Graham Platner has been smeared as a secret Nazi by opposition researchers for a chest tattoo that resembled the SS Totenkopf. Skulls, with or without a jawbone or crossed femurs, have been symbols adopted by military units, particularly those viewed as elite, since long before pirates used it for a flag. The elite Marine Raider […]

See something, say something. We’ve often heard this phrase as a way to keep our society a safer place. The news often shows current threats such as a man with guns at an airport canvasing the security checkpoints then being arrested,  boats heading toward the U.S. with lethal illegal drugs, etc. People see something, say […]

One of the things Republicans often say they care about, at least during Democratic administrations, is the budget deficit. Given that our nation has added $1 trillion to the national debt in the last two months, driving it from $37 trillion to $38 trillion, their sudden silence on the subject is odd. This is partly […]

Graham Platner is my friend. His mother runs a local restaurant. His father was lawyer for me and my neighbors until he retired, handling title searches, divorces, wills and bankruptcies. He was the closest thing to Atticus Finch we had in Ellsworth. When I needed new chain on my mooring last June, I asked Graham for […]

As I contemplate next year’s Maine Democratic Party primary for Senate, involving the two leading candidates — Gov. Janet Mills and Graham Platner — the highly quotable phrase attributed to legendary baseball player Yogi Berra comes to mind: “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” In 1968, I was a graduate student at Columbia University […]

Sen. Susan Collins called the government shutdown “entirely unnecessary.” I agree. If Republicans hadn’t cut Americans’ health insurance subsidies and safety nets, Democrats wouldn’t have to keep rejecting the stopgap funding bill.  Even Sen. Collins voted against the so-called “big, beautiful bill” due, as she said, to “the harmful impact it will have on Medicaid, affecting […]

As a retired graphic artist, I’m at a loss to understand why you chose the image you used in the Our View editorial titled “Vote ‘No’ on Maine’s Question 1” (Sunday, Oct. 19). Sure, use a ballot entering a box, But why have the text of the editorial on that ballot be nearly illegible? Already […]