“We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Twenty-five years before the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, an incident took place that squarely placed the issue of slavery before the public and the courts. In 1839, fifty-three Africans were kidnapped from Sierra Leone and sold into slavery. While being transferred by...

“When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.” – Richard Nixon “The law’s totally on my side… the president can’t have a conflict of interest.”          – Donald Trump Well, I made it through the wilderness of Lent, and refrained from writing about President Trump until last Friday. However, in reviewing events of the last 7 weeks,...

 » Read more about: Let’s Be Honest – More Cowbell Edition  »...

At a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin last year, then-candidate Trump said, “Now remember, we’re competing in a rigged election. This is a rigged election, folks, okay?” An October 16, 2016 Trump tweet: “The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing Crooked Hillary – but also at many polling places – SAD.” Even on...

In a 2016 memoir, Settle for More, former Fox News Anchor Megyn Kelly explains why she didn’t come forward sooner about the sexual harassment she faced at the hands of former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes. In an interview with ABC News journalist George Stephanopoulos (Nov. 15, 2016), “…Kelly said she did not come forward sooner… because it would have...

The extent to which some individuals in powerful positions will force that power on others in the workplace, time and time again, is shocking. And the corporate culture that protects those individuals – typically due to an enhanced revenue stream – is  reprehensible. E.g.: Bill O’Reilly – Malefactor-in-Chief. “O’Reilly,” The New York Times reported (Apr. 1), “has been Fox News’s...

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ordered Wells Fargo, the third largest U.S. bank, to pay a former employee $5.4 million who was fired after he blew the whistle on supervisors regarding fraudulent behavior by the bank. According to the ruling, Wells Fargo must also reinstate a similar position previously held by the employee. NPR reports (Apr. 4), “The...

What stood out to me in watching last Sunday’s show, where 60 Minutes journalist Scott Pelley interviews an individual who traffics in “fake” news, is how perfectly plausible he could sound. The more I listened, however, the more I realized I was listening to “fake” plausibility. “ ‘What we are talking about are stories that are fabricated out of thin...

In 2005, I was invited to speak on ethics at a prominent university. I was escorted to a site on campus where the room was packed with students, teachers and administrators. I take my place at a table down in front near the podium for a luncheon that preceded my talk. An official in the room leans over and tells...

Last Friday (Mar. 10), I talked about the more than 8,700 classified CIA documents released by Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, whose stated mission “…is to bring important news and information to the public.” On March 9, The New York Times reported that Assange “…fresh from revealing the largest leak of classified documents in CIA history… tried to turn the table...