With the 75th Anniversary of “the liberation of Auschwitz [on January 27, the occasion was] marked by events around the world, culminating in a solemn ceremony at the former death camp [that included] dozens of aging Holocaust survivors,” The New York Times reports (Jan. 25). “Piotr Cywinski, the director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, is worried. “ ‘More and more...

In honor of President Trump’s pardons of celebrity convicted felons, I thought this updated commentary from 2018, particularly relevant. WASHINGTON — With Vice-President Mike Pence looking on, President Donald Trump signed two full pardons “for all Crimes and Misdemeanors” for Frankenstein and the Wolf Man. Both had previously pleaded guilty to murder. White House officials were scrambling Tuesday morning after...

Due to declining  student populations in public colleges and universities around the country, budget cutbacks have had a serious impact on education. Libraries and staff are particularly vulnerable, affecting the vital help students need from the valuable services libraries provide. How important? The nation’s second president, John Adams, believed education was so important that he included a clause in the...

“As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man objected and no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever.” – Clarence Darrow This is a case about truth and lies; right and wrong. At the conclusion of the White House defense team’s arguments on behalf of President Trump, the revelations by former National Security...

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”   — George Santayana, Spanish philosopher At the most critical juncture of the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy was facing the very real possibility of nuclear war with Russia. In a speech to the American people, Kennedy details the crisis and expresses his desire for full and complete denuclearization....

“These are the times that try men’s souls.” – Thomas Paine, English-born, American philosopher and activist. Taken from Paine’s essay, The Crisis, those words were meant to inspire American revolutionaries as they faced an extraordinary moment of character. Considering our current crisis, what Paine writes next is worth reflection. “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will,  » Read more about:...

The first warning came on September 5, 2018 when The New York Times published an anonymous Op-Ed from “a senior official in the Trump administration.” “The dilemma,” anonymous writes, “which [Trump] does not fully grasp, is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst...

On July 23, 1974, Republican Congressman Lawrence Hogan held a press conference to explain why he was calling for the impeachment of Richard Nixon. In a story that would easily garner a place in John Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage, had it been written later, Hogan spoke with passion and commitment to a higher principle. “I want with all my heart,”...

In 1969 — fifty years ago, today — I was driving a 1965 blue Mustang while attending my second year of college as turmoil swirled in the country. While I didn’t know it at the time, the country was more divided then at any time since the Civil War. The Good: miniskirts… lots of them. The Bad: the Manson family....

Note to Readers: Apologies for my absence. I’ve been working on completing a long-term project. It’s taken longer than expected. I hope to have another commentary on Friday, and return Tuesday. I appreciate your understanding. It was a time of fear; fear of communism; fear of American citizens who may be Communist spies; hate for those who sat before the...