There is no longer any doubt that prescription opioids have become a health crisis in America. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 130 people die each day from overdosing on opioids. “The misuse of and addiction to opioids—including prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl—is a serious national crisis that affects public health as well...

Here I am relaxing on a Sunday morning with my double-espresso watching CNN’s Jake Tapper spend nearly thirty minutes interviewing Vice-President Mike Pence on a variety of issues when it happened… “I want to ask you a question about climate change,” Tapper begins. “The director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, said in a January report on worldwide threats that the...

The actions taken by Kyle Kashuv, and the ubiquity of social media are troubling on several levels. Eighteen-year-old Kashuv was one of the survivors of the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida. However, unlike his fellow students who have spoken around the country about the need for more restrictive gun legislation, Kashuv has become a very vocal gun-rights advocate. While...

Don’t get on Jon Stewart’s bad side. As the host of The Daily Show, Stewart was always on point in political skewering, but last Tuesday, Stewart, respectful and solemn, lectured Congress – specifically, the House Judiciary subcommittee – to a mostly empty room. He spoke about accountability, respect and most importantly, responsibility… theirs. “… as I sit here today,” Stewart...

Last week I wrote how the outcome of James Holzhauer’s loss on the game show Jeopary! was leaked the Sunday before the show aired on Monday, (I’ll take ‘Best Penalties’ For $1,000, Alex). The show’s executive producer, Harry Friedman, believes he knows who leaked the information and said that “very, very, very appropriate” action will be taken. At the end...

June 5, 1944, Allied Supreme Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower had under his command the largest invasion task-force in history: 175,000 British, American and Canadian assault troops; 5,000 vessels; 20,000 vehicles; and 11,000 aircraft. His directive – “You will enter the continent of Europe and, in conjunction with the other United Nations, undertake operations aimed at the heart of Germany...

While the incredible streak by Jeopardy! champ James Holzhauer has come to an end, one issue remains unresolved. Jeopardy’s streak of integrity, intact for decades, was crushed Sunday evening when some bonehead revealed Monday’s winner on social media. As regulars familiar with the show know, Jeopardy! is taped weeks in advance, and contestants must sign an agreement whereby they are...

Republican Senator Mitch McConnell has always excelled at partisanship, but his most recent remark should clinch his enshrinement in the hypocrites hall of fame. Ensconced in the safety of Paducah, Kentucky where the welcoming waters of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers meet, the Senate Majority leader was asked a question at a town hall meeting; a question that delighted and...

I’ve written ethics-related stories regarding baseball, football, golf and tennis. But this story fished me in! When Lincoln, North Dakota resident Tom Volk dropped his line in the Heart River on Easter Sunday, God must’ve been smiling down on the 41-year-old fisherman as he reeled in a 16-pound, 9-ounce walleye, crushing a state record set last year. “Volk caught the...

One night in December 1968, SP4 Dennis E. Haines’ life changed literally in a flash. “Our mission was to encircle a village,” his buddy John Miller recalls. “It was on this path that Dennis and I were sent to act as a listening post, waiting for darkness until the rest of the company would join us. “There was a problem....