For reasons probably having to do variously with male lust, human nature and political dirty tricks, allegations of sexual misconduct seem to surface predictably when a political candidate rises to the top of the heap. Often these allegations are decades old, but they get reheated if it looks as though a man may advance to […]
The Universal Notebook
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: Things have been worse
In case you didn’t know it, the 1918 Spanish flu was far worse than the coronavirus. As of this writing, some 76,000 Americans, including 62 people in Maine, have died of COVID-19. In 1918, 675,000 Americans died of the Spanish flu, including 5,000 Mainers. The Spanish flu was something of a misnomer for an influenza […]
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Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: The selfish minority
A recent Quinnipiac University poll found the vast majority of Americans – 68% of Republicans and 95% of Democrats – support stay-at-home orders in order to protect vulnerable citizens from the coronavirus. And then there is that selfish minority that refuses to be inconvenienced in order to protect others. I have never referred to Donald […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: Happy (belated) Earth Day!
If I had been on the ball, this column would have appeared last week, just in time for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. But I’m getting old and forgetful. On Wednesday, April 22, in order to atone for this oversight, my lovely wife Carolyn and I walked around the middle school playing field behind […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: COVID-19, 24-7
Are you as sick and tired as I am of COVID-19 news, and nothing but, 24-7? I ask this even as I embark on yet another coronavirus commentary, this one looking forward to what we may have to look forward to. While state and federal health officials caution against optimism, the Trump administration seems hell-bent […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: Trump virus
America is suffering from a sickness that has the potential to forever change the way we live. No, I’m not talking about the coronavirus. That’s a natural occurrence. I’m talking about the Trump virus. That’s not. Watching the nightly pandemic briefings on television I get the sense that there is a huge and potentially fatal […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Letter: No to Biden-Beem ‘normalcy’
What is normal about the pre-Trump era to which Edgar Allen Beem would return (“Biden can’t become president fast enough” March 25)? The patently unwarranted, criminal war on Iraq that took over a million lives? Its needless repetition in Afghanistan? Financing Israeli racism in Palestine? The collective white male dismissal of Anita Hill’s conscientious revelation […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: Fear itself
For reasons having to do with both inherent skepticism and defiant denial, I have been slow to embrace social distancing as anything more than mass hysteria. Over the past two weeks, however, I have evolved from “This is way overblown” to “This could kill me.” I have had this gradual change of heart as people […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: The curse of the Mook and the GOAT
As we hunker down and hope not to get sick, one of the things I miss the most about life as usual is sports. Sports, perhaps because they are not important in and of themselves, generally provide a welcome diversion from troubled times. Not now. New England sports fans, of course, have just suffered, along […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Letter: Beem supports Democrats’ lies, off the mark on Collins, Gideon
It is amazing to me that articles written by a Democrat socialist would see the light of day. Edger Allen Beem, who really should be called “moonbeam,” is a known hack. His only claim to fame is his ability to put words together in such a way that Democrat lies are supported. Moonbeam hates Donald […]