WASHINGTON — Recently, the U.N.’s premier cultural agency, UNESCO, approved a resolution viciously condemning Israel (referred to as “the Occupying Power”) for various alleged trespasses and violations of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Except that the resolution never uses that term for Judaism’s holiest shrine. It refers to and treats it as an exclusively Muslim […]
Op-Eds
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Trump has run the worst campaign in modern history
NEW YORK — As this presidential election draws to its close, I keep wondering: Why has Donald Trump run such an ineffective campaign? Trump began with three big advantages. The Democrats were seeking a third consecutive term in the White House, something that a political party has achieved only twice in the last 80 years. […]
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Question 1: Setting the record straight about the usage of marijuana
I just visited Maine to share the lessons my state, Washington, has learned four years after voting to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana for adults. During my visit, Maine Gov. Paul LePage issued a video statement against Question One (Maine’s initiative to legalize the adult use of marijuana). The closest thing to a conversation I […]
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Question 5: Implementation difficulties for RCV
Ranked-choice voting is enjoying some favorable national exposure from Question 5 on Maine’s November ballot. If approved, voters will be able to rank their choices of candidates in future state and federal elections. Advocates point out that ranked-choice voting can improve political civility, prevent “spoiler” outcomes and ensure a majority winner. But they’re reluctant to […]
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Garfield’s ghost, and other spirits of Maine elections
Though Maine voters may not be as animated as usual about voting for president this year — many wanting to sit this one out — they still have some hot-button issues to be fired up about for the Nov. 8 election. These include the five citizen initiated referendums — a record for those in a […]
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A path to fix the flawed overtime rule
Recently, the Department of Labor released a new rule that will dramatically increase overtime pay obligations for employers in Lewiston, Auburn and across the country. The DOL’s proposal, which goes into effect Dec. 1, would more than double the current salary threshold of $23,660 per year to $47,476. On behalf of nearly 1,200 area businesses […]
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Trans-Pacific Partnership is not dead
The victims of free-trade agreements are finally getting the attention they deserve, after 25 years of being minimized or outright ignored. Maine, in particular, has been a ground-zero for free-trade-related economic casualties — more than 33,000 manufacturing jobs lost, a familiar casualty list of shoe, then shirt, then paper mill factories shuttered, entire communities economically […]
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Aiming for normalization of pot use
Here we go again … the polarizing politics of prohibition begs our discussions, dialogues, debates, opinions and off-handed remarks culminating in a show of hands in voting booths coming to neighborhoods throughout Maine on the eighth of November. The subject of the matter appears to be marijuana. The driving force feels more like freedom — […]
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Some things should not be forgotten
So what was it they were trying to kill? After all, the sign standing near the Tallahatchie River is cratered by dozens of bullet holes. More than idle target practice, it suggests a frenzy of gunfire, an attempt to kill something. And the something is not really that hard to name. Memory. They sought to […]
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Democrats play the dirty tricks game
Students of the Watergate era (or those old enough to have lived through it) will recall the “dirty tricks” played by Richard Nixon’s henchmen, most notably Donald Segretti. Segretti, who was hired by Nixon’s deputy assistant, Dwight Chapin, was tasked with smearing Democrats, including senator and 1972 presidential candidate, Edmund Muskie of Maine. Among several […]