Recent Trust Commentaries

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Fall from Grace
Drug maker Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $2.2 billion and plead guilty to a misdemeanor in marketing the antipsychotic drug Risperdal and other drugs. “The agreement,” The New York Times writes (Nov. 4), “is the third-largest pharmaceutical settlement in United States history and the largest in a string of recent cases involving the marketing of antipsychotic and anti-seizure drugs to older...
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November 6, 2013
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Macy’s v. Martha Stewart, J.C. Penney
Just short of this Friday’s deadline, set by Judge Jeffrey Oing, the suit brought against J.C. Penney and Martha Stewart by Macy’s has settled. Macy’s charged that both had breached an exclusivity agreement that Macy’s had with Stewart that covered a variety of bed, bath and kitchen products. See if you can tell which way the settlement went based on...
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October 23, 2013
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Restoring Trust
Trust – whether it’s the current crisis in Syria, Congress or the economy – is the vital component that drives confidence. So important to the national temperature that polls are regularly taken to determine the public’s trust in individuals and institutions. Dr. Robert Hurley is a Professor and the Director of The Consortium for Trustworthy Organizations at Fordham University. He is also...
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September 11, 2013
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Two Creeps
I can’t believe the words that come out of the mouths of two individuals who hold themselves up as responsible, trustworthy leaders worthy of putting their own interests aside in service to a larger purpose. Before I go any further, let me just state, for the record, that the only direct evidence of wrongdoing toward women by both San Diego...
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July 29, 2013
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Surveillance – Part II
Should the U.S. government be permitted to collect data on citizens such as e-mails, phone calls, as well as Internet activity for the purpose of intercepting possible terrorist actions against Americans? “Fifteen years ago, I would have been outraged,” a friend confides. “However, we live in a post 9/11 and Internet age where terrorists are actively seeking vulnerabilities to exploit...
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June 14, 2013
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Government Surveillance
When I first learned of Edward Snowden, the computer whiz of Booz Allen Hamilton who leaked hundreds, perhaps thousands, of classified documents from the National Security Agency (NSA), the first person I thought of was J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover created the most sophisticated, large-scale crime-fighting mechanism of its time. The FBI was a formidable presence that got results. However, as...
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June 13, 2013
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Crucial Years
In 1951, nuclear testing continued with a 1-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat near Las Vegas, Nevada. President Harry Truman relieved General Douglas MacArthur of his command in the Far East. Senator Estes Kefauver headed a Senate committee investigating interstate crime, and… …on one bright and shining day in June, John Nelson Baldwin, graduating from Pelham Memorial High School in...
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March 6, 2013
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Mutual Respect and Trust
The president’s State of the Union address signals the start of a new federal cycle. What will this new chapter bring? How will the elected few guide the nation? Here are some thoughts for both Congress and the president to consider. At the close of Mr. Jefferson’s Declaration are these immortal words: “…we mutually pledge to each other our Lives,...
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February 13, 2013
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Is Honesty the Best Policy?
To begin with, I searched the internet with the question. The first link that showed up… no joke: “Honesty Is Still The Best Policy Free Essays 1-20 www.OpPapers.com/…/honesty-is-still-the-best-policy-page1.html 20+ items – Free Essays on Honesty Is Still The Best Policy for students.” Notice the lack of any pretense: “for students” While there are plenty of polls (and rationalizations) that examine the question,...
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September 26, 2012
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Better Angels, Part II
At the end of July, before two political conventions and, I’ve lost count of how many negative campaign ads and divisive comments about the current state of our Union, I wrote how Abraham Lincoln, on March 4, 1861, stood on the steps of a U.S. Capitol building still under construction and spoke words of reconciliation and hope. Lincoln was so hated by...
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September 12, 2012