Recent Uncategorized Commentaries

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Yvon Chouinard’s Extraordinary Gift
With all the chaos and destruction brought about by Washington and an unprecedented hurricane, one story has received only moderate attention. Before Yvon Chouinard became the founder and owner of Patagonia, I knew him as a legendary rock climber in Yosemite Valley. At the time, climbing these extraordinary sheer faces of granite was a different and difficult sport that not...
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October 7, 2022
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Insanity
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”—Albert Einstein There are only three words to describe three days of Q&A of Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson by most Republican Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee: Belligerent, Badgering, and Inexcusable. Let’s go to the highlight reel. Sen. Ted Cruz repeatedly hammered Judge Jackson...
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March 25, 2022
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Devotion to Doing What’s Right
Lost in the turmoil and headlines reporting the impeachment trial of former President Trump, one story was all but buried. However, when an announcement was made on the floor of the Senate that Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman would receive a Congressional Gold Medal for his courage and quick thinking in diverting insurrectionists away from the Senate chamber, Senators on...
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February 17, 2021
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Today’s Commentary Has Been Cancelled
Learn why on Tuesday.  » Read more about: Today’s Commentary Has Been Cancelled  »...
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January 18, 2021
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Democracy Will Prevail
Salud Carbajal is the U.S. Representative from California’s 24th congressional district. In a phone call late last night from his office in Washington, he gave me this firsthand account. “Due to the Covid virus, most members were in their offices when protestors were marching toward the Capitol. Only those Senators or House members that had a direct role in the...
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January 7, 2021
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Trump Tweets as Washington “Burns”
L I V E   C O M M E N T A R Y In the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency, he has finally topped every shameful and disreputable action he has done in the last four years. Today’s actions, his actions, will go down in American history as the most dangerous and dastardly display by protestors aided and...
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January 6, 2021
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Ode to Joy
In all the chaos and division, perhaps all of us have a responsibility to ourselves to step back, push aside differences and focus on a moment of joy, something we could all use right now. The 2020 baseball season is not only shorter, but due to the virus restrictions, there are no fans in the stands. There is nothing, nothing...
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September 25, 2020
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How Are You Doing?
With the Covid-19 virus roiling financial markets, creating staggering unemployment numbers, and people tiring of stay-at-home orders, I reached out to several local individuals to share their experiences. Salud Carbajal represents California’s 24th district in Congress. A former Marine and county supervisor, I have known Salud for more than ten years. During that time, I have observed him at a...
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May 1, 2020
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The Ethical Take: Good News (for a change)
Even though the turmoil in Washington tends to suck all the oxygen out of the news cycle each week, there are positive stories that deserve our attention and appreciation. Here are three. Waffle House Hero – Last month, James Shaw, Jr., who, at the risk to his own life, prevented a gunman from taking more lives by wrestling the gun...
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May 14, 2018
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Two Baseball Stories
On Monday May 1, Baltimore outfielder Adam Jones said he was called the N-word and had a bag of peanuts thrown at him by some Boston Red Sox fans. Jones said it was one of the worst experiences he’s encountered in the 12-years he’s been a player, according to USA Today (May 1). “Very unfortunate.” Jones said. “I heard there...
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May 10, 2017