Even though the turmoil in Washington tends to suck all the oxygen out of the news cycle each week, there are positive stories that deserve our attention and appreciation. Here are three. Waffle House Hero – Last month, James Shaw, Jr., who, at the risk to his own life, prevented a gunman from taking more lives by wrestling the gun...

Last Sunday, April 22, a 29-year old man entered a Waffle House restaurant near Antioch, Tennessee armed with an assault-style rifle prepared to kill many of the restaurants patrons. Taking cover behind a swinging door, James Shaw, Jr. and his best friend, Brennan McMurry, looked for a moment to take action against the shooter. As reported by The New York...

Barbara Bush died last week. The 92-year old former first lady had been struggling for the last few years with health issues, and when the family recently announced that she would not seek further medical treatment, the disclosure of her death did not come as a surprise. Peggy Noonan, former speech writer to Ronald Reagan, wrote (Apr. 21), that “Barbara...

One of the most unforgettable and tragic news stories of the last 60 years took place on November 22, 1963. I never saw it until years later because I was sitting in my High School Homeroom class in New Rochelle, New York. It began with a sober voice over announcement by Walter Cronkite. “In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired...

This is the second of two commentaries about Maj. John Baldwin (Ret.) chest surgeon extraordinaire. Wednesday’s commentary talked about Baldwin’s quick thinking and skillful hands as a young resident. This piece story goes back in time to 1951. In 1951, nuclear testing continued with a 1-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat near Las Vegas, Nevada. President Harry Truman relieved General...

Social media and video-sharing sites have become the new weapon of choice by activists. The problem is the lack of responsibility shown by some users and readers of information that is used to exploit fears and biases with false theories and propaganda. E.g. David Hogg – The New York Times reports (Feb. 21), “…for a brief time, the No. 1...

During a conversation with a friend about the Parkland school shooting, I was struck by something she said: “I’m not a Republican or a Democrat; I’m an American.” Wednesday’s news was consumed with the aftershock of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. The first half of the day was occupied with a listening session held by President Trump, attended...

Okay, he knows how to ride a horse perhaps as well as conservationist president Teddy Roosevelt.  And he was a Navy SEAL for more than 20 years. Does that qualify him to be the Secretary of the Interior to serve and protect our National Parks? After asking for a meeting with Secretary Zinke for months, ten of the twelve advisory...

The last two days have just moved us closer to a nuclear war than at any time since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. At least Russia’s Khrushchev and the United States’s Kennedy not only had hope but reason working in their favor. At this moment, those two necessary ingredients of sanity are lacking in two leaders who – based on...

“History,” author and historian David McCullough observes, “is a larger way of looking at life. It is a source of strength, of inspiration. It is about who we are and what we stand for and is essential to our understanding of what our own role should be in our time.” Most important of all, McCullough points out, “History is human....