The death of more than 1300 people at the Hajj in Saudi Arabia is tragedy for the world. First, pilgrims from all over the planet including the United States died. Second, the Hajj has been going on since the 7th century and there is strong evidence that these pilgrimages started in the time of Abraham, but there was no death toll like this caused by heat recorded in all of those years. This is new.
The temperatures that caused this tragedy exceeded fifty degrees centigrade and there were reports of temperatures of one-hundred twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit. And these measurements are expected to grow higher in the years to come as global warming accelerates.
This is just May, The first day of summer is weeks away. And many parts of the United States are already suffering from excessive heat. I worry that this is just the first mass casualty event for 2024. I very much hope that it is not. But while many of our pundits and politicians (Florida) pretend that climate change is an exaggerated threat, the thermometer cares little for political posturing and high temperatures kill.
Like it or not, climate change is big business. Over the next decade, the United States will spend at least $500 billion to “combat” climate change. To keep the money flowing, the government needs an endless list of scary predictions to keep the alarmist narrative going. The good news is Americans are beginning to realize that they are being lied to about climate change. More and more, polls show that Americans no longer automatically believe that climate change is an existential threat. Because they are starting to lose their hold, the alarmists are resorting to even more desperate measures.
I had no idea that I was a climate alarmist! I have mainly reported temperature events and today I am reporting deaths, a good number of them. On the other hand, this fellow may be right – I just might be desperate. And I am desperate because I am afraid there is little chance of effective actions before millions die.
He says, “Climate Change is big business.” Wow. And then had adds numbers, 500 billions dollars. The fossil fuel industry is 7.2 Trillion dollars. It doesn’t sound very even, does it?
He clearly implied that people like me are part of this “big business.” If he believes or anyone believes that I am making money off this, I don’t. I am just a concerned American worried about the future of the nation. I like to think of myself as a patriot. I want this nation, I want the United States to both survive and thrive.
Temperatures of over 125 degree in this country will severely damage the economy, the environment, our life styles and it will kill a good number of us.
I was looking at a poll the other day that found that 12% of the members of the Republican Party thought climate change was an important issue.
This is fascinating. I live in the middle of the United States. It is hotter than it has ever been and the weather more dramatic and powerful than it has ever been. You can literally feel climate change in the middle United States.
And yet, the great majority of one of the major political parties in the United States look at the thermostat and mutter, “Oh, no big deal.”
Looking at the news over the last few days, one sees that in the Philippines, it has gotten so hot that schools have been closed and classes moved online. India is in the grip of a huge heatwave.
And just today, now, here is a lead news article that indicates that thirty states are in the midst of record breaking heat wave.
“My Goodness” That looks surprisingly like objective evidence of climate change and maybe even a looming emergency.
So, surely Republicans will notice, right?
That would be nice. It would be part of the duty of a citizen in participative democracy to pay attention to facts and adjust their views accordingly but they will not change their minds. They live in a world where “owning the libs” is much of the meaning in their lives. And you can say, “James, that can’t be much of a life?” Well, yes, it is not much of a life. Thus there is just a ton of hysterical anger.
If you think I’m wrong. Look at the other stuff they are denying. They deny there is any significant racism in the United States (except against white people). Simply, reading the daily new should thoroughly prove that racism continues in America. It seems they don’t read. They deny the evidence of poverty and hunger in the United States to the point of refusing to supplement school lunch programs to feed children during the summer. And I could go on.
Florida has passed legislation removing climate change from consideration when making policy and abandoning a variety of green initiatives while also forbidding the construction of wind turbines on the coast.
To quote the governor of Florida:
“We’re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots,” DeSantis said in a post on the X social media platform.
The level of irony in the words of the governor are difficult to approach. Florida is in the middle of very serious heat wave, there are coral die offs all along the coast, and insurance companies are fleeing the state like so many rats from an overheated and perhaps burning ship.
I am concerned. Not about the Republicans, their current fantasies are really just silly. Saving them from nonsense is not something I can do. When you surrender your judgment to a cult, an online posting, the rants of hate radio or some weird conspiracy theory, the death of judgment and intelligence follows. What concerns me is that this nation where I make my home will probably be unable to deal intelligently and effectively with climate change. And because of our enormous economic power, we may doom much of the world with us.
It is the greed enshrined in our society’s goals and the way our corporations are set up solely to take money as their sole goal that will probably doom us and our future generations. It is very sad. We live in a nation developed in the ideas of the Enlightenment. We have the words of Lincoln and Thomas Paine to guide us – and all of that history or righteousness and glory is being denied, diminished and attacked.
Oh well, if I am to die of heat stroke or flooding or some other interesting element of climate change, I will die here in the United States. It is my home and I consider myself a patriot.
It is unfortunate that the limitations, foolishness and greed of a some Americans are going to do so much damage to so many.
Sometimes reading and watching our various media, you get the impression that economic success is the ultimate determination of a nation’s success. This is the popular view in many circles. But if true at all, it is only partially true. The fact of the matter is – nations have value based not just on economic value but on art, culture and their civic life. It is better to live with a vibrant culture, movies, plays and books, – and better still to live in a society where the citizens can participate in the decisions that effect their lives.
Many participate in art. Some draw, some play an instrument, some participate in little theatre. But once in a while a person rises to the level of director, a professional artist. Successful societies run by the wise, experienced and based on a civilized tradition honor the great artists among us. But primitive and repressive societies do not.
There is no clearer indication of a society in decline than its attempt to destroy a human being for making art.
Rasoulof condemned the Iranian government in an Instagram post on Monday, calling it a tyrannical and oppressive regime, and posting a video that showed him crossing the country’s mountainous border. “If geographical Iran suffers beneath the boots of your religious tyranny, cultural Iran is alive in the common minds of millions of Iranians who were forced to leave Iran due to your brutality and no power can impose its will on it. From today, I am a resident of cultural Iran,” he said.
Something is terribly wrong here when two winners resign angrily and publicly. I did a simple internet search on the phrase “beauty pageant corruption” and got more than a hundred thousand hits. These contests disturb me. My ethical instincts perk up and I have to wonder about all the possibilities of cheating, manipulation, sharp practice and the dark influence of our monied elites.
One of the things that concerns me is that the pageants required the winners to sign non-disclosure agreements. If this is such a great honor and this is supposed to be bringing out the best and the greatest of our young women, why do you need an NDA? What’s going on here?
From the article above from Yahoo News:
“There is a toxic work environment within the Miss USA organization that, at best, is poor management and, at worst, is bullying and harassment,” Noelia Voigt wrote in the letter. “This started soon after winning the title of Miss USA 2023.” Voigt announced Monday on Instagram that she was relinquishing her crown, citing her mental health. Two days later, Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava, 17, announced she was also stepping down in a statement that said her “personal values no longer fully align with the direction of the organization.” Fans who were shocked by the unprecedented resignations noticed that the first letter in every sentence of Voigt’s online statement spelled out “I am silenced.”
With the non-disclosure agreements in place, it will be difficult to find out any details. I think the federal government and the states need to step up oversight. I want you to know that NDA’s are a serious impediment to constructive change and the processes of democracy. They offer large organizations and individuals the “right” to mistreat employees and clients. I do not believe they should be legal in our society or any other society.
How do we as a society, as a nation, as a people, solve problems when we can’t find out what is happening or has happened because of NDA’s?
My impression based on the little information provided is that these pageants exploit women probably cruelly. There should be an investigation and there should be legal consequences for wrong doing.
Before we proceed I want to explain that the title is a direct quote from the aircraft in question’s pilot taken from the official report. And I freely admit he was right, they couldn’t stop him.
This is the story of a man who was also a pilot who was in a difficult weather situation. Advised over and over and over again not to attempt a take off, he insisted and took off anyway. Or almost took off. He and one of his two passengers died.
This sounds more like a fable from the time of the Greeks. A man determined on a disastrous course of action is offered help which he refuses, advice which he resents, and expert help which he ignores. And then he goes ahead and dies.
Three people laded at Lake Renegade. They are in an amphibian aircraft. It only lands and takes off on water. There are so many bodies of water in the United States, people wonder why there aren’t more of these kinds of planes. It’s very simple. Calm water is a wonderful surface to land on, but in most of the United States there is considerable wind and you don’t have it. Choppy wind-blown water will kill you. Water landings depend on very calm and stable conditions. And that simply wasn’t the case at Lake Renegade that day.
I’ve read the report twice because it was so hard to believe. A veritable army of experienced and kind individuals virtually begged him not to take off. He went anyway.
Hubris is fatal. I suppose if a man wants to risk his life there is little that can be done to stop him but this man in his overweening pride also killed one passenger and injured another.
This was all a profound failure of ethics.
A man should take stock of expert advice. A man should not without a good adequate reason risk his own life or the lives of others. And above all, a man should respect the forces of nature and make decisions in accordance with weather and terrain.
There is a lot of pseudo-masculine ideology running about these days. I can’t help but wonder if he thought all the warnings were from “snowflakes” and “wimps” — and he was going to show everybody what a real man could do with an aircraft. He did provide us with a useful example of what not to do.
The staff and volunteers at the Airbase are all very clear that they literally begged him not to fly in these conditions. The pilot may have considered the rough conditions to be borderline and it’s true that at least one Lake pilot at the site stated that he thought it wasn’t outside of the ability of a highly experienced pilot. However, the pilot that day wasn’t highly experienced in seaplanes and he chose to risk a tailwind take-off in an aircraft that had required a tow a few hours before because it had taken on water. In his rush to leave, he either forgot or chose not to configure the aircraft correctly for take-off. It is very difficult to interpret his actions as anything other than reckless.
By Jr JL – This file was derived from: Duchy of Lancaster-coa.png:, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39911069 —- This was found on wikipedia and I gratefully acknowledge their kindness in letting me borrow the image. As you can see I have quoted in full the attribution they wished attached. JP
Recently, the King of England has decided in his infinite wisdom to hand out honors. Awarding honors to the deserving is an important function of all mature and intelligent societies. We wish to encourage and recognize acts of bravery, benevolence and sacrifice.
In the course of human events, many are called to heroic deeds. An examination of the news over a period of a few days will disclose people who selflessly risked their lives. For instance, just last week a teacher, Darrell Campbell, at Amman Valley School in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, responded to a stabbing in which three people were injured and wrestled the knife away from the attacker and then subdued the attacker. That is courage worthy of recognition and honor. (The news story is linked to below.)
But the King’s ceremony and the award of honors wasn’t for him. You see, the King realized that he knew very well who was deserving of honor and recognition in the name of all that is royal in the realm of Great Britain. The honors were awarded to his wife, Camilla; his son, William; and his son’s wife, Kate.
(From the article:)
Prince William becomes Great Master of the Order of the Bath. Catherine is now a Companion of Honour, which recognises achievement in arts, medicine, sciences and public service. And the Queen becomes the Grand Master of the Order of the British Empire, once held by the King’s father, Prince Philip, and grandfather George VI.
So, the King decided that while there were undoubtedly thousands of people who deserved honors for the great deeds, it was his wife, son and daughter in law, who merited these attentions. As Mel Brooks announced with great joy in “History of the World, Part One,” — “It is good to be the King.”
Apparently it is also very good to be married to or be an offspring of the King, because the money, the property and honors never stop flowing like an endless stream of benefits paid for by someone else.
Great Britain is similar to the United States in some ways, a semi-common language and some customs. However, the founding fathers directly placed in the Constitution a prohibition against this kind of thing. To quote from the United States Constitution:
Clause 8 Titles of Nobility and Foreign Emoluments No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
And so we don’t in general have this kind of nonsense. And God be praised that we don’t.
We now live in the 21st Century and the idea that there are Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses is a relic of an illiterate, ignorant and moronic age, an age where people actually believed that God had ordained some people to be rulers, not on the basis of any moral or mental quality but simply by accident of birth.
Darrell Campbell, an actual hero, is far more representative of the greatness embodied in the British people than any of these bejeweled fops lauded daily in the press and possessed of incredible wealth and influence taken from the people of the empire. In any society with a shred of dignity or intelligence or judgment, it is he who should stand before the nation and be given honors for his deeds.
It is time for us, all of us, to stop paying attention to these silly royals who have stuff just because of who their parents were.
We should be valued by our own merits as demonstrated in our own lives because that is what is just, and true — and, indeed, worthy of honor.
This last week was crowded with business ethics disasters and issues. Let’s get started. Above you’ll see a short You-Tube video that I liked and included.
Louisiana State University is offering corporations the ability to influence research. The University has, it seems, offered up its intellectual integrity for a price, a very good price. In their defense I have to point out they aren’t selling themselves cheap (maybe it’s more of a rental?). Let me quote from the article above:
For $5m, Louisiana’s flagship university will let an oil company weigh in on faculty research activities. Or, for $100,000, a corporation can participate in a research study, with “robust” reviewing powers and access to all resulting intellectual property. Those are the conditions outlined in a boilerplate document that Louisiana State University’s fundraising arm circulated to oil majors and chemical companies affiliated with the Louisiana Chemical Association, an industry lobbying group, according to emails disclosed in response to a public records request by the Lens.
This is a pivotal moment in the history of the energy industries. I believe they are in the midst of a almost revolutionary pivot. My perception of what is currently happening is that they are attempting to build a huge infrastructure of “carbon capture” industry. The companies ability to limit and influence research would be invaluable when you are an organization that created in large part the global warming crisis and now intend to profit like bandits from that same crisis.
(Elizabeth) Hanna, a registered dietitian nutritionist and certified diabetes care and education specialist with “16 years of experience in the field of medical nutrition therapy”, according to the lawsuit, says the ADA and in particular Nicole Johnson, the ADA’s vice-president of operations for the science and healthcare division – “a former Miss America who has traded upon the dreams and aspirations of people with diabetes to reach fame and fortune” – pressured her to endorse what she believed were unhealthy and unethical claims.
If you’re teaching ethics or business ethics or any of a number of business courses, this is a lengthy article laden with serious business ethics issues, you should use this. “How much deference should an organization pay to its donors?” is a recurring issue we constantly see over and over again.
Nestlé, the world’s largest consumer goods company, adds sugar and honey to infant milk and cereal products sold in many poorer countries, contrary to international guidelines aimed at preventing obesity and chronic diseases, a report has found.
This is the latest in a number of controversies regarding the products international corporations sold in developing countries. Stay tuned. I will probably get to return to this issues again.
I have heard economics described as the “dismal” science. Well, that is not true, it is business ethics. Greed, death and human stupidity are big parts of the field.
So, from time to time, I take a break. This is a fun story.
Here we have an elephant seal who declined to accept relocation.
Last week, gun-wielding conservation officers stuffed a 500lb elephant seal in the back of a van, drove him along a winding highway in western Canada and left him on a remote beach “far from human habitation”.
That beach was 126 miles away. The elephant seal known as Emerson declined to accept relocation and came right back. I side with the seal but I very much want the public to give the fellow a safe distance. He’s got a lot of muscle on him and he’s not in anyway tame.
It wouldn’t be standard week in 2024 without Boeing getting a headline or two. And for Boeing while the headline isn’t friendly, at least parts didn’t fall off of plane or bunch of people die.
I have addressed the Boeing issues before and no doubt will return to the topic in the future. Good article though.
In the United States, politics is something of a business but according to some including our former President, not as much a business as it should be. Trump is asking for five percent of all donations received from candidates who use his likeness in fund raising.
That is a very solid transformation of political relationships into purely business relationships. Every down ballot candidate becomes something of a financial subsidiary. It’s in a real way revolutionary. Here is a link.
From the link, one gets the impression, that this “request” is not going over well. Imagine my surprise at this!
Elon Musk has been in the news but he is always in the news much like bad weather and air accidents he figures in our national consciousness. But this is a special occasion. He’s not saying anything stupid or bizarre. Have a look at the link below:
Tesla is asking shareholders to restore a $56 billion pay package for CEO Elon Musk that was rejected by a Delaware judge this year, and to shift the company’s corporate home to Texas. The changes, to be voted on by stockholders at a June 13 annual meeting, could be a tougher sell than when it was first approved in 2018. The Austin, Texas, electric vehicle maker is struggling with falling global sales, slowing electric vehicle demand, an aging model lineup and a stock price that has tumbled 37% so far this year.
So, all Tesla wants is to reward Elon Musk for what some might call leadership by restoring his 56,000,000,000 dollar pay package voided by that meany of a Delaware Judge. They also want the company headquarters moved from Delaware to Texas to escape the aforementioned judge.
You know I was really going to pound Elon Musk for his many missteps but do I really need to? He does not deserve the money. He has acted foolishly and every company and cause associated with him has suffered. Enough said. For another good read on the subject, go to the link below:
Actually it may just be that he doesn’t want to. In his job as a “Newsman,” he wanted to overstate the effect of the $20 an hour California has mandated for fast food workers in some sectors. So, he implied that a single worker would make a 100,000 dollars a year on that salary. Surprisingly there was someone there who correctly stated the actual income.
So, he than claimed that a couple working fast food would earn a 100,000 dollars a year, only to once again be corrected.. Watters found the real figure of 40,000 dollars to be horribly unfair. I’m less sure about this. Let me quote a paragraph from the article:
While he may believe that these workers are living lives of unearned luxury, the dollars amounts seem much less impressive against the cost of living and taxes.
Middle and lower class wages have been stagnant for about thirty-five years and the current minimum wage is pitiful. Yet, Watters and Fox News wants to portray these workers as the undeserving while portraying the owners of these huge chains as poor victims of state overreach. But the industry has been recording record profits over the last several years.
I think what the financial press is troubled most by is the empowerment and electoral clout of these workers being effective. In the past wage increases, like those in Washington State have not proven to be the disastert predicted.
And the simple fact is – paying working American a decent salary is a key element of economic growth and simple fairness.
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.
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.
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
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