Recent Personalities Commentaries

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This is Where We Are
This is what irresponsibility looks like, where dishonesty thrives and “loyalty” trumps rationality. This isn’t a close call. This isn’t, well, you know, it might have been this, or maybe that. No. The January 6 attack on the Capitol building by fervent Trump supporters and armed extreme right insurrectionists is not opinion. It’s fact. Many of those who didn’t see...
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June 28, 2021
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The Diminishment of Our Democracy is Not About Trump…
…it’s about us. It’s about those who support him, those who mimic, tweet, or Facebook his outrage and lies, and those who remain silent. He’s no longer president. He no longer has direct control of our lives. There’s nothing left but the clown show of rallies where he reiterates the same tired lies and conspiracies to supporters who feed his...
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June 11, 2021
Eye-to-Eye
Embed from Getty Images Thirty-one minutes and forty-three seconds into his speech at the GOP Lincoln-Reagan Dinner in Manchester, New Hampshire, former Vice-President Mike Pence said this about the January 6th insurrection of the Capitol building and President Trump: “…I don’t know if we’ll ever see eye-to-eye on that day…” That’s it? “Eye-to-eye”? What a feeble attempt at characterizing your...
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June 7, 2021
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When Will This Madness End?
“…every scientific and medical report shows that whenever you have a re-opening—whether you want to call it a re-opening of businesses or of just a re-opening of society—in the aftermath of something like this, it actually will lead to an increase and spread.” That statement acknowledged what medical experts were telling state officials during the long months of COVID-19. But...
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May 23, 2021
Trump’s First Amendment Rights
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. – adopted December 15, 1791 Embed from Getty Images I believe in the First Amendment....
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May 21, 2021
Trump, Social Media and The First Amendment
Embed from Getty Images Apologies for the delay in Wednesday’s commentary. Taxes. Returning Friday. On January 6, the day the 2020 presidential election was set for certification by the Congress, Donald Trump gave a speech in front of the White House that became a drumbeat of rebellion built on lies, and conspiracies. It was a speech that whipped-up thousands of...
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May 17, 2021
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Moment of Principle
In my 2004 book, What Do You Stand For? I asked a cross-section of more than 100 individuals to answer a questionnaire: What do you stand for, what principles have you lived by? Describe a “moment of principle” in which your convictions were tested or a story in which you were inspired by another. Last night, on the floor of...
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May 12, 2021
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Profile in Courage; Profiles in Cowardice
“In a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, ‘holds office’; every one of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities. We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or...
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May 6, 2021
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Meet in The Middle
I didn’t know much about Tyler Perry before Sunday’s Academy Award event. I sure know a lot more now. Last Sunday, Perry was the recipient of the Gene Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The honor is only periodically given to an “individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.” And Perry more than qualified. His...
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April 28, 2021
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Buzzwords
Every year, Buzzwords are added to the lexicon of our lives. Nowhere have they been more prevalent than in politics. Before he even rode down the escalator into infamy, Donald Trump would frequently use the word, “Fake,” or “Fake News Media.” In fact, he used the word so often – nearly 2,000 times, according to Britain’s Independent – that  the...
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April 26, 2021

Read Some of the Most Recent Articles
The Latest... And Often Greatest
When Political Identity Replaces Ethical Judgment
The political and cultural landscape has become a minefield of conflicting beliefs, many now rooted less in public policy than in personal identity. One of...
Principles Matter.
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...
All the President’s Men 2.0
“Politics had infiltrated every corner of government—a strong-arm takeover of the agencies by the Nixon White House.” —Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, All the President’s...
The Threat to November Is Already Here
“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...
Jon Ossoff and the Conscience of Atticus Finch
I’ve written about Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff before, but after watching his questioning of Jay Clayton, President Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence (DNI),...
Hearts and Minds
There’s a moment in Cool Hand Luke when Luke, played by Paul Newman, is returned to a prison camp after escaping. Determined to break his...