Pushback: Democracy requires more than 3-minute sound bites

By AL NORMAN

That government which is closest to the people, should be the most accessible to the people.

Nancy Paciorek: Triad pet food

To the person who took the Triad pet food box from Foster’s, shame on you. The donations from that box is for seniors in need so they can keep their pets. If you needed help, a phone number was on the box.

Jim Reis: Behind and speeding backward

Don’t go to Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, and Norway) unless you want to be shocked by how advanced and better off they are than us, especially now. We just returned from a trip there. While I know there are big differences between our countries, and that they also have challenges too, we could still learn so much from them. Stockholm — no trash or dog poop anywhere to be seen. A person on our tour got sick and two hours later a doctor came to our hotel and wrote her an antibiotic prescription so she could rejoin the tour a couple days later.

My Turn: Any regrets?

By BEN CLARKE

Good news. Inflation is basically gone, the economy is roaring, and America is “hot” again. I know this because Donald Trump said so. And he’s a man of his word. Just ask his wives. Or bankruptcy lawyers.

Guest columnist John Berkowitz: Ukraine War — If we don’t face the music, it could blow up in our faces

By JOHN BERKOWITZ

I think it’s urgent that the current negotiations end the war in Ukraine soon, even if Ukraine has to make some territorial concessions and stay out of NATO. If we keep helping Ukraine escalate — such as its recent drone attacks on Russian bases housing nuclear-armed strategic bombers, and last year’s attack on Russia’s early-warning radars that damaged three out of a total of 10 — it will only bring even more suffering and devastation to Ukraine, while risking an unimaginably worse WWIII/nuclear war with Russia.

Doug Selwyn: Democracy is not dead

Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution (FCCPR) would like to say thank you to all who made Saturday’s “No Kings” march and rally such an amazing experience. Three hundred and eighty-nine people signed up to attend the march through www.mobilize .com, so we expected that up to 500 might actually attend. Nearly 3,000 came out, nearly six times what we expected, a recognition of the outrage, concern, anger, and fear generated by the Trump administration’s attacks on our communities, our institutions, and our democracy.

Maura Morrison: Military parade ‘wasteful’ and ‘disruptive’

In case you missed it, the estimated cost of the military parade held on Saturday is $45 million. That number does not include the cleanup or repairs to the damage to the roads there from the tanks and heavy military equipment. Meanwhile, 7,000 soldiers will be corralled into two unused government buildings for their visit to Washington. The New York Times reported on May 15 that the thousands of visiting soldiers in Washington for the parade will stay in unused government buildings and sleep on cots, according to the Army. The soldiers are mere pawns in Donald Trump’s vision of himself in the grand viewing stand.

My Turn: A Constitution, not a king

By KARL MEYER

When Donald Trump proclaimed on the first day of his lame-duck presidency that the ancient, globally recognized Gulf of Mexico would receive his own new moniker from that day forward, I recognized what dictatorship looked like. His fundamental attack on common reality, on history, on the right to speech itself, was an opening salvo on democracy here in the United States. And places beyond. This international body of water was known to people across the globe by its centuries-old Aztec-derived name. Now, one petty soul on a planet of eight billion people was demanding all global maps be changed.

My Turn: ‘Face value’

By AMHAD ESFAHANI

Those who understand, really don’t have to say anything, and never is this more self-evident than within the Boston State House. Last week, I attended the “Massachusetts Muslim Day at the State House” put on by the state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and apart from the decorum, the diagonal waves of hidden intent left me reeling.

My Turn: Talking to Ukraine

By MARIETTA PRITCHARD

We don’t often discuss the war, but one day last week Olesya and I spent a few minutes doing just that. She told me with some pride about the destruction of the bridge to Crimea, which I hadn’t yet heard about. Somehow tons of explosives had been planted there. And this came on the heels of daring drone attacks on Russian air force bases. Many drones were being made by Ukrainians in their homes, she said, using 3-D printers and other easily accessible materials.

My Turn: Antisemitism, anti-Zionism and the rights of Palestinians

By JOSEPH LEVINE

The recent murder of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington and the attack on the people attending a vigil for the Israeli captives in Gaza has poured fuel on the fire consuming the movement for Palestinians rights, supposedly justifying the harshest crackdown on protected political speech since the days of McCarthy and the congressional Un-American Activities Committee. The almost universal response to these crimes  – blaming the people who are protesting the unprecedented carnage wrought by the Israeli military in Gaza — highlights several troubling features of the state of debate over Israel/Palestine at this time.

As I See It: Trump’s new America

By JON HUER

Liberals and Democrats are agitated out of their minds over Trump’s many transgressions. Virtually everything Trump does — so radically different from every presidential behavior we have ever known — aggravates them. They cry out: “Why isn’t he more like the other presidents?”

Thomas Newton: Good for the goose but not for the gander

It seems as though the person currently in charge of our military finds that it is necessary for him to send troops into California. It’s the right thing to do, he says. Let’s put the shoe on the other foot — when hundreds of of people were violently breaking down the doors to the U.S. Capitol, injuring 174 police and within 36 hours, five people died. Where was this head of our military man? Even at the pleas of his closest advisors and family members he was just taking in the action of his “patriots ” on television. This not a person to be in charge of our country nor anything else. His head will swell June 14 at the big parade. Look Mr. Putin, look Kim Jong-un, I have a bigger better parade than you.

Lynne Pledger: Protests for justice and mercy

If we see someone pulled from the sidewalk by masked men and forced into an unmarked car, are we witnessing a kidnapping? It may be an arrest by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Witnesses can question ICE agents but are not guaranteed answers. They are allowed to film an arrest from a distance but not to interfere. According to the ICE website, agents are not required to have a warrant, to show photo IDs, or to give their names or badge numbers. They are not required to reveal why they have accosted someone, why they are taking that person away, or where the person is being taken.

Kathy Steinem: The joy of dance on display

This past week there was a dance performance by the students of Dawn’s Dance Studio in Greenfield. In my 50 years of performing, very few compare to Dawn and her efficiency of the dance process. Dawn’s direction begins with weekly dance classes ending in a joyful performance for dancers and audience alike.Dawn’s family and crew provide a delightful experience where the joy of dance is on full display. Bravo!

My Turn: Greenfield school superintendent resignation dismaying

By ANN VALENTINE

The Greenfield Education Association is dismayed with the resignation of Superintendent Patenaude during this challenging time. In service to this district over the last 16 years, Ms. Patenaude led with the utmost integrity and always put the best interests of Greenfield’s students, staff, and families at the forefront of every decision. The recent attacks and accusations regarding school budget management do not reflect the dedication, superb management, attention to detail, and transparency she has consistently demonstrated.

My Turn: Deliberately missing the point

By CARL DOERNER

Resorting to violence to make a political point is to be roundly condemned.

Lois Ahrens: Massachusetts’ cruelty: life without the possibility of parole

Testimony I submitted to the Massachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary, June 3, 2025 in support of H.2052/S.1178: An Act to Reduce Mass Incarceration. Twenty-five years ago, when I began the Real Cost of Prisons Project, I naively thought if people understood the real costs of mass incarceration to people imprisoned, their loved ones and their communities and the hundreds of millions of dollars we pay yearly to keep people caged, they would see that this state-run, outrageously costly system harms, not helps, everyone involved.

Jim Bates: Liberal Dems the ‘We Know Everything’ party

In the 1800s there was a political group called, the “Know Nothings” party. The liberal Democrats of today are the “We Know Everything” party. Most have more degrees than a thermometer.