Our state should not elect a governor who thinks Black and brown people are nothing but drug dealers who impregnate white women. Former Gov. Paul LePage is in the gubernatorial race next year, but his previous racist remarks while he was still a governor rings in our heads. Those of us hurt by his remarks […]
Through My Lens
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Through My Lens: 9/11 anniversary brings chance for change
Twenty years after 9/11, the United States still has a chance to correct what went wrong. If social media existed at the time, the hashtag #IstandwiththeUnitedStates would have taken over the world and people would have written from every corner of the globe. If 9/11 happened today, it may not have been a trending hashtag. […]
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Posted inAmerican Journal
Letter: Iftin vax column divisive, compromise needed
In regards to Abdi Nor Iftin’s article about unvaccinated citizens (“Those who refuse vaccine are un-American,” Aug. 5): Do you realize the negative effects this has on others? The article divides us in a time we do not need it. We get to have an opinion in a free America. How we use this is […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Through My Lens: Music and culture should be integrated
It is about time immigrant leaders in the state of Maine start embracing music and cultural integration. It is common these days for people to group themselves in faith or culture and stay together tightly for safety reasons, particularly in the past few years under Trump’s leadership. While I think that is not a bad […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Through My Lens: We own the outcome in Afghanistan
What happened in Kabul this week reminded me of what happened in Mogadishu in 2006, and the years to come for Afghanistan seem scarier than ever. In 2006, only five years after the U.S. troops went into Afghanistan in pursuit of Osama Bin Laden, an armed Islamic group who called themselves Al-Shabab stormed into Mogadishu, […]
Posted inThe Forecaster
Letter: Balentine’s ‘like-minded’ readers are many
Steve Romanoff’s letter titled “Balentine only serves like-minded readers” (Aug. 12) prompts this response. Mr. Balentine is one of three or four opinion columnists who are published in The Forecaster. True, Balentine voices an opinion that may often appeal to conservatives. What do the others voice? 1. Heather Martin makes “nice,” woke, left-of-center comments about […]
Posted inThe Forecaster
Letter: It’s ‘un-American’ to discriminate against those who choose not to vaccinate
The column entitled “Those who refuse vaccine are un-American” (Through My Lens, Aug. 13) is written as a defamatory swipe at those who have a different opinion about the COVID jab. It is humorous how Abdi Nor Iftin describes his jab experience with such religious rapture, and he can’t understand why so many people are […]
Posted inThe Forecaster
Letter: ‘American values’ include questioning government
I was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1972, so I could enter the military during the Vietnam War. I consider it incredibly arrogant for a newly naturalized U.S. citizen like Mr. Abdi Nor Iftin to declare which of his fellow Americans have “betrayed American values” and then claim, “I am more American today than […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Through My Lens: Those who refuse vaccine are un-American
What is nerve-wracking to me about the debate by the unvaccinated is how spoiled many Americans seem. At first I thought it was just funny to see Americans being picky and selective about their food, clothes, what stickers they put on their cars or laptops and what colors they paint their bedrooms. I did not […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Through My Lens: The Eid of the vaccinated
There is a different calendar Muslims around the globe are looking at this week. The Islamic lunar calendar, called the Hijri. We are in the month of Dhul-Hijja, which is the time of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. The 10th of Dhul-Hijja, which is July 20, is the beginning of the celebration of […]