On May 30^th, Iowa senator Joni Ernst held a Town Hall in Butler County. These are usually said to be to listen to the concerns of constituents.

When someone called out “People are going to die!” Ernst replied “Well, we are all going to die.” The audience groaned, and she admonished them, “For Heaven’s sakes, folks.”

Here’s some context. Many of the citizens present were alarmed about the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” barely passed by the House and now before the Senate. The bill is indeed big, and contains many horrible things. Medicaid cuts in it will affect millions of people. Ernst defended the bill and argued that people who would lose Medicaid were illegal immigrants. She didn’t say that all of them were. Good, because that’s not true. One in 5 Iowans get Medicaid.

Along with the bill’s proposed defunding of Planned Parenthood, one particular effect would be no coverage for prenatal care, childbirth, and postnatal care. Oh, and the closing of rural hospitals.

So yes, cuts anything like the ones proposed will result in many deaths. Rural people, poor people, old people, baby people, and more.

You want medical care? Seriously? Photo: Gage Skidmore.

When Ernst’s “We are all going to die” remark went public, there was a lot of anger about it. Enough that she apparently felt she should apologize. Or was advised to apologize.

As we often say, a bad apology can make things worse. This was one of those cases.

She filmed it in a graveyard.

Hello, everyone.

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize for a statement that I made yesterday at my Town Hall.

See, I was in the process of answering a question that had been asked by an audience member when

a woman who was extremely distraught screamed out from the back corner of the auditorium, “People are going to die!”

And I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that yes, we are all going to perish from this earth.

So, I apologize.

And I’m really really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the Tooth Fairy as well. But for those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life, I encourage you to embrace my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

She forgot to say that in hell, they want ice water.

Terrible apology! Yes, she uses the word “apologize.” It was not sincere, but still, she said it. And she said what the action was that she was apologizing for. But then she went off the rails in the part about acknowledging the impact.

There’s a passing attack on the audience member (“extremely distraught” “screamed”). Then a sneering attack on everyone present who shared that concern, in which she pretends they don’t know that people die. (“I made an incorrect assumption”) This of course ignores the obvious fact that a responsible government works to ensure that people don’t die sooner than they must, and don’t die in untreated physical misery.

To add insult she implies that anyone concerned not only doesn’t know about death but also believes in the Tooth Fairy.

Have you heard the great news about the Tooth Fairy? Photo by Gage Skidmore at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Strangely, she then tries to manifest lovingkindness by advising listeners to find Jesus. This is one of the weirder evangelical gestures we’ve seen. “Hey stupid, find Christ!”

She’s not sorry, she doesn’t think she was wrong, she thinks her constituents are dumb (not because they don’t know about death, but because they think she’s wrong not to care about others), and she’s only pretending to do religious outreach.

This is called doubling down. It’s not a persuasive technique, but it may amuse her handlers in the administration.

Adults know all of us will die eventually. But that doesn’t mean we don’t care how soon we die. It doesn’t mean we don’t want medical care. Maybe even in a hospital. We also care about the health of our family and friends.

“We are all going to die” is not about Ernst accepting her own mortality. It’s about her lack of interest in other people’s mortality. A bad look in a public servant.

The NYPD sent news organizations a statement of correction and apology. They don’t seem to have put it on their website. The most complete version we could find appeared in the New York CaribNews.

In reference to a fatal shooting at the 2024 West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn, it says:

The N.Y.P.D. identified a person of interest who was on the scene before, during and after the incident, which is supported by video evidence and witness accounts.

Social media posts in September mistakenly stated that he was wanted for the fatal shooting.

The N.Y.P.D. should have immediately corrected this misstatement.

We apologize for the error and will continue to seek justice for the victims of this shooting.

That statement was sent out on February 9, 2025. The shooting, which killed one person and injured four others, happened on September 2, 2024, so this apology comes 5 months afterward.

Oh, is that because they were still investigating that person of interest as the possible shooter? Well, no.

A “person of interest” might be a suspect, or they might be a witness. You, for example, or SorryWatch, if we happened to be at a marvelous parade looking around for some fritters, doubles, or jerk chicken.

Dancing. 2010 Parade.

This “person of interest” was 16-year-old Camden Lee, who did not shoot anybody. He went to the parade after football practice. One of the friends he was standing with was shot in the shoulder. But the NYPD put a “crisp” photo of Lee on social media saying he had fired a gun and was “wanted for the fatal shooting.”

When Lee saw the photo with its false accusation, he was shocked. He told the Associated Press, “I see the NYPD logo. I see me. I see ‘suspect wanted for murder. I couldn’t believe what was happening. Then everything went blurry.”

Lee and his mother got a lawyer and they met with the police. They had to wait until the following week for the meeting. The police agreed that he was not a suspect. “They conceded they got it wrong,” said attorney Kenneth Montgomery. NOT A SUSPECT. NOT. NOT WANTED FOR THE SHOOTING. INNOCENT. During the time the family were waiting to meet with the police, the WANTED image was going out to TV and other media outlets.

The NYPD took the WANTED picture down from their Instagram and X accounts, but did not go so far as to say that Lee was not a suspect.

And after the photo with the accusation was taken down, amateur sleuths kept reposting it.

Crisp.

And then, according to a CBS interview with Lee’s mother, the NYPD “mistakenly” reposted it in December.

Lee’s mother was frightened for his life. Friends of the person who was killed, or one of the ones who was injured, might come after Lee. Death threats were coming in. Death threats were coming in because of police actions. And the police said they suspected gang involvement. The family left town for several weeks, meaning Lee missed school.

Finally, after 5 months, they issued that terrible apology. Which shows why explanation is sometimes an important part of a good apology.

Marching band, 2008 Brooklyn West-Indian American Carnival.

What happened? Why did the NYPD leave the picture up for so long? Why did it take them 5 months to admit Lee wasn’t really a suspect? Why didn’t they “immediately [correct] this misstatement”?

We can imagine a lot of reasons. Maybe they hoped that Lee and a bunch of football pals would decide to clear his name and find the real killer for them. Unlikely – are we in the movies? Maybe they hoped someone would kill him to avenge the person who was shot, Denzel Chan, and then they could say “Must’ve been him after all, we were right all along.” That could be a little more likely. Maybe they had no interest in doing right by citizens who happen to be of West Indian descent. Also possible. Maybe the job of fixing the information fell between the cracks – everyone thought it was someone else’s job. Maybe it isn’t anyone’s job, because the NYPD isn’t really focused on correcting misinformation. Or maybe the person whose job it was left, and the position hasn’t been filled. Or, you know how they say not to ascribe anything to malice that can as easily be ascribed to incompetence? Maybe nobody knew how to do it and nobody cared enough to learn

Whatever it was, it should be fixed. But the fixes for these different possibilities are all different, and if we don’t know how it happened, we don’t know what fix to demand.

Happens? Happens to be wrong.

New Zealand investigative journalist Nicky Hager writes powerful books on subjects like intelligence networks, politics, and environmental issues. Sometimes people – powerful people at powerful institutions – get SO ANGRY about his books they commit illegal acts against him. Then he sues them. How dare he?!

We’re now reading Hager’s 1999 Secrets and Lies: The Anatomy of an Anti-Environmental PR Campaign, co-authored with Bob Burton. It documents a secret campaign, carried on by international public relations group Shandwick/Weber Shandwick Worldwide, against environmental groups like Native Forest Action. (The campaign included greenwashing, insertion of pro-logging material into school curricula, getting magazine articles canceled, tearing down posters, SLAPP lawsuits…). Anger at the book’s revelations seems to have contributed to the 2000 Forests Act, banning the logging of publicly-owned native forests.

Kids! This is our native heritage! Let’s chop it down and ship it overseas!

In 2014 Hager published Dirty Politics: how attack politics is poisoning New Zealand’s political environment. According to the New Zealand Herald, it “alleged the office of former Prime Minister Sir John Key ran a dirty tricks campaign through [a] right-wing blogger.” Part of the material he used came from a leak of hacked documents. The police told a judge they needed warrants because this Nicky Hager guy was suspected of fraud, without mentioning that Hager was a journalist. They got the warrants and searched Hager’s house for 10 hours, taking computers and documents. They searched his bank records. They searched airline records of his travels. They found nothing.

Hager sued, received “substantial” damages, and got an apology from the police, in which they admitted they lied when they said he was a fraud suspect, that they didn’t tell the judge he was a journalist, and that the search warrant was “overly broad.”

Now, back in 2011, Hager published Other People’s Wars, which looked into New Zealand’s participation in the “War on Terror” in Afghanistan and Iraq. We venture to say he is critical of some government actions and the big puffer coat of secrecy and deception with which they were hidden from the public. Hager used leaked military information for the book. Who leaked it to him? He didn’t say.

Kiwis are very good at investigating.

Well! New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service (SIS) took a hostile view of this. They suspected that a certain member of the NZ Defence Force had given Hager information for the book. Illegally. Hoping to prove this, they seized two months of Hager’s phone records. Illegally. Poked into his airline flight records too.

Those phone records showed no link between Hager and the person the SIS suspected. Nothing from the airlines. (Where the heck do they think he is flying, anyway? What would that even prove?)

Hager sued the SIS over this in 2012. It took TEN YEARS, but ultimately he got a settlement, the payment of his legal fees, and an apology from the SIS. The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Madeleine Laracy, ruled that the SIS used “intrusive investigatory powers” without justification. “I have been unable to find that the [SIS] showed the kind of caution I consider proper, for an intelligence agency in a free and democratic society, about launching any investigation into a journalist’s sources.”

Rebecca Kitteridge, the SIS Director-General, was the one who apologized to Hager. In a statement, Kitteridge said the SIS had apologized to Hager for its failings, and any impact and distress it caused, adding, “I reiterate that apology to Mr Hager publicly.”

Argh. First of all, saying that you apologized is not the same as apologizing. Maybe the earlier apology was a good one, but it doesn’t look likely. Hager said, and we agree, “This issue needs to be fixed for the future. I want the SIS to introduce clear policies that will prevent them from targeting media organizations and journalists in this way again.”

Exactly! In general, people getting apologies for having been harmed want to hear that steps are being taken to make sure it doesn’t happen again. This is huge in medical apologies – it’s bad enough they amputated the wrong finger, but how do they plan to make sure they don’t keep on lopping off people’s fingers randomly? As we describe in our book, this is a vital part of medical apologies that ward off lawsuits.

It’s good the SIS apologized, but to be sure it’s not a “we’re sorry WE GOT CAUGHT” apology, instead of a “we’re sorry WE DID A BAD THING” apology, we need to hear that they’ve made appropriate changes.

We worry that next time the police or the SIS fly off the handle about one of Nicky Hager’s infuriatingly revealing books, they’ll just try to be sneakier. What’s to stop them? There’s nothing in the apology about that…

In New Zealand they can keep a secret.

New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo has issued a second statement, after a third woman came forward with accusations of sexual harassment. Please allow us, your friends at SorryWatch, to annotate it for you:

“The lawyers say you shouldn’t say anything when you have a pending review…I understand that. I’m a lawyer too. But I want New Yorkers to hear from me directly on this.”

SO COURAGE! MUCH TRUTHTELLAGE! We’re supposed to think that his speaking up, against his lawyers’ advice, means that he’s both honest and blameless. All candor. Nothing to hide. If he’s willing to disregard legal advice, obviously he must be innocent!

“First, I fully support a woman’s right to come forward.”

Now that we have that out of the way, I will demonstrate why women rarely DO come forward. By discrediting them! Here I go!

“I now understand that I acted in a way that made people feel uncomfortable. It was unintentional.”

Intentions don’t matter. Impact does.

“I truly and deeply apologize for it. I feel awful about it. And frankly I am embarrassed by it, and that’s not easy to say, but that’s the truth.”

ME ME ME ME ME ME IMPACT ON ME. I AM SUFFERING. MEEEEEEEEE.

“But this is what I want you to know: I never touched anyone inappropriately. I never touched anyone inappropriately. I never knew at the time that I was making anyone uncomfortable, I never knew at the time I was making anyone feel uncomfortable.”

He is repeating himself to show how serious he is about this. To show how serious he is about this. To show he is blameless. To show he is blameless!

“And I certainly never ever meant to offend anyone or hurt anyone or cause anyone any pain. That is the last thing I would ever want to do.”

Again. His intentions are irrelevant. He did offend people. He did hurt people. He did cause pain. And what he wants – whether it’s the first or last thing – is not germane.

“I ask the people of this state to wait for the facts from the Attorney General’s report before forming an opinion. Get the facts, please, before forming an opinion. And the Attorney General is doing that review. I will fully cooperate with it. And then you will have the facts. And make a decision when you know the facts.”

The Trumpy syntax is again a way to stress his innocence. Staccato sentences! Repetition! Truth! We don’t know the facts! We don’t know the facts! Telling us 47 times that we don’t know the facts is also a way to discredit the women. #MeToo, but not, y’know, ME too. I support a women’s right to come forward, but this particular woman is lying. I mean, women. All four of them. I mean three! Three women! Three! Have come forward! Wait for the facts so you can see that they are aggressive hussies. Also I asked the third one if I could kiss her and I asked the first one to play strip poker, which shows I understand consent! And I enjoy touching lower backs. Other people grab pussies and get to stay in office; why is everyone picking on me?

“I also want you to know that I have learned from what has been an incredibly difficult situation for me as well as other people. And I’ve learned an important lesson. I’m sorry. I am sorry for whatever pain I caused anyone. I never intended it.” And I will be the better for this experience. Thank you.”

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Me.

Again, intent doesn’t matter. Also, the implication here is that it is certainly possible that he did not cause any pain, or maybe super-minimal pain (“whatever pain”), to those women or to his constituents or to his employees (“anyone”) because as he said in his first bad apology, he is a jocular and amusing person. Also, he is worldly as well as fun. Gifts of red roses and signed photos of himself and unsolicited kisses on the lips are normal in less uptight cultures, which must be why he did not mention them. (Nor did he mention them in his previous nearly-as-non-specific apology.)

SorryWatch’s only comment about that FIRST attempt at an apology, three days ago, is this:

8 words that do not belong in an apology:

1. Misinterpreted
2. Playful
3. Good-natured
4. Tease
5. Levity
6. Banter
7. Intended
8. Never

SorryWatch loves Texas. Thus it grieves and infuriates us to see so many absolutely foul elected officials failing their Texas constituents in a time of emergency.

Tim Boyd was elected mayor of Colorado City, Texas. With a population for just over 4,000, it’s the seat of Mitchell County. When Winter Storm Uri hit, freezing the state to an unusual (but not unprecedented) level of icy horror, followed by sweeping power outages and failing water supplies, Boyd did not sit on his hands and remain silent. Instead he took his pixels in his own two hands, rared up on his hind legs, got on Facebook, and put forth the following:

Let me hurt some feelings while I have a minute!!

No one owes you are your family anything; nor is it the local government’s responsibility to support you during trying times like this! Sink or swim it’s your choice! The City and County, along with power providers or any other service owes you NOTHING! I’m sick and tired of people looking for a damn handout! If you don’t have electricity you step up and come up with a game plan to keep your family warm and safe. If you have no water you deal without and think outside of the box to survive and supply water to your family. If you are sitting at home in the cold because you have no power and are sitting there waiting for someone to come rescue you because your lazy is direct result of your raising! Only the strong will survive and the weak will parish! Folks God has given us the tools to support ourselves in times like this. This is sadly the product of a socialist government where they feed people to believe that the FEW will work and others will become dependent for handouts. Am I sorry that you have been dealing without electricity and water; yes! But I’ll be damned if I’m going to provide for anyone that is capable of doing it themselves! We have lost sight of those in need and those that take advantage of the system and meshed them in to one group!! Bottom line quit crying and looking for a handout! Get off your ass and take care of your own family!

Bottom line-DONT A PART OF PROBLEM, BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION!!

People found that irresponsible, unresponsive to the situation, vicious, ignorant, and a whole lot more. So unmayoral.

City Hall, Colorado City, in better weather. Lots of people would like an easy job there.

Of course, some people without electricity couldn’t get on Facebook to see his diatribe. We hope none of them were among Texans who stepped up, came up with a game plan to keep warm – get in the car and run the heater – who got carbon monoxide poisoning. Some of those people died.

Soon, Boyd got back on Facebook to clarify matters:

…I won’t deny for one minute what I said in my post this morning. Believe me when I say that many of the things I said were taken out of context and some of which were said without putting much thought in to it. I would never want to hurt the elderly or anyone that is in true need of help to be left to fend for themselves. I was only making the statement that those folks that are too lazy to get up and fend for themselves but are capable should not be dealt a handout. I apologize for the wording and some of the phrases that were used! I had already turned in my resignation and had not signed up to run for mayor again on the deadline that was February 12th! I spoke some of this out of the anger that the city and county was catching for situations which were out of their control. Please understand if I had to do it over again I would just have kept my words to myself and if I did say them I would have used better wording and been more descriptive.

The anger and harassment you have caused my wife and family is so undeserved….my wife was laid off of her job based off the association people gave to her and the business she worked for. She’s a very good person and was only defending me! But her to have to get fired from her job for things I said out of context is so horrible….

I ask that you each understand I never meant to speak for the city of Colorado City or Mitchell county! I was speaking as a citizen as I am NOT THE MAYOR anymore. I apologize for the wording and ask that you please not harass myself or my family anymore!

Threatening our lives with comments and messages is a horrible thing to have to wonder about. I won’t share any of those messages from those names as I feel they know who they are and hope after they see this they will retract the hateful things thay have said!

Tim Boyd (citizen)

Just awful. He apologizes only “for the wording and some of the phrases that were used!” He says he was taken out of context. Odd, because that’s the complete text of his post above. He doesn’t apologize for disavowing responsibility. He doesn’t apologize for saying the city and county shouldn’t and won’t help people. He doesn’t apologize for saying anyone who needs emergency help is lazy and raised wrong. Yeah, and the weak are GONNA DIE.

Winter Storm Uri in Austin, Texas.

He doesn’t apologize for any alarm this message may have caused among people who did need help. In Texas, there were other elected officials who sprang into action. (Admittedly, there were also those like Senator Ted Cruz, who sprang onto an airplane to Cancun to stay at the Ritz-Carlton.) There were Texas politicians like Beto O’Rourke (not presently in office) organizing a phone bank to find older Texans in need of help. There were politicians outside Texas, like Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, raising money for Texas relief efforts. If Boyd “would never want to hurt the elderly or anyone that is in true need of help,” he could have worked to search out those people instead of ranting about badly-raised lazy sickening socialists. He could have and should have done that, even if he wasn’t running again.

Opinions differ on whether Boyd had indeed already resigned – but what kind of responsibility does it show to resign when things get ugly? What kind of time is that to take a minute to “hurt some feelings”

Snow on Texas, NOAA satellite photo. February 15, 2021.

He does the classic apology-ruining move of making it all about him. And his wife and family. We don’t know what her job was, whether and why she was fired/laid off, and what it entailed when she “defended” him. We don’t know if the messages threatening their lives said “I’m gonna kill y’all once I thaw my shotgun” or “I hope y’all freeze to death in the dark, and never get elected to anything again!”

We prefer to think it was the second. And that the first half was just hyperbole. Because we know Texas can be classy that way.

Thanks to Jorie S. & Barry H. for early warning.

How nice if this Cruz bus was courageously picking up freezing Texans and taking them to warming centers. Alas, that was 2016, New Hampshire, presidential campaign, and NO FREE RIDES.

Australia’s burning. It’s been incredibly dry, and now it’s incredibly hot. Huge bushfires are burning up big parts of the country. Thousands of people fled to beaches to get away from flames. The military is responding. The US and Canada are sending firefighting aircraft – and firefighters (often called fireys in Australia)

Out-of-control bushfire approaches Yanderra. Residents being evacuated.

We won’t show you images of burned people. Burned koalas. But that’s happening. If you care about wildlife, if you care about animals of any kind, if you care about people – care about this.

The fires are this bad in part because of climate change heating things up and drying them out. Climate chaos is patchy. Some places get hit sooner than others.

But it’s also relevant that the ruling coalition in Australia are climate deniers. Big coal funds them. Rupert Murdoch supports them.

They’re all in harmony. But still things are burning, so many things. Awkward.

In December, Australia’s climate-denying Prime Minister Scott Morrison went on vacation with his family. It probably seemed like a good way to get away from GRIPING and perpetual SMOKE. But more awkwardness ensued.

He sang as he snorkeled and frolicked while his country boiled.

The Morrisons departed without fanfare. Reporters heard they’d gone to Hawaii, but his office denied it. REALLY NOT? Eventually the office said all right he’s in Hawaii, get over it. Morrison later said they only denied it because he was trying to give his daughters “a bit of a surprise.” WAY TO RUIN EVERYTHING, MEDIA. (Although one wonders if the aloha stuff hadn’t tipped the progeny off already. The leis. The poi.)

Australians got angry. They didn’t like the idea that while they were breathing smoke or running from flames or having their homes burn or FIGHTING FIRES, their prime minister was sporting in an island paradise. Keep in mind that firefighters in Australia are volunteers. Volunteers. They don’t get paid. They don’t get time off to go to Hawaii

Although Hawaii is also suffering heat waves caused by climate change, it’s nothing like what Australia’s been hit with.

Holding the hose? Not Morrison.

Morrison defended himself from Hawaii, via talk radio. What difference would it make if he were in his burning homeland? “I don’t hold a hose, mate. I don’t sit in a control room.”

But people kept talking about leadership. LEADERSHIP. Whatever. So he apologized. ‘Apologized.’

Over the course of the past week I have been taking leave with my family. [FAMILY!] Our leave was brought forward due to the need to cancel our scheduled leave in January because of our official government visit [IMPORTANT HIGH-LEVEL STUFF I DO FOR YOU] to India and Japan at the invitation of PMs Modi and Abe. [MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU]

I deeply regret any offence caused to any of the many Australians affected by the terrible bushfires by my taking leave with my family at this time. [YOU SOREHEADS] I have been receiving regular updates on the bushfires disaster as well as the status of the search for and treatment of the victims of the White Island tragedy. [I WAS IN THE LOOP EVEN WHEN I DID THE HULA] The Commonwealth’s responsibilities have been well managed by the Acting Prime Minister, Minister Littleproud and Minister Payne. [EVERYTHING WAS UNDER CONTROL]

As noted, given the most recent tragic events, I will be returning to Sydney as soon as can be arranged. [HAPPY NOW?]

That’s a bad apology. He doesn’t actually say ‘I’m sorry.’ He’s just sad about the offence people took. Australia noticed.

Morrison also apologized after returning. Sort of:

I have obviously returned from leave and I know that has caused some great anxiety in Australia and Jenny [his wife, UNELECTED] and I acknowledge that. If you [US?] had your time over again and you had the benefit of hindsight then (you’d) have made different decisions.

I get it that people would have been upset to know that I was holidaying with my family while their families were under great stress. [YOU CAN TELL I GET IT BECAUSE I SAID ‘I GET IT’]

But I’m comforted by the fact that Australians would like me to be here, just simply so I can be here, alongside them as they’re going through this terrible time [OH HOW THEY LOVE ME] … and I apologise for that.

I’m sure Australians… understand that when you make a promise to your kids you try and keep it. [FAMILY!] But as prime minister you have other responsibilities. I accept that. I accept the criticism. [I’M NOBLE THAT WAY.]

People are still fleeing, suffering from, and actively fighting fires, and they’re still mad at Morrison. (On Twitter they’re calling him #ScottyfromMarketing, referring to his background in New Zealand’s tourism office.)

Hydrating a koala? Not Morrison.

Firey (and novelist) Jennifer Mills, is angry because this should have been NO SURPRISE. “Like many volunteer firefighters, I am furious. Six months before the fires, and then again in September, Morrison declined to meet with a group of former fire chiefs who wanted to warn him that an emergency like this was on the horizon.”

Morrison’s trying to live it down. He went to the small town of Cobargo to be seen giving moral support. This was a couple of days after Cobargo’s main street burned up. After a man and his son died defending their home from flames.

Morrison tried to shake a firey’s hand (a volunteer, remember). “I don’t really want to shake your hand, mate,” said the firey. “Oh, well, nice to see you,” said Morrison. Later he spun it to an incident controller, “Tell that fella I’m really sorry, I’m sure he’s just tired.” Said the controller “No, no, he lost a house.”

Other residents remarked, “You’re an idiot, mate. You really are.” “You’re never getting any votes down here, buddy.” “You’re not welcome, you fuckwit.” Also they told him to piss off.

“Good deal! It stays a ‘hoax” as long as we’re in office. Then, whatever. Let the kids handle it.”

Of this hostile reception, Morrison said, “I know when people get fearful or indeed angry, and they want to express that and if that means they want to get angry at me, then if that helps, by all means, I’ve got broad shoulders.” Aww. Having broad shoulders can mean taking responsibility – not happening here – or it can mean not being bothered by criticism and rebuke. Like a rubber ducky.

Is there a connection between Morrison’s lousy, evasive apologies, and his lousy, evasive behavior? One is just despicable. The other one is evil.

Driving the truck? Not Morrison.

Morrison said there’d be no change to emissions policies, because things are fine. “I do not accept the suggestion that Australia is not carrying its weight. …We will take a responsible approach to taking action on climate change. We are taking action and we will continue to take action. We are carrying our weight. We are meeting and beating our target and there are very few countries who can say that.”

However, “meeting and beating our target” is a matter of clever climate accounting, using “carryover credits.” In fact, Australia’s emissions are rising. To say nothing of the coal, oil, and gas they export to other countries. The Guardian wrote, “Australia is responsible for 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions and could be contributing as much as 17% by 2030 if the pollution from its fossil fuel exports is factored in, research says.” Morrison and his cronies aren’t just doing this to Australia. They’re doing it to all of us. They’re doing it to you. Broad shoulders!

Anthony Hearsey/Scrampy 123, on imgur. “This is a 3D visualization of the fires in Australia, NOT A PHOTO. Think of this as prettier looking graph. This is made from data from NASA’s FIRMS (Satellite data regarding fires) between 5/12/19 and 5/01/20. [Americans – this means from December 5th 2019 to January 5th 2020] These are all the areas that have been affected by bushfires. Scale is a little exaggerated due to the render’s glow, but generally true to the information from the NASA website. Also note that NOT all the areas are still burning, and this is a compilation.”

Morrison rejected the notion that the bushfires ravaging Australia have anything to do with emissions. He denies being a denier. “There is no argument, in my view, or the view of the government, and any government in the country, about the links between broader issues of global climate change and weather events around the world – but I’m sure people would equally acknowledge the direct connection to any single fire event is not a credible suggestion.”

SINGLE fire event?

There are more than a hundred fires burning now in NSW alone.

(Symbolic hat-tip to Wendy G.)

She wrote him an open letter on Facebook. So annoying when that seems to be the only way to get a relative’s attention.

What’s wrong with House Bill 2320? Maybe the dishonest, disrespectful, and inflammatory language? Here‘s some of it:

“The state shall no longer be in the parody marriage funding and endorsement business and shall disentangle itself from the… lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) secular humanist church pursuant to this section and the establishment clause of the 1st amendment of the constitution of the United States. The state shall not, through any government action create, enforce or respect any LGBTQ or any other secular humanist policy whether directly or symbolically. The state shall maintain the separation of church and state, which includes separating itself from the non-institutionalized religions such as secular humanism, expressive individualism and postmodern western individualistic moral relativism.”

“Parody marriage”? What the hell? Don’t worry, the bill defines it:

“Parody marriage” means any form of alleged marriage that does not involve a man and a woman. The term “parody marriage” refers to a variety of so-called marriages that do not involve a man and a woman that amount to doctrines that are inseparably linked to the religion of secular humanism. The term “parody marriage” refers to so-called marriages between more than two people, persons of the same sex, a person and an animal, or a person and an object.

“The Interrupted Wedding” by Edmund Bristow.
A man, a woman, a Christian church – what could be the problem? Sudden news of the groom’s previous relationship and two children stops the ceremony and averts a parody marriage.

Basically it’s an attack on same-sex marriage, wrapped in snide. Along with paranoid doctrine about secular humanism (not a religion) etc. Apparently no one expects it to pass. It’s just grandstanding.

The legislator whose daughter wrote the open letter is Ron Highland, of Wamego. Wamego is the home of the Oz Museum. Celebrating the Oz books, written by L. Frank Baum. A Theosophist. Who created the first trans character Sumac ever read of. Tip, who turns out to be – spoiler alert! – Princess Ozma. But we digress.

The daughter, Christel Highland, described herself on Facebook as “a proud member of Kansas City’s LGBTQ+ community, a Mother, a Partner to the love of my life, an Artist active in my creative community, and a hard-working Businessperson.”

Here’s the open letter (lightly edited) she posted:

“Dad,

“You have not responded to my email, but I still have so many questions. Why? With what one must assume to be a deep understanding and knowledge of exactly what type of polarizing political stunt you were supporting, why? Furthermore, why would you not take the time to read the legislation you took the time to co-sign?…. Why would you openly attempt at [sic] policy that elevates hate and hurts my family or friends? Why would a person of integrity want to legislate and force their beliefs on another?

“…Your actions strike against what this country was meant to become. All of this brings me to a passage that struck me in the wake of this upsetting news: “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change,” by Charles Darwin. The perfect person to quote in the midst of this, because, Father, you were once a Scientist. It is time for you to change. You made me responsive to change through our many moves and your many career changes. You made me strong through your encouragement that I am, indeed, someone with a voice that deserves hearing. You actively built my capacity to work hard, with great focus, from your example of intense intellectual and business pursuits.

“I always hoped this day would never come, but it has, and I think this moment presents an opportunity for you to set a principled example to your colleages and constituents. Your most sacred job as an elected official is to serve and protect people. Your God did not elect you, living, breathing human beings did…. Hate has no place in public policy. I respectfully request an apology on behalf of my family and beloved friends that this cruel attempt at legislation impacts – viable or not – and I beg that you show yourself to be the honorable man I’ve always known you to be. Ultimately, what is right can never be something that hurts another. You taught me that.

“One thing you said to me that struck me to my core at a very young age, which has lasted with me until to this day is, “Think before you speak.” I would respectfully ask that you think deeply before sponsoring any legislation. Legislation which reeks of utter disrespect toward anyone, actively striving to make the lives of others more difficult is beneath you. I love you, I always will, in spite of your flaws. I cannot, however, condone your cruel actions. Shame on you.

“Your Daughter,

“Christel”

“When it says ‘think before you speak,’ Dad, does that also mean ‘think before you co-sponsor’?”
(Wellcome Images.)

The legislation she says Ron Highland didn’t take the time to read, all that gibbering and frothing about secular humanist religion and so-called marriages between people and objects, didn’t originate in Kansas. It’s a piece of garbage legalese peddled to far-right legislators around the country. It’s been introduced in South Carolina and Wyoming. The author, whose name SorryWatch doesn’t feel like promulgating (though it’s in this link), has tried to demonstrate what “parody marriage” might be by applying to marry his laptop in several venues, and then suing when he can’t get permission. In Utah, in addition to ruling against him, a judge noted that the laptop had not reached the age of consent.

Vespula germanica, the European wasp.

Fellow hateful crackpots have taken up the legislation but it hasn’t gotten anywhere. Don’t worry about Hatey McShowboat, he has lots of projects. Like mandating porn filters on every internet-connected device, violating restraining orders against his ex-wife and former in-laws, pretending to have rescued sex slaves in Southeast Asia, claiming to be a member of the bar, snatching his toddler during visitation, suing Apple for selling him a device without porn filters and thus destroying his marriage – he’s a busy little wasp.

Forget him – what about the Highland family? Ron Highland responded to his daughter’s Facebook post by withdrawing his sponsorship of the bill. He said he’d made a mistake. “The bill that I should not have signed on to cosponsor contained some hateful language which I do not condone, and it is against our Lord’s command to love our neighbors. I have asked for my name to be removed from the bill. The process for doing so is in motion,” he wrote in a statement to the Wamego Times. He also said:

I trusted the author of the bill who is my office mate and signed on to several of his bills. Knowing that some of them were really important, I trusted that they all were, and that was not the case. I must admit it was a mistake, and apologize.

Christel Highland accepted the apology. In a statement she said, “It took strength to do what my Father did, and I’m proud of him for setting an excellent example to his colleagues and constituents by removing his co-sponsorship from HB 2320. I think this situation is an example of what is possible if we work together toward good with love in our hearts.”

We hope she’s right, and we hope Highland’s colleagues follow his example, and think about what they signed onto. Even if they don’t have eloquent gay daughters.

I found your apology for calling me two-faced to be insincere.
(“Doublefaced Nr. 23” by Sebastian Bieniek.)

Seeing the defense statement, the angry plaintiff sued for defamation, and won. In 2015, the court ordered the lawyer to apologize, so he sent the court a written apology. SorryWatch are sad that we don’t know what it said.

In 2016, the lawyer traveled for work. When he got online to buy a plane ticket home, he was refused. The system said he had been blacklisted by the courts. He was 1,200 miles from home. Tough.

Eventually he managed to buy a ticket by going in person and using his passport as ID.

But what was this about a blacklist? The judicial website had him on a list of “untrustworthy people” because he allegedly hadn’t followed the court order. But he had!

No, it seems the court said that apology was “insincere.” (Now we really wish we knew what it said.)

It took 3 weeks for the court to get back to the lawyer. We don’t know why the court detected insincerity, although possibly the fact that it was dated April 1^st was a factor. They said he should apologize again, so he did. He was taken off the no-fly list. Yay!

Whoops. Soon it turned out that he was on another blacklist, and this one prevented him from applying for a credit card. But don’t worry, it’ll probably all work out after he writes a third apology the court has requested.

SorryWatch has seen cases where crappy apologies enraged courts before. Where they had to be rewritten. (Hello, Pennsylvania!) But the actions taken were judicial, and didn’t bleed into no-fly lists.

How can this happen in our great country? Actually, it happened in the great country of China, where they are installing a “social credit” system. It’s called Sesame Credit. It’s an affiliate of the Alibaba Group. In addition to doing what US credit bureaus do, such as looking at whether you’ve paid your bills or your taxes, it looks at other things. Do you honor your father and mother? Do you follow traffic rules? Do you volunteer for stuff? What are your shopping habits? How reliable – according to the government – is that stuff you post online?

We are not sure why the Two-faced Neusticurus (Neusticurus bicarinatus) is so called, but we are certainly not letting it buy a plane ticket.

Sesame Credit looks at factors in five categories – Credit History, Fulfillment Capacity, Personal Characteristics, Behavior and Preferences [online], Interpersonal Relationships [your online friends] – and assigns individuals a “citizen score,” a single number.

A score is between 350 for “lowest trustworthiness” and 950 for “highest trustworthiness.”

Wikipedia says, “From 600 up, one can gain privileges, while lower scorers will revoke them. According to current plans, the final score and ranking will be publicly available.” The Chinese government says it will “make trustworthy people benefit everywhere and untrustworthy people restricted everywhere.” What could be bad? Why, if your score is good enough, you’ll be able to fly, apply for loans, make reservations at fancy hotels, compete for scholarships, purchase insurance, get social services, enroll your kids in good schools, work for the government….

If your score’s not good enough, too bad. Should’ve thought of that before you made those unwise purchases and reposted that stupid meme. Don’t come crying to the algorithm.

We are told that the Chinese Supreme Court described Sesame Credit’s ratings as “once untrustworthy, always restricted.”

The lawyer forbidden to fly was Li Xiaolan, hometown Beijing. He’s one of millions harmed in this system. For example, journalist Liu Hu, often in trouble with authorities for blogging about government corruption, has found that he’s not allowed to buy property, fly, take fast trains, or get a loan. What if he apologized? What if he apologized again? And again, and again? So far that hasn’t worked so well for Li Xiaolan.

Sincere? Insincere? Opinion seems divided.

SorryWatch hates to see apology misused and turned into a tool of ideological suppression. We haven’t seen any of Li Xiaolan’s apologies, but even if they’re two-faced, snide, and rotten to the core, he should still be able to get on a plane. Even if he said “sorry IF the stupid plaintiff thinks they were defamed,” any remedy should be in the judicial system. It should not affect his ability to enroll his kids in school. Why, these measures could create a hereditary low social credit score.

Any system that defines groups of people as untrustworthy/bad (especially if it tags them as permanently untrustworthy/bad), is contrary to the spirit of apology. The ideal of apology is to make things right again. To make amends.

We’re also especially creeped out by the “shopping habits” category. It’s part of an appalling trend for governments to think of people as consumers rather than citizens. (Talking to you, Shrub.) Our jobs? Shut up, buy things, and be sure to pay for them promptly.

We hope it can’t happen here, and we hope it stops happening in China.

Thank you to Wendy Grossman, who brought this to SorryWatch’s notice.

Vote for moi. I will represent you!

Josephine Zhao, a San Franciscan with a strong interest in public education (and landlord rights), decided to run for school board. She got great endorsements, such as Mayor London Breed, and state Senator Scott Weiner. SorryWatch thinks well of Zhao’s focus on making sure students can get algebra classes early enough to take calculus as high school seniors. We think poorly of her past focus on transgender students and bathroom choice. And we despise her focus on being all things to all voters.

Let us explain.

Vote for mich. I share your values!

In 2013, Zhao spoke against AB 1266, a state law saying transgender students could participate in school events, or go out for sports teams in ways that match their gender identity. Also they could use the bathrooms that seem right to them.

There was a proposed referendum to overturn AB 1266. On a Cantonese radio show she co-hosted, Zhao said “This is evil legislation.” She added that degenerate officials “are relaxing their moral views. Therefore, they cannot represent our Chinese American ideals.”

Don’t bother looking up my records! Vota por mi.

Representing the Asian American Voters Organization (she’s a founder), Zhao said “…AB 1266 protects only 2% of those students who are transgender or questioning…, yet offends and violates the rights and privacies of the other 98% of students. Allowing male and female students to share bathrooms and showers will lead to public moral issues, violence, and even create conditions for more incidences of rape…”

This is nonsensical transphobia. Those rapes? ARE NOT A THING.

That didn’t keep Zhao from getting those 2018 endorsements. Then local publications like Mission Local and 48 Hills published translations of some of her Chinese-language remarks. Zhao said they were being taken out of context. It was about preventing bullying in the bathrooms! (No mention of rape.)

The Harvey Milk Democratic Club was among groups and individuals who denounced Zhao’s remarks. (Not even getting into her landlord-rights activism.) “We… have zero tolerance for transphobia, especially from elected officials who espouse transphobic policies or show a real ignorance in the way they make statements that affect the LGBTQ community… We can’t afford them a free pass,” according to co-president Honey Mahogany.

Zhao [issued apologies]. She said she was misinformed.

I was a recent citizen then. I became a citizen in 2011; the incident took place in 2013. Someone took me to a press conference. I only knew one person there. I apologize I got sucked into it.

And:

I was wrong to oppose the [policy]. I have no intention to hurt the transgender community, but my action did, and I apologize for the action.

Flimsy excuses, feeble apology. Despite her portrayal of herself as tottering down a gangplank, being dragged to a press conference, and being shoved onto a podium, Zhao had been living in the US for thirty years, had earned two college degrees here, and was already a political activist.

Japanese mask of the cow demon Ushioni.

She has nothing to say about how her action might harm anyone.

Then, some light was thrown on the lousiness of her apology. She sent this cheery message in Cantonese to supporters on WeChat: “I am happy to feel that momentum is building. After the Cow Demons and Snake Spirits at Harvey Milk Dem Club’s smear and attack, I am even more well-known. Today I received the endorsement of the United Democratic Club. This club is the biggest and developing the fastest in San Francisco, 5-6 times of the size of the Cow Demons and Snake Spirits Club…. I have confidence; let’s work hard together and sprint forward.”

Maybe you nod your head wisely at mention of Cow Demons and Snake Spirits. Maybe you jump up and start dancing. Or maybe you ask what that’s about. Short version: A Tang Dynasty poet coined the phrase. Mao Tse-Tung took it up in the 1960s to vilify class enemies and reactionaries. It was used during the Cultural Revolution to describe anyone politically despicable. Particularly intellectuals, traitors, capitalist roaders, and… landlords. (Does Zhao know that part?)

Couldn’t find an image of a snake spirit. (Except the worrying Nure-onna.) Found this oddly but pleasingly bumpy snake statue from Tazishan Park, Chengdu, China.

Anyway, when someone calls you Cow Demons and Snake Spirits, it’s not friendly. They are not suggesting you are allies in the fight to protect transgender youth from bullying.

Worse, Zhao is craftily giving different messages to different audiences. On WeChat she differentiated between internal and “external folks” and said “My principles remain in my heart,” she wrote. “I only apologized for the misunderstanding of their legislation, and am not supporting gender-neutral bathrooms.”

As one of her supporters wrote on WeChat, “Body is in Cho’s tent, but heart is with Han.” No wonder her apology was so feeble. Not apologizing for what she actually said WAS HER PLAN.

To rephrase Zhao’s WeChat comments about her so-called principles: ‘I successfully lied to English-speakers and it’s working out great!’

Antique snake oil. Still popular with segments of the electorate.

Nifty trick, as long as people don’t actually find out about it. Which they did, thanks to local journalism. Zhao has now dropped out of the school board race.

She is, however, still on the ballot. As the candidate who has raised the most money in this race, she has considerable name recognition. Her signs are still up all over town. She may still be elected. Which raises the possibility of comparing acceptance speeches she makes in different languages.

(Confidential to the Zhao supporter who wrote “Body is in Cho’s tent, but heart is with Han.” It’s risky to think, “Oh, she lies to them, but she tells us the truth.” Maybe. Maybe she’ll lie to you too if it’s convenient. In any case, it is dishonest.)

(UPDATE: Zhao remained on the ballot but did not win a slot on the school board, getting only 3% of the vote. Never underestimate a Cow Demon.)

Most fearsome of the attributes of this Cow Demon is its ability to mobilize voters.
(From the 16th century Japanese bestiary by Sawaki Sūshi.)