After a long absence, another “Stock Market up” tweet was issued Wednesday by Donald Trump. He’d been the troubadour singing his own praises when the Dow Jones industrial average hit new highs, but when falling stock prices wiped out most of the gains for 2018, the music stopped. He was back even though the Dow […]
Op-Eds
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Americans losing cohesion, becoming fragmented
WASHINGTON — Perhaps it was naivete, ignorance or stupidity — or all three — but when I was growing up in the 1950s in a suburb of New York City, I had no sense of anti-Semitism. By that, I do not mean that I looked around and found little evidence of anti-Jewish feeling. I mean […]
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The phrase "deaths of despair" has entered the nation's vocabulary
It’s not any less awful for being so familiar. The last three high-profile attacks that have convulsed the nation, two in just the past week or so, have been carried out by fringe loners who fit the stereotype of the perpetrators of such crimes precisely — they didn’t fit in, they were “off,” they kept […]
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Challenge distorted thinking about substance abuse
I was recently an attendee at the Southern Maine Harm Reduction Conference. The Harm Reduction Coalition defines harm reduction as a “set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use. Harm reduction is also a movement for social justice built on a belief in, and respect for, the rights […]
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Descent into vitriol began long before Trump
WASHINGTON — After a deranged Democrat living in his van nearly assassinated Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, firing more than 70 rounds at House Republicans practicing for the Congressional Baseball Game, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, declared it “outrageous” that anyone would blame Democrats’ rhetoric for inspiring the shooter. “How dare they say such a […]
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They didn't come for us … this time
On any other day, the scene would have shocked me. But this time, not so much. An armed police officer was standing at the door of a house of worship. I was driving past the Beth Israel Synagogue in Waterville. Dozens of cars were parked outside. A Waterville city police officer stood by the door. […]
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China prepares for hot war and long struggle
In retrospect, the June 1989 massacre in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square signaled that China’s rise would not be peaceful. In Tiananmen, the Communist government’s security forces slaughtered more than 2,000 demonstrators. Let’s stipulate that China’s four-decade rise from a hunger-plagued developing country to a great power with global clout ranks as one of history’s more striking […]
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Nation must address the anger, hatred that consumes us
“Some of my best friends are Jews.” That familiar, yet offensive, phrase has been used by some people as a defense against an accusation of anti-Semitism. It’s time, however, to rebrand it as a positive affirmation of love and concern for the Jewish people. In light of the latest mass shooting, this time at a […]
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One hell of a bad week
Rob Rogers is an editorial cartoonist who was fired in June after 25 years with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. His departure, he said, came after weeks of tension with a publisher who wanted a more pro-Trump stance. “We’re living in a very dark time,” Rogers told the local NPR station, “in terms of who’s in the […]
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Help children have a brighter future
We support increased access to quality early childhood education in Maine and we urge a “yes” vote on Question 4 on the November ballot. Here is why. From law enforcement to the Maine Children’s Alliance, from business leaders to the state’s Community Action Programs, we all agree: if we want our children to reach their […]