Category: ethics

Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions

On By Rick McIn books, ethics, GOP USA, government, human rightsLeave a comment

I’m against Capital Punishment. I still recall the moment I decided — in Ms. Dalton’s class. She was my favourite High School teacher.

If it was wrong for people to kill, it was wrong for the government to kill.

ONE reason is the risk of wrongful conviction. Wrongful death penalty.

Check this new non-fiction publication.

In ‘Framed,’ John Grisham teams with an activist to spotlight real-life injustice

Grisham and Jim McCloskey tell 10 gripping and galling tales of the wrongly convicted.

One of the worst cops wrongfully putting people in jail was Norfolk, Virginia Police Detective Robert Glenn Ford. In February 2011, Mr. Ford was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison for other crimes. Ford served his sentence and been released — though some are calling for further investigation into his past extorting confessions from innocent people.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Will and Harper

On By Rick McIn anti-smoking, education, ethics, GOP USA, government, happiness, human rights, movies, things getting worseLeave a comment

An important film.

Unscripted road trip.

Touching.

It’s about friendship. Life. … Aging.

Acceptance about who you are. And being tolerant of others to be who they want to be.

I was quite charmed by the warm welcome Harper got dropping into a random Oklahoma biker bar. (You can still smoke in Oklahoma bars?)

Face to face, people are most often welcoming and open minded. Even rednecks in country bars.

Since 2020, right wing politicians have been attacking the rights of transgender people — simply as a way to motivate their most deplorable voters. Very few of those haters have ever once had an encounter with a trans person.

Considered and attempted suicide rate of transgender people in the United States

from 2000 to 2022, with a forecast from 2023 to 2030

Right wing politicians and influencers like Musk and J. K. Rowling are partially responsible for those suicides.

I admire Will Ferrell trying to bring trans folks some hope with this movie.

I’d to do the same if any of my friends announced they were transitioning.

It’s a complicated process. And different for every single person.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I found the ending of this movie just perfect.

Gumption by Nick Offerman

On By Rick McIn books, ethics, government, human rights, humour, music, philosophyLeave a comment

Nick Offerman has released four semi-autobiographical publications:

  • Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man’s Fundamentals for Delicious Living (2013)
  • Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America’s Gutsiest Troublemakers (2015)
  • Good Clean Fun: Misadventures in Sawdust at Offerman Woodshop (2016)
  • Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside (2021).

Gumption is a humorous, philosophical look at some of the people who have inspired Nick over his lifetime. For example, as a young man he was a huge fan of the film Billy Jack (1971) — and its creator / star Tom Laughlin. He attended Tom’s funeral in 2013 and spent time with the family.

While focused on personal heroes, Nick finds time to expound upon many of his favorite topics such as religion, politics, woodworking, agriculture, creativity, philosophy, fashion, and, of course, meat.

21 profiles of America’s gutsiest troublemakers

  1. George Washington
  2. Benjamin Franklin
  3. James Madison
  4. Frederick Douglass
  1. Theodore Roosevelt
  2. Frederick Law Olmsted
  3. Eleanor Roosevelt
  4. Tom Laughlin
  5. Wendell Berry
  6. Barney Frank
  7. Yoko Ono
  8. Michael Pollan
  1. Thomas Lie-Nielsen
  2. Nat Benjamin
  3. George Nakashima
  4. Carol Burnett
  5. Jeff Tweedy
  6. George Saunders
  7. Laurie Anderson
  8. Willie Nelson
  9. Conan O’Brien

Remembering John Lennon – Oct. 9th

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, human rights, musicLeave a comment

I often wonder what John Lennon would be saying and doing today if he hadn’t been murdered.

His main theme at the end was …

PEACE

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Born Oct. 9, 1940, he’s celebrated annually with the lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The words on the tower are written in 24 world languages:

English: IMAGINE PEACESwahili: TUFIKIRIENI AMANI
Japanese: 平和な世界を想像してごらんIcelandic: HUGSA SÉR FRIÐ
Korean: 평화를 꿈꾸자Turkish: BARIŞI DÜŞLE
Chinese: 想像世界有了和平Persian: به صلح بیندیش
Arabic: احلم سلامFilipino: ILARAWAN ANG MUNDONG MAPAYAPA
Portuguese: IMAGINE A PAZTamil: சமாதானத்தை நினையுங்கள்
‹See Tfd›Russian: ПРЕДСТАВЬТЕ СЕБЕ МИРHungarian: KÉPZELD EL A BÉKÉT
Hindi: शान्ति की कल्पना करेंFinnish: KUVITTELE RAUHA
‹See Tfd›German: STELL DIR VOR ES IST FRIEDENGeorgian: წარმოიდგინეთ მშვიდობა
Italian: IMMAGINA LA PACEStandard Tibetan: ཞི་བ་སྒོམས་
French: IMAGINEZ LA PAIXHebrew: חלום שלום
Spanish: IMAGINA LA PAZInuktitut: ᓴᐃᒪᖃᑎᒌᑦᑕ

related – Pentatonic covers John Lennon’s Imagine

Life According to Mathew McConaughey

On By Rick McIn ethics, happiness, health & fitness, philosophyLeave a comment

The independently made VIDEO is a bit cheesy, but McConaughey does offer some good advice.

Celebrities! Is there anything they don’t know? 😀

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Billionaires should PAY more TAXES

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, GOP USA, governmentLeave a comment

… six people control more wealth than the bottom half of America, and pay an average tax rate of 6%. …

You can argue the number 6% — but American billionaires pay a lower tax rate than YOU.

And that’s stupid.

Professor Galloway argues that it’s a waste of resources to have very few people hoarding so much money:

Hoarders

If I give YOU $100 dollars, you’ll spend it. The economy rolls.

If I give another $100 to a billionaire, it will get locked away in NVIDIA stock. Be less productive.

Billionaires argue that they will GIVE AWAY most of their wealth to worthy charities.

That does help — but Galloway only respects the way it’s being done by two:

  • MacKenzie Scott
  • Melinda French Gates

I’ll have an A.I. Life Coach within 5 Years

On By Rick McIn ethics, friends, happinessLeave a comment

We still have NO IDEA how Artificial Intelligence will be affecting our lives in 5 years.

Perhaps Alicia Vikander as Ava will be a reality.

Kevin Roose made 18 A.I. friends online from many different services. And interacted with them for a month.

Here he sums up the state of the art in April 2024.

Amazing. But still far from human.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I might like to chat with Victoria Shi, the AI spokesperson for the Ukraine foreign ministry.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Systematic Sexism over my Lifetime

On By Rick McIn books, ethics, human rights, product endorsements, things getting betterLeave a comment

Long before I started this blog (weblog or online diary) — I was a list maker.

For example, I had a long, long list of books I’d read.

One day I drew up a list of favourite authors.

At some point I noticed that this list, and my full list, had very few female writers. (Dervla Murphy was a conspicuous exception.)

I had grown up with some kind of white man born in Canada 1957 bias towards male writers. Subconscious.

Since then I’ve made every effort to pay attention to female writers. And they now make up 50% of my books.

Even an old dog can learn.

Here’s that old list.

rick-mccharles-e28094-booksDownload

International Fact-Checking Day

On By Rick McIn bad news, climate change, ethics, Facebook, GOP USA, government, internet, product complaints, TwitterLeave a comment

International Fact-Checking Day was introduced at a conference for journalists and fact-checkers at the London School of Economics in June 2014.

… officially created in 2016 and first celebrated on April 2, 2017. …

It rose in importance after the 2016 elections, which brought fake news, as well as accusations of it, to the forefront of media issues. …

The invention of the Internet ➙ and Social Media made it much easier to circulate disinformation and misinformation.

What that means for YOU and ME is that we need check everything with sources we trust.

FactCheckingDay.com