In a part of the country where a popular motto is, “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes,” it pays to have contingency plans in place. So as New Englanders shake off the sub-zero temperatures that resulted from two back-to-back Arctic blasts, what insight can be gleaned? In Maine, state Sen. Bill Diamond, […]
Op-Eds
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Trump has drawn three red lines that are bound to be crossed
NEW YORK — President Trump’s State of the Union speech mostly ignored the world outside of America. He made a few tough statements on things like the Iran deal and Guantanamo and described (accurately) the evil nature of the North Korean regime, but he said very little about his foreign policy. This masks a more […]
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Trump bests Kennedy on all fronts with State of Union speech
President Trump’s first State of the Union address set a new standard. For himself. If he lives up to that standard in future speeches, he may go far in changing his image from a blustering, ad-libbing “entertainer,” to someone who looks and sounds, shall I say it, more “presidential.” The speech was well-crafted, delivered in […]
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Numbers don't lie, but liars do
As budding journalists, we were taught to be as exact as possible in our stories. Nothing appears as exact as numbers, I reasoned, so I often sought numbers to help tell the story. How much more precise is it to write, for example, “The train carrying the Republican legislators had seven coaches,” than to say, […]
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Realty of fantasy? A choice we all have to make
For the past several months, the political rhetoric has swirled in all directions with the aid of the “mainstream media.” Recently, the two primary issues have been the passage of the Trump tax reform plan and the shutdown of the federal government. Let’s examine the tax reform issue first. Across the country since the passage […]
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Trump's speech nailed it. Let's see what he does now
WASHINGTON —When President Trump delivered his first State of the Union address Tuesday night, he faced a critical challenge. Despite a year of achievements — including historic tax and regulatory reform, confirmation of conservative judges, elimination of the Islamic State’s physical caliphate, repeal of the unpopular Obamacare individual mandate, a booming stock market, a growing […]
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U.S. loses, China wins, with withdrawal from TPP
WASHINGTON — In the wake of President Trump’s State of the Union speech, it is worth remembering what still ranks as one of the worst decisions of his presidency: the withdrawal of the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. It happened just about a year ago. You’ll recall that the TPP was an […]
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Why does Trump hate the investigation so much?
President Donald Trump has had impure thoughts about special counsel Robert Mueller. That much, we know. The New York Times reported last week that Trump asked White House counsel Don McGahn to fire the special counsel. When McGahn resisted, Trump backed off and left Mueller in place. Talking their clients out of bad ideas — […]
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CIA director sees China as largest U.S. security threat
CIA Director Mike Pompeo pegs Russia and China as America’s two most powerful and worrisome adversaries. And the CIA Director is worried. Both Russia and China conduct covert influence operations targeting U.S. security efforts, important institutions and political processes, to include American elections. In a recent interview with the BBC, Pompeo said he believes Russia […]
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What Americans sacrificed for modest economic gain
“America is roaring back,” Donald Trump pitched to the global elite gathered in Davos, Switzerland. Those back home should be asking two questions: How loud, really, is that roar? (The economy’s, not Trump’s.) And what price are Americans paying for his approach to growth? The Davos billionaires are not unimpressed by the opportunities offered by […]