How the recent SCOTUS session renewed questions about the Court's legitimacy; Fresh Air, NPR, July 6, 2023

Terry Gross, Fresh Air, NPR; How the recent SCOTUS session renewed questions about the Court's legitimacy

"NY Times legal reporter Adam Liptak says the Court's liberal members have accused the conservative supermajority of engaging in politics and not applying established law to the questions before them...

GROSS: Why is there no code of ethics for the Supreme Court justices when there are codes of ethics for judges?

LIPTAK: There are federal statutes that apply to the justices on disclosure and recusal. So it's not as though they're completely unbounded. But the general code of ethics that applies to all federal judges does not apply to the justices. Moreover, the justices make their own decisions about whether to recuse or not, not subject to second-guessing from anyone else. And that is, you know, at odds with the old adage that no one should be a judge in his or her own case. The largest problem - well, there are many problems. A large problem is that it is a little hard to figure out what the enforcement mechanism ought to be.

If it's the Supreme Court, it's hard to know how you're going to put another body above the Supreme Court and decide when the justices have violated ethics provisions. And it's also probably problematic to let the other justices decide, for instance, who should recuse because that could give rise to strategic behavior to try to get people off a case for reasons unrelated to ethics and related to the outcome of the case. So the whole thing is a tangle, and what you would hope for is that the justices would feel shame and just try to act responsibly.

GROSS: They're the highest court in the land. Like, they are the Supreme Court. And if they don't abide by ethics, then what does it say about the ethics of the decisions and of the court itself? I mean, they're supposed to be monitoring everybody else's ethics.

LIPTAK: The Supreme Court should be a role model. The Supreme Court should be above reproach. The Supreme Court should be the last place we should look for ethics scandals, and yet they seem to arise almost weekly.

GROSS: You know, at the same time, some members of the court might be ethically challenged. Many legal experts think the court is expanding its own power. So if that's true, if there are people on the court who are ethically challenged and, at the same time, the court is expanding its power, that seems like a very questionable combination.

LIPTAK: Yeah, that's not a great combination. And maybe the two things move together because if you have the self-confidence to think you can decide your own ethics principles, you probably also have the self-confidence to think you can decide every other question imaginable."

"Fighting for the Better Good"..."Don't Give Up"..."Don't Surrender", December 2018

Kip Currier: Good touchstone for anyone "fighting for the better good"--in bad times and good times.

Mueller Exposes the Culture of Lying That Surrounds Trump; The New York Times, December 1, 2018

Sharon LaFraniere, The New York Times; Mueller Exposes the Culture of Lying That Surrounds Trump

"If the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has proved anything in his 18-month-long investigation — besides how intensely Russia meddled in an American presidential election — it is that Mr. Trump surrounded himself throughout 2016 and early 2017 with people to whom lying seemed to be second nature.

They lied to federal authorities even when they had lawyers advising them, even when the risk of getting caught was high and even when the consequences for them were dire.

 

Even more Trump associates are under investigation for the same offense. They are part of a group of people surrounding Mr. Trump — including some White House and cabinet officials — who contribute to a culture of bending, if not outright breaking, the truth, and whose leading exemplar is Mr. Trump himself."

Kelly Marie Tran: I Won’t Be Marginalized by Online Harassment; The New York Times, August 21, 2018

Kelly Marie Tran, The New York Times; Kelly Marie Tran: I Won’t Be Marginalized by Online Harassment

"Editors’ note: The actress deleted her Instagram posts this summer in response to online harassment. Here she speaks out for the first time...

"I want to live in a world where children of color don’t spend their entire adolescence wishing to be white. I want to live in a world where women are not subjected to scrutiny for their appearance, or their actions, or their general existence. I want to live in a world where people of all races, religions, socioeconomic classes, sexual orientations, gender identities and abilities are seen as what they have always been: human beings.

This is the world I want to live in. And this is the world that I will continue to work toward.

These are the thoughts that run through my head every time I pick up a script or a screenplay or a book. I know the opportunity given to me is rare. I know that I now belong to a small group of privileged people who get to tell stories for a living, stories that are heard and seen and digested by a world that for so long has tasted only one thing. I know how important that is. And I am not giving up.

You might know me as Kelly.

I am the first woman of color to have a leading role in a “Star Wars” movie.

I am the first Asian woman to appear on the cover of Vanity Fair.

My real name is Loan. And I am just getting started."

Ben Carson Defends Buying $31,000 Dining Set to Congress: ‘I Left It to My Wife’; New York Times, March 20, 2018

Glenn Thrush, New York Times; Ben Carson Defends Buying $31,000 Dining Set to Congress: ‘I Left It to My Wife’

[Kip Currier: HUD Secretary Ben Carson's statement in the excerpt below is the money quote take-away from this article.

Ethics is not only about the substantive impacts of actions but also about how those actions look to other people: The messages--both spoken and unspoken--that  our actions communicate about our own values.

A phrase often heard regarding ethical issues is "air of impropriety", meaning that an action has a sense of not seeming "right", of not being "above board", of not looking good. Even if an action may technically be legal or ethical.

Good ethical decision-making includes consideration of our own internal compasses and the external signals that our actions send to other people. Not just in the current buzzphrase sense of "the optics" of something, but what we are communicating about our priorities and values.

Ethical leadership--especially public service--is concerned with promoting trust in the integrity of our leaders, our institutions, our democratic values and ideals. Being mindful about how something looks--the example we set for others--is an integral component of ethical leadership. That's worth thinking about.]

"On Tuesday, Mr. Carson defended that decision, saying that his son had not profited from his father’s government post.

“HUD’s ethics counsel suggested it might look funny, but I’m not a person who spends a lot of time thinking about how something looks,” Mr. Carson said."

Bendis’ Take on Superman’s Truth, Justice & The American Way; Comic Book Resources, March 3, 2018

Anthony Couto, Comic Book Resources; Bendis’ Take on Superman’s Truth, Justice & The American Way

"Talking all things Superman at his spotlight panel for Emerald City Comic Con, Eisner Award-winning writer Brian Michael Bendis offered a renewed approach to a classic Superman motto: Truth, Justice and the American Way.

Bendis said he’s found new relevance in Superman’s “truth, justice and the American way” adage, which helped inspire him to take on the Man of Steel. “Truth is under siege in our society today,” Bendis continued. “Justice — we see it every day on video, justice is not being handed out to everybody. The American dream, that is also under siege. These things, that seemed cliche just five years ago, are now damn well worth fighting for.”"

The Iceman Cometh Out; New York Times. February 19, 2018

Stephanie Burt, New York Times; The Iceman Cometh Out

"Superhero comics address, and empower, straight white nerdy boys. That’s been true of most comics, for most of their history. But is it the genre’s central truth? For some of us, it never was. As Ramzi Fawaz, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has pointed out, superhero comics are the only popular genre in which anomalous bodies are not just tolerated but celebrated: The same thing that makes you look weird means you can save the world. Moreover, comics — because they involve stories of human (and superhuman) conflict and change; because they show hand-drawn pictures, with stylized faces; because they often appeal to us first in childhood — invite identification: We read them in search of ourselves, or our future selves.

These facts about comics explain — in part — why the X-Men became the most successful superhero franchise of the 1980s. Mutation, the source of X-powers, could stand, well or badly, for stigmatized real-world identities, as well as for the outsider status most kids, at some point, feel. The best X-books integrated real-world diversity too. Under Chris Claremont (who wrote many of them from 1975 to 1991) the core cast included a few women of color, one of them a virtual god, along with very strong hints of queer sexuality. More than almost any other gaudy bang-pow-pop cultural property, X-books offered — then and since — an imaginative space where L.G.B.T. readers could feel at home."

Carla Hayden: By the Book; New York Times, August 3, 2017

New York Times; Carla Hayden: By the Book

"Which book would you wish all Americans would read? And which book would you want all American schoolchildren to read?

I just want people to read, so I have never been prescriptive about it. But I do think “A History of Reading,” by Alberto Manguel, includes a specific chapter that is so important. It is about forbidden reading, and talks about what happens when reading is suppressed. Everyone should understand that reading is not something to take for granted."

"Ripple Effect"; Bizarro, Go Comics, June 19, 2017

Dan Piraro, Bizarro, Go Comics; "Ripple Effect"

A Player Falls Injured At The French Open, And Compassion Takes Over; NPR, June 1, 2017

Bill Chappell, NPR; A Player Falls Injured At The French Open, And Compassion Takes Over

"It's still early in the French Open, but the tournament has already seen a remarkable show of sportsmanship. On Thursday, Juan Martín del Potro climbed over the net to console his opponent, Nicolás Almagro, who was visibly upset by an injury that forced him to withdraw from their match...

As del Potro stepped over the net and walked toward him, Almagro collapsed on the clay court, his sobs clearly audible over the crowd's cheers of encouragement and appreciation. Del Potro, an Argentine who has faced his own injuries, talked quietly with Spain's Almagro before the two walked slowly back to the bench.

As he passed center court, Almagro, who at 31 is ranked No. 69 in the ATP's world tennis rankings, turned back to shake hands and hug del Potro, and to shake the chair umpire's hand.

"People first, tennis players second," the Roland Garros Facebook page stated."

LeBron may or may not be a better player than Jordan, but he's a better man; Guardian, June 1, 2017

Damon Young, Guardian; LeBron may or may not be a better player than Jordan, but he's a better man

"Anyway, while the debate about their games and their talents and their respective grades of greatness remains relevant, there’s no argument that the 32-year-old LeBron far surpasses both the 32-year-old Jordan and today’s 54-year-old Jordan in integrity and bravery. And not the contrived, SkipBaylian artificial measure of character that bases and assesses a man’s testicular fortitude on his LinkedIn profile and whether he possesses an arbitrary “clutch gene,” but real actual character."

"What Would YOU Do?"; Go Comics, May 24, 2017

Lincoln Peirce, Big Nate, Go Comics; 
"What Would YOU Do?"

It Gets Better: U.S. Patent and Trademark employees share their stories; U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 6/25/15

[Video] U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; It Gets Better: U.S. Patent and Trademark employees share their stories:

[Kip Currier: While prepping for a patent lecture for my Intellectual Property and "Open" Movements course next week, I serendipitously found this inspiring "It Gets Better" video from 2015, featuring USPTO Director Michelle K. Lee and openly LGBT employees in the USPTO.]

"“Do not let the bullies of the world distract you from the commitment to achieve your fullest potential,’ says USPTO Director Michelle K. Lee in this video featuring stories from our employees, “It does get better.”"

Why ‘Star Trek’ was so important to Martin Luther King Jr.; Washington Post, 9/8/16

Elahe Izadi, Washington Post; Why ‘Star Trek’ was so important to Martin Luther King Jr. :

"Then, she broke the news to him that she was quitting the show. His smile faded, Nichols recalled later, as he firmly told the actress that she couldn’t leave “Star Trek.”

“He said, ‘Don’t you understand what this man [Roddenberry] has achieved? For the first time on television, we will be seen as we should be seen every day, as intelligent, quality, beautiful people who can sing and dance, yes, but who can go into space, who can be lawyers and teachers, who can be professors — who are in this day, yet you don’t see it on television until now,'” Nichols recalled in a later interview.

He went on: “Gene Roddenberry has opened a door for the world to see us. If you leave, that door can be closed. Because, you see, your role is not a black role, it’s not a female role. He can fill it with anything, including an alien.”...

Nichols stayed on the show, and said she never regretted that life-altering decision. She went on to help NASA recruit new astronaut candidates, many of whom were women and people of color."

Professor's Response to Twitter Slur Goes Viral; Inside Higher Ed, 8/30/16

Inside Higher Ed; Professor's Response to Twitter Slur Goes Viral:

[Kip Currier: Reading this story about Prof. Eric Mendenhall conjured up for me the memorable "When they go low, we go high" maxim from First Lady Michelle Obama's 2016 DNC speech.]

"The fall semester has just started but Eric Mendenhall, an assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, already has schooled the Twitterverse on how to shut down slurs. Mendenhall said a student who had just followed him on Twitter posted that "My genetics teachers is a faggot." Believing the comment to be about him, the professor had this to say..."

"I'm In"; Doonesbury, 7/31/16

Garry Trudeau, Doonesbury:

"I'm In"

Tim Cook Tells Stephen Colbert The Real Reason He Came Out As Gay; HuffingtonPost.com, 9/16/15

Ron Dicker, HuffingtonPost.com; Tim Cook Tells Stephen Colbert The Real Reason He Came Out As Gay:

"Apple CEO Tim Cook, who came out as gay last year, told "The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert Tuesday he made the move out of social responsibility...

Cook gave a thoughtful answer.

Citing a quote about the importance of doing for others by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Cook then told Colbert: "It became so clear to me that kids were getting bullied in school, kids were getting basically discriminated against, kids were even being disclaimed by their own parents, and that I needed to do something.And that where I valued my privacy significantly, I felt that I was valuing it too far above what I could do for other people. And so I wanted to tell everyone my truth.""

Why Is Science So Straight?; New York Times, 9/4/15

Manil Suri, New York Times; Why Is Science So Straight? :

"Underrepresentation is just one factor that reduces visibility. Unlike women and minorities, whose status is usually obvious, sexual orientation is a hidden characteristic. The fact that a sizable proportion of the L.G.B.T. STEM work force is closeted (43 percent, according to a 2015 estimate) further deepens this effect.

There is a another, more insidious factor at work. STEM culture is very problem-focused. Conversations, even over lunch, typically remain restricted to work matters (which is very different from what I’ve noticed in arts and humanities settings)...

In another interview, a chemical engineer working for a multinational oil company describes the atmosphere as “almost militaristic in terms of how they manage people” and said that they don’t even think diversity is an issue. To cope, many gays and lesbians must learn to suppress crucial aspects of their personalities and compartmentalize their lives...

Although there has been a concerted effort to make STEM fields more diverse in terms of gender and race, L.G.B.T. participation has received comparatively scant attention or resources. An exception is a recent grant by the National Science Foundation to address prejudice against sexual minorities in academic engineering departments. Grass-roots organizations like Out in STEM and the National Organization for Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals are taking the lead to provide mentoring and networking — activities that have proved indispensable in the retention of women and minorities.

An essential step is to break self-perpetuating patterns of concealment. Teachers must come out not just to colleagues, but to students — some of whom will need role models, and all of whom must get used to visible L.G.B.T. professionals to prepare for future workplace settings.

More critically, STEM culture must rein in the pressure to separate professional and personal identities. It should view its workers more holistically, welcoming their interests and differences as sources of enhanced resourcefulness."