The American Psychological Association has issued its first advisory on social media use in adolescence. What’s most striking in its data-based recommendations is how little we really know about how these apps affect our kids. The relative newness of platforms like Snapchat and TikTok means little research is available about their long-term effects on teen […]
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 inEditorials, Opinion
Our View: Strengthening the safety net for Maine’s safety net
Maine’s General Assistance program helps people when they have nowhere else to go — no other options for finding food, shelter or medicine. It is the safety net’s safety net. And since asylum seekers began arriving in large numbers in 2019, it’s been one of the only ways to keep them afloat while the federal […]
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Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Americans’ move to identifying as ‘independent’ foretells a change in political parties
Since 2004, the number of Americans who identify as political independents has skyrocketed. In the first decade of the 21st century, nearly two-thirds of American voters affiliated with one of the two major parties. Now, this figure is less than half, and there are slightly more political “independents” than either Democrats or Republicans. “It was […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Eduardo Porter: Fentanyl will win the war on drugs
So let’s say the United States labels Mexican drug cartels terrorist organizations, like so many Republicans are demanding. Let’s say it deploys “cyberwarfare” and missile strikes against its kingpins, declares war against the cartels and sends troops across the border, whether the Mexican government agrees or not. Then what? Here’s what: Fentanyl keeps killing Americans; […]
Posted inEditorials, Opinion
View from Away: The Supreme Court needs ethics reform. That shouldn’t be a partisan issue
Thanks to recent reports about financial and personal dealings by members of the Supreme Court — including lavish trips bestowed upon Justice Clarence Thomas by a friend and prominent Republican donor — the public has become aware of a troubling fact: Unlike other federal judges, justices aren’t bound by the Code of Conduct for United […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Nicholas Goldberg: Trump’s up in the polls. How can that be?
I guess it’s possible that Republicans really don’t care about Donald Trump’s run-ins with the law. Maybe, despite the numerous allegations, investigations and charges against him — for rape, for defamation, for seeking to subvert the 2020 election, for his role in the Jan. 6 assault, for falsifying records about hush money payments — he […]
Posted inEditorials, Opinion
Our View: Give landmark housing law a chance to work
As the housing crisis mounts, Maine shouldn’t neuter a law designed to help relieve it.
Posted inEditorials, Opinion
View from Away: Enough with fake newspapers where propaganda masquerades as news
Campaign sleight of hand comes in many forms. Illinoisans are learning more about a particularly deceitful stratagem called Local Government Information Services — an innocuous name for what amounts to an affront to the institution of a free press and, more broadly, American democracy. During last year’s midterm election season, Illinois residents began seeing in […]
Posted inEditorials, Opinion
Our View: Rainstorm shows how climate change will hit home
More frequent and more intense storms are already a reality. Without meaningful action on climate, they will worsen.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Matthew Yglesias: Only Mitch McConnell can save the US from default
America is hurtling toward a historic and potentially cataclysmic default — and its best hope for avoiding it may be one of the least popular men in Washington: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Don’t mistake passage of a plan to raise the debt ceiling for progress. The bill, passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives […]