In his 2024 campaign Donald Trump promised to reduce grocery prices and make the economy work better for American workers. Unfortunately, in his first three weeks his actions have been undermining these goals. He is threatening 25% tariffs against our longtime friends, Canada and Mexico. American importers will pay tariffs initially. Then they will pass […]

Everyone asks himself how the German people could have let themselves get into the trouble they got into leading up to World War II. The answer is complicated, but it happened quickly, in just a few months. The same thing is happening to the populace of this country now. We are in the midst of […]

I don’t think my Republican friends and neighbors fully meant their vote to unleash the full catastrophe now unfolding. Many debatable policy actions may have been predicted, but others would not have been anticipated. The extent of the elimination of substantial vital foreign aid opens up huge opportunities for China and Russia to extend their […]

It seems the unthinking folks down at the city of Auburn haven’t learned anything since the last time they did an intrusive assessment and had my elderly parents crying to me in a panic because “some stranger was looking through their closets.” Karen Scammon, the city’s tax assessor, insists “we need an accurate assessment,” but […]

Maine’s low scores on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress are worth noting, given Maine ranks 15th in the country in per pupil spending. Our fourth graders ranked 43rd both in reading and math, and eighth graders were 27th in math and 35th in reading. How refreshing it would be for the state Department […]

The United States is not an island unto itself, though the current administration’s actions on immigration, climate change, tariffs, research and foreign aid appear to reflect that view. A country does not exist in isolation. Diseases spread around the world, especially when countries are poor and lack robust health care systems. Weather is worldwide; air […]