In the late 1400s, the city of Florence, Italy was not only a center of art and culture but was one of the wealthiest cities in Europe rigorously ruled by the Medici family. Building on an underlying discontent, Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican friar, led a religious crusade preaching that art and literature led to an increase in moral decay. After...

Embed from Getty Images It’s been 60 years since Dr. King spoke to 250,000 supporters on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on a warm August afternoon in 1963. King’s stirring words about character, however, were improvised not written. Standing close to the civil rights leader, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson whispered, “Tell ‘em about ‘the dream,’ Martin.” I have a...

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the march on Washington led by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King in the battle for civil rights. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech has become part of the lexicon of American history notably for one passage. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where...

While Donald Trump’s death march on American democracy continues, the media has dutifully followed the former president’s every twitch. Despite four indictments, and irrefutable evidence from Trump himself where he is alleged to have willfully retained top secret documents and allegedly attempted to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election, Trump’s messianic hold over the Republican Party is alarming. In a CBS News/YouGov...

Even as former President Donald Trump finds himself facing 4 criminal indictments, his hardcore supporters continue to parrot his false accusations that the charges against him are politically motivated. However, in his never ending bluster and blame marathon, Trump and his base overlook one crucial detail in the decision-making behind all those charges. Prosecutors don’t indict; grand juries do. That’s...

Wasn’t that the fantasy/drama show from the 70s? Welcome to Fantasy Island, the reality show in Washington, DC. On the South side of the island, we have the octos (octogenarians). Democrat Dianne Feinstein, at 90 years old is clearly frail and recently fell in her San Francisco home. Retiring? Not a chance. Republican Mitch McConnell, 81, stopped in mid-sentence during...

Last week’s arraignment of former President Donald Trump was unprecedented in many ways. I contacted retired journalist Bob Wilson to interview some of the individuals who waited in a long line, many overnight. Here’s how that conversation went. “Jim, I’m outside the E. Barrett Prettyman courthouse in downtown DC and the line of people waiting outside is something one only...

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it, is really cooperating with it. —Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. What should Republicans do to save themselves and the country? They should begin by listening to former vice-president Mike Pence. “President Trump asked...

Attending to my 98-year-old father after a fall, I was leaving the hospital when I came across this message posted in an elevator. With America facing it’s most perilous time of division, it’s a message we all might ponder. We all have the capability to act responsibly. We all have the capacity to respect each other. We all have the...

“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”—Edmund Burke, Anglo-Irish statesman, and philosopher. Two simple questions with no easy answers. Why do so many tolerate dishonesty, incivility, irresponsibility, and a profound lack of character in far too many individuals, particularly leaders? Why do so many choose...