Will Marty Walsh become another Michael Bilandic?

Will Marty Walsh become the next Michael Bilandic?  Bilandic was the first Chicago Mayor to try to fill the large shoes left when Mayor-for-life Richard Daley died in 1976. Walsh, of course, replaced our own Mayor-for-Life, Tom Menino and is working to make the job his own. Bilandic's first challenges were negotiating the shoals of …

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Walsh bows to Boston workers gag order

  If you're one of Boston's 18,000 municipal employees, you just lost some important First Amendment rights. If your paycheck says your employer is the City of Boston, your boss, Mayor Marty Walsh, has contractually barred you from saying anything negative about the prospect of hosting the Olympics in 2024. Section 2.05 of the Joinder …

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NYPD officer assassination fuels furor

I have never been a fan of Al Sharpton.  I look at him and see Tawana Brawley,   the late eighties phoney rape case that Sharpton embraced in such an inflammatory way.  I have always seen him as someone who has been eager to exploit racial issues to advance his own career. And that's usually true. But, in …

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Boston 2024 Olympic bid: we could – but should we?

Yesterday, the city of Rome included itself among the potential hosts for the 2024 summer Olympics.  Now, where would you rather be that August - Boston or Rome?   Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said, "it's unacceptable not to try."  Boston's self-appointed elite apparently feel that way.  Today, Boston's bid boosters are in San Francisco to persuade the United States Olympic Committee to choose Boston over  San …

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Boston Olympics? costly diversion

The initial images of the Sochi winter Olympics - tap water the color of urine, treacherous unfinished sidewalks, bathroom doors that wouldn't open, failed opening night electronic display - have given way to images of skiers doing death-defying summersaults off the chutes, elegant ice skating, breathtaking bobsled runs, the excitement of the T. J. Oshie goal …

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