Though I was much older than the audience for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, I did watch his testimony before a congressional subcommittee. I came away inspired by his plainspoken common sense, quiet reason, and the values he passed on—kindness, honesty, respect, and the importance of becoming a person of character. In a time when volume often substitutes for values, Fred Rogers...

It begins subtly. A shrug at a cruel remark. A laugh at behavior once considered beneath the dignity of the office. A dismissal of a fact, a bending of the truth. “It’s just rhetoric,” they say. “He’s just being himself.” Norms don’t break overnight. They erode—quietly, steadily—until what was once outrageous becomes routine. But the temperature keeps rising. In April,...

“If there is one thing I’ve learned in my life, it’s that a man’s judgment is no better than his information.”—John Glenn In an age when celebrity often eclipses substance, John Glenn never needed a spotlight to define his worth. He had already flown faster than sound, orbited the Earth, and stared into the black unknown. But his real legacy...

When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.—Derived from “It Can’t Happen Here” by Sinclair Lewis This is the most prescient book I have ever read.  In 1935, Sinclair Lewis published a novel with a title that felt more like comfort than warning: It Can’t Happen Here. But the real message behind...

It’s a story that’s made its way through online forums, Reddit threads, and grief support pages. No news articles. No official confirmation. And maybe that’s the point. The story goes like this: In 2020, while filming News of the World, Tom Hanks received a folded note from his assistant. A man named James Mallory, a retired teacher from Ohio, was...

Former Defense Secretary and retired Marine Corps General James Mattis has something to say. I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us...

Two images of the protests taking place in Los Angeles Donald Trump’s words are rarely accidental. His instinct for rhetorical impact—whether blunt force or performative affection—has always served a purpose: to reward loyalty, punish defiance, and bend public will to his own. That contrast was on full display again this week. Amid protests erupting across Los Angeles following sweeping ICE...

“If they can be charged, we’ll charge them. But if they can’t be charged, we will name them. And we will name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed. That’s the way things work.” That was a mission statement from Ed Martin, the man appointed to lead the Justice Department’s so-called “weaponization”...

Say the words “Harvard” and “$53 billion endowment” in the same sentence, and you’re bound to hear this: Why on earth would they ever need more money? It’s a reasonable question—and an ethical one. At a time when student debt tops $1.7 trillion nationwide and working families struggle with rising tuition, the optics of America’s wealthiest university continuing to raise...

  What separates a good leader from a great one isn’t intelligence, charm, or even experience. It’s character—specifically, the willingness to do the right thing when it’s difficult, unpopular, or politically damaging. We’ve seen this quality in several U.S. presidents, but four in particular stand out—not for partisan wins, but for the ethical backbone they demonstrated when it mattered most....