Recent Personalities Commentaries

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Comey v. Trump – Part 2
On May 9, President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. “…it’s a story,” National Public Radio (NPR) reports (May 15), “that has now continued past his termination, with a winding narrative that has seen the president make veiled threats and contradict his own staff as well as the vice president.” On May 18, President Trump tweeted: “This is the single...
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June 16, 2017
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Just Two Baseball Managers
Yesterday’s shooting incident during baseball practice between Republicans and Democrats in Alexandria, Virginia sobered up a lot of people. Most notable, Democratic Congressman Mike Doyle from Pennsylvania, and Republican Congressman Joe Barton from Texas, who together gave a lengthy press conference to discuss the morning’s incident. Republican House Whip Steve Scalise and four others were shot during the episode in...
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June 15, 2017
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Comey v. Trump – Part 1
Every week… EVERY week, the Trump administration has some controversy that sucks the air out of any meaningful legislative action in Washington. This week, it’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions. While I think it’s important to look at some of the clouds surrounding President Trump, I do not intend to ethically parse every controversy. However, I believe last week’s Senate testimony...
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June 14, 2017
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Want to Change the World?
True story, every morning, I make the bed. (I also wash my own laundry but that’s another story.) Over the years, my wife has occasionally mentioned this to others at social functions, as if performing such tasks was due to some anomalous male genetic mutation. (The shocking truth is, most men routinely have made their beds and other chores before...
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June 12, 2017
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A Blind Eye?
Graham Spanier, the former president of Penn State University, was found guilty last March of endangering the welfare of a child in the Jerry Sandusky sex assault case. In March, I wrote about my time at Penn State where I spoke on ethics to a variety of students, administrators, alumni and… as it turned out, then-President Spanier. Spanier and I...
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June 7, 2017
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What’s Your Tribe?
With all the fractiousness in the country – Right, Left, Alt-Right, Democrat, Republican, North, South, East, West, up, down – the nation is clearly living through challenging times. How do we relate to one another with such diverse beliefs, cultures and goals? How can we learn to listen more and bark less? John Zogby’s 2016 book, We Are Many, We...
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June 5, 2017
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Make America Covfefe Again!
Whenever Press Secretary Sean Spicer is asked to explain one of President Trump’s tweets, he responds, “The president’s tweet speaks for itself.” When Spicer was asked what the president meant by “covfefe,” Spicer replied, “The president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant.” It now seems perfectly clear that Spicer, and that very “small group” were...
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June 2, 2017
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Reflecting on Kennedy
Today would have been the 100th birthday of John F. Kennedy. While he served less than three years as the nation’s 35th president, more books have been written about Kennedy – 62,000 – than any president in the last 152 years, (Lincoln comes in first with 111,000; Washington, second with 83,000). I have 31 books on Kennedy in my own...
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May 29, 2017
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Standards, What Standards?
Fox News executives should issue the following statement: “Fox News is calling for a total and complete shutdown of inaccurate and false stories coming from Sean Hannity until Fox representatives can figure out what the HELL is going on!” P.S. – They have, sort of. Conspiracy theories have bounced around popular culture and politics since the birth of the nation....
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May 26, 2017
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Alex Jones Recants? Not so Fast
“I’m choosing this as a battle. On this I will stand. I will win, or I will die, I’m not backing down. I’m never giving up. I love this.” – Alex Jones, InfoWars Well, for Jones, the battle not only didn’t last long, but he didn’t die, either. Earlier this month, Jones’s “war” with Chobani yogurt maker Hamdi Ulukaya, a...
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May 23, 2017

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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...