After an incredible series of violent events unfolded in metropolitan Boston overnight, a 19-year-old man, Dzhokar Tsarnaev, is at large, the white hat wearing suspect #2 in the Boston marathon bombing, his 26-year old-suspect brother, Tamerlan, is dead, along with a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer. Watertown and surrounding...

UPDATE 5:20AM EST: NBC's Pete Williams stated that the individual involved in the Boston area event IS NOT the missing student (whose name was mentioned in scanner traffic and in other places on the Internet). Because of the unconfirmed nature of the information the person's name was never mentioned here....

Bombs Offer Clues
While there is significant speculation about the date and location of yesterday's horrific terror attack at the Boston marathon that killed 3, and injured over 170, physical evidence will yield some of the most important clues. One of the most important clues is a bomb's signature....

Baseball and Brooklyn Dreamers

When the nation needed transformational magic, two unlikely, yet quintessentially American institutions, baseball and Brooklyn, found a sharecropper's son, Jackie Roosevelt Robinson, to do it. Hidden in the hearts of both Brooklyn and baseball is a quixotic everyman's idealistic dream of a fair playing field where anything is possible. Baseball was America's unchallenged pastime where hopes and heroes were currency, and Brooklyn was always a place where a large fraction of America's internal transplants and foreign immigrant sons and daughters, including my parents, could fall in love and place their bets on the future. Kings County is the place of uncompromising big dreamers like Georgia born Jackie Robinson. Other Brooklynite successes include Shirley Chisholm, Rudy Guiliani, Walt Whitman, Mae West, Harry Houdini, Spike Lee, Vince Lombardi, Barbara Streisand, Michael Jordan, Carl Sagan, Aaron Copland, Judge Judy and Frank McCourt.

If G-d had to find a place for evil Jim Crow to get his first real butt kicking, scrappy Brooklyn -- not Washington, Manhattan, Cambridge or Montgomery -- would have to be the place. Ever since George Washington lost one of the first major battles of the Revolutionary War there, it would continually be a place for the righteous indefatigable underdog to eventually triumph.

Both Brooklyn and baseball needed Jackie Robinson, and so too did America. It is ironic that something as seemingly trivial as baseball (at least to heartless sports atheists) could be the conduit for such magnificent change.

But why not? While I could never quite prove it I think G-d prefers wholesome athletes like Robinson, Winfield and Clemente to preachers, lawyers, and politicians -- with the probable exception of Dr. King, Pope John Paul II, my rabbi, Thurgood Marshall, Gandhi, and... no real politicians I can think of.

More elementally, neither America nor baseball could have any legitimacy when they deprived the dreams and opportunity of their children. Baseball is a barometer of America itself, weathering westward expansion, wars, economic changes, scandals, and demographic diversification. But at its core, baseball, like the nation that gave birth to it, is about aspirations; to teamwork, sportsmanship, merit and fair play. Jackie Robinson, himself noted, "The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time."

Beyond Sport

Jackie Robinson was by all accounts a phenomenal athlete. At UCLA he was the first to achieve varsity status in four different sports. In the majors his handsome physique and graceful, yet motivated play on one of the great teams of the era made him even more of a standout. He had 197 stolen bases, including home plate. The Hall of famer and six time all star had a .311 batting average with 1518 hits. He led the league in batting in 1949, when he was also the National League's Most Valuable Player. He was named Rookie of the Year his first season. But in this segregated era before Brown v. Board and the Voting Rights Act, he was subject to threats, injury, harassment and incredible cruelty. Dodgers' General Manager Branch Richey told him:

Jackie, we've got no army. There's virtually nobody on our side. No owner, no umpires, very few newspapermen. And I'm afraid that many fans may be hostile. We'll be in a tough position. We can win only if we can convince the world that I am doing this because you're a great ballplayer, and a fine gentleman.

The civility of his response transcended sport to make Robinson a pioneering part of the Civil Rights Movement, lauded by Dr. King himself. He received both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a Congressional Gold Medal.

That fine gentleman achieved something very few athletes ever will: immortality, both on and off the field. Robinson, Ebbets Field and the Brooklyn Dodgers see play now only in heaven, grainy highlight reels, the movies and the gentle hearts of now grown little kids of all races. Just off of Flatbush, they listened in awe to their grandfathers' glorious stories of a mythical underdog team that finally beat both racism and the undefeatable Yankees, with a stolen home base, in 1955. It was Brooklyn's only World Series victory, in seven glorious games, just before the far away siren of California lured them away, never to return. If Jackie Robinson's courage, talent and perseverance could land him victory in the majors and life, little boys and girls of all races could now be big dreamers too. I'm taking my sons to the movies this weekend. They don't call it field of dreams for...

Two Brazen Hits
While not well known outside of law enforcement and analysis circles until recently, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT) has emerged as one of the most violent domestic extremist groups and crime syndicates in the nation. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), since 2000 the ABT...

The legendary, yet humble, recording genius, Phil Ramone, 79, whose influence across a stunning spectrum of popular music for decades has passed away in New York. CNN stated, "His collaboration credits are a Who's Who of the music industry," while the Associated Press praised his "platinum touch" in...

California's top human relations and academic experts are convening on Tuesday, April 2 in downtown Los Angeles for a major all-day public conference addressing violence and injustice in the state. The expertise comes at a critical time for the state, which ranks first not only in population and diversity, but...

Four years ago today, the music world lost one of its sweetest, and perhaps most unpretentious, voices with the sad passing of "England" Dan Seals, one half of the duo England Dan & John Ford Coley (EDJFC) from mantle cell lymphoma at the age of 61.

Musical...

Evan Ebel, 28, the primary suspect in the brazen murders of Colorado Department of Corrections Director Tom Clements, 58, last Tuesday and a Domino's Pizza delivery driver on March 17 was tied not only to a violent white supremacist prison gang called the 211 Crew, but also to years of...

The Obama administration's decision to try Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, in civilian court highlights deep fundamental disagreement about how to bring foreign nationals captured overseas and accused of terrorism to justice. Abu Ghaith, who was arrested in Turkey, and returned to the United States by way of...

Thursday, four young children, aged between four months and ten years old are marking their first days without the loving embrace of their police officer fathers. After the bagpipes go silent and the flags are folded and presented, what message will we as a society leave for these babies and...

In addition to prayers for a seriously wounded deputy sheriff and police officer, California's Inland Empire mourns two heroes, in two counties, one whose identity we know, one yet to be announced, but in some ways we already know their finest attributes. The Bible proclaims that "Greater love...

A Tragedy Mandates a Call to Action

In the wake of the unfathomable horror of the Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school massacre, public discourse has rightly focused on the incredibly disturbing perception of gun homicides in the United States. In particular those done by mass shooters, which have not declined even...

Lowest Numbers Since '94

Hate crime incidents reported to police in the United States decreased by over six percent in 2011 according to data released today by the FBI. There were 6,222 incidents in 2011, down 406 incidents from the 6,628 reported in 2010 and a nearly identical...

Sometimes the stories behind the music world's most memorable songs can be almost as compelling as the tunes themselves. Such is the case with Crystal Gayle's 1977 Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, a simple and short, yet incredibly beautiful song that peaked exactly 35 years ago this week.

Poor and Blessed
Gayle's rise to super stardom with 18 number one country songs started inauspiciously in Appalachian coal country. Brenda Gayle Webb was the last child born into a Paintsville, Kentucky family so poor that she had the distinction of being the only one of eight siblings actually born in a hospital. She had another more unique distinction - that of being the youngest sister of country music legend Loretta Lynn, nineteen years her senior. Lynn wrote her first charted song and came up with Gayle's stage name--after the Krystal hamburger restaurant. She also advised her sister that there already was one Loretta Lynn and that she should blaze her own path, and that she did.

After a few years of very limited success at Lynn's record label, Gayle switched to United Artists where she had the good fortune to team up with renowned producer Allen Reynolds, who was later key to the success of many other country artists including Garth Brooks. She also teamed with a wonderful songwriter named Richard Leigh, who wrote her first three country hits, including her first country number one song.

The Defining Hit That Almost Wasn't
Despite her and Leigh's success in the country music arena, Gayle was not well known to a wider audience and it almost stayed that way. Reynolds first heard Brown Eyes during a visit to Leigh's residence and was told it was about to get shopped to singing star Shirley Bassey. On Reynold's insistence it was played for a very excited Gayle who would go on to record it in Nashville in the Fall of 1977. Lyricist Hal David explained, "In writing I search for believability, simplicity, and emotional impact," and it is clear that Leigh accomplished all three in the defining hit of his and Gayle's careers.

As fate would have it Reynolds had to switch the pianist Charles Cochran to play "horns" on an electric piano on the track due to a stroke. The switch of pianists, however, created a nearly flawless, yet remarkably understated crisp arrangement of piano, strings, horns, and percussion that perfectly highlighted Gayle's sad, yet sultry style. The subtle, yet bluesy instrumentation not only backed her stunning vocals, but the piano in particular almost appeared to be conversing and responding to each heartfelt plea:

I didn't mean to treat you bad Didn't know just what I had. But honey now I do

Because the song and arrangement was so well matched to Gayle's range, emotion, and delivery the first vocal take became the one actually released the following month.

The blue eyed young beautiful woman with nearly floor length straight brown hair soon had the biggest hit of her career, a second country number one song, and a million selling single that stayed on the charts for six months. She also became the first female country soloist to score a platinum album and the song won her a Grammy award the following year. What the song did not do, however, was hit number one on the pop charts, despite a three week stay at number two, as Debby Boone's You Light Up My Life, topped the pop charts that fall for a record setting 10 weeks. Ironically, Boone also recorded a song by Leigh. Like other great songs that never hit number one, such as Elton John's Your Song (No. 8, 1970), John Lennon's Imagine (No. 3, 1971) or Billy Joel's Just The Way You Are (No. 3, 1978), the tune nonetheless, became a classic and was named by ASCAP in 1999 as one of the top ten most performed country songs of the century. Gayle, who has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, says she never tires of singing her trademark song. That is just fine for me and her legions of fans around the world who are still touched by this simple yet hauntingly beautiful melody some three decades later. Not bad for the coal miner's daughter whose dad regrettably never lived to witness his graceful youngest child's remarkable success.

Songwriter Richard Leigh's Version

Thank you to my son Gabriel for suggesting where to place the...

Following the violent deaths of his daughters during the last war between Israel and Gaza-based Hamas, Izzeldin Abuelaish became more fanatical in his stubborn efforts to put his mark on the conflict. While he represents a threat to many, he is still allowed to promote his controversial views in complete...

You can tell a lot about people by how they face a profound loss. For some it gives an opportunity to show grace, like Mitt Romney did last night:

I have just called President Obama to congratulate him on his victory. His supporters and his campaign also deserve...

For years I have consistently and publicly held a simple principled position: All candidates and nominees for major national office should be transparent with respect to their college transcripts, tax returns, voting records, arrest records, and military service among other things. The critical principle at stake is that...

"Poems are written to be read and lyrics are written to be sung. I am a lyricist and the lyrics on this page were written to be sung," Hal David matter-of-factly explained on his website.

Lyricists, often a forgotten footnote, breathe life and meaning into a melody....

A Violent Symbolic Attack

The horrific shooting at the Washington, DC headquarters of the Family Research Council (FRC) that left a hero security guard wounded should initially be analyzed as an apparent example of a hate crime as well as a lone wolf act of domestic terrorism, unless the facts...