The current health care debate is not about health care policy or even money. It is about human lives. The lives least often discussed belong to our children, all living with disabilities, all working to navigate the world as we, their mothers, wonder how they will survive. “Are you ready to wash clothes?” asks a […]
Op-Eds
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Maine’s ties to the Declaration of Independence
It’s a week that offers up the Fourth of July, time to recall that courageous moment in our history when men — they were all of that gender at that time — at Philadelphia pledged “their life, fortune, and sacred honor” in a resolution that has become our nation’s birth certificate. Though Maine — as […]
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Duplicative government programs costing taxpayers billions
Is there anyone who can point to the “Affordable Care Act” (aka Obamacare) and credibly claim it is accomplishing the goals set for it seven years ago? Insurers are pulling out of the exchanges, premiums and related costs are going up, not down, as supporters of the misnamed law claimed they would. Many people who […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Sen. Collins is right to oppose the Senate’s version of Trumpcare
The Senate has released the previously secret details of its health care legislation — and they are not good. The Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 hurts our nation’s health care system as a whole and our most vulnerable citizens in particular. Sen. Susan Collins has said she will not support the BCRA, which could […]
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Possible labor shortage presents opportunity
For months, I have planned to write a column on the future of the U.S. labor market. Stacked on my desk are reports on “the gig economy,” “independent workers,” “contingent workers,” “freelancers” and the like. All signify a new, less secure labor market. Workers won’t have long-lasting career jobs, as the old post-World War II […]
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Did Philando Castile’s death count for nothing?
I wasn’t going to write this. On this subject, I felt I had already spilled enough outrage onto enough pages to last a lifetime. I needed a break from the emotional carnage. Then I saw the dashcam video that was released last week. Granted, it told me nothing I didn’t already know. I knew how […]
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Democrats can't see beyond party line
How much do Democrats really want to defeat Donald Trump? It’s worth asking in the wake of the latest Democratic failure to notch an electoral victory for the resistance, this time in the Georgia special election. There’s no doubt that Democrats want to watch TV programs that excoriate the president. They want to give money […]
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Parties maneuvering for what comes next after Islamic State
WASHINGTON — The U.S. shoots down a Syrian fighter-bomber. Iran launches missiles into eastern Syria. Russia threatens to attack coalition aircraft west of the Euphrates. What is going on? It might appear a mindless mess, but the outlines are clear. The great Muslim civil war, centered in Syria, is approaching its post-Islamic State phase. It’s […]
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Liberal policies in Puerto Rico lead to huge deficit
“Puerto Rico, my heart’s devotion. Let it sink back in the ocean.” — West Side Story The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is drowning. The island, so popular with tourists, is $123 billion in debt. That’s more debt than the $18 billion bankruptcy filed by the city of Detroit in 2013. In May, San Juan declared […]
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Middle East policy seems muddled, ineffective
NEW YORK — While we have been focused on the results of special elections, the ups and downs of the Russia investigation, and President Trump’s latest tweets, under the radar, a broad and consequential shift in American foreign policy appears to be underway. Put simply, the United States is stumbling its way into another decade […]