Conspiracy theories distract us from real danger

Donald Trump, then president-elect, shakes hands with then-President Barack Obama during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Nov. 10, 2016. WASHINGTON - When he was Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz was once asked about the CIA's disavowal of involvement in a mysterious recent bombing in Lebanon.

Locals eye reduction in southern border arrests

Bay State lawmen are taking note after President Trump's no-nonsense approach to illegal immigration appears to have had a major impact on the southern border, where arrests have plummeted by 40 percent in the past month. Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, a vocal hardliner against illegal immigration locally, said the drop may indicate that coyotes - or human smugglers - will now be looking for new routes into the U.S. "You know they are thinking now how to beat the system.

Elizabeth Warren vote put political gain above helping Mass.

CONSTITUENT SERVICES? Three months ago, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren voted against a health bill that had Massachusetts as a major beneficiary. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren says the GOP plan to replace Obamacare will hurt sick people yet she was among just a handful of senators to vote against a bipartisan Obama-sponsored health measure that's targeting billions at medical research, including for her home state.

President Trump turns on the charm to make allies of ex-rivals

FRIEND ME: President Trump, seen yesterday at a meeting with leaders of small community banks, is trying to forge alliances with former campaign opponents. President Trump has launched a charm offensive to rope in erstwhile rivals whose help he needs as he focuses on governing and passing legislation.

Funding short for opioid law

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Funding shortfor opioid law

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act authorized $178 million for heroin and opioid abuse efforts, including expanded access to naloxone, an overdose antidote, promotion of alternatives to incarceration and state assistance for the development and maintenance of prescription drug databases. Although the bipartisan bill garnered 92 Senate votes, Republicans blocked funding, saying they would look at boosting drug treatment and prevention programs separately in future spending bills.

Protesters’ ‘town hall’ demands are straight from a handbook guiding disrupters

Lee Anne Sgro writes to complain that people are unable to get through by telephone to Sen. Pat Toomey and Rep. Tim Murphy and that they have not attended "town hall meetings organized by their constituents" . Let's stop the pretense.

Stand and deliver: Politicians and constituents of differing views must engage civilly

"Those who cannot understand how to put their thoughts on ice should not enter into the heat of debate." - Friedrich Nietzsche It was a hot summer in 1987, and there I sat at 2 a.m. on the floor of a semi-air-conditioned government office listening to about 30 aging hippies sing, "All we are saying is give peace a chance."

Democrats are holding up one of Trump’s best appointees

Interpretation of the news based on evidence, including data, as well as anticipating how events might unfold based on past events THOUGH PRESIDENT TRUMP'S opening weeks have been chaotic and dispiriting, the nation's new chief executive has still managed to make a few good choices. One of his best was nominating Rod J. Rosenstein to be the No.

Welcome to Trump’s Fantasyland

President Trump walks down the stairs of Air Force One in West Palm Beach, Fla., on March 3. We shouldn't blithely move on to other matters until we deal with the institutional carnage inflicted upon us by President Trump. The current president of the United States has accused former president Barack Obama of committing a felony by having him wiretapped.

There is no principled reason to vote against Gorsuch

David C. Frederick is a lawyer at the firm Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick who specializes in Supreme Court and appellate practice. As a longtime supporter of Democratic candidates and progressive causes, I understand the anger at the Republicans' mistreatment of Judge Merrick Garland after he was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama.

Trump making us all conspiracy theorists

Last weekend, President Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama - without any evidence - of ordering Trump's phones to be wiretapped during last year's presidential campaign. It was only the most recent in a bewildering number of conspiracy theories the president and his circle have embraced over the past year.

Excerpts from opinions written by Judge Neil Gorsuch

Excerpts from opinions written by Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, a judge on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver: Addressing a long-running boundary dispute involving the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservations in Utah, August 2016:. "We're beginning to think we have an inkling of Sisyphus's fate.

It’s the truth according to Trump. Believe it.

President DonaldTrump has no evidence for his incendiary claim that Barack Obama ordered wiretaps on Trump Tower, and denials have come not just from the former president and his director of national intelligence but from Jim Comey - the man Trump has showered with praise and retained as his FBI director. "The president firmly believes that the Obama administration may have tapped into the phones at Trump Tower," Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared on NBC's "Today" show Monday morning.