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Ethics News!!

Fall 2024

  • Cute sabertooth puppy. [1]
  • Cop29 as example of cooperative rationality.
  • Covid was worse in prison. [2]
  • Prison can be bad for your health. [3]
  • Italian politics that might remind you of BLM protests.
  • Monkey jail break. [6]
  • Chinese students hit on viral cultural activity. [7]. Cf. Portland, etc.
  • Maybe treat Trump like a normal president? [8]
  • A way of travelling. [9]
  • Election debrief.
  • Feature on Peter Singer. In the pantheon with Rawls. [10]
  • 1st Breonna Taylor trial verdict [11]
  • Snapshot of Spokane’s strategies for the homeless. [12]
  • Are we literally sorting ourselves? [13]
  • College athletics in the US. More travel, fewer classes, more expense. [14]
  • Understanding discontent and grievance. [17]
  • Prison labor v involuntary servitude. [18]
  • Biden apologies for Indian Boarding Schools. [19]
  • What does it mean to say that someone is a fascist? Noted historian changes his mind. [20]. Former Chief of Staff, General John Kelly calls Trump a fascist, reports his admiration for Hitler and Hitler’s generals. [21]. “Fasces”, the modern symbol of fascism, is present in many US monuments. [22]
  • Add Alexi Navalny’s memoir to your reading list. [23]
  • The Menendez Brothers murder case gets a new look. [24]
  • Super PAC’s cynical micro targeted ads. [25]
  • Update on Robert Roberson. “Show execution”
  • Hamas leader dead.
  • Nobel prize in economics and cultural evolution. [26]
  • Ethics in war. [27]. Also, food crisis in blockaded North Gaza.
  • Ethics news checks in on Ukraine-Russia war. [28]
  • Another difficult death penalty case, in front of the SC yesterday. Glossip v Oklahoma. [29]
  • Idaho Senator makes racist remark during a public hearing. [30]
  • Second thoughts on why we ban public nudity.
  • One of the biggest lessons I draw from evolved morality.
  • Basic Liberties test case. The Sarco. [31]
  • Another difficult death penalty case. Robert Roberson. [32] [33]
  • Washington’s roundabout approach to tax fairness. [34]
  • Beloved doorman steals .5 million from geriatric tenant. [35]
  • Mexico has its first woman president. [36]
  • Emotional connection / Empathy story.
  • The disaster from Hurricane Helene. Neither major party is discussing this as a climate change influenced event. 128 dead, widespread destruction.
  • How to apologize. [37]
  • Washington State closes its execution chamber. [38]
  • NY City mayor Eric Adams indicted in federal bribery and corruption charges.
  • Article mentioned in NYer article. “Uncalculating Cooperation and Trust”. [39]
  • New Yorker article on evolutionary morality. An anthropologist who researches evolutionary morality and who has a religious commitment (a Sikh), asks whether evolutionary morality isn’t a bit deflating. (Shared folder: Are your morals too good to be true? Manvir Singh)
  • Restrictive covenants in Spokane and Eastern Washington. [40]
  • My Unsung Hero. [41]
  • Addio, Dan Evans! [42], local news story, audio [43]
  • CTE in the news. [44]
  • Local example of failure of cooperative rationality. NIC. [45]
  • Good Ethics News. Opioid Death down significantly. [46]
  • What do we think of the new technological warfare in exploding communication devices?
  • Haitians in Ohio, pagers in Lebanon.
  • “We want more jobs in our community, and in order to fill those jobs, some jobs need to be people who are not originally from here,” Jaime McGregor, who owns the manufacturing factory McGregor Metals in Springfield, told PBS.
  • McGregor told the outlet that about 10% of his workforce, about 30 employees, is Haitian.
  • “I wish I had 30 more,” he said. “Our Haitian associates come to work every day. They don’t have a drug problem. They’ll stay at their machine. They’ll achieve their numbers. They are here to work. And so in general, that’s a stark difference from what we’re used to in our community.”
  • Diversity and political orientation. [47]
  • Earliest known human settlements. [48]
  • Texas Medical School sells “unclaimed” bodies by the part. [49]. Even a homeless vet whose family was in town.
  • Extraordinary rape trial in France has become a national moment. [50]
  • Football and brains. [51]
  • Ethicist column about marijuana gummies for dementia patients. [52]. Note “theory of mind” in advice!
  • More on college protest rules. [53]
  • Trial starts for alleged murderers of Tyre Nichols. [54]
  • Tyreek Hill police encounter. [55]
  • Moral hero or predator? [56]
  • Skulls exhumed by Swedes reinterred in Finland a century and a half later. [57]
  • Scandal for (former) Italian Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano. [58]
  • Tucker Carlson boosts Holocaust denier. [59]
  • Major parties on mass shootings. [60]. Hardening Schools, controlling guns.
  • Another mass shooting. [61]
  • Gaming the system. [62]
  • The NYT Ethicist column. [63] Gonzaga offers free NYT and Wall Street Journal. [64].
  • New scholarship on the constitution. Very challenging! [65]
  • More social media legal action. No X in Brazil. [66]
  • What do we think of Gonzaga’s new rules about protest? [68]
  • What should our expectations be of social media platforms? [69], [70]
  • Antagonistic Pleiotropy in the news!! (See Sapolsky p. 329) [71]
  • Sex identity in sports controversy over Algerian boxer, Imane Khalif. [72]
  • Gen Z women and men are more different in some political attitudes than previous generations. [73]
  • For very positive ethics news!! check out “My Unsung Hero Hidden Brain” for really nice “small” stories of people being everyday moral heroes. Watch one and report it to class as ethics news. [74]

Spring 2024

  • UCLA does not avoid escalation, in spite of effort (grit).
  • United Methodists make ethics news. [75]
  • Brown University avoids escalation. [76]
  • Justice Department to begin changes to status of marijuana in Federal law, including sentencing guidelines. [77]
  • More reporting on Pro-Palestinian protests. [78]
  • Addio Daniel Dennett. [79]
  • SC case today, Thursday, hearing former President Trumps petition for immunity from all prosecution.
  • SC case in emergency medical care and abortion. [80]
  • Pro-Palestinian protests proliferate. [81]
  • Supreme Court case involving homeless. [82]
  • Breaking Ethics News!! Columbia U protesters arrested by police.
  • Video editorial on homelessness. [83]
  • USC deplatforms its valedictorian. [84]
  • Summer reading. James, by Percival Everett
  • Punishing the Crumbleys. Criminal negligence as a cultural response.
  • Interesting Gonzaga protest statement. (Image in shared folder.)
  • Arizona Supreme Court Ruling restores 19th cent abortion prohibition over more recent law. [86]
  • Etna blows smoke rings. [87]
  • Another case involving difficult circumstances to assess. [88]
  • Brian Dorsey likely to be executed tonight.
  • More details on the WCK tragedy. [89]
  • Possible ethics movie, “How to Have Sex”.
  • Beyonce and country music. Contesting culture.
  • World Central Kitchen tradegy in Gaza. [90]
  • Support for clemency for death row inmate Brian Dorsey. [91]
  • Should you speak out when someone says something hateful? Advice for the NYT Ethicist. [92]
  • Addio, Daniel Khaneman. [93]
  • Harassment of our basketball guests from Utah in Coeur d’Alene. [94].
  • Fairness isn’t easy to determine. Another case of “impersonal injustice”. Social security solvency. Krugman editorial [95] and letter from economist [96]
  • Addio, Franz de Waal. [97]
  • SC heard a medication abortion case today. Early reports suggest they were skeptical about imposing a nation wide ban on this procedure.
  • Tragic attack in Russia. Striking use of public violence in the arraignment. Like Iran War abuses and Guantanamo. [98]. Content warning.
  • US stops opposing cease fire resolution in UN. It passes. [99]
  • California passes 6 billion dollar bond to take care of homeless. [100]
  • Debate over whether Gen Z males and females are drifting apart politically. [101]. Note implications for our work on political orientation. More layers.
  • Complicating the question “When does life begin” [102]. Note on use of scientific consensus on when life begins.
  • Maine shooter, Robert Card, had brain injuries that were predictive of his behavior. He acquired them as a grenade instructor in the Army. [103]
  • France puts abortion rights in their constitution. Interesting to speculate on why that wouldn’t happen here.
  • Women as users of violence. [104]. And in classical western culture [105]
  • Genetically modified pigs will make organs for us. [106]
  • Possible many dozens killed in chaos of Gaza today. [107]
  • Idaho execution botched. [108]
  • Self-immolation in protest against Israeli war in Gaza. [109]
  • Supreme Court hears case on free speech in social media. Probably the most important 1st am. Case in a while. [110]
  • Another heartywarming story from “My Unsung Hero” [111]
  • A Conservative judge's take on originalism. [112]
  • What different Christian traditions believe about IVF. [113]
  • A very surprising ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court. [114], [115]
  • Russian / US dual citizen arrested for contributing $51 to Ukraine fund. [116]
  • Is it religious bigotry to strike a juror for believing homosexuality is a sin? Obergefell v Hodges. 14th ammendment in play on both sides. [117]
  • US vetoes cease fire resolution at UN, citing hostage/cease fire negotiations. (breaking news).
  • Palestinians at the UN’s International Court of Justice in The Hague [118]
  • Addio, Alexei Navalny, hero of Russian democracy. Tucker Carlson, “Putin’s useful idiot” (Liz Cheney). [119]
  • Research ethics in academia. [120]
  • Interesting use of AI. [121]
  • Tucker Carlson interview, a wee bit of history, presidential politics.
  • My Unsung Hero. A positive example of evolved morality. [122]
  • Supreme Court case heard today. Great examples of how we argue about values. Can one state kick a presidential candidate off the ballot for insurrection? Is that the right way to read the constitution (which is, after all, a "values contract")? Would it create incoherence? Etc.
  • Example of an expert interview on the immigration issue which poses strong contrast to the partisan versions of the topic. Relevant for our work on political difference. [123]
  • Jennifer Crumbley convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Max 15 years.
  • Coalitionary reactive aggression at the St. Mary’s game.
  • More zoning. Bit coin and pig farms. [124]
  • Enough with world politics. Should South Hill get a Chick-fil-A? [125]
  • CEO pay and shareholder expectations. [126]
  • Domicide, mosque-icide, school-icide. [127]. Home demolition is part of Israeli policy in the West Bank and an historic practice in Europe. [128] Also, a historic theme in war. House Demolition
  • Exonerated 40 years later. Who does this tend to happen to? [129]
  • Game theory in the Immigration issue. Example of “evolutionarily stable strategy”. [130]
  • We may have found Emilia Earhart!
  • Olympic skater found guilty of doping. [131]
  • Should domicide be a crime against humanity? [133]
  • UN Court places expectations on Israel. [134]. Mention scandal over UN workers involved in Oct 7th.
  • Can parents be partially liable for a child mass shooter? [135]
  • Malaria vaccine is changing expectations in a surprising way. [136]
  • Prosecutor accused of misconduct. [137]
  • Price fixing alleged against elite schools. [138]
  • Update on the War in Gaza. -What are our expectations? Defense, de-escalation, long term expectations for peace. Comparisons to 9/11, Iraq War & Afghanistan. 1200 Israel dead (plus military personnel), 23,000 Palestinians dead, mostly women and children.

Between semesters

  • SC: Conservative Justices skeptical of agency regulatory powers. [139]. Note connection to contemporary politics. Small government. Stare decisis. Other issues.
  • Tip lines may help prevent mass shootings. [140]. Changing expectations. Deeper causes.
  • Interesting music streaming / intellectual property fraud issue. [141]
  • Interpersonal ethics - impromptu family visits. [142]
  • Man exonerated after spending 48 years in prison. [143]
  • Mentally ill Michigan teen mass shooter gets life without parole. [144]

Fall 2023

  • Imagine the discussion when the town fathers agree to do aways with the “stocks” for punishment. [145]
  • Texas judge allows abortion for woman, against Texas law. [146]
  • Fairness isn’t easy to determine. Another case of “impersonal injustice”. Social security solvency. Krugman editorial [147] and letter from economist [148]
  • Elite university presidents’ testimony to Congress on campus speech policy draws fire. [149]
  • Darryl George back in Ethics news over his hair style. [150]
  • Language check: Rizz? [151]
  • Check your intuitions about retribution. Derek Chauvin stabbed 22 times in jail. [152]
  • Serial killer caught using license plate surveillance technology. [153]
  • Palestinian students shot in Vermont. One paralyzed. [154]
  • Dog longevity drugs. [155]
  • Exonerations and the Innocence Project. Guess who is most likely to be wrongly convicted. [156]
  • Recycled from Spring: Story of forgiveness. Hold for last unit of the course. [157]
  • Interesting report on library book challenges. Good for short optional paper. [158]
  • My Unsung Hero episode. [159]
  • Who do we see in hostage/prisoner releases?
  • How dysfunction creates a “selection effect.” [160]
  • Exposure of troops to dangerous weapons. [161]
  • The “impersonal injustice” in rewards cards. [162]
  • Getting in touch with your inner “bonobo” [163]
  • Political violence on the left. [164]
  • The cultural reality of anti-semitism. Elon Musk’s anti-semitic retweet. [165]
  • Two moments (from this morning) in which members of Congress show inappropriate aggressive behavior. [166]. And on FoxNews. [167]
  • From the Happiness and Wisdom News!! desk - Loneliness and low empathy? [168]
  • What's behind the big drop in US life expectancy? Part of the explanation is "SES gradient" [169] [170]
  • Death toll among Anchorage homeless. [171]
  • Right wing extremism uses fascist rhetorical tropes. [172]
  • Supreme Court adopts ethics code! [173]
  • Local Spokane races. [174]
  • Hot moment in Republican debate!
  • New Ethics movie: Killers of the Flower Moon.
  • Robert Sapolsky's new book on free will and determinism. [175]
  • Gonzaga protest. Instagram #dobettergonzaga.
  • Originalism and the 2nd ammendment. [176] News from the hearing. [177]
  • Contemporary conservative thought of the far right. [179]
  • Example of groupishness in opening of border from Gaza into Egypt. 1,500 Israeli's killed. Almost 9,000 Palestinians.
  • NPR talks with legal scholar on international law bearing on Israeli war. Useful for thinking about recent bombings of refugee camps. [180]. Comment on proportionality and the history of war / history of just war theory.
  • Interesting attempt at issue commitment shift: [181]
  • Child Abuse aided by AI. [182] Student contributed.
  • UK restricts pro-Palestinian expression. [184]
  • More details on Maine shooting. [185]
  • France to put abortion rights in constitution. [186]
  • Mass shooting in Maine.
  • Number of abortions in year after Dobbs same or slightly up. [187]
  • Some Texas counties pass local ordinances criminalizing assistance to pregnant women seeking legal abortions in nearby states. [188]
  • Justice Thomas’ RV loan. [189]
  • Happy for House Republicans. Great story about cooperation.
  • Gaza civilian casualties, "collective punishment", UN calls for ceasefire. 1500/4500 to date.
  • New data on SAT scores and family income. [190]
  • US Budget deficit doubles. [191]
  • More lessons in the group dynamics of House Republicans.
  • Doxxing Harvard students who protest the war. [193]
  • Watch your texting. [194]
  • Poland moving away from authoritarianism with fall of “Law and Justice” party coalition. [195]
  • Justice Barrett comes out in favor of ethics code for Supreme Court. [196]
  • UPenn and Harvard lose big donors over handling of Israel-Hamas war. [197], [
  • France bans pro-Palestinian protests. [198].
  • Moral triggers (fair bargaining, bullying) in the chaotic House Speaker selection process.
  • A very thorough primer on the Middle East conflict. [199]
  • Free speech and anonymity. [200]
  • Giving away all of your money. [201]
  • War between Hamas and Israel. War as a values failure problem. A short article with some facts and perspective. [202]. A longer background piece from a colleague [203]
  • Politicians using White supremicist (and Nazi) tropes. “Immigration is poisoning the blood of our people.” [204]
  • Employment discrimination issue. [205]
  • Gen Z political ideology. What are we watching here? [206]
  • Issue commitment shift. President approves border wall construction. [207]
  • More fallout from leadership void in Congress.
  • Wisdom failure: Tupac's murderer self-incriminates. [208]
  • Same sex behavior as evolved behavior in mammals. [209]
  • Update on government shutdown politics.
  • Simone Biles lands Yurchenko double pike for first time in a competition. [210]
  • How big would your estate have to be to not leave it all to your kids? [211]
  • Do dress codes matter? [212]
  • Interesting realignment on “issue commitments”. Libs and Cons asking Supreme Court to reassess important Circuit court decision on homelessness. [213]
  • Current examples of failure of social cooperation. Libyan flooding tragedy. [214] and US government shutdown. As in prisoner’s dilemma, the “stable strategy” is not the optimal one.
  • FTC and 17 states bring anti-trust suit against Amazon. [215]
  • Congressional representative indicted for bribery. [216]
  • Police investigated for human rights abuses in Baton Rouge. [217]
  • Department of Big Ideas. Language and Reason. More animals doing more that looks like talking. [218]. Mention biocommunication.
  • Public schools student suspended for hair style violation. [219]
  • From the Happiness and Wisdom News!! desk: What wisdom failures can you detect in this story? [220]
  • Tragic death of a police officer by mentally ill person. [222]
  • Department of Big Ideas. Demographics. [223]
  • Lauren Boebert’s big night out. [224]. Fox News’ version [225]
  • Jann Wenner, Board member on Rock and roll Hall of Fame, co-founder of Rolling Stone Magazine, removed after sexist and racist interview comments. [226]
  • Market fairness. Impending auto workers’ strike is about labor power, but ethical arguments as well. What is a fair wage? Market solutions are part of our expectations language, but they don’t always produce fair outcomes. GU’s solution for faculty salaries.
  • Happy ethics news from the Happiness and Wisdom News!! desk. [227]
  • Should Elon Musk have this power? [228]. Is there a problem about oligarchs?
  • Talking to whales. [229]. Consider this in relation to this food philosophy meme: “If animals could talk, we’d all be vegetarians.”
  • Affirmative action for men in college admissions? [230]. The ethics of oaths.
  • Youtube blogger advises on caring for children, but may be guilty of abuse. [231]
  • More news of the weird. Man tries to cross Atlantic in human sized hamster wheel. [232]
  • Who is Woody Allen? [233]
  • A second look at the Mayor's controversial appearance with Matt Shea. [234]
  • A man and his pet steer. [236]
  • Recycled from Spring: Story of forgiveness. Hold for last unit of the course. [237]
  • The ethical problem of conflict of interest. Example: calls for ethics rule changes for SC justices. [238], but also Sotomayer, [239]
  • Is it easy or difficult to say what's wrong with this? [240]
  • Is it a problem that we paid more attention to the Titan sub disaster than the loss of 500 migrants, about the same time? [241]

Spring 2023

  • Why keep looking for Ethics News?
  • Textual analysis of the text message that got Tucker Carlson fired. [242]
  • Interesting 14th ammendment case. [243]
  • Bureau of Prisons considers new rule to garnish inmates’ commissary accounts for victim restitution and court fees. [244].
  • AP Course on African American Studies, back in ethics news. [245]. How would intellectual freedom advocates approach this?
  • Montana transgender legislator controversy. Fox [246]. NYT: no story Thurs morning. NPR: [247]
  • Addio, Harry Belafonte!
  • Global sweatshops and cheap tee shirts. [248] and more on Responsible Recruiting [249] Are your favorite brands there?
  • Fraudulent nursing degree scandal. [250]
  • Kimberly Potter released.
  • Conspiracy theories about Tucker Carlson’s firing. [251]. Don Lemon fired also.
  • Pillow guy might have to pay off his wager. [252]
  • The Surprising Chinese police station story. [253]
  • Recent “wrong turn” shootings. [254]
  • Ralph Yarl Kansas City shooting. [255]
  • The demographics of crime. [256]
  • Perennial story from “appraisal discrimination” [257]
  • Appellate court rules on appeal over medication abortion drugs.
  • Recent free speech cases at universities and law schools. [258]
  • Story of forgiveness. Hold for last unit of the course. [259]
  • Tennessee lawmaker's explusions and one reinstatement.
  • SC Justice Thomas declines to report significant gifts. [260] Original ProPublica reporting [261]. Unclear if new rules apply. [262]
  • Thinking about storm damage and disaster relief: Would it be unjust for us to refuse to help or just not very nice? The analysis shows how justice might be ultimately an agreement we have as a society.
  • Example of not having a good PPN [263] and efforts to fix that. [264]
  • SC allows trans gender student to compete on women’s track team in W. Virginia while case proceeds. [265]
  • Abortion in military policy and congressional politics. [266]
  • The Afro-man police video controversy. [271], [272]. Here’s the video he made using his home CCTV about the police raid: [273]
  • On the heels of the Nashville shooting, Tucker Carlson attacks trans individuals as anti-Christian and violent — “trans-terrorism”. [274]. An image of the shooter appears on screen under the heading “trans killer”. In a second segment [275] he interviews a conservative antifa reporter who suggests there is an “extremist trans fringe” and that trans individuals are particularly susceptible to violent radicalization. People reposting a “trans day of vengence” protest announcement for 4/1 have had their twitter accounts suspended for violent speech.
  • Two examples of “issue commitment” shift:
  • Dems adopt Trump era approaches to asylum applications.
  • Republicans slowly embrace Medicaid expansion [276] Meanwhile, in Mississippi — [277]
  • Another school shooting. Note the repetition compulsion in the news and politics of these events. [278]
  • Michelangelo’s David gets educator fired. [279]
  • SC hears case about doggie chew toy. Serious issues at stake. [280]
  • Iraq War remembrances at 20 years. Abu Ghraib torture and war crimes. [281]
  • What happens to people who get out of jail after serving their time? [282]. California to try prison reform, starting with San Quentin.
  • Example of variability in issue commitment. Bush’s PEPFAR initiative on aid reaches 20 year mark. [283]
  • UPenn professor — Racism, nationalism, and academic freedom. [284]
  • A Substack to consider, in relation to culture and values. [285]
  • Major protests in Israel today.
  • Breanna Taylor follow-up. Pattern of discriminatory policing in Louisville. [286]
  • Famous linguist, Noam Chomsky, weighs in on generative AI, such as ChatGPT. [287]
  • Abortion issue: This American life episode, “Leaving”[288]. New suit against states accused of unclear law affecting maternal and fetal health. [289]
  • Anti-drag performance bills proliferate. [290]
  • Values melt down at NIC threatens 50 year college. [291]
  • Addio, Judith Heumann, disability rights activist. [292]
  • Vietnam era Medal of Honor story. [293]
  • Using the student loan debt forgiveness issue to illustrate "issue commitment" vs "orientation" AND "issue commitment shift"
  • Conflicting intuitions over student loan debt forgiveness. [294].
  • Italian immigration tragedy. [295]
  • Why do some jobs come with child care and others don’t? [296]
  • Dilbert creator’s racist rant. [298]
  • Would it bother you if your neighbor pointed their doorbell cam at your door? [299]
  • Tax evasion. (Student contributed). [300]
  • CNN’s Don Lemon makes sexist remarks while commenting on Nikki Haley. [301]
  • When Do Creepy Facebook Messages Cross a Constitutional Line? [302]. And related case on Section 230. [303]
  • Be careful in museums. [304]
  • Lamar Johnson freed after 28 years of wrongful conviction. [305]
  • Reporting on rail company accident and profits. [306]
  • Spokane's City Line coming online. [307]
  • New concerns about train wreck. What are your expectations for this event?
  • Race and identity politics in France v US. [308]
  • Values discussion emerges in Turkey over corruption and building codes after earthquake. [309] [310]
  • A really big and complicated issue. [311]
  • ”Moral taint” in Memphis police killing tragedy. [312]
  • Joe Rogan anti-Semitic comments. [313]
  • Moral codes collide at State of the Union. Santo and Romney exchange. [314]
  • Ethics News from Italy: Alfredo Cospito political crisis. [315], [316]
  • Yo yo car sales practices. [317]
  • Back to that AP course. Two of the writers whose works were removed discuss the case. [318]
  • Language matters. Controversies over “Latinx”. [319]
  • New details: College Board removes some of the high theory in the African American Studies AP course. [320]
  • Study alleges racial discrimination in IRS audits. [321]
  • George Santos may be getting ready to resign. Talk about awkward. [323]
  • The good thing about population decline. [324]
  • Should Russia be banned from the next Olympic competition? [325]
  • Officers charged in police killing of Tyre Nichols. [326]
  • New liabilities in six year old shooter case.
  • New details: Florida cancels AP class without comment. Concerns about Black Queer Theory and political agenda. [327]
  • Record levels of mass shootings. [328]
  • Corporal punishment in US public schools. [329]
  • When students change gender identity and parents don’t know. [330]
  • Wife shoots terminally ill husband in a pact [331]
  • Alec Baldwin and armorer in Rust movie charged. [332]
  • Texas prison hunger strike continues. [333]
  • Massachusett's man accused of killing wife
  • Moscow, Idaho murders.
  • Michigan mom and two kids freeze to death. [334]

Fall 2022

  • Bipartisan bill to protect same-sex marriage rights passes easily, with LGBTQ Republican support. (Note shift in issue commitment.)
  • And in Germany, a (sort of) attempted coup. Anti-semitism also here. [336]
  • Peru. Oh my. Leftist Leninist authoritarianism for a change.
  • David Cole (ACLU) op ed on 303 Creative v Elenis case. [337]
  • Tampa police officer asks for special treatment. [338]
  • Good news from Iran.
  • Religion, 1st ammendment, and refusal to serve. 303 Creative v Elenis at the Supreme Court. [339]
  • Railway strike challenges libertarian and progressive intuitions about justice.
  • You might expect more sophistication from someone working at Buckingham Palace. [340]
  • Widespread protests continue in Iran and China.
  • US beats Iran 1-0 to advance to next round at World Cup!
  • New York to try different standard for mentally ill. [341]
  • Dobbs follow-up - Same sex marriage likely to be codified by Federal statute.
  • 2024 Presidential candidate has dinner with anti-semite Kanye West and while nationalist Nick Fuentes.
  • Colorado night club shooting. Tragedy, but also a hero. Connections to campaign. Really, a must read profile of Ricahrd Fierro. [342]
  • Climate reparations. [343]
  • Taylor Swift / Ticketmaster controversy deepens. Justice investigates [344]. [345]
  • Gruesome treatment of Alabama execution candidates. [346]
  • Six consecutive life sentences for Darrell Brooks. [347]
  • Victim survivors in Parkland shooting case address killer. [348]
  • Controversy over gender affirming care. [349]
  • FTX collapse has implications for effective altruism. [350] More on the story from a former Ethics student, reporting Ethics News!! [351]
  • Al Gore makes the point at COP27 that climate migration could involve 1 billion humans.
  • Who pays income taxes? [352] and [353]. Don’t forget about sales tax, property taxes, and payroll taxes. The point is that social justice is expensive and the costs cannot be born equally in an unequal society. Whether this unequal burden is oppressive to the richer half of Americans is an open question. For example, we generally don’t see it as oppressive to tax childless people for school costs.
  • Why are elections so close these days? [354]. Review of Insecure Majorities
  • Halloween stampede tragedy in South Korea. [355]. Sad image, but relevant to our empathy unit starting soon.
  • Current climate talks include discussion of “reparations” to developing countries. [356]. Also a good example of a completely “unmotivated” topics for current US politics.
  • Money in US democracy. What did we get for 16 billion? [357]
  • Article on compromises needed to make progress on immigration reform. Apropos of SW2. [358]
  • Overheard at a zag eatery.
  • Interesting take on abortion issue. [bad link!]. Are there clever pro life tik toks?
  • Not ethics news, but something for your next Sunday afternoon! [359] and next couple of weekends! [360]
  • Supreme Court sceptical of race based admissions in higher education. Quick look at competing fairness arguments.
  • New movie, “Call Jane” [361]
  • Not sure how to respond to this one. [362]
  • Jill Lepore on the Constiution’s ammendment history. [363]
  • Polling data on abortion rights. [364]
  • Explaining conspiracy theories. Try this one. [365]
  • GU lecture, "Catholic Teaching on Abortion" Megan McCabe, Religious Studies. Hemmingson 004, 11/3 5-6:30pm.
  • Protester glues head to Vermeer. [366]
  • Mandated Diversity Statement Drives Jonathan Haidt To Quit Academic Society. [367]
  • Does the constitution guarantee a right to vote? [368]
  • Patriot Front graffiti on campus.
  • Addidas cuts contract with Kanye West. 1/4 billion loss.
  • Using culture and demographics to explain extreme political conspiracies like election denial. [369]
  • Radical political rhetoric in the mid-term elections. [370]
  • SC justice Sotomayor on having 4 women on the bench and nice words for Clarence Thomas.

[372]

  • Sadness over the loss of a GU student and related traumas.
  • Florida police arrest ex-felons who were allowed to vote. [373][374]
  • French cement company, Lafarge, guilty of funding ISIS to protect its business. [375]
  • Finally, super positive ethics news! Check out “My Unsung Hero Hidden Brain” for really nice “small” stories of people being everyday moral heroes. Watch one and report it to class as ethics news. [376]
  • Billion dollar judgement in Alec Jones Info Wars judgement. [377]
  • New developments in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. [378]
  • LA City Council members recorded making racist remarks. [379]. Now linked to redistricting probe. [380]. Good example of . . . ?
  • Please read this article for next class. It addresses some of the ideas we will encounter in discussing the Dobbs decision. [381]
  • Uvalde suspends school police department. [384]
  • Biden to pardon large group of people convicted of marijuana possession. [385]
  • Tucker Carlson on Hurricane Ian. Climate change "light" and negative partisanship.
  • Alabama redistricting (gerrymandering) case at SC raises questions about “race neutral” methods and the 14th amendment.
  • Updates on Brett Favre, the chess cheater (alleged), and Herschel Walker.
  • Jeffrey Daumier series raises concerns (widely reported by students). [386]
  • Fairness concerns over legislative approaches to climate change and disaster relief. [387]
  • Kim Kardashian fined 1.3 million. [388]
  • Addio, Loretta Lynn!
  • Georgia Senate candidate, Herschel Walker, may have a consistency problem. [389]. More details today: [390]
  • Example of group or collective responsibility. [391]
  • Football’s big problem. [392]
  • Nordstream pipeline bomb releases 1/10 the annual industrial consumption of Germany, mostly as methane, a particular bad greenhouse gas. [393]
  • Brett Favre scandal. [394]
  • Apropos of our discussion of Hibbing, recall the Dr. Oz "crudite" flop. [395] . Like Obama's arugula faux pas.
  • Iranian president cancel's NY interview with American journalist because she refused (the unprecedented request) to wear a head scarf.
  • Updates on Iran prison death case and widespread protests. Her name is Mahsa Amini.
  • Indictments in massive covid-relief fraud scheme. [396]
  • Bad behavior by ducks. [397] Recalling a bad day for Zags.
  • Johnson & Johnson's strategy for avoiding liability in asbestos cases. A New Yorker article on the topic is in the shared folder. See this news article for a short explanation.
  • New episode of This American Life, "Ends of the Earth," which is mostly a version of Amy Bloom’s In Love, a moving account of her husband’s dementia and physician-assisted suicide in Switzerland with Dignitas. You don’t get too many accounts of that process, and none like this one. In addition to the immediate issue of assisted suicide, it highlights another avowed “basic liberty” that Americans must travel for.
  • Yeshiva suspends all student organizations as part of legal strategy to protect its rights as a religious organization. [398]
  • Cynicism in handling of immigrants. [399].
  • Patagonia makes a big statement. [400]
  • Penalties for bad behavior on airlines. [401]
  • Example of cooperative behavior among animals normally in a predator/prey relationship. [402] Student contributed.
  • Anti-trans bill abandons “genital inspection” option. [403]
  • Campaign against site that harasses transgender and neuro-divergent (e.g. including autistic persons) persons. [404]
  • Antiquities scandal, like the bestseller. [405]
  • Spokane to begin enforcing "sit/lie" ordinance against homeless now that new shelter is in place. [406]
  • GOP official recommends breaking rules in Michigan election oversight zoom session. [407]
  • Loss of important advocate for social justice, Sandra "Sandy" Williams. See Thaynes' thoughts and prayers email and local news.
  • Followup on the question: What is conscientiousness and how is it measured? [408]
  • Return of polio highlights morality of vaccination for kids. [409]
  • Does social media make it harder to be a good person? [410] Student contributed.
  • Pandemic claims two decades’ progress on math and reading scores, with differential effects by SES. [411]
  • News on alleged Uyghur rights abuses. [412]
  • Ok, not obviously ethics news, but relevant to our study of culture, and a cool thing to know. [413]
  • The Ethicist answers a practical question. [414]
  • Pakistan flooding raises question of climate change culpability [415]
  • Bend OR shooting hero. [416]

Spring 2022

  • More reporting on the Patrick Lyoya killing. [417]
  • Jonathan Haidt, "Why the past 10 years of American life have been so uniquely stupid," [418]. This essay can be the basis of an optional short paper for 10%.
  • Unfit for the Future by Ingmar Persson and Julian Savulescu. Interesting scholarly book touching on themes from our class. [419]
  • Addio, Orrin Hatch! A well-respected conservative and longest serving member of the Senate (42) in US History. Yet, some moral blindspots. He alleged that parts of Anita Hill’s accusations against Clarence Thomas had been plagiarized from the book The Exorcist, and once said, “I wouldn’t want to see homosexuals teaching school any more than I’d want to see members of the American Nazi Party teaching school” (Harper’s)
  • Homeless in Malibu [420]. Listen at 1:39.
  • Death sentence delayed for Melissa Lucio, Innocence Project client. [421]
  • What happens when you really don’t agree with the dictionary. [422]
  • Some details on rejected math textbooks in Florida. [423]
  • Democrats gerrymander too. [424]
  • Disney and Florida Republicans involved in chaotic culture war over LGBTQ+ issues, especially “Don’t say gay” law. [425]
  • DOJ investigation into Mississippi Prison, Parchman. [426]
  • Washington Insurance Commission Chiefs has ethical problems. [427]. Compare to a happy story here at Gonzaga.
  • Grand Rapids, Michigan police offer kills unarmed man in a traffic stop over a vehicle registration issue.[428], [429]
  • January 6 insurrection suspect pursues interesting legal theory in his defense. [430] Compare to recent acquittal of Michigan defendants in Governor's abduction plan. [431]
  • Shooter in the Brooklyn subway incident has a pretty troubled history.
  • Maybe we should join the ICC - International Criminal Court?
  • What would an effective altruist do about the war? [432]. Student submitted.
  • Article on effective giving. [433]. Student submitted.
  • Medical error case raises the question of moral responsibility for "mistakes" [434]
  • Ketanji Brown Jackson becomes the first African American woman to be a US Supreme Court Justice.
  • War ethics — When would you not play the “we can’t risk escalation” card?
  • An example of negative partisanship in the wake of GOP dogwhistle to Qanon pizzagate conspiracy. [435].
  • Business zoning issue. [436]
  • Fair contract case: Training truck drivers. [437]
  • Evidence of war crimes as Russia pulls back from northern cities and suburbs of Kiev. Some calling it a genocide.
  • Sentencing for Cruz in MS Douglas school shooting. [438]
  • Parrhesia.
  • More gerrymandering, this time from Democrats [439]
  • Free philosophy books in April. Check this folder every Monday for new free books.
  • New detail on the Chris Rock Will Smith slap incident.
  • Ginni Thomas texts to Mark Meadows regarding January 6 insurrection raise conflict of interest questions for Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas.
  • Will Smith slaps Chris Rock at the Oscars. What is your judgement of Smith? Would it change your judgement if his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, got up and slapped Rock?
  • Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education Bill” (aka “Don’t say gay” bill) signed into law. [441]. Mention Lepore article from NYer (in shared folder).
  • Adults misbehaving. [442]
  • Dry Fly -- Would you boycott a business if the only thing you knew about it is that the owners had different politics than yours?
  • Some details about Happy the Elephant, orcas, and other elephants. Mirror self recognition. Communication. Response to researcher's new child. Orcas grieving.
  • US declares treatment of Rohingya in Myanmar a genocide. [443]
  • Remembering Rwanda.
  • Racial covenants on property titles [444]
  • Is Happy, the elephant, a person? See "The Elephant in the courtroom" in the shared folder. A nice example of an optional assignment.
  • Ukrainian refugees at the southern US Border raise claims of preferential treatment. Other examples with Poland.
  • From On Tyranny (2017), Timothy Snyder, tenth of 20 lessons from the 20th century:
  • ”Believe in Truth: To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle.”
  • Bulldog breeding issue. [445]
  • Idaho Lt. Gov. delivers taped message in support of white nationalist group. [446]; Rep. Marjorie Greene speaks at white nationalist, pro-Russian event. [447]
  • 2nd amendment advocates make a point with Ukraine war.
  • Cognitive dissonance in real time. Joe Rogan factchecked on his show. [448]
  • Thinking of war in Ukraine.
  • Russia invades the sovereign country of Ukraine.
  • Ahmaud Arberry's killers found guilty of hate crime.
  • Misuses of Apple air tags [449]
  • Netflix’s first Arabic film sparks controversy over “western morals”. [450]
  • Colleague's talk at local community college (shared folder).
  • Addio P. J. O'Rourke! [451]
  • Kamila Valieva case.
  • US Seizes 7 billion in Afghan assets. 1/2 to 9/11 victims 1/2 to Afghan relief. [452]
  • Local prosecutor defends against questions raised by wife’s “white nationalist” identity and online racist speech. Haskelll [453]
  • Congress considering bill to ban forced arbitration for employees alleging sexual assault cases. [454]
  • Industrial chicken production. [455]
  • Studying gun violence as a public health threat. [456]
  • Philosophy resource recommended by one of our own! Philosophy Tube [458]. Also, check out this compilation of philosophy podcasts [459]
  • Multiple HBCUs receive bomb threat at the start of Black History Month.
  • Brian Flores NFL discrimination suit. [460] (Thanks to Section 2 for initial report.)
  • Panhandle Housing Report claims the only 1/4 of people living in N. Idaho can afford to buy a home there. Normally, we think of just market outcomes as morally acceptable. Would there be anything problematic about wealthy people displacing the people who live in a region?
  • Five new books (electronic) at Foley on political polarization:
  • Chris Bail, Breaking the Social Media Prism, Princeton
  • Taylor Dotson, The Divide, MIT
  • Peter Coleman, The Way Out, Columbia
  • Robert Talisse, Sustaining Democracy, Oxford
  • Ezra Klein, Why We're Polarized
  • Spotify ethical drama. Note: Distinction between publisher and public square. Podcasts are a growth area in Spotify’s business model.
  • Historical notes on choosing SC justices for diversity: Reagan & 1st Bush also announced intention to appoint, respectively, a female and African-American candidate. You won’t hear this from Tucker.
  • Justice Breyer’s remarks on the ocassion of his retirement. Starts at 7:47 [461].
  • Famine politics. Should we send aid to Afghanistan?
  • John Stockton will not be at Gonzaga sporting events for a while. [462]
  • US libel laws a focus in Sarah Palin suit. [463]
  • Thich Nhat Hanh, Monk, Zen Master and Activist, Dies at 95. [464]
  • Startling rise in prison deaths in 2020. [465]. Here’s an organization that advocates for prisoners [466]
  • The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released a report, “The Civil Rights Implications of Cash Bail” [467]
  • If cultures are teams, how’s ours doing? [468]
  • Thinking our way out of the pandemic. NYer commentary on how think our way to the endemic. (in shared folder).
  • American tax haven culture. NYBR review article of two books on kleptocracy. (in shared folder).
  • Supreme Court takes religious freedom and employment case. [469]
  • More on the NY fire: from Fox: “FDNY Fire Marshals said Monday the fire was caused by an "accidental, malfunctioning space heater." The blaze started on the second and third floors and was then exacerbated by open doors in part of the building, which allowed the fire and smoke to spread throughout. Officials have said the building had no sprinkler system and no fire escapes.” Why are there buildings without sprinkler systems in NY? [470]
  • More on the cause of the Philly fire [471]

Winter break 2021-22

  • Something to consider while you watch American football. [472]

Fall 2021

  • Surgeon General warns of mental health crisis for youth. [473]. Note how this is ethics news in light of our course. Something you might have found more counterintuitive prior to the course.
  • Our culture in the Michigan shooting “moral desert” hunt. Blame vs. Understanding.
  • Remembering Bob Dole.
  • Comparing countries' abortion limits. [474]
  • 15 yr old suspect in Oxford, Michigan shooting to be charged as an adult, because he methodically planned the event.
  • Let's recall two old Ethics News stories that are going to trial and useful to us in today's class:
  • Kimberly Potter - the police officer who meant to tase Duante Wright, but mistakenly grabbed her gun and killed him instead.
  • Amber Guyger - the police officer, off duty, who mistook her neighbor, Botham Jean, for an intruder and killed him. Recently sentenced to 10 years.
  • Debriefing on the Ahmaud Arbery case. [475]. Malice murder, felony murder. (We may look at some felony murder cases as part of our unit. They can be troubling.)
  • Two men convicted of killing Malcolm X exhonerated after spending 20 years in prison. (This from the Innocence Project, referenced in Sapolsky reading today.)
  • Julius Jones’ death sentence commuted hours before execution. Also, an Innocence Project case.
  • Henry Montgomery released. [476]
  • New book on the Guyger case from 9/2018 (Dallas police officer returns from long shifts to what she thinks is her apartment. She enters the apartment, one floor up from hers, of an African American male, Bothan Jean, and kills him thinking he is a dangerous intruder. He's eating ice cream in his living room at the time.) In the victims' statement portion of the trial, Bothan's brother forgives Guyger and asks to hug her. Not everyone thought that was cool. Martha Minow, When Should the Law Forgive, New York Review of Books.
  • Right wing conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, liable for defamation in Sandy Hook cases. Interestingly, he is liable "by default" for refusing to comply with discovery in the case. Commentators have suggested this is a strategic decision on his part. [477]
  • Legal scholars thinking about self-defense claims in a country with lots of guns. [478]
  • Puzzles about self-defense, watching the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. Odd parallel to Ahmaud Arbery case. Self-defense and “reckless endangerment”.
  • Humanitarian crisis on the Polish / Belarus border. [479]
  • Rep. Paul Gossar shares an animated video of him killing another congressperson, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and then turning the weapons toward an animated figure of the president.
  • Travis Scott concert tragedy. Is there ethics news here?
  • Since vaccine rollout, covid deaths are disproportionately affecting Republicans. [480]
  • Rich country vaccine surpluses (and expiration dates) growing as poor countries lack vaccine.
  • Ahmaud Arbery jury has 1 African American. 26% in local population. Judge calls it intentional discrimination. Can’t take action.
  • Triggers in the governor’s election. “Parents shouldn’t be telling teachers what to teach.”
  • Academic Freedom / Free Speech case in Florida. [481]
  • Reports of torture from secret US prisons. [482]
  • Controversy over museum holding from colonial period. [483]
  • Controversy over using traffic violations for revenue. [484]
  • Ethical reassessments of historical figures. [485]. In philosophy, Kant and Mill have views that we would regard as racist today.
  • Alec Baldwin shooting tragedy. Ethically, an odd separation of act and culpability.
  • The Philosophy Department Undergraduate Committee is trying to increase our social media presence and they think that one of the best ways to do this is through the app TikTok. They are hoping to produce content with our majors and minors that appeal to a broad spectrum of students. To that end, they would appreciate if you could fill out this very short survey: https://forms.gle/4G8u4JuQQgmBPLB38
  • Philosophy of Law Club, a casual weekly discussion group aimed at undergrads of all majors that meets Friday 12-1. We have switched to a hybrid format, meeting in person in College 1898 (one of the pretty conference rooms by the big doors) or online by zoom at https://gonzaga.zoom.us/j/99034953008. We sometimes have a presenter for about fifteen minutes followed by discussion, or we just choose a topic related to law and philosophy to discuss.
  • Need to enforce Congressional subpoenas (Bannon in the news) raises concern about political prosecution.
  • Parkland shooting pleads guilty. Jury to decide on death penalty.
  • Ahmaud Arbery trial starts.
  • Any ethics news details about the anti-abortion / counter protest event at GU last week?
  • Interesting privacy angle / Nazi prosecutions [486]
  • Are "Stash House Stings" a good idea? [487]
  • Hatch Act complaint against Jen Psaki. [488]
  • Kaiser Permanente strike involves claim of unfairness of “two tier” pay system.
  • Radicalization is a cultural process. Norway killings.
  • Contributor to "The Social Dilemma," discusses the some ethical problems with social media. [491]
  • Animal rights and cultural practices in Germany. [492]
  • The Pandora Papers. [493]
  • Facebook whistleblower shares company research showing negative effects of its products. [494]"The complaints say Facebook's own research shows that it amplifies hate, misinformation and political unrest—but the company hides what it knows. One complaint alleges that Facebook's Instagram harms teenage girls. What makes Haugen's complaints unprecedented is the trove of private Facebook research she took when she quit in May. "
  • Hack of right wing websites raises ethical concerns. [495]
  • A funny story following Thursday’s class.
  • Facebook whistleblower discloses research on adverse effects of Instagram. [496]
  • Controversy erupts over pretigious Yale program. [497]
  • Evidence of limited cooperation in national politics. Playing "chicken" with government shutdowns. Strategies on left and right.
  • Informal discussion of “fairness” — there’s more than one way to be fair. What's a fair way to enforce deadlines for writing assignments in this course?
  • R. Kelley found guilty of dozens of counts of sexual abuses and sex trafficking. [498]
  • Tucker Carlson. Claimed last night that vaccination mandate advocates were part of a quasi-religious cult of left wing politicians that want to suppress your religious freedom.
  • Tim Eyman. Anti-tax advocate, recently found guilty of numerous and “intentional” violations of campaign finance law. [499]
  • Local story of cruelty to a homeless woman. [500]
  • Not ethics news, exactly, but….[501]
  • 20th Anniversary of the Enron scandal.
  • Border patrol whipping migrants from horses.[502]
  • Bizarre mask politics case. [503]
  • Gabby Petito murder. More reporting on differences in news coverage of other missing persons.
  • Possible corruption. [504]
  • Fox News (Tucker Carlson) continues to say that COVID vaccines are not about public health, but a way for elite liberals to control you.
  • France feels betrayed by US nuclear sub deal with Australia.
  • US Gymnasts call out failures in FBI investigation. [505]
  • AOC objects to Senator Manchin referring to her as a "young lady" rather than a Congresswoman.
  • 9/11 memorials also have a moral function. What is it?
  • Online simulation game for trust and cooperation. [506]. Thanks to E. Salazar!
  • Moral problems with drone based warfare. [507]
  • What is a valid religious exemption from the Covid vaccine? [508]
  • Missouri's "2nd amendment sanctuary law" may divide gun rights advocates. [509]
  • Theranos fraud case goes to trial. [510]
  • Extraordinary efforts to identify 9/11 victims. 2 new ids 20 years on.
  • Supreme Court allows unusual fetal heartbeat law in Texas to stand. [512]
  • Purdue Pharma settlement. [513]
  • Reports of US vaccinated patients not getting critical care due to full Covid wards.
  • US may have thwarted a second ISIS attack in Kabul, but may have caused 10 civilian deaths.
  • US military personnel lost during Kabul evacuation are moral heroes.

Spring 2021

  • What is unusual about this picture? [515]
  • How do you study policing problems with data? [516]
  • Another side of neoliberal punishment. CEO rewards. [517]
  • Supreme Courts rejects limits on Life Terms for Youths. [518]
  • Intuitions about the Chauvin punishment. Do you have distinct intuitions about the type of finding of guilt vs. the incarceration. Would you have been surprised or upset if the punishment came to 6, 12, or 18 years?
  • Example of “category shift” from retributive/criminal model to public health model. Is this an inappropriate abandonment of an opportunity to give "deserved" punishment? [519]
  • Just in at Foley! The Routledge handbook of the philosophy and science of punishment [520]
  • Derek Chauvin murder trial verdict reached.
  • Labels and Orientation: George Bush comments on immigration rhetoric in Congress and the GOP. Probably alluding to failed effort to launch the "America First Caucus".
  • ”America First Caucus” cancelled at the last minute. [521]
  • Example of philosophers talking about empathy. [522]
  • Preliminary item from Tucker Carlson study. Tucker Carlson makes Ethics News! [523]
  • Daunte Wright police shooting.[524]
  • Caron Nazario pepper spray incident. [525]
  • First person account of China's detention facilities in Xinjiang. [526]
  • Still puzzled about vaccine passports after vaccine is widely available. "assumed risk", "protection of unvaccinated"?
  • Taking responsibility for pygmy rabbits. [527], [528]
  • How does the kind of knowledge affect judgements of moral responsibility? [530]
  • Global corporate minimum tax. Reducing tax havens.
  • New measures aimed at limiting acceptance of transgender individuals.
  • Boycotts over Ga’s new voting laws.
  • Vaccine passports raising ethical concerns.
  • A story from the Innocence Project's Conviction Integrity Unit - Toforest Johnson. [532]
  • Matt Gaetz scandal.
  • Can we anticipate how infrastructure will become politicized?
  • NCAA has a tough day at the Supreme Court.
  • Minnesota case recalls old Italian court judgement [534].
  • New research from school shooting threats that were discovered and prevented.
  • Asian hate crime in NY in which bystanders fail to act.
  • Why it's hard to watch the George Floyd trial.
  • New milestone in declining religious affiliation. [535].
  • Minnesota Supreme Court case challenges rape charge in cases in which the victim gets drunk. [536]
  • Mass shootings, gun buying, and the pandemic. [537], [538]
  • Follow up on climate change polling data. [539]
  • Police officer Eric Talley likely a hero in the Colorado grocery store mass shooting.
  • Arnold Lecture on Technology and Religion. [540]
  • Comment on "The Social Dilemma" - Attention is a precious resource!
  • Listening to Tucker Carlson through course lens.
  • Horrible violence in Atlanta.
  • Catholic Church reverses Pope Francis' famous "Who am I to judge?" statement.
  • A more complicated case of free speech at work. [543]
  • Some follow ups on the terrible car crash. [544], [545]
  • Interesting student recommended documentary: The Social Dilemma
  • A connection between Ethics and Happiness News! - Neuroplasticity & compulsive liars, Neuroplasticity and "unhappiness makers" (like negative chatter or rumination. Check out Ethan Kros, Chatter.).
  • Neera Tanden nomination withdraw over incendiary comments. [546]
  • Crash of SUV with 25 people. Many deaths. Raised in "Moral Responsibility and Free Will" class.
  • 6 Dr. Seuss titles retired. [547]
  • Meanwhile, here's what we're talking about in "Moral Responsibility and Free Will" News!
  • Wa Supreme Court decision invalidates drug possession law. [548]
  • A handful of Ethics News!:
  • Washington may ban "open carry" at protests. [549]. Meanwhile, Montana goes the other way. Guns on campus. [550]
  • Nxivm cult doctor defends "branding" women in the cult. [551]
  • Some states are connecting marijuana legalization to social justice issues. [552]
  • Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, faces 2nd sexual harassment charge [553]
  • Anti-Asian assaults spike in US. [554]
  • More vaccine corruption stories: Rich and powerful in South America this time.[555]
  • Marjorie Taylor Greene and workplace free speech. [556]
  • Meet a holy person in the class: Mother Meera [557]
  • Virginia becomes the first Southern state to eliminate the death penalty. Interesting reporting on crime victims responses. A proxy for retribution in some cases.
  • Something for our upcoming work on fair contracts. [558]
  • Interesting value at stake in Cruz scandal. Why do we want politicians to stick around? How is trust related to this value?
  • Lots of questions about responsibility for Texas power outage.
  • Gonzaga's current diversity training for Faculty and Staff tracks similar research as we have discussed: implicit bias, automatic inferences, but also current information about addressing people's identity and discrimination.
  • Not just Olympic officials make moral mistakes. [559]
  • Olympics official makes sexist comment, not immediately consequential.[560]
  • More vaccine ethics cases. [561].
  • Spokane Temple Beth Shalom vandalized.
  • Defamation lawsuit against Fox prompts programming changes. [562]. Additional article [563].
  • Zoom deplatforms controversial Palestinian intellectual, cancelling a University of SF campus event. [564] (student submitted)
  • Biden admin's ethics rules.[565] (student submitted)
  • FBI agents die in line of duty.
  • Captain Tom passes away.[566]
  • Equity issues in vaccine distribution. [567]
  • Meet a holy person in the class: Nagasena. 1 of 18 Arhats in Mahayana Buddhism, Nagasena is also famous for having a philosophical discourse with a Greek, Menander ("Milinda" in India). All around 150b.c.
  • Policing and people in crisis. [568]
  • An Illinois woman, Sue Gandhi, is in the news for operating her own food bank from her garage.
  • Discussions in the news suggest there is some pressure to hold members of Congress accountable for sympathy to white supremacy or insurrection. Some argue that sympathy for insurrection or the assassination of one’s colleagues is incompatible with the oaths of office and should have consequences, at least within their party or by Congresses’ ethics committee. The case of Margorie Taylor Greene is in the news in this connection, but also with its own fact pattern.
  • Wahington state is considering banning guns at protests and at the state Capital. This nyt article discusses the issue.
  • Vaccine ethics -- Lots of people are hunting for vaccines ahead of their turn. In the spirit of Ariely, note how confusion about the distribution might affect behavior. A local vaccine story. Any vaccine ethics stories?
  • A social moral value promoted at the Inauguration was "unity". What would it mean for someone to integrate this value along with their more partisan values (left or right)? After all, unity is a different type of value than values that drive our partisan views.
  • Capitol Hill Police officer who led insurrectionists away from Senate is promoted and honored at the Inauguration today.
  • Two examples of values “pivots”: Proud Boys Mock Trump and QAnon recalculated.
  • US accuses China of genocide.

Fall 2020

  • More attention in press to problems of geriatric political leaders.
  • Justified Partiality? [569]
  • First sighting of a "Quetzal" in Final Essay animals! [570]. Welcome quetzl!
  • Values conflicts among Republicans over "parallel universe" strategy.
  • Ethical issues in vaccine distribution.[571]
  • The idea of a pardon.
  • Giving Tuesday!
  • New study on Covid behaviors in US since first wave of pandemic. Partisan split grew since Spring.
  • Political polling. Say vs. Mean [572]
  • Nurse Heroes Foundation [573]
  • Man fights alligator to save puppy. [574]
  • Not in line for an empathy award. [575]
  • New podcast in Spokane seeks to promote civil civic discourse. [576]. Aiming at unity, coming from a progressive group, I think. Cf. Liberty project at national level.
  • FBI releases hate crimes report. [577] google "hate crimes report news" for lots of other reporting.
  • Pfizer vaccine shows great promise!
  • Gonzaga's Black Student Union attacked online.
  • Emily Harrington's climb [578]
  • Some connections between the election and our research.
  • Minority groups and labels. S. Florida latinos, African American men
  • Republican women flipped seats and many more minority candidates. 1st transgender congressperson?
  • Values to watch in electoral politics 2021.
  • The need to listen in a democracy: urban / rural, race triggers (from successes and failures), inequality.
  • New fair contract case.
  • And Vienna.
  • More terrorist street attacks in France.
  • Whistleblower gets $115 million. [579]. Previous record $109 million.
  • Systemic problem of "gaming" public opinion in political ads on some social media, like Facebook. Facebook stops taking new political ads prior to election.
  • Pope Francis makes news in a new documentary, just out in Rome.
  • Ethics of consent in recent "challenge trials". Larger topic of research ethics, human subjects.
  • Marantz, Andrew. "Explicit Content" New Yorker. On Facebook content regulation. Nice case study. See also other journalism on Facebook by Marantz. Update. I missed the mention of his book, which would make a nice book group choice. [580]. Also, the cover story on the Economist this week. This one is hot!
  • Contact tracers are having trouble getting people to cooperate. Virus fatigue and moral effort. China today.
  • Woman who called police on African American birdwatcher sentenced. [581]
  • Report from The WEIRDEST people in the world: Study of Inuit trip's success with superior cooperation "package".
  • Militia group arrested plotting to kidnap Michigan governor. [582]
  • Covid therapy uses fetal tissue technology. [583]
  • Nobel prize news! Crisper, women in science.
  • A federal judge has ordered Twitter to reveal the identity of an anonymous user who allegedly forged an FBI document to spread a conspiracy theory about the killing of DNC staffer Seth Rich in 2016. [584]

Spring 2019

  • More bad parents -- college admissions scandal larger than thought.
  • Dissent between Mueller and Barre on the gravity of M's report.
  • Venezuela uprising
  • Vets from Iraq and Afghanistan objecting to lack of visas for local collaborators.
  • Supreme Court likely to allow citizenship question on census on separation grounds.
  • Supreme Court to decide whether LGBTQ and transgender individuals are included in the Civil Rights Act.
  • First malaria vaccine rolling out.
  • The Mueller Report
  • 25th Anniversay of the Rwandan genocide
  • Arguing over disaster relief aid.
  • Nipsey Hussle story.
  • Smollett charges dropped.
  • Attorney General reports results of Mueller report: exoneration on criminal charges related to collusion with a foreign power. not exonerated on obstruction of justice, but AG judges nothing to prosecute.
  • New Zealand massacre.
  • College admissions bribery scandal
  • North Carolina Voter fraud case. Poignant detail.
  • Point about group responsibility in Southern Baptist Sexual Abuse Scandal.
  • New rules on handling sexual assault cases on college campuses provoking controversy.
  • Government shut down as lesson in "background" rules in moral system which distinguish what is legitimately "in play" in a conflictual decision making process.
  • Controversy over high schoolers alleged disrespect of an older native american man.

Fall 2018 Florence

  • Friday court filings related to possible criminal conduct in the Executive branch of government
  • More on yellow vest protests
  • Michigan legislature, known for gerrymandering, loses election and then tries to limit incoming governors’ ability to fix gerrymandered districts.
  • Examples of racism in the Election.
  • "Blexit" -- a campaign to move African American voters away from the Democratic Party. [588] [589]
  • Study on white / non-white's concern about environment and respective perception of concern.
  • Synagogue shooter's views of immigrants.
  • Megan Kelly defends and then apologies for defending “black face” Halloween comments.
  • Khashoggi son forced to shake hands with likely killer of his dad.
  • UN speeches for and against multilateralism and globalism. Later this term, we will read about globalism, which is a system of moral and political views advocating the weakening of national sovreignty in favor of multilateral agreements. It has clear implications for immigration, but also for a host of other issues. Read this article to get some information about where the US, France, and other countries are on this emerging moral perspective.
  • Follow the case of alleged sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh

Past semester's Ethics News!

  • New research on Trump voters motivations [590]
  • Let's try to look out for news stories with ethical dimensions and quickly identify them. You might post a link or just report your item in class.
  • Check out Rev. Carleton Pearson's story in the new movie, Come Sunday
  • Political movement toward Federal decriminalization of marijuana.
  • James Shaw, Jr., Waffle House Hero. [591]
  • New therapies for opiod and heroin use offer the prospective of “vaccines” which block the effects of these highly addictive drugs. Should users be required to take vaccines?
  • Example from FIRE website: [592] of new attitudes toward liberty of thought and conscience.
  • What are the ethical issues behind the raid of the president's private attorney's office?
  • Details from a local radio story on the local congressional rep race: McMorris-Rogers (R) vs. Brown (D). supporters on each side show predicted MFT triggers.
  • More chemical attacks on children, women, and male civilians in Syria.
  • ongoing teacher strike in Oklahoma raises distinct ethical claim. (Not just homo economicus.)
  • This Inlander article raises interesting questions about how values enter into community planning and development. [593]
  • Consider attending an Ethics Bowl team scrimmage this month. More details from Dr. Maria Howard (howardm@gonzaga.edu)
  • Police shootings of unarmed black men. The Sacramento case of Stephon Clark.
  • Hero in French terror attack.
  • "Catch and Kill" journalism in the case of Karen McDougal.
  • Cambridge Analytica news. Consider hypotheticals.
  • "Fairness" in trade. (Will come up in globalization discussions.)
  • More k-12 student walkouts
  • West Virginia teachers' strike offers example of inequity aversion, ethics in negotiation.
  • Learning about the views of Jordan Peterson, who claims a right of conscience to not use new gender pronouns. See his wiki page.
  • Quick change in gun control views. Today's student walkouts seem to be making a values statement.
  • The dehumanizing effect of scripted call center interactions.
  • Weinstein Lawsuit holds up sale of troubled company - group resp
  • The idea of Baby bounds: giving all youths money to start out with as young adults.
  • [594]
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