Remarks Sept. 6 2026 Happy Labor Day and happy almost-National Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month. Hispanic and Latino heritage month runs from September 15 to October 15 (it begins in mid-month to mark 9/15 as the independence day of several Latin American nations). This began as a week-long celebration in 1968 under President Johnson, and the Reagan administration expanded it to a month in 1988. It is a time for special recognition of the Latino community’s immense and vari

Remarks August 30, 2026 I met with an old friend the other day. Like many others, she is despairing for our democracy and she feels helpless. “It’s all so overwhelming, so many things I love about our country are being trashed or violated or dismantled, what can I as one person possibly do?” By all measures, it gets worse every day. Iran, Canada, now the massive oil claims on Venezuela, electric shock gloves for ICE agents, federal invasions of our privacy, real estate plans

August 23 2026 Greetings. The authoritarian grip on our country has been grinding on. At an appearance by the President yesterday, instead of the national anthem they played the version that’s been opening Trump rallies, a song called “Justice for All.” It was performed on video by January 6 rioters who are now called “J6 hostages,” and it includes video of the 2021 attack on the Capitol framed not as a disgrace but portraying the rioters as patriots. The twisting of reality

It was indeed a strange Independence Day this year. There you were, having a picnic, perhaps going to a parade or beach, and if you had the inclination, you might have thought about the momentousness of this day 250 years ago when a group of men in Philadelphia summoned the courage to take a perilous leap-- declaring to the king of England that we were no longer all in on his empire, that we were embarking on a bold new experiment called democracy, and we were breaking away.

Critical thinking is a learned skill. How do you separate the wheat from the chaff, truth from propaganda, the vitally important from the compelling but trivial? How do you know what voices are reliable? How do you embrace complexity without losing the essence? Our discussions must respect both nuance and each other as we engage. Critical thinking is thinking about our thinking. Right now, as the nation lapses into authoritarianism before our eyes, we must think about our thi

Remarks- June 21, 2026: Happy Father’s Day. Thanks to you biological fathers, and father-figures for young people you have mentored, helped out, or set an example for. You know how important fatherhood is for not only getting the next generation to come home by midnight and take out the garbage, but also to develop character, to encourage generosity, honesty, and empathy, and make good choices. On the level of our body politic, this past Friday showed us a stunning contrast b