Recent Commentaries

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Memo to U.S. Senators:
Stanley Almodovar III, 23 Amanda Alvear, 25 Oscar A. Aracena-Montero, 26 Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 Martin Benitez Torres, 33 Antonio D. Brown, 29 Darryl R. Burt II, 29 Jonathan A. Camuy Vega, 24 Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 Simon A. Carrillo Fernandez, 31 Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 Luis D.  » Read more about: Memo to U.S. Senators:  »...
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June 20, 2016
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Those Emails – Part 2
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s e-mails have been the subject of criticism, speculation and more ever since it was discovered that she used a private server located in her home to handle her e-mail account during the period she served as secretary of state. From an ethical standpoint, here are the questions that concern me most: 1) Was Secretary...
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June 17, 2016
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Those Emails… again!
“The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!”          — Bernie Sanders, the first Democratic debate I was going to wait before addressing this issue again until the FBI had released a report on its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server, but with the recent release of the Office of Inspector General’s...
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June 15, 2016
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“You don’t know me, but you’ve been inside me.”
On June 2, a California judge ordered Stanford University student Brock Turner to serve six months in jail for sexually assaulting a female student. In a statement to the judge, Turner blamed the “party culture and risk-taking behavior” for his actions. On June 15, Congress will hold a special one hour presentation where congressional members, both men and women, will...
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June 13, 2016
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Rigged?
While Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders has been mathematically eliminated from the 2016 election, for weeks he has complained that the election process is rigged. While many brushed his remarks aside as a non-story, many, including Sanders own campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, stated that Nevada Democratic officials “hijacked the process…” Are they right? On May 16, The New York Times writes,...
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June 10, 2016
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Between a Rock and a Trump Place
SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATES! Dear Mr. Speaker, Well, that didn’t take long. Last month you told CNN’s Jake Tapper: “I’m just not ready to [endorse Donald Trump].” You said you couldn’t support Trump unless he “advances the principles of our party and appeals to a wide, vast majority of Americans.” The only problem with that statement, Mr. Speaker is that...
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June 7, 2016
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Muhammad Ali – Legend, Activist, Leader
“I am the Greatest. I said that even before I knew I was.”   – Muhammad Ali Since his death last Friday in Arizona, words of praise for the life of Muhammad Ali have been making their way around the media. “He was arguably the greatest fighter of all time,” Ali biographer Thomas Hauser said. But Hauser was quick to add...
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June 6, 2016
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Can an honest politician be elected president?
Several years ago I was playing a board game called Scruples with some friends. The object of the game is to draw a card and read a dilemma out loud to the group. You then have to decide which way you will handle that dilemma. How you answer, justifying your decision to the others, determines how many points you receive....
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June 1, 2016
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A Bracelet, a War and Memories
Maj. John Baldwin (Ret.) is a good friend, former vascular surgeon who served in Vietnam and frequent reader of this site. He submitted the following story to me about former classmate and Vietnam POW Maj. Glenn Wilson. It begins with finding a bracelet. When the Gator Harbor dredge operators pumping out Stevenson Creek near Tampa, Florida back in the spring...
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May 30, 2016
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They’re in!
Last February, I wrote how Elaine Harmon, a member of the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (WASP), was refused burial at Arlington National Cemetery. While not technically considered part of the military, nevertheless Harmon and her colleagues provided a vital service during World War II. Thirty-eight WASPs died in service to their country. Harmon’s granddaughter, Tiffany Miller who, along with...
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May 27, 2016

Read Some of the Most Recent Articles
The Latest... And Often Greatest
When Political Identity Replaces Ethical Judgment
The political and cultural landscape has become a minefield of conflicting beliefs, many now rooted less in public policy than in personal identity. One of...
Principles Matter.
A few nights ago, I was watching The Way We Were, a film I’ve seen more times than I can count. This time, a single...
All the President’s Men 2.0
“Politics had infiltrated every corner of government—a strong-arm takeover of the agencies by the Nixon White House.” —Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, All the President’s...
The Threat to November Is Already Here
“Cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government.”—George Washington’s...
Jon Ossoff and the Conscience of Atticus Finch
I’ve written about Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff before, but after watching his questioning of Jay Clayton, President Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence (DNI),...
Hearts and Minds
There’s a moment in Cool Hand Luke when Luke, played by Paul Newman, is returned to a prison camp after escaping. Determined to break his...