Wednesday, October 14, 2026

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JOHN BREASTED: The Great Barrington Selectboard’s credibility gap

Transparency does not require officials to reveal legal strategy. It does require them to tell voters when the town has been sued.

The ‘Trump Accounts’ are misnamed

The accounts are a gimmick to make it appear that Trump cares about the welfare of American children.

I WITNESS: An army of Barbies

I daresay it is not cheap—nips and tucks never are. But now that Trump’s stable of sculpted female factotums are helping themselves to our money through their own unrestrained graft, I suspect their plastic surgeons are on speed-dial.

Debunking transgender myths

The initial claim that 80 percent of transgender minors regret treatment is erroneous.

Recent letters offer misleading accounts of history

Israel’s actions, however one chooses to spin the debate, are not the acts of a genocidal state but of a democracy responding to a movement that openly declares its goal to annihilate it.

I am 80 years old, and thinking of running for Congress

I will not be like other politicians who make promises they fail to keep and tell lies more than truths—cue president Trump.

We must improve the safety net in the new year

Now that we have made it beyond Thanksgiving, we must ensure that the new year improves the safety net. Congress has until the end of January to pass a budget for fiscal year 2026 and fix this situation.

Free speech and historical truths about Israelis and Palestinians

Britain's assignment in 1920 of political power in Palestine to the then-10 percent Jewish minority over the remaining non-Jewish 90 percent violated the principle of self-determination established by the League of Nations for such mandates.

STEPHEN COHEN: How do you apologize to the world?

We are a work in progress, but Trump’s regression is outside the pall of any political actions in recent memory. We are better than this, and for that I apologize to the world for his actions

BRIGHT SPOTS: Week of December 3, 2025

Standing up to insist that our government follow the laws of our country!

Respect free speech in Great Barrington

Tearing down our posters is an effort to silence Palestinian stories in a way that reenacts a key tactic of political Zionism.

U.S. Rep. Neal needs to step up to the plate

Fortunately there is an articulate, energetic replacement on the scene. Jeromie Whalen of South Hadley has been in the Berkshires more in the last couple of months than Neal has been in the last couple of years.

Consider a gift to Mother Earth this holiday season

Planet care, like self-care, is too essential to scratch just to make things easier in the short run.

Analysis of Article 4 of the proposed changes to Egremont’s zoning bylaws

The Planning Board’s proposals are lengthy, complicated, and hard to understand. Townspeople should be given more time to consider them.

I WITNESS: Oink

With apologies to that paragon of porcine perfection, Miss Piggy.

Donald ‘Flip-Flop’ Trump

When one side arbitrarily changes the terms of an agreement without justification, they prove their word cannot be trusted. That defines Donald Trump as president.

Accountability and transformation still needed at Miss Hall’s School

It is difficult not to feel, when reading the report, that the school has been far more concerned with protecting its reputation than with protecting its students.