Recent Citizenship Commentaries

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One Face of Justice
This is Ben Ferencz, and at 97-years-old, he is the last man standing… literally, who prosecuted Nazis at the Nuremberg trials at the end of World War II. While watching Ferencz’s backstory on 60 Minutes, I thought, well, this will be a nice little profile about the past, but I was completely wrong. Ferencz continues his fight for justice and...
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July 10, 2019
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This is What Genius Looks Like
Global warming, according to a majority of climate scientists, is a global threat. And an 81-year-old man thinks knows he’s found an answer. This is the face of genius. In a story from the CBS program 60 Minutes, Lesley Stahl interviewed a man with no science background or degrees. Walking around Thoreau’s idyllic Walden Pond, not far from his home,...
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June 28, 2019
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A Simple Solemn Message
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...
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June 14, 2019
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I Like Mike!
This is 70-year-old Mike Edison, a retired advertising sales executive who lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York. Mike is a great example of persistence and the power one individual can have to effect change. Manhattan is known for great theater, great buildings, great museums, and… great noise. Stepping outside the relative insulation of a New...
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June 12, 2019
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This is What Civic Virtue Looks Like
Earlier this month, Warwick Public Schools in Rhode Island announced that it would ban any student from the school’s hot meal service if they had not paid any outstanding balance owed. Their only choice at lunchtime: a sandwich made from “sun butter and jelly,” (sun butter?). The unpaid amounted to $77,000. After word quickly spread on Facebook, outrage built against...
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May 29, 2019
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That Night in Vietnam… And Those That Followed
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....
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May 27, 2019
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The Billionaire and The Debt
Commencement at colleges and universities around the country is a time for the well-known and lesser-known luminaries to make speeches that inspire a graduating class. Billionaire Robert F. Smith kicked it up a notch. Smith, the founder, and CEO of the private equity firm Vista Equity Partners had already pledged $1.5 million to Atlanta’s Morehouse College when he announced that...
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May 22, 2019
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Paradise Found!
Not long after the Camp Fire devastated the little town of Paradise, California, displacing thousands of residents, help came in many forms. This is one story. While the Paradise Adventist Academy in Northern California volleyball team had made it to the state semi-finals, many of the players had lost everything in the fire. “ ‘There were two or three (girls)...
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April 22, 2019
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Passion vs. Reason
In light of the “principal conclusions” of  Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation made known by U.S. Attorney General William Barr, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham’s essay (Mueller Offers a Lesson in the Power of Reason) in TIME magazine (Apr. 8), offers insight and guidance to both supporters and opponents of Trump. Meacham points to 20th century American journalist Walter Lippmann’s...
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April 5, 2019
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Three Stories That Show Who We Really Are
While news out of Washington continues to consume much of the news cycle, there are stories that remind us that compassion, perseverance, and the pursuit of excellence are reminders of what’s really important. The Good Samaritan – “I was getting a car at this particular dealership,” Dan Laguardia said. “I was going to trade in my car and get the...
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April 1, 2019