"I think that it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution. I think that it is high time that we remembered that the Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech but also of trial by jury instead of trial by accusation.

In the aftermath of Sen. Susan Collins’ vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court — and her truly unfortunate speech and rationale for the vote — many eyes in Maine and around the country are turning to 2020, when Collins could next appear on the ballot.

The last year or so, I started digitizing audio cassettes I’ve kept since the late 1970s. Hold on to cassettes long enough, the significance of their taped content changes.

Here's a fun fact. I live in Maine's 1st Congressional District, yet I have not seen a single television ad for the campaigns of Chellie Pingree, Marty Grohman, or Mark Holbrook, the three aspirants to the southern Maine congressional seat. In contrast, I have seen what I can only assume is several thousand ads for Jared Golden and Bruce Poliquin, who are of course running in Maine's 2nd Congressional District.

In a meticulously reported and lengthy examination of President Donald Trump and his family’s financial empire, The New York Times has uncovered significant evidence of fraud and busted the mythology -- pushed by Trump himself -- of a self-made man.

There it is again. A Facebook post from someone announcing they’ve not smoked a cigarette in 365 days. We see or hear more precise variations on that theme, such as, “I haven’t had a cigarette in 10 months, 20 days, 13 hours.” Whenever I see or hear such declarations from smokers I think about helium balloons.

Serendipity sometimes happens as you research. Serendipity means the discovery of something beneficial or wonderful that happens out of the blue. This leads to the question, are you a lucky genealogist? I know several who are and I confess to envy and frustration when I hear of their moments when luck opened doors for them.

In 2010 I toured The Boat School in Eastport, Maine. Modest looking from the outside, inside, the wooden boats in varied building and repair stages were impressive. Even non-woodworkers would appreciate the blend of craftsmanship and practicality of this Maine continuing tradition of building work boats to use on the ocean.

The Democrats have sworn an oath and probably just plain swore ... a lot, in light of the economic rebirth of the state of Maine and its even brighter future on the horizon. They have vowed to undo all of the policies of Gov. LePage and return Maine to Democrat policies, which are debt, poverty, and unemployment. Janet Mills has the plan to obstruct any forward motion this state has toward independence and turn us back to the perpetual state of dependency.

Let's just be honest here. Politics has now so infected the entire Brett Kavanaugh nomination debate that it is virtually impossible for anyone on either side of the debate to listen to anyone else.

The truth will come out about Judge Brett Kavanaugh. And I mean the whole truth — about the way he has treated women in the past and about his views on critical issues likely to come before the U.S. Supreme Court.

When Maine voters elected Angus King as governor in 1995 they also elected a new Republican majority to the Maine Senate. I heard state Sen. Beverly Bustin — who was, at the time, a senate Democrat leader -- tell a group of people gathered in Maine’s State House that the new GOP senate majority was an aberration, a flaw in the electoral process. The election that year was clearly a case of mistaken identity.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Janet Mills this week released an action plan for the Maine economy. The plan includes 19 action items, specific recommendations for improving the state’s economy and spreading prosperity into rural areas.

For nearly a year now, we've been living in a different era. That era is the "me too" era, where women across this country are standing up and making their voices heard, taking some power back after generations of silent abuse that women all over America have experienced.

I know, it has been a long time since my last Senior Matters column, years in fact. Sorry. And much has changed, including I am now a retired “senior” myself, The Commons at Central Hall has opened and people are enjoying her beautiful spaces for dancing and quilting, connecting and thriving.

All genealogists rely on indexes to locate family members in databases such as the census. It saves browsing through hundreds, if not thousands, of names or documents.

Songwriting with soldiers? Earlier this week I was looking over Amazon’s digital album deals. It’s a habit of mine. Results are generally feast or famine. Either Amazon has little or no album deals of interest or Amazon has many album deals of interest. September started as a famine month. Nothing much in my three preferred album categories: jazz, country, classical.

It seems in a moment, a second, our nation has been turned upside down. What was once called right is now called wrong. What was once freedoms to be cherished and defended are now archaic abuses better regulated by the government.