Elizabeth Warren had great momentum for a while. Then her poll numbers leveled and fell. The standard explanation is that the Democrat’s “Medicare for All” plan comes across as too radical — both the price and the part that would force over 150 million Americans off their employers’ private coverage. But other negatives subtract from […]

It is a truism that a blackmailer is rarely satisfied. Once the payoffs start, there often is no end to them. The Chick-fil-A fast-food chain is about to learn this hard lesson, far too late, as many victims of blackmail and extortion generally do. For conservatives and evangelical Christians, Chick-fil-A has been a model company […]

Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays. We know because Perry Como reminds us incessantly every year about this time. And because the airports become madhouses and the highways parking lots, so many of us trying to find their way back to that place where you are safe and known, that place where […]

Maine’s looming anniversary as a distinct state presents an opportunity to celebrate two hundred years of accomplishments. In coming months, state leaders will stir up local patriotism and call their constituents to rally around their shared identity and experience. In that official boosterism lies the very real risk of forgetting that Maine’s rupture from Massachusetts […]

Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to come earlier each year. Though the dates remain the same, the promotions from advertisers don’t. Christmas decorations are appearing before Halloween. Merchants can’t wait for Thanksgiving to end so they can promote “Black Friday,” itself beginning days and even weeks before the day after Thanksgiving. Catalogs fill my mailbox, all […]

Thanks to Congress, you are now paying more for other people’s health care. When I first began to study what is called “uncompensated care,” like most folks, I assumed that the cost of hospitalizations for those without health insurance was shifted to those of us with insurance. It turns out it is much more complicated […]

WASHINGTON — During this Thanksgiving season, Trump supporters should give thanks that Democrats’ impeachment obsession is backfiring. Indeed, it could prove to be the biggest political blunder in modern times. After two weeks of hearings, Democrats have utterly failed to make their case to the American people. When the hearings began, supermajorities agreed that the […]

Nancy Pelosi said she undertook impeachment “prayerfully,” and apparently what she was praying was that she could get it over with as soon as possible. The House is preparing to send a flagrantly incomplete factual record to the Senate as the basis of an effort to remove a sitting president for the first time in […]

The focus here isn’t President Donald Trump. He is a creature unto himself. Rather, this is about his spineless political party, which stands mute, or even supportive, as he breaks U.S. military discipline, morale and leadership. The GOP used to be the party of superpatriots, always saluting our men and women in uniform. It still […]

I feel grateful for a Maine childhood filled with time outside. Until recently, I hadn’t realized how unique it is to grow up in a state that values its outdoor recreation opportunities and open spaces. In fact, 70% of Mainers participate in outdoor recreation, a number higher than the national average. This number is undoubtedly […]