Ben Bragdon is deputy managing editor for local news, overseeing enterprise reporting projects for 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.
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PublishedMarch 12, 2024
Commentary: Biden says America is ‘coming back.’ Trump says we’re ‘in hell.’ Are they talking about the same nation?
To one presidential candidate, the United States is “a failing nation” that’s “descending into a cesspool of ruin.” “In many ways, we’re living in hell right now.” To the other candidate, “America is coming back. … Our future is brighter.” “The American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told.” You already know which […]
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PublishedMarch 11, 2024
Commentary: The War on Poverty wasn’t enough
Sixty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared “an unconditional war on poverty.” Using policies and programs as weapons, Johnson focused heavily on health coverage and “human capital.” His Great Society agenda also included key political reforms like the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968, the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act and the 1965 Voting […]
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PublishedMarch 6, 2024
Noah Feldman: Supreme Court buries the fantasy of keeping Trump off the ballot
The Supreme Court has unanimously concluded that Colorado can’t keep Donald Trump off the ballot. Section 3 of the 14th amendment, which says that a former officeholder who becomes an insurrectionist can’t hold federal office, won’t save us from a potential second Trump presidency. The court correctly rejected what I would call the National Treasure […]
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PublishedMarch 4, 2024
Commentary: Assisted suicide is not health care
I have practiced medicine in the U.S. as a pediatrician and in a developing country as a family physician, caring for patients from birth to old age. As a patient, I have experienced excruciating pain. I’ve survived cancer, undergone major surgery and brought these experiences to bear in my role as physician and healer. And […]
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PublishedMarch 4, 2024
Commentary: Without even ruling on Trump’s immunity claim, the Supreme Court handed him a huge victory
Given the Supreme Court’s possible responses to Donald Trump’s appeal of the D.C. Circuit’s denial of his claim of immunity from prosecution, the justices’ decision Wednesday has to be counted as a gift to the former president. That’s because the court came through for him on the most important axis: time. The court’s fairly Delphic […]
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PublishedFebruary 26, 2024
Commentary: You need to know what Trump is saying at his rallies
A majority, I think (hope?), would come away without a doubt about which of the two candidates is unhinged. Hint: It isn’t Biden.
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PublishedFebruary 19, 2024
View from Away: NATO alliance serves nation well, contrary to what Trump says
In a few weeks, Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va., will be busy with activity as the city holds its annual NATO Festival, the longest continuous festival on the Hampton Roads calendar. It pays tribute to our region’s unique status as the home to NATO’s only command operations in North America. Owing to that long and […]
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PublishedFebruary 19, 2024
Commentary: Why do we talk about older people so negatively?
Age matters, but so do words. While pundits debate President Joe Biden’s cognitive fitness for office and the possible motivations behind prejudicial language contained in special counsel Robert K. Hur’s classified documents report, the rest of us have a different problem: the “elderly.” Older people themselves aren’t the issue, but the way we talk about […]
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PublishedFebruary 19, 2024
Commentary: Many Americans believe migrants bring fentanyl across the border. That’s wrong and dangerous
Two unrelated facts combined with a lie form a powerful and dangerous piece of misinformation that is spreading virally. The facts are that a drug overdose epidemic is killing more than 100,000 Americans a year and that far more migrants are crossing the country’s southern border than ever before. The lie is that the migrants […]
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PublishedFebruary 17, 2024
Commentary: Bread and circuses, American style
Primary season is fully underway and the election year is heating up. Then again, do campaigns ever really stop nowadays? There was a time when election years stood out as what Washington talking heads referred to as “ crazy season ”: politicians making wild promises, we ordinary people egging them on, and outcomes settled in […]
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