2016 Olympics a gold medal disaster

 Whatever happens in individual games over the next two weeks, this may be the most depressing Olympics since Berlin in 1936 and Munich in 1972. And it makes me happier than ever that Boston came to its senses and dropped its 2024 bid. The opening ceremony said it all. Unremitting commercials interspersed with some tape-delayed …

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Some advice for Clintonites: lay off Sanders

If I feel sick to my stomach at the thought that Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee of the Grand Old Party, I can't fathom how I will feel on the morning of November 9 if he is the President-elect of the United States. This just can't be. How can so many millions of people …

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The other man in my life

For the past seven years, there's been a second man in my life. His name? Elias P. Demetracopoulos, hereinafter referred to as Elias.  I never met the man, but he figured importantly in our household.  My husband, Jim Barron, is writing a biography about the life and times of Elias, an independent journalist, a fighter for freedom …

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Democratic race a battle of heart versus head

Bernie Sanders has given Democrats what they needed and what many wanted: a healthy debate on issues. Not just stock positions on this or that, because he and Hillary Clinton agree on most goals. His willingness to take on the presumptive nominee has provided an exploration of philosophy and style of governance and a choice between leading …

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Fleeting impressions from Trumpless debate

Fox News may have missed Donald Trump. Its viewership was down to 11-13 million viewers, half what they got in the first debate last fall. (The Democrats' debates have had only eight million viewers, thanks to DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz's scheduling them at low viewership times to protect Hillary Clinton.) But, if the eyeballs were …

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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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