By Michael Parr Special To The Washington Post You probably see birds frequently — so much so that they may seem to be everywhere. The reality, of course, is that our subjective experience only goes so far. Today, researchers are releasing a new large-scale study that shows that bird populations in North America are undergoing […]
Op-Eds
Posted inMark LaFlamme, Op-Eds
Mark LaFlamme: Sitting still and screaming inside
How I envy you people. Look at you sitting there all calmly in your chairs. Your hands are folded neatly in your lap and you look like you could sit another six hours if need be. Such patient and well-behaved little angels you are. I’m not saying I hate you. I’m just saying I think […]
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Posted inOp-Eds, Sun Spots
Winter walking, free cookbooks, Little Free Library
DEAR SUN SPOTS: The September 20 Sun Spots featured a question from Anita in Lewiston about winter walking venues in the area. I highly recommend the Moving Me Forward Program, established by Bob Brainerd in conjunction with a group of former Healthsteps participants after St. Mary’s decided to stop sponsoring that program. Negotiations with Bates College […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Leonard Pitts: We were told our institutions would save us
Once upon a time, there was an ideal. It was called the United States of America. And in 2016, the presidency of the United States was captured by the flamboyantly incompetent star of a TV reality show, a man who doesn’t believe in any ideal beyond his own enrichment and aggrandizement. Some shaken observers assured […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Mark Edwards: The State Department is weak and getting weaker, putting us all at risk
By Mark Edwards Special to The Washington Post The federal bureaucracy has been rocked in recent months by an unusual amount of turmoil. The abnormal is the new normal: Numerous firings and resignations; “acting” administrators; policies, programs and raids that were announced and then never started or were stopped by the courts. Quietly, in the […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Fareed Zakaria: Ancient wisdom for Trump’s Iran policy
NEW YORK — “The enemy gets a vote.” American military leaders are fond of using that line. Gen. James Mattis used it so often that it is sometimes attributed to him. In fact, it is a nugget of wisdom dating back to Sun Tzu, the Chinese military strategist, who counseled that one must “know the […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Jennifer Rubin, Election 2020: Democrats hung up on ‘electability’
By Jennifer Rubin The Washington Post Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in her 20,000-person rally Washington Square Park in New York on Monday night, declared, “Yes, there’s a lot at stake in this election. And I know people are scared. But we can’t choose a candidate we don’t believe in just because we’re too scared to […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Jamie Pietruska: Gutting of the USDA’s research service is counter-productive
By Jamie Pietruska Special to The Washington Post The recently announced relocation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS) from Washington, to the Kansas City region is more than an office move. While it will cost more than two-thirds of its 300 employees their jobs, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Marc Thiessen: Democrats the losers in push for Kavanaugh investigation
WASHINGTON — The latest smear on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is a disaster for Democrats, and everyone seems to know it except the party’s presidential candidates. No sooner had The New York Times published a new, unsubstantiated allegation of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh, then most of the candidates demanded Kavanaugh’s impeachment. “These newest revelations […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Cal Thomas: Frustrated Democrats have another go at Kavanaugh
When the Supreme Court, under a previous ideological majority, was handing down decisions favorable to the left, Democrats were fine with deferring to that third branch of government to achieve what they declined to produce in legislation. Some Democrats in conservative states took the position that it wasn’t their fault that cases voters regarded as […]