I first met José (“Joe”) Trujillo in 1995, two months after his accident. He was forty-eight years old, lying in ICU, wrapped in white gauze except for a small opening so he could breathe. He was halfway through a four-month medically induced coma. At the time, I was a trial lawyer, sometimes representing catastrophically injured…
Category: Family & Individuals
My Father Didn’t Go to War for This.
My father, Captain Gordon DeBoskey, spent over two years in Europe during World War II. He helped lead a field hospital that, during the war, provided front line medical treatment to wounded soldiers, and, after the war, liberated and provided medical care to prisoners in Nazi labor camps. In both settings, he witnessed the unspeakable horrors…
Insist. Resist. Assist. Persist. Do Not Desist.
For the majority of American voters who cast their ballots last fall for someone other than the Republican candidate for President, it has been a challenging and unnerving time. Many of us – including me – have not known what to do, or say, in the face of unprecedented assaults on our constitution, democracy, safety,…
2nd Right Wing Playbook Even Scarier than Project 2025?
Several months ago, the details of The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 came to light. It was written about widely; my discussion of it can be found here: If you’re not Scared yet (and even if you are), read this. Project 2025, a roadmap for a right wing and extremist takeover of the federal government if Trump is…
Bruce Springsteen’s Wise Words in 2012 and 2024
Last week, I was driving in my car, and I turned on the radio. I heard Bruce Springsteen talking about our country in ways I hadn’t heard before. I learned that the date of Springsteen’s remarks was October 18, 2012, made at a rally in Ohio in support of President Obama’s reelection. Here are highlights of…
A U.S. Senator, America’s wilderness, and critical Senate, House, and state races
This summer, I went on a 6-day white-water rafting trip in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho. It was an extraordinary trip in one of the most beautiful, unspoiled, and inspiring places in our country. Thankfully, there are many such places. Frank Church served as Idaho’s U.S. Senator from 1957 to…
“The fierce urgency of now”
A year before he was killed, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke these words at Riverside Church in New York City: We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being “too late.” … This is no time for apathy…
If you’re not scared yet – and even if you are, read this.
I’m extremely alarmed about the possibility that Donald Trump may be elected President again. Adding significant gravitas to that fear is a 920-page document called Project 2025: Mandate for Leadership – The Conservative Project. Anyone concerned about the future of our democracy needs to be familiar with this plan. What is Project 2025? Project 2025’s “goal is to…
Ken Burns is Right: There is nothing equal about this equation.
Ken Burns is one of America’s most preeminent filmmakers and documentarians. His documentaries have chronicled many aspects of American history and for his work, he has been nominated for two Academy Awards and has received fifteen Emmy Awards and two Grammy Awards. He is an astute student and observer of American life. As the commencement…
My father’s fight to save democracy and defeat authoritarianism – and ours. Are you in?
Recently, I spent two days at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. There, I gained a much deeper understanding of the enormous sacrifices and commitments made by my father, who served in Europe, other loved ones who served there and in the Pacific, and the millions of Americans who worked overseas and at…