I ask you: do I look like an enemy of the people? Given my 30+ years in journalism (including Boston Phoenix, WGBH-TV, WCVB-TV) and nearly a decade more as a blogger, Donald Trump would probably say yes. Journalism is certainly in my DNA. Which is why I’m so proud of what my local newspaper is …
Summer reading part two: non-fiction
The following are suggestions from when I wasn’t fleeing the daily news into real fiction, as noted in my previous blog. I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey behind the Lines of Jihad, a memoir by Washington Post national security reporter Souad Mekhennet, takes us into dangerous territory to places she was uniquely qualified to …
Summer reading part one: escape into fiction
Every year at this time I share books that that may interest my readers. What I have discovered in year two of the Trump administration is how I often have I sought escape into fiction, though it is fiction with a political edge. Waking Lions by Israeli writer Ayelet Gundar-Goshen is a thriller about a …
Continue reading Summer reading part one: escape into fiction
Elizabeth Warren: tribune for the downtrodden or capitalist to the bones?
"I'm a capitalist to my bones," Senator Elizabeth Warren this week told a New England Council audience of business leaders, adding, "We have to make markets strong so everyone can do better." Addressing an arcane and often dry subject, she made an impassioned pitch that good bankruptcy laws are essential to well-functioning markets. She was …
Continue reading Elizabeth Warren: tribune for the downtrodden or capitalist to the bones?
Legitimate questions on recreational pot?
Massachusetts voters voted in 2016 to allow the growing and sale of marijuana for recreational purposes, and last week the state's Cannabis Control Commission issued its first permit for a retail outlet. The doors are not yet open because the dispensary still faces another level of inspections and background checks. Statewide implementation was initially delayed …
Civility and indignation can go together
Red Hen owner Stephanie Wilkinson asked Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave her Lexington, Virginia restaurant , declaring it a moral issue. Wilkinson said her request was in the name of upholding "certain standards, like honesty, compassion and cooperation." Some of her gay employees had objected to Sanders' defense of Donald Trump's ban on transgenders in …
Trump a candidate for Nobel Appease Prize?
Remember Lucy pulling the football away just as Charlie Brown was about to kick it? Imagine if Charlie Brown, instead of being dejected, ran around the field with his arms stretched high shouting that he had just kicked the winning field goal. North Korea’s nuclear threat is gone!! We can now all sleep easily. Mission …
The war of the roses
Candide says, "We must cultivate our garden," and it's all the more important today as an escape from Donald Trump and the malevolent cacophony he brews. My garden is one reason I shall never move out of our house. But, really, how does my garden grow? The answer rests with Peter Rabbit. And Brer Rabbit, Roger Rabbit, Bugs Bunny, and …
Hand-held cell phone ban for drivers long overdue
I had the right-of-way at 12:30 one day last week, protected by a Yield sign facing cars entering the main road. Already I can hear you laughing, as in, c'mon, girl. Do you really trust Yield signs? Well, no. But what was particularly irritating about this violator - woman in black SUV, MA license plate …
Continue reading Hand-held cell phone ban for drivers long overdue
NFL kicks off unpatriotic national anthem policy
The NFL has taken a knee in craven obeisance to the man Illinois war hero Senator Tammy Duckworth calls “Cadet Bone Spurs.” And Chuck Todd greeted his Meet the Press audience with a cheery “Happy Memorial Day,” reinforcing how synthetic and shallow our sense of patriotism and national remembrance have become. More people obsess about …
Continue reading NFL kicks off unpatriotic national anthem policy
Marjorie Arons-Barron 