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,”...

“I began by telling the president that there was a cancer growing on the presidency and that if the cancer was not removed the president himself would be killed by it.” – John Dean, counsel to President Richard Nixon, in testimony to a Senate subcommittee, 1973. The simple facts are these: President Trump called and asked a foreign official for...

It doesn’t take a CIA analyst to discern President Trump’s meaning in reading the notes of a conversation between the himself and Ukraine President Zelenskyy on July 25 of this year. In fact, all it takes is basic English skills. After congratulating Zelenskyy on his election win, Trump begins with an obvious “set-up.” “I will say that we do a...

From the very beginning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was reluctant to look at any impeachment inquiry. What changed? One phone call, and a whistleblower in the intelligence community who cited “multiple acts” that the Intelligence Community’s Inspector General said were “credible” and “urgent” regarding the president’s actions. In a clear and measured statement, the House Speaker addressed the American public:...

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....

While trying to stay above the crisis-du-jour by this president, there are some matters that are just too vital to ignore. According to several media reports, a whistleblower in the intelligence community notified the Intelligence Community’s Inspector General (ICIG) of a serious issue involving communication between the president and a foreign leader. “Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence...

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...

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...

I’ve been fortunate enough to call Peace Studies scholar and teacher Colman McCarthy a friend for a number of years now. Last month, he wrote a commentary on singer, songwriter and activist Joan Baez. In the piece, Baez reflects on the fact that today, we are missing the “glue” that connects us to others with struggles similar to our own....

It’s not that women are smarter than men (although many clearly are). It’s that they have a way of cutting through the crap and revealing the hard truth of the matter better than men. Recently, I was exposed to another little piece of ethical wisdom while attending a dinner with friends. When the conversation turned to the current occupant of...