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| Students plan anti-gun ‘die in’ and rally in Boston |
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| In the wake of last week’s mass school shooting in Florida, local students plan to replicate in Boston yesterday’s “die-in” (also called a “lie-in”) protest by teens outside the White House, as part of a nationwide student movement to promote gun control, reports the Herald’s Marie Szaniszlo. Meanwhile, Alison King at NBC Boston reports that thousands of teens and adults are expected to show up next month at a planned Boston Common gun-control rally, one of several such rallies to be held across the country. |
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| The Student Shooting Industrial Complex |
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| It’s come to this: A Lowell company, started by a former Essex County deputy sheriff and firearms instructor, is now selling bullet-resistant school backpacks, notebooks, three-ring binder inserts and nylon and denim jackets “stealthly fitted with anti-ballistic panels roughly the weight of a 20-ounce bottle of soda that can be held up to shield against most small-arms gunfire,” reports the Herald’s Laurel Sweet. |
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| So why isn’t Elizabeth Warren traveling to key early primary states like other prez wannabes? |
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| They give no explanation, but we found it curious that The Hill ran a story on how Democratic presidential wannabes are busy traveling to key primary states – and Elizabeth Warren isn’t even mentioned. Sure, Bernie’s mentioned (traveling to both Iowa and New Hampshire), as are Seth Moulton (Iowa) and John Kerry (Iowa). But no Warren. Turns out, according to this Politico story last month, Warren has deliberately shied away from traveling to either state, perhaps, as the article suggests, to focus on her re-election here. |
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| Pull out the magnifying glass: Another small policy difference spotted between Capuano and Pressley |
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| First it was a small difference between the two progressives on the proposed Mexican border wall. Now it’s a small difference between U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano and Democratic challenger Ayanna Pressley over the future of Wynn Resorts, reports SHNS’s Andy Metzger at Wicked Local. Their gender and race differences aside, you really do need a magnifying glass to spot the policy differences between the two. |
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| Public Radio’s long list of the fallen: Ashbrook, Keillor, Lopate, Hockenberry etc. |
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| The NYT takes a look at how Public Radio’s image and credibility have taken a hit with so many of its high-profile talent getting the boot as a result of the #MeToo movement. Former WBUR host Tom Ashbrook is prominently mentioned, though he was only swept up during the #MeToo movement, not because he had a true #MeToo moment. |
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| Is Kennedy too reasonable for today’s hyper-partisan voters? |
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| The headline on Globe columnist Joan Vennochi’s column reads: “Is this Kennedy bold enough for the next generation?” Actually, the question is whether U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III is too reasonable for today’s hyper-partisan generation of voters, as Joan rightly notes in the body of her column. The fact is Kennedy is following in the “pragmatic idealist” footsteps of his great uncle, JFK, who took all sorts of grief from those to his left for not being sufficiently leftist. Many people tend to forget that political factoid from a few generations ago. |
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| From Russian with love: Competing political rallies in America |
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| Speaking of hyper-partisan politics, there’s no local angle here (not yet, anyway). But definitely check out this New York Times piece about how Russian operatives tried to plant discord among American voters by planning, supporting and encouraging competing protests and counter-protests across the country, deftly manipulating deep left-right and hyper-partisan divisions. In a weird way, you almost have to tip your hat to them. They sure know our politics. |
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Former ‘Ellen’ assistant launches state rep bid on Cape |
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| Joshua Mason, a former Los Angeles resident whose resume includes time working with daytime TV host Ellen DeGeneres, has launched a bid to capture the 1st Barnstable House District seat held by Timothy Whelan, a Brewster Republican. Geoff Spillane of the Cape Cod Times reports that Mason’s platform will lean heavily on his own experiences as a millennial, including advocating for more affordable housing and focusing efforts to combat the opioid crisis on rehabilitation and treatment. |
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Gloves come off in GOP debate over ‘neutrality’ |
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| House minority leader Bradley H. Jones has had it with the Massachusetts Republican Party pretending to be “neutral” in campaigns when a true political wing-nut is running, i.e., anti-LGBT gadfly and Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Lively. Jones has asked the state party’s top leadership to vote on specifically barring the organization from helping Lively, despite party “neutrality” rules, reports the Globe’s Frank Phillips. |
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| The case of the T’s $100,000 rest room |
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| A fiscal watchdog says state transportation and MBTA officials may have been out of line when they fast-tracked a project to install a bathroom and kitchenette in the Transportation Building without putting any of the work out to bid, Jon Wells and Karen Anderson at WCVB-TV report. The work was done through the T’s on-call construction services contract, meaning that state procurement laws weren’t triggered, but the Pioneer Institute says that exemption is meant for emergencies. Of course, if you have to go … |
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