Although GOP presidential contender Donald Trump’s use of gratuitous insults and gutter language may have made Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s seem almost tame by comparison, our governor still manages to embarrass himself, his party and his state with regularity. Trump has labeled undocumented Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists, called his opponents liars, cheats and […]
Perspective
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Booze, pot and the Sunday liquor sales referendum of ‘66
News this month emerged that at least five and possibly six citizen petition campaigns will be putting their claims before Maine voters later this year. From marijuana legalization to gun background checks not to mention a hike in the minimum wage, ranked choice voting, a new levy on upper bracket income tax payers to finance […]
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Sanders has a point: What good are private insurers?
When I was a university student in Canada, I heard an economics professor explain the difference between U.S. and Canadian health care in a way that went something like this: Most U.S. hospitals have rooms full of staff whose only job is to trade paperwork with private insurance companies. The cost of that staff gets […]
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Where and when will you caucus?
Green independents Androscoggin County, 5 p.m., March 4: Auburn Hall Franklin and Oxford counties: For more information, call 207-200-6447, or go to: mainegreens.org * Republicans: March 5 Caucus locations and times were not posted on mainegop.com as of Friday, Feb. 12, and messages for information were not returned. Check that site for caucus information for […]
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Caucus: Maine does it in March
Maine’s presidential party selections are not done in a primary vote at the polls, like so many other states. In Maine, like in Iowa, we caucus. But, unlike Iowa, the party caucuses are held on different days and elected delegates go directly to a state convention, where delegates are chosen to represent their parties at […]
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13-year-old’s death a warning to luddite parents
There are few holes deeper than those in the heart of a 13-year-old girl. For many, it is an age of painful yearning, of a life lived in imaginary cloud worlds, away from acne and algebra and all that awkwardness.It used to be 13-year-olds would cry into their pillows. Or write in rainbow-covered journals, with […]
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Scientist: Equation can debunk large conspiracy theories
If NASA really faked the moon landing in 1969, about 411,000 people would have worked together to keep that information from the public, and the whole thing would have been exposed about four years later, according to an Oxford researcher who has found a mathematical way to examine the viability of conspiracy theories. David Robert […]
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There is lots to be excited about in America’s future
Every 30 or 40 years, Americans become incredibly pessimistic. They begin to believe the nation is falling behind in competitiveness and innovation, that their children will not be as well off as they themselves have been, and that some other country will own the future. They fear that the United States will go the way […]
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Losses, regrets and questions at companies Trump endorsed
NEW YORK — Six years ago, Donald Trump stood before 5,000 people in a hotel theater in downtown Miami and informed them he had a rescue and recovery plan for the recession-battered nation. His remedy: Join the sales team of a business that sold, among other things, specially tailored vitamins based on a user’s urine […]
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A vanishing line separates politics and sports
To an outsider, the biggest question of the 2016 U.S. presidential election may be how the country came to be stuck with such an imperfect field of candidates. Higher percentages of potential voters view the front-runners, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, unfavorably than favorably. The net favorability ratings of the current field are the lowest […]