Austin Bay: Meanwhile, in the Russian Backyard Called Siberia …

Columns & Analysis

Published
March 19, 2022

Austin Bay: Meanwhile, in the Russian Backyard Called Siberia …

According to Beijing's propagandists, Siberia belongs to China. The current border (approximately 2,740 miles) is an artifact of the 1860 Convention of Peking. The Second Opium War had weakened China. Czarist Russia was expanding. In 1917, the Bolsheviks acknowledged that czarist treaties forced on China were coercive and predatory. Russia, however, has never returned any Siberian territory.
Published
March 19, 2022

Bob Neal: The Countryman: Some people are just evil

My Christian faith tells me we are all beloved children of God. My secular experience tells me my publisher was correct. "Some people are just purely evil." The best we can do is seek a ray of goodness in even the most evil people. Hard to find one in Putin, though.
Published
March 19, 2022

Scott Harriman: Lewiston City Council must conduct the people’s business transparently

An appointment to the Planning Board might not seem like a big deal to most folks. How these four councilors went about it should be a wakeup call to all Lewiston citizens to pay close attention to what decisions are made and how our city is being governed.
Published
March 17, 2022

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Kinzinger’s apology too little too late?

Adam Kinzinger, Republican from Illinois, took to Twitter last Friday with a remarkable statement of contrition for failing to hold the last president accountable. He wrote that his “biggest regret” was his decision to vote against Donald Trump’s first impeachment.
Published
March 16, 2022

Cal Thomas: Deeper and deeper in debt

Like so much of the Constitution, the left and too many on the right have ignored history and sage advice when it comes to the economy. We are doomed to repeat that history unless we get our economic house in order. That will require more Americans taking a pledge to care for themselves and rely less on government, and it will mean electing people who will heed the warnings and advice of the people quoted above.

Published
March 13, 2022

Rich Lowry: Waging peace, saving lives in Ukraine

We must focus on maintaining a first-class military, winning the high-tech race with China, and reducing our vulnerabilities in the event of a war that disrupts supply chains and our access to key strategic materials and goods.
Published
March 13, 2022

Justin Silverman: Without more transparency requirements, potential for police secrecy is staggering

The Freedom of Access Act requires that agencies respond to requests within five days and produce records within a reasonable period of time. Compared to public record laws in other states, these are very lenient requirements. There is no excuse for not responding. There is no excuse for not taking the time — especially when broadly defined as “reasonable” — to gather records. There is no excuse for the secrecy.
Published
March 13, 2022

Rep. Laurel Libby: Mainers need relief from high gas prices

Maine people are struggling to pay for their basic necessities in the face of crippling inflation, and in a rural state like ours, gasoline is absolutely a necessity. We need to provide relief for Maine families now, rather than waiting for the federal government to do so. Suspending Maine’s gas tax will provide immediate relief for families and businesses alike, and is the right thing to do.
Published
March 13, 2022

Cal Thomas: The cost of the Russian war keeps rising

If fossil fuels are to be replaced, or our reliance on them reduced, technology must precede politics and wish lists. Otherwise — and without a change in policies that return us to what as recently as 2016 produced energy independence — prices will continue to rise.
Published
March 13, 2022

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Conservatives are about to lose the 21st century

LGBTQ kids and their allies can only put their heads down, work for change and take such satisfaction as they may find in the fact that, where social evolution is concerned, conservatives lost the 20th century. Now they’re about to lose the 21st.

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