Life under Donald Trump resembles what I would imagine a bad LSD trip to be. Psychedelically shocking news one day. Excruciating news the next. Today we awoke to an executive order ending a regulation that officials consider climate change when making decisions. But on which front should critics rally? "You can't shoot at everything that moves," senior Senator …
Author: aronsbarron
Repeal, replace; reveal disgrace
The House vote Thursday will tell us a lot about who we are as a society. Sixty times over the past seven years the Republicans could afford to play games with their efforts to kill the Affordable Care Act (ACA), knowing that President Obama would veto their destructive behavior. Now we're talking about real people, …
Trump budget: keeping his promises?
They say it's DOA - that all Presidents' budgets are dead on arrival. We might want to think this is just the opening gambit from the central player in The Art of the Deal, in this era of obtuse and erratic Presidential actions, there is no certainty of outcome. One's head spins. The $1.1 trillion document …
Florida escape warm but no political respite
Twelve days in Florida were a therapeutic escape from grey snow and brutal cold in Massachusetts, but even in the Sunshine State one couldn't escape the maladies of the political environment. A tour boat along the inland waterway near Palm Beach chronicled gossipy profiles of the billionaires, including Bernie Madoff marks, who built breath-taking mansions. Visitors …
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And the Oscar goes to Donald Trump?
Donald Trump read a teleprompter-guided speech to a joint session of Congress last night that was softer in tone than his usual dystopian rants. He didn’t froth with insults, sneer disdainfully, gesticulate wildly or drift off message into solipsistic indulgences. Because the bar is set so low for this, the least popular new White House …
Immigration issue overwhelms
Immigration advocates called President Barack Obama the "Deporter in Chief." His administration deported record numbers of immigrants while Republican critics insist he was soft on illegals. Now comes Trump, with his vastly expanded list of immigrants who could be subject to deportation and his proposed cut-off of federal funds to sanctuary cities refusing to help ICE officials …
News media a bulwark nationally and locally
The news media aren't perfect, to be sure, but now, as never before, they're the living embodiment of Thomas Jefferson's opinion that "were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter." If it weren't …
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Elizabeth Warren speaks truth to power
So, let me get this straight. It's okay if Senator Ted Cruz calls Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a liar on the floor of the Senate. But it's not okay if Senator Elizabeth Warren reads letters critical of Attorney General nominee Senator Jeff Sessions from the late Senator Edward Kennedy and Coretta Scott King (describing him …
Political lessons from the New England Patriots
Set aside the friendships between Donald Trump and New England Patriots MVP quarterback Tom Brady, or coach Bill Belichick or owner Bob Kraft (who, as a young man, stood with his late wife as leading progressive Democrats), there's still plenty of inspiration to be found in last night's epic comeback by the Pats in defeating the tough, aggressive, skilled and energetic Atlanta …
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Walsh positions Boston in the vanguard
"We face a new reality in our relationship with the federal government," and mayors, city councilors, state legislators, the public and the business community have to tackle the challenges together, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh told the business community Thursday at a meeting of he New England Council. In a focused and forcefully delivered speech, the …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 