For real escape through summer reading, there's no substitute for fiction. Here are a few books worth sharing. My top read this past year was The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. A 13-year-old boy in Manhattan survives a terrorist bomb in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His mother is killed. They had been visiting her favorite painting, a goldfinch …
Continue reading Books to escape from Benghazi, Boko Haram, Boehner, biz cycle etc, pt. 2
Every summer I offer up some of the books I've read in the past year and happily invite readers' recommendations to me. I'm always on the prowl for a good read. This summer's book review will be in two parts. First, the non-fiction. If you're looking for light summer reading, do not try to read …
Continue reading Books to escape from Benghazi, Boko Haram, Boehner, biz cycle etc, pt. 1
Ann Coulter must have been hit on the head by a soccer ball, and it was no planned header. Her recent column , a screed against the sport and America's growing interest in it, seems unhinged. She asserts that this is a sign of our nation's moral decay, that the only reason we are interested …
Yes, yes, it's important to see the big picture. But sometimes viewing life from 30,000 feet is not actually better. Two stories in today's Boston Globe show how grand urban plans or budget metrics can sacrifice a touch of humanity. First, in the interest of saving money, the Social Security Administration has been closing field offices, …
Driving past Newtown, Connecticut this past weekend was a reminder of how virtually nothing has been accomplished since the slaughter of little children at Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Connecticut a year and a half ago. The Stop Handgun Violence billboard along the Mass. Pike puts at more than 32,000 the number of gun deaths since …
Continue reading Gun deaths: how many more before common sense kicks in?
A ten-game losing streak. The worst in decades. A string of injuries as long as your sore arm. Still, it's too soon to panic. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. We’re still weeks away from my All Star game marker, when I traditionally worry when the Red Sox record is too good, setting us up …
Former state rep and state senator Warren Tolman, whose bid for state attorney general has the backing of four former AG's, has always said he was taking candidate Maura Healey seriously, and well he should. While Tolman, who previously ran for lieutenant governor (on the ticket with Scott Harshbarger) and for governor, has been working as a consultant, …
At least 16 Democrats will not seek reelection to the House of Representatives this fall. No surprise there, given that they are outnumbered 233 to 200 (with two vacant seats), and the Republican majority has no interest in power-sharing, collaboration or even communicating. Among the 51 Tea Party Representatives are some who take pride in …
At first blush, one wonders what former state and federal Homeland Security official Juliette Kayyem has done that would prepare her to be governor of Massachusetts, overseeing a more than $6o billion budget and God knows how many departments, agencies, boards and authorities. Her Boston Globe columns on national security matters were often interesting but hardly …
Continue reading Juliette Kayyem belongs in the gubernatorial field
Secretary of State John Kerry prompted a diplomatic gasp and a Ted Cruz hissy fit by warning of the dangers of apartheid if Israel and the Palestinians can't achieve a workable two-state solution. Kerry's private comment was uncharacteristically undiplomatic but not without truth. A Boston Globe editorial sums up succinctly Israel's dilemma if a two-state solution fails …
Continue reading Kerry said the “A” word; so have many Israelis
