If you want to understand what’s happened to voting rights in the U.S. over the past decade, just take a look at the recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. That ultraconservative court took a substantial bite out of voting rights when it reversed its own precedent to hold that […]
Ben Bragdon
Staff Writer
Ben Bragdon is managing editor of the Sun Journal. Prior to that, he was deputy managing editor for news at the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. Ben was previously editorial page editor for those newspapers and Central Maine Sunday for more than 10 years. Before that, he was managing editor for weekly newspapers at Current Publishing in Westbrook. He began his career as a reporter at the Piscataquis Observer in Dover-Foxcroft and editor at the Moosehead Messenger in Greenville. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from Boston University.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Olympic boxer’s gender is a manufactured controversy
When Italian boxer Angela Carini reported that she had “never felt a punch like that” after conceding to Algeria’s Imane Khelif 46 seconds after their Olympic match began, social media exploded with accusations. Elon Musk and J.K. Rowling chimed in, accusing Khelif of being a man posing as a woman to cheat. The case highlights […]
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Posted inEditorials, Opinion
Our View: Get kids their summer meals – it’s worth whatever it takes
Experience has shown that helping kids with hunger pays great dividends. We shouldn’t let anything stand in the way.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Healthy Lakes: Conservation from Bambi to 2030
Everybody has a role to play to keeping Maine and the planet healthy for generations to come, writes Woody Woodsum.
Posted inEditorials, Opinion
View from Away: Now deter and punish Putin’s hostage-taking habit
In a complex deal brokered by the U.S. government, Russia has freed reporter Evan Gershkovich and 15 other political prisoners in exchange for the release of eight of its nationals in the West — including Vadim Krasikov, a killer especially valued by Russian President Vladimir Putin who was serving time for murder in Germany. This […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Can’t we get back to solving problems?
We are once again in the thick of a presidential election cycle at risk of being dominated by spectacle and far too light on substance. As in 2016 and 2020, sensationalist developments — most recently an attempted assassination of one candidate and the bowing out of another — have transfixed the media 24/7. While these […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Harris’ VP pick of Minnesota’s Tim Walz is a major gift to Donald Trump. Here’s why
Until Tuesday morning, it looked like Vice President Kamala Harris was going to help her chances of winning in those unpredictable swing states by choosing Pennsylvania’s popular governor, Josh Shapiro, to be her presumptive running mate. Instead she has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a candidate whose liberal bona fides equal her own. The pick […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War becomes fodder for US partisan brawl
The scenes tugged at the heart strings. Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter nabbed during a reporting assignment by Russian police last year on bogus charges of espionage, was finally reunited with his mother on an airport tarmac after spending about a year and a half in the Russian prison system. On the same […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Trump proved himself unfit to be commander in chief
When I was an officer in the U.S. military, I abstained from voting in national elections, one small way to keep the armed forces nonpartisan. Now, to uphold that same value and prevent the military from becoming a political tool, I believe that in November, everyone — civilians, service members, veterans, everyone — should vote […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: How Harris can reset Democrats’ relations with business
President Joe Biden has been objectively good for business, especially relative to the risk of the chaos that would follow Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Yet it’s no secret that the relationship between Biden and the business community has been poor. The presidential candidacy of Kamala Harris offers Democrats the chance for a […]