A fan’s lament

I feel as if I’ve been hit by a truck. Hung over, despite the fact that I had no alcoholic beverages yesterday or all of last week. The Patriots have let me down. Me. Personally. It was hard to get out of bed this morning. If only the Pats had beaten lowly Miami in their …

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Boston Globe delivery problems: the route to insanity

Brilliant Irish satirist Jonathan Swift was said to have loved individuals but loathed mankind.  Specifically, he wrote, "I hate and detest that animal called man, although I heartily love John, Peter, Thomas, and so forth." In that spirit, I love Joan Vennochi, Scot Lehigh, Brian McGrory and other Globe reporters and editors, but I have …

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Some headlines for 2016

Each year, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial page editor Tom Waseleski prepares for the New Year an aspirational list of headlines.  Each year, I shamelessly borrow the idea and herewith present my own suggestions, with precious little expectation that we will see them atop newspapers, magazines or teasing newscasts in 2016.  Please send your own in the comments section below. …

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Stephanopoulos gets Trumped

Donald Trump  was more than ABC's George Stephanopoulos could handle yesterday morning. He tried hard to counter Trump's bluster, but in the end he failed miserably on one important question: Vladimir Putin and the killing of journalists in Russia. When Trump called Hillary a liar and called out Bernie Sanders for lying, Stephanopoulos asked whether he really wanted …

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Popular mayor not immune to criticism

The Boston Globe took Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to the woodshed this week. In a 3/4 page editorial (a sign of energy unusual for the paper's diminished  editorial page), the paper screamed "Enough."  It proceeded to lambaste the mayor for continuing his $1 million (to date) lawsuit to stop Steve Wynn's proposed casino in neighboring Everett. The …

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Globe short-changes National Hall of Fame honoree

Today's Boston Globe  reports on the naming of former Olympic Gold Medal winner Tenley Albright to the National Women's Hall of Fame.  Albright's is a wonderful story of accomplishment, from polio victim to champion ice skater to Harvard Medical School-trained surgeon to brilliant innovator and tackler of societal challenges in health and medicine. (Plus, she is a …

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Hillary v. Biden: getting real

When late CBS newsman Daniel Schorr was asked about his move from radio to television, he reportedly observed, "If you can fake sincerity, you've got it made."  It's in that spirit, and mindful of her declining poll numbers, that Hillary Clinton is getting tweaked again.  The effort has been brilliantly satirized by my friend and …

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Richard Berman for President?

Federal Judge Richard Berman nullified Tom  Brady's four-game suspension Thursday, and suddenly all was right with the world.  Signs at the final preseason game declared with relief "Tom Brady is Free" and "Richard Berman for President."  Why not? Even if there was no clear exoneration of Brady or declaration of the Patriots' innocence, and even if …

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Name the victims; shame the Congress

Slain WDBJ reporter Alison Parker's father, Andy Parker, has become the latest grieving parent calling for gun control. We are all seduced by the notion that simply understanding the impact on real people of the failure to create meaningful universal background checks will somehow lead to a rational response by Congress. We were certain this …

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Summer reading: there’s still time, pt. 1 – non-fiction

A late Labor Day and temporary physical disability have extended my usual orgy of summer reading, with both non-fiction and fiction  offerings to share with you. Because time is running out, I'll keep the list short.  In the first category, the book Frank seeks to answer the question of "how did a disheveled, intellectually combative gay …

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