Recent Accountability Commentaries

Featured image for “Hope is the Only Choice”
Hope is the Only Choice
It takes a lot to get Nuclear Peace Activist David Krieger worked up. That’s why I was surprised by his recent essay, Decoding Donald, where Krieger – founder and president of The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation – writes forcefully about the unequivocal threat posed by Donald Trump. “You really pulled no punches in your critique and ultimate solution for dealing...
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December 6, 2017
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Memo to: Alabama Voters
One week from tomorrow, December 12, Alabama voters go to the polls to vote for a replacement for Senator Jeff Sessions who was appointed U.S. attorney general. According to a CBS News poll, Republican Roy Moore is leading Democrat Doug Jones by 6 percentage points — 49 percent to Jones’s 43 among likely voters.  In the same poll, 71 percent...
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December 4, 2017
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Truth, Trust and Trump
“If Jesus Christ [got] down off the cross and told me Trump is with Russia, I would tell him,  ‘Hold on a second. I need to check with the President if it’s true.’ ” – Trump voter, CNN New Day, November 20 This is how low truth and trust have plummeted in the eyes of some voters. Writing about the...
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December 1, 2017
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How Do You Spell Excess?
In an age of gilded toilets and mink-covered walls, even I was surprised by this story. On the front page of the Business section of The New York Times (Nov. 4), journalist James B. Stewart writes about a story originally reported by The Wall Street Journal (Oct. 18), about how former G.E. CEO Jeff Immelt traveled around the world in...
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November 29, 2017
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That Uranium Deal: An Update
“Knowing what you know about Russia, was it really a good idea for the Obama administration and the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to approve a deal giving the Russians control of 20 percent of our uranium supply? . . . Why did Hillary’s office and the Obama administration sign off on giving the Russians a fifth of our uranium? . . . What...
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November 27, 2017
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The Ethical Take: Some of the President’s Men
The E.T. is looking at the few, the ignorant, and the humbly-challenged of Trump’s “best people” from his administration. Mick Mulvaney – currently head of the Office of Management and Budget, will temporarily do double-duty as interim director of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since the departure of Richard Cordray who served as the bureau’s first director. Remember the banking excesses...
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November 24, 2017
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“Reeling”
That’s how CBS This Morning host Gayle King described her reaction to the news that co-host, and PBS correspondent Charlie Rose is the latest to be called out and admit to sexual misconduct charges leveled at him. Sitting alone at their morning table, and looking into the camera with sober faces, Norah O’Donnell and Gayle King discussed their reactions to...
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November 22, 2017
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The Menendez Fallacy
What should be done about men who do not directly and blatantly sell the favors of their offices for money and so place themselves within the penalties of the law? How do we deal with those who, under the guise of friendship, accept favors which offend the spirit of the law but do not violate its letter? – Senator J....
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November 20, 2017
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A Moral Imperative
On November 10, His Holiness Pope Francis addressed a Vatican symposium on nuclear disarmament. Francis told his audience that nuclear weapons exist “in the service of a mentality of fear that affects not only the parties in conflict but the entire human race.” Speaking to representatives from Russia, the United States and other countries, Francis made clear that “international relations...
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November 15, 2017
Featured image for “Of Hypocrites and Predators”
Of Hypocrites and Predators
Last night, 60 Minutes offered a powerful story by Aly Raisman about how the U.S. Olympic gymnast was sexually abused years ago by former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. One question that continually comes up during stories like this is, why now? Why didn’t you report this earlier? Raisman’s answer, “Why are we looking at why didn’t the girls speak...
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November 13, 2017