Net neutrality isn't just an issue for millennials and techies. The Federal Communications Commission's December decision to change the rules governing access to the internet will affect us all. Your eyes glazing over? Our attitudes won't be so "whatever" come June 11th when the change takes effect and internet service providers like AT&T, Verizon and …
Category: Politics
Iran: Trump kills Plan A without a Plan B
The creepiest image from Donald Trump's announcement that he was withdrawing from the Iran deal was new NSA chief John Bolton’s looming presence as the president exited the podium. It's too soon to tell whether Bolton will get the Iran war and regime change he has lusted after, but Israelis were told to open bomb …
Remembering Barbara Bush
It was June 1990, Severance Green at Wellesley College. Blue sky, warm sunshine, graduating seniors and their families waiting to hear from two commencement honorees, Raisa Gorbachev, the wife of Russian premier Mikhail Gorbachev, and Barbara Bush, First Lady, wife of President George H. W. Bush. Local press and national networks were there to cover …
Opioid epidemic: a solvable crisis
President Trump hints he wants the death penalty for drug traffickers. (He's an unabashed admirer of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.) Is the President calling for the death penalty for doctors prescribing Oxycontin, Percocet, morphine, and other pain killers? After all, an estimated 80 percent of people using heroin first got hooked by misusing opioids. On combating …
Who can make the difference in 2018?
Since the evacuation of the HMS Birkenhead in 1852, “women and children first” has been the code of conduct to protect the most helpless among us from impending disaster. Today we look to them not only to save themselves but to save the rest of us as well. Last year, women were marching. Today, they …
Trump infrastructure proposal another administration fraud
Every day, as I either skirt around or clunk into and out of potholes, I’m reminded of our crumbling infrastructure and of the lame political promises of the Trump administration to fix our roads, bridges, airports, water and sewer pipes and more. Just before the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland Florida, Donald …
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School shooting tragedy by the numbers
Every time I have written about gun violence and mass shootings, one reader or another (you know who you are) will charge me with being a bleeding heart liberal. So, let's take the emotion out of the equation. After all, we've been through this scenario multiple times. The horror has become part of our national …
Trump trumpets economic performance: questions remain
The stock market is up “very, very big today” and the “tax cuts are really kicking in far beyond what anyone thought,” President Trump said last week, making an illogical cause-and-effect connection between the two. He also touted the latest jobs report. During the week, he claimed the gain in market value was due to …
Continue reading Trump trumpets economic performance: questions remain
Headlines I’m looking for in 2018
My New Year's gift to you is a list of headlines. I have precious little expectation that we will see them atop newspapers, magazines, newscasts or on social media in 2018. Please send your own in the comments section below. I won't do something snide like: President receives heart transplant, develops empathy and humility. Perhaps the …
Marty Walsh sounds right tone
The last inauguration I listened to was a little less than a year ago when the worst President of my lifetime was sworn in. This morning, with former Vice President Joe Biden by his side, Marty Walsh took the oath of office for a second term as mayor of Boston, a stirring reminder of what …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 