Recent Commentaries

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A Leader Not Forgotten
A few months ago I learned about the dedication of a statue of John Gilbert Winant from Concord resident and college professor Stephen Ambra. “Who the heck is John Gilbert Winant?” I asked. “He’s one of this country’s great unsung heroes of World War II,” Ambra said. Ernest Bevin, a leading figure in Winston Churchill’s government, said “There is one...
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April 28, 2017
Featured image for “Ethical Hero – John Gilbert Winant”
Ethical Hero – John Gilbert Winant
At a small private cemetery located on the grounds of St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire there stands a striking granite headstone marking the grave-site of a man who not only attended and taught history at the exclusive prep-school, but served as the state’s governor and later as U.S. ambassador to England. Carved into the granite are words that...
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April 27, 2017
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Carl Foreman’s Real Life High Noon
One of the most iconic images in Hollywood film is a static black and white picture of a pair of train tracks trailing into a distant western landscape. By itself, it doesn’t seem to say much. However, in the western classic High Noon, the image represents a reckoning that’s coming and the man whose actions make him a reluctant hero....
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April 26, 2017
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United States v. The Amistad
“We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Twenty-five years before the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, an incident took place that squarely placed the issue of slavery before the public and the courts. In 1839, fifty-three Africans were kidnapped from Sierra Leone and sold into slavery. While being transferred by...
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April 24, 2017
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U.C. Berkeley’s Almost Big Mistake
Conservative author and pundit Ann Coulter says she will make an appearance at the University of California at Berkeley on April 27 despite university officials cancelling a previously scheduled on-campus event. [See updates below.] I’m not a fan of Coulter. I wrote about the conservative’s narcissistic “antics” in my last book, Shameless: The Ethical Case Against Three Out-of-Control Critics, and...
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April 21, 2017
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Lessons from the United Incident
Thanks to social media, millions have viewed the dramatic video of Dr. David Dao being forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight in order to make room for a United employee who was scheduled to work a flight at a connecting airport. (It’s interesting to read the reasoning in dragging a paying passenger from the plane for a United employee.)...
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April 19, 2017
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All the President’s Men… and Women
“When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.” – Richard Nixon “The law’s totally on my side… the president can’t have a conflict of interest.”          – Donald Trump Well, I made it through the wilderness of Lent, and refrained from writing about President Trump until last Friday. However, in reviewing events of the last 7 weeks,...
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April 17, 2017
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Let’s Be Honest – More Cowbell Edition
 » Read more about: Let’s Be Honest – More Cowbell Edition  »...
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April 16, 2017
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All the President’s Voter Fraud
At a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin last year, then-candidate Trump said, “Now remember, we’re competing in a rigged election. This is a rigged election, folks, okay?” An October 16, 2016 Trump tweet: “The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing Crooked Hillary – but also at many polling places – SAD.” Even on...
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April 14, 2017
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Sexual Harassment: the Silence That Continues
In a 2016 memoir, Settle for More, former Fox News Anchor Megyn Kelly explains why she didn’t come forward sooner about the sexual harassment she faced at the hands of former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes. In an interview with ABC News journalist George Stephanopoulos (Nov. 15, 2016), “…Kelly said she did not come forward sooner… because it would have...
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April 12, 2017