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Political views from the heartland

MADISON, Wis. — This is my hometown, where it’s consoling to be in a sane state in high summer. Since Maine Democrats fell for the oysterman hook, line and sinker, they deserve what they get in November. Choosing Graham Platner’s rocky record over a seasoned woman governor, Janet Mills — who could have defeated Sen. Susan Collins in a cakewalk — shows that we still have a long way to go, baby. Platner looked like MAGA lite to me — as a survivor of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. No friend to women, clearly, from his secret life. And a Nazi tattoo! An Aesop’s ...

Federal policy takes ‘affordable’ out of the ACA

If it wasn’t obvious before that the famous bill passed to make healthcare more affordable has done anything but, it should be now: Individual plans on the Affordable Care Act exchanges are projected to spike by about 14%in 2027, according to recent insurer filings. The ACA imposed a wide array of mandates on health insurance. Those mandates are expensive. To make up for the increase in costs, the ACA distributes subsidies so consumers don’t feel the impact of the increase. Many of these subsidies are “advance” subsidies that go directly from the federal government to ...

Republicans, Democrats must control radicals in their parties

It’s starting to sound like we’re in the middle of the Spanish Civil War. For those of you who forgot, the Spanish Civil War was the great prequel to World War II, in which the combatants were proxies for the Communists and the Fascists. Stalin’s Soviet Union supported the former, Hitler’s Germany aided the latter. President Trump and the GOP have decided to run against “Communism” in the coming midterms. In his Fourth of July speech, Trump referenced the Communists in our midst nearly a dozen times. “Our warriors did not fight communism on battlefields across the ...

Democrats need to take the car keys away from Bernie

The Platner fiasco has unleashed something of a brawl in the Democratic Party over how the sexting candidate with a Nazi tattoo came to be their rival to Susan Collins, now in her fifth term as Republican senator from Maine. Bernie Sanders thought his socialists could pass off blue-collar impersonator Graham Platner — a product of the elite Hotchkiss prep school — as a hard-working “oysterman.” Sanders had been waving off concerns about the guy. Then suddenly, he called on Platner to leave the campaign. Two problems with Bernie’s new directive: One, Sanders is why ...

Give generously to support our volunteer fire departments

We are deep into the season of ice cream social fundraisers, many of which benefit our volunteer fire departments. It can be easy to overlook how important these annual efforts are in supporting those who keep so many of us safe. More than 90% of fire departments in West Virginia are considered volunteer. Approximately 70% in Ohio are volunteer departments. Locally, Mahoning and Trumbull counties feature a mix of fire departments made up of paid firefighters and volunteer personnel. Most often, the volunteer outfits are in smaller townships and villages. Those who work as volunteers ...