Recent terrorist attacks in Ankara, Turkey, and Berlin, Germany, add to a growing list of incidents that are becoming increasingly difficult to remember. Does one begin the list with the plane hijackings in the ’60s and ’70s, or the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, or the USS Cole attack in 2000, or the […]
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Vladimir Putin’s gift to America
WASHINGTON — It may be wishful thinking, but it’s just possible that Vladimir Putin has done us a great favor. He has alerted us to the true threat of cyberwarfare in a way that — again, just possibly — might prompt us to view it as a serious national danger and begin to take effective […]
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No reason to spoil Loesser’s cute song
A Christmas standard since the 1940s, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is an uncommonly catchy and witty song that is now — incredibly enough — controversial. Anyone who has turned on the radio, walked in a shopping mall or watched a Christmas special is familiar with the tune, a duet featuring a smitten male suitor trying […]
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Ponds, coves, mountains and towns — Maine puts Christmas on the map
With thousands of different names for communities, mountains, hills, lakes and streams in our state it’s surprising how few are associated with America’s premiere holiday. This columnist’s own survey has so far turned up less than a dozen such locations. Among them: three places named Christmas Cove, two Jerusalems and a Santa Claus Lake. It’s […]
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No rhyme or reason to any of Trump’s Cabinet selections
By Jonathan Bernstein I don’t think it has sunk in yet just how unpredictable virtually everything in Donald Trump’s administration is going to be. To begin with, the incoming tweeter-in-chief has taken positions on both sides of many issues. Maybe he has thought through a number of policies and maybe he hasn’t, but either way […]
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Christmas traditions carry us through
The day after Thanksgiving is usually when I begin decorating for Christmas, but on Nov. 25, I turned to my husband on the verge of despair. “I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t think I have it in me.” The sound of those words, in my voice, was enough to startle me out of my […]
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America’s honor lost in fall of Aleppo
WASHINGTON — The fall of Aleppo just weeks before Barack Obama leaves office is a fitting stamp on his Middle East policy of retreat and withdrawal. The pitiable pictures from the devastated city showed the true cost of Obama’s abdication. For which he seems to have few regrets, however. In his end-of-year news conference, Obama […]
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Humble birth of baby Jesus reveals our shallowness
Familiarity doesn’t always breed contempt. Not if it’s a familiarity with Christmas. While America and much of the world are focusing attention on the coming of the new president, little attention is paid to a gift not even the world’s richest person could pay for and which is even today not received by many to […]
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Is there a Santa Claus?
The following is reprinted from the Sept. 21, 1897 edition of The New York Sun, written by Francis Pharcellus Church. * * * We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun: Dear Editor— […]
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Progress made against lead poisoning
The beautiful old buildings of Lewiston-Auburn remind us of the cities’ wonderful history, but they are also a source of the lead poisoning that threatens the future. In the abatement battle underway, we are fortunate that Healthy Androscoggin, a local organization that promotes good health, is galvanizing coalitions of community leaders to make meaningful progress […]