It's hard not to be elated by the Supreme Court's five-to-three ruling today on the Texas abortion law H.B.2. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said it all in her one paragraph concurring opinion. The law dictated that an abortion clinic needed the buildings, equipment and staffing for a hospital-style ambulatory surgery center and required doctors to have …
Month: June 2016
UK vote sends chills down US spines
Fasten your seatbelts. The ride's going to get even bumpier. A word that few on this side of the pond had heard six months ago may portend greater troubles in the United States. Brexit, shorthand for the United Kingdom's vote to exit the European Union, drives home the anti-globalization rise of nationalism, a nativistic fear of …
Mickey Edwards: a thoughtful conservative faults Ryan on Trump
No one has better conservative creds than former eight-term Congressman Mickey Edwards, who represented Oklahoma in the House from 1977-1993. A member of the Republican leadership, he chaired the Republican Policy Committee, and was a founding member of the Heritage Foundation and president of the American Conservative Union. He has taught at Harvard, Princeton and Georgetown and …
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Homophobia, ISIS, insanity and weaponry
It's hard to get one's mind around the horror of the worst mass shooting in the nation's history. There seems to have been a perfect storm, with multiple factors coming together to carry out this unspeakable tragedy. How many more before elected officials take action? The shooter, an American citizen born to Afghani parents, had a …
Charlie Baker: Massachusetts infrastructure champion?
Tom Menino, the self-styled urban mechanic, held the office of Boston Mayor an historic 21 years by making the city work for people, at least for most people. Charlie Baker, whose favorability ratings as governor of Massachusetts reach easily into the 70's, wants to make state government work. Transportation will be a key test of whether …
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Hillary: a moving milestone
It took more than two centuries for the United States to have its first woman representing a major party as its presumptive presidential nominee. Last night, when it happened, when history was made, it was deeply affecting. To Hillary Clinton's many detractors, I concede her flaws, but I will not let you spoil the significance of …
Barbara Anderson memorialized
Supporters and opponents of the late anti-tax advocate Barbara Anderson gathered Sunday in Randolph to remember her good natured individualism, civic activism, political savvy, professionalism and not insignificant success in lowering the tax burden for the people of Massachusetts. She and I were often - make that, usually - on opposite sides of issues. (The video …
Proposed Newton Charter change threatens city texture
Memo to Newton Charter Commission: Keep your hands off our ward councilors Yesterday a 191-year-old copper beech tree split and landed on a lovely Newton home, built in 1878. Nothing is forever. Things change. When my parents moved to Newton, it was 1950. The Garden City's population was 6,000 fewer than today. We kids mostly walked …
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Marjorie Arons-Barron 