ethics, Capitalism, Government Failure

And then he was forced to resign.

He was told “Resign or be Fired.”

Todd Arrington refused to give up one of Eisenhower’s swords so our current regime could give it to King Charles III.

So, we the American people retain our property, one of the prized possessions of a famous soldier and former President of the United States.

This is one of those times I wish I knew nothing about ethics, honor and righteousness. If I didn’t know, I would not know the depths to which a nation has to sink for a man to stand with honor and do his job and I might, do his job well strongly evidencing courage and then see him constructively fired.

What kind of people when looking around for gifts for foreign royalty goes to the preserved treasures of our heritage, our history, and says “Let’s get one of those!” What kind of people want to grab an item from our museums and historical collections so that we might flatter the faltering and flawed royalty of another nation and gratify the thoughtless greed of the President and those around him?

On the plus side, the sword was saved. On the negative side, our nation’s lack of leadership and the all consuming grasping greed of our current government is on display once again. .

(Eisenhower trained a tank unit for World War I and was deployed to France in 1918, before he arrived the armistice was signed.)

Here is a link to a news story on the subject written by Ed O’Keefe for CBS News.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/head-eisenhower-library-resigns-sword-110206460.html

It is entitled: Head of Eisenhower library resigns after sword spat with Trump administration

Todd Arrington, a career historian who previously held posts with the National Park Service and National Archives and Records Administration, said he stepped down on Monday under pressure as director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home.

In an interview with CBS News, Arrington said he was told on Monday, “Resign — or be fired.”

This story concludes with the following two paragraphs.

The 52-year-old said he is less than five years away from retirement eligibility and is hoping to find a new job at a different federal agency.

But, he said, “If there’s any way for it to happen, I’d return to this job in a heartbeat. I love the job, I love the people, I love the history. I never in a million years wanted this to happen.”

As a business ethics expert, I am appalled. If you get into the weeds of the story, there are the usual denials of White House responsibility we have come to know so well. And once again, the clear message sent directly by this administration is that any form of opposition will not be tolerated. What this administration wants and desires are to be yielded to under all circumstances as if it were the law.

But this administration lives for revenge and payback. (Is it not written that we are to forgive our enemies?)

This is wrong. This is unethical. This is a violation of dozens of systems of morality. This is petty and pathetic.

We should honor the man and women who do their jobs with pride and serve the interests of the American people.

What kind of nation punishes those that follow the way of duty? What kind of nation seeks vengeance for every act that offends the President?

The answer is the one we have now – honorless, crude, grasping and incompetent.

James Alan Pilant

Sadness for America and Ethics

On By southwerkIn Business Ethics, Capitalism, Government Failure

I am very unhappy today. I haven’t posted very much lately because I have some ideas percolating in my mind.

I have been wanting to write a major piece on the fact that everyone in politics seems to talk up the “free market” while working very hard to make sure that there is little or no free market activity in countless fields of ende3avor. I wanted to talk about the necessary elements for a free market and how government action is necessary to prevent combinations and price fixing.

(Our current national leadership.)

I also want to severely criticize business schools for their nonsensical devotion to the idea that in some strange way, the teachings of business are generally applicable in all industries and businesses. They are not. An understanding of how, why and a historical understanding of a business is absolutely essential to a successful leadership and day to day running of a company. Any examination of American movies and Boeing aircraft reveal the folly of a general business set of teachings applied where it simply does not belong. And I will get to it. It is a difficult subject.

No, today is a bad, bad day. Jimmy Kimmel has been removed from the air by a state sponsored form of censorship. The FCC threatened to pull broadcast licenses and the network complied with their demands.

These last twenty four hours have changed our futures. If this government, incompetent and pitiful as its is, can successfully tell media companies what is and is not acceptable, we have little chance of having fair election or even intelligent national discussion.

This is a nail in the coffin of democracy.

It is very painful for me to see the end of the American experiment in representative democracy, and I will be in mourning for some days.

I find it hard to believe that that coming elections in 2026 will be anything but a rigged farce and that will be the final act in America’s story.

After that we will live in some kind of 4th Reich.

At the moment, its seems inevitable.

James Alan Pilant

Wow, We Bought a Castle – Grifting Can Be Fun!

On By southwerkIn Business Ethics

I must admit that I think this whole thing is hilarious. Probably thousands of people and organizations coughed up millions of dollars thinking not unreasonably that the money would be used for advocacy. The organization advertised itself as anti-immigration so they were probably thinking television commercials, editorials, books and articles, maybe a documentary. But that would have been a mundane and common use for monetary contributions. Instead of that silly advocacy stuff they bought a castle in West Virginia. I promise I had no idea that West Virginia participated in the Medieval Period but there it is, a real castle. It must have been a lonely existence waiting for America to be discovered.

(More of a French Chateaux but close enough. I have no concept of what a West Virginia castle looks like.)

Satire aside, maybe this is one of those apocalyptic preparations for the end times. We might eventually see pure-bred Anglo-Saxons pouring hot oil on rappers and Hispanic gardeners, and maybe even hordes of seasonal farm workers.

Buying a castle is probably pretty tempting even if you don’t think the world is ending any time soon. And you can live in the thing which has to be nice. The views are probably amazing.

Twenty some years ago, I found at article about a Republican’s Congressman’s wife who had set up a Political Action Committee with the stated intention of collecting money for Republican candidates. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were used for “administrative” costs and nearly twenty dollars was raised for the electioneering part.

After some reflection I did not write about it. As far as I could tell that money not going to those candidates was an excellent outcome and I was content.

And I must admit I’m very content with this one, too. As long as they aren’t spending the money for a cause I disapprove of, I’m just fine. Let them buy another castle, they can buy lots and lots of stuff, do some fine dining and take home some champagne afterwards.

When the right wing is out for the grift, all of America benefits.

James Alan Pilant

The article below is quite good and I recommend you go to its home and read the whole thing. jp

Kara Scannell writing for CNN reports that civil charges have been filed alleging that – Far-right activists ‘looted’ corporate assets to buy a castle, NY AG says.

The New York attorney general’s office filed civil charges against far-right anti-immigration activist Peter Brimelow and his wife for allegedly misusing more than $2 million in assets, including a West Virginia castle, from a charitable foundation they run.

Brimelow founded VDARE, whose website has been a platform for white nationalist and anti-immigration viewpoints, and ran it with his wife Lydia until he suspended it in 2024 because of NY AG Letitia James’ investigation into its finances.

The lawsuit alleges the Brimelows used $1.4 million dollars of VDARE funds to acquire a castle complex in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. They moved into the castle, transferred it to two entities they controlled and charged VDARE rent and fees for use of the space, according to the lawsuit.

Worked to Death.

On By southwerkIn Business Ethics, Capitalism

The story referenced below is a sad tale but a common one.

A young man feeling pressured by his employer worked long hour days for a long period of time and as a result died.

A small sacrifice for predatory capitalism.

I believe in righteousness but there is small part of me that admires the complete ruthlessness of working people to death for maximum profit.

If you can work a human being for forty hours a week, you get the benefit of a regular employee but if you can classify his job as not being covered by hourly limits, you can get him to work eighty hours a work, two workers for the price of one. My understanding is that a hundred hours is the current popular number.

Do I need to tell you that this is a cruel from of exploitation?

We live in a society that worships mammon. The fact that the Bible expressly prohibits the worship of money does not seem to have any traction at all.

Of course any sort of Christian based belief system parted ways with American capitalism long ago.

So, people are being sacrificed to the bottom line. In this case, worked extreme hours for long periods ot time. Dying young saves the company from the problems of paying retirement and there are many other benefits besides.

I remember studying child labor in the late 19th Century. They worked six days a week, 12 hour days. Of course, that is only 72 hours. One could be impressed at the kindness of management.

It is well understood that when huge multi-national corporations mistreat their workers, that they have little individual recourse. They are an atom alone in the universe to paraphrase one of predatory capitalism’s most revered leaders, Margaret Thatcher. Alone and helpless against politically influential and in the case of the United States, politically invulnerable.

Overworking people is just a corporation and its leadership mistreating and exploiting human beings. It is simple abuse.

Why hasn’t anything been done about this?

Because we have two political parties, one dominated by oligarchs and the other has a thing called corporate Democrats which means they attempt at times to appear to be friends of the working class but their abject corporate servility and devotion to corporate contributions are so ingrained they find that any action that might benefit common workers is in their view unrealistic and radical.

In fact, it is quite clear that corporate Democrats find voters a bit intimidating and troublesome. That is why they employ think tank and professional to avoid contact with the teaming masses praying for help.

And so the abuse of workers, unpaid overtime, illegal firings, union busting and sometimes simply working a human being to death is beneath the concern of those running our government.

In the United States corporate profits are superb even magnificent.

Do you know why?

It is hard to fail as an American corporation because you pay few or any taxes, you can legally treat your workers as little more than cattle, and largely exist outside all the rules — and if rules get in your way, you can get them fixed.

It is a very comfortable place for a corporation to exist, not so much for the worker though or the citizen or any human being with moral fiber.

Read the story below and realize that he died for corporate profits.

James Pilant

Madison E. Goldberg writing for People Magazine has a article: Microsoft Engineer Dies at Work at 35 as His Family Warns of Overworking Employees.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/microsoft-engineer-dies-35-family-134823435.html

A 35-year-old Microsoft engineer died at work in Silicon Valley last month and his family is now warning companies of overworking their employees.

Pratik Pandey was “found face-down” at 2 a.m. local time on Aug. 20 in Mountain View, Calif., on Microsoft’s campus, according to the Palo Alto Daily Post.

Sanitized History is Wrong

On By southwerkIn Editorial, ethics, Government Failure, International

We’ve been hearing a lot about our foolish leadership and his desire to limit the Smithsonian’s coverage of the history of slavery because he believes they talk too much about it.

They don’t talk to much about it. What has happened is that historians are really coming to grips with the history of slavery and its long term effects. At various points in my life I have attended college winding up with thirteen and a half years of full time attendance as well as another twelve years or so teaching. In that time, I have seen the teaching of Reconstruction and slavery changing dramatically.

After the Civil War, the defeated confederates did everything possible to make states rights the center of the war’s cause rather than slavery. However, a very casual examination of the issue and a quick look at the newspapers of the revolutionary South demonstrate conclusively that slavery was the principle factor in the rebellion.

After the war, superhuman efforts were made to write a new and highly fictionalized history of the war, the “lost cause” narrative was created and emblazoned across novel after novel and many motion pictures as well. The shock of my white students upon seeing “Judge Priest” with Will Rogers and its utter and complete embrace of the lost cause I found fascinating. My minority students were well aware of that narrative.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy labored for years to sanitize history books, build statues and monuments and to attack any attempt at an accurate depiction of the Civil War. Their statues of traitors and subversives who killed their fellow Americans in the pursuit of the right to enslave others are all over the United States but principally in the South.

Historians are no longer buying into the Confederate sympathizers historical revision. The horrors of slavery began to be discussed honestly in the classroom. I had some of those classes. Slaves were very often maimed to mark them as property. They were murdered for defiance. They were bred like cattle for muscles and size so they could work the land. They were denied education as well as virtually any human right recognized by American law. The idea that they were vital and cherished members of the family is pitiful nonsense.

But above all, the greatest and most significant failure of American history was the fact that the confederate traitors were not punished after the war. Their evil acts and continued defiance had dire results which continue to this day.

And among those dire effects are the desire to censor American history of everything that might detract from a heroic narrative. Nations should not be a subject of worship. A nation is something that a people develop and if they do right be proud of and if they do wrong own up to it.

The glory of America is that we learned from our mistakes. Not only did we abolish slavery, we became leaders in the struggle to end colonialism and many other worldwide evils. Until this year we were the most important nation on earth in the struggle to end hunger and fight disease all thought this has been ended by the pitiful and immoral current regime. In many ways we have learned from our history and become a better and greater people.

That we do right is our glory and our legacy not some nonsensical made up history where everything was good and great in spite of facts and knowledge.

The United States is a great nation because it learns from its mistakes not by denying them.

James Alan Pilant

A Trojan Dog in Taiwan?

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Taiwan is claimed by China under a sort of “lost province” narrative, which I don’t buy into.

So, bearing that in mind, should Hammer Lee (a kind of Marvel Superhero name – got to give credit, that is one great name!) have acquired a Chinese built robot dog to patrol the streets of the city of Taipei. It might seem to the casual observer that the government has imported a artificial threat able to gather useful information for later use in an invasion.

Perhaps if this situation had happened in an episode of the Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits, the mechanical infiltrator would fall in love with a beautiful police officer in Taipei and renounce its allegiance to the Chinese Superpower. In movies and television, robots are always suckers for romance and a pretty face.

In his defense, Hammer says the surveillance camera system is of Taiwanese design. I don’t find that very convincing. The Chinese are famous for putting their own spin (and devices) in what seems like relatively benign items. And this thing looks in no way benign. Big metal dogs look daunting to me and we are seeing a lot canine inspired war machines in a number of nations.

What I find really odd about this whole thing is that Taiwan is well known as a manufacturer and international innovator in building robots. I freely admit their designs (as far as I could see) are humanoid and they may not have any dogs. But I don’t see why you couldn’t use an upright human style robot to do the same job.

The really scary thing about this is the idea of robots patrolling our streets here in the United States. Our federal government is currently bizarrely incompetent and I don’t want them to have any new toys they can misuse.

James Alan Pilant

(It is highly likely this engraving of 19th Century London will be found inappropriate by many readers. In response, I would respectfully ask, “What chances do you think there are of me finding a non copyright protected image of a Chinese military robot dog or any robot dog for that matter?” Just enjoy the picture.)

Helen Davidson and Jason Tzu Kuan Lu reporting for The Guardian in an article: Taipei City council in the dog house over Chinese-made patrol robot.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/28/taipei-city-council-in-the-dog-house-over-chinese-made-patrol-robot

Taipei City council has come under fire after admitting that a robot dog it bought to help patrol city streets using surveillance cameras was made by a Chinese companylinked to the Chinese military.

Hammer Lee, the deputy mayor of Taiwan’s capital, introduced a “new patrol partner” for the management and repair of pedestrian areas in a post on Facebook on Tuesday.

“This robot, equipped with an optical panoramic survey system, can create 360-degree images, accurately locate facilities, and even automatically report missing items,” Lee said, noting its ability to “accumulate comprehensive data”.

414 or 1.4 Million Defective Engines, Which is it?

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Well, not quite so many as 1.4 million, at least not yet. That is the implied number. There have been 414 reports of engine failure and these are significant. They imply that we could be looking at an endemic problems that is only now be revealed.

(Mythological beasts from a lower plane of Hell, that may also require a probe into their warranties.)

So, I give you my usual advice. That is – let the story and the investigations develop and over time the truth will be revealed.

Now, I must admit we live in strange times. Our current regime is very pro-corporation and this inquiry and its possible legal consequences could simply disappear.

You might say – “James, that is a horrible libel on our elected current regime. They wouldn’t sell their honor or the lives of their fellow Americans for money.” As of this date a very large number of investigations have already ceased, and in many more situations, the rules changed to favor industry. Even now selling or renting or drilling on the precious resource of the American people, public lands and our parks, has become more and more a reality.

Well, we will see what happens.

(But if the investigation is stopped or disappeared, I will report it on this site. jp)

In an article published in Reuters, entitled: US probes into more than 1.4 million Honda vehicles over engine failure, there seems to be some concern over faulty engines in Honda vehicles.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-probes-more-1-4-082924014.html

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is opening a probe into more than 1.4 million Honda vehicles sold in the United States over concerns that connecting rod bearing failures in their engines could lead to complete engine failure.

In a letter dated August 20, the regulator said it received 414 reports of the issue in various Honda and Acura vehicles’ 3.5-liter V6 engine.

…

The investigation covers 2018-2020 model year Acura TLX, 2016-2020 Acura MDX, 2016-2020 Honda Pilot, 2018-2020 Honda Odyssey, and 2017-2019 Honda Ridgeline vehicles.

In 2024, the agency probed 1.4 million Honda vehicles on reports of serious engine issues following the Japanese automaker recalling 249,000 vehicles in November 2023.

Let’s hope it is just a few engines.

What are the business ethics here? It is wrong to sell defective vehicles. Those who have made purchased by mischance such defective vehicles should be made whole by repairs, new vehicles or money damages. There is no need for an in-depth analysis of Shareholder rights or Corporate citizenship, our laws on defective sales are sufficient for this situation.