CSI is a CBS-TV crime drama that follows “Crime Scene Investigators” – like William Peterson, Ted Danson, Elizabeth Shue and others – as they solve murders using science and analytical skills. ESI is my own ethical-sense investigative process used in researching and examining stories like the three-part series, Conspiracy Theory. (Think of me as Ted Danson… with darker hair.) The purpose of...

Early in All the President’s Men – a film that follows Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein track down and piece together the 1972 Watergate scandal – there’s a moment where editor Harry Rosenfeld is listening to Woodward read through a list of the five men caught in the break-in at the Watergate complex. When Woodward mentions that one of the...

Who was Michael Hastings and why would anyone want to assassinate him? Author-Journalist Michael Hastings was a reporter for the Internet based website, BuzzFeed and contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine. Hastings profile rose after an interview he conducted with General Stanley McChrystal in which the four-star general was both candid and critical of individuals in the Obama administration. Hastings himself spoke...

“Evidence Indicates Michael Hastings Was Assassinated” “Hastings Sent Chilling E-mail to Colleagues Before Death” “Did the Pentagon Murder Journalist Michael Hastings?” Those are just a few of the story links that stood at the top of a Google search I conducted into the death of Michael Hastings. I’m not in the habit of running down conspiracy theories that are suggested...

O’Reilly apologizes, Trump doesn’t, a Montana judge needs some fresh air and the NFL steps up. 14.2.3.2.1. – That’s the little-known bylaw in the N.C.A.A. rule book that said that former Marine Steven Rhodes had to forfeit two years of eligibility due to his former participation in an organized football league – “with publicized schedules, official scoring and predetermined rosters”...

Before  The E.T. goes on vacation, a few words. It’s Snowden in Russia – NSA leaker Edward Snowden finally comes out from a cold… Moscow transit lounge, but don’t get rid of the snow clothes yet, Ed! Let’s see if a year in this country will change his outlook on government intrusion on privacy. Feel free to speak out on government oppression....

You are an ER doctor at a hospital who has just admitted a motorcyclist in his thirties who has sustained serious, but not life threatening, injuries due to drinking. You are scheduled to attend the patient who’s described as a “mean drunk.” This is what Dr. Pauline Chen faced while treating a patient. “I’m sure it freaked him out to...

The E.T. examines the few, the questionable and the outrageous who refuse to take the road less traveled. Rolling Stone – Several chain stores, including pharmacy brand CVS will not sell copies of the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine to their customers in the New England area. Fire and Police associations are boycotting the magazine as well because this month’s cover features...

The fallout for former Food Network star Paula Deen continues to grow. After learning, through a recent court deposition, that she had used racial slurs and jokes that disparage blacks, the network announced that it would not renew Deen’s contract which expires at the end of this month. Now, Smithfield Foods announced that it was taking similar action. “Smithfield condemns the use...

Friday’s news carried two business-related stories that, on the surface, may not seem similar but really demonstrate a double standard when it comes to guilt. Paul Deen took to YouTube Friday to apologize for using the “n” word. In part, Deen said, “I want to apologize to everybody for the wrong that I’ve done. I want to learn and grow...