The good news is the level of vaccinations around the country is up. As of March 10, “At least 62,451,150 people or 19.0 percent of the population have received at least one dose,” reports USA Facts Covid vaccine tracker. “Overall, 32,904,161 people or 10.0 percent have been fully vaccinated.” NPR reports (Mar. 10), “President Biden has declared a goal of...

Two stories about the coronavirus vaccine caught my attention. Embed from Getty Images In a recent letter to New York Times ethicist, Kwame Anthony Appiah, one reader writes: “I work for a hospital, but in an administrative job. I do not interact with patients. I have worked from home since March. I am not at high risk for contracting Covid-19...

For too long, Social media has become a haven for third-party shares of misinformation, false conspiracies and blatant lies. As belief turns to anger, and anger to hate, some have become radically motivated, violent extremists. While many of these companies have taken some steps to stem the tide of hate and violence, our worst impulses have rapidly overtaken and divided...

The last four years has seen a dramatic erosion of facts and truth, one of the essentials of our democracy. In its place are conspiracy theories, misinformation and blatant lies....

“It is written I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice.” – Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness The poison that is Donald Trump has so deeply infected followers that they forcefully speak out against any unfaithful Republican who dares speak against him much less hold him accountable for the attack on the Capitol. Embed from Getty Images Here’s...

“…to live with integrity, it is sometimes necessary to take that difficult step – to get involved – to fight openly for what one believes to be true and right and good, even when there is risk to oneself.” – Stephen Carter, Integrity Republican Representatives Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse unquestionably meet that standard. This is...

According to folklore, a man approached the Jewish sage Hillel the Elder with a proposal: If he could explain the principles of his faith in a single sentence the man would convert to Judaism. Hillel responded, “What is hateful to thee, do not unto thy fellow man; this is the whole Law the rest is mere commentary.” During the attack...

“It’s incredibly obvious, isn’t it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual, certainly without any choice. That’s the way your hard-core Commie works.” – Gen. Jack D. Ripper, explaining why he ordered B-52 bombers to attack Russia in Dr. Strangelove. (Updates at bottom) When I first watched Dr. Strangelove – a...

Among the books in my library is a series from TIME/LIFE entitled, The Decades. In words and images from 1910 to the 1990s, editors have distilled each decade’s most notable events. For example, the ’60s: Vietnam, racism, assassinations, Woodstock, the space program – each volume memorializes the triumphs and tragedies of the American landscape. If the series continues, editors are...

In 16th Century Italy, Niccolò Machiavelli was a nice enough guy until he discovered something. (Don’t let that smile fool you.) Political philosophers believed the most successful government required leaders to be moral, upstanding citizens. However, based on his experience in government, Machiavelli saw things differently. After he was booted out of authority, he wrote a little book entitled The...