Ron Miller's Blog: Ron's Reflections

Last week, the United States Military Academy at West Point decided to restore a 20-foot-tall painting of the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States, General Robert E. Lee, which had been removed in response to a law passed in 2020 to remove the names of Confederate generals from U.S. military bases and bring an end to the veneration of these traitors who took up arms against the United States of America. The painting, which had hung in the student library for 70 years, depicts...

I recently checked in on one of my oldest friends, whom I met in college and who eventually went to work for the federal government, to find out how she’s doing amid the massive purge of the federal workforce orchestrated by Elon Musk, the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) - the quotation marks are intended to denote sarcasm - and President Trump. She’s been in the Civil Service for 41 years, and she’s trying to retire before she is laid off. However, it’s been a struggle for their hu...

I wonder if today’s Trump devotees remember the name ‘Abu Ghraib.’

In April 2004, the public was made aware of human rights violations and war crimes committed by the United States, specifically the U.S. Army and Central Intelligence Agency, against detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The use of what were called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” including torture, rape, sexual humiliation, and psychological and physical abuse, shocked the world and provoked widespread condemnation at h...

Authoritarian leaders excel at using widely accepted symbols and language to sway public emotions, with religion serving as a particularly effective disguise for their true intentions. The moral authority and obedience associated with religion, along with its connection to divine power, make it a powerful ally for those seeking to win people to their cause or ostracize those who refuse to bend the knee.

It’s not an accident that Donald Trump, who was generally regarded as a nominal Presbyterian ...

I’ve read for years how important it is to create a personal workspace to inspire you and increase your productivity. When I worked in an office that wasn’t mine, I could personalize it to a limited extent, but not completely. When I accepted my current job, I began working from home; I figured I’d use the home office space my wife and I share, since I already had a desk, shelves, and computer there. I hadn’t yet figured out how I would navigate those times when we might have video conferences a...

First of all, I want to welcome the new subscribers to Ron’s Reflections. It’s always an honor when someone thinks well enough of my writing to add me to their online reading list, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. I hope I provide the quality and quantity of content to make your decision worthwhile.

Ron’s Reflections will always be free to subscribers who want to read and ponder on their own, but if you’d like to comment on any of my posts, I’ve added a small monthly or annual subscripti...

An event in Buffalo, New York, intended to show support for local journalism was postponed this past Thursday because of a furious online backlash, including death threats, against Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Adam Zyglis for an editorial cartoon in The Buffalo News:

An online fury erupted this week over an editorial cartoon in The Buffalo News by Pulitzer Prize-winner Adam Zyglis showing a man in a MAGA cap being swept away by the Texas floodwaters. Nose deep in the water, the man is holdin...

It’s a clear, sunny day today, a perfect day for a Fourth of July cookout. We’re having a few friends from our church over to the house for more food and drinks than we’ll be able to consume. Afterward, any of them who want to stay can join my daughter and me in our July 4th tradition of watching the movie Independence Day. I’ve unfurled the American flag and put it out on our front porch like so many others in our neighborhood.

More importantly, as I write this, my son and daughter-in-law, who ...

As someone who grew up in a military family and served in the U.S. Air Force, the events of the past few days have been unexpectedly personal for me. When you’ve worn the uniform of your country’s armed forces, you become part of a community with shared experiences and a common bond that allows a quick and easy connection when you come across someone else who is serving or has served. Recent polls show that, even as trust in our institutions has eroded, the U.S. military still ranks higher than ...

In 2001, I joined the George W. Bush administration as an Assistant Director of the Information Technology Services Directorate and Chief Information Officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Although a political appointee, I wasn’t a high-powered donor or political supporter. Coincidentally, I had worked for Mr. Bush decades earlier as a volunteer for his unsuccessful campaign in 1978 for the U.S. Congress. He was a newlywed in his first run for public office, and I was a coll...