Frank Bellotti: a street fighter with a liberal heart

Former Massachusetts Attorney General Francis X. Bellotti is dead at 101. One of my first interviews with him, shown to the left, with my six-year-old son Daniel Arons looking on, was in 1973 at a local political picnic when he was launching a campaign for Attorney General. Between 1958 and 1990, he ran for office …

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Black arm bands not boycott for inauguration protest

So, Ringling Bros. is closing down the circus after 146 years. But, in this inaugural week, the circus hasn't left town.  We can't be sure where the lions and trapeze artists are going, but we certainly know where the elephants and marquis clown are headed. And it's not to entertain little children. Until now, I never understood fear …

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From Selma to Ferguson to Boston

It's hard for millennials  to imagine that not so long ago, blacks, who Constitutionally had the right to vote since 1870, were routinely blocked from exercising that right.  But antagonistic county commissioners and viciously contrived regulatory barriers in the South routinely denied even the ability to register. In Selma, Alabama, a majority of the people were black, …

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“All the Way” scores at A.R.T.

Political junkie alert!  You can get a fix in Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston's portrayal of Lyndon Johnson at the American Repertory Theater. (We were lucky to be taken, along with two other couples, by dear friends celebrating their anniversary.)A.R.T.'s new production All the Way starts right after this towering figure's ascension to the Presidency following assassination of …

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Boston Children’s Chorus Celebrates Martin Luther King

Under the superb direction of Artistic Director Anthony Trecek-King, the Boston Children's Chorus celebrated today's holiday with a glorious concert this evening at Jordan Hall in Boston. The vocal arrangements were sensitive and moving and included a tribute to the late Senator Edward Kennedy, whose unexpired term will be filled by voters tomorrow.A speech by …

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