Author Archives: abfifer

For Whose Benefit is an Apology?

January 23, 2024 – 12:43 pm

There are two main parties to an apology: the offender (the one who apologizes) and the victim. There may also be a third party, an indirect victim of the offense. So when the offender apologizes, who benefits? In a Pittsburgh court a few years ago, two men were sentenced after pleading guilty for their roles […]

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Have You Really Forgiven?

January 23, 2024 – 12:39 pm

Forgiveness is challenging. One of its challenges is that people think that they have forgiven, when they really haven’t. Christians know they’re supposed to forgive, so they convince themselves that they have, but their heart is still unforgiving. The problem is that then they stop working on forgiveness, telling themselves they’ve already taken care of […]

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Apology, Take Two

January 22, 2024 – 7:14 pm

We don’t often get a chance to see a weak apology improved by a second one, but the CEO of Kyte Baby offered just that recently. Kyte Baby is a Texas-based company known for its baby apparel. A new Kyte Baby employee named Marissa Hughes adopted a baby who was born prematurely last month. Hughes […]

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When an Apology is not an Apology

December 19, 2023 – 4:18 pm

As part of their plea deals, lawyers Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro were required to apologize for their roles in interfering with the elections in Georgia in 2020. They both pled guilty and were sentenced in October 2023. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution used an open records request to obtain the apologies that were offered at their […]

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Stop Asking About Mental Health

November 11, 2023 – 3:02 pm

Michigan’s State Court Administrative Office took some steps recently to align mediation rules regarding parties’ mental health with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Mediators were previously encouraged to screen for mental health issues that might contribute to domestic violence, as part of the Domestic Violence Screening Protocol. For example, in assessing a party’s […]

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