“We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom.” On January 20, 1961, I was in seventh grade, watching John F. Kennedy deliver his inaugural address. I could not have known then that I was witnessing a moment in history, with words that would inspire generations to come. As Thurston Clarke recounts in his book Ask...

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was scheduled to address Texas Democratic leaders and supporters at a fundraising dinner in Austin honoring him and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. He never made it. Earlier that day, an assassin’s bullets took his life in Dallas. But they did not silence the words he had prepared for that evening. More...

Remember how everyone was talking about the dangers of AI just a month ago? “Is There Really a 10% Chance AI Could Kill Us All.”—The L.A, Times For weeks, news reports have warned that artificial intelligence could someday escape human control, threatening everything from national security to humanity’s very existence in the future. The future is here but it’s not...

On March 4, 1865, a tall, tired man stood before a crowd gathered at the United States Capitol to deliver what would become one of the greatest speeches in American history. Abraham Lincoln was beginning his second term as president. The Civil War, which had torn the nation apart for nearly four years and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives...

I’ve spent much of my life thinking and writing about ethics. About honesty. About responsibility. About integrity—not simply when doing the right thing is easy, but when it demands courage, carries consequences, and comes at a personal cost. We are 18 days away from a national election. Lately, I’ve found myself wondering whether we’ve reached a point in American life...

Republican John Williams, a chicken farmer and feed dealer from southern Delaware, had never gone to college.  He spoke so quietly on the Senate floor that the news media dubbed him “Whispering Willie.” But when he spoke, people listened as he exposed the biggest corruption scandals of the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s – sending hundreds of government officials to...

This is the opening statement delivered by Jack Smith, former Special Counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice, before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 29, 2026. I’m including his statement in its entirety because, in Washington today, character, integrity, and courage are increasingly endangered virtues. Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Durbin, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity...

BREAKING: News organizations responded forcefully on Monday after President Trump barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. They went to federal court—and, in an extraordinary show of solidarity, ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC agreed to suspend video coverage of the president until further notice. “I want it clearly understood that from now on, ever, no reporter...

A few nights ago, I was watching The Way We Were, a film I’ve seen more times than I can count. This time, a single line stopped me. Katie Morosky, played by Barbra Streisand, has just returned from a political demonstration in Washington. She and Hubbell are arguing when she says: “People are their principles.” It’s a simple sentence. But...

“Cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government.”—George Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796 “Our machines and ballot counting systems are exposed to hacking and manipulation and corruption…. Hundreds of thousands of non-citizens and dead people are listed and active on the voter rolls.”—Donald Trump, Election...