Recent Ethics Commentaries

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The Most Important Question Before Senators
As I write this commentary, I’m watching Chief Justice John Roberts ask all 100 Senators to stand and take a special oath for the Impeachment Trial of President Trump. “Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, president of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice according...
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January 17, 2020
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Imagine
Imagine a Country where everyone is respected Where human rights are basic rights A place where citizens work together Interconnected and interdependent, like a family.   Imagine a Nation whose greatest asset is diversity Where equal opportunity and individual freedom live Whose strength lies in faith and self-reliance A people that values its principles over its privileges.  » Read more about:...
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December 25, 2019
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One Leader Who Should Not Be Ignored
“When you are a leader and every week you have young people demonstrating with such a message, you cannot remain neutral… They helped me change.” – Emmanuel Macron, president of France At 16, climate activist Greta Thunberg is the youngest to ever have been selected as TIME magazine’s “Person of the Year.” “We cannot just continue living as if there...
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December 16, 2019
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Two Positive Ethics Stories
While attending a conference last week, I found myself in an elevator with two other attendees. While my name tag appeared to suggest I was speaking at the conference, I explained that I do write and speak on ethics. One attendee smiled and asked, “Does ethics exist anymore?” While our nation’s capital endures numerous ethical lapses, it’s important to recognize...
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December 4, 2019
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Clear and Present Danger
Over the last few months, I have deliberately scaled back commentaries about our current president: his narcissism; his ego; his blatant dishonesty; his more than 2,000 conflicts of interest; his insistence that he knows more than anyone else; his obsessively cozy relationship with Russia’s Vladimir Putin; his “love” letters from North Korea’s Kim Jung- un; his “firings” of administration officials...
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September 11, 2019
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T.G.I.V.
Thank God It’s Vacation time! While the media continues to give this President the attention he craves, I’m unplugging from it all. In the meantime, I’ve selected some of the most popular commentaries. From the Philippines to Saudi Arabia; from the Netherlands to the United States, all continue to receive strong interest. I’ll return after Labor Day. The Mueller Report,...
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July 26, 2019
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Here We Go
Well, it’s the bottom of the ninth, two outs. Time to bring in the top gun! For roughly five hours, all media will be consumed by the testimony of Robert Mueller sitting before two House committees. Here’s what the president said yesterday about former federal prosecutor/FBI chief Robert Mueller and his report. “There’s a lot of conflicts, he’s got. He...
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July 24, 2019
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Republicans are Lost
At best, the presidency of Donald Trump is bad soap opera. At worst, it undermines everything the country stands for. Lately, that’s constitutional oversight and the rule of law. Republicans in Washington are, for the most part, lost. A majority don’t work for the people they represent. They work for their own political interests. On the soap opera side, Trump’s...
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May 24, 2019
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The Mueller Report, Part 1
“There is in every one of us, even those who seem to be most moderate, a type of desire that is terrible, wild, and lawless.” ― Plato, The Republic Republican Senator Mitt Romney summarizes my disposition after reading the Mueller report: “I am sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of...
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April 26, 2019
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The Trouble with Barr
“Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have right to do and what is right to do.” – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart When Attorney General William Barr issued a four-page summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, the first thought I had was, “why not just release the report and let Congress and the public read it...
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April 24, 2019

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Who Watches the Algorithm?
We are building machines that may soon judge, persuade, police, diagnose, hire, fire, and even help governments decide whom to trust. Yet we still have...
He Just Does His Job
I’ve been listening to and watching Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia for more than a year now: his speeches, his questions in Senate hearings,...
Why Donald Trump Has Pulled Me Back In—Again
Last August, I wrote that I was “stepping back from the chaos” of Donald Trump. I meant to write about his presidency only when his...
Scott Pelley Responds
During a contentious staff meeting at 60 Minutes, Scott Pelley spoke out sharply, criticizing the judgment and decision-making of CBS News editor in chief Bari...
The Clock is Still Ticking. But Now It’s Ticking for CBS
I began watching 60 Minutes when it premiered on September 24, 1968, when Harry Reasoner and Mike Wallace introduced a new kind of television journalism:...
God Has Chosen Donald Trump
At a Trump-backed Christian prayer rally on the National Mall in Washington on May 17, officially called Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise...