What is being hidden? That’s a question that Americans have been asking themselves repeatedly as the unelected Elon Musk has bragged of his DOGE teams rummaging through and slashing government departments without much accountability and highly questionable authority.
Alex Lear
A Maine native and Colby College graduate, Alex has been covering coastal communities since 2001. He lives in the Portland area with his wife Lauren, 4-year-old daughter Alaina, and 7-year-old bulldog Walter. He has released four CDs of original music and does occasional research work for Marvel Comics' collected editions.
Austin Bay: Deep state and big debt: America’s self-inflicted strategic threat
The real killer: a Department of Government Efficiency post on X reported a total of $4.7 trillion worth of payments from the Treasury Department are “almost impossible” to trace because of missing account identification codes.
Chief Jason Moen: Legislators should reject Gov. Mills’ proposed cuts to child care and Head Start
These high-quality early learning programs help children prepare for school and are proven community safety strategies.
Rich Lowry: Europe deserves its humiliation
If Europe won’t spend more for the sake of its own security or the good of the alliance, it should — when its embarrassing panic subsides — at least do it out of self-respect.
Cal Thomas: No substitute for victory
When negotiating, especially with an evil adversary — Nazi Germany then and Russia’s Vladimir Putin now — the worst strategy is to make concessions before talks formally begin. And to exclude Ukraine, the victim of the invasion, at least in initial talks, is like allowing an opponent in poker to have an extra ace.
Froma Harrop: Why is Trump sabotaging the U.S. auto industry?
His tireless efforts to slow America’s shift to electricity-run transportation is a dream come true for China as it leads the world in that transition.
Marc Jalbert: Trump should be there for the people, not himself
The handwriting is on the wall; we’re in for a bumpy four years with President Trump at the helm. His cabinet choices are just shots in the dark, with little to no regard about getting a job done, given that qualifications are, for the most part, absent. When I hear him talk about Canada, Panama […]
Dave Griffiths: ‘Cruelty, thy name is Trump’
Cruelty, thy name is Trump. Barbara Res, an engineer who ran Donald Trump’s construction operations in the 1980s, told The Washington Post, “It was always, ‘We’re going to sue’ whoever he thought was against him. He enjoyed it. He liked to make people suffer.” After that collision over the Potomac River killed 67 people, our […]
Stuart and Nancy Greene: Rep. Libby publicly bullied a trans teen
Shame on Rep. Laurel Libby. How dare she use the power of her position to publicly bully a trans teenager in our state? Libby is a state representative in the district where we live, and she barely won the last election. Her unkindness and lack of empathy should stop her political career now. In response […]