WASHINGTON — President Obama unintentionally damaged his legacy the other day by urging an expansion of Social Security benefits and, thereby, reminding everyone (and particularly future historians) that he failed to deal with one of the largest issues facing the country: an aging society. “It’s time we finally made Social Security more generous, and increased […]
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Investigation necessary to restore trust
A fundamental feature of good government is transparency. It earns the public trust through principled operations and open-handedness. That is why the information in a series of Portland Press Herald articles about undercover game warden operations and the one-sided IF&W Committee meeting prompted by its publication is so concerning. The newspaper raised questions about undercover […]
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GOP faces tough road ahead
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton faces a strategic choice. She can concentrate on closing off Donald Trump’s potential openings with the white working class. Or she can build large leads among more affluent voters, many of whom are moderate and see Trump as dangerous, extreme and temperamentally unfit. She will necessarily do some of both — […]
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The agony of the Trump endorsers
The astonishing spectacle of a speaker of the House not endorsing a presidential nominee of his own party has been supplanted by the astonishing spectacle of a speaker of the House declaring that the nominee he endorsed said something racist. Paul Ryan endorsed Donald Trump just in time for the Gonzalo Curiel furor. Ryan unloaded […]
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Graduation: A time to unite and celebrate an important milestone
Graduation has so much meaning to an individual, a family and a community. Zakiya Sheikh, a senior at Lewiston High School: “Graduation means that seniors are all being recognized for all the work that they have done. It is a way for all the graduates to showcase their achievements for their friends and family. “It is […]
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Donald Trump’s tax plans would sink American economy
Hello, investors. Come join the foreign policy experts in daily panic attacks over what a President Donald Trump would mean for your world. What does one do about a candidate whose tax plan would send America into the fiscal abyss — who flaps lips about not making good on the national debt? Should we be […]
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Fix culture that makes a Brock Turner possible
This is a column about the value of six. Actually, it’s about three individual sixes and their respective values. The first six came after a 23-year-old woman — her name has never been revealed — spoke in court to address the man who raped her last year, who took her out behind the dumpsters and […]
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Can Hillary Clinton win the presidency?
NEW YORK — Hillary Clinton has had a good run in recent days. She delivered her best speech yet, secured the Democratic nomination, beat Bernie Sanders in California and received President Obama’s endorsement. But will this last? Can she win in November? There are scholars who believe that the outcome of a presidential election is […]
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No good choice for Paul Ryan
WASHINGTON — The morning after, the nation awakes asking: What have we done? Both parties seem intent on throwing the election away. The Democrats, running against a man with highest-ever negatives, are poised to nominate a candidate with the second-highest-ever negatives. Hillary Clinton started with every possible advantage — money, experience, name recognition, residual goodwill […]
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Politicians face backlash for past policies
What’s wrong with millennials and those working class guys (WCGs)? What do they see in that septuagenarian socialist and that overbearing braggart? The chattering class is baffled. They just don’t get it. For three decades WCGs saw their jobs outsourced and mechanized. Small family businesses disappeared. Whole industries vaporized. Rural economies imploded. Describing the devastating […]