Leonard Pitts Jr.: After democracy dies

Clearly, the GOP constitutes a dire threat to this democracy. That’s why more than 160 professors from Duke, Yale, Stanford, Georgia State and elsewhere, scholars who study how democracies rise and fall, have signed a letter that declares that several states are being transformed “into political systems that no longer meet the minimum conditions for free and fair elections. Hence, our entire democracy is now at risk.” It is something many far less-credentialed observers have been saying for months.

Rich Lowry: The Biden revolution sputters before it even gets started

A couple of months from now, it could be obvious that the highly touted Biden revolution is sputtering to a stop before it even gets started.

If so, the fault won’t be Manchin’s or Sinema’s, or in our stars, but in the simple fact that Biden doesn’t have enough votes in Congress — never did and never will.

Cartoon for Sunday, June 6

Geoff Freeman: Maine’s vision for recycling risks getting blurred by politics

As the Maine Legislature continues its consideration of extended producer responsibility proposals, it must stay mindful that revenue should support solutions, not be the solution. Let’s work together to build an EPR system that sets the standard for other states, and begins to fix recycling now and for future generations.

Cal Thomas: The ‘Can’t Do’ narrative continues

The narrative should be: This is how we became successful, and this is how you can be successful too. Changing the narrative offers potentially better outcomes than the one presently being promoted by liberal politicians.

Heritier Nosso: Refugees, asylees are Maine’s answer to healthcare worker shortage

I’m glad the Biden administration delivered on its promise to reopen our doors to new refugees. Now that they are here, I hope we can welcome them into our communities. The more they integrate, the more they can contribute to our economic, civic and population growth. The future of our state depends on it.

Andrew Tasker: ‘Forces of fanaticism’ on rise in America

Fifty-three percent of Republicans think Trump is our true president. Twenty-three percent believe the QAnon movement beliefs are correct. And did people notice that the GOP blocked a bill for an investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection at our capital? The bill’s failure marks the first successful GOP filibuster this year. Sen. Matt Gaetz has […]

Froma Harrop: Rethinking the Land of Plenty

Pandemic disruptions made Americans question whether this is truly the Land of Plenty.

Cartoon for Saturday, June 5

In rebuttal: William LaRochelle: Thoughts on ‘subjectivizing of truth’

In his May 30 column, “Ministry of Truth 2.0,” Cal Thomas reproached Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas for working to develop tools to help children discern truth from lies. That’s government indoctrination and propaganda, to his mind. Maybe yes, maybe not. We’ll have to wait and see what develops. He then deplored the fact […]