Six months ago, I agreed with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's disinclination to impeach President Trump. As she put it, “unless there’s something that’s so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country.” Besides, she added, “He’s just not worth it.” It was, I agreed, …
Continue reading Responsibility to impeach: how to make it count
Most days I am seething and grinding my teeth. Sometimes Donald Trump makes me feel like Jean Giraudoux' Madwoman of Chaillot, about a disillusioned idealist who wants to "rescue humanity from the scheming and corrupt developers." Words fail me. Tearing my hair out will be useless. Work, study and other civic commitments are but a …
Continue reading Dem debate 3: is there a winner in the bunch?
Remember the old days when the term "designated driver" evoked A.J. Foyt or Mario Andretti? By the 1980's, however, we learned that "designated driver" meant the guy (or gal) at the party who wouldn't drink so someone would be around to drive home sober. The idea of designated driver was the result of a …
Continue reading “Project Look Out:” changing driving behavior
No one has a right to hold onto an office in perpetuity, but having served a long time shouldn't necessarily be a disqualifier. Senator Ed Markey has been in public office nearly half a century. The one-term+ US Senator has been in Washington for 43 years, both as a member of the House and of …
Continue reading Mass. Senate race: an embarrassment of riches?
You scratch my back; I'll scratch yours has always been one of the rules of the political road in Boston. Behaviors can be very subtle but still powerful, their meaning clear. As alderman, state rep and state senator, Martin Lomasney used to say, "Don't write when you can talk; don't talk when you can nod; …
Continue reading Political wheeling and dealing flirts with criminal
In a speech prepared for him to read from the Oval Office, President Trump has condemned the shootings in Dayton and El Paso, calling for unity in opposing hatred, white supremacists, violence, especially on the internet and social media, and promising additional resources for the FBI in addressing domestic terrorism. It approached presidential in content …
Continue reading Trump on gun violence: judge him by his actions
The lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer demand relief from the news, and summer reading could be just the antidote. The following are some suggestions: Non-Fiction: Tara Westover’s memoir Educated is one of the most gripping books I have read in a long time, possibly ever. Against all odds, Westover grew up in a Mormon …
Continue reading Summer reading and escape from Donald Trump
Behold the flaming liberal, which devours its own if it strays too far from the nest! Right now, the best thing Donald Trump has going for him is the divided Democratic Party. The most left-leaning could hold sway in the primary but not reflect where the majority of the electorate is in November. The most …
Continue reading An open letter to Democrats (and debate moderators)
Massachusetts is officially the most Irish state in the country, with nearly 22 percent of residents being of Irish ancestry. Considering how many of the politicians I've covered are "Irish," it is surprising that only recently did I travel to the Emerald Isle. The month of June changed that, and what a treat it was. …
Franklin Park Zoo isn't my grandfather's zoo, or the one my father took me to eons ago. It isn't even the zoo I took my children and grandchildren to. It's becoming a jewel of a zoo, with animal attractions for people of all ages, from the entertaining antics of the prairie dogs to the graceful …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 