West End News commentators, op-eds, and more.
A recent anti-tar sands rally in Portland, urging President Barack Obama to veto Congress’ approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline, demonstrated both the dire urgency of climate ch... Read more
A report released January 16th by NOAA and NASA demonstrates that 2014 was the warmest on record. According to the report, during 2014 the average temperature across global land and ocean su... Read more
Governor LePage and Republican lawmakers in Augusta want to push forward on drug-testing for welfare benefits. If the policy makes it through the rule-making process, then it would require d... Read more
“All that time spent going to school,” Jello Biafra sneers on the Dead Kennedy’s punk classic, “At My Job,” “just to end up following rules.” It is... Read more
If there is any hope to be found in the recent police killings–and subsequent exoneration of the officers involved–of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, it has been illustrate... Read more
A couple of months ago there was meeting put on by our local NAACP chapter at the Portland Public Library to respond to the crisis in Ferguson, Missouri, where a white police officer shot to... Read more
I’m not interested in Elizabeth Warren’s unlikely run for President. Why? She has said she won’t, and that if she does, it will be on a Clinton/Warren ticket. Elizabeth Warren isn’t actually... Read more
To say the Democrats blew it in the midterm elections would be an understatement. The governor’s race should have been theirs to win. Instead, not only was Republican Gov. Paul LePage... Read more
Who knows why people vote the way they do. There are countless potential reasons for every ballot box decision. Patterns can be recognized. There are always surprises. But, your guess is as... Read more
With voters’ attention focused almost exclusively on the congressional and gubernatorial races, many have overlooked the equally important campaigns for the state legislature and Portl... Read more
The Rule of Nobody
READER OPINION The Rule of Nobody By Zack Barowitz Below, police from twelve law enforcement agencies deploy r...