Siddharth Kara spends much of his time each year lecturing to young men and women at Harvard’s Kennedy School of…
Browsing: Commentary
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows confirmed this week that the effort to establish a “consumer-owned” utility in Maine, led by…
Growing up as an 10th generation Mainer taught me many things. Foremost among them was the importance of family and…
With Indigenous Peoples Day replacing Columbus Day, Goodbye, Columbus seemed a natural, but I realized that most folks under 50…
Maine lobstermen and women aren’t stupid, though it seems Gov. Janet Mills thinks they are. The governor was recently heckled by members…
President Biden may have admitted “the pandemic is over” with regard to COVID-19, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be…
On February 7, 1968, after American military forces rained rockets, napalm, and bombs on the village of Ben Tre in…
For most Americans, COVID-19 long ago stopped being an immediate crisis and has become little more than a dull annoyance,…
While the number of jobs available in Maine has recovered to near pre-pandemic levels, the state’s labor force participation rate…
There are mounting concerns over profound learning loss due to prolonged school closures and remote learning. New data released last…
If the inevitable tradeoffs are ignored, most people would be in favor of getting a free lunch. Unfortunately, there ain’t no…
As I predicted, Biden’s latest policy announcement spelled the end of the student loan payment pause which began during Covid-19…
High energy costs are making Maine increasingly unaffordable for people of average means. Misguided state energy policies are contributing to…
A federal appeals court this week sided with several companies whose applications to sell nicotine vaping products in a variety…
Fact: Climate Change is a constant feature of the Earth, predating humans and modern human activity. Fear: Human caused increases…
There’s an apocryphal quote often misattributed to Ben Franklin that goes something like this: “When the people find that they…
In August 2021 Science Magazine, a peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, highlighted groundbreaking…
According to NBC News, there are 4 million fewer students enrolled in college than there were 10 years ago, and there…
My dad remembers when his family got their first television. It was black and white, and there were only three…
During his campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Joe Biden repeatedly insisted that his primary goal as president would…
When voters were asked by Pew Research, prior to the 2020 election, what issues were most important to them, education…
Up For Growth (UFG), a nonprofit membership organization which was “founded to elevate and amplify the need for solutions” to…
Support for school choice is becoming increasingly strong and widespread, actually transcending the often-impervious boundaries of political party identification. Over…
Americans love their fast-food supersized. But supersizing the Internal Revenue Service? Probably not so popular. That’s evidently of little concern…
Maine’s Supreme Court is set to rule any day now on an appeal of the referendum that passed last year…
Last October, public interest journalism outfit The Maine Monitor broke the story of a newly-discovered large—and extremely valuable—lithium ore deposit…
This November, Portland residents will vote on five citizens’ initiatives, four of which were sponsored by the Maine chapter of the…
Earlier this month, the Treasury Department approved a plan to invest $110 million “to strengthen or expand broadband infrastructure across the state.”…
The chorus calling for Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice to prosecute Donald Trump for his actions…
Meta’s third-party fact-checkers have flagged as “false information” posts on Instagram and Facebook accusing the Biden administration of changing the…
The new academic year hasn’t even begun and public school enrollment is already not looking good in some parts of…
Starting this August, senior citizens in Maine will be able to freeze their property tax rate, preventing their bill from…
When the government tries to micromanage the everyday habits of millions of people, it doesn’t always go well, to put…
Earlier this month, the Treasury Department approved a plan to invest $110 million “to strengthen or expand broadband infrastructure across…
In April of 2020, the Press Herald republished a Washington Post article which covered President Trump’s distribution of $1,200 relief checks to…
I completed another plumbing project this past weekend. The toilet in our master bathroom had been leaking for a while.…
A massive federal bailout of state and local governments during the pandemic had a negligible effect on overall employment levels…
News reports say the Biden administration is currently weighing a plan that would allow all adults to receive a second…
I don’t read much fiction these days. I have a limited amount of time and think it’s better to read…
On June 21, 2022, the United States Supreme Court released its decision in the case of Carson v. Makin, declaring unconstitutional…
A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that mask mandates did little to nothing to curb the spread of Covid-19.…
As the popularity of harvesting and eating seaweed grows in America, a new Maine Public Radio investigation, along with other recent…
“Our goal is to have a system in which every family in the U.S. will be able to choose for…
It took COVID-19 for many Americans to start paying closer attention to public education in America, and a growing number…
The desire and need for school choice nationwide is now clearer than ever. Since the onset of the pandemic, already…
Last Thursday, my wife and I were scheduled to fly to D.C. for a friend’s daughter’s wedding. Wednesday around midnight,…
Where I grew up in northern Minnesota, it’s easy to see the impact that economic hard times leave on disadvantaged…
In the aftermath of widespread pandemic-era learning disruptions, many parents and community members are seeking more information on what is…
According to the American Legislative Exchange Council Center for State Fiscal Reform, Maine is currently ranked 44th in the nation in…
On June 17, I attended the COVID-delayed swearing-in ceremony for my successor as United States Attorney for the District of…
In recent weeks, our hearts have been broken and our consciences racked by the awful massacre of elementary school children…
Since President Joe Biden took office office early last year, America’s long-term budget deficit has grown by $2.4 trillion. But that…
In what appears to have been little more than a political litmus test of party purity, Democrats in Cumberland County…
The rise in consumer prices has rightly received a great deal of attention, as inflation hovers around 40-year highs. Everyone…
Last week, the Maine Democratic Socialists of America rushed to file paperwork with the City of Portland that set in…
At least 20 percent of federal dollars paid out through pandemic-related unemployment programs went to fraudulent and ineligible claims according…
Is it possible that despite the mounting evidence against them, some lockdown enthusiasts are still unwilling to let go of…
It is illegal and unacceptable for law enforcement officers to use excessive force. It’s relatively easy to state that general…
For John Lewis, his local school district’s decision to enact hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic made finding a work-life…
President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill apportioned $1.2 trillion for such projects as roads, bridges, and airports. But it also designated $65 billion “to…
Throughout the pandemic, few things incited more discord than the mandated use of facemasks as a preventative measure to reduce…
The recent mass shootings at the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York and the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas were…
Last month, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it is developing “product standards to prohibit menthol as a…
Government policies fail and create problems in the real world every day. But most Americans are so busy in their…
Shame used to be a relatively simple thing. You did something wrong. You knew it. It was a self-evident truth:…
Over the past two years of social and economic disruption, U.S. education has experienced an extraordinary transformation that can best…
There are a lot of benefits to the New England Clean Energy Connect – benefits we’ve heard a great deal…
On May 14, 18-year-old Payton Gendron traveled more than 200 miles from his hometown to a predominantly Black neighborhood of…
If you’ve ever been to the state of Oregon – home of the “other” Portland – you only need to…
Americans are already struggling under the weight of crippling inflation, from skyrocketing gas prices to exorbitant grocery bills. And even…
It wasn’t long ago that Democrats were claiming that the For the People Act, the Freedom to Vote Act, and the John Lewis…
It’s been two week since a federal court threw out the CDC’s transport mask mandate, to the glee of some…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is moving fast to close off what seems to be the last remaining legal…
Harm reductionists praise Maine’s new Good Samaritan law. I’m not sure it’s deserved. I will explain why because I don’t expect anyone…
Sometimes I have to remind myself how good we Americans have it because—let’s face it—there is a lot of bad…
Maine is embracing new California-style laws aimed at reducing restrictions on new housing. It could soon run into some of…
A new study recently published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found that students with greater access to…
On April 18, Florida federal Judge Kathryn Mizelle invalidated the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) order requiring that passengers wear masks on…
Bureaucrats cling to power. It’s their institutional predisposition. So it was no surprise on Wednesday when the Department of Justice…
The last couple of years have been a revelation when it comes to public health measures for battling COVID-19 and…
Last week, while driving toward the peninsula on Outer Congress Street around Craigie Street, I passed a seemingly able-bodied woman…
Last week, LD 2003, a bill sponsored by Speaker Ryan Fecteau to reform local and state-level housing policy, passed engrossment votes in…
Mainers deserve access to high-quality health care with an affordable price tag. Following the events of the last two years,…
Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, even alarmist government officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci have admitted that it’s time to…
The trend of people quitting Portland government (councilors Nicholas Mavodones, Jill Duson, Spencer Thibodeau, city manager Jon Jennings, police chief…
Tax Day is a fitting day to revisit where our tax-and-spend ways have gotten us. When the president’s own stimulus-spending…
Inflation has surged across much of the developed world in the past year as COVID-19 lockdowns eased and pent-up demand…
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), an electric vehicle requires six times the mineral inputs of a comparable internal…
(If you read my column “Have We No Recourse?”, this column is intended as a sequel to that one.) To…
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data now show fentanyl overdose to be the top cause of death…
How can we end the cycle of recrimination from which we are suffering and restore faith in our government? We…
Another day, another alarming inflation metric. We just got the numbers for the Personal Consumption Expenditures index (PCE), the Federal…
It’s hard to decide who is worse, actor Jussie Smollett, who faked a racist and homophobic attack in order to…
Over the last year, frequent communications from University of Maine System leaders Chancellor Malloy and UM/UMM President Ferrini-Mundy endorsed “equity”…
Mandatory motor vehicle inspections already cost Mainers $14 million and countless hours of wasted time every single year, but just…
Despite inflation running at a 40-year high, the Biden administration is pushing ahead with plans to hike wages for federal…
As a physician – one who has dedicated his career to treating lung diseases – it has become clear to…
Early in the coronavirus pandemic, I asked a simple question. Could Sweden’s laissez-faire approach to the coronavirus actually work? Unlike…
In December of 1994, a United States Capitol Police Officer shot and killed Marcelino Corniel in front of the White House. Corniel…
President Woodrow Wilson wanted a professional bureaucracy that was apolitical. The theory sounded great but was unfortunately based on a…