Recent Responsibility Commentaries

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About Last Week
I began writing this while watching thousands gather for the interfaith memorial service held for the five Dallas police officers who were ambushed and gunned down by a lost and damaged army veteran. The shooter, Micah Johnson, said that he “…specifically set out to kill as many white officers as he could,” following the deaths of two black men by...
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July 13, 2016
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7 Key Points from the F.B.I. Investigation into Clinton E-Mails
In a televised oral report on the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server, F.B.I. Director James B. Comey summed up his department’s findings this way: While the F.B.I. could find no “clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence...
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July 6, 2016
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The Ethical Take: The Long, Hot, Hate-filled Summer
No, this is NOT a joke – Rick Tyler, an independent candidate running for Congress from Tennessee, received a much deserved flood of criticism after putting up a campaign billboard along Highway 411 in Polk County which reads, “Make America White Again.” According to WTVC-TV, Tyler explained his reasons this way: “ ‘The Make America White Again billboard advertisement will...
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July 1, 2016
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“Heaven” is Real
“My hand was writing out the words: There’s a lady who’s sure, all that glitters is gold, and she’s buying a stairway to heaven… “I just sat there and looked at them and almost leapt out of my seat. “Plant’s own explanation of the lyrics was that it ‘was some cynical aside about a woman getting everything she wanted all...
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June 27, 2016
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Those Emails – Part 2
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s e-mails have been the subject of criticism, speculation and more ever since it was discovered that she used a private server located in her home to handle her e-mail account during the period she served as secretary of state. From an ethical standpoint, here are the questions that concern me most: 1) Was Secretary...
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June 17, 2016
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“You don’t know me, but you’ve been inside me.”
On June 2, a California judge ordered Stanford University student Brock Turner to serve six months in jail for sexually assaulting a female student. In a statement to the judge, Turner blamed the “party culture and risk-taking behavior” for his actions. On June 15, Congress will hold a special one hour presentation where congressional members, both men and women, will...
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June 13, 2016
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Between a Rock and a Trump Place
SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATES! Dear Mr. Speaker, Well, that didn’t take long. Last month you told CNN’s Jake Tapper: “I’m just not ready to [endorse Donald Trump].” You said you couldn’t support Trump unless he “advances the principles of our party and appeals to a wide, vast majority of Americans.” The only problem with that statement, Mr. Speaker is that...
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June 7, 2016
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Muhammad Ali – Legend, Activist, Leader
“I am the Greatest. I said that even before I knew I was.”   – Muhammad Ali Since his death last Friday in Arizona, words of praise for the life of Muhammad Ali have been making their way around the media. “He was arguably the greatest fighter of all time,” Ali biographer Thomas Hauser said. But Hauser was quick to add...
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June 6, 2016
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They’re in!
Last February, I wrote how Elaine Harmon, a member of the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (WASP), was refused burial at Arlington National Cemetery. While not technically considered part of the military, nevertheless Harmon and her colleagues provided a vital service during World War II. Thirty-eight WASPs died in service to their country. Harmon’s granddaughter, Tiffany Miller who, along with...
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May 27, 2016
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Take Three Gifts
When I learned that President Obama had decided to visit Hiroshima while in Japan for the Group-7 meeting next week, the first person I contacted was David Krieger. As founder and president of The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Krieger has worked tirelessly for the abolition of all nuclear weapons. (And I thought ethics was a tough sell!) Obama’s visit gives...
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May 20, 2016

Read Some of the Most Recent Articles
The Latest... And Often Greatest
A Tale of Two Voices
Two voices, both alike in reach and power, Speak into a divided world. One feeds grievance. The other calls for grace. Influence still carries power....
How Do We Manage Division?
Recently, I found myself returning to a question I’ve asked in different forms for years: what does it actually take to hold a country together...
The Supreme Court is Broken. How Do We Fix It?
As distilled from an email update from Michael Waldman, President and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court struck down...
Leadership as a Moral Act
Britain’s King Charles III spoke to a chamber that, for a moment, set aside party labels—Democrat and Republican—and listened not as factions, but as participants...
Unity is Not a Declaration. It’s a Discipline.
How does a country move from argument to action? The shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is not an isolated event. It is part...
When the Line No Longer Holds
There are moments when events reveal more than they intend. What unfolded Saturday at the Washington Hilton was not simply an isolated act. It was...