Category: ethics

Trump is a psychopath

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

I’m quite sure the majority of psychologists would agree.

Dr. Robert Hare, professor emeritus at UBC and the FBI’s top consulting psychologist on psychopaths, devised the Psychopathy Checklist, used by psychologists around the world …

1. Glibness, superficial charm
2. Grandiose sense of self-worth
3. Need for stimulation, proneness to boredom
4. Pathological lying
5. Conning, manipulative
6. Lack of remorse or guilt
7. Shallow affect
8. Callous, lack of empathy
9. Parasitic lifestyle
10. Poor behavioral control
11. Promiscuous sexual behavior
12. Early behavior problems
13. Lack of realistic long-term goals
14. Impulsivity
15. Irresponsibility
16. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
17. Many short-term marital relationships
18. Juvenile delinquency
19. Revocation of conditional release
20. Criminal versatility

trump-make-america-hate

That said, I’m guessing the majority of politicians would score high on that test. Especially right wing politicians.

Bernie Sanders would score low, however. Justin Trudeau would score low.

… Experts believe between one and two per cent of the general adult male population are psychopaths …

“Psychopaths are every bit as rational as any human being, if not more so, because they don’t have the noise of human emotion,’’ says Dr. Stephen Porter, Professor of Forensic Psychology at the University of British Columbia. …

CBC

Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us is the book to read. You definitely know psychopaths. Stay away. They are con artists. Egomaniacs.

related – The Trump Effect: Falling for Successful Psychopaths

Carson, Trump, Cruz lie the most

On By Rick McIn ethics, governmentLeave a comment

Statements since 2007 by presidential candidates (and some current and former officeholders) ranked from most dishonest over all to least dishonest, as fact-checked by PolitiFact. “Pants on Fire” refers to the most egregious falsehoods. …

If Mr. Trump and his fans saw video of thousands of people cheering in New Jersey, why has no one brought it forward yet? Because it doesn’t exist. …

NY Times

click for larger version
click for larger version

Inside Assad’s Syria | FRONTLINE

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, Islam, things getting worseLeave a comment

Like most people who have visited Syria, I loved the place. The people are extremely welcoming to visitors.

I’ve been following the terrible, terrible disaster. With sadness.

I thought I knew something about the civil war. The best information I’ve seen is a new 55min documentary by PBS correspondent Martin Smith.

On-the-ground reporting and firsthand accounts from Syrians caught in the crisis.

Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.

Insanely, it highlights a new tourist resort in Homs only 10 miles from rebel fighting. 😦

After watching it, I blame the U.N. Security Council much more. Russia is propping up al-Assad.

Bashar Hafez al-Assad is the President of Syria, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces, General Secretary of the ruling Ba’ath Party and Regional Secretary of the party’s branch in Syria. In 2000 he succeeded Hafez al-Assad, his father, who had led Syria for 30 years until his death. …

In 1994, after his elder brother Bassel was killed in a car crash, Bashar was recalled (from Medical School in England) to Syria to take over Bassel’s role as heir apparent. He entered the military academy, taking charge of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon in 1998. In December 2000, Assad married Asma Assad …

Once seen by the domestic and international community as a potential reformer, Assad disappointed those expectations definitively when he ordered mass crackdowns and military sieges on Arab Spring protesters, leading to the Syrian Civil War. …

… the United States, Canada, the European Union and the majority of the Arab League have called for al-Assad’s resignation from the presidency. …

… an inquiry by the United Nations human rights chief found evidence to implicate Assad in war crimes and crimes against humanity. …

Bashar_and_Asmaa_al-Assad_in_Moscow

Hafez al-Assad has to go. He’s not as bad as we’ve heard, but he’s bad. When al-Assad does flee, more innocents will die in the resulting fight for power. I can’t see any road map to peace in the near future. Many Syrians are willing to die in that struggle. 😦

Asma al-Assad was born to Syrian-born parents, raised and educated in the United Kingdom, and graduated from King’s College London in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and French literature. …

She was described by analysts and in media as an important part of the public relations effort of the Syrian government early in her tenure as first lady and she was credited with taking progressive positions on women’s rights and education. …

Laura once had lunch with the first lady. She and the war criminal have 3 children: Hafez, Zein, and Karim. 😦

deaths from extremist attacks USA since 9/11

On By Rick McIn ethics, firearms, government, Islam1 Comment

I don’t see how authorities could have stopped most of these extremist attacks. 😦

… both tolls are tiny compared with the tally of conventional murders, more than 200,000 over the same period. But the disproportionate focus they draw in the news media and their effect on public fear demand the attention of any administration. …

Deaths From Extremist Attacks in the U.S. Since 9/11

deaths

Bill Gates – Cheap, Clean Energy

On By Rick McIn climate change, economics, ethics, governmentLeave a comment

I’m in Paris today with several world leaders for a big announcement on energy and climate change. It is deeply moving to be in this city just two weeks after the horrific attacks here, and I am inspired by the way the French people have persevered in such a difficult time.

Two related initiatives are being announced at today’s event. One is Mission Innovation, a commitment by more than ten countries to invest more in research on clean energy. The other is theBreakthrough Energy Coalition, a global group of private investors who will support companies that are taking innovative clean-energy ideas out of the lab and into the marketplace. Our primary goal with the Coalition is as much to accelerate progress on clean energy as it is to make a profit.

Here’s the thinking behind these two efforts. …

A Big Win for Cheap, Clean Energy

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

former ISIS hostage says “Strikes on Isis Are a Trap”

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, IslamLeave a comment

I strongly believe the best strategy to reduce the risk of terrorist attacks in Canada is for western nations to withdraw from the Middle East.

Nicolas Henin would not agree with me, I think.

Nicolas Henin is a French Journalist who was held hostage by Isis for 10 months. One of his jailers was Mohammed Emwazi, known as “Jihadi John”.

Listen to what Nicolas has to say about Isis, our treatment of refugees and most importantly: what it’ll take to defeat them. …

Films For Action

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

on American poverty

On By Rick McIn Apple, economics, education, ethics, governmentLeave a comment

In his book on the American South, Theroux is very critical of the Clinton foundation. Bill Clinton is from Arkansas. Yet seems to have done very little as a philanthropist to help his home State. Some people in the American south live in worse poverty than some in Africa.

PAUL THEROUX:

… China has been enriched by American-supplied jobs, making most of the destined-for-the-dump merchandise you find on store shelves all over America, every piece of plastic you can name, as well as Apple products, Barbie dolls or Nike LeBron basketball shoes retailed in the United States for up to $320 a pair. …

… if there was one experience of the Deep South that stayed with me it was the sight of shutdown factories and towns with their hearts torn out of them, and few jobs. There are outsourcing stories all over America, but the effects are stark in the Deep South. …

When Mr. Cook of Apple said he was going to hand over his entire fortune to charity, he was greatly praised by most people, but not by me. It so happened that at that time I was traveling up and down Tim Cook’s home state of Alabama, and all I saw were desolate towns and hollowed-out economies, where jobs had been lost to outsourcing, and education had been defunded by shortsighted politicians. …

Some companies have brought manufacturing jobs back to the United States, a move called “reshoring,” but so far this is little more than a gesture. It seems obvious that executives of American companies should invest in the Deep South as they did in China. …

The Hypocrisy of ‘Helping’ the Poor

Deep-South-Four-Seasons-on-Back-Roads-copy-350x252

California has a poverty rate of 23.8%, the highest of any state in the country …

The US Census declared that in 2010 15.1% of the general population lived in poverty:

9.9% of all white persons
12.1% of all Asian persons
26.6% of all Hispanic persons (of any race)
28.4% of all black persons.

wikipedia

If you are in the poverty demographic, you should certainly campaign against the Republican Party. Those people (in general) try to move as many dollars from the poor to the rich. 😦

American companies will eventually reshore factories. When it’s financially advantageous. That could be soon.

Apple – the most profitable company in the world – has made some attempts. Those have been problematic, so far.

Friday is Buy Nothing Day

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, happinessLeave a comment

… Buy Nothing Day (BND) is an international day of protest against consumerism. In North America, Buy Nothing Day is held on the Friday after U.S.Thanksgiving, concurrent toBlack Friday (November 27, 2015) …

home-made Christmas presents are best

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, photosLeave a comment

Wei works in a factory in Yiwu, eastern China, coating polystyrene snowflakes with red powder. He wears a Christmas hat to protect his hair, and goes through at least six face masks a day.

According to the Chinese government press agency, 600 factories in Yiwu produce around 60 percent of the world’s Christmas decorations. The factories are staffed largely by migrant laborers, who work 12-hour days for between 270 and 400 euros a month. Wei, who comes from rural Guizhou, 1,500 kilometers away, is not entirely sure what Christmas is, but thinks that it is a foreigners’ form of Chinese New Year.

click to see source ... or open image in another tab to see larger version
click to see source … or open image in another tab to see larger version

I saw that award winning photo at the 58th World Press Photo contest exhibition in London.

stop logging the Ghost watershed

On By Rick McIn ethics, friends, government, health & fitnessLeave a comment

I signed a Change.org page:

Petitioning Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Honourable and 2 others

Call for an immediate moratorium on logging in the Ghost Watershed.

Ghost watershed

Anna Glaser’s family has a vacation home in the Ghost. Spray Lake Sawmills wants to cut down as many trees as possible. Spray Lake Sawmills is the bad guy. 😦

Here’s Anna’s take on the situation – Ghost Stories

Here are Anna’s family and friends of the Ghost protesting.

2michael-glaser-stop-ghost-clearcut-protesters