Michael Brown is dead. Darren Wilson's career as a police officer is over. What remains are doubts that, absent a trial, we'll ever know the truth about Ferguson, and the certainty that this nation's racial divide in this country is as unremitting as ever. So what to make of the disappointing grand jury decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren …
Category: Politics
Ideological purity no help to the body politic
Most of us probably find ourselves somewhere around the center of contemporary political thought, whether it's to the right of center or left of center. Our movement in elections often determine outcomes, and we're usually out of touch with outliers in both parties. We are unsettled by a Congress now with an increasingly hollowed out center, …
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Berkeley students make mockery of Free Speech Movement
This fall marks the 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement at U.C. Berkeley, a pivotal moment in the history of student activism and political organizing that laid the groundwork for the antiwar movement and other social causes. At that time, students and faculty across the entire spectrum of political views joined together to protest …
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Pray for Charlie Baker’s good health
Governor-elect Charlie Baker is off to a good start. He was gracious to losing candidate Martha Coakley on election night and the day after. He struck the right tone with Deval Patrick in discussing the transition. Pushed to announce his positions on everything, he has refused to get sucked into the illusions of hosting the …
Election 2014 – is consensus as remote as ever?
Tip O'Neill famously said all politics is local. Yesterday, Republicans won big by turning that adage on its head. They nationalized state races and turned President Obama's unpopularity and his administration's failures into anvils around the necks of Democratic candidates. Even states that Obama carried turned against him. A happy exception to that trend was …
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An open letter to Angela Menino
Dear Angela, Reams have been written and will continue to be written about your beloved husband, Tom; hours have been spent broadcasting his myriad accomplishments as Boston's longest running mayor. History will reflect on the many things he did to leave his imprint on the city and, indeed, the region. Future generations will marvel at the …
Getting a grip on ebola
New York City likes to see itself as informed and sophisticated, but the city's response to its first case of ebola was anything but. The headlines screamed "Ebola in NYC." News stories on television and on the electrified sides of skyscrapers flashed danger. Photos of the doctor diagnosed, who had ridden the subway, eaten at a …
Coakley v. Baker – almost a yawn
Tonight's televised benign if mildly tense debate between Charlie Baker and Martha Coakley was clearly a draw, which may have been the defensive objective of all concerned. Comfortably moderated by WGBH talk show hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan, both candidates stuck to their well honed, but by now shop-worn messages, spoke calmly, and smiled wanly …
Shelley Cohen, the Boston Herald and racist cartoon
Today Boston Herald Editorial Page Editor Shelley Cohen has a heartfelt and candid apology for the racist cartoon it published showing President Obama in his bathroom squeezing toothpaste onto his toothbrush while a White House intruder looks on from the bathtub. The uninvited visitor asks, "Have you tried the watermelon-flavored toothpaste?" The intent of the cartoon two and …
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Gubernatorial debate: too crowded for clarity
WBZ performed its civic duty by including three independent candidates for governor in Tuesday's gubernatorial debate, but the three added little to the process. It's one thing to give everyone equal access in the early stages of the campaign, helping the independents get themselves known, make their views known, raise some money and perhaps gain some …
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Marjorie Arons-Barron 