In his Dec. 27 letter (“ ‘Hunter Biden’s Laptop’ will not reverse Trump’s loss”), Jeremy Smith placed in perspective the alleged misdeeds of Hunter Biden, the president’s son. Should investigating them be a priority for the next Congress? In public statements outlining their priorities when they control the House, Republicans are most enthusiastic about their […]

The other day I spoke with a young Ukrainian boy about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech to a joint congressional session. Yes, he listened to President Zelensky but said, “It wasn’t a very good translation” – he meant the Ukrainian translation of Zelensky speaking in carefully pronounced English. While Ukrainian is the boy’s native language, […]

The Dec. 29 editorial, “Our View: Supreme Court kicks immigration can further down the road,” deserves a response. Legislation is the responsibility of Congress, not the court. Our immigration mess goes back years because Congress consistently chose not to fix it. And there is a connection with the need for term limits, since many current […]

Because the Constitution doesn’t require the House speaker to be a current member of the House, wouldn’t it serve the country (and Maine) well if they elected William S. Cohen or Olympia Snowe as speaker of the House? Edward Pearlman South Portland

The news is mixed. The Inflation Reduction Act offers incentives to weatherize and/or insulate our homes, and switch to greener, cheaper energy at home and in our vehicles. We get money to save money for years, while reducing greenhouse-gas emissions! Google “rewiring america calculator” to learn more. However, our country’s slow permitting process could stop […]

Maine’s congressional delegation getting millions for Maine projects into the federal spending bill, as reported in the Press Herald on Dec. 23 (“Federal budget deal includes millions for Maine projects”), is like pickpockets working a free-beer tent. It feels great until you realize the bill kills the expanded child tax credit, which lifted millions nationwide […]

I wish to comment on Irv Williams’ Maine Voices column of Dec. 11 (“Ten years after Sandy Hook, it seems to me that little has changed”). Mr. Williams conflates two entirely separate subjects: gun violence and gun safety. Gun violence is not caused by guns, it is caused by the individual who pulls the trigger. […]

This is in response to a letter to the editor headlined “Fentanyl must be halted at the southern border” (Page D3) in the Dec. 25 Press Herald: It’s not that simple. While I share the author’s dismay over the massive suffering tied to fentanyl, the issue is complex. The massive amount of fentanyl does not […]