In the Democrat’s stepped-up offensive against presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a faint whiff of panic is in the air, a stirring of concern that no good can come from one of the nation’s most storied political names lingering on the fringes of the party’s President Biden re-election strategy. Conventional wisdom has it that […]
Times Record Opinion
Columns and opinion news from the Times Record.
The Maine Idea: Get ready for Referendum Madness
Maine has a problem with its initiative and referendum system no one wants to talk about. It’s simple: twice in the past seven years, voters have approved questions that turned out to be unconstitutional in whole or in part. Unlike other states, including Massachusetts, from which it inherited its basic constitutional arrangements, Maine has no […]
Elwood Watson: Visit Florida, where you’ll learn about the benefits of slavery
Florida has justly earned its recent reputation as the most dysfunctional, surreal, and outlandish state in the nation. The so-called Sunshine State continues to promote high-profile lunacy. Last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the new, updated framework for how Black history will be taught in K-12 schools, including guidelines that slavery was beneficial to enslaved […]
Jase Graves: A summer staycation travel guide
Are you tired of financing a tank of gas? Are you afraid your armpits might burst into flames if you leave the air-conditioned confines of your home? Or maybe, like our family, you blew a decade’s worth of vacation savings on a trip to New York City over the Christmas holidays, and you’re still having […]
The Conversation: As contentious judicial ‘reform’ becomes law in Israel, Netanyahu cements his political legacy
THE CONVERSATION — Israel’s parliament passed a law on July 24, 2023, that limits the Supreme Court’s ability to rein in government actions, part of a broader proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to strengthen the power of the country’s executive branch. The legislation has divided the country for months, sparking massive demonstrations. Opponents say the […]
The Conversation: How book-banning campaigns have changed the lives and education of librarians – they now need to learn how to plan for safety and legally protect themselves
THE CONVERSATION — Despite misconceptions and stereotypes – ranging from what librarians Gretchen Keer and Andrew Carlos have described as the “middle-aged, bun-wearing, comfortably shod, shushing librarian” to the “sexy librarian … and the hipster or tattooed librarian” – library professionals are more than book jockeys, and they do more than read at story time. They […]
Joe Guzzardi: Cooperstown needs to restore excellence, tighten induction standards
With the Hall of Fame induction ceremony set for this weekend, here’s a baseball quiz. The question: What do Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Scott Rolen and Fred McGriff have in common? Although Ruth, Cobb, Rolen and McGriff have widely different skill levels, all four are Hall of Fame inductees. In many scribes’ minds, the vast […]
Gordon L. Weil: Dems move to center, fighting GOP appeal
Bernie Sanders is no longer a “democratic socialist.” He has dropped that label on his website. President Joe Biden has gone out of his way to say he is not a socialist, contrasting himself with Vermont’s Sen. Sanders. The label has proved to be a political liability. When Biden ran for president in 2020, he […]
Danny Tyree: Is the world ready for these random thoughts?
Sometimes topics simply demand more research than a deadline allows. I couldn’t do justice to this week’s topic, so I’m kicking the can down the road by dishing out another batch of research-free random thoughts. I’ll confess to being impatient with people who pepper conversations with a slavishly recited “They say.” You know, like “They […]
Giving voice: More than a garden tour
Like many days over the past few weeks (months?!), last Saturday morning was humid, damp, and misty. A storm had rolled through the Midcoast in the wee hours, and I had been awakened to a downpour accompanied by flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder. “Please let this pass by us now and end soon,” […]
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