Recent Personalities Commentaries

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Supremely Compromised
Let’s cut to the chase: Americans expect a higher standard from the US Supreme Court than the other two branches of government . . .  much higher and we’re not getting it. Let’s start with Justice Alito. “A former leader of the anti-abortion movement wrote to the chief justice to report an alleged earlier breach, of a 2014 contraception decision,...
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January 27, 2023
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The Supremes
Since this is a two-parter, I’m going to start with a little background. The Supreme Court is expected to have a higher standard than the other two branches of government. We rely on the accumulated legal wisdom of 9 justices—not their political persuasions—to make decisions that affect the entire country. Great idea, yes? Of course. But since all men are...
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January 24, 2023
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Mr. Smith is Back!
Here’s what I like about politicians. Every once in a while, we get heroes—people who stand up for what’s right and good and best not just for the people back home, but the entire country. Margret Chase Smith, the Republican Senator from Maine, was such a hero when she stood up against the lies and tactics of her Senate colleague,...
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January 17, 2023
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Doubt
Doubt . . . about virtually everything has infected our culture and political system and those around the world like nothing we’ve seen before. And the ignition switch for much of the misinformation and disinformation contributing to that doubt is social media. When American soccer reporter, Grant Wahl died suddenly while covering the World Cup in Qatar, doubt threw its...
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January 13, 2023
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George Washington’s Rules of Civility
With offensive slurs and threats thrown around, Friday’s election of a House speaker was another example of a lack of civility in America. But our first president, George Washington didn’t have the best of dispositions either. He had a reputation for “tumultuous passions that accompany greatness,” Gouverneur Morris, one of the Founding Fathers, noted of Washington. The Latin word civilis...
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January 10, 2023
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Let’s Talk About Football
Let me say at the outset that I’m not going to win friends or influence many people with this commentary. Football . . . is a beautiful game. With the unexpected death of Pittsburgh Steelers Franco Harris last month, the media refreshed all our memories of “The Immaculate Reception,” the play that not only defined Harris but remains one of...
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January 6, 2023
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Integrity Matters
In a TIME magazine essay, Michelle Obama talks about a question she is frequently asked: “What do you mean when you say, ‘When they go low, we go high?’” Mrs. Obama explained that she and the former president are “committed and recommitted to the idea of going high many times . . . Hate crimes, trans rights, gay rights, voting...
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December 16, 2022
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Truth Be Told
On any given day, I can drive around the small town where I live and easily see two-dozen or more individuals on cell phones. Some are on a call, some texting, tweeting, Facebooking, or just plain surfing. All of us appear to be spliced to our phones. I’ll come back to this later. Elon Musk is the man who gave...
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December 13, 2022
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Memo to The Media: Ignore Trump
“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.”— Lincoln Too many have become slaves to fear and prejudice losing the best parts of themselves to an ideology of lies and hate. I was in the process of writing about the media’s continuing obsession with reporting every word and action about Donald Trump and the...
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November 29, 2022
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Memo to Democrats: Don’t Gloat
Note: On assignment, but I’ll be back! No high-fives. No victory laps. No champagne room. You’re not out of the woods, yet. Watching Democratic leadership win back the Senate, you’d think they had won the Super Bowl. They didn’t. What we all won was a return to democracy, and a keen sense that most Americans don’t want to hand over...
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November 15, 2022