Maine’s chief export, say wags and leaders alike, is Mainers. More than lobsters, more than blueberries, more than vacation snapshots. Maine ships people out by the thousands. Among those shipping out were my forebears, leaving North Norway and Guilford decades ago for brighter prospects in — you guessed it — Massachusetts. Only when my grandparents […]
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Obama took lying to new heights with the Iran deal
WASHINGTON — When it comes to the Iran nuclear deal, the Obama administration increasingly appears to have been a bottomless pit of deception. First, President Barack Obama failed to disclose to Congress the existence of secret side deals on inspections when he transmitted the nuclear accord to Capitol Hill. (They were only uncovered by chance […]
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Society overlooks victims of sexual assault
There will be few tears for Aaron Persky. California voters gave the Superior Court judge his walking papers last week. Persky, the state’s first judge to be recalled since 1932, became a target of national fury two years ago when he sentenced Brock Turner, a Stanford University student convicted of sexually assaulting a young woman […]
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There is no excuse for elder abuse
Friday, June 15, is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. By raising awareness of the issue, our goal is to send the message to people dealing with elder abuse that they are not alone, and that our community cares. The Androscoggin County Elder Abuse Task Force is a community partnership dedicated to ending elder abuse, generating […]
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Advise and inspire
Memorial Day is behind us, along with another crop of commencement addresses. I don’t recall who spoke at any of my own or what they said, but I do remember the speaker at my son’s commencement from VA Tech was named Warner and was so drunk at 11 a.m. that he could not complete a […]
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TV used to unite Americans; now it divides them
ABC made the right decision when it canceled the sitcom “Roseanne” after the show’s eponymous star posted racist and other offensive tweets. Her hateful language has no place in our society. Yet the show’s removal is part of a larger trend of audience Balkanization that could have negative consequences. Television shows like “I Love Lucy” […]
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Trump's trade myths hurt world economy
WASHINGTON — You cannot understand President Trump’s so-called “trade war” without acknowledging that it’s mostly about politics and not about economics. Trump has embarked on a giant marketing campaign to convince us that foreigners — their exports — are to blame for our economic problems. It’s a seductive appeal to nationalism whose main defect is […]
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'What about …' becomes retort of the moment
Whataboutism is a “logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent’s position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument.” Thank you, Wikipedia. After praising ABC for dumping Roseanne Barr over a racist tweet, I was asked many times, What about Samantha Bee? The comedian had hurled the disgusting C-word at […]
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Workers at Google portray U.S. military as 'evil'
WASHINGTON — Giving in to pressure from its work force, Google recently announced that it is pulling out of Project Maven, a groundbreaking Pentagon program to harness artificial intelligence to sift through and interpret video imagery from drones. The move came after an uprising by 4,000 Google employees who signed a letter urging the company […]
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Christian baker wins case against officious bureaucrats
In the closely watched Masterpiece Cakeshop case, the Supreme Court dealt a blow against the small-mindedness that so often characterizes the self-appointed minders of social justice in America. The case involved a Christian baker in Colorado named Jack Phillips, who refused to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2012. The couple, Charlie […]