Recent Responsibility Commentaries

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Smarter than a Fifth Grader?
With the shameful shenanigans demonstrated by all the name-calling, four-letter words, and rally violence by certain presidential candidates, you can only imagine what grade-schoolers think. That’s just what CBS News correspondent Chip Reid wanted to know. Reid sat down with five 5th graders, Max, Ella, Brynn, Ananya and Will, to ask them what they think about the 2016 presidential race...
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March 16, 2016
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Maria’s “Huge Mistake”
I’ve been a tennis fan since early childhood. Each year, I look forward to following the pros – men and women – compete in big 4 events known as the Grand Slam: Australian, French, British and U.S. Open. Which is why it came as both a shock and disappointment to watch a press conference where Maria Sharapova, the highest-paid female...
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March 10, 2016
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Trump Supporters to Electorate: DROP DEAD!
Just when you thought the Republican race for the presidential nomination could not possibly get embarrassingly worse, it does. Last night, billionaire huckster Donald Trump had already won 7 of 12 state primaries and looked to increase his lead before the night was over. Forty-eight hours earlier he was interviewed on CNN’s State of the Union (Feb. 28), by Jake...
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March 2, 2016
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Privacy v. Security: What’s next?
The battle between Apple and the F.B.I. is beginning to carry some of the same drama as the final season of the PBS series, Downton Abbey. After discussing alternatives with Apple and other Silicon Valley tech companies for the past year, F.B.I. Director James Comey has turned to the federal courts to compel cooperation from Apple CEO Tim Cook in...
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February 24, 2016
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Privacy v. Security: The Debate
Late Friday, CNN Tech reported (Feb. 19) that The House Energy and Commerce Committee has invited Apple CEO Tim Cook and F.B.I. Director James Comey “to explain to Congress and the American people the issues at play and how they plan to move forward.” This came about after Apple refused the F.B.I.’s request to create a program to unlock a...
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February 22, 2016
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Privacy v. Security
When terrorists Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik were killed by police after they attacked and killed 14 co-workers in San Bernardino, California, the FBI immediately began examining their cell phones to determine if the husband and wife had any connections to ISIS or other terrorists. Certainly, not unreasonable. Authorities frequently search personal belongings – computers, laptops, phones, etc. – of...
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February 19, 2016
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Shameful
Entering the downtown Washington D.C. headquarters, two plaques are visible: the first tells individuals where they are; the second lays out its mission – a mission that has, over decades, lost much of its trustworthiness. “In 2013,” CBS reports, “Vietnam veteran Zion Yisrael was told he had five years to live. He has stage 4 liver disease, caused by hepatitis...
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February 1, 2016
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Inconvenient Facts
Spoiler Alert: This commentary may just come as a shock to gun rights advocates… maybe. Regular readers already know that I’m a fussbudget about facts and statistics. They also know that I’ve spoken out against assault-style weapons, and the need to do more when it comes to the epidemic of mass shootings in the country. Nonetheless, from an ethical standpoint,...
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January 22, 2016
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That Interview
“Mission accomplished: We have him.” No sooner had Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto tweeted that message to Mexico’s citizens announcing the recapture of Joaquin Guzmán Loera, than the other shoe dropped… Rolling Stone magazine published an interview with “El Chapo,” The El Chapo, the notorious drug kingpin of the Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel. Getting an interview like this is akin...
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January 13, 2016
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The Fierce Urgency of Now
Before President Obama held a press conference Tuesday to announce that he was signing executive orders to help reduce gun violence, two Brooklyn New York legislators, Senator Roxanne Persaud and Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon, were threatened by America’s 1st Freedom, an affiliate of the National Rifle Association. Why? In a story reported by The New York Daily News (Jan. 5),...
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January 6, 2016

Read Some of the Most Recent Articles
The Latest... And Often Greatest
He Just Does His Job
I’ve been listening to and watching Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia for more than a year now: his speeches, his questions in Senate hearings,...
Why Donald Trump Has Pulled Me Back In—Again
Last August, I wrote that I was “stepping back from the chaos” of Donald Trump. I meant to write about his presidency only when his...
Scott Pelley Responds
During a contentious staff meeting at 60 Minutes, Scott Pelley spoke out sharply, criticizing the judgment and decision-making of CBS News editor in chief Bari...
The Clock is Still Ticking. But Now It’s Ticking for CBS
I began watching 60 Minutes when it premiered on September 24, 1968, when Harry Reasoner and Mike Wallace introduced a new kind of television journalism:...
God Has Chosen Donald Trump
At a Trump-backed Christian prayer rally on the National Mall in Washington on May 17, officially called Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise...
The White House as Profit Center
There was a time—not very long ago—when public service required sacrifice. In 2006, when President George W. Bush nominated Hank Paulson, then C.E.O. of Goldman...