Today, I’m writing to express my outrage at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s latest action to curb free speech. As a former member of this country’s armed services, I remember being trained on what was a “lawful order” and what was not. To take action against a retired military member for urging those on active duty […]

It’s bad enough that our president is disparaging Somalis and Somali Americans, but now some of Maine’s Republican leaders are doing the same. Earlier this month, they called for South Portland  Rep. Deqa Dhalac to be removed from the Legislature’s Budget Committee.     Dhalac has not been accused of any crimes. Yet the Republicans are trying to smear her […]

Following a concerted, multi-year campaign to end federal rules forcing schools to place milk on students’ trays, even when they could not safely consume it, the recent passage of legislation (S. 222 – The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act) in Congress has ended the 80-year-long federal school “milk mandate.” Both Maine senators served as […]

I am a strong proponent of Medicare for All. However, those of us in favor of that measure must realize what a huge number of opponents we have, and what a huge change we would be asking of the U.S. economy. The profits of the medical insurers would disappear. The stock prices of those companies […]

In his excellent Jan. 5 op-ed, “We must protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,” Daniel Tandy is spot on describing the again-threatened Refuge as “the largest and most remote national wildlife refuge in the country, renowned for its incomparable ecological values, cultural significance and climate importance.” It is more than these. For many, including me, […]

On the fifth anniversary of the violent attacks on the U.S. Capitol, Donald Trump is continuing in his effort to rewrite and whitewash  history. He is now claiming Democrats and Capitol police provoked the rioters. It was not a “day of love,” as he has called it, and the rioters were not “hostages or political […]

This letter is in response to Mr. Abdullahi Ahmed’s Jan. 6 op-ed (“Dehumanization of Somali community is a warning sign Maine can’t ignore“). I agree, the current administration’s strategy of dehumanizing entire ethnic groups of citizens, before punishing them, is not new. Prior to the invasion of Europe during World War II, the Nazi Party, […]

I am constantly astounded by the shameless, spineless Republican senators as they preside over the destruction of our democracy. History will soundly condemn our Republican legislators and Donald Trump but in the meantime our people and our nation are suffering. The latest horror is the obscene invasion of Venezuela. Yes, Maduro is vile, but that is […]