What a way to end the year. The erosion of America’s moral integrity is overwhelming. Entitlement has overtaken personal responsibility. Meanness has overwhelmed kindness. And hatred has crushed tolerance. Many of today’s “leaders” place self-interest above public interest. They role model viciousness and lies instead of kindness and facts. They believe that the best way to influence the public forum...

With America and the world mired in chaos and conflict, a symbol of hope rises like a phoenix at Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire nearly destroyed the 860-year-old limestone landmark. In 860 years, Notre Dame has survived the War of the Roses, and witnessed the Russo-Turkish War, the Napoleonic and Yugoslav Wars, the Hundred Years’ War (116 years), World...

While much of the media discussion has surrounded the decision made by the Colorado Supreme Court, where the judges ruled that former president Donald Trump is barred from holding any public office because he engaged in insurrection, there’s another question that hasn’t been addressed: Will Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recuse himself from any case brought before the Supreme...

Watching the memorial service for Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman appointed to the US Supreme Court, her son, delivering the eulogy, pointed to one of the former justice’s legacies. “Our purpose in life,” O’Connor reminded her children, “is to help others along the way.” Last Sunday, CBS reporter Steve Hartman offered a story demonstrating the power of purpose. Every...

Washington Post opinion writer Robert Kagan’s essay should act as a flock of canaries in the coal mine of America’s consciousness concerning a second Trump presidency. “Let’s stop the wishful thinking and face the stark reality,” Kagan writes, “There is a clear path to dictatorship in the United States, and it is getting shorter every day. In 13 weeks, Donald...

Both willfully compromised the US Secret Service. Among the egregious behaviors former President Donald Trump inflicted on democracy was utilizing, to his own ends, a federal agency whose mandate was the nonpartisan protective mission of the Secret Service. During his time in office, it was axiomatic that anyone in Trump’s orbit faced a Hobson’s choice: loyalty to Trump or the...

“What a triumph for our enemies . . . to find that we are incapable of governing ourselves.”—George Washington Embed from Getty Images What or who are these people pledging their allegiance to? Amendment V — “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury...

UPDATE: SANTOS EXPELLED BY HOUSE . . . Finally! After months of disturbing reports regarding Representative George Santos’s lies, fraud, money laundering and other offenses, the New York Republican has been removed from office. What’s next? New York Governor Kathy Hochul will now begin the process of a special election to replace the missing seat in the House. The Senate...

Seventeenth-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (known by his pessimist fans as Hobb-sy) warned us of Donald Trump. “It is not wisdom but Authority that makes a law.” In full-dress duplicity, Donald Trump fully embraces Hobbes’s notion. “I alone can fix it!” To his MAGA based, Trump is their hero of hate. (By the way, in Japanese, MAGA means confusion, complication,...

With much of the world in chaos, summoning the holiday spirit this year is daunting. Let’s stop thinking about ourselves and think of others. Easier said than done. Nonetheless, this wish came to me the other night when I attended a show at a local theater. Working my way through a large number of people in the lobby, I walked...