MAGA Finally Gets What It Deserves; The New York Times, November 5, 2026

David French, The New York Times; MAGA Finally Gets What It Deserves

"For now, we can sum up everything that happened in the midterms in three words, words that the MAGA movement has scorned for 10 years: Character is destiny."

Legal Ethics from the Lens of a Student Attorney; American Bar Association (ABA), April 21, 2026

 Marc J Hawk, III, American Bar Association (ABA); Legal Ethics from the Lens of a Student Attorney

"I’m a second-year law student and a student attorney in my school’s general practice clinic. As a first-generation law student, I entered this space with limited exposure to the legal profession. Law school, however, has a way of bringing ethics to life in real time.

Through clinical work, you experience what I describe as a clinical lawyering enlightenment. Suddenly, everything you’ve spent hundreds of hours learning is no longer theoretical; you’re applying it to real people, real problems, and real consequences. And you have to get it right.

This doesn’t come without mistakes. My professional responsibility professor always gives rules for the courses she teaches. I'll follow her lead and give my three rules in case you haven’t been exposed to legal ethics:

1. Be a Decent Human Being. This is your foundation. Remember it, along with the golden rule.
2. Learn the Rules of Professional Responsibility and Understand Character and Fitness. Lean into disclosure, candor, and financial responsibility. Yes, even paying credit card bills on time matters.
3. When in Doubt, Slow Down. Then, as always, think before you act."

Star Trek's Most Rewatchable Episode Is Still Trek's Greatest Kirk Story; CBR, June 6, 2026

 Joshua M. Patton, CBR; Star Trek's Most Rewatchable Episode Is Still Trek's Greatest Kirk Story

"What makes Star Trek: The Original Series endure 60 years after its debut is that its "best" episodes are a moving target that varies for individual fans. Still, Season 1's "The City on the Edge of Forever" is arguably one of its greatest stories, especially for how it defines the character of Captain James T. Kirk...

Yet, this episode exemplifies a line from The Wrath of Khan that became a central ethos for Starfleet. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one...

A recurring motif in the series is that Starfleet captains must bear the burden of hard choices to serve the truly greater good. Kirk faces many such choices, but this one stands apart."

Ousted Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George says U.S. soldiers deserve "courageous leaders of character" in outgoing email; CBS News, April 4, 2026

Lucia I Suarez Sang, CBS News; Ousted Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George says U.S. soldiers deserve "courageous leaders of character" in outgoing email

"Ousted Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Randy George, told Pentagon officials in an outgoing email that U.S. soldiers deserve "courageous leaders of character," after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked him to step down and take immediate retirement.

CBS News exclusively reported earlier this week on the general's ousting, with one source saying Hegseth wants someone in the role who will implement his and President Trump's vision for the Army.

An outgoing email, attributed to George and confirmed as authentic by CBS News on Saturday, circulated online after his ousting. A U.S. official told CBS News that George sent the email to Driscoll, the undersecretary and assistant secretary of the Army, as well as to the three- and four-star generals and officers on his staff.

"It has been the greatest privilege to serve beside you and lead Soldiers in support of our country," he wrote. "I know you'll all continue to stay laser-focused on the mission, continue innovating, and relentlessly cut through the bureaucracy to get our warfighters what they need to win on the modern battlefield."

He added: "Our soldiers are truly the best in the world – they deserve tough training and courageous leaders of character. I have no doubt you will all continue to lead with courage, character, and grit.""

James Talarico Is a Christian X-Ray; The New York Times, March 8, 2026

 DAVID FRENCH , The New York Times; James Talarico Is a Christian X-Ray

"If you were to crack open Scripture today and start reading, one of the first things you should notice is that the Bible contains remarkably few political mandates. You can read it from cover to cover and not know the definitive biblical tax rate, welfare program or foreign policy.

But the next thing you’ll notice is that there is an immense amount of guidance describing how Christians should behave. Indeed, in the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul says that the fruit of the spirit is a set of virtues — “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”..

But what if the coming thermostatic reaction isn’t about ideology as much as about character and temperament? What if we’re seeing a 21st-century version of the American public’s movement away from the cruelty and corruption of Richard Nixon toward the ethics and integrity of Jimmy Carter — a man who won for all the right reasons in 1976, even if his presidency didn’t live up to his promise?

It’s too soon to be that optimistic, but that’s what I see in people’s attitudes toward Talarico. That’s what I see in Cornyn’s surprising plurality over Paxton. This miserable political moment won’t end when the left takes back the government from the right or if the right continues to beat the left. It will end when our politicians — especially Christian politicians — forsake cruelty for compassion and realize that we shall know Christians in politics not by their stridency and ideology, but by their integrity and love, including their love for, as Talarico put it, “all of our neighbors.”

That’s the significance of the Talarico moment: not the old news that a Christian can be progressive but, rather, that Christian politicians can actually act like Christians. Kindness still has a place in the public square, even if it doesn’t always seem that way."

Nine Law Firms Surrendered. Four Law Firms Won.; The New York Times, March 3, 2026

 THE EDITORIAL BOARD, THE NEW YORK TIMES; Nine Law Firms Surrendered. Four Law Firms Won.

"The four law firms that last year chose to fight President Trump’s illegal intimidation campaign have won vindication. Federal judges had already struck down Mr. Trump’s executive orders trying to punish the firms for representing or employing people he considered to be his political enemies. On Monday, the Trump administration abandoned its appeals of those rulings, accepting defeat.

The victories of the four firms — Jenner & Block, Susman Godfrey, Perkins Coie and WilmerHale — are a triumph for justice and democracy. The executive orders that Mr. Trump signed early in his second term were based on the lie that the firms had done something wrong. In fact, their lawyers were merely doing their jobs. They happened to represent Democrats and liberal groups or participated in prior investigations of him. And his would-be punishments of the firms had the potential to damage them badly. The executive orders barred the firms’ lawyers from entering federal buildings and meeting with federal officials, activities that are a necessary part of many legal cases.

The larger goal of the executive orders was chilling. The president attacked a bedrock principle of the law, which is that everybody deserves legal representation. He sought to frighten lawyers from representing people who had the temerity to criticize him. By extension, he sought to frighten any Americans who might criticize him.

Fighting the executive orders took courage, and the four firms deserve praise and gratitude for standing up to the president. They all risked losing clients and even having their firms collapse. Nine other firms folded and struck deals intended to mollify the president. The deals included promises to perform millions of dollars of pro bono work on behalf of Trump-friendly clients.

These nine firms all failed a high-stakes character test. Their leaders faced a choice between submitting to a bully and doing the right thing. The firms are not household names to most Americans, but it is worth listing them here. We hope that clients looking for fearless attorneys and law students deciding where to work will remember which elite firms were unwilling to fight back. Meekness is not a quality most people seek in a lawyer.

The first firm to fold was Paul Weiss, whose chairman at the time, Brad Karp, undertook what Ruth Marcus of The New Yorker described as a “desperate” campaign to reach a deal with Mr. Trump. The other eight firms were A&O Shearman; Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft; Kirkland & Ellis; Latham & Watkins; Milbank; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; Skadden Arps; and Willkie Farr & Gallagher...

The four law firms that fought the White House read the situation correctly. They insisted on due process and relied on judges to protect their rights under the Constitution. The American legal system depends on due process. Nobody, not even the president, should be able simply to assert that a person or organization has behaved wrongly and then exact a punishment for that behavior."

New Year’s Eve Concerts at Kennedy Center Are Canceled; The New York Times, December 29, 2025

 Adam Nagourney and Neil Vigdor, The New York Times ; New Year’s Eve Concerts at Kennedy Center Are Canceled

[Kip Currier: The principles of integrity and character are unsurprisingly alien to Richard Grenell. Artists are likely canceling Kennedy Center engagements because they don't want to be associated with an administration that has attacked free expression, financially diminished the arts, as well as science, and that has violated federal law by adding Donald Trump's name to an arts organization memorializing our slain 35th President, John F. Kennedy Jr.

Standing up for values one believes in -- values that are bigger than oneself -- is an example of moral courage, not "derangement".]

[Excerpt]

"A veteran jazz ensemble and a New York dance company have canceled events at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, intensifying the fallout at one of the nation’s pre-eminent arts centers after it was renamed to include President Trump...

The Cookers did not give a reason for the decision in a statement on Monday that said, “Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice."...

Doug Varone and Dancers, a New York dance company, also said on Monday that it was canceling two performances in April that had been intended to celebrate its 40th anniversary. Mr. Varone, the head of the company, said it would lose $40,000 by pulling out.

“It is financially devastating but morally exhilarating,” he said in an email.

Richard Grenell, the Kennedy Center’s chairman, said in a statement on Monday night that the artists canceling shows were “far-left political activists” and that they had been booked by previous leadership. “Boycotting the arts to show you support the arts is a form of derangement syndrome,” he said."

Kristi Noem Says ICE Will Be ‘All Over’ the Super Bowl; The New York Times, October 4, 2025

  Derrick Bryson Taylor, The New York Times; Kristi Noem Says ICE Will Be ‘All Over’ the Super Bowl

[Kip Currier: Here's a character-revealing line from DHS head Kristi Noem's recent podcast interview:

"...Noem replied, “They suck and we’ll win and God will bless us.”]

[Excerpt]

"Asked on Friday by the right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson if there would be “ICE enforcement” at the Super Bowl, Noem replied, “There will be,” adding that federal immigration officers would be “all over” the event.

“I have the responsibility for making sure everybody goes to the Super Bowl, has the opportunity to enjoy it and to leave,” Noem said on “The Benny Show.” People should not attend the event, she went on, unless they are “law-abiding Americans who love this country.”...

When Johnson suggested in his interview with Noem that the N.F.L. was sending a message to the Trump administration by choosing Bad Bunny to headline the Super Bowl halftime show, Noem replied, “They suck and we’ll win and God will bless us.”"

Emil Bove’s ‘I’m Not A Henchman’ T-Shirt Has People Asking Questions At Judicial Confirmation Hearing; Above The Law, June 26, 2025

  Liz Dye  , Above The Law; Emil Bove’s ‘I’m Not A Henchman’ T-Shirt Has People Asking Questions At Judicial Confirmation Hearing

"Emil Bove, III began his career at the Southern District of New York, where he was by all accounts a competent prosecutor. His management style left something to be desired, however, and he was denied promotion for “abusive” behavior

(Opens in a new window) toward his subordinates...

Third Circuit, here he comes!

On Wednesday, June 25, Bove appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is considering his nomination to the Third Circuit.

He opened by insisting, “I am not anybody’s henchman, I am not an enforcer. I’m a lawyer from a small town, who never expected to be in an arena like this.”

That is horseshit, of course. No one gets to “an arena like this” without a healthy dose of ambition. Note that Bove’s aw shucks modesty didn’t extend to telling the White House that he’d be a more appropriate nominee the US District Court.

And although his tone during the hearing was measured, his willingness to twist the truth was on full display

Asked about the Adams case, Bove pointed to the order dismissing the charges(Opens in a new window) as proof that he’d behaved appropriately. In reality, the Justice Department’s refusal to prosecute left the court little choice. And Judge Dale Ho denied the DOJ’s request to dismiss without prejudice, because allowing the Trump administration to reap the benefits of a corrupt bargain would be “difficult to square with the words engraved above the front entrance of the United States Supreme Court: ‘Equal Justice Under Law.’”

Bove denied telling subordinates to defy a court order, but said he just plum couldn’t remember if he’d told them to give the bird to a federal judge.

Over and over he simply refused to answer questions based on spurious claims about the deliberative process privilege. But, he assured the senators, all was on the up and up, even if he couldn’t commit(Opens in a new window) to recusing from cases involving his former client Donald Trump.

And if any Republican senator might be tempted to vote no, he brought out the big guns. Alan Dershowitz, late of Harvard Law (and his marbles), sent a letter(Opens in a new window) to the Judiciary Committee gushing that “Mr. Bove’s superior character, demeanor and diligence are evident throughout his time as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, as well as in private practice.”"

(Opens in a new windowtoward his subordinates.

Hegseth stripping Harvey Milk's name off Navy ship is weak and insecure | Opinion; USA Today, June 4, 2025

 Rex Huppke, USA TODAY ; Hegseth stripping Harvey Milk's name off Navy ship is weak and insecure | Opinion

"Hegseth's plan to scrub Harvey Milk's name from a ship is peak insecurity

The “warrior ethos,” Secretary Hegseth? Are you an insecure 12-year-old?

Nothing says indomitable warrior quite like, “I’m afraid of this boat’s name.”

A true warrior would be familiar with American history and would know that Milk served as a U.S. Navy operations officer on rescue submarines during the Korean War, then went on to become the first openly gay man elected to public office in California. He was serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors when he and the city’s mayor were assassinated in 1978.

Milk served in the Korean War and earned his place in history

A true warrior would recognize that U.S. service members throughout history have proudly served, fought and died for the rights of all Americans to speak and live freely.

A true warrior would be appalled to read the statement Milk’s nephew Stuart Milk, who chairs the Harvey Milk Foundation, had to release in response to Hegseth’s pathetic renaming plan, saying of the slain activist: “His legacy has stood as a proud and bright light for the men and women who serve in our nation's military – including those who have served on the USNS Harvey Milk – and a reminder that no barriers of race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, or physical infirmity will restrain their human spirit.

Hegseth apparently sees US Navy ship names as 'woke'

The New York Times reported that there are other ships named after civil rights leaders that might be renamed under Hegseth’s feeble leadership. The names include Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harriet Tubman and Cesar Chavez.

Make no mistake that behind these decisions is an administration limply fighting back against any incursion on the power of straight, White men, wholly unaware that people with real power don’t need to exert their will on others...

Hegseth and others in the Trump administration don't know true strength

But that’s not strength. It’s not a “warrior ethos.” Heck, it’s not even an ethos. It’s just a bunch of unconfident losers trying to push others down to make themselves feel tall.

If Harvey Milk’s name is scrubbed from a Navy ship, it won’t alter his legacy. His name, decades upon decades from now, will still echo in the pages of history, the hearts of students of civil rights and the mind of any soldier with a true warrior ethos.

Pete Hegseth's name, on the other hand, will prompt only one response: “Who’s that? Never heard of him.”"

Biden says Jimmy Carter’s ‘enduring attribute’ was character.; The New York Times, January 9, 2025

 Michael D. Shear, The New York Times; Biden says Jimmy Carter’s ‘enduring attribute’ was character.

 "Mr. Biden spent little time recounting Mr. Carter’s accomplishments, as had already been done by other speakers at the funeral. Instead, he focused on “Jimmy Carter’s enduring attribute: character, character, character.”

He said that character was the reason he endorsed Mr. Carter’s presidential campaign in the 1970s, well before many other Democratic politicians. He said it was Mr. Carter’s character that allowed him to survive in a world of powerful pressures.

“It is the story of a man who never let the ties of politics divert him from his mission to serve and shape the world,” he said. “The man had character.”"

The coronavirus crisis is a moral test. Will we pass?; Deseret News, March 21, 2020

Jennifer Graham, Deseret News; The coronavirus crisis is a moral test. Will we pass?

The challenges facing Americans are revealing our individual and national character. 

"Pardon, America, your character is showing. 

Among the people pointing this out is New York writer Jon Katz, who has observed that the demands of social distancing are coming up against radical individualism and selfishness born of a society in which we “count our money, pay our bills, shrink into the digital world and forget how to talk to people face to face.”

“The coronavirus is a moral threat, and an ethical challenge, in that it asks each of us to be mindful of ourselves and others and to police ourselves for the good of all,” Katz recently wrote on his blog...

Our first order of ethical behavior right now social distancing, Faden said. Second is taking care of others, particularly those most at risk and those who live alone. Third, she said, is giving blood, if we are able. And fourth is being solicitous and appreciative of everyone we encounter, from health care workers to cashiers to people coming to collect our trash.

“Be especially appreciative, demonstrably so, to anyone in your life you encounter who is taking on risks to protect you,” she said."

Leadership In The Time Of COVID-19; Forbes, March 19, 2020

Mark Nevins, Forbes; Leadership In The Time Of COVID-19

"The reality of life post-COVID-19 has not fully sunk in yet, and its consequences for our businesses, organizations, economy, and society will play out over the rest of 2020 and beyond.  Right now, we really need sober, smart, values-driven, and focused leadership.  Remember the old adage, “Crisis does not build character, it reveals it.”...

There’s no “playbook” for leadership when the stakes are high, and there’s certainly no playbook for what to do in the face of a 21^st Century pandemic.  We are all facing threats on multiple fronts at once: to self, family, employees, customers, suppliers and business partners, governmental and financial systems, and potentially our social fabric.  Even the Dean of the Harvard Business School can only offer a few good insights for companies facing this new reality, but no silver-bullet solutions.

So, what should you do if you’re responsible for a team, organization, or company?  Following are a few suggestions. (Note: the paragraphs below include carefully chosen links to help you in pragmatic ways—please click through.)...

Your employees will remember for a long time how they were treated during this crisis. Nothing drives employee loyalty and engagement more than knowing “my boss cares about me as a human being.” As a leader you should treat this COVID-19 crisis as a defining moment for yourself and your organization. Step up and lead accordingly."

Comey book likens Trump to mafia boss 'untethered to truth'; The Guardian, April 12, 2018

Tom McCarthy and Martin Pengelly, The Guardian; Comey book likens Trump to mafia boss 'untethered to truth'

"The former FBI director James Comey denounces Donald Trump as “untethered to truth” and likens the president to a mafia boss, in an explosive new book set to bring fresh turmoil to the White House...

In an epilogue, Comey passes judgment on Trump’s character. Writing that “our country is paying a high price” for the 2016 election, he says: “This president is unethical, and untethered to the truth and institutional values. His leadership is transactional, ego driven, and about personal loyalty.”

The book, an instant bestseller, will be supported by a media blitz. In response, the Republican party has organized a Trumpian scheme to attack “Lyin’ Comey” – and has set up a rebuttal website."

LeBron may or may not be a better player than Jordan, but he's a better man; Guardian, June 1, 2017

Damon Young, Guardian; LeBron may or may not be a better player than Jordan, but he's a better man

"Anyway, while the debate about their games and their talents and their respective grades of greatness remains relevant, there’s no argument that the 32-year-old LeBron far surpasses both the 32-year-old Jordan and today’s 54-year-old Jordan in integrity and bravery. And not the contrived, SkipBaylian artificial measure of character that bases and assesses a man’s testicular fortitude on his LinkedIn profile and whether he possesses an arbitrary “clutch gene,” but real actual character."

I’ve always voted Republican. Until now.; Washington Post, 8/17/16

Daniel Akerson, Washington Post; I’ve always voted Republican. Until now. :

"And I have always voted for Republicans for president. Not this year.

The compelling rationale behind this decision: leadership. A good leader must demonstrate such qualities as competence, integrity, empathy, character and temperament. Hillary Clinton has these essential qualities. Donald Trump does not.

Trump simply lacks the competence to serve as president of the United States...

Long ago, I learned an old Navy saying from a good friend and now-retired admiral: “Ship, shipmate, self.” This motto set the priorities for my life during my service. The civilian equivalent would be “country, fellow citizen, self.” As individuals and as a nation, we must aspire to serve the greater good. We must exhibit the empathy that places the greater good of the nation and its people above individual self-interest.

Unfortunately, Trump has appealed to the lowest common denominators in our society: prejudice, xenophobia and intolerance...

What kind of person equates the sacrifice of the loss of a child to that of creating jobs or making money?"

In praising Trump, Mike Pence pushes an imaginary and corrupt narrative; Washington Post, 7/21/16

Michael Gerson, Washington Post; In praising Trump, Mike Pence pushes an imaginary and corrupt narrative:

"The reputation of any politician close to Trump will eventually be ruined. But it is particularly sad when good and decent people vouch for Trump’s character, knowing almost nothing about him. They surely believe that they can guide and shape a political novice in helpful and positive ways. There is no evidence of this — no proof that Trump is willing to internalize good advice. In fact, the best of the Republican Party is being exploited. And such politicians are viewed as weak (see Trump’s announcement of Pence) by a candidate with contempt for weakness. The only politician who will be proud of what he did on Wednesday evening is Ted Cruz, who refused to endorse. He may have been booed on the floor, but I imagine he slept well. And he won’t be ashamed to recount that night to his children and grandchildren.

In his essay “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell said: “If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” The construction of an imaginary narrative of virtue and insight around Donald Trump is a form of political corruption, no matter how skilled or well-intentioned the effort. “In our time,” said Orwell, “political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.” A fitting epitaph for the 2016 Republican convention."

Donald Trump’s speech introducing Mike Pence showed why he shouldn’t be president; Vox, 7/16/16

Ezra Klein, Vox; Donald Trump’s speech introducing Mike Pence showed why he shouldn’t be president:

"On Friday night, as the attempted coup in Turkey progressed, Matt Yglesias wrote about his efforts to imagine Trump in the Oval Office as the crisis unfolded. "Picture Donald Trump on a series of calls with advisors and heads of government from around the region, and inside the NATO alliance, devising a constructive response to a coup attempt in Turkey," he wrote. "Good luck."

On Saturday morning, as Trump prepared to brag about his hotel business before introducing Pence, he briefly turned to the issue. Keep in mind he had the whole night to prepare.

"So many friends in Turkey," Trump said. "Great people, amazing people. We wish them well. A lot of anguish last night, but hopefully it will all work out." Ladies and gentleman, the next President of the United States, Donald Trump!

I know many who want to support Donald Trump, who fear Clinton ideologically or simply dislike her personally, and so they are hoping, hoping, hoping that Trump will reveal a new side to himself, that he will prove himself equal to the responsibilities he seeks to absorb. But he’s been given that opportunity again and again, and he keeps failing it.

This was a fun speech to watch, and insofar as the presidential campaign is one of America’s favorite reality television series, Donald Trump is an outstanding participant. But this was also a scary speech to watch, and insofar as the presidential campaign is a test to see who has the character, the discipline, and the seriousness to be President of the United States, Trump is failing it. We need to stay shocked."

Boris Johnson ‘lied a lot,’ says French foreign minister; Washington Post, 7/14/16

Michael Birnbaum and Griff Witte, Washington Post; Boris Johnson ‘lied a lot,’ says French foreign minister:

"Britain’s new top diplomat, Boris Johnson, swept into office Thursday on a cloud of acrimony, amid worldwide disbelief that the irreverent campaigner for a British break from the European Union will now be his nation’s main voice abroad.

From composing a dirty limerick about the Turkish president and a goat to comparing the E.U. to Hitler and calling Hillary Clinton a “sadistic nurse,” the mop-haired Johnson spared few world leaders in his previous career as the devil-may-care mayor of London. This time, he was on the receiving end: France’s foreign minister declared that the “leave” campaigner had “lied a lot,” and Germany’s top diplomat called him “irresponsible.”

The unusually sharp rhetoric from Johnson’s new peers reflected the degree to which he has alienated Britain’s global partners and the challenges he faces as he takes part in his nation’s divorce from the E.U. From Washington to Paris and Berlin to Ankara, leaders uttered bitter cries of surprise at the appointment of a man who has reveled in dishing offense, not making friends. Critics said Britain appears to be taking further steps to disengage from the world."

Americans can choose better than Trump; Washington Post, 7/1/16

Marc Racicot, Washington Post; Americans can choose better than Trump:

"It is inescapable that every decision made by every leader reflects the character of the man or woman making the decision. Character is the lens through which a leader perceives the path to be followed. It conceives and shapes every thought and is inextricably interwoven into every word spoken, every policy envisioned and every action taken.

Persistent seriousness, solemn and honest commitment to the interests of others, exhaustive study and detailed proposals, sincerity, humility, empathy, dignity, fairness, patience, genuine respect for all of God’s children, durability, modesty and the absence of self-interest are those qualities of principled leadership absolutely essential to presidential decision-making."