Reinforcements have arrived with the publication of the Babylon Bee’s “Guide to Wokeness.” It is laugh out loud funny, unless you are woke.
Alex Lear
Staff Writer
Alex Lear is a lifelong Mainer who has spent 25 years in journalism -- the first 20 as a reporter for newspapers in Damariscotta and Falmouth, then as Opinions section editor for the Sun Journal and now a digital producer with the Maine Trust for Local News. His long-running “Learics” column won first place in the Maine Press Association’s 2023 Better Newspaper Contest. He and his wife Lauren are kept young by their 9-year-old daughter Alaina. Send feedback and suggestions to Alex.
Froma Harrop: Biden is, actually, doing well
For some reason, Biden is getting attacked from all political sides and for things that are not his fault. He’s been handed a bad hand to play on so many fronts.
Austin Bay: Gulf of Mexico pirates threaten global security and environmental extortion
On June 14 pirates armed with automatic weapons attacked a Pemex (Petroleos Mexicano/Mexican Petroleum) oil platform in the Bay of Campeche. State-owned Pemex is by far the most important company in Mexico. The Mexican Navy, however, responded slowly. The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) estimates that in 2019, 180 attacks occurred on Mexican oil targets.
Iris Roberts: The way we were: Our father and his guns
Our dad thought assault weapons of war were useless for civilians and a “waste of good money.” He was a veteran of World War II, who did not live long enough to know that assault weapons of war would one day proliferate in numbers so large that they would eventually be bringing children brutally down in classrooms, and killing people of all ages ruthlessly almost anywhere in America — and I’m glad that he did not.
Rich Lowry: No, DeSantis isn’t worse than Trump
Even if you take the dimmest view of all that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has done — from battling COVID mandates to trying to keep woke instruction out of schools to pushing new congressional lines favorable to Republicans — it makes him a sharp-elbowed partisan with mistaken priorities, not a clear and present danger to American democracy. None of it is remotely comparable to Donald Trump’s post-election conduct.
In rebuttal: Sam Saltonstall: No one being forced to buy electric vehicles
In his column about electric vehicles (“It’s not easy being green,” July 6), Cal Thomas says “technology should precede ideology.” An ideology is a system of ideas and ideals, for example the set of beliefs that if we are to preserve a world hospitable for human life, we need to quickly stop warming the planet. […]
Renee Cote: Auburn development doesn’t take into account residents’ desires
Maine needs about 20,000 more affordable housing units, and Mayor Jason Levesque has decided that Auburn is going to create 2,000 new units — in other words, take on the burden of supplying 10% of the state’s need, with no concern as to whether most people who live here would like that level of increased […]
Froma Harrop: Democrats don’t have to be dumb
Democrats … continue to mismatch the intelligence of the voters and their economic messaging. Accusing the Fed of a crime it has yet to commit — or gas stations of price-gouging — is dumb politics, and doubly so as their prospects improve.
Leonard Pitts Jr.: What is wrong with American men?
Everyone has bad days. Everyone gets their feelings hurt. Everyone grapples with life not going according to plan. Only American men seem to routinely take this as an excuse to shoot up churches and schools.