Author/businessman Chuck Williams’ recent death reminded me of a conversation I had with him in February 1999. I thought it fitting to honor his work by reprinting his contribution to my book, “What Do You Stand For?” After enjoying good food and friends for years, Chuck Williams went to France to experience the food and culture, returning with the idea...

Since the attacks in Paris more than a week ago, so much of the political talk has centered on radical Muslims. (Although some leave the word “radical” out of the discussion). Before a packed crowd on Saturday (Nov. 21) in Birmingham, Alabama, GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said, “I want surveillance of certain mosques, O.K.?” Earlier in the week, in...

Since the attacks in Paris last Friday, like many, I have been struggling to understand why some people are so consumed by hate that it leads them to commit monstrous acts. I remembered a book I’ve had since college, Man’s Search for Meaning, by psychiatrist Viktor Frankl. In the book’s preface, psychologist Gordon Allport writes, “As a longtime prisoner in...

“One of the worst and most boring political pundits on television is @krauthammer. A totally overrated clown who speaks without knowing the facts.” – Donald Trump, tweet, June 4, 2015 Okay, boys and girls, it’s time for America’s number one ignored show, Checking the Candidates’ Facts!; the show where you don’t have to participate, and are completely free to disregard...

That’s what a reader asked me recently. Searching my site, I found four commentaries in the last four months: Running on Empty (June 19); The Ethical Take (July 23); Birdman: or (The Unexpected Virtuoso of Ignorance) (Sept. 8); The Scorpion and the Frog (Oct. 1); and a Let’s Be Honest graphic,  » Read more about: “What is your obsession with Donald...

No sooner had The House Select Committee on Benghazi concluded an intense, 11-hour Q&A of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton then journalists rushed to interview Committee Chair Trey Gowdy asking a very basic question: “What new things did you learn today?” Totally flat-footed, Gowdy said, “Uh… I think some of Jimmy Jordan’s questioning — well, when you say new...

Less than two weeks after he essentially said, “Thanks, but no thanks,” to running for House Speaker, Representative Paul Ryan put his finger on the precise problem with Republicans in general and the Freedom Caucus in particular. “We have become the problem. If my colleagues entrust me to be the speaker, I want us to become the solution.” In making...

On Face the Nation Sunday (Oct. 19), the Chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, Trey Gowdy, defended his committee’s work despite two House Republicans who publicly stated that the purpose of the panel was to place blame on former Secretary of State and current Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for her actions or in-actions regarding the attacks leading...

On the CBS news program Face the Nation Sunday (Oct. 20), Trey Gowdy was asked about the credibility of The House Select Committee on Benghazi in light of two Republican colleagues and a former investigator calling the committee politically motivated. “Why would all these people say that?” journalist John Dickerson asked the committee chairman. “I guess because they don’t have...

By now, presidential candidate Donald Trump’s principal success has been in branding his behavior as relentlessly rude, crude and uncurbed, believing he can bully and badger his way to the White House. And when it comes to the facts, he doesn’t just play fast and loose, he just plain ignores them. Trump likes to use the word “fabulous” in describing...