It wasn't enough to decimate the core of what was Al Qaeda in 2001. The landscape in certain hospitable countries like Yemen and Syria is now dotted with Al Qaeda offshoots and affiliates. And, for the last eight years, the home-grown variety has been particularly vexing. The Sunday morning talk shows were full of attempts to …
Continue reading Muslim community needs to be part of early warning system
"Our credibility in one place affects our credibility in another,” Secretary of State John Kerry told about 20 members of the Association of Opinion Journalists in a briefing Monday at the State Department. Syria's use of sarin gas “is a red line for the President,” but we’re “not talking about boots on the ground.” We …
In the early days following the Marathon bombings, the media made plenty of mistakes as reporters rushed to tell the story. Reports surfaced that the two suspects were under arrest when they were not. The boat in which Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found was outside the police search perimeter, then inside, then, well it's still not clear. …
It's hard not to be shaken to the core by the horrific attacks at today's marathon. The deaths, the mutilation, scores of injuries, and fear. The assault on what can only be described as an iconic (yes, I know the word is over-used) event, emblematic of the spirit of Boston. I have never lived more than …
Continue reading Marathon explosions tear at our hearts and community
We left the Calderwood Pavillion in the South End tonight thinking that Ryan Landry's "M" could be by far the worse play we've ever seen, at the Huntington or anywhere else. My husband and I, who love theater and have attended productions of all kinds and quality in cities near and far, have been loyal subscribers to the …
Continue reading “M” is for miserable at the Huntington’s new play
Newark's charismatic mayor, Cory Booker, took the stage Sunday at Salem State University's Speaker Series. A man on the move politically (he's planning a run for retiring Frank Lautenberg's U.S. Senate seat in 2014), he's on the move physically. Using a hand-held mike and roaming the stage at the Lynn Auditorium, Booker held forth for close …
The Red Sox opening day victory......what could be better? I posted the team's first-place standing on my refrigerator, thinking it might all be downhill from there. But I felt great. Never mind that the dreaded Yankees are broken old men. The Wall St. Journal's estimable sports writer Jason Gay called them "aging and atrophied .... creaky and getting …
Yesterday North Korea announced it's restarting its nuclear reactor so it can build its nuclear weapons arsenal. This follows North Korea's increasingly bellicose posturing over the last couple of months, including a nuclear bomb test in February. The United States and South Korea have been carrying out military exercises in the region. North Korea is …
Sometimes it's easy to categorize U.S. Senate candidates Ed Markey and Stephen Lynch. Congressman Markey is the unreconstructed liberal, right? His values on gun control, abortion, climate change, gay rights, and virtually everything else are unequivocally left of center. And Steve Lynch is the conservative in the race - especially when it comes to social …
Congratulations to Boston's longest serving mayor. In the 1970's, as a young aide to state Senator Joe Timilty, he told a few Beacon Hill colleagues his goal was to be mayor of Boston. They laughed at what seemed an unlikely prospect, but he did it, and he did it his way. With respect to the …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 