According to Adm. Mike Gilday, the chief of naval operations … the current fleet of about 298 ships “is not sized to handle two simultaneous conflicts.” The Navy is “sized to fight one and keep a second adversary in check, but in terms of two all-out conflicts, we are not sized for that.”
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.
Cal Thomas: The law and racism
Covering stories that show people at their worst while mostly ignoring them at their best is racism and contributes to negative stereotypes and perceptions. It would also help if more Republican leaders and conservatives were seen as denouncing racist ideology. I do.
Froma Harrop: Dress codes are about respect, not money
Dress standards for deluxe dining started collapsing decades ago, but the pandemic pounded them further. With the health crisis receding, high-end restaurants are looking for a reset by establishing (or restoring) rules for dress.
Hajna Nagy: Who’s really in the trap? How new regulations meant to save right whales are hurting Maine’s lobster industry
The lobster industry is Maine’s economic engine, supporting the men and women who fish as well as entire coastal communities. Imposing these restrictions limits their catch, not only taking away the opportunity for catch, but making it harder in the process.
Rich Lowry: Don’t be penny-wise on Ukraine
“Paris is worth a Mass,” Henry of Navarre supposedly said before converting to Roman Catholicism and becoming king of France in the 16th century. Similarly, staving off Russia, and perhaps defeating it without firing a shot, is worth $40 billion.
Leonard Pitts Jr.: The Republican Party stands for the Republican Party
The GOP has pioneered a dangerous conceit: that high office, once held to be the proper province of the serious, the learned and the prepared, has now been democratized till it can be fulfilled by any unremarkable twit with the gumption to seek it and the ability to convince the average Joe or Jane that ignorance, immaturity, hostility toward liberal values and lack of impulse control constitute authenticity.
Jim Wellehan: Lake Auburn must be protected for next generation
Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque and the City Council have pushed hard and constantly to increase the housing around Lake Auburn, ignoring the study that they paid close to $100,000 for in 2019. While a few potential developers have shown support for development, that support appears to coincide with economic interest. Around the lake there are […]
Rep. Joshua Morris: Lowering costs is top issue for Maine Republicans
It’s rare these days to see a person in my district without talking (or yelling) about the cost of gas, groceries, and just about everything else. Mainers face an economic crisis. Given that it’s an election year, at times like this it’s important to take a look at what the two political parties are focused […]
Rich Lowry: Don’t weaponize demographic change
Immigration has been hotly contested throughout our history, and is an inherently highly emotive issue, involving the composition of our polity and core questions of national identity. It can only inflame the issue further to explicitly weaponize demographic change, as the left has for decades now. We should have an immigration policy that serves the national interest, not the narrow interest of one political party.