Recent Commentaries

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The Mueller Report, Part 2
On the Sunday CBS News show, Face the Nation, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham called Democrats talk about  President Trump’s attempts to obstruct justice when the President ordered White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, “absurd.” “It doesn’t matter what [Trump] said to Don McGahn — it is what he did,” Graham said. I’ll come back to this.  » Read...
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April 29, 2019
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The Mueller Report, Part 1
“There is in every one of us, even those who seem to be most moderate, a type of desire that is terrible, wild, and lawless.” ― Plato, The Republic Republican Senator Mitt Romney summarizes my disposition after reading the Mueller report: “I am sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of...
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April 26, 2019
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The Trouble with Barr
“Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have right to do and what is right to do.” – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart When Attorney General William Barr issued a four-page summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, the first thought I had was, “why not just release the report and let Congress and the public read it...
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April 24, 2019
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Paradise Found!
Not long after the Camp Fire devastated the little town of Paradise, California, displacing thousands of residents, help came in many forms. This is one story. While the Paradise Adventist Academy in Northern California volleyball team had made it to the state semi-finals, many of the players had lost everything in the fire. “ ‘There were two or three (girls)...
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April 22, 2019
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History Lesson: Immigration
President Trump tweeted his latest “strategy” for dealing with immigrants, both illegal and asylum-seekers. Just out: The USA has the absolute legal right to have apprehended illegal immigrants transferred to Sanctuary Cities. We hereby demand that they be taken care of at the highest level, especially by the State of California, which is well known or its poor management &...
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April 19, 2019
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More Than the Heart of a City
The fire that devastated one of the great religious, cultural and architectural treasures of the world – the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris – not only shocked French citizens but the world. If the walls inside this cavernous basilica could talk, they would tell a story of conflict, coronation, and courage. Built by hand more than 850 years ago, Notre-Dame –...
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April 17, 2019
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The “Everybody-Does-It” Defense
“I remember my uncle Harold told my aunt about this affair he had. It was a sort of mildly upsetting event in my family… The affair was over, something like eight years. So I remember asking him, ‘Why did you tell her? You got away with it.’ And I’ll never forget what he said. It was the getting away with...
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April 15, 2019
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We Got Him!
Julian Assange – founder and director of WikiLeaks, claiming he was only acting as a journalist revealing the truth about government secrets – was taken into custody by the Metropolitan Police Service in London after seven years of self-imposed confinement in the Ecuadorian Embassy. In 2010, Assange and WikiLeaks published classified American military and diplomatic documents delivered to him by...
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April 12, 2019
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Juliana v. United States
Some people talk about climate change, some do something about it and others… well, look at Kelsey Juliana and 20 others who chose to do something big. In 2015, 19-year-old Kelsey Juliana decided enough was enough. “There was a wildfire season that was so intense,” Juliana told CBS 60 Minutes reporter Steve Kroft, “we were advised not to go outside....
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April 10, 2019
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Apollo 11
This isn’t a movie review about the new documentary. This is a memory review. 1969… While the war in Vietnam was grinding away at America’s soul, one extraordinary moment electrified and uplifted Americans and the world like never before. On July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong climbed down a small ladder from his lunar lander christened the “Eagle,” paused briefly, then...
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April 8, 2019