Sometimes the movies that stay with you for decades aren’t the good ones, but the ones with an unforgettable ad or an utterly inane premise. That last category includes maybe the worst movie of Robert Redford’s long and distinguished acting career, 1993′s Indecent Proposal, in which a beautiful and desperately cash-strapped young wife (Demi Moore) […]
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 inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Parents must end the teachers unions’ stranglehold on education
On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court took a historic step toward ending injustice with its decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Politicians once stood in the schoolhouse door as a barrier to keep minorities out. The new civil rights challenge is to break through the barrier that’s trapping minority children in […]
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Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: It’s officially hotter than anytime since the birth of Jesus
It’s one thing to say the Northern Hemisphere summer of 2023 was the hottest of the 150 years people have been making measurements. This well-documented claim is often dismissed by skeptics of global warming who point out that the Earth has a long history of temperature fluctuations. That’s why it’s important that a new paper […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Struggling to find meaning and happiness at work? Here’s where you may have gone wrong
Once upon a time, work was work: We endured it so that we could eat. But today too many of us have made the mistake of anointing work as our main source of meaning. Seventy percent of employees say their jobs define their sense of purpose. Meanwhile, my research shows a scant 12.5% of us […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Talk to children: Addiction info provides emergency first aid
Recent government support to aid families impacted by substance use is heartening. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced $28 million in grants to assist pregnant people and families, while Oregon lawmakers approved $27 million to fund education and drug prevention programs. But government funds are slow to reach communities. Meanwhile, parents, teachers […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Let’s be honest about who’s spreading election disinformation
How do you conduct a nonpartisan discussion about the integrity of election administration when one party is waging war on democratic legitimacy and the other party seeks to uphold it? If the event I attended in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday night is any indication, you do it by never uttering the words “Democrat” or “Republican,” […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Do you want the good or bad news on tornadoes and hurricanes?
If the Car Crash Fairy offered you a deal that would lower your odds of getting in a car accident, but the trade-off was that any accidents you did get into would be far more likely to injure or kill you, you probably wouldn’t take that deal. But that might be the bargain we have […]
Posted inEditorials, Opinion
View from Away: Biden’s limit on bomb shipments to Israel may finally get Netanyahu’s attention
In quietly halting a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, President Joe Biden at last began exercising U.S. leverage to halt a full-scale invasion of Rafah, the final refuge in Gaza for about a million Palestinians displaced by Israeli destruction elsewhere in the besieged territory. It’s the right move, even though Israel may have a […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Tyler Cowen: No, low-skilled immigrants don’t cost taxpayers money
It’s not often that Paul Krugman and Donald Trump agree. But the Nobel-prize-winning economist and former (and future?) president have both subscribed to the mainstream consensus that, in the short run, less skilled immigrants are a burden on public finances. They may receive government benefits, including health care, yet they are not always ready to […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: The chaos in Congress is more dangerous than the protests on campuses
Last week Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) ignored Donald Trump’s endorsement of Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) as House speaker and announced plans to try to force him out. One can only assume she is making that attempt for attention, because it seems doomed to fail on the House floor. Democrats have already pledged to support […]