I hope I am wrong about this, but if I am right the possibility of more attacks and more bloodshed will be on the hands of the current administration, no matter how long it takes before the Taliban regroup and Afghanistan again becomes a center for exporting terrorism to our shores and to other countries.

The problems associated with drug abuse continue and were made worse due to the pandemic. The solution remains to be access to treatment and support services in rural communities and increasing the number of resources for prevention, treatment, and recovery.

Over the past few years, Maine sexual assault prevention and response centers have been learning a great deal about the relationship between oppression and sexual violence, and have been working to ground ourselves and our services in an anti-oppression framework. After all, oppression like sexual violence is a significant trauma in an individual’s life that not only impacts them but those who care about them, their family systems and the community at large.

And as McConnell’s theft of the court seat, that January insurrection and literally dozens of other examples attest, the GOP has, in a very real sense, ceased to function as one.

Now, as we slowly emerge from COVID-19, we can look at what will, what won’t, and what should change as we build a new normal. One thing that should change is food distribution. America’s food distribution systems don’t work nearly well enough. In a nutshell, they are too efficient, and they are too efficient because they are too specialized.

Anti-business politicians in the Maine Legislature are at it again, proposing laws to regulate faraway companies that, if applied to Maine’s own industries, would be devastating.

If one can say the pandemic has had any positive side effect, it has been to help us focus on what the loss of liberties looks like. Such losses do not occur immediately but erode over time as people become increasingly comfortable with government claiming to know what is best for us.

Policymakers in Augusta should not be passing any legislation that increases Mainers’ monthly bills, while communities like Lisbon continue to deal with the economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. But that is exactly what legislation pending before the Maine Legislature would do by implementing a statewide cable tax.

Substance use disorder does not discriminate. Adults who are currently eligible for targeted case management comprise only a fraction of adults living with substance use disorder in Maine. Every person with MaineCare benefits and a diagnosis of substance use disorder who is seeking approved treatment services should be eligible for targeted case management.

What does the exemption do for baseball today? To put it bluntly, it allows baseball teams to collude in ways that would be illegal if any other entity did it.